Back to 2008: I Helped My Dad Become the Richest Man

Chapter 81 Buying a house in the provincial capital and distributing benefits to company executives

Mr. Liu's surgery was scheduled for Friday.

Before the surgery, Luo Xiyuan made a decision.

She bought a house in the provincial capital.

The apartment is in a residential complex near Peking Union Medical College Hospital. It has three bedrooms, two living rooms, and is 140 square meters. It's fully furnished and ready to move in.

Her reason for buying the house was simple.

"After his surgery, Mr. Liu needs a quiet and comfortable environment to recover. The hospital is crowded and noisy, which is inconvenient."

When Luo Xinde and Li Minxia followed the real estate agent into the bright, clean, and stylishly decorated house, they both stood frozen at the door.

"Girl, this house must have cost a lot of money, right?" Li Minxia asked softly, touching the smooth marble dining table.

"Not bad," Luo Xiyuan said casually. "Full price, two million six hundred thousand."

Two million six hundred thousand!

Li Minxia felt her legs go weak.

She had never seen so much money in her life.

Now, my daughter can buy a house without even blinking an eye.

It was all for the sake of helping an outsider recover from their illness.

"Xi Yuan, this—this isn't appropriate, is it?" Luo Xinde also felt it was a bit too much. "Spending so much money for Master Liu, isn't that—"

"Dad, Mom," Luo Xiyuan interrupted them, "Do you consider Master Liu an outsider?"

Luo Xinde and Li Minxia both fell silent.

"Without Uncle Liu, there would be no Luo Family Farm today. He is a great contributor to our family and also a member of our family."

Luo Xiyuan looked at them and said, word by word.

"Our company will grow bigger and bigger in the future, and more and more talented people like Mr. Liu will join us. We cannot let down these meritorious people."

"This house will be the first employee welfare housing for our Luo's Group in the provincial capital. It will be specially designed for senior executives who have made outstanding contributions to the company to recuperate and for their families to visit relatives."

"Today, it's Master Liu who's moving in. In the future, it might be Master Sun Dahai, or maybe Xu Yang or Ye Yu from the Shanghai company."

.

"I want everyone who works with us to see that as long as you've risked your life for the company, the company will never treat you unfairly."

Luo Xinde and Li Minxia were deeply moved by their daughter's words.

"Okay, we'll do it your way!" Luo Xinde slapped his thigh, completely convinced.

Mr. Liu's surgery was a success.

Professor Huang Canghai personally performed the procedure and successfully implanted two stents in just over an hour.

After the surgery, Mr. Liu was transferred to a ward for cadres arranged by Wang Defa.

But after only one day, Luo Xiyuan took him to her newly bought house.

As Mr. Liu lay on that soft, comfortable bed, looking out at the night view of the provincial capital, he couldn't utter a single word.

He just kept wiping the corner of his eye with the hand that wasn't on an IV drip.

Luo Xiyuan hired a professional caregiver to take care of Mr. Liu's daily life 24 hours a day.

Li Minxia also came from her hometown and prepared various nutritious meals for Grandpa Liu every day.

Luo Xinde was responsible for keeping Liu company every day, talking to him and relieving his boredom.

The family treated Grandpa Liu like a relative.

Half a month later, Mr. Liu recovered quickly.

He can already get out of bed and walk around slowly.

That day, he called Luo Xiyuan to his room.

He took out a small notebook wrapped in layers of cloth from under his pillow.

He handed the notebook to Luo Xiyuan.

"Girl, take this."

"What is this?" Luo Xiyuan opened it and stopped in her tracks.

The notebook was filled with neat, elegant handwriting, densely recording various feed formulas.

There are sows, piglets, and fattening pigs.

Some are even modified formulas for different varieties and different growth stages.

This is the culmination of Mr. Liu's life's work.

"Master Liu, what's wrong—"

"I don't know how many more years this old body of mine can hold on," Old Liu said, leaning against the headboard and catching his breath. "These things, if left here, will eventually turn to ashes along with me."

"I feel at ease entrusting it to you."

Luo Xiyuan held the notebook, feeling its weight.

She knew that this notebook was more valuable than the house she had bought in the provincial capital.

"Uncle Liu, you will live to be a hundred years old," she said.

"Alright, enough with the nice words." Old Master Liu waved his hand. "I've never had any children. Your Luo family has treated me better than family, and I have nothing to repay you with."

"From now on, you'll have to rely on yourselves at the farm. Ah Wen is a bright kid, a promising talent, so mentor him."

"I know." Luo Xiyuan nodded and carefully put the notebook away.

She knew that from this moment on, the core technology of the Luo family farm had truly been passed down to her.

Just as Luo Xiyuan was busy taking care of Master Liu in the provincial capital, Zhou Liang'an called.

"Little Luo, I've taken care of things for you."

Zhou Liang'an's voice was filled with excitement.

"Director Li is very interested in your project and he would like to meet you in person."

Luo Xiyuan's heart skipped a beat.

She knew that her trip to the provincial capital was about to bring her the crucial test.

"Time and place?" she asked.

"Tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM, in Conference Room 3 of the Provincial Department of Science and Technology," Zhou Liang'an said. "Little Luo, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you must seize it!"

