Chapter 89: Minority Shareholder

  When Hu Jia helped Ning Qingmian back onto the bus, Ning Qingmian slightly turned her head and said: "I'm done!"

  "What can I thank you with?" Du's family seemed to smile but not quite, "It's not enough just to say it with your mouth!"

  "Do you really want me to thank you?" Ning Qing said with a bite of her lip, "What else are you lacking?"

  "I don't care about other people's thanks, but I care about yours. What to do?" Du Huajia started the car and focused on the road ahead.

  Ning Qingmin's heart was racing, she twisted her hands and blushed, just about to speak when her phone rang. It was her mom calling, asking this and that. After finding out it was Du Hu's family who sent her home, she hesitated for a moment before saying: "Xiao Min, their social status is different from ours, be careful to keep some distance, don't bring trouble upon yourself."

  Ning Qingming murmured an "uh-huh", and the joy that had just surged up was suddenly scattered by Ning Mom's words.

  The car had just arrived at the entrance of the residential area, and Ning's mother and grandmother were waiting downstairs. Ning Qingmin called out, and Ning's mother and grandmother hurried over. They saw that her foot was swollen, but otherwise fine, and they finally felt relieved. They thanked Du Huajia, and the two of them quickly helped Ning Qingmin down.

  "Xiao Min, a wealthy and noble person, is not someone we can afford to provoke." Ning's mother led Ning Qingmin into the room, speaking hesitantly: "This Du Hu, at such a young age, has already become the vice president of the group. He has education, ability, refinement, family background, and looks. Such a high-quality man, how could he not have women around him? Following someone like that, just being anxious and worried is enough to make you suffer."

  "Mom, it's not even a single stroke of the eight characters yet! You're worrying for nothing." Ning Qingming lowered his head and secretly sighed that his mom's worries weren't unreasonable.

  "Little one, I'm an experienced person, how could I not see that you've already fallen for him? It's no wonder, he's indeed a charming man." Ning's mom sat down beside Ning Qingmian. "Just now when I helped you up the stairs, I turned back to look and saw Du Hua's gaze as he sent you off, it was also filled with emotions. However, someone like him who bears the responsibility of a group and a family, between responsibility and his wife, men usually choose responsibility. If it's just being his woman, that's nothing much. But if you want to be his wife, you'll definitely have to make many sacrifices. You're still young, your road ahead is long, no need to get trapped in love so early."

  Ning Qingmeng took a deep breath. Let's take it one step at a time!

  After a few days, Ning Qing's foot healed. Mr. Chen, the person in charge of the advertising company, called to say that the album was ready and asked someone to bring it over for her to take a look.

  Zhang Yu and Zhang Ruili also flipped through the album and sighed: "Boss, the photos are too beautiful. There are detailed diagrams and text descriptions."

  Ning Qing is also quite satisfied with the effect of the shoot. She thought for a moment and said, "After all the samples are ready, we will hold an autumn wear launch event to attract major domestic clients."

  "Boss, if we hold an autumn wear launch event, aren't you afraid that our goods haven't even been released yet and will be plagiarized by others?" Zhang Yu flipped through the album, pointing to one of the designs with her finger: "Like this beautifully designed piece. Other merchants may not dare to plagiarize it exactly the same way, but if they make some changes in the details and create another style, that would be enough to affect us."

  "We've registered the trademark. If someone plagiarizes, can't we sue them?" Zhang Rui Li stared and said: "I'm sitting in the shop. The people at other stalls know we have new samples. Every day they pass by and look inside. I'd rather pull a curtain to block the door."

  "Alas, in this day and age, there are too many counterfeit products, it's hard to guard against them all!" Ning Qing said with a sigh, "There are countless people who steal the designs of famous brand-name products to make samples, let alone us who have only registered our trademark, how can we possibly sue so many?"

  "Boss, the factory that helped us with this sample last time said they were owed a batch of goods by a company and that company refused to pay. When they went to the company to ask for the money two days ago, they found out that the company had run away. The factory can't even pay its employees' wages now, I heard it's really bad." Zhang Yu pointed at the last sample and said: "It was this factory that made this one, if things are like this now, even if we have an order, I'm afraid they won't be able to start production."

  Ning Qingmin took a look and found that this was produced by a local factory, with the boss named Li Zili. The factory was located in an industrial zone near the electronics factory where he had worked part-time during his last winter vacation.

  "I was worried that the labor costs in this city would be high, but when he quoted the price, it seemed reasonable. I didn't expect something like this to happen." Ning Qingmin sighed and shook his head, saying: "Nowadays, doing business is a worry - you're afraid the customer will delay payment, and also afraid that the company the customer belongs to will delay payment. If you want to be cautious in choosing companies and customers, you'll miss out on many opportunities. But if you're not cautious enough, you'll be worried about something going wrong. Weighing the pros and cons, it's still better to be more cautious!"

  "Our samples are nice, many people want to do business with us, of course we have the qualifications to be cautious. Those who don't send out samples quickly and whose business is average, as soon as someone places an order, they can't afford to be cautious, even if the deposit is less than 5%, they still accept it. As for delaying payment, that's a common occurrence." Zhang Yu shook her head and said: "I heard Zheng Jingchun say that her aunt received an order last month without even getting a deposit, but she still shipped out the goods on time. Luckily, the customer paid on time, if they hadn't received the payment this month, they would have had to close up shop and leave."

  Just as he was saying that, his mobile phone rang. Ning Qingming picked it up and listened. The other party said in a hoarse voice: "Boss Ning, I'm in trouble this time, and I hope Boss Ning can lend me a helping hand!" It was Li Zili, the boss of the factory they had just discussed. Ning Qingming couldn't help but be extremely surprised. He hadn't done business with him yet, only letting him make samples. Logically speaking, it wasn't time for him to ask for help yet, so why did he open his mouth?

  "It's like this, I won't let Ning boss spend money for nothing either. If you can help me get through this difficult time, the money spent will be considered as shares in the factory, and you'll also be a shareholder in the future." Li Zili seemed to be afraid that Ning Qingming would interrupt him, so he quickly explained: "The main thing is that it's currently the off-season. I've also brought up this issue with several other business owners, but they don't have much funds on hand either, and what little they do have has all been lent to me. It's not enough to get through this difficult time. I'm not very familiar with Ning boss, but I've heard that he made a lot of money in the first half of the year, so his funds should be plentiful. If we were to take out a bank loan, the procedures would be too troublesome, and it would take at least half a month to get everything done. But this month I need to pay my workers' wages, and if I don't, they'll go on strike. For now, I can only seek help from some business owners."

  "Mr. Li, let's talk business. Since you mentioned letting me into your factory's shares, I need to consider it carefully and also go inspect the equipment in your factory, check some financial statements before making a decision." Ning Qingming didn't plan on being a good person for nothing, of course he had to see if this factory was worth investing in before putting his money into it. If the situation wasn't stable, he would only end up losing his own funds, definitely wouldn't invest so foolishly. Even if he did invest, at most he would just be a small shareholder, without any real benefits, not worth it.