Chapter 74 (074) There's a Ghost

As I entered the office, the aroma of rich coffee filled the air.

Ye Baoling turned to Lin Zhizhi and said, "I don't want coffee today, could you get me a cup of black tea instead?"

Lin Zhizhi immediately responded.

After she brought over the black tea, Ye Baoling asked, "What are the plans for this morning?"

"There are two itineraries to choose from. The first is a tasting event for the new product by the product development team around 10 a.m.; the second is that the first batch of jasmine iced tea destined for the United States will depart this afternoon, and the brand department has arranged for reporters to go to the port to take photos and report in the morning. Would you like to go too, Miss?"

Ye Baoling was in a dilemma. She asked Zhizhi, "Which one should I go to?"

Lin Zhizhi suggested with a smile, "Perhaps blind selection for new products is more important. The reporter can just take photos and let the brand department follow up."

Ye Baoling nodded: "Okay, I'll do as you say."

At exactly 10 o'clock, the product department held an internal tasting of their new iced black tea.

Having learned from the previous experience, this time we conducted the tasting under both room temperature and chilled conditions.

Ye Baoling was not very satisfied after trying them. They were not as amazing as the jasmine iced tea she had last time, nor as delicious as the iced black tea she had drunk in later years.

The head of the R&D team asked for everyone's opinions: "How did you feel after drinking it?"

"It's alright, better than monk fruit herbal tea."

"It tastes better than other tea drinks on the market, but it can't compare to our jasmine iced tea."

"The reason why jasmine iced tea is so delicious is because the tea flavor is just right. The tea in these other recipes is either too strong or too weak."

Everyone offered their opinions.

Finally, Ye Baoling said, "Of these recipes, recipe number 7 is not bad, but the tea flavor is too strong and a bit astringent, and the sweetness is also too heavy. You can try adding some citric acid or malic acid, which will make the flavor richer. The advantages and disadvantages of these recipes are very obvious. It might be a waste of manpower to conduct a blind selection now. You can adjust them first."

The R&D team quickly jotted down the key points, but someone raised an objection: "Won't adding citric acid make the taste a bit strange?"

Ye Baoling remembered that the iced black tea she used to drink was sweet with a hint of sourness and had a very rich flavor. "You guys try it first. I used to drink black tea with citric acid, and it tasted very good."

"Okay, let's all give it a try."

After the meeting, it was already noon, and Ye Baoling, Gu Man'er, and Wang Simin went out for lunch together.

Ye Baoling drove to a Cantonese restaurant that was quite far away for afternoon tea.

Ye Baoling has been very busy lately, and the three-person team hasn't had lunch together in a long time.

After sitting down, Gu Man'er said generously, "Order whatever you like, it's on me today."

Wang Simin glanced at her sideways: "What? struck it rich? Getting married? Need our help?"

Faced with Wang Simin's four questions, Gu Man'er smiled slightly: "No, I'm planning to switch jobs and work at a law firm. There will probably be fewer and fewer opportunities to have lunch together like this in the future."

Gu Man'er had discussed this matter with Ye Baoling beforehand, and Ye Baoling supported her leaving Ye Qingtang to showcase her talents at a law firm.

I have a chance to work as a junior lawyer at a big law firm, why not give it a try?

"But that's okay, we can arrange it for the evening or the weekend."

Wang Simin chuckled twice: "You're such a heartless guy when it comes to women, you'll be hard to get a date with in the future. I'm going to make you pay dearly today."

She picked up the pencil and menu from the table, "I want jellyfish and smoked pork hock, crab roe xiao long bao, and ham siu mai..."

I ordered five items in one go.

Ye Baoling didn't stand on ceremony and ordered three more expensive dishes.

Gu Man'er, whose wallet had been drained by the large amount of food she couldn't finish, ordered an extra serving of dried vegetable porridge.

The three of them ate and chatted. Although they had different backgrounds, abilities, and personalities, the journey they had taken together was destined to make them close friends.

