A few days later, when Boss Huang received another latest data report, he couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief, "What? You're saying the sales of all Jiangnan Group's products in Korea have surged by 18,000%?"
This was the latest sales data from Jiangnan Group in Korea. Boss Huang was astonished to find that Jiangnan Group's sales in Korea had increased by 180 times in just a few days, completely stunning him.
"This is mainly because the previous sales data had too small a base! In reality, the increase is not that exaggerated!" the secretary who was reporting said. "Due to the relationship between the two countries, our Jiangnan Group's sales in Korea have always been poor. Later, we even canceled all sales outlets, leaving only online sales channels."
"He didn't expect that due to the recent rumors that broke out in Korea... caused..."
"Just say it directly, I know all that troublesome stuff, no need to be so cautious!" Boss Huang said impatiently. The secretary could only smile bitterly and say, "Koreans now believe that you also have Korean ancestry, so Jiangnan Group is considered a Korean enterprise. Buying products from Jiangnan Group is no longer unpatriotic, so their purchasing desire has suddenly exploded."
"In fact, according to our investigation, the actual sales of Jiangnan Group's products before were about 10 times our statistical data. This is because many Koreans were unwilling to buy our products directly through our official channels, but they still needed our products. So, they preferred to buy some counterfeit products, thinking this was a way to retaliate against us."
"However, they don't know that it's impossible for us to have counterfeit products of the items we sell, because many Korean companies simply cannot produce these products. And if they dared to produce them, they would be directly sued by us. Korea's legal system is quite sound in this regard, and we earn billions of Korean won in revenue from such lawsuits every year."
"So, many counterfeit companies simply stopped producing them themselves. They directly bought our products, then replaced them with their own packaging, pretending to be selling their counterfeit goods. However, the price was 30% to 50% higher than our genuine products."
"..." Huang He opened his mouth, "Are you saying that Koreans have actually been buying our products in large quantities all along. But they would rather spend more than 30% extra to buy genuine products that were disguised as counterfeits?"
Boss Huang was completely shocked by the logic of the Koreans. What kind of brilliant thinking could have come up with such a convoluted idea?
"Yes!" the secretary quickly said. "Later, with the emergence of the rumors, these Koreans began to believe that buying Jiangnan Group's products was no longer an act of betrayal of their nation. So, they immediately abandoned buying counterfeit goods and started placing orders for genuine products on our official website. Moreover, they bought in extremely large quantities at once. There's reason to believe that some Koreans are afraid that public opinion might reverse again in the future, so they intend to purchase a large batch of products in advance for inventory."
"The largest purchased items were our Genshin 4 trading cards..."
"Forget it, I'm old. I really don't understand the thinking of you young people anymore!" Boss Huang sighed. He realized he was increasingly unable to comprehend this world.
However, this was normal. Boss Huang was already 57 years old, and in three years, he would be sixty, the age for retirement.
While the retirement age had now been extended to 65, no one would stop Boss Huang if he wanted to retire.
In fact, many people within the group were eagerly anticipating Boss Huang's retirement. After all, he had suppressed Jiangnan Group too severely for many years, and they all hoped for a new successor to come to power and bring new glory and more opportunities to the group.
Huang He waved his hand, dismissing the secretary. He then walked into the hotel's living room, where Leng Zhiruo was watching television with their son. It was the fifth day after the competition, and the mother and son had reunited for five days. This was the first time they had spent such a long period together in years.
Previously, at most, Huang Fan would quietly return to the training camp within three days to resume his daily penalty kick training. This was why he had become the world's number one goalkeeper.
Huang He smiled as he looked at Leng Zhiruo, his wife's younger sister, and also his elder sister. She was 52 years old this year. However, thanks to her good maintenance, Leng Zhiruo was a beautiful "magic woman" now, looking no older than 30.
Of course, in the details of her skin, the traces of time were clearly visible. Compared to the youthful Zhiruo younger sister who used to follow him, calling him brother-in-law and who was besieged by countless suppliers in his office, she had indeed aged.
As for Huang He himself, as he gradually stopped controlling many tasks in detail over the years and instead focused on the overall direction, delegating specific matters to more people, coupled with scientific maintenance and exercise, Huang He felt his energy was comparable to when he was around 30.
Of course, Huang He would never admit that this was because 13 years had passed since 2022, and Boss Huang had completely lost control of the future, thus lacking the confidence to manage the company's specific business.
People are always unwilling to admit that they are gradually getting old, let alone a穿越者 (transmigrator) like Huang He. He felt he was special and should be able to fight for a few more decades.
Moreover, at this moment, in Jiangnan Group's most confidential biological laboratory, some very special items that consumed tens of billions of dollars annually were under development. Boss Huang felt that if he waited a little longer, he might be able to witness a technological breakthrough.
