Chapter 112: The Story of Liu Xiangjiang

"Third Uncle, do you think RT-Mart will be willing to continue providing us with grain and oil vouchers? We worked so hard before just to get them to agree!" After Boss Huang gave the order, Liu Xiangjiang headed straight for the nearby RT-Mart supermarket.

All the exchange vouchers for Jiangnan’s grain and oil blind boxes this time were RT-Mart vouchers from Shanghai, personally arranged by Liu Xiangjiang. After all, unless it’s a nationwide chain, vouchers can only be negotiated region by region.

Liu Xiangjiang had put in considerable effort and owed many favors before RT-Mart agreed to cooperate.

It’s not that there aren’t other supermarkets nearby; rather, most supermarkets in Shanghai are large chain stores that would dismiss a deal involving just a few thousand vouchers. Their internal processes alone could easily shut down such proposals.

Only RT-Mart, a supermarket recently entering the mainland market from Taiwan Province with several stores in Shanghai, would be willing to engage in such collaboration. Even then, it took Liu Xiangjiang a lot of effort because the person in charge at RT-Mart was from Taiwan Province and notoriously stingy. If Liu hadn’t offered to pay cash upfront for the vouchers, he would have hardly agreed.

So Liu Xiangjiang’s secretary was somewhat worried that negotiations might be difficult.

“It won’t be. Last time it was only a few thousand vouchers, so RT-Mart probably thought it was too small. But this time, the chairman said to buy one hundred thousand vouchers at once. It would be unbelievable if they refused!” Liu Xiangjiang grinned, then patted his secretary on the shoulder. “Jiang Liu, get ready. After we finish tonight, come home with me. You’ve been in Shanghai for months; it’s time you met your third uncle and said hello!”

“Third Uncle, you’ve finally decided to go home!” Jiang Liu, his nephew and part-time secretary, exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes, now your third uncle’s future finally looks promising. It’s time to let your stubborn old third uncle know!” Liu Xiangjiang said proudly.

“But brother-in-law, why now? You made over a million before but never went home. You’re tired today, so why go to Third Uncle’s house now?” Jiang Liu asked, puzzled.

“That’s because no matter how much money I made before, it never felt like a reliable business!” Liu Xiangjiang sighed. “I always worried that leather goods alone couldn’t sustain the whole blind box market. If the chairman didn’t find a way to diversify the product line, the entire blind box venture would collapse quickly.”

“If I had gone home back then, when I had struck it rich, I’d have been a millionaire for a few months before becoming unemployed again. That would have been even more embarrassing. But now it’s different. The chairman’s strategy, although not spectacular, is solid and grounded. You can see from the public’s frenzied shopping today that this is a steady step forward. Your third uncle’s business can thrive for years to come. So now is the perfect time to visit your third uncle!” Liu Xiangjiang said triumphantly.

Including Boss Huang, hardly anyone in Jiangnan knew that Liu Xiangjiang’s identity was far from that of an ordinary college student as he claimed.

It’s simple: Liu Xiangjiang was one of the four guards initially assigned to Boss Huang. When tasked with selling blind boxes back home, the fact that his hometown was Shanghai revealed he was a native Shanghainese.

A native Shanghainese university graduate, even if not working for a Fortune 500 company, would normally cling to Shanghai for work. There was no reason to go to a backwater place like Wenzhou just to work for others.

But Liu Xiangjiang had come all the way here, which was telling.

In truth, Liu Xiangjiang had an impressive grandfather—a veteran who had fought in Jinggangshan, crossed grasslands and snow-capped mountains, and participated in two of the three major battles. Liu Xiangjiang’s name was inspired by the most intense battle the grandfather remembered.

In short, if Liu had followed his parents’ plans obediently, he would have been at least...

But something happened years ago that caused a complete rift with his family, making it impossible to stay in Shanghai. He fled to Wenzhou to find classmates, only to have his wallet stolen and endure a series of unfortunate events, eventually becoming an ordinary worker.

Liu never expected that he would later be recruited to watch over the pitiable Boss Huang, become his brother, return to Shanghai to sell blind boxes, and ultimately earn the right to return home in such an unusual way.

Half an hour later.

“What? You want 100,000 grain and oil consumer vouchers right now?” In the marketing office of Shanghai RT-Mart, Marketing Manager Ke Xuedong was stunned upon hearing Liu Xiangjiang’s request.

Ke had dismissed the previous order of three thousand vouchers as insignificant—worth only about thirty thousand yuan in total sales. No respectable marketing manager would care about such a small amount.

But due to recent poor performance, millions spent on advertising with little sales improvement, and some personal connections, Ke had sold a small batch to Liu, only about twenty thousand yuan worth.

He didn’t expect that just two days later, the other party would want to buy one hundred thousand vouchers—a huge deal. Ke couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Yes, will you sell them?” Liu smiled.

“Of course, but we haven’t printed that many yet. We only have about five thousand vouchers on hand. I can give you all of these. Will that work?” Ke said. Although Liu was a bit dissatisfied, there was no choice but to buy the five thousand vouchers now to hold out for a day or two.

They agreed that Ke would expedite printing to provide the full one hundred thousand vouchers in two days.

“Manager, don’t we still have tens of thousands of vouchers in stock?” After Liu left, one of Ke’s subordinates asked in confusion.

“There’s something fishy here. Investigate how our vouchers are being used and how they’re returning to us. Are they purchased by organizations or distributed to the public for events? Three thousand vouchers were exhausted in a single day. If they weren’t given away for free, there must be a trick!” Ke’s face showed a greedy smile.