Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 152 I Have a Date with Football (Part )

"Second brother, you are awesome."

At around 8 or 9 o'clock that night, A Zu came back from outside. As soon as he came back, he couldn't wait to pour a glass of water. He drank the water while walking around and talking to Er Lao who was lying on the sofa. Today was a holiday and the tea restaurant business was pretty good. Er Lao was very tired and said perfunctorily: "I have done many great things. Which one are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the idea you had at noon." A-Zu took another big sip of water and said while panting.

As soon as the second brother mentioned this, he was no longer sleepy. He jumped up on the sofa and said, "You poor boy, you still have the nerve to talk about what happened at noon. We were thinking about it so much, and you ate the watermelon and then stepped on the watermelon rind and disappeared without a trace." The more he talked, the more excited the second brother became.

A Zu explained with a shameless face: "Second brother, you are the boss, why do you need me to plan these things? So I can't easily express my opinion, but I went to many places this afternoon. After my investigation, I can now tell you loudly that your idea was stolen."

It turned out that A-Zu had been out doing research (shopping) all afternoon. After playing (researching) for the whole afternoon, he hurried home to express his conclusion. Er Lao got even angrier when he heard this, "What do you mean? What do you mean by stealing?"

"Not to mention Western restaurants like Green Kiss and Monlilalo, even food stalls like Zhu Ji, Fa Ji and Niu Ji have been newly decorated, ready to attract fans to watch the World Cup. That's fine, but even that shabby herbal tea shop at the end of the street has two big TVs. Don't you think you stole that idea?" Ah Zu told the second brother what he had seen and heard that afternoon, and finally questioned him.

Green Foot, Green Court Western Restaurant Chain, was a very famous Western restaurant when I was a kid. In early 2002, it was rated as one of the "Top Catering Enterprises in China" and was awarded the title of "Famous Chinese Catering Restaurant" by the Chinese Cuisine Association. It can be said to be a benchmark for the Western restaurant industry in Guangdong Province. Monte Carlo is also a very famous Western restaurant, but its business is getting worse and worse. Several other food stalls are also well-known old stores in Xiguan.

When the second brother heard what A Zu said, he became extremely anxious. He stood up and walked around while saying angrily: "Oh, boss, I told you a long time ago that you must have brand awareness. Otherwise, you will be copied by others if you are not careful." The more the second brother thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Such a good idea was actually done by someone else first.

"Second brother, you are such a fool. Everyone has fried dough sticks on New Year's Eve, but it's not interesting at all when it comes to innovation." A Zu commented. Everyone went into the store to watch the World Cup, which meant that no one was doing it.

"No." A Yao disagreed with A Zu's opinion. He said to Er Lao, "I remember your slogan. It was about coming to famous restaurants, drinking famous wines, and watching famous teams play in the World Cup. It was quite innovative. I also paid attention to the imagination that A Zu mentioned, but they just decorated it to deal with it. They didn't do it seriously at all."

Er Lao nodded, and his mood, which had cooled down a little just now, became excited again. "That's right, they are just doing routine things like the New Year or other festivals. I want to make a fuss about the word 'name'. How can this not be original, A Zu?"

A-Zu was not convinced either, and asked a series of questions: "Famous restaurant? Did you name it yourself? Famous wine? Your restaurant sells it, but other restaurants don't? Celebrity? Who? You?"

Er Lao was speechless after being asked this question. He lowered his head and thought hard for a while. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and said, "These are not problems. As long as we invite a celebrity to come to the store, won't all these problems be solved?"

He stood up as he spoke, and became more and more excited as he spoke. The more he spoke, the more perfect his idea became. "That's right, that's right. The more I think about it, the better it seems. We can invite a football star to our Ruhao Tea Restaurant. Come to our tea restaurant, drink with the football star and watch the World Cup. How can this business not be popular?"

"Tsk, what a waste. They even invited the old lady selling rice dumplings. There is nothing new about it." Grandpa still shook his head, not optimistic about this idea. "They just hung a huge photo of Milou next to the rice dumpling barrel. Is it useful? It's still the same."

"So, as for you, that old lady invited a photo, but I want to invite a real person." Er Lao said, with his hands on his waist, "We used to have so many international players in Guangdong Province. Now they have retired. They can watch the game at home or come to our Ru Hao Tea Restaurant to watch the game, and they can also make money. I don't believe that no one is willing."

As expected of the second brother, he has a natural business mind. In the 1980s, Guangdong Province had a spurt of football talent. Since Guangdong players were generally not physically strong, their style was basically to focus on ground short passes and two-wing flying, and to create scoring opportunities through excellent dribbling skills and small-scale exquisite cooperation, which was called southern football. These players occupy half of the national team and also inject this style into the national team, playing what the media praised as "the most entertaining national team". However, in recent years, with the height of the players, Guangdong football has also lost its own characteristics, and southern football has gradually disappeared in the long river of history.

However, those retired representatives of southern football, those former international players, still have great influence and fame in Guangdong Province, especially in the Cantonese region. If we can really invite one of them to Ruhao Tea Restaurant to watch football and drink with everyone, then the business of Ruhao Tea Restaurant will definitely be so popular that it will open a branch in the same place.

"Speaking of national team players, I know the dwarf Zhao Dayu." A Zu's words excited the big guys Guang Erlao and A Yao, and they surrounded A Zu and asked him about the details.

Zhao Dayu is a legendary soccer star from Guangdong Province. When he scored the winning goal against Argentina in the 1984 Nehru Gold Cup, Da Lao Guang was 24 years old, Er Lao was 20 years old, A Yao was 16 years old, and A Zu was 10 years old. Therefore, the four of them were die-hard fans of Zhao Dayu, and they were very excited when A Zu said that he knew him. At that time, Kang Qirui was only 6 years old, and he retired soon, so Kang Qirui watched the show calmly. "It's not a direct acquaintance, but it's also an indirect acquaintance." A Zu said. "Indirectly? How is it indirect?" Da Lao Guang asked.

