533: Chapter 533: Defeating the Chen Yu Group! Xinghuo Fitness's Employees Exceed 1,000!

Xu Zhiping was a true veteran of the entire Jufan Holdings. As the person who had followed Su Yang the earliest, he had immense faith in Su Yang's vision!

He only had to slightly win over those old employees that Su Yang had mentioned, and those employees very happily rallied around Xu Zhiping.

This wasn't a matter of taking sides, but a matter of their future and destiny!

At this point, anyone with a brain knew which side they should stand on!

It was on this very day that Su Yang received a call from Zhang Zhiyuan of Longjiu Group.

He proudly informed Su Yang that he had successfully secured third-party assistance. Chizhu Wine Industry had successfully defeated Chenyu Group, and the classic product of its subsidiary, Chizhu Winery, "chizhu Wine," would become the sole designated red wine for the banquet hosting international guests at the Rongcheng Universiade.

"That's impressive!"

Su Yang couldn't help but compliment Zhang Zhiyuan!

If he had to do it himself, he estimated it would take a great deal of effort and energy.

"That goes without saying. Look at who's handling it!"

Sensing that the guy was getting cocky, Su Yang retorted, "What about the baijiu?"

"Uh... Lucheng Laojiao!"

"Hahaha..."

"What are you laughing at? Our Longjiu Group didn't really have much hope to begin with; our brand is indeed not as strong as theirs!" Zhang Zhiyuan admitted frankly. "We went to compete just to show some effort, just for appearances!"

"Uh-huh! Even if you didn't say it, I would have known!"

"Your tone really annoys me!"

"You'll get used to it!"

"..."

After chatting with Zhang Zhiyuan for a few more sentences, Su Yang hung up and called Hu Shurong of Chizhu Wine Industry.

Hu Shurong said excitedly, "So, we defeated Chenyu Group?"

"I can only say that we won once regarding the official designated wine!"

"That's already very impressive. If we can win once, we can win a second and third time!"

Su Yang laughed, "Your spirit is great, keep it up!"

"Boss, I will definitely give it my all!"

"Good!"

Su Yang glanced at Hu Shurong's loyalty, which had soared to 85, already approaching 90.

That was already quite good!

This bunch of old foxes who had been through society and tempered by experience were not as easy to fool as those young people fresh out of school, so their loyalty increased quite slowly!

It was because of the grudge with Chenyu Group that Hu Shurong's loyalty increased so quickly!

Su Yang thought for a moment and asked, "Have those screenwriters been to the winery?"

"They are still at the winery!"

"What are they doing?"

"They just spend every day hiking, horseback riding, sightseeing, drinking, and chatting with the employees and local residents..."

Such a life... Su Yang was even a bit envious!

Who exactly is the boss here?

"Do they have any inspiration yet?"

"Boss, you said to let them be, to let them have free rein, and that we were only responsible for hosting them!"

"Fair enough!"

Ending the call with Hu Shurong, Su Yang decided to wander around Shanghai, so he called a local employee from Shanghai and brought Jiang Yuzhen along!

By the afternoon, while Su Yang was catching the breeze at the Bund, he suddenly received a system notification:

[Ding~ Your Spark Fitness full-time employees have exceeded one thousand. You have obtained achievement rewards: 5 Strength points, 5 constitution points, 5 agility points. The gyms under your name can obtain a new buff, or upgrade an existing buff.]

[1. Muscle gain effect increased, 2. Disease resistance increased, 3. Sleep quality improved, 4. Virility effect increased, 5. Injury and fatality rate reduced, 6. Service effect... Please choose!]

It must be that Spark Fitness had transferred the acquisition funds to the shareholders' accounts, and the acquisition contract had officially taken effect!

Hearing this news, Su Yang was still quite happy.

It was indeed quite arduous to break through a thousand employees in the gym business!

Su Yang had acquired two gym chains in succession, and combined with the original foundation of Spark Fitness, he finally brought the number of employees over the thousand-person mark!

