Chen Xiliang had changed his thinking.

Using money to make money was one level, using other people’s money to make your own money was another level.

Elegance failed because it couldn’t repay its loans, but Chen Xiliang wasn’t scared.

Luna’s business model was completely different from Elegance’s. Luna operated through franchises, while Elegance built its channels. Elegance’s value lay in its sales channels, but Luna’s value was in the brand itself!

Luna only had two directly operated stores in Yangcheng and Beijing, but its brand recognition was extremely high. Central TV advertisements, Zhang Xiao’s endorsement, and the “donate one yuan for every piece sold” marketing strategy made Luna stand out among domestic Chinese clothing brands in the late 1980s.

For Comrade Chen Xiliang, a young entrepreneur featured in the People’s Daily, getting a loan to develop Luna would be easily approved.

Luna had quick capital turnover, making hundreds of millions in profit last year – repaying a 7 million loan wouldn’t be a problem!

Fundamentally, Luna was built jointly by Chen Xiliang and Xia Xiaolan with a solid foundation, without investing their own money in dozens of stores, without financial pressure… but taking over Elegance’s channels would be a burden.

Chen Xiliang has been pondering this issue lately:

“Starting a men’s brand Leo would work, but Elegance’s existing stores need renovation. With dozens of stores, the supply volume isn’t small. If we invest all the capital ourselves, aren’t we just following Elegance’s old path?”

Chen Xiliang had his ideas now, no longer simply following her arrangements.

This was good.

Luna would ultimately be managed by Chen Xiliang. Xia Xiaolan had been guiding him, trying to mature the future clothing mogul early.

But she couldn’t guide Chen Xiliang forever.

The clothing industry wasn’t Xia Xiaolan’s dream. She initially chose clothing because, in the 1980s, it had low costs and quick returns, purely to accumulate her first bucket of gold.

“Old Chen, I can only say that acquiring Elegance has value, but how to build Leo is something you need to think about yourself. Elegance wasn’t a complete failure. Ji Ya wasn’t good at management, couldn’t control costs, expanded too quickly, and was forced to repay loans by Sheng Xuan before failing. Ji Ya did acquire something valuable, think about it.”

Channels are king!

Ji Ya had established channels.

For many Elegance stores, Ji Ya bought what she could, and signed long-term leases for what she couldn’t buy.

After all, investing in store renovation costs tens of thousands per store. Without owning the properties, landlords might back out after a year or two, losing not just business revenue but also renovation costs.

Ji Ya’s approach didn’t maximize profits – this was why Elegance had tied up so much capital!

But in the long run, it was a good investment.

Xia Xiaolan thought of a well-known chain electronics store. After entering the e-commerce era, they initially couldn’t establish their own online sales platform and struggled, having to close some stores… How to handle company losses? Sell some physical store properties – the stores belonged to the company. In places like Beijing, selling just one store could bring in tens of millions.

Similarly, in her previous life, Asia Department Store was the same.

Self-expansion, acquiring land to build malls, not just operating rights but property ownership belonged to Asia.

If Asia had survived the crisis of ’97, how much would their properties be worth after the millennium?

Elegance and Asia had something in common – their debt ratios were too high.

Borrowing from banks for development wasn’t wrong.

But when 99 out of 100 yuan was borrowed, that was problematic. Add interest, needing to repay over 100 yuan – once bank policies tightened, management faltered, and the market cooled, how could they not fail?

When Xia Xiaolan let Chen Xiliang think for himself, he did.

Buying Elegance was already decided – as long as it didn’t exceed 7 million, they had to acquire it.

How to transform it after acquisition and successfully launch the men’s brand Leo without failing like Elegance was what Chen Xiliang needed to figure out himself.

…

Xia Xiaolan arrived in Pengcheng on Saturday morning. That evening, Zhu Suizhou invited her to dinner:

“This is Mr. Du’s idea.”

This Mr. Du was Du Zhaoqi.

So this person finally remembered to “consult” her opinion as a shareholder?

“Manager Zhu, please tell Second Young Master Du that I’ll be there on time.”

Zhu Suizhou seemed a bit embarrassed, “Mr. Du is a man of action. When he wants to do something, I can’t stop him.”

Was it that he couldn’t stop him, or didn’t want to?

Du Zhaoqi was action-oriented, and Zhu Suizhou was aggressive – they must have hit it off immediately.

Xia Xiaolan smiled, “I always thought Manager Zhu wasn’t the type to submit to others. If I had known you could accept others’ investment, I definitely would have invited you to start a business together.”

Could Zhu Suizhou listen to Du Zhaoqi?

Du Zhaoqi was young, Zhu Suizhou was older!

Du Zhaoqi came from Hong Kong’s Du family. For his venture, Du Chengrong casually gave him 20 million HKD as startup capital.

But Zhu Suizhou came from an ordinary Shanghai family. He quit his government job to start a business, and had business talent but no capital.

Now in Shangdu’s Asia Mall, Du Zhaoqi held 65.6%, Xia Xiaolan 18%, and Zhu Suizhou 16.4%. Du Zhaoqi wanted to bring in other shareholders to dilute Xia Xiaolan’s 18% stake – this was obvious.

What about Zhu Suizhou? He had even less money to invest – could he keep his 16.4% stake?

When Du Zhaoqi bought Chaoyang Real Estate, he left Zhu Suizhou a 20% stake and kept him as company manager.

But now Du Zhaoqi wanted to expand.

Originally Shangdu Asia Mall was worth 40 million – Du Zhaoqi could leave Zhu Suizhou 16.4%. Now if the business expanded to 100 million, 200 million, or more, could Du Zhaoqi still give Zhu Suizhou 16.4%?

Give him 8%?

That was dreaming!

Zhu Suizhou’s 16.4% came from his 20% stake in Chaoyang Real Estate, which invested in Shangdu Asia Mall along with Xia Xiaolan, allowing him to indirectly hold shares in Shangdu Asia.

Who knew how Du Zhaoqi would structure his Asia brand?

Every time he invested more in Chaoyang Real Estate, Zhu Suizhou’s stake would be diluted. As the company grew, his voice as founder and manager would become increasingly weak… could Zhu Suizhou accept this?

From this perspective, Zhu Suizhou and Xia Xiaolan should share common concerns now.

When the major shareholder acts up, shouldn’t minor shareholders band together?

Xia Xiaolan was just a speculator – whether Asia Mall succeeded or not only meant earning more or less.

But Asia meant to Zhu Suizhou what Qihang meant to Xia Xiaolan.

It wasn’t just a money-making company, but his career.

Xia Xiaolan’s comment about “submitting to others” must have stirred Zhu Suizhou’s emotions. After a pause on the phone, he casually replied:

“Chairman Xia is joking. We’re already ‘starting a business together.’ Regarding Asia, Mr. Du has some new ideas to discuss with you.”