On the way back to the company, Wang Simin reported to Ye Baoling on the recent movements of Ye Kaishen, Cai Yongming, and others.

Gu Man'er, who was listening from the sidelines and couldn't get a word in edgewise, finally concluded: "Wang Simin is very much like a eunuch now."

"What factory manager?"

“My cousin is the emperor. And you are the Grand Eunuch of the Eastern Depot, responsible for secretly monitoring the actions of all officials. You are extremely insidious and terrifying.”

This remark made Ye Baoling and Wang Simin burst into laughter.

After laughing enough, Wang Simin retorted, "You're the one who's insidious and terrifying! I'm Ye Qingtang's ICAC informant, a decent and upright person, understand?"

If Ye Baoling wanted to monitor the people she wanted to monitor, the cleaners and security guards would be in the company, while Chen Weiqiang would be in charge, leading his henchmen and private investigators.

She has money and is willing to spend money to support these people who are useful to her.

She enjoyed the feeling of being in control of everything from the shadows.

In the afternoon, the first batch of jasmine herbal tea destined for the United States officially set sail from the port.

A few days later, Ye Baoling instructed the product department to be ready to produce the next batch of goods at any time.

However, the factory's production capacity was severely insufficient, so Qu Zhengming convened a coordination meeting with senior management.

Factory manager Zeng truthfully stated, "A while ago, in order to rush this batch of goods from L&D, all three production lines in the factory were used to produce American-made jasmine iced tea. Now we are working non-stop to catch up on orders from other regions. Even so, we are still worried about not being able to deliver to our Southeast Asian customers on time. This is still the off-season. If it were the peak season, we simply wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand."

Tsai Yung-ming, who had previously opposed adding more production lines, surprisingly relented today: "Then let's add one more production line."

Qu Zhengming worriedly said, "The American market hasn't started selling yet, so I think we should be conservative and not rush to produce the second batch of American-made jasmine iced tea. However, we can rush to complete the other orders here first, and then see if we can free up some time. If we rush to complete the orders, we'll have to hire more temporary workers so that there won't be any problems with shift work."

Ye Baoling believes that jasmine iced tea will be a hot seller in the United States, but there is no way to be 100% sure that it will be successful.

If it's successful and becomes a hot seller, production and shipping will take time, and there's a high chance of stock shortages in the US. In that case, all the initial hype and advertising will have been for nothing.

Qu Zhengming's method may work in the short term, but it is ultimately not a long-term solution.

She asked, "Approximately how much would it cost to add a production line?"

Factory Director Zeng: "1.7 million. This needs group approval, and with the time for procurement and installation, it will take at least two months."

Cai Yongming was clearly prepared: "There is another route to choose from."

What route?

“Jiaqi Beverage Factory wants to transfer ownership. They have two production lines. If we can buy Jiaqi, all these problems can be solved quickly.”

The name Jiaqi Beverage Factory sounded familiar, but Ye Baoling couldn't recall any beverages on the market with the name Jiaqi.

Someone nearby explained, "Jiaqi Beverage Factory is a small factory that opened a few years ago. They mainly do OEM production of orange-flavored soda for others. They don't have their own brand."

Qu Zhengming: "Shouldn't such a major decision as buying a beverage factory be made by the group?"

Matters involving group decisions tend to be slow.

Cai Yongming looked at Ye Baoling: "If Miss goes to talk to the boss, it might speed things up."

Ye Baoling never considered acquiring a beverage factory in Hong Kong, where labor and material costs were much higher than in the mainland. Her idea was to acquire land in Shenzhen and open a factory there.

However, this also requires time to prepare; it's impossible to have production capacity in less than six months.

Ye Baoling noticed Cai Yongming's enthusiastic recommendation to purchase Jiaqi Beverage Factory, but she didn't show any wariness on her face. Instead, she asked, "Do you have any information about Jiaqi Beverage Factory?"

Cai Yongming is ready.

His secretary gave everyone a copy of the materials.