Now, Spark Fitness had over 1,200 full-time employees!

Looking at these buff options for the gyms again, he hesitated slightly.

Many of the options were quite tempting, and upgrading the existing buffs also seemed good!

The muscle gain effect could be ruled out first; the main consumer base of the gyms was female.

If they grew too much muscle, they would probably freak out!

This would also cause discrepancies in the gym coaches' normal fitness knowledge system.

They would probably be puzzled: the exercise volume was clearly fine, so how could they grow so much muscle?

Women who wanted to train themselves into bodybuilders were still extremely rare, and the gym certainly had to serve the public.

The reduction in injury and fatality rates wasn't of much use either; if such a situation really occurred, he could foresee it in advance!

After all, if a disability occurred at a gym, it would definitely be considered a major accident!

Whether it was disease resistance, improved sleep quality, increased virility, service effects... or the original dopamine and endorphin secretion increase, and weight loss/shaping effects, they were actually all very useful!

After a long while, Su Yang finally made up his mind!

[Ding~ The gyms under your name have obtained a permanent buff: +70% dopamine secretion increase, +30% weight loss and shaping effect.]

There was no other reason. Whether it was disease resistance, sleep quality, virility, or weight loss and shaping... all of these could be obtained through exercise and fitness!

And fitness is indeed counter-intuitive to human nature!

No matter how good the other buff effects were, if the customers couldn't stick with it, it was all for nothing!

As long as he could help the customers persist, they would similarly gain a healthier body, better sleep quality, improvements in the bedroom, and maintain better physical condition!

And the customer retention rate of Su Yang's gyms would be higher!

Therefore, a +70% increase in dopamine secretion was an all-encompassing, total buff!

There was no reason not to choose it!

Adding all 5 Strength points, 5 constitution points, and 5 agility points to his physical attributes, Su Yang felt as comfortable as if he were soaking in a hot spring.

About two minutes later, this feeling gradually faded.

Looking at Jiang Yuzhen beside him, she hadn't noticed Su Yang, but was instead mesmerized by the bustling Bund.

"Shall we go get a spa treatment tonight?"

Jiang Yuzhen asked in a low voice, "Will it be very expensive?"

She had been with Su Yang for a while and had been to many places.

But she was still shocked by the cost of living in Shanghai.

Just a moment ago, she had casually bought some chocolate and cake at a shop nearby, and it cost over three thousand yuan!

A piece of chocolate slightly larger than a coin was worth over a hundred yuan, and a slice of cake was over eight hundred...

If Su Yang hadn't said he would pay, she would have returned them immediately!

Was this robbery?

"It's fine, the boss is paying!"

"Alright then!"

Jiang Yuzhen nodded.

She was quite used to spending Su Yang's money.

Anyway, she had even given herself to him...

"Tomorrow I'll take you to Disney, and we'll buy VIP tickets!"

"Yay!"

This time, Jiang Yuzhen smiled happily!

Su Yang took a piece of chocolate from Jiang Yuzhen's food bag and put it directly into his mouth to chew; the fragrance of the chocolate filled his mouth.

Not to mention, it was actually quite delicious!

It wasn't the cloyingly sweet kind; it suited Su Yang's taste quite well.

As for whether it was worth over a hundred yuan, that was a matter of opinion.

"You eat some too!" Su Yang said to Jiang Yuzhen with a smile, "Didn't we buy it to eat?"

"Mm!"

"Xiao Tian, you have one too!"

"Thank you, boss!"

Xiao Tian was a cute-looking girl who worked in administrative duties at the gym.

"Are prices in Shanghai always this high?"

Xiao Tian laughed, "We Shanghainese wouldn't hang out here; only people from out of town like to come here!"

Su Yang asked curiously, "How do you say that in the Shanghai dialect?"

"..."

After having a great time in Shanghai for three days and leaving 30 million in working capital for Xu Zhiping, Su Yang took Jiang Yuzhen back to Rongcheng.

