My Daily Basic Stipend Is 10 Million

Chapter 161: Chapter 155: A New Official’s Appointment, Burning the Linked Camps

"Manager Wu, go talk to a few more companies. Get three competing bids. Weigh their services against their prices and find a good balance. Show me the results, and I’ll decide which one we’ll go with."

After Wu Fang left, Zhao Hui rubbed his temples. This kind of work was nothing like manual labor. Making decisions was a real brain-burner.

He was terrified of making a single careless mistake.

The operations manager had just walked out the door, and before Zhao Hui had a moment to rest, the leasing manager, Sun Wei, came to see him.

He brought a pile of lease renewal proposals for brands whose contracts were about to expire, seeking Zhao Hui’s approval. While Zhao Hui couldn’t make the final call on the renewal terms—that required Xu Jun’s signature—his opinion was crucial.

After all, he was the supervising deputy general manager. If a proposal couldn’t get past him, it would never even reach Xu Jun.

Zhao Hui flipped through the documents. Most of the renewals included a 7% rent increase. He had done his homework—that was the lowest increase rate Jiangzhou Wansheng Square had ever offered in the past.

He set aside the 7% increase proposals and continued reviewing, then noticed that the "Yi Rui" brand was highlighted in red with no rent increase specified.

"What’s this about?"

Sun Wei answered cautiously, "That was part of a plan made when President Xiao was still in charge. The red highlight means the brand is slated for adjustment. The original plan was to remove ’Yi Rui’ and bring in ’Sa Mo’!"

Zhao Hui took his pen and struck it out with a single line. "’Yi Rui’ gets a standard renewal. The rent increase will be in line with the mall’s average."

"As for ’Sa Mo,’ find a location for them on the first floor. You can start by picking one of Four Seasons Clothing’s current storefronts."

Sun Wei froze. ’Ah, right,’ he suddenly thought, ’the new boss came from Yi Rui. No wonder he shot down the plan to replace them the second he saw it.’

’But telling Four Seasons Clothing to give up one of their current stores on the first floor for Sa Mo... they’d never agree to that.’

He voiced his confusion. "Sir, asking Four Seasons Clothing to give up one of its locations for one of its other brands... I don’t think they’ll agree to that."

Zhao Hui sneered. "Their locations? These are the mall’s locations. Which one of them actually belongs to Four Seasons Clothing? Besides, we’re not necessarily giving the Sa Mo brand to them. I want you to start negotiating with replacement brands for all of Four Seasons Clothing’s current spots. Get on it."

He was aware that Xia Bin had harassed that young woman in the store a few days ago. With Chen Xiao already making moves against Four Seasons Clothing, it was only natural for Zhao Hui to act as his vanguard.

Sun Wei was an old-timer at the square. ’Isn’t the new boss getting a little ahead of himself?’ he thought. ’This is Four Seasons Clothing we’re talking about—one of the biggest retailers in all of Jiangzhou.’

’A new official is expected to make a few bold moves, but this is a scorched-earth policy.’

’This is a move to uproot them completely. How are you supposed to face them or cooperate with them in the future? Does Zhao Hui really think he’s going to spend the rest of his life at Junxiao Square?’

’What happens when you get transferred to a less successful mall and you need Four Seasons Clothing’s support? Aren’t you afraid they’ll completely ruin you?’

But Sun Wei had no idea about Zhao Hui’s circumstances. Unless Chen Xiao or Zhao Xiangjun themselves kicked him out, Zhao Hui was planning to spend the rest of his career with Junxiao Group. Job-hopping wasn’t even on his mind.

He offered Zhao Hui a "well-intentioned" reminder. "Sir, Four Seasons Clothing is one of the most powerful retailers in Jiangzhou. Most malls have to bend over backward for them."

Zhao Hui just grunted in acknowledgment. "Do as I told you."

Sun Wei didn’t press the matter. Saying anything more would mean offending his new boss, and he could already sense Zhao Hui’s growing impatience.

As he was leaving Zhao Hui’s office, however, he turned back to add one last thing. "Sir, I heard from the development director at Four Seasons Clothing that their President Xia has scheduled a meeting with President Xu!"

Zhao Hui nodded, indicating he’d heard, but he wasn’t concerned. ’Even President Xu can’t save him now,’ he thought.

Xia Bin grabbed two boxes of fine tea from the trunk of his Rolls-Royce Cullinan to bring as a gift and headed to Junxiao Square to pay Xu Jun a visit.

Contrary to the rumors, customer traffic hadn’t plummeted after Jiangzhou Wansheng Square was renamed Junxiao Square.

Judging by the flow of cars in the parking lot today, the place was as bustling as ever. It probably had something to do with the management team remaining unchanged.

Previously, Xia Bin had relied on his close personal ties to Peng Yu, the regional head of Wansheng Group, so he hadn’t bothered to build much of a relationship with Xu Jun. But now the tables had turned, and Peng Yu could no longer help him.

And while Xu Jun was still the general manager of the square, he actually wielded more power than before, with far fewer layers of management above him to report to.

Xia Bin’s visit today was to mend that relationship. He also needed to speak with Xu Jun about replacing the "Yi Rui" brand with "Sa Mo" and discuss the lease renewals for five of his other brands on the first floor.

Xu Jun naturally had to show the general manager of Four Seasons Clothing some face. He had his assistant prepare tea and also sent for his leasing and operations managers.

For one, they were more familiar with the details and could provide context for anything the client—Xia Bin—might bring up.

For another, if the client made any requests, they would need to be there to take notes.

After all, they were the ones who would be handling the execution.

"President Xu, my sincerest apologies. I’ve been back in the country for a while now, but I’ve been so caught up with taking over the family business and getting my bearings that I haven’t had a chance to come and pay my respects."

"This time, I even asked President Peng to help make an introduction. I knew I had to come and pay my respects."

Xu Jun smiled. "President Peng is my former superior."

Calling him a "former superior" could be taken as a sign of respect, or it could be a way of drawing a clear line in the sand.

With a man of Xu Jun’s age and experience, Xia Bin found it nearly impossible to read his true thoughts from his expression.

After some light conversation, Xia Bin got to the point.

"President Xu, in our previous discussions with the Wansheng Region management, it was decided that the ’Yi Rui’ store in the business menswear section would be allocated to us for our new brand, ’Sa Mo.’ We’ve already had the blueprints for the space drawn up, but the contract still isn’t signed. I was hoping we could expedite the process a bit."

Sa Mo was an excellent brand, and Xu Jun definitely wanted it in the mall. But the moment Xia Bin mentioned "Yi Rui," his brow instantly furrowed into a deep frown.

’Didn’t Vice President Zhao Hui come from Yi Rui?’ he thought. ’He’s bound to be resistant to this proposal.’

’Besides, why does your Sa Mo brand have to target Yi Rui’s location specifically?’

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!