Chapter 349: Where Did Father Get All This Money?

Chapter 349: Where Did Father Get All This Money?

Deng Shirong never told his family about the Five Peaks Square, from buying the land to its completion, until the end of last year when he finally made it public.

However, his children and their spouses only knew that Deng Shirong had bought land and built a building in Nanning, but they had no idea how large the land was or what the building looked like.

Now, standing in front of the magnificently constructed Five Peaks Square, Deng Yuntao and the others were genuinely amazed.

After all, the building of the Shuifeng Hotel in the county town only covered about a thousand square meters and had only three floors. In contrast, the building of the Five Peaks Square covered more than three thousand square meters, tripling the size, which naturally made a huge difference in visual impact.

Coupled with the vast plaza, it truly looked breathtaking.

Deng Yuntao asked in disbelief, "Dad, did you really buy the land and build this Five Peaks Square?"

Deng Shirong smiled and said, "Of course, it's true."

Over the years, Zhang Xiuping, who had run the largest and most upscale hotel in the county and then the first supermarket, had seen a lot. But when she saw this massive Five Peaks Square, she was still stunned.

She looked at her father-in-law and asked, "Dad, how much land does this Five Peaks Square cover?"

"A total of 30 acres."

As he said this, Deng Shirong led the way and said, "Don't just stand there, let's go in and take a look!"

Only then did Deng Yuntao and the others follow with puzzled looks on their faces. Such a large piece of land and such a beautiful building—how much money must it have cost? It must have been a few million, right?

Not long ago, father also led the establishment of a food company in the clan, investing another two million yuan.

In addition to the donations for the ancestral hall, school, and the renovation of the Ye Deng Clan's house, father must have spent a lot of money.

The most critical point is that father never took any of the income from the hotel or the supermarket; he let them keep it all.

The only income father actually had in hand was the dividends from the brick factory, Litchi Mountain, and the passenger transport company.

While these incomes were indeed very high for others, they were like a drop in the bucket for father, who had such large expenditures. Even with the previous credit union loan, it couldn't fill the massive financial gap.

So, where did father get all this money?

"Boss!"

As Deng Shirong and his group approached, the two security guards at the entrance greeted them.

Deng Shirong acknowledged them and then briefly introduced everyone before leading his children into the building.

Upon entering the building, apart from the reserved public areas, Deng Yuntao and the others immediately saw the already renovated Yongjia Supermarket.

Entering the supermarket, Deng Yuntao and Zhang Xiuping were immediately captivated by the larger space, better decoration, and more reasonable layout.

Zhang Xiuping said, "With such a large area, we would need at least a hundred employees to manage it, right?"

Deng Yuntao added, "Even the supermarket in the county town needs dozens of employees. With this much larger area, we would definitely need over a hundred employees."

Zhang Xiuping said, "We have only trained a few dozen employees, which is definitely not enough."

Deng Shirong said, "A few dozen experienced employees will be enough. The rest can be hired locally, and the experienced employees can train them. They will quickly get up to speed."

Deng Yuntao said, "The inventory for this supermarket will be much larger than in the county town. I need to renegotiate with the manufacturers to see if we can lower the prices even further."

After finishing the tour of the first floor, they went up to the second floor.

Upon seeing the decoration of the hot pot restaurant, Deng Yunzhu was speechless and said, "Dad, is this the hot pot restaurant you prepared for me?"

Deng Shirong smiled and said, "Are you satisfied?"

Deng Yunzhu beamed with joy and nodded repeatedly, "Satisfied, extremely satisfied!"

Deng Yuntao, Zhang Xiuping, and Zhu Junjie also marveled at the sight. The Shuifeng Hotel, being the largest and most upscale in Bobai County, already had a spacious interior, but this hot pot restaurant was even larger.

At a glance, it was truly enormous, almost frighteningly so.

Even in the future, few people would have seen such a large hot pot restaurant, let alone in this era.

After touring the hot pot restaurant, the decoration and layout were truly superb. The tables were perfectly integrated with gas stoves, looking very neat and beautiful. Having eaten hot pot before, they could imagine how comfortable it would be to sit at such tables.