"I understand." Luo Xiyuan hung up the phone, walked to the window, and looked at the endless stream of cars below.

She knew that tomorrow's meeting would determine the future of the Luo Group for the next ten years.

It will also determine how high she can reach in this era.

She took out her phone and sent a text message to Luo Wen.

"Send me the business plan for Happy Farm that I asked you to prepare to my email address immediately."

"I want the version with the most complete content."

Luo Family Village, Luo Family's three-story house.

Luo Wen sat in front of the computer in his study, staring at the stock market candlestick chart on the screen.

Moutai's stock price surged again today. He held the half-used Zhonghua brand pencil in his hand, scribbling calculations rapidly on the draft paper.

He has an extremely high sensitivity to numbers; every fluctuation in money is a clear profit model in his eyes.

The phone on the table vibrated.

Luo Wen picked up his phone and opened the text message; it was from his sister, Luo Xiyuan.

"Send me the business plan for Happy Farm that I asked you to prepare before, to my email immediately. Get the most complete version."

Luo Wen put down his pencil and stared at the text message for two seconds.

My sister is taking care of Master Liu in the provincial capital. If she suddenly asks for this plan, she must be meeting some important person.

He knows his sister's way of doing things all too well; she won't act until she sees the benefit. The fact that she wants the most complete version shows that this important person can make very big decisions.

He exited the stock trading software and opened a hidden folder on his D drive. Inside were all of Roche Group's core documents.

Luo Wen found the document titled "Final Draft of Happy Farm Business Plan".

Instead of clicking send immediately, he double-clicked to open and started reading from the beginning.

My sister asked me to compile this plan two weeks ago, and the data in it is from that time.

In the past two weeks, Happy Ranch has been launched, and user data and revenue have undergone tremendous changes.

If you use data from two weeks ago to negotiate a big deal, your sister will be at a disadvantage at the negotiating table.

Those old foxes are more shrewd when it comes to data than anyone else. Once they discover that the data is outdated, their confidence in negotiations will weaken by three points.

Luo Wen glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer screen; it was 8:30 PM.

He picked up his phone and dialed Xu Yang's number from the Shanghai company.

The phone rang five times before being answered. It was very noisy on the other end; someone was shouting about a server interface problem.

"Hey, Wen, what's up? Does your sister have new instructions?" Xu Yang's voice was loud.

"Brother Xu, go to the back office now and pull up all the core data up to 8 PM today for me." Luo Wen spoke slowly and clearly, without any childishness.

Xu Yang paused for a moment on the other end: "Right now? The tech department is busy fixing a data latency bug in a ranch, so they can't get away."

"My sister needs this data to negotiate a big deal tomorrow," Luo Wen said, adding only this one sentence.

The background noise on the other end of the phone immediately subsided. Xu Yang covered the receiver, and after a few seconds, his voice came through again: "Okay, I'll go get it myself right away. What data do you need?"

"Total registered users, daily active users, conversion rate since Happy Ranch was launched, total revenue last month, and your projected growth curve for next month," Luo Wen said, jotting down notes on a draft paper. "Send these to my QQ email within five minutes."

"No problem." Xu Yang hung up the phone immediately.

Luo Wen placed his phone on the table and began revising the text in the document.

He changed the previous "expected to reach tens of millions of concurrent users" to "successfully achieved tens of millions of concurrent users and is running stably".

He knew that expectations and established facts carried entirely different weight in business negotiations.

As soon as I finished editing the text, the penguin icon in the lower right corner of my computer started flashing.

Xu Yang's email has arrived.

Luo Wen opened the attachment and quickly glanced at the numbers. The total number of registered users had exceeded 120 million, and the daily active users were stable at 25 million.

This data is absolutely top-tier within the domestic internet community.

He replaced the business plan with the latest data and carefully checked the formatting and typos.

After confirming that nothing was missing, he saved the document, logged into his email, and added the file as an attachment.

Press the send button, and the screen will display "Sent successfully".

Luo Wen picked up his phone and sent a text message to his sister: "Sent, the data has been updated to 8 PM tonight."

Two minutes later, Luo Xiyuan replied with two words: "Very good."

Luo Wen put his phone in his pocket, stood up, and stretched. He walked to the window and opened it.

The cold winter wind blowing in made him much more awake.

The yard was quiet, and Uncle Chen's big yellow dog was sleeping in its kennel.

The sound of the front door rattling came from downstairs.

Luo Wen peeked out and saw that it was Foreman Chen Bo, wearing an overcoat, returning from his night patrol of the farm.

"Uncle Chen, going to the pigsty so late?" Luo Wenchong called out from downstairs.

Uncle Chen looked up and saw it was Luo Wen. He rubbed his frozen hands and said, "Ah Wen, you're still awake? I'll go check the ventilation openings over at Phase II. It's gotten colder these past few days, and I'm worried the piglets might catch a chill. Your dad's in the provincial capital; I need to take care of things at home for him."

"You should get some rest." Luo Wen closed the window.

He returned to his desk and put the draft paper into the drawer.

His sister was fighting on the front lines in the provincial capital, while he had to stay home and keep track of the data.