"The business delegation will return to the country tomorrow, and I will go back with them. Fanfan, what are your plans?" Huang He also sat down and asked with a smile.
"I'll go back with you!" Huang Fan said, lowering his head. "But I don't want to go back to Wenzhou. I want to go back to Modu. I haven't touched a ball in 5 days, and I think it's necessary to practice again!"
"You still want to play soccer!" Upon hearing this, Leng Zhiruo, who was beside them, sat up abruptly and said in a very exaggerated tone, "No, you can't play soccer anymore. You must return to the company. Mom has a lot of work waiting for you to help with. You can't go to any training camps. Your father will arrange for you to withdraw from the national team."
"I don't want to!" Huang Fan suddenly said very loudly to his mother. "Mom, I don't want to. I still want to play soccer! Why do you want me to withdraw from the national team?"
"You..." Leng Zhiruo looked at her child in shock. Just as she was about to speak, Huang He said, "Zhiruo, calm down. You've watched so many melodramatic family dramas. Although much of the plot is ridiculous, I believe some of the family and child-related concepts conveyed are correct. Do you think arguing with Fanfan like this will benefit your relationship?"
Leng Zhiruo was, after all, not an ordinary housewife. She understood Huang He's meaning and began to force herself to calm down. She sat on the sofa and calmed down for a full 10 minutes before saying, "Okay, Mom doesn't want to be the villain who destroys your dreams. How about this: you don't withdraw from the national team, and you still play the matches you're supposed to play. But during normal times, you must stay at the company to help Mom!"
"No!" To Huang Fan's surprise, he still shook his head. "Mom, you don't understand. Football is something you can't stop training for. If I don't train for a day, my body's muscle memory will start to decline. If I don't train for ten days, I'll need a month of intensive training to make up for it. If I want to remain the 'God of Penalty Kicks,' then I must return to textbook-level training, blocking at least 1,000 shots every day."
"If I only go to play when there are matches, then I will quickly become nothing. I will become a burden to the team. I don't want that, so why would I still play soccer?"
"You play soccer? Isn't playing soccer just sitting on the sidelines and watching others?" Leng Zhiruo suddenly shouted frantically. "Other substitutes at least get to play for ten to twenty minutes in each game, but what about you? If you don't play penalty kicks, you might not get a chance to play for months."
"And you also said that your teammates are getting stronger, and they will finish the game within 90 minutes. In all future national team competitions, you might not have a chance to play. What are you striving for? What are you training for? Just to be a substitute on the sidelines, watching others play?"
"Mom, what you're telling me is useless. I've heard these things tens of thousands of times over the past decade. I've long been firm in knowing what I want!" Huang Fan sighed.
"You don't know what you want at all! Playing a stupid ball, can it compare to Jiangnan Group?" Leng Zhiruo shouted. Boss Huang coughed a few times, but Leng Zhiruo ignored him and directly said, "Your older brother, the child born to another woman, is now a high-level executive in the company. He's already managing the entire suspended car project. Once his suspended cars are launched, he will become someone with endless honor and achievements. You, in the company, don't know how to do anything. Do you want to watch that other woman's child snatch away what belongs to you?"
"Mom, Brother won't snatch my things!" Huang Fan said calmly. "If you're talking about honor, is there any higher honor in this world than winning the World Cup? As for the suspended cars you mentioned, I saw them last year. There were over twenty serious problems in just one kilometer of travel."
"Big Brother is too impatient. He wants to achieve results too badly to prove himself, which has caused him to overlook many obvious problems. If he truly wants to take over the entire project, it will require at least another 10 years of meticulous refinement. Not a year less. If it's launched prematurely, it will be a disaster for the company. Dad would never allow it!" Huang Fan said.
"..." Leng Zhiruo was stunned for a moment, then looked at Huang He. Huang He coughed and then nodded. "Actually, he proposed to me a few days ago to publicly announce this plan, but I told him that unless he could drive that broken car of his here to see me alone, he shouldn't even mention the opportunity for early promotion!"
"Huang Qu is good in other aspects, and his ambition is good, but he's too impatient and needs to be tempered," Huang He sighed, then patted Huang Fan's shoulder. "Huang Qu needs to be tempered to at least one-third of Fanfan's level. Otherwise, this child cannot achieve great things!"
After saying this, Huang He also felt very distressed. He hated family drama plots the most.
Fortunately, he was still very healthy, and these children were currently engaged in healthy competition. Most importantly, he would treat them all equally. As long as Boss Huang was alive, nothing would go wrong. He would just treat it as watching his own wealthy family's television drama.