Rebirth: Fan Debiao rises from the Liaobei land

The next morning at nine o'clock, in the largest private room on the second floor of Victoria, the "Rich Hall".

Fan Debiao arrived early and sat in the main seat, leisurely sipping tea. Awei sat beside him, while Gangzi stood at the door like a gatekeeper.

At exactly nine o'clock, the door to the private room opened. Five people entered. Leading them was a middle-aged man in his fifties, slightly overweight, with slicked-back hair, wearing a navy blue suit, and carrying a genuine leather briefcase. Behind him were two men and two women, all dressed formally, carrying notebooks and folders.

"Mr. Fan, it's an honor to meet you." The middle-aged man extended his hand with a smile. "I am Zhou Mingyuan from Bird's provincial branch, the vice president in charge of distribution channels."

Fan Debiao stood up and shook hands: "President Zhou, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please have a seat."

Zhou Mingyuan sat down, with his entourage taking seats on either side. A waiter offered to pour tea, but Fan Debiao waved his hand, saying, "Let's get something substantial first. Mr. Zhou, my friend is still in the hospital; he had fourteen stitches in his head. What's the story with that?"

He looked at Fan Debiao and got straight to the point: "Mr. Fan, I understand what happened in Kaiyuan. First of all, on behalf of Bird Company, I would like to formally apologize to you and the injured employee."

After speaking, he stood up and bowed slightly to Fan Debiao. His entourage also stood up.

Fan Debiao didn't move. He waited until Zhou Mingyuan sat down before saying, "President Zhou, I received your apology. But we can't let this matter rest."

Zhou Mingyuan's expression turned serious: "President Fan, we will definitely give you an explanation for this. Old Hu will withdraw from Kaiyuan, publish an apology, pay 150,000 yuan in compensation, and we'll cover the shop repairs. Is that acceptable to you?"

Fan Debiao sneered, "President Zhou, I raised four points, and you agreed to three. What about the one about displaying resources? Why didn't you mention it?"

"Mr. Fan," Zhou Mingyuan said with a wry smile, "it's not that we don't want to agree, it's just that we really can't do it. Retail store owners aren't our employees, we can't force them to arrange their goods in a certain way."

"Then let's not talk about it." Fan Debiao leaned back. "Let's go through legal procedures if necessary, and seize what needs to be seized. Those refurbished machines and parallel import machines in your warehouse—I doubt Old Hu can operate all of them by himself!"

Zhou Mingyuan's expression changed: "President Fan, we're all business people, harmony brings wealth. How about this, you compensate us an additional 50,000, making it 200,000, is that alright?"

"Mr. Zhou," Fan Debiao chuckled, "Do you think I'm short of that 50,000 yuan? My Dexing Communications' daily turnover is more than that."

"Then tell me, what would be acceptable?"

Fan Debiao held up four fingers: "I made four conditions, and not one can be missing. Especially the display resources, they must be given up. Otherwise, anyone will dare to mess with my people, and how will I be able to do business?"

The two froze.

After a long while, Zhou Mingyuan sighed, "President Fan, you're forcing me."

"I didn't force you," Fan Debiao said. "Your men struck first, hitting me on the head with an iron pipe. This is unacceptable no matter where you look at it."

Zhou Mingyuan and the bespectacled young man next to him whispered a few words to each other, then, as if having made up his mind, said, "President Fan, we really can't give up the display resources. But... we have another solution, would you like to hear it?"

"explain."

"We would like you to become the distributor for Waveguide in Kaiyuan."

Fan Debiao raised an eyebrow but didn't reply.

Zhou Mingyuan continued, "Old Hu has been in Kaiyuan for three years, and his sales have remained stagnant. You, General Manager Fan, have only been here for a few months, and TCL and Xiamen are selling like hotcakes. What does that show? It shows that you have the ability and the means."

"At Bird, we care about sales volume. Whoever can sell the goods is a good distributor," Zhou Mingyuan said, leaning forward. "So instead of finding a new distributor to start from scratch, we might as well invite you directly. You have multiple brands and multiple channels. We don't require exclusivity, as long as you can increase sales."

