2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 623 Xie Hongjun’s Doubts
Tan Jincheng stayed in Shanghai for almost a month.

By the time he returned to Ningbo, it was already March. During this period, many important things had happened. First, the milk powder incident that had caused such a stir in the second half of last year was finally resolved.

The verdict is a good thing, it brings this matter to a close, but it has dealt a fatal blow to domestic milk powder, giving away almost all of its market share.

This matter has little to do with Tan Jincheng. Flash Group doesn't do food-related business, and they don't even want to invest in Tan Jincheng. They might as well not make the money.

In the internet age, public relations for food products is extremely difficult; a single misstep can ruin a well-established reputation.

This matter has little to do with Boss Tan, but another major event does have some connection to him: the new version of the regulations on state-owned asset transactions issued by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

The new rules are more lenient, making it easier for Weilai Auto to handle the follow-up issues after the acquisition of Yangzi Auto and Changfeng Auto.

Furthermore, it will be much more convenient to cooperate with state-owned enterprises in the future, which is a great thing for Flashlink.

Of course, it was this regulation that led to the emergence of many large central and state-owned enterprises.

"There are pros and cons. A larger scale means greater international competitiveness. As for the downsides, I don't need to elaborate. Your Flash has grown from a small company to a large one."

Xie Junhong of Beicang City Investment was accompanying Tan Jincheng and Chang Zeyu on an inspection of the Meishan Island area to plan the site selection for the joint venture factory. The two were also discussing the consequences of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's document.

Following the 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan and the urban investment reform plan, Xie Junhong's status has been significantly elevated.

Unless it's a major project, you generally won't see him anymore; he's no longer the "errand runner" he used to be.

To some extent, the cooperative relationship between Flashpoint and the city investment company has changed. Previously, Xie Junhong, who needed projects, relied heavily on entrepreneurs like Tan Jincheng who were good at creating opportunities and getting things done.

Not to mention that Tan Jincheng was also very efficient, and was able to take Flash Technology public within a few years.

However, Xie Hongjun now has much more freedom as he holds a large amount of land. Housing prices are rising rapidly, and even without projects, the city investment company can develop commercial and residential buildings to make a profit.

With his increased power and status, Xie Hongjun could no longer maintain his previous attitude towards ordinary business partners, but he remained consistent with Tan Jincheng.

Since 2004, Beicang District has entered a period of rapid development and has done a very good job in attracting investment, with many foreign companies settling in. However, that is the achievement of the investment promotion bureau and has nothing to do with Xie Hongjun.

He was supposed to be a supporting actor in investment promotion, but after meeting Tan Jincheng, he had many more opportunities to appear in the spotlight. No one understood why this young man preferred to cooperate with urban investment companies, as almost all of his physical enterprises had the shadow of Beicang Urban Investment.

If it weren't for his own mistake, Beicang City Investment might have even had the opportunity to get involved in the internet industry. But in any case, Xie Hongjun has always been grateful to Tan Jincheng over the years.

His habit of bringing Beicang City Investment along has given him many opportunities to appear in the media at the district, city, province, and even national levels, the implications of which are self-evident.

Not to mention that Flash Group is still constantly launching large projects. Although the city investment company does not hold shares in this joint venture factory, it does have shares in Weilai Automobile, so it can be considered to have a part in it.

At this point, he had to admire Tan Jincheng's foresight. A few years ago, Meishan Island was nothing. Shanchi could easily take over areas near the regional government, such as Xin Gang, Da Gang, or even Xiao Gang, but he set his sights on this place.

With two car factories now in operation, the future trend of Meishan Island is already clear, and Flash Motors, which owns a large plot of land on Meishan Island, is bound to be the biggest winner.

"By the way, why don't you build some commercial and residential properties on Meishan Island? The seaside villas in Chunxiao are selling quite well. You could also develop a plot on Meishan Island."

Thinking about the land, Xie Hongjun couldn't help but offer a reminder.

Starting in the second half of last year, housing prices began to rise sharply. A large portion of the houses owned by Flash in the city were pre-sold before the price increase, resulting in significant losses.

Property prices have only just started to rise, and sea-view properties are currently a popular type of property. If you have land, it would be better to develop some of it.

"Haha, there's no need. The houses will be built, but we're not in the real estate business. Building the houses is more about solving the housing needs of our employees. As long as we don't lose money, it's fine."

Tan Jincheng laughed. These days, the concept of sea-view apartments is very popular. The so-called sea-view apartments in Chunxiao have risen to 1.2 yuan per square meter, and villas are even more expensive.

If Flash Realty were to implement this at this time, its employees would be cursing them to death a few years later, as Flash Realty primarily focuses on internal sales.

"That's a bit of a pity. I don't know why you don't go into real estate. It's really profitable. Look at Shenzhou, they've acquired a lot of land and have a ton of residential development plans."

Xie Hongjun said with a hint of regret.

“Our business structures are different. In terms of investment, we need to be much larger in the future. We really can’t do real estate.”