Upon closer inspection, Ye Baoling remembered that Jiaqi Beverage Factory was an employer that Gu Man'er had worked for in 1988 in the original drama.

In the original script, due to the continuous increase in labor and material costs in Hong Kong in recent years, Jiaqi Beverage Factory could no longer continue to do the low-profit OEM business in Hong Kong, so it decided to move to the mainland to open a factory, and the factory here was sold.

Before the transfer procedures were completed, the government announced that a landfill would be built in the ravine near the Jiaqi Beverage Factory in two years. Upon hearing this news, the seller broke the contract and refused to buy the product, leading to a lawsuit between the two parties.

Ye Baoling remained calm and simply said, "I need to go back and discuss it with Grandpa first."

After the meeting, Cai Yongming returned to his office and had barely sat down when he received a call from Ye Kaishen.

"Is there anything wrong?" Ye Kaishen asked about the bag of white powder.

Cai Yongming replied, "It was put in last night and left port smoothly today. Everything is proceeding according to plan."

Ye Kaishen smiled and said, "Then let's wait for news."

Cai Yongming: "In the meeting just now, Ye Baoling wanted the factory to expand production. I told her about the transfer of Jiaqi Beverage Factory, and she seemed very interested. She said she would go back and discuss it with the chairman."

Ye Kaishen was overjoyed upon hearing this: "That's great. She thinks the American market is secure, but she's too young and naive. Once the American market collapses, the Jiaqi factory she bought will be a money-losing business. I'd like to see how she handles that."

Cai Yongming asked worriedly, "Has the chairman heard about the landfill that will be built near Jiaqi's factory beforehand?"

Ye Kaishen was quite confident: "It shouldn't be. It's currently in the confidential stage, and the news will be made public next spring. The person in charge of site selection is my best brother, otherwise I wouldn't know."

"I've done my best. The rest is up to you, Mr. Shen." Cai Yongming implied that he had done everything he could and begged for leniency.

Ye Kaishen understood: "Don't worry, after this, you will no longer be the acting general manager of Ye Qingtang Herbal Tea, but the general manager."

"Thank you, Mr. Shen, for giving me this opportunity."

After hanging up the phone, Cai Yongming's smile vanished. At this point, he could only hope that Ye Kaishen would win.

*

After the meeting, Ye Baoling left work early and went to Qiyuan's office to discuss recent investment matters with Liu Haonan.

Hong Kong stocks have been sluggish recently. Ye Qingtang's stock price only rose for a few days before falling back down, and Liu Haonan is sweeping it up as much as he can.

With the remaining money, she instructed Liu Haonan to buy shares of Hong Kong-listed companies when the price was low.

US stocks are slowly recovering, and people are gradually going long, but they don't dare to use too much leverage. However, if the market rises, going long will be more profitable than going short.

At this point, Ye Baoling left the decision of which stocks to invest in entirely to Liu Haonan.

Without any plot hints, she chose to trust the professional's opinion.

When she got home in the evening, she told her grandfather about wanting to add more production lines.

Ye Qizu was very conservative. While feeding the fish, he said, "Although we signed an 80 million order with L&D, if our products don't sell well in the United States, then the subsequent 80 million orders will just be numbers. You should wait patiently until the first batch of goods arrives in the United States and see how it sells there. If it sells well, everyone will be happy. If there are renewal orders, then we can find a way to speed up production."

Ye Baoling also took some fish bait and sprinkled it into the bathtub: "If it sells well normally, we can definitely make it in time. But what if it becomes a huge hit? By the time they place an order and we schedule production and ship it over, it will already be March or April next year."

"That's an extremely optimistic scenario. Even so, a gap in the gap wouldn't be a big deal."

“It will cause great damage. Once this kind of fast-moving consumer goods disappears from supermarkets, all the previous promotional efforts will be wasted.”

"Adding production lines also takes time, and it's probably too late anyway, isn't it? The method Qu Zhengming mentioned earlier is quite good."