"My elementary school classmate's relative's middle school classmate's relative knows him. I heard that he came back from the country of childhood." A Zu said excitedly, but no one gave him the same response. They all laughed. Kang Qirui couldn't hold it in anymore and laughed, "You're being too indirect, hahahahahaha. If that's the case, I also indirectly know the President of the United States."

"That's right. You're stretching it too far." A Yao scolded A Zu, and then said to Kang Qirui, "A Rui, how did you get to know the President of the United States indirectly? You don't want to say that you knew him through Diana, do you? Hahahaha."

"You say I'm making it up, but Rui is the one making it up. Diana doesn't even know their president." Zu's behavior is like falling to the ground and then scooping up the sand (that's the Ah Q spirit).

Kang Qirui didn't want to let him off, and he started counting: "I know our principal, our principal knows the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education knows Comrade Zemin, and Comrade Zemin knows the President of the United States. According to the fourth brother, I know the President of the United States indirectly. My indirect knowledge is more direct than the fourth brother's."

Now A-Zu couldn't refute it, he pretended to drink water to hide his embarrassment. Er Lao waved his hand and said, "Forget it, it's better to have indirect information than not. A-Zu, you handle this line for me, and I'll handle the other things." He directly assigned the task to A-Zu. Although A-Zu was stunned, how could he handle it if it was indirect? But he still agreed to it.

At eight o'clock the next morning, Zhang Yongfang arrived at Kang's house. Last night, Kang Qirui suddenly notified her to come for a meeting, so she came early. "Yongfang is here, have you had breakfast?" the maid asked after opening the door for Yongfang.

"I've eaten. Thank you Aunt Kang. Have A Rui and the others gotten up yet?" Zhang Yongfang asked politely with a smile. "They are having breakfast. Go find them." The nanny replied.

Kang Qirui asked Zhang Yongfang to wait for a while when he saw her coming in. After finishing his breakfast quickly, he called others to have a meeting at the patio garden. He first took Zhang Yongfang to make tea at the patio garden and waited while drinking. Although Metersbonwe headquarters is the major shareholder of Guangzhou Metersbonwe, it is not completely a branch company, but a cooperative model of agents. Therefore, Metersbonwe headquarters does not participate in the company's decision-making. The six people who directly or indirectly have shares in Guangzhou Metersbonwe are Kang Qirui, Zhu Wanling, Erlao Ersao, Xingzi, and Zhang Yongfang.

Because they were all members of the Kang family, and Zhu Wanling had just given birth and the second sister-in-law was pregnant. Therefore, there was no particular arrangement, and the meeting was held directly at the Kang family. Soon everyone was gathered, and Kang Qirui recounted the plan he had discussed with Xingzi yesterday.

"If the Chinese national football team wins a game, American Bank will refund the full amount?" Like Sachiko, everyone was very surprised by this activity plan. Kang Qirui saw everyone's reaction and said confidently: "Seeing your surprised expressions, I know this activity will be very successful."

"Huh?" No one understood.

"Even you are so surprised. Guess how passers-by will react after we advertise this promotion in the store? Will people who originally wanted to buy things in the store buy more? Will people who originally had no intention of buying anything be tempted to buy a few pieces of clothing?" Kang Qirui explained to everyone: "Now is the time of changing seasons. Many people plan to buy new summer clothes in the next two months. Our store's promotion is so strong and attractive that it will definitely set off the entire market."

"That's good, but if they win, I'm afraid we'll go bankrupt." The second sister-in-law said worriedly. Everyone knows that business will be booming with this event and the change of seasons, but if they really have to refund all the money, won't they lose everything? Zhang Yongfang also frowned and said, "Anyway, we don't understand football. I just want to ask Arui, how sure are you that the Chinese national team can't win? Not only can we not accept it if they win, but we can't even afford to refund half of the money for every point."

The second brother thought about it, went to the living room and took out a newspaper, pointed to the World Cup grouping on it and analyzed it for everyone: "We definitely can't beat Brazil. Turkey made it to the quarterfinals of the European Cup before, but it's not a good match. Costa Rica, Arui, do you think we can't beat Costa Rica either?"

I have to say that the fans nowadays are still happy. They even dare to think that they can beat Costa Rica. The fans in the future will be miserable. Even Singapore dare not say that it will win. In response to the question of the second noodle man, Kang Qirui nodded and said, "The second brother has just talked about Brazil and Turkey. Then I will talk about Costa Rica. They are not weak. They have won several championships in Central and North America. We have not even won an Asian championship. Don’t look at their small reputation. It’s really not something we can win. I can say with certainty that we can not only not beat these three teams, but we can’t even get a single point."

He drank a sip of tea and let everyone digest the information. After a while, he continued: "The worst case scenario is that the national football team is lucky and scores a goal, but in that case, it is only 20% off, and we will still have a 5% profit, so we still make money."

Seeing Kang Qirui's affirmation, everyone agreed to this plan. In fact, they had no choice but to disagree. Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling's combined shares were the absolute majority shareholders of Qingjin Clothing, and they could forcefully promote this activity, but he still chose to discuss it with everyone, which meant that he gave everyone face. Then everyone couldn't help but give him face, and they all nodded in agreement with sufficient reasons.

After the meeting, Zhang Yongfang and Sachiko went back to work, while Er Lao went back to the tea restaurant to prepare for the celebrity wine viewing and the World Cup event.

(End of this chapter)