Deng Yunzhu became more and more satisfied and more and more pleased. Her smile couldn't be suppressed, and her lips were almost curled into a dragon's mouth from the future.

After touring the hot pot restaurant, Deng Yuntao asked, "Dad, what about the floors above?"

Deng Shirong said, "The third and fourth floors are not yet renovated. These are reserved for Xiaohua and Xiaoheng to start their businesses. Xiaohua will graduate from high school next year. Judging by his current grades, high school will likely be the end of his academic career, so we need to start planning the renovation of the third floor."

"As for the fifth floor, it is currently under renovation. This is where our family will live. Before the fifth floor is ready, you and the security personnel of Five Peaks Square, as well as the supermarket employees, will temporarily stay in an abandoned factory nearby. I’ve already rented the dormitory building of this abandoned factory, which can accommodate over a hundred people without any issues."

Deng Yuntao said, "Then let’s go to the station to pick up our luggage and settle in first!"

Deng Shirong looked at his eldest son-in-law and asked, "Where did you agree to meet your old comrades?"

Zhu Junjie said, "At the train station."

Deng Shirong said, "Then let’s go to the bus station to pick up our luggage first, and then we’ll head to the train station to meet them."

Everyone naturally had no objections.

...

Nanning Train Station.

Peng Zhanping, with an excited heart, walked out of the station with his wife.

"Class Leader!"

"Old Class Leader!"

"Class Leader Peng!"

As soon as Peng Zhanping stepped out of the station, he heard several very familiar voices. He looked in their direction and immediately saw several familiar figures. He was so delighted that he dropped his luggage on the ground and rushed over to give each of them a friendly punch, greeting them excitedly, "Class Leader Chen, Old Cannon, Ergouzi."

The four of them hugged each other.

Ergouzi asked, "Class Leader, is that your wife?"

"I’ll introduce you. This is my wife, Wang Yan."

Peng Zhanping smiled as he introduced his wife to his comrades. Then he said to his wife, "Yanzi, these are my comrades. This is Class Leader Chen, this is Old Cannon, and this is Ergouzi."

"Hello, Sister-in-law!"

"Hello, everyone!"

After the greetings, Old Cannon said, "Class Leader, Gangzi and Old Sun, along with a bunch of others, are all waiting on the square in front."

"Let’s go and join them."

Soon, Peng Zhanping and his wife joined the main group.

Goodness, there were quite a few people—some were single, and others, like Peng Zhanping, brought their families. There were dozens of them in total.

Since Zhu Junjie had called on his old comrades, these people were either from the same squad, the same platoon, or the same company. For those from the same squad, there was no need for much introduction. For those from the same platoon or company, they might not be very familiar with each other, but they were like school alumni. Unless someone was really insignificant, they would at least recognize each other’s faces.

Old comrades meeting after a long time naturally had endless things to talk about.

The families also had plenty to discuss.

After chatting for a while, one of the comrades suddenly shouted, "Company Commander!"

All the veterans present had once been in the same company, and their company commander was none other than Zhu Junjie, who had gathered them all together.

When someone shouted "Company Commander," they all knew he had arrived and looked in the same direction.

Seeing a familiar figure, they all greeted him excitedly:

"Company Commander!"

"Company Commander!"

"Company Commander!"

Seeing so many familiar old comrades, Zhu Junjie was also moved and greeted each of them.

The commotion drew curious glances from the surrounding civilians.

Zhu Junjie introduced his father-in-law, his elder brother, his elder sister-in-law, and his younger sister to his old comrades and then said, "Now, everyone, pick up your luggage. I’ll take you to your temporary accommodation, and then we’ll have a meal together."

"Yes, Company Commander!"

Peng Zhanping and the others all responded, then each picked up their luggage and followed the company commander to their temporary living quarters.

About twenty minutes later.

Deng Shirong led everyone to the dormitory of the abandoned factory he had rented earlier, as shown below:

Despite the factory being abandoned for various reasons, the dormitory building was still in decent condition, not too dilapidated.

Moreover, after renting the dormitory, Deng Shirong had used his system space to clean the entire place. Now, apart from some dust, everything was spotlessly clean, much to everyone’s delight.