“Cai Yongming recommended a beverage factory for sale. If we buy this factory, we can perfectly solve these problems.” As she spoke, Ye Baoling turned around and took out some documents from her handbag on the chair, handing them to Ye Qizu.

Ye Qizu walked back to his desk, put on his reading glasses, and began to read the documents.

The old man's eyes lit up instantly upon seeing the information. There were two production lines, the factory occupied a considerable area, and it was located in the northern district, which was relatively remote. The price should not be too expensive.

Even if we don't need so many production lines in the future and have to close the factory, we can use connections and spend some money to change this land from industrial land to residential land.

As long as the price is right, you won't lose money no matter how you calculate it.

Ye Qizu was quicker to plan than anyone else. He immediately instructed Uncle Xing: "Call Huang Ying and have her come over right away."

Huang Ying is the daughter of Ye Qizu's sister and the deputy general manager of the investment department.

Ye Baoling had met Huang Ying a few times and had a good impression of her.

A single person in their thirties, decisive and rational in their actions.

Previously, Ye Qizu wanted Huang Ying to take Ye Baoshun under her wing, but she was clever and made an excuse to decline.

Huang Ying arrived just as it was time for dinner.

We sat down and had a meal together.

While eating, Ye Baoling explained the situation to her in detail.

Ye Qizu: "Huang Ying, you go talk to them first and find out what the price range is. If it's suitable, we'll take it. If not, you can think of a way to negotiate until it's suitable."

It's clear that the old man really wants this factory.

Huang Ying nodded in agreement: "Okay, I understand now, then we'll talk."

After saying that, she added, "Actually, they themselves couldn't hold on any longer and were already planning to open factories in the mainland. Uncle, should we also consider investing in the mainland? I recently went to Shenzhen twice and found that the development and changes there are very rapid. Opening a factory in Shenzhen is very cost-effective."

Ye Qizu remained conservative as always: "I've heard that the situation has been a bit unstable lately. Let's wait until things calm down before making any decisions. Isn't the third branch of the family building a port in Shenzhen? Let's see how their construction goes."

Ye Baoling laughed and said, "They dare to invest billions, while we can only invest tens of millions in factories in the mainland. Even so, Grandpa, you still don't dare. No wonder the gap between the third branch of the family and us is getting bigger and bigger. We can't even see their taillights anymore."

Ye Qizu: "..."

Huang Ying was stunned. No one in this family had ever dared to speak to the old man like that. Even Ye Baoshun only acted spoiled and unreasonable, never dared to mock him like that. Ye Baoling was the first person to do so.

The key point is that the old man tolerated it.

That's amazing.

After dinner, Ye Baoling had a half-hour private chat with Huang Ying, and the two found they were very compatible.

"What if your grandfather investigates?"

"I'll take care of it, Auntie, you don't need to worry."

Huang Ying knew about Ye Baoling's deeds at Ye Qingtang over the past six months, and she inexplicably had great confidence in her niece. "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Over the next month, Huang Ying had several rounds of talks with people from Jiaqi Beverage Factory, and the talks went quite well.

*

The research and development team finally came up with an iced tea recipe that tasted amazing, and it was delicious both at room temperature and chilled.

After tasting it, Ye Baoling thought it was many times better than the iced tea in her original world.

She asked the factory to quickly produce a batch of samples, as she was going to the United States before Christmas and could take them to L&D for the staff to taste.

She has two things to do in the United States this time.

One option is to submit my thesis to Dunhus University.

Secondly, it just so happened that the first batch of jasmine iced tea was launched in the United States, and she wanted to personally oversee the launch.

The first time is always important. If you win the key battle to clear the game, she won't have to keep an eye on you anymore.

Two days before leaving for the United States, Ye Huaizhang fell ill with a fever and, after receiving intravenous fluids at the hospital, rested at home.

Ye Baoling was busy with her trip to the United States and didn't have time to accompany him to see the doctor during the day. She even worked overtime until after 8 p.m. before going home.

