The prosperity of Yongcheng's urban area far surpassed Yicheng.
Zhang Suzhi, who had said she would spend a lot, seemed somewhat timid once she actually entered the city.
The old Tan family were both dual-income earners, so their conditions were not bad.
However, both husband and wife came from the countryside and had many siblings.
They couldn't spend lavishly on themselves, preferring to save as much as possible for unexpected needs.
The high prices made her, coming from a small city, a bit hesitant.
Even with money in her pocket, she felt quite uncomfortable.
There was no way around it; living habits developed over 40 years couldn't be changed so suddenly.
However, she was willing to spend money on Gu Qingqing.
Perhaps all parents are like this: reluctant to spend on themselves, but generous with their children.
Tan Jincheng saw it and felt warmth in his heart.
Xiao Jinyue was visiting a large shopping mall for the first time, her eyes darting around.
Gu Qingqing seemed particularly fond of this "little sister-in-law," monopolizing her all day today, and holding her small hand even when coming to the mall.
In Tan Jincheng's hometown, there was an unspoken custom.
That is, between boyfriend and girlfriend, giving gold jewelry meant tacitly acknowledging each other as marriage partners, somewhat similar to the Yiwu "water bubble egg" saying.
Zhang Suzhi was quite satisfied with Gu Qingqing, so she bought her a lot of gold jewelry, like bracelets and necklaces.
Gold per gram wasn't expensive, but there was a lot of it, plus brand premiums.
Gu Qingqing, bewildered, didn't know how to react.
Tan Jincheng smiled and whispered "water bubble egg" in her ear, and only then did she understand what it meant.
"Thank you, Auntie!"
Gu Qingqing said softly, blushing, as she accepted the gifts.
In 2006, gold was 124 yuan per gram.
If one only bought gold bars, this stuff was really quite valuable.
Tan Jincheng, thrilled at the prospect, bought 10 50-gram gold bars in one go.
If his mother hadn't stopped him, he would have bought more.
Keeping this at home was quite reassuring.
When needed, one could take a bar out and process it into gold jewelry, which was quite suitable.
Today was the weekend, and Tan Jincheng, having submitted his proposal, could relax and accompany his family shopping.
However, the leaders were not so relaxed.
Tan Jincheng's proposal at the district economic group caused quite a stir.
The weekend, consequently, was ruined.
As the automotive industry is a crucial industrial chain for developing local economy, Beicang District naturally wouldn't miss out.
However, some still found the plan a bit whimsical.
Even if the intelligence provided by Shanchi Technology was accurate, and a state-owned enterprise was unwilling to lend its qualifications, Zhongtai Automobile didn't necessarily need to acquire production qualifications by giving up equity.
Sell a car, give four or five hundred yuan, and when the time is right, I can just acquire a car manufacturer with production qualifications.
Zhongtai was considered a family business.
Ying Jianren, the founder of Tieniu Group and the actual controller of Zhongtai Automobile, focused more on capital operations, while his brother-in-law, Wu Jianzhong, a state-owned enterprise leader whom he had brought back, helped him manage Zhongtai Automobile.
The actual controller and the manager were brothers-in-law.
Whether to allow equity investment required both their agreement.
Family businesses generally valued equity highly, and the opinions of the Yongkang government also needed to be considered.
Integrating the opinions of all three parties well presented considerable difficulty.
If it were just Shanchi Technology negotiating cooperation, exchanging production qualifications for a portion of Zhongtai Automobile's equity, the chances would be higher.
But if Beicang government were also to take a stake, requiring the other party to establish a branch in the Beicang area, it would be even more troublesome.
"Everyone, tell me if this makes sense. If Boss Tan were to sell the production qualifications himself, or ask for money, or ask for equity, it would be easy to discuss. Why must he involve the district, even though this matter, if successful, would greatly help the district?"
"That's indeed the point. They don't lack money and don't need the urban investment company to give them funds. Doing it this way definitely increases the difficulty. Boss Tan's proposal is well-intentioned for the district, but its feasibility of success seems low."
"That's true, but it seems worth a try. The district currently doesn't have a decent automotive industry. Establishing a branch factory, even for a small brand, can drive the industrial chain. As for failure, let Boss Tan try it himself."
"That makes sense. I think it's worth a try. Whether it succeeds or not, we can discuss it later. Anyway, there's no loss for us."
There were all sorts of opinions, but the overall consensus was relatively unified: the plan was beneficial to the district, it could be done, it could be tried, but whether it would succeed was unknown.
Leader Gu and the top leader exchanged smiles, quite satisfied with this outcome.
Although he had promised Tan Jincheng not to tell others, Leader Gu certainly wouldn't conceal anything from his superior.
He meticulously relayed Tan Jincheng's ultimate intention to the top leader.
In fact, everyone was right.
If Shanchi Technology negotiated on its own, it might suffer some losses and earn less, but the chances of success would be greater.
One-on-one transactions are definitely easier and simpler than multi-party transactions.
