375: Raise a glass to talk about heroes

“What did you take care of?” Han Ruoyu asked casually.

Liu Xiaolin had already prepared his lines: “To make traveling easier, I went to rent a car and then found a hotel nearby. I didn't expect all the procedures and paperwork to waste so much time.”

“Didn't you drive to our company today?” Han Ruoyu asked.

“Oh, that was my friend's car. He had to go back today, so I returned the car to him,” Liu Xiaolin said unhurriedly.

With his lines prepared, his answers flowed very smoothly.

Han Xiaoguo and the others saw Liu Xiaolin answering fluently, so they didn't suspect anything.

However, regarding the newcomer needing to rent a car for travel, their thoughts were all the same as Han Ruoyu's; they all looked down on Liu Xiaolin.

Soon, the waiter began serving the dishes. Since it was a seafood restaurant, the dishes ordered were, of course, mainly seafood: large plates of sea crabs, blanched shrimp, steamed squid, cold clam salad, steamed abalone, and so on. Not only were the colors appealing, but the taste was also delicious, making Liu Xiaolin feel a bit hungry.

“Dig in, dig in! Manager Liu, don't be shy,” Han Xiaoguo called out loudly.

Everyone picked up their chopsticks and started eating.

“This crab is good, quite big. Manager Liu, have one,” Xiang Guangming said, picking up a crab and placing it on the plate in front of Liu Xiaolin.

“Thank you, General Manager Xiang, I can get it myself,” Liu Xiaolin thanked him repeatedly.

“Don't be polite! It's like being at home here. Eat whatever you want, eat your fill. If it's not enough, just ask for more,” Han Xiaoguo said loudly while gnawing on a crab.

“Where's the wine? Why hasn't it been served?” Xiang Guangming asked the waiter standing nearby.

“General Manager Han's good wine stored here has run out. Our Manager sent someone to buy some outside,” the waiter replied.

“Tell your people to hurry up! The dishes are already here, but the wine still hasn't arrived. That's unacceptable,” Xiang Guangming said, displeased.

“Okay, I'll go and urge them again.” The waiter finished speaking, turned, and walked out of the private room.

Shortly after, the waiter came in with a bottle of baijiu: “General Manager Han, we've managed to buy a twenty-year-old yingchun wine from Yuhai City.”

“A twenty-year-old yingchun wine? Don't I always drink thirty-year-old yingchun wine?” Han Xiaoguo said, displeased.

“Our restaurant staff ran to several places just to get this twenty-year-old yingchun wine. Our staff don't have as much influence as you, so even if there was thirty-year-old yingchun wine, they wouldn't sell it to us. For this twenty-year-old yingchun wine, we also had to tell them that General Manager Han wanted to drink it before they would sell it,” the waiter said, quite articulately.

This explanation made Han Xiaoguo feel very comfortable: “Alright then, twenty years it is. We'll just make do with a few sips.”

The waiter breathed a sigh of relief as if granted a special pardon upon hearing this, then conveniently filled the wine glasses for all four people.

“Alright, you can go. We don't need you to pour the wine here,” Xiang Guangming said, glancing at the waiter.

“Okay, I'll be standing outside. Just call me if you need anything,” the waiter said respectfully and walked out.

“General Manager Han, General Manager Xiang, Minister Han, allow me to offer this toast. I was late earlier, so I'll drink first as a sign of respect,” Liu Xiaolin said, raising his glass.

After speaking, he downed the wine in his glass in one gulp. The wine was indeed good, soft and crisp on the palate, not spicy.

Seeing Liu Xiaolin's decisiveness, the others also followed suit and emptied their glasses.

“First, continue telling us about the topic of going public. What you said this afternoon made me a bit uneasy,” Han Xiaoguo said.

“Are you familiar with Yali Phone? Do you know its founder, Falls?” Liu Xiaolin asked.

“Who doesn't know that! Yali Phone is the most famous mobile phone brand in the world,” Xiang Guangming said. “Falls is truly capable; he created a mobile phone empire.”

“But, do you know that Falls was expelled from Yali Company for a few years in between?” Liu Xiaolin asked.

“Huh? I haven't heard about that. What happened? Tell me, who could possibly kick the company's founder out?” Han Xiaoguo was greatly surprised.

“Falls founded Yali Company with his own abilities, and the phones he developed, from Yali Generation One to Yali Generation Four, all achieved immense success. At this point, Yali Company had already gone public, and its stock price quickly soared, making Falls the wealthiest entrepreneur in the world,” Liu Xiaolin said.

“We know all that. Get to the point. Tell us how he was kicked out of the company he founded,” Xiang Guangming said, a bit impatiently.

“After accumulating sufficient funds, Falls invited Yokari, the General Manager of a beverage company, to serve as the General Manager of Yali Company, while he himself retreated behind the scenes. Unexpectedly, after Yokari took office, he successively launched Yali Generation Five, Six, and Seven in a short period. Unfortunately, these three new models were not recognized by the market, and sales plummeted,” Liu Xiaolin said, shaking his head. “The management of a beverage company and a mobile phone company are completely unrelated, so Yokari's failure was normal. But even after failing, he still thought too highly of himself, believing it wasn't his problem. Falls saw the company's stock price drop significantly, so he returned to the company to find out the reason. After his careful research, he discovered that Yokari, to maximize profits, set the prices of the three phones very high, and the three phones did not add any obvious new features, leading to them not being recognized by the market.”

“Falls was also like that. Why would he find someone who doesn't understand mobile phones to manage the company?” Han Ruoyu interjected. “It's like different industries are separated by mountains; doesn't he understand that?”

“Indeed, at this moment, Falls knew he had chosen the wrong person. He saw that Yokari didn't understand the rules of market competition or product selling points, and was simply not suitable to continue as the General Manager of Yali Company. Therefore, he planned to replace Yokari and regain control of Yali Company. But at this time, Yali Company was no longer the same as before,” Liu Xiaolin said.

“How could it be different? Isn't it still his company?” Han Xiaoguo asked, unconvinced. “Couldn't he just kick him out of the company?”

“It's different now. Yokari and Yali Company's board of directors were already in cahoots. When the board learned of Falls's intentions, they all firmly sided with Yokari and passed a resolution prohibiting Falls from participating in any matters of Yali Company. Even though Falls was still the founder of Yali Company and still the Chairman of Yali Company's board of directors, he could no longer oppose any of Yokari's decisions,” Liu Xiaolin continued.

“Are the board members all brainless? Can't they tell who's the boss?” Han Xiaoguo said exasperatedly.

“There's no such thing as a 'boss' in a listed company; only the entire board of directors can decide on the management personnel,” Liu Xiaolin said.

You provide God Wu Ji's 'Rise of Heavy Industry: Building the Light of Domestic Goods'.