Chapter 38 - 37-38 What Are You? _1

Translator: 549690339

The Nie family’s sudden move completely shattered the conservatives’ forecast. This was something they had never anticipated. Since the conservatives had gained the upper hand, a nationwide craze of cracking down on speculation had emerged over these past few months. After sentencing a number of individual traders, the momentum of reform had slightly eased, somewhat contained.

Just when everyone was celebrating and preparing for a potential counterattack from the reformists, they were caught off guard by the Nie family, which at this moment, had unexpectedly taken the lead in the reformists’ counterstrike.

“Regarding the Reform of the Party and National Leadership System,” the title of the article was enough to clarify the matter. Moreover, these were words the Nanxun Chief had said in the previous years. The article vetoed the rushed promotions employed during the previous period of chaos and proposed the concept of youth-based cadre solutions. All these bore clear marks of reformists.

Comrade Xuri, at this moment, also began taking action, indirectly criticizing such thoughts at multiple central leadership meetings. At the same time, he made a very stern statement concerning the current situation.

Meanwhile, at this time, at the military commission meeting, quite a few members proposed their views, concerning the two Nie brothers—one serving as deputy commander of the Yuezhou Military Region, and the other as deputy secretary of the Peng City municipal party committee. This was enough to raise eyebrows all around.

At comrade Xuri’s instigation, some members jointly suggested that Comrade Nie Guodong be transferred out of the Yuezhou Military Region and reassigned as deputy commander of the Tianfu or Xibei Military Region.

Inside the military commission meeting room, Elder Nie kept a calm countenance, revealing no sign of fluctuations. The leader on the main seat seemed thoughtful. After scanning the committee members who were engaged in the discussion, the leader tapped the table saying: “Stop arguing. All this noise won’t solve any problem. Let’s do a democratic vote to decide.”

Upon hearing the leader say this, Elder Nie lifted his head, gave the leader a glance, and spoke: “Before voting, I would like to say a few words. Comrade Nie Guodong, is my son. In the spirit of avoiding suspicion, I decline to vote.”

The final result of the conference was that Nie Guodong was reassigned to serve as deputy commander and first deputy political commissar of the Xibei Military Region. Although the rank was the same, everyone knew that the Yuezhou Military Region was the country’s largest and oversaw the vast land force group of the South while also commanding the South China Sea Fleet stationed in the South China Sea.

Although the positions were identical, the pros and cons of the new and old position were clear to everyone. The conservatives were completely delighted in the misfortune. By all accounts, the Nie family had truly stumbled this time.

Similarly, Nie Zhenbang in Jingcheng also sensed this shift. With the conservative’s counterattack, Wal-Mart supermarket’s nationwide expansion was also hit to different degrees. Many locations that had already signed agreements and were just awaiting redecoration had backed out due to the changing situation.

The five supermarkets and two department stores in Jingcheng have sequentially received various inspections–tax, sanitation, and fire safety. If it hadn’t been for Nie Zhenbang’s insistence on adhering to standards from the start, Wal-Mart supermarkets would have likely been shut down for rectification by now.

Thus, Nie Zhenbang’s original plan to head to the Soviet Union was temporarily put on hold. Sitting in the Wal-Mart’s headquarters on Wangfujing Street, looking at the business report in front of him, Nie Zhenbang’s brows furrowed.

“Second Brother! Second Brother! Yang Anbang! Come here!” Nie Zhenbang called out, but hearing no response, he decided to use their full names instead.

At that moment, Yang Anbang came in from outside, holding a thick pile of documents with a grim expression. Placing them on the table, he said with a heavy voice, “Dammit, who’d have thought we’d get screwed over by an out-of-towner? He dares to mess with me. It seems that after all these years of us lying IOW, people m tms capital City nave stoppecl taking us Drotners seriously.”

“What is it? Young Master Yang? Who’s the fool that’s pissed you off? A coal boss?” Nie Zhenbang was a bit confused. Yang Anbang usually conducted himself with the demeanor of a scholar-merchant, claiming that was the way of a nobleman, a gentleman. Swearing as he had, was truly out of character for him.

“What’s going on? Why has the business turnover fallen so sharply this month? The total sales of five supermarkets and two department stores around the city has decreased by half. Even though this is traditionally a slower period, this underperformance is far beyond normal.” Nie Zhenbang pointed to the report on the table and asked Yang Anbang.

