Wang boss's cooperation with the department store was on a rental basis, Zhang Liunian mused.
"I'll go take a look later. It's not something that can be explained in a few words right now," Zhang Liunian didn't want to make grand pronouncements when the situation was unclear. He saw off Boss Wang and his family.
Meanwhile, Zhu Lao San, whom Zhang Liunian had sent to jail two days prior, walked out of jail again.
It was Shang Qiuren who bailed him out. Shang Qiuren was now working for Zhu Lao San.
"Well done. I'll get you what you want later," Zhu Lao San had been hosted by Shang Qiuren in Nancheng. They had only interacted for a few days, and both understood each other's needs.
Shang Qiuren smiled. He was only following the Tang family for money. If Zhu Lao San could satisfy him, he wouldn't mind switching allegiances.
"What has Zhang Liunian been up to lately?" Zhu Lao San leaned back on the long bench, but his ferocious and ugly expression still revealed his hatred for Zhang Liunian.
Because of Zhang Liunian, Zhu Lao San had been to jail twice. If he didn't get revenge, he wouldn't be Zhu Lao San.
"He's busy with the food factory and taking over the department store," Shang Qiuren replied.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Lao San angrily slammed his hand down. "Hmph, he's living it up with both the factory and the department store. Now that I'm out, his happy life is over."
"Taking over the department store isn't going smoothly. He's got his hands full. If you need me to do anything, just say the word," Shang Qiuren offered his loyalty.
"Don't worry, I won't forget about you. Get me a couple of people. Let's raid the Fuqiang Pig Farm. I want all the pigs inside, not a single one left for them.
Then Zhang Liunian will definitely have to go to Jiangcheng to deal with this. At that time, you'll..."
Zhu Lao San had spent the past two days in jail planning how to deal with Zhang Liunian. Now that he was free, the first thing he wanted to do was put his plan into action.
Shang Qiuren glanced at Zhu Lao San after hearing the plan and thought his methods were quite ruthless.
However, he was just helping, and Zhu Lao San would bear the consequences. What was he afraid of?
On the other side, after lunch, Zhang Liunian, accompanied by Du Ziteng and Zhang Qian, arrived at the Nancheng Department Store.
The Nancheng Department Store was the most comprehensive sales venue in Nancheng, even surpassing the Nancheng Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so business was excellent.
However, it was unfortunate that when the Tang family previously operated the department store, they chose to lease the entire premises to others to run businesses and collected rent themselves.
How much rent could they collect? It couldn't compare to running their own shop. Therefore, he disliked the current mode of cooperation.
However, if he were to change the mode of cooperation, it might cause dissatisfaction among everyone.
Zhang Liunian pondered how to resolve this issue as he reached the entrance of the department store.
Looking up, he saw the department store manager, along with all the employees, lined up in two rows to welcome their arrival.
"Welcome, Boss Zhang!"
As soon as the employees from both rows saw Zhang Liunian arrive, they shouted a unified slogan as the manager waved.
"This is quite a turnout!" Du Ziteng murmured softly behind Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian naturally heard him and waved to the crowd with a smile. "Hello everyone, I am Zhang Liunian, the new boss of the department store. You don't need to stand here. Get back to your work. Only the manager and the finance department need to stay."
Taking over the department store, the finance department and the internal situation of the department store were crucial. The manager and the finance department definitely couldn't leave.
"Yes," the manager took the order and then walked alongside Zhang Liunian, leading the way. During this, the manager continuously praised Zhang Liunian's capabilities.
"No one has ever been as capable as you, boss. You are worth tens of millions at such a young age, and you own two department stores..."
Everyone loves to hear compliments, but too many become tiresome. Fortunately, they didn't have to listen for long before they arrived at the office.
Zhang Liunian sat in the boss's executive chair and immediately asked the manager for the joint tenancy agreements of the forty tenants.
The manager's expression changed slightly, but he still turned and placed a thick stack of documents in front of Zhang Liunian.
"Boss Zhang, these documents are the lease agreements signed by the forty owners of the department store previously, as well as their main items for sale."
After saying this, he added, "But because they all paid next year's rent two months ago, it seems we can't ask them to leave or collect rent from them at the moment.
If we want to collect rent, we might have to wait until next year. If you ask them to leave now, you might even have to pay out of your own pocket."
They paid rent two months ago? Zhang Liunian had never heard of this.
That made sense. Mr. Xue was in a hurry to leave and didn't have time to tell him these things.
He could discuss this with Uncle Yan later. No rush, he should first examine how their contracts were signed.
Thinking this, Zhang Liunian picked up the first contract and examined it carefully. The more he read, the more problems he found.
Firstly, there was the issue of rent. Why was even a small corner charged thirty thousand yuan a year? Was this not the price to buy a shop?
When shops were only worth a few thousand, a rent of tens of thousands was simply a joke.
Who would rent such an expensive shop?
Secondly, as he flipped through these contracts, he noticed that the handwriting was somewhat messy.
It seemed as if they were in a hurry to get it done? One could say there were reasons, but if all of them were like this, what did it mean? It meant these documents were all fake.
Zhang Liunian confirmed that this man named Meng Jiechu was holding fake documents. He waved his hand and threw the documents onto the table.
"You are Meng Jiechu, aren't you!" Zhang Liunian leaned back with his arms crossed, staring at him sharply.
Meng Jiechu's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't show it on his face. "Yes."
"You were also part of the Tang family before, weren't you!"
"No, I'm not one of them. I'm just a worker. Whoever pays me, I work for them." Although he sounded prestigious as a manager, strictly speaking, he was just an employee, working for others. He couldn't be counted as part of the Tang family.
Zhang Liunian was speechless. He was shrewd but too cunning. Taking fake contracts was clearly for personal gain.
"It seems like you're being wasted here."
"No, no, no. I am very happy to work for Boss Zhang. Please don't chase me away."
Before Zhang Liunian could finish speaking, Meng Jiechu immediately declared his loyalty.
"I don't need disloyal people. I'll give you one last chance. Bring out the real contracts." Zhang Liunian was displeased and spoke with force.
"It's not that I won't give them to you, it's that I don't have them!" Meng Jiechu said with a distressed face, explaining helplessly.
Zhang Liunian was stunned. Don't have them? How could that be?
"I'm not lying to you. When the Tang family partnered with these people, they took the contracts with them. I have no idea how they cooperated or what the prices were.
I wrote these rents based on their annual income. It's not that I wanted to write such high amounts, but they were all very profitable, so I could only charge a decent rent based on their total annual income. These prices are only one-fiftieth of their earnings."
Meng Jiechu was on the verge of tears. Who would have thought that being a manager would turn out like this.
"..." Zhang Liunian was speechless and was still trying to determine if his words were true.
Sensing his suspicion, Meng Jiechu stepped forward and knelt directly at Zhang Liunian's feet, grabbing his leg and explaining, "Boss Zhang, this is true. I'm not lying to you. If you don't believe me, you can check the filing cabinet. There really isn't a single contract inside. This is the Tang family's habit; they only trust their own people and not outsiders. That's why they didn't give me these important documents."
"..." Zhang Liunian broke free from his grasp, stood up, and indeed checked. He found that there wasn't a single contract.
But this didn't mean he would believe this manager.