With the matter of the five-needle pine settled, in addition to the dividends to the 48 Bays Village and the three million yuan spent on purchasing five-needle pine bonsai from the Eight Families, Li Xiangdong earned a total of four and a half million yuan in just a few months.
Li Xiangdong did not mistreat the Fu brothers, Chen Zaohua, Feng Yucai, and Fang Shilan who worked for him.
These are all talents he prepared for himself.
When the business grows bigger, he can't possibly shoulder all the burdens himself.
How many nails can a person make if he is made of iron?
Training reliable and capable people to help him do business and make money is currently the most important thing in Li Xiangdong's mind.
There's no other reason than that Li Xiangdong's businesses are diverse and scattered throughout the country.
Even if he flew a private jet, he couldn't reach places that were far away anytime.
Therefore, Li Xiangdong gave them extra red envelopes.
The most significant contributor was Chen Zaohua, who played a crucial role in the Five-Needle Pine incident. Li Xiangdong gave her a savings account with 100,000 yuan in it.
The Fu brothers each have a savings account with 50,000 yuan.
Feng Yucai and Fang Shilan each had a savings account with 30,000 yuan.
Holding the huge sum of money he had suddenly received, Feng Yucai was a little embarrassed, saying, "I haven't done anything yet..."
Li Xiangdong pushed the savings book that the man had reluctantly handed him back to him.
"The export permits for the bonsai will be issued soon. I'll need your help with the rest of the export business!"
Feng Yucai then put the passbook away, saying, "Don't worry, I'll definitely take good care of it for you."
Fang Shilan smiled, her eyes sparkling. "Recently, Yu Cai has been studying foreign languages ​​diligently every night, afraid that he won't understand something when doing business with foreigners."
Li Xiangdong patted him on the shoulder approvingly, "Very good, very good!"
Although Li Xiangdong was the youngest among them, none of them felt that the current situation was out of place.
The following days were filled with frantic activity dealing with foreign trade business.
The eight families who were saved from disaster by Li Xiangdong took turns coming to Forty-Eight Bays Village to express their gratitude and insisted on treating him to a meal as a token of their appreciation.
The current work is being handled by Feng Yucai and others, and Li Xiangdong only needs to grasp the general direction, so he still has some free time.
So, after these eight families sincerely visited several times, Li Xiangdong agreed to attend the banquet.
Firstly, since he had shown kindness, and he wasn't a saint, he certainly hoped these eight families would remember his good deeds. That way, if anything happened in the future, they could help each other out.
Secondly, these eight families were able to earn more money in just a few years than ordinary people could earn in a dozen lifetimes. Their vision, magnanimity, and skills are all worth learning from.
Both sides were keen to build good relations and were both intelligent people, so the guests and hosts enjoyed the meals very much.
Zhou Hongsong was not interested in the bonsai business. He stayed by Li Xiangdong's side every day, never leaving his side no matter where they went.
This even caused a misunderstanding, with the eight prominent families thinking that Zhou Hongsong was Li Xiangdong's private bodyguard!
The key point is that Zhou Hongsong's appearance is indeed deceptive. He is tall, has wide eyes, and exudes the aura of a gangster boss.
That day, at the invitation of Cheng Qingyun, the third son of the Cheng family, they went to a state-run restaurant in the county town for dinner.
Cheng Qingyun was a remarkable man; he spoke eloquently about business. Li Xiangdong found they hit it off immediately, and perhaps because he had drunk too much, he decided on the spot to invest 500,000 yuan in Cheng Qingyun.
Zhou Hongsong kept trying to wink at Li Xiangdong with his big, round eyes, but Li Xiangdong seemed to be blind to it. He not only agreed to invest in the company but also took shares in it.
After leaving the restaurant, Cheng Qingyun offered to escort the unsteady-walking Li Xiangdong home, but Li Xiangdong insisted on not letting him, saying, "Hurry back and make the business bigger, stronger, and make it into the Fortune Global 500, into the top 500!"
Cheng Qingyun understood what he meant earlier, but what did "Fortune 500" and "Breaking 500" mean?
Zhou Hongsong also drank quite a bit today, but he has a high alcohol tolerance and didn't get as drunk as Li Xiangdong.
Even so, he still walked with a crooked gait.
Cheng Qingyun was really worried, but Li Xiangdong and Zhou Hongsong insisted on leaving on their own, so he could only watch helplessly as the two drew dragons on the ground and then their figures gradually disappeared.
Perhaps they had drunk too much, because on their way back to Forty-Eight Bends Village, they didn't take the main road, but instead chose to take the rugged paths.
The mountain path winds and twists upwards, with a steep mountain wall on one side and a sheer cliff on the other. There is only a meter's width of space between the two.
On the only way to reach Sishibawan Village, you have to pass through a mountain tunnel that was spontaneously dug by the local people.
This mountain tunnel is extremely low and narrow; it is difficult for even two people to pass side by side.
The tunnel floor is full of potholes, making it easy for people to twist their ankles when walking on it.
When Li Xiangdong and Zhou Hongsong emerged from the mountain tunnel, dusk had already fallen, and the distant sunset had faded completely, leaving only a faint red glow.
Just then, a cold glint flashed in Li Xiangdong's eyes.
Zhou Hongsong reacted quickly, kicking the dagger in the hand of the man who lunged at him from behind far away.
Li Xiangdong turned around and cooperated with Zhou Hongsong, one grabbing his arm and the other kicking him hard in the back of the knee.
There were numb veins in the back of his knees, and when Li Xiangdong kicked him, he fell to his knees with a thud.
Zhou Hongsong took out two ropes from his bag and quickly tied the man up.
"Speak! Who are you? What's your name? What are you doing here with a dagger?"
When the man looked at Li Xiangdong and Zhou Hongsong, who stood upright like pine trees, he saw that their eyes were filled with a captivating, clear, and cold gaze. They did not look like they were drunk at all.
The man was filled with regret; he had been watching them for so many days but hadn't found a clue.
Today, the two seemed to have drunk too much and were about to make their move, but they ended up falling into someone else's trap!
"Are you faking being drunk?"
Li Xiangdong smiled jokingly, "There are only those who steal for a thousand days, not those who guard against thieves for a thousand days. You've been following us for so many days, we should give you a chance to make your move."
"I'm mainly worried about tiring you out!"
Zhou Hongsong stretched out his foot and stepped on the hand that had just been holding the dagger, twisting it hard. "Who sent you?"
The man endured the excruciating pain, and beads of cold sweat the size of soybeans instantly appeared on his forehead.
"No, no one else, I came by myself!"
"Bullshit! I don't even know you. Why would you come and kill me?"
Li Xiangdong was furious; that dagger had been sharpened!
Zhou Hongsong put more effort into his feet.
The man kept letting out pig-like screams.
After a short while, that person finally couldn't hold back any longer.
"I'll talk! Take your foot off the ground first!"
Zhou Hongsong laughed, "It's impossible to remove it. At most, I can stop using force for now. Hurry up and tell me, stop trying to bargain with me."
After thinking it over for a long time, the man finally told the truth.
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