Yang Anbang put down the documents, sat down, and pulled out a pack of special supply Panda cigarettes from his pocket. He tossed a cigarette to Nie Zhenbang, saying, “Have a smoke. These are hard for me to get from my old man.”

Nie Zhenbang smiled as he pinched the Panda cigarette. It was amusing; in his previous life, Nie Zhenbang didn’t have this privilege. He had smoked

Zhonghua cigarettes all his life. Even when he had hit hard times, thanks to Yang Anna’s support, he had never lacked Zhonghua cigarettes.

In this life, although Nie Zhenbang could get Panda cigarettes, he hadn’t smoked them yet. He lit the cigarette with practiced ease and took a puff before saying, “Spill it. What happened to make you, the second young master of Yang family, so angry?”

Yang Anbang reclined on the sofa, blowing smoke rings for a while before saying, “It’s the new guy. His father used to be the Communist Party Secretary of Jiangnan Province, and is now a Politburo Member and State Councillor. He’s from the same faction as Secretary Xuri, and is even said to be Xuri’s most trusted confidante. This kid is the youngest son of Ouyang. He’s 23 years old this year, so technically, he’s from the same generation as our fathers. After he arrived in Beijing, he gathered a group of people and started causing problems for us. If he isn’t causing trouble in our supermarkets, he’s causing problems in our malls.”

Upon hearing this, Nie Zhenbang’s brow furrowed. He said in a deep voice, “Second Brother, this isn’t like you. They’ve bullied their way to our doorstep and you didn’t fight back?”

Upon hearing Nie Zhenbang’s words, Yang Anbang looked uncharacteristically shy. He looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. At this moment, Xiao Yali walked in from outside and said to Nie Zhenbang, “Zhenbang, it was my decision to not let him confront them. Do you have any objections?”

Seeing the two of them acting this way, Nie Zhenbang laughed. He hadn’t expected their relationship to have progressed so far since the New Year. It seemed like it wouldn’t be long before they started discussing marriage.

Then, still laughing, Nie Zhenbang asked, “Did this young guy make any demands? There must be something more to his racket than just causing trouble.”

Nie Zhenbang thought it was unlikely that he just wanted to shut them down.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he made some demands, but if he didn’t ask for anything, that would be a problem. If all he wanted was to shut them down, that would be difficult to deal with.

“He did. He wants sixty percent of our gross income each month. If that’s the case, we might as well close our doors. The rent, taxes, labor costs, and product loss all fall on us. At this point, we’re surviving on small profits. The profit on most of our merchandise isn’t very high. At the most, it’s only about thirty percent. So, if we agree to his demand, all our profits will end up in his pocket.” At this moment, Yang Anbang looked quite irritated. As the distinguished second young master Yang, he was being bullied by a newcomer. He would be the laughing stock if word got out.

A pure profit of thirty percent was already significant. In the future, when consumer goods became more plentiful and competition increased, supermarket operators who could achieve more than twenty percent pure profit would be considered lucky.

Of course, at this time, most goods were scarce, with many requiring ration tickets. Only people like Yang Anbang and Nie Zhenbang had the resources to secure such a wide array of goods. Whereas others tended to mark up prices, places like the Wal-Mart supermarket were considered budget-friendly in comparison.

Sixty percent? Nie Zhenbang’s brows wrinkled. If he had only asked for ten percent, a proportional share of the pure profit, Nie Zhenbang would have been willing to give it to him. Including conservative figures in supermarket operations was a good way to twist their arms. However, asking for so much was overstepping. Even if this Ouyang fellow dares to ask for it, Nie Zhenbang would not dare to give it. If he did, the reputation of the Nie and Yang families would be ruined. It would be seen as incompetence. Sometimes, face is everything, especially in situations like this.

“So that’s why the second young master Yang has been avoiding me these days, it’s because the main guy is back.” A piercing voice rang out.

Following the voice, a young man walked in arrogantly from outside, surrounded by a swarm of followers. He sported a slicked-back hairstyle, wore large leather shoes with jeans, and a down jacket that was rarely seen in the country at that time.

The young man looked Nie Zhenbang up and down, took out a Panda cigarette and stuck it in his mouth. A sidekick came up immediately, lighting the cigarette for him. He blew a puff of smoke towards Nie Zhenbang and said, “So you’re Nie Zhenbang? The third young master of the Nie family? Allow me to introduce myself—”

Before the young man could finish speaking, Nie Zhenbang waved his hand, looked at him, and sneered, “Who do you think you are, being so arrogant in front of me?”