Last month, Su Yang had over 70 million in cash remaining.

On the seventh of the month, Su Yang received over 110 million in salary and benefits returns.

After acquiring Yuanshi Private Equity, Su Yang took out 10 million as operating capital for Yuanshi Private Equity.

Because Yuanshi Private Equity was established quite early, and the new regulations for private equity came out relatively late, it hadn't paid up the 10 million in capital.

Su Yang needed to put at least 10 million in funds into the private equity firm's corporate account to facilitate changing other business certificates!

As for the 1 million-plus cash used to acquire Yuanshi Private Equity, that didn't need to be mentioned!

Then Fengyuan spent 5 million to acquire a controlling stake in Chuhe Food; the 5 million in funds were profits taken out by Fengyuan, so it didn't cost Su Yang any money.

This time, Spark Fitness spent 20 million to acquire Willance Fitness, and there was 30 million in working capital...

Thus, Su Yang's account still had around 120 million left!

Even if Linyi Film and Television's new film cost 30 million, the cash on hand for Su Yang was still very abundant!

However, just as Su Yang returned to Rongcheng, Tian Hanxiong came to visit, and that was when he remembered there was still the 25 million loan for Jiuxiang Catering!

He looked at Tian Hanxiong with a smile and asked, "Coming over so early, are you afraid that our Jiuxiang Catering won't be able to pay back the money?"

"How could that be?" Tian Hanxiong asked very politely, "I came to congratulate President Su. The matter of Spark Fitness entering Shanghai has been reported by our local media recently!"

"Then thank you very much!"

"But President Su, does your Jiuxiang Catering still need loans? Once you pay off this loan, our bank will approve another for you!"

"At this stage, Jiuxiang Catering probably doesn't really need it!"

"Sigh!"

Tian Hanxiong couldn't help but sigh.

The business of Nine Fragrance Hotpot under Jiuxiang Catering was even more booming than before.

The catering industry was a high-turnover, high-cash-flow business.

As long as it was done well, there would be very abundant cash flow!

Once it reached scale, they wouldn't need too much capital to expand.

As far as Tian Hanxiong knew, the relatively low-key Weimeijia under Jiuxiang Catering was also very popular.

Even compared to the currently explosive Nine Fragrance Hotpot, its profitability should be no less inferior!

Once it was off-work time, customers going to Weimeijia would form long lines.

When the Weimeijia shop couldn't fit them, they would squat at the entrance to eat, and many delivery drivers would often gather there too.

As for Jiuxiang Healthy Catering, this catering brand focusing on light meals, nutritional meals, and fitness meals was very low-key, but it had been expanding along with Spark Fitness!

For those doing light meals, nutritional meals, and fitness meals, the scale might not be able to grow big.

But the profit was definitely much higher than hotpot!

He really wanted to do the loan business for Jiuxiang Catering; he wasn't afraid at all that Su Yang wouldn't be able to pay it back!

"Do you have any good suggestions?" Su Yang chatted casually with Tian Hanxiong, "In terms of the catering industry, what do you think Jiuxiang Catering could do?"

"A snack chain?" Tian Hanxiong began to offer advice to Su Yang, "Snack-type catering chains are quite popular now, for example, rice noodles and the like!"

"Not interesting!" Su Yang shook his head, "I like businesses with many employees!"

"How about... some high-end catering?" Seeing Su Yang staring at him, Tian Hanxiong said guiltily, "High-end catering is indeed not doing well now, but just because others are not doing well doesn't mean Jiuxiang Catering can't!"

"Any other ideas?"

"How about opening a five-star hotel?"

"That would cost a lot of money, right?"

"If it's in Rongcheng, it might just be a matter of a few hundred million; our bank can assist!"

"Old Tian, I haven't treated you badly, have I..."

Tian Hanxiong felt a bit embarrassed.

However, to be honest, Su Yang was still a bit tempted by the hotel business that Tian Hanxiong mentioned!