The top leader initially didn't quite understand Tan Jincheng's actions either, only realizing after hearing Tan Jincheng's ultimate intention.
Unfortunately, this matter couldn't be revealed in the meeting and could only be known by a small circle of people.
Despite this, the top leader greatly admired Tan Jincheng's bold behavior.
Young people who dare to think and act, whether they succeed or not, contribute to the local economy.
What's wrong with helping him or cooperating with him?
"How is Comrade Xiao Tan's main business, electric vehicles, doing this year?"
"It's said to be selling well. We don't have precise sales data, but the electricity consumption of his two factories is available. After the Lantern Festival following the new year, they entered full-load operation, and there's hardly any inventory in the warehouse."
"So, the boast he made at the annual meeting, to sell 200,000 electric vehicles this year, could it really be achieved?"
"Currently, it seems they might exceed it. The peak season for electric vehicles hasn't arrived yet. If no accidents occur, they might reach this goal after the peak season. Leader, I don't know if you have a habit of going online, but they recently launched a cycling marketing campaign that's gaining increasing popularity online."
"Oh? Is that so? I'll have a look when I have time. This young man really has some skills. If we nurture him well, Beicang District might truly see a second Shenzhou."
"Indeed. Shanchi Technology is currently developing very healthily, with a short cash cycle and excellent profits from electric vehicle sales. Moreover, he hasn't expanded blindly; apart from a lithium battery project, all other investments are very cautious."
"Exactly. Having acquired automotive production qualifications and his own car manufacturing plan, most people would probably be frantically seeking investments and loans to build factories right now. Yet, he pulled off this move, which is truly unexpected."
Then the top leader chuckled,
"You say this young man is bold, and he really is. Electric vehicles have just gotten on track, and he already wants to build cars. But you say he's timid, and he really is. Aside from battery investment, he doesn't engage in anything else."
"He isn't doing nothing. Didn't he buy 100 apartments and rent them to Shanchi Technology as employee dorms? That's also a good investment, showing that this young man has good foresight."
Regarding real estate policies, both were well aware.
They naturally understood the deeper meaning behind Tan Jincheng's move of purchasing 100 apartments at once and subletting them to Shanchi Technology.
And even the stocks he previously disdained seemed to have turned around after the New Year.
Kweichow Moutai shares had been falling intermittently and sluggishly for nearly a year since he bought them.
Until January 2006, the shares remained around 45 yuan.
Then, after the New Year, for some unknown reason, Kweichow Moutai shares hit daily limits consecutively, reaching 62.5 yuan by the end of this month, and were even suspended from trading!
Leader Gu didn't have much knowledge of stocks, but he had heard his secretary Zhao Jinsheng calculate that, if based on Tan Jincheng's purchase time, he had earned at least about 30% on this stock.
Furthermore, the trading suspension was due to positive news, so it was expected to rise further.
This also made Leader Gu believe more in the concept of luck.
In the era when Wuliangye was more popular than Moutai, even he, a layman in stocks, thought one should buy Wuliangye if investing in liquor companies.
However, he had bought quite a few Kweichow Moutai shares, and the result was an unsurprising year of being trapped.
It was clearly the work of someone who didn't understand stocks.
Yet, somehow, with some stroke of luck, he made a large profit after the New Year.
What the leaders didn't know was that in December last year, both A-shares and Hong Kong stocks plummeted.
Both QQ and Kweichow Moutai, bought by Tan Jincheng, got stuck.
QQ dropped to around 4.5 Hong Kong dollars, falling below the cost line of his initial position, while Tan Jincheng had added to his position at 7.8 Hong Kong dollars in September!
The single September top-up alone caused a massive loss.
At its peak, the overall Hong Kong stock account was down over 35%.
Yet, it was then that Tan Jincheng, with cash in hand, increased his positions in both A-shares and Hong Kong stocks.
Currently, Tan Jincheng holds a total of 50,000 Kweichow Moutai shares with a total market value of 3.125 million yuan, and 600,000 Hong Kong shares of QQ with a total market value of 6.12 million Hong Kong dollars.
That's right, after QQ introduced new investors and implemented a new five-year plan, its stock price quickly rebounded and continued to rise to the current 10.2 Hong Kong dollars.
Leader Gu was unaware of all this.
If he had known, it would have probably subverted his perception.
In his view, Tan Jincheng was excellent at business and had long-term vision, but stock trading was not his strong suit.
"Then let's try to negotiate according to his plan, but without directly using the name of the urban investment company. Let's find a subordinate shadow investment company; that would be more convenient."
Since everyone's opinions were unified, the top leader had nothing to object to.
However, it was clear that he thought more long-term than Tan Jincheng.
The urban investment company was one of Shanchi Technology's shareholders.
The two companies were clearly related, and the intention was too obvious.
Finding a shadow investment company to cooperate with Shanchi Technology would reduce the difficulty of negotiations.
At this moment, Tan Jincheng was selecting clothes for Xiao Jinyue, completely unaware that a group of people had held an impromptu meeting all morning over the weekend to discuss his plan.
(End of Chapter)