She returned to the main house of the third branch of the family. Yang Pinxian was on the first floor, watching the kitchen cook porridge. When she saw Ye Baoling return, she quickly said, "He's asleep. I'll cook some porridge for him. Have you eaten?"

"I ate lunch at the company."

"Then you should drink some porridge too. I see you've lost weight. You two workaholics, what are we going to do?" Yang Pinxian was very worried about them.

Ye Baoling only wanted to work hard for these few years, and then she wanted to relax and enjoy life. She smiled and said, "Things will be better in the future. When we have more free time, we'll take you to travel around the world."

Seeing that her daughter-in-law was so tired from work, yet still willing to talk to and comfort her, Yang Pinxian felt very content.

"Of course you should go around the world by yourselves. Who would bring their mother along to be a light bulb? Go take a shower, and I'll bring the porridge up to you when it's ready."

"Thank you, Mom."

Ye Baoling went upstairs, tiptoed to open the door, and heard Ye Jinfeng talking.

Ye Jinfeng said, "You're like a man who's married but not married at all. You only stay here for two days a month, and the rest of the time you're the one accommodating her. I don't know what you're thinking. Sign your name here."

Ye Huaizhang said with slight impatience, "It's signed."

Ye Jinfeng held the documents signed by Ye Huaizhang, and as soon as he turned around, he saw Ye Baoling standing at the door.

He wasn't embarrassed at all, and said sarcastically, "Back so early."

This pretentious jerk, Ye Jinfeng, is in charge of managing Gezhi Jewelry. She'll teach him a lesson one day.

Ye Baoling pretended not to understand the sarcasm, "Yeah, not as early as Fourth Uncle."

Ye Jinfeng: "..."

After Ye Jinfeng left and Ye Baoling closed the door, she went to see her man.

His face was a little red, and he didn't look well. He was very tired, so she couldn't help but complain, "Your fourth uncle is the same. He knew you were sick, but he still woke you up to sign the papers."

Ye Huaizhang explained: "Urgent."

She washed her hands, then came over and touched his forehead. It was still a little hot. Not knowing how to take care of people, she simply asked, "Do you want to cool him down physically?"

"You have a low-grade fever now, no need."

Yang Pinxian knocked on the door and came in. The maid brought two bowls of vegetable and lean meat porridge.

The worried old mother asked her son, "Shall I feed you?"

“No need, I can do it myself.” He didn’t like being taken care of as a patient.

Knowing that she was about to go to the United States and wouldn't be able to take care of him, Ye Baoling had to put on a show of being virtuous and capable, saying, "I'll take care of him."

Ye Huaizhang, who had originally reached out to pick up the bowl himself, immediately withdrew his hand.

Yang Pinxian almost couldn't help but laugh when she saw this.

She was also tactful: "You all have your porridge and go to bed early. I'll go out now."

Ye Baoling smiled sweetly and said, "Goodnight, Mom."

Good night. Get some rest tonight.

After Yang Pinxian left, Ye Baoling picked up the porridge bowl, scooped up a spoonful of porridge along the side of the bowl, and brought it to his lips.

"Won't you get hungry if you just drink porridge?"

"I'm not hungry." Ye Huaizhang had no appetite. He didn't even want to drink porridge. If his wife hadn't fed him, he probably would have just drunk a couple of mouthfuls at most.

But since she fed him spoonful by spoonful, he had no choice but to eat it all.

He finished the whole bowl, and she couldn't help but tease him, "Weren't you not hungry?"

"If you force me to drink, how dare I refuse?"

Oh.

Ye Baoling took two sips and complained, "Vegetable and lean meat porridge, who invented this? It tastes a bit awful."

Ye Huaizhang said, "I used to drink this porridge when I was sick as a child. It's light and simple."

When Ye Baoling came out after taking a shower, she found that he was not asleep, so she peeled an apple for him.

Where did the apples come from?

He was asking a question he already knew the answer to.

Ye Baoling smiled and said, "The offerings to Guanyin Bodhisattva will help you recover your health by tomorrow."

