The conversation that followed was about Du Zhaoqi trying to get Tang Yuanyue to invest in Asia.

Du Zhaohui knew exactly what he was doing. What interested Xia Xiaolan the most? Making money! Du Zhaohui had to reluctantly admit that the allure of “making money” had an even stronger pull on Xia Xiaolan than a handsome man like himself.

Not that Xia Xiaolan would chase after just any money-making opportunity. But since she had already invested in the Asia Department Store, and now Du Zhaoqi was scheming behind her back, Du Zhaohui guessed she wouldn’t stand for it.

Du Zhaohui guessed correctly. Without much deliberation, Xia Xiaolan decided to accompany Du Zhaoqi to meet Tang Yuanyue.

“Aunt, I have some business to attend to—”

“No worries, don’t let me hold up your work, go ahead quickly.”

While Jiang Hong spoke casually, she still worried after Xia Xiaolan left with Du Zhaohui. However, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t concern herself with Jiang Hong’s thoughts. Even if Guan Hui’e had been here today, Xia Xiaolan would still have gone with Du Zhaohui to meet Tang Yuanyue. She was clear in her conscience—this trip was genuinely for business, so why shouldn’t she go?

As always, doing business meant dealing with all sorts of people. Xia Xiaolan couldn’t possibly limit herself to only dealing with businesswomen just to avoid suspicion—and there weren’t even that many businesswomen to work with!

Du Zhaoqi wanted to find investors in Asia. New shareholders would dilute Xia Xiaolan’s shares. Du Zhaoqi had already pulled this trick before—was he going to keep at it? Previously, buying Chaoyang Real Estate was a loophole to indirectly hold shares in Asia Department Store… but this time, it wasn’t indirect shareholding. What exactly was Du Zhaoqi plotting? Xia Xiaolan also reflected on whether she had been too easygoing lately, wanting to be a laid-back shareholder, only to have others repeatedly testing her boundaries.

Du Zhaohui secretly glanced at her—that expression showed she was angry, right? That good-for-nothing Du Zhaoqi finally proved useful, bringing him and Xia Xiaolan back together.

Du Zhaohui hummed a tune in his heart.

Tang Yuanyue had arranged to meet him at the Nanhai Hotel today. Although Nanhai Hotel’s management rights were in Huo Chenzhou’s hands, Meihua still held shares and profited as a shareholder. Tang Yuanyue arranged all his business meetings here when possible, helping promote the hotel!

When Tang Yuanyue arranged to meet Du Zhaohui, the busy young master made him wait a full week.

Tang Yuanyue was initially displeased, but he hadn’t expected Du Zhaohui to bring Xia Xiaolan along—

The Chairman who had supposedly given up couldn’t help but smile:

“How did you two end up coming together?”

Du Zhaohui winked, “Xiaolan is also an Asia shareholder. Isn’t it appropriate for her to hear about Asia’s financing plans?”

Heh, so that’s how it was. Du Zhaohui was truly shameless, using this news to curry favor with Xia Xiaolan!

Tang Yuanyue felt somewhat regretful—why hadn’t he told Xia Xiaolan himself, instead of letting Du Zhaohui have this opportunity to ingratiate himself?

“Well, since you’re here, let’s sit down and talk. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Miss Xia.”

“It’s been half a year since we parted in America, Chairman Tang is still looking as spirited as ever!”

Since they hadn’t fallen out before, on the way here, Du Zhaohui had gossiped about Tang Yuanyue’s recent girlfriend. Xia Xiaolan figured Tang Yuanyue’s feelings for her must have long passed, so she spoke naturally, handling it gracefully!

Tang Yuanyue got straight to the point, “I asked to meet with Zhaohui mainly to catch up. With Zhaohui busy with Cheng Rong Plaza matters, our contact has become less frequent. Even if we’re not doing business together, we’re still friends, right? Secondarily, I wanted to discuss the ‘Asia’ matter, I wanted to ask Zhaohui’s thoughts.”

Du Zhaohui knew Tang Yuanyue had treated him well.

Of course, this goodwill was mixed with business interests. Du Zhaohui was now a board member of the Cheng Rong Group, holding 5% of the group’s shares, which gave his words weight. Plus, with Du Cheng Rong recently involving him in everything, his position as ‘heir’ grew increasingly secure. When he went out to socialize now, others wouldn’t treat him as just a useless playboy.

What was the point of Tang Yuanyue working with Du Zhaoqi? He’d boarded a sinking ship!

“I don’t know, you weren’t clear on the phone. What did Second Brother say when he invited you to invest?”

Not just Du Zhaohui, but Xia Xiaolan was also curious about this.

Tang Yuanyue didn’t hide anything: “Du Zhaoqi wants to build an Asia empire, those were his exact words. He’s researched consumer market prospects and wants to start from provincial capitals with good economic conditions, turning Asia into a chain of department stores… He wants to follow Japan’s Yaohan model. Zhaohui, you haven’t been in Hong Kong these past two years, but Japan’s Yaohan entered the Hong Kong market in 1984, opening their first store in Sha Tin, do you remember?”

Du Zhaohui’s eyes widened, “Of course, I know Yaohan!”

Though he’d never gone shopping there.

As the grand Young Master Du, did he need to shop at supermarkets himself?

Japan’s Yaohan was very famous, even a simpleton like Du Zhaohui had heard of it.

Tang Yuanyue nodded, “If Zhaohui has heard of it, Miss Xia must know about it too.”

Xia Xiaolan didn’t just know about it.

It was legendary!

In 1930, Japanese farmer Wada Ryohei and his wife Wada Katsu founded ‘Yaohan,’ initially just a tiny fruit shop. After World War II, it rapidly expanded into a Japanese chain supermarket group and successfully listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange—ordinary people might not care about this, but the TV drama “Oshin” based on Wada Katsu aired on China Central Television in ’85, with ratings going through the roof, becoming a hit across Asia!

By the 70s, Yaohan began actively expanding overseas.

Hong Kong wasn’t Yaohan’s first overseas expansion—before entering Hong Kong, Yaohan had already established a presence in Brazil, Singapore, and even the United States!

Put this way, when China’s economy began rapid growth in the 90s and retail gained attention, almost everyone in China’s retail sector was studying Japan’s Yaohan model.

Those in manufacturing were studying South Korea’s Daewoo model.

Then the ’97 financial crisis swept through, taking down both Yaohan and Daewoo, leaving China bewildered.

Yaohan and Daewoo were benchmarks, models that many Chinese peers emulated. When these idols fell, what were others supposed to do?!

Yaohan was incredibly powerful, even entering mainland China in the 90s, with their first store in Shanghai… At its peak, Yaohan had over 400 stores across more than a dozen countries.

When it filed for bankruptcy in 1997, Yaohan had debts of 160 billion yen, which at that year’s exchange rate exceeded 10 billion Chinese yuan.

Yes, Yaohan, Du Zhaoqi’s chosen model to emulate, fell around the same time as Asia.

No matter how massive it was, it still collapsed!

Its reasons for falling were similar to Asia’s—too-rapid expansion, then hit by the ’97 Asian Financial Crisis, plus the effects of Japan’s economic bubble burst. Yaohan fell even faster than it had expanded.

“Xiaolan, what are you thinking about?”

Du Zhaohui noticed Xia Xiaolan’s distraction. Looking at his face, Xia Xiaolan could only see the character for “second” written all over it.

Du Zhaohui truly wasn’t as clever as Du Zhaoqi, but…

Xia Xiaolan murmured: “Nothing much, I just think Second Young Master Du might have been short on luck.”