"I heard our refrigerators are selling very well. Are the workers rushing to catch up every day?"
Chen Yang returned home and had just sat down when Shen Xue brought him a bowl of mung bean soup.
"No sugar added. I know you don't like sugar. I specifically chilled it for you. It'll help you cool down."
Seeing Chen Yang stirring the bowl with his spoon without touching it, Shen Xue continued.
"You're getting smarter and smarter, but this habit of always guessing other people's thoughts is not good."
His thoughts instantly guessed by his wife, Chen Yang finished the bowl of iced mung bean soup in a few gulps.
His once flat stomach after rebirth had developed a slight paunch over the past few years. Although it wasn't yet a beer belly, Chen Yang had consciously started controlling his diet and now swam a few laps in the courtyard pool whenever he had free time.
"How was it today? Did the wine fair go well?"
"I see Er Ni is getting more and more competent. With the Xuan Wine Factory in her hands, Father should be able to relax now."
"I've wanted him and Mother to come live with us for a long time, but the old man just can't let go of that darn wine factory."
Perhaps only Chen Yang dared to call Xuan Wine Factory a "darn wine factory." Currently, its annual sales revenue reached tens of millions.
"You know my father. Ever since you helped him buy back this winery, he's been single-mindedly focused on expanding Xuan Wine Factory."
"Let him be. As long as he's happy and willing, he can do whatever he wants. It's my mother who suffers; she misses her children terribly."
Shen Xue was a bit helpless. Chen Yang's parents often stayed in Shanghai. Jinling was not far from Shanghai, and his elder sister and brother-in-law could eat at their workplaces during the day. When they missed their grandchildren, they would bring their elder sister's children back.
This also allowed the little ones to see their grandparents. Brother-in-law Li Zhengpeng even considered finding an opportunity to transfer back to work in Shanghai, something Chen Yang had never anticipated. In his previous life, his brother-in-law was dead set on cultivating talent for the country in petroleum exploration.
In this life, things were different; he even wanted to return to Shanghai. He wondered if he still held the same convictions as in his previous life.
However, these things were not of particular concern to Chen Yang. As long as his elder sister and brother-in-law could live happily, he didn't care which city they worked or lived in.
"After the wine fair ends, let Er Ni stay at home for a few days before going back. She's become a busy person now, rushing around for the winery every day."
Chen Yang put down his bowl and hugged Shen Xue, who had become more voluptuous. Shen Xue leaned into her husband's embrace, looking a bit exasperated. Her own sister, though well-educated, was quite a handful.
"Tell her later. This girl's wings have hardened. She doesn't listen to me at all and constantly complains about me nagging."
Shen Rong returned from Hong Kong after graduating with her master's degree last year. Having been exposed to Western commercial and financial knowledge abroad, her business acumen was naturally no match for Shen Futang's.
Initially, Shen Rong thought she could implement drastic reforms upon returning to the factory. However, she found things were far simpler than she imagined when she arrived at Xuan Wine Factory.
She had thought that her father, a simple farmer, achieving success with the winery was already remarkable. What did he know about marketing? About operations? About management?
Then, upon entering the factory, she saw the award and punishment systems formulated by a group of university graduates, as well as the ubiquitous Xuan Wine advertisements flooding television stations, even reaching CCTV.
Shen Rong fell silent. Could this really be something her farmer father could achieve?
If this was considered not knowing marketing or management, then she, a postgraduate, was not even worth mentioning.
It wasn't until she truly became involved in the daily operations of the winery that Shen Rong belatedly realized that all of this had been meticulously planned by her brother-in-law. Only then did she heave a sigh of relief.
Knowing that it was all Chen Yang's doing, she found it natural. Her brother-in-law was omnipotent. Even in Hong Kong, a man who started from scratch and accumulated such wealth and status in just a few years would be exceptionally rare.
Shen Rong also shed her pride as an overseas returnee. The more she participated in the business, the more she marveled at the perfection of Chen Yang's planning.
Each step and each initiative unfolded as if riding a favorable current, propelling the Xuan Wine brand to a peak it had never reached before.
Shen Rong had also made her own attempts, and this wine fair was her brainchild.
Inviting wine connoisseurs from all over the country to taste for free, and then having television stations promote it. To conceive of such a method in this era, even Chen Yang felt that sending Shen Rong abroad had not been in vain.
It was evident that after this wine fair, the Xuan Wine brand would once again soar to new heights.
Now was the time to reap the rewards. For example, Guo Jiao 1978, a cellar wine brewed in a special year, paired with the blue and white porcelain wine bottles custom-made by Chen Yang from Jingdezhen, had become a special supply for many banquets.
Shen Rong's ingenuity was even more remarkable. She limited the supply of this batch of wine. Although there were still hundreds of vats in the cellars, she managed to supply only a thousand bottles annually, no more.
Chinese people were like this: the more something was cherished and difficult to obtain, the more people would flock to it.
Shen Rong's strategy of "hunger marketing" was a classic marketing model even in the twenty-first century. Even Chen Yang had to admit that this girl had a talent for business.
However, being good at business was one thing, but in Shen Xue's eyes, her sister being too outstanding was also a source of distress.
Because Shen Rong was too outstanding and devoted all her energy to business, she had never considered finding a partner or getting married. Even when Chen Yang introduced several college students from his company, she didn't fancy any of them.
The girl was almost twenty-six. In the countryside, she was considered a grown woman. Women her age in the village might already have three or four children.
Shen Rong's mother was anxious, and Shen Xue, as the elder sister, was also worried.
"Don't rush about Er Ni's affairs. It's normal for her to have higher standards after seeing the wider world."
"Fate is something that arrives when it arrives. Rushing it is useless."
Chen Yang was more philosophical than Shen Xue and the others. In later generations, it was common for strong women to marry in their thirties or forties, and some even remained unmarried for life.
The kind of partner Shen Rong wanted to find was her own choice, and Chen Yang would certainly not interfere.
Not to mention Shen Rong, Shen Pandi was a year older than her and still unmarried.
"I won't talk to you anymore. It's just annoying."
Shen Xue was too lazy to continue talking to Chen Yang. She had initially thought her husband would join her in trying to talk to her sister, but instead, he sided with his sister-in-law and completely ignored his wife.