She speared the peeled and sliced ​​apple with a fork and brought it to his mouth, "Ah..."

Ye Huaizhang didn't want to eat, but he still opened his mouth.

She ate a piece too, "It's so sweet."

An apple was divided into eight small pieces. Ye Baoling was in charge of feeding the couple, who took turns eating pieces, and they finished it in no time.

For some reason, both of them were very happy today, both feeding and being fed.

The next day, Ye Huaizhang's fever gradually subsided, and after resting for another day, his condition stabilized.

When Ye Baoling woke up that day, she was preparing to leave for the United States. The two were intimate for a while, and he wanted to break down the door, but she stopped him: "You haven't fully recovered. I'm afraid you'll have a stroke soon."

Wind in the air...

Is he really that serious?

"If I keep it to myself, I'll go crazy immediately."

She kissed him. "I'll use my hand, don't use yours."

She showed great compassion today by taking care of a patient who had just recovered from an illness.

He had never seen such a gentle wife before; when she held his hand, he was instantly captivated.

*

When Ye Baoling, He Jiayi, and Li Donghao arrived in Los Angeles, Yang Baozhu came to pick them up.

The weather here is rather cold, but it's quite comfortable.

Ye Qingtang's cargo ship arrived at the port a few days ago and is queuing for customs clearance.

Yang Baozhu told her, "It's already been handed over to L&D. The goods will be unloaded at 3 pm this afternoon, and they will start shipping to major cities the day after tomorrow. They are very professional in distributing the goods, so we don't need to worry about it. The major advertisements will be launched next Thursday. We should see the results by next week at the latest."

Ye Baoling and her delegation first visited Ye Qingtang's US branch, then watched the unloading process, and later went to L&D for a meeting, where they brought the new products to them.

Three days later, Ye Baoling went to Dunhus University, stayed at the school for a week, and then continued to follow up on the work of the US branch.

*

Ye Kaishen stayed up most of the night, waiting for a call from the United States in his study.

The news didn't arrive until almost dawn.

His friend, whom he had arranged to work for in the United States, called to say that the police had arrived but found nothing.

Ye Qingtang's jasmine iced tea is still being unloaded; it will all be shipped out the day after tomorrow.

impossible!

Ye Kaishen instructed someone to call the police again.

The result was still that nothing was found.

He called Cai Yongming to question what was going on.

Cai Yongming looked completely bewildered: "It was definitely arranged. I saw it put in with my own eyes. Ah Cheng next to you saw it too."

"But it wasn't in that container. The police checked the other containers but didn't find it either."

Cai Yongming said helplessly, "I heard that the police in the United States are not very reliable. I guess the quantity was too small and they did not check properly, so they did not find it."

"Damn it!" Ye Kaishen was furious.

What a brilliant game, all that preparation was for nothing.

It also wasted a bag of his powder.

What surprised him even more was that before Christmas, the company received a fax from the United States.

Ye Qingtang Jasmine Iced Tea is a bestseller in the US market!

Panda plush toys are going crazy for American kids.

this……

How is that possible?

That incredibly ugly panda plushie?

Ye Kaishen asked the person who told him the news twice in disbelief. After receiving a positive reply, he couldn't help but sigh that Ye Baoling's luck was just too damn good!

No, something's wrong.

When Yeh Chi-tsu saw the fax from the United States announcing the explosive sales, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.

The next morning, just as dawn broke, he went up to the fourth floor to pay respects to his ancestors.

"Thanks to our ancestors, our Ye Qing Tang herbal tea is now sold in America!"

Once the US market opens up, other developed country markets will surely be conquered as well, which will be a completely new chapter for Ye Qingtang.

-----------------------

Author's note: Ye Huaizhang: It's good to be sick.

Ye Baoling: Making money is wonderful!

Two paragraphs from the previous chapter were locked, and I'm not going to change them. Every time I try to change them, it just gets worse. Please bear with it.

So please check for updates regularly! [kiss]