Fan Debiao took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a puff: "President Zhou, you've gone through quite a roundabout way. So all that rambling was just for this?"

"I'm not beating around the bush," Zhou Mingyuan said seriously. "These are two separate matters. As for the assault, compensation should be paid and punishment should be imposed. We hired you as our agent because we value your abilities. Let's keep things separate."

Fan Debiao flicked his cigarette ash: "If I take over the Bird agency, what about the display resources?"

"You're already an agent yourself, why would we need to give you permission?" Zhou Mingyuan laughed. "You can arrange the goods however you want, take up as much counter space as you want. Will the retail store owners listen to you or us?"

Fan Debiao paused for two seconds, then burst into laughter: "President Zhou, that was a brilliant move!"

"Not too high, not too low, let's be realistic." Zhou Mingyuan smiled as well. "President Fan, what do you think of this matter...? Is it negotiable?"

"How does the agency work? Tell me about it."

The young man wearing glasses next to him spoke up: "Mr. Fan, the first batch is 100 units, to be sold out in three months. The purchase price is based on the provincial distributor price, which is 8% lower than Lao Hu's. There will be rebates for achieving the sales target, and there will be a bonus at the end of the year."

Fan Debiao shook his head: "One hundred units isn't enough. I need two hundred."

The young man looked at Zhou Mingyuan. Zhou Mingyuan hesitated for a moment: "President Fan, the Kaiyuan market..."

"I know the Kaiyuan market well," Fan Debiao interrupted him. "I'll definitely sell all two hundred units within three months. If I don't sell them all, I'll buy the rest at the original price. I won't make things difficult for you."

Zhou Mingyuan slapped his thigh: "Alright! Just look at President Fan's confidence, two hundred units!"

"And another thing," Fan Debiao said, "before the Lunar New Year, the provincial company supplied me directly. After the New Year, aren't you going to conduct a channel reform pilot program? Kaiyuan is one of them, and I'll be a direct supply agent. Especially for the S1200 and V10 models that your company plans to launch next year, you must guarantee my supply!"

Zhou Mingyuan's eyes lit up: "President Fan is quite well-informed! He even knows about the channel reform pilot program? He's that optimistic about V10?"

"Those who work in this line of work, shouldn't they do their research first?" Fan Debiao glossed over the question. "So, is it any good?"

"Okay!" Zhou Mingyuan agreed even more readily this time. "Kaiyuan will be the pilot city, and you can be the direct supply agent. The price can be reduced by another two percentage points."

"All done." Fan Debiao stood up and extended his hand.

The two shook hands. Zhou Mingyuan remarked, "President Fan, you're a straightforward person. If Lao Hu had half your ability, things wouldn't have come to this."

"Come on, I'm not as reckless as him," Fan Debiao laughed. "Business is business, fighting is fighting, they're two different things."

After seeing Zhou Mingyuan and his group off, Awei said softly, "Brother Biao, now we have three tokens in our hands."

"What about the three brands?" Fan Debiao picked up his teacup. "These three brands are going to sell like hotcakes in 2003. Especially the Bird V10, just wait and see, it'll be a bestseller."

Gangzi asked, "Brother Biao, what about the people on the Waveguide side...?"

"Have Liu Qiang handle the liaison," Fan Debiao said. "Get the first batch of two hundred units shipped as soon as possible. Oh, and tomorrow, go to the hospital to see Xiao Chen. Make sure he's taken care of. We can't let people think we got the agency rights by sacrificing our employees. Tell him he doesn't need to go to the front lines anymore. The company will arrange for him to be a trainer, and his salary will be increased."

"clear."

In the afternoon, Fan Debiao went to the Industry and Commerce Bureau. Section Chief Sun was drinking tea in his office. Seeing Fan Debiao arrive, he greeted him with a smile, "Boss Fan, have a seat. Is the Bird matter almost resolved?"

"That's about it." Fan Debiao sat down. "Section Chief Sun, thank you very much this time."