Xie Hongjun nodded in agreement. Indeed, Flashcar's power batteries and cars require huge investments, as does its real estate business. Flashcar simply cannot make that kind of money, which is a bit of a pity.

This kind of investment is huge, but it's also really profitable. And with current policy support, the city investment company already has its own commercial and residential building development plans. "The city investment company will develop residential buildings, and they'll reserve a couple of good ones for you when they're ready," Xie Hongjun said with a smile.

"Okay, then you'll have to give me a discount. But speaking of which, the first phase of our Jinyue Mansion project is almost ready for handover. What do you think?"

"Haha, forget it, those are all your company's employees, I won't take advantage of that."

Xie Hongjun understood what Tan Jincheng meant. There were some things he could say openly, but Tan Jincheng couldn't say them too explicitly. Besides, their relationship didn't warrant playing these games.

He doesn't lack that little bit, just like Tan Jincheng simply asked him to give him a discount; those who know, know.

Jinyue Mansion is a residential community for employees developed by Shanchi. The first phase of the project, consisting of 432 apartments, will be delivered in June of this year, which is only 3 months away from the official delivery date.

If you were to ask Flash employees what they're most looking forward to right now, it would definitely be when the houses will be delivered and when the second phase of the project will start.

“There are two factories on Meishan Island. You can’t do without developing residential buildings. If you need any help, remember to let me know. I can still provide some assistance, such as construction companies and funding.”

"Well, we'll talk about that later. Anyway, there will be employee dormitories during the factory's construction process."

Tan Jincheng had a headache. To put it bluntly, the houses in Meishan and Chunxiao were just pure exploitation. They were selling for over 10,000 yuan now, but at their peak, they could be speculated up to nearly 20,000 yuan. By 2023, they had all recovered to around 5,000 or 6,000 yuan.

Tan Jincheng doesn't object to building residential buildings within the city limits; regardless of what the future holds, buying now is a profitable investment. However, he really doesn't want to build on Meishan Island.

After Xie Hongjun said so much, Tan Jincheng understood his meaning perfectly well. He just wanted Shanchi to cooperate with the city investment company in the joint development.

"If the city investment company is willing to develop, remember to reserve a batch of houses with good layouts for us. The company can buy them for our senior executives to live in."

"Alright, it seems you really aren't interested in real estate. Well then, I won't make things difficult for you. But there's something else you need to tell me."

Xie Hongjun realized that Tan Jincheng was genuinely uninterested in real estate. As for his claims of not having enough money or energy for large investments, those were just excuses.

He had laid out his meaning for so long; if Tan Jincheng still didn't understand, then it was pure nonsense.

That shouldn't be the case. With Tan Jincheng's discerning eye, he couldn't possibly not see that developing real estate is a very profitable business. Why doesn't he have any interest at all?
Forget it, if they don't want to get into real estate, then let's find someone else.

"Is there anything else, Mr. Xie? Didn't you want to talk about real estate investment?"

"That's what I wanted to say, but since you're not happy about it, I can't say anything more. Now let's talk about something else."

Xie Hongjun shrugged helplessly.

"Haha, thanks for your understanding, brother. To be honest, the real estate industry is too complicated, I don't want to get involved. I'll just stick to making good cars. I'm looking forward to the launch of Weilai's first car as soon as possible."

"I understand. If you don't want to do it, then don't. Tell me what's going on with Orange Telecom?"

The things you can't have always seem more appealing. Missing out on Orange Technology is a lifelong regret for him; think of all the money he missed out on!

Since then, he has been keeping an eye on Orange Technology's developments, until a few days ago when he saw a newly registered company called Yongcheng Orange Electric Information Co., Ltd. at the Administration for Industry and Commerce, with Gu Qingqing as the legal representative.

The new company has a very wide range of business operations, mainly in the internet sector. After some inquiries, I learned that the live streaming project we had previously worked on was actually going to be spun off from Orange Technology.

"Oh, you mean that one? A colleague of Orange's has incubated a live streaming project, the one I streamed on before the Lunar New Year, and they're planning to spin it off into an independent platform."

The first thing they wanted to do was get him involved in real estate. Tan Jincheng thought the second thing would be something big, but it turned out to be this.

Upon hearing this, Xie Hongjun smiled and asked, "Do you need to invest?"

"Huh? You want to invest without even understanding the specifics?"

"Haha, to be honest, I've already been burned by Orange Technology once, so I'm too lazy to ask again this time. I'm just thinking of getting my revenge. How about giving your older brother a chance?"

He had watched the live stream, but he didn't know what scale it could reach. However, he did know one thing: the legal representative of Orange Electric Information was Gu Qingqing, who had just stepped down as CEO of Orange Technology.

Based on this alone, he knew that he couldn't possibly lose money if he participated in venture capital rounds!
The premise is whether Tan Jincheng will give him this opportunity; Orange Technology's projects are truly not lacking in investment.

(End of this chapter)