Chapter One Hundred and Four: Loans and Expansion

In County A of Gui, at the Huakun Supermarket Chain Group.

Today was Lu Kun’s first day back at the company after returning from Hong Kong.

“Boss, do you think we should open the other branches first?” Sun Bowen asked, standing before Lu Kun with a stack of files in his arms.

“How much cash do we still have on the books? Enough to open how many branches?”

Lu Kun remembered that before he left for Hong Kong, when he had checked the accounts, the company’s cash flow was still under four hundred thousand.

“There’s a little over one point one million in cash on the books now. If we want to seize the retail market in a prefecture-level city, the funding gap will probably be around one million,” Sun Bowen estimated.

“Then open the other branches first. We can’t just sit around and let the money rot on the company’s books,” Lu Kun said with a roll of his eyes. “Remember to leave aside some funds for emergencies.”

“Understood. I’ll tell the people below to get moving in a bit,” Sun Bowen replied readily.

“Oh, right, Boss. Quite a few banks and credit cooperatives have recently sent us invitations for deposits and loans,” Sun Bowen added.

“Oh? Which banks and credit cooperatives have sent us loan invitations, and how much credit did they offer?” Lu Kun asked leisurely after taking a sip of tea.

“An Gui Credit Cooperative says it can give us three million in loan credit, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank has promised us two million. And then there’s...” By the end, Sun Bowen’s face had begun to twitch.

“And what other bank?”

Lu Kun felt a little baffled. Was there something so awkward it couldn’t be said plainly?

“The Postal Savings office says they can provide us with two hundred thousand in loan credit,” Sun Bowen said through clenched teeth, veins bulging on his forehead by the end.

Lu Kun narrowed his eyes slightly, blew gently across his teacup, and said, without changing expression, “From now on, don’t use the postal service for any of the group’s deposit business. Withdraw whatever funds we currently have there as soon as possible.”

“Yes!” Sun Bowen nodded hard and withdrew.

To be honest, since the Huakun network had grown to this point, Lu Kun had never dared to borrow heavily from banks.

One reason was that bank lending thresholds at the time were too high; small and micro businesses had to pay a huge price to secure loans.

If that were all, it would not have been so bad. He could have gritted his teeth and borrowed anyway. But the more important issue was that once a loan became large enough, banks, under pressure from certain directions, could very likely cut off the borrower’s cash flow.

Once a company’s cash flow was broken, it would eventually have no choice but to declare bankruptcy, its assets auctioned off by the bank and transferred into the mouths of the hawks that had long since been circling this fat piece of meat.

In his previous life, Lu Kun had seen plenty of business friends who had been tricked and ground down until they were neither alive nor dead. Those who had narrowly escaped disaster could only cry out in relief, while those who had suffered the blow could sink without a trace, not even able to make a single splash.

Of course, one could not avoid treatment for a fever just because one feared the thermometer.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank was considered relatively trustworthy.

In October 1989, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China first issued the Peony Credit Card, and the Peony Card quickly grew into a leading banking brand in the industry.

This year, 1990, the national computer network system of the Bank of China had officially gone into operation, with connected cities reaching ninety-one.

In later years, many people knew that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was formidable, but they did not know that it had always been formidable.

As early as 1991, it was already ranked eighth among the world’s top five hundred banks, and its capital yield and net income rate were both number one in the world.

Its management and service systems were not something the notoriously unreliable postal service could compare with.

Lu Kun rubbed his chin and thought for a while. The loan invitation from An Gui Credit Cooperative needed no explanation; it was certainly one of the province’s tacit policy favors.

As for the Industrial and Commercial Bank, although it did not directly belong to An Gui, they still had to make a living there, and if they failed to give face to the upper levels in An Gui, that would truly be lacking tact.

In any case, Lu Kun had heard that some time ago Liu Dexin had asked Sun Bowen to seek a loan from the Industrial and Commercial Bank.

The management of the Gui’an Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank had not given Liu Dexin any face. The loan had not come through, and they had even mocked him thoroughly.

The next day, the Gui’an Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank had water and electricity cut off, and the county road construction crew had even dug up the road in front of the branch, saying they were carrying out repairs, while declaring that it would absolutely not be fixed in three to five months.

As for how that ended, one only had to look at the loan invitation the bank was sending now to know.

After all, even a strong dragon could not crush a local snake.

Only by giving one another face could everyone live in peace.

An Gui had a total of fourteen prefecture-level cities. At present, Huakun had only captured one, Fengyang City, and there were still thirteen prefecture-level retail markets waiting for the Huakun network to seize.

The loan credit granted by An Gui Credit Cooperative and the Industrial and Commercial Bank was all policy-backed lending, highly secure, and could be borrowed without worry.

Beep, beep, beep.

After thinking it over, Lu Kun picked up the phone and called the finance department manager, telling them to hurry and secure the loans from An Gui Credit Cooperative and the Industrial and Commercial Bank.

After that, Lu Kun called the human resources department as well, telling them to recruit people immediately and begin training as quickly as possible.

Lu Kun had originally hoped to capture the retail markets of three more prefecture-level cities before the Spring Festival of 1991 arrived.

Now that they had several million in loans, they could take a slightly larger stride.

After all, the entire publicity machine of An Gui had been set in motion. If they did not seize this moment to expand, when else would they do it?

Their talent reserves were already somewhat insufficient.

But there was nothing to be done about that now. It seemed they could only recruit, train, and trial people all at the same time.

Work on selecting sites for new Huakun branches had been proceeding all along, and that was no longer a problem. Since Huakun had become widely renowned, many things had become much easier to handle.

Even the fines and penalties issued earlier by various unrelated departments had seen many of them returned to the Huakun network.

Of course, these were all small matters. The most urgent thing for the Huakun network now was to expand as quickly as possible.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Kun picked up the phone again and called Li Erfu.

“Hello, Brother Li. When are you arriving? The people from the government are already pressing me from my side.”

“Yes, yes, I know you haven’t decided how much to invest yet, but I need you here to help prop things up. I’m afraid my brother there will give the game away!”

“Keep a low profile? Not happening! Brother Li, listen to me: dressing up like a nouveau riche is exactly right.”

“The local government people here just eat that sort of thing up. Have your people bring a few luxury cars, and make sure my brother has a big mobile phone ready too.”

“What? The luxury cars are all secondhand knockoffs? That’s fine. I’ve known that for a long time.”

“With the level of insight those local officials have, they may not even be able to tell.”

“Besides, they’ve already blown the whole thing sky-high to the people above. Do you think they’re going to expose you now?”

“Wouldn’t that be slapping their own faces?”

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