After everyone was settled, it was already quite late, so Deng Shirong took them to a restaurant for a meal.

During the meal, Deng Shirong explained their job responsibilities and salary benefits to the veterans, which left them truly amazed.

They would earn a monthly salary of 50 yuan, with accommodation provided but no meals, and there would be a year-end bonus for good performance. Additionally, their salary would increase by 20% each year. This was truly an excellent deal.

As for their job responsibilities, they would be tasked with protecting the safety of the young bosses and ensuring that their businesses were not disrupted by thugs demanding protection money or causing trouble. This was incredibly simple for them.

After all, the boss had formed a platoon of security personnel, all of whom were veterans. Their combat capabilities were undoubtedly top-notch.

To put it mildly, they could take on a hundred thugs bare-handed without any problem. If they had weapons like sticks, they could easily handle two to three hundred ordinary people.

Zhu Junjie directly appointed Peng Zhanping, saying, "Peng Zhanping, this security platoon will be under your command. Is that alright?"

Peng Zhanping had already been informed by his former leader in the letter, so he responded without hesitation, "No problem, I will do my best to lead the team well."

...

With the security personnel in place, Deng Shirong felt at ease leaving his eldest son and daughter-in-law in Nanning. He then took his youngest daughter with him and boarded a train to Sichuan.

His eldest son and daughter-in-law had been in business for many years. The supermarket was now ready for them to take over, and they could handle the rest on their own without any further intervention from him.

On the other hand, his youngest daughter was a novice just out of school, so Deng Shirong naturally had to guide her step by step to set up the hot pot restaurant from scratch.

The main purposes of this trip to Sichuan and Chongqing were:

1. To purchase goods.

The chili peppers in Sichuan were indeed much better than those in Guangxi, and he needed to collect the broad bean paste he had ordered last year. This was the soul of Sichuan cuisine and an essential ingredient for making spicy hot pot.

2. To recruit skilled workers.

The chefs from Sichuan and Chongqing were the best for making spicy hot pot, and he planned to offer high salaries to bring back ten to eight master chefs.

On the train, Deng Yunzhu held a handkerchief to her nose, deeply understanding why her second brother and third brother "feared" trains. The smell of sweat on the train was overwhelming, along with various other odors like pickled vegetables and even dead rats.

In short, the smell was truly unbearable.

Seeing her discomfort, an auntie sitting opposite her smiled and asked, "Young lady, is this your first time on a train?"

Deng Yunzhu nodded and said, "Yes, it is."

The auntie said, "You'll get used to it after a few more trips."

Deng Yunzhu removed her handkerchief to take a breath but quickly put it back as the smell was still unbearable.

The auntie laughed and said, "The smell is indeed a bit strong when you first get on the train, but once it's been running for a while and the wind blows in, the smell will disperse, and it won't be as bad."

Deng Yunzhu asked, "Auntie, you seem very experienced. Do you often ride the train?"

The auntie replied, "My son works in Sichuan, so I usually visit him once a year. I've taken the train many times."

She then asked, "Young lady, where are you and your father headed?"

Deng Yunzhu said, "We are also going to Sichuan."

The auntie asked, "Are you visiting relatives or something else?"

Deng Shirong interjected, "We are going to handle some business. Auntie, are you from Guangxi?"

The auntie said, "Yes, I'm from Baise, Guangxi."

"Baise is a beautiful place..."

They chatted back and forth, and in this era, riding the train was a rather boring experience. Those who were prepared would bring a book to pass the time, while those who couldn't read or had no interest in books would chat with others to pass the time.

As the train moved, the wind blew in, gradually dispersing the strong smell of sweat in the carriage.

Although the smell still lingered, it was no longer as unbearable for Deng Yunzhu, who no longer needed to cover her nose.

Two days later.

The train finally arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan.

After getting off the train, Deng Yunzhu felt like she had come back to life and asked, "Dad, will I have to ride the train here frequently to purchase goods in the future?"

Deng Shirong smiled and said, "Not necessarily. This time, we'll select suitable suppliers and agree on payment terms. Then, we can just call the suppliers to have the goods shipped directly."

Deng Yunzhu sighed in relief and said, "That's good."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end