"No need to thank me, we're just following the law." Section Chief Sun poured Fan Debiao a cup of tea. "But Boss Fan, you've really become the king of mobile phones in Kaiyuan now." He gave him a thumbs up.

Fan Debiao smiled: "It's all thanks to the support of the leaders."

"So, you'll be handling the distribution for Waveguide from now on?"

"Yes, we just finalized the deal."

"Alright!" Section Chief Sun patted him on the shoulder. "Keep a good job. But Boss Fan, now that you have three licenses in your hands, you're practically the number one in Kaiyuan's mobile phone industry. There will be plenty of envious people, so be careful."

"I know, the bigger the tree, the more the wind blows. By the way, Section Chief Sun, what about those goods in the waveguide warehouse..."

"They should be shut down and fined accordingly," said Section Chief Sun. "Old Hu is in deep trouble this time; the fine will be at least this much."

He held up five fingers.

Fan Debiao nodded: "That's right."

After leaving the Industry and Commerce Bureau, he turned into the police station. Chief Zhao was writing a report in his office when he saw Fan Debiao and invited him to sit down: "Boss Fan, the report on those guys from Bird has been sent to the procuratorate. Old Hu is suspected of instigating assault, plus selling refurbished phones, he's in for a lot of trouble."

"Just do it according to the law," Fan Debiao said. "Officer Zhao, thank you for your help this time."

"No trouble at all, it's my job. But Boss Fan, you're riding high right now, you need to be careful. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."

"I know, I know, I'll keep a low profile."

When I returned to the company in the evening, Liu Qiang greeted me: "Brother Biao, Kejian and Panda called again, saying they want to treat you to dinner..."

"I've cancelled them all," Fan Debiao waved his hand. "I'll just say I've been having diarrhea lately and can't go."

Liu Qiang laughed: "Okay."

Awei came out of the finance office, holding an account book in her hand: "Brother Biao, we received over nine thousand in deposits today. We have nearly two hundred and fifty thousand in cash in the account."

"Keep 50,000 for year-end bonuses, and spend the rest however you like," Fan Debiao said. "By the way, let's talk to General Manager Wu about the payment for the first batch of goods from Bird, and then we'll go through the company account."

"clear."

That evening, Fan Debiao brought fruit to the hospital. Little Chen was already able to walk around, and the bandage on his head had shrunk. His parents saw Fan Debiao and were about to bow, but he stopped them.

"Uncle, Aunt, don't put on that show." Fan Debiao placed the fruit on the bedside table. "Xiao Chen, how are you feeling?"

"I'm much better, Brother Biao," Xiao Chen said. "The doctor said I can be discharged in three to five days."

"No rush, let him recover first." Fan Debiao sat down. "The compensation from Waveguide is 150,000 yuan, it will arrive in a couple of days. They will cover all your treatment costs, and they will also be responsible for any aftereffects."

Xiao Chen's parents wiped away their tears: "Boss Fan, you are our family's greatest benefactor..."

"What benefactor or not?" Fan Debiao said, "Xiao Chen is my employee, so I have to take care of him when he gets into trouble."

He added, "Once you're discharged from the hospital, the company will arrange for you to be a trainer, specifically teaching new employees how to sell products. Your salary will increase by one level, and bonuses will be added on top of that. You won't have to be on the front lines anymore."

Xiao Chen was stunned: "Brother Biao, I...can I do it?"

"Why not?" Fan Debiao said, "You've been beaten before, you know what it's like on the front lines. With that experience alone, you're perfect for training new recruits."

Tears streamed down Xiao Chen's face; he couldn't speak.

It was completely dark when Fan Debiao came out of the hospital. He stood at the doorway lighting a cigarette. The street was brightly lit and bustling with people.

My phone rang; it was Zhou Mingyuan calling.

"Mr. Fan, the first batch of two hundred units has been shipped and will arrive tomorrow afternoon. Also, the detailed plan for the channel reform pilot program has been sent to Awei; please take a look when you have time."

"Okay, Mr. Zhou, I'll have someone pick up the goods tomorrow."