Chapter 63: If I Tricked Them Here, Why Would I Send Them Back?
“Definitely not,” Xu Lihuan said, now thoroughly familiar with Xijiang’s juice and beverage market.
“Last year during peak season, juice sales in Xijiang were probably around forty thousand cases. But juice has always been seen as a premium product—mostly sold in high-end malls and hotels. It’s only in recent years that it’s started gaining acceptance among the general consumer market, and it’s still in a rapid growth phase.”
He continued, confidence evident in his tone.
“With the kind of high-intensity promotion we’ve been running lately, other manufacturers have also stepped up their advertising. This year’s peak-season sales in Xijiang could easily triple. And we can probably take sixty to seventy percent of that market…”
“*Only* sixty to seventy percent?” Gu Peijun echoed exaggeratedly, raising his voice. “Do you even realize that the factory’s inventory can barely cover that much demand?”
Xu Lihuan grinned and turned to Xiao Liang. “Mind if I borrow your words to brag a little in front of Director Gu?”
Xiao Liang spread his hands helplessly toward Gu Peijun. “Didn’t I say from the very beginning that I only needed one month? Who was it that thought I was talking big and insisted on stretching it to two months?”
Gu Peijun kicked lightly at Xu Lihuan’s chair leg, sighing. “Back then, I had just taken over the factory. I had no confidence at all. Honestly, I didn’t even expect you to finish in two months. I was just hoping you’d scrape together a million in payments, and then I’d go grovel in front of the fruit farmers—swear whatever it took to keep the factory barely alive.”
He looked at Xu Lihuan, half laughing, half incredulous. “Tell me honestly—did you see this coming?”
“If I said I did, wouldn’t that make me seem more capable and insightful than Director Gu?” Xu Lihuan joked.
Gu Peijun chuckled. “At this point, I’m not even ashamed to admit I’m just a figurehead factory director.”
He turned to Xiao Liang. “You should head back to Yunshe in the next couple of days and talk to Secretary Wang. With these sales results, there’s no reason for him to reject your proposal to contract the juice factory. There shouldn’t be much resistance from the village either.”
Since officially becoming Party Secretary and village head of Nanting Village, Gu Peijun had stayed in the rear, managing things from behind the scenes.
His sudden trip to Xijiang today—bringing along Xiao Liang’s older brother, Xiao Xiao—and Xiao Liang’s call to summon Xu Lihuan back to the city… Wu Qiyan, Zhang Feili, and the others had already guessed what this meeting was about.
Now that Gu Peijun had brought up the idea of contracting the factory, all eyes turned to Xiao Liang.
Back in mid-June, when they followed him to Xijiang to gamble everything on the market, it wasn’t just because they knew the juice factory was on the brink of collapse—it was also because Xiao Liang had been assigned by the township government to oversee the village and factory.
Later, when he took unpaid leave, it was still under the pretext of pushing inventory sales.
Even though Xiao Liang had already shown an uncanny familiarity with every process before arriving in Xijiang, it hadn’t completely erased Xu Lihuan and the others’ doubts.
What truly changed their perception was the past month.
Not just his unconventional strategies—reverse marketing, scarcity marketing—but the way he involved himself in every detail, guiding them step by step, almost hand-in-hand.
That intense month of real-world execution had given Xu Lihuan, Wu Qiyan, Zhang Feili, and the others a concrete understanding of marketing and sales.
And, more importantly, success had given them confidence.
By now, they all believed Xiao Liang was the natural choice to take over the juice factory. Their only concern had been how his relationship with Gu Peijun would be handled—whether it might cause conflict.
They hadn’t expected Gu Peijun to bring it up himself.
Xiao Liang stretched lazily. “So you came all the way to Xijiang—and even dragged my brother along—just to talk about this?”
He paused, then added casually, “But I’m not particularly interested in contracting the factory. You should keep the director’s position.”
Gu Peijun already knew Xiao Liang’s bigger plans. Who held the title of factory director didn’t really matter.
Whether Xiao Liang wasn’t ready to take over yet, didn’t want to deal with township politics, or simply didn’t think much of the factory—it wasn’t a major issue.
But there was one critical matter he needed to clarify now.
“The factory needs to start production again soon. What’s your plan?” he asked.
Xiao Liang replied without the slightest guilt, “Restarting production isn’t exactly difficult. Why would I need to go back and oversee it personally?”
Gu Peijun frowned slightly. “In another half month, we should be able to clear out all the inventory—over a hundred thousand cases. If we want to keep supplying the Xijiang market from September onward, we can’t delay restarting production.”
He hesitated, then asked, “If you’re not taking over the factory, are you planning to send Old Xu back with me to handle it?”
Xiao Liang shook his head. “I called Old Xu here to drink with you. What made you think I’d send him back?”
He smiled faintly. “You’re overthinking it. I worked hard to lure these people over—why would I give them back? At most, I might return Zhang Feili and Liu Weiwei to you…”
For the next phase—registering a new company and launching health products—the most crucial work would still be market promotion and sales.
And this time, they wouldn’t be dealing with just one city or county—it would be the entire province, even the whole country.
Xiao Liang didn’t have three heads and six arms. He couldn’t handle everything alone.
Right now, the entire sales team consisted of only nine people. Three of them—Wu Qiyan, Zhang Feili, and Liu Weiwei—were women.
Given the more traditional mindset of the time, expecting them to travel nonstop across the country like the men wasn’t realistic.
For now, circumstances were exceptional—the factory simply didn’t have enough manpower, so Xiao Liang had no choice but to bring them along without worrying about public opinion.
But in the long run, even they themselves wouldn’t want to spend their lives constantly on the road.
In Xiao Liang’s plan, once they had gained enough experience, Wu Qiyan, Zhang Feili, and Liu Weiwei would transition to backend roles—handling finance, administration, production coordination, and marketing strategy.
That was precisely why he had kept them in Xijiang earlier—to familiarize them with these responsibilities.
As for Xu Xiaodong, he was still too young.
That alone was a natural disadvantage, compounded by his lack of experience. He needed time to grow.
At present, the only people who could be sent out across the country to develop markets were Xu Lihuan, Zhao Xudong and Zhang Ming from production, and Li Xiangnan and Fei Wenwei from quality inspection.
Among them, Xu Lihuan was the most experienced—and the most capable.
And truth be told, not just Xu Lihuan—even Zhao Xudong, Zhang Ming, Li Xiangnan, and Fei Wenwei…
Xiao Liang had no intention of returning a single one of them to Gu Peijun.
With so few capable hands to begin with, he was already short-staffed.
