Soon, a mature business plan rapidly took shape in Liu Yutong's mind.
She was almost certain that the Wanlong Shopping Center would inevitably become one of the commercial landmarks of Bright Pearl City.
This was determined by its geographical location.
Furthermore, the next seven or eight years would be a golden period for the real estate industry.
She planned to first partner with Yu Corporation to establish a commercial management company. Through operating the Wanlong Shopping Center, they would accumulate experience and use it as a successful case study and a calling card to attract further investment and partnerships.
As for real estate development, Liu Yutong definitely would not get involved, especially in the highest-risk, most competitive residential projects—she wouldn't touch those with a ten-foot pole.
At most, she would only participate in the cooperative development of commercial plazas.
Once the Wanlong Shopping Center model proved successful, she and Yu Mo could seek out developers who owned prime locations but lacked commercial operation experience and brand power for collaboration.
The other party would provide the assets, while they would be responsible for operations and management.
In simple terms, the partner would bear the main development and construction costs. The commercial management company, established by Yu Corporation and her Wanlong Hui Group, would be responsible for the entire project's planning, architectural design, tenant recruitment, marketing, property operations, daily management, and so on. In return, they would collect management fees, operational profit shares, brand licensing fees, etc.
This way, they could achieve rapid replication and expansion of their brand and management model with minimal investment and the lowest risk, while perfectly avoiding the issue of high debt.
To be honest, Qianda in her previous life had already been quite successful; at least in many cities, Qianda Plaza was considered a landmark.
If it weren't for the excessive debt caused by their early high-leverage expansion, they wouldn't have later been reduced to selling off core assets.
Later, Qianda also realized this and shifted to a light-asset model, but unfortunately, it was already too late by then.
If they had transitioned just a year or two earlier, they wouldn't have ended up in that situation.
The fact that Liu Yutong could conceive this light-asset model ahead of time was, frankly speaking, also because she was standing on the experience of her predecessors, allowing her to avoid falling into the pit early on.
Wanlong Supermarket, as the first industry established after the founding of the Wanlong Hui company, was also one of the industries Liu Yutong valued most.
Because it could create a large number of job opportunities, providing a livelihood guarantee for the brothers and sisters below.
Therefore, no matter what, it had to be done well, and done to the extreme.
Since she had decided on a long-term strategy and wanted to build reputation and word-of-mouth, the best approach was to take the boutique route.
In the future, the supermarket would no longer open standalone branches but would be tied to their own or cooperatively developed shopping centers.
Wherever her commercial management company opened a plaza in the future, Wanlong Supermarket would follow. This would also be the development path for other consumer businesses under the Wanlong Group's own operations.
Of course, apart from the supermarket, other consumer industry businesses could be franchised once they expanded beyond Bright Pearl City, although the franchise requirements would be stricter—quality over quantity.
Liu Yutong called Yu Mo to schedule a time for a detailed discussion.
However, Yu Mo seemed to be busy and said he would come to the university to find her tomorrow.
Liu Yutong didn't think much of it; she wasn't in a hurry about this matter anyway.
Afterwards, she called Yang Xin over and asked him to continue monitoring the renovation progress of Wanlong Plaza, make plans, coordinate with the major consumer subsidiaries, have each subsidiary select their branch locations in advance, and prepare for the renovation work.
Additionally, the tenant recruitment work for Wanlong Plaza needed to be pushed forward urgently to minimize the vacancy period for shops. Pre-leasing could start now.
Given Wanlong Hui's current reputation in Bright Pearl City, as long as they sent invitations to locally well-known brands to set up shop, they should easily agree.
After roughly reviewing the group's various documents and signing all the contracts requiring her signature, it was already getting late.
Liu Yutong planned to have a simple dinner and then return to the university to rest.
Although she had a place to live off-campus, she still sometimes stayed in the dormitory. Living alone in such a big house occasionally felt lonely.
Also, she was, after all, still a university student and needed to attend her major's required classes.
When Liu Yutong reached the first floor, she ran into an acquaintance, her childhood friend Guo Yani, who originally worked in property management.
Guo Yani was holding a box, seemingly having just come down from the office.
When she encountered Liu Yutong in the first-floor lobby, she was visibly taken aback for a moment, then instinctively tried to lower her head and avoid her.
Liu Yutong spoke first to stop her: "Yani, just finished work? Have you eaten?"
Guo Yani stopped, looking slightly nervous, and said, "Yu... President Liu, not yet. I was planning to go back and cook."
Hearing that formal "President Liu," Liu Yutong let out an almost imperceptible sigh.
Although they worked in the same building, they had hardly seen each other, and with the status gap between them, Guo Yani always seemed very reserved whenever they met.
Liu Yutong walked straight up, very naturally took the box from her and handed it to Yun Cheng beside her, then linked arms with Guo Yani.
This intimate gesture made Guo Yani's body stiffen slightly.
"Perfect timing, I haven't eaten either. Let's go to Yu Yue Fang for a bite. It's been days since I've tasted the chefs' skills."
Yu Yue Fang updated its menu almost every month, and Liu Yutong often chose to eat at the restaurant.
Partly because she genuinely wanted to eat there, and partly to check if there were any issues.
Guo Yani quickly waved her hands: "No, no, it's okay, Yutong. It's too extravagant. I can just grab something simple..."
"Why stand on ceremony with me?"
Liu Yutong smiled and pulled her towards the exit: "Just keep me company for a meal. Among our childhood friends, you're the only one in Bright Pearl City. If you don't keep me company, who will? After eating, we can go shopping. It's been ages since I last went shopping."
Hearing her say that, Guo Yani couldn't refuse anymore and nodded in agreement.
At first, she was still somewhat unable to relax because she had heard the rumors lately—that Liu Yutong had taken hundreds of people to raid a fairly famous hotel in Bright Pearl City some time ago.
Although she hadn't witnessed the scene herself, just hearing those rumors was frightening enough.
There were also people spreading terrifying rumors about how ruthless the Wanlong Hui young lady's methods were, and even that she had had people "taken care of," and so on.
This was one of the main reasons she felt so reserved when encountering Liu Yutong.
After all, anyone would be nervous around a mafia princess, especially when the status was completely unequal.
But upon actually interacting with her, she felt that Liu Yutong seemed completely different from what was being said outside—not that scary at all.
Instead, she seemed largely unchanged from before, still the childhood friend she could talk about anything with.
Gradually, she became less tense.