The Luo family's operations have expanded too much; any mistake in any link could have far-reaching consequences.

A high-end residential area near Peking Union Medical College Hospital in the provincial capital.

Luo Xiyuan sat on the sofa in the living room, with a laptop in front of her.

She had just received an email from Rowan.

She opened the document and saw the data updated to 8 PM that evening. She was very satisfied with her younger brother's competence.

Ah Wen is quick-witted; he doesn't need any further instructions from her. He knows exactly what to do and when to do it.

She printed out the document and carefully reviewed it.

She mentally reviewed every piece of data to ensure she could answer fluently when asked about it tomorrow.

The door to the master bedroom opened, and Luo Xinde came out carrying an empty water glass.

"Dad, is Master Liu asleep?" Luo Xiyuan put down the documents in her hand.

Luo Xinde went to the water dispenser, filled a glass with warm water, and sat down on the single sofa.

"He just fell asleep. He seemed to be in good spirits today, even talking about wanting to go back to his hometown to see his pigs soon." Luo Xinde sighed. "That old man, he just can't stand not having something to worry about for a day. The doctor said he just had a stent implanted in his heart and needs to rest well, but he insists his bones are strong."

"The doctor said he needs to rest for at least a month and can't overexert himself." Luo Xiyuan looked at her father. "Don't indulge him too much. As for the pigs, just have Awen take a few pictures every day and send them to him."

Luo Xinde took a sip of water and looked at the stack of papers in his daughter's hand: "Daughter, what are you looking at so late at night? It's already ten o'clock, why aren't you going to sleep?"

"I'm going to meet someone important tomorrow, so I need to prepare some materials," Luo Xiyuan said.

"An important person? Who is it?" Luo Xinde asked casually.

"Li Wenbo, Director of the Provincial Department of Science and Technology."

Luo Xinde almost choked on the mouthful of water he had just drunk.

He coughed several times, put the water glass on the coffee table, and stared at Luo Xiyuan with wide eyes.

"The provincial...the provincial department head?" Luo Xinde stammered. "You silly girl, how did you manage to hook up with such a high-ranking leader without saying a word? Do you think he'll even acknowledge you when you go to see him?"

In Luo Xinde's mind, County Magistrate Zhou Liang'an was already a very high-ranking official.

Normally, he would have to bow and scrape when he met a town mayor in the village, but now that his daughter was going to meet a leader from the provincial department, he felt uneasy and thought this was unreliable.

"Dad, it's not that I went to talk to him, it's that he wanted to see me." Luo Xiyuan's tone was very calm, completely lacking the awe that Luo Xinde had. "Happy Farm paid 3.6 million yuan in taxes to the county last month, which is a remarkable achievement even in the province. County Chief Zhou reported this matter, and naturally the province took notice of us."

"9

Luo Xinde rubbed his hands together and shifted his position on the sofa: "So—so, what gift are you bringing when you meet her tomorrow? Should I buy two packs of good cigarettes? Or maybe some of the best meat from our farm?"

Luo Xiyuan smiled. She knew that her father's thinking was still stuck in the old ways of visiting relatives and handling affairs in the countryside.

"Dad, leaders at this level don't care what kind of cigarettes or alcohol you bring. What they care about is how many jobs, how much tax revenue, and how much political achievement you can bring to this place." Luo Xiyuan patted the plan in her hand. "This document is the best gift I can give him. As long as the numbers on this document can be realized, it will be more effective than giving him mountains of gold and silver."

Luo Xinde nodded, seemingly understanding. He was finding it increasingly difficult to understand his daughter. He felt that the things in her mind were far beyond his comprehension as her father.

"Can you go alone tomorrow? Or should I go with you? I am, after all, the chairman of the Luo Group." Luo Xinde puffed out his chest, trying to find some confidence for himself and also to encourage his daughter.

"No need, Dad," Luo Xiyuan refused directly. "You stay home and take care of Master Liu. County Magistrate Zhou will accompany me tomorrow."

If you go, and the leader asks about internet technology, you won't be able to answer, which will make you look foolish. At the negotiating table, the worst thing is having your cards laid bare.

Luo Xinde thought about it and realized it made sense. He wasn't even very good at using a mouse, let alone the internet. It would be embarrassing if he were stumped.

"Okay, then be careful. Speak politely, and don't lecture your boss like you would at home," Luo Xinde added with concern.

"I know what I'm doing." Luo Xiyuan tidied up the documents and put them into her briefcase.

She stood up, walked to the balcony, and looked at the night view of the provincial capital.

Tomorrow's negotiations will determine whether the Roche Group can truly transform from a township enterprise into a technology conglomerate that can wield significant influence in the province.

She wanted more than just policy support; she wanted a piece of land in the provincial capital where she could settle down.

Only by acquiring land in the provincial capital and building its own industrial park can the Roche Group truly establish its competitive advantage.

By then, whether it's Baidu or Tencent, if they want to touch her, they'll have to consider whether the local government behind her will agree.

Luo Xiyuan took a deep breath of the cold air and turned to go back to her bedroom. She needed plenty of sleep to prepare for tomorrow's tough battle.