Villain: Suppressing the Protagonist and Stealing the School Belle at the Start

Chen Yang was stumped by Su Lin's question. It was an idea Ye Feng had shared with him in the car earlier. At the time, Chen Yang hadn't paid it much mind, but later, bored at home, he'd looked it up. To his surprise, the business model for a chain supermarket was genuinely impressive.

He then spent the entire night reading about chain supermarkets.

Although he had refined the concept considerably himself, the initial idea came from Ye Feng.

"Brother Lin, actually this is..."

Su Lin said dismissively, "I don't care who came up with the idea for you. As long as it makes money, that's all that matters."

Su Lin then added, "If we were to open a supermarket like the one you described in Jiangning District, how much money do you think it would cost?"

Chen Yang replied without hesitation, "If we keep it small, two hundred thousand should cover it. If we go bigger, it'll be five hundred thousand."

"And if we don't rent but buy the property, and build it to the specifications you mentioned?"

"Brother Lin, to build it to the specifications of Jia Legou, it would take at least a million. The bulk of that would be the cost of buying the property."

Su Lin nodded and then said, "How about this, you take some time to conduct a detailed investigation and then create a table showing exactly how much money is needed."

"Brother Lin, does that mean you agree to do this?" Chen Yang asked excitedly.

Su Lin nodded, "I think it has potential. We can start by opening one in Jiangning as a test run. If it proves profitable, we'll increase the investment and open one in every district of Zhongjiang, making it a chain."

Seriously, Walmart and China Resources are major corporations that deal in supermarkets, how could he look down on the chain supermarket business?

The profits within this sector were astonishingly high.

Hearing Su Lin's words, Chen Yang instantly felt a surge of excitement.

Opening a supermarket in every district of Zhongjiang City – what a massive undertaking that would be.

And he would have a stake in this venture.

Su Lin said sternly, "Yangzi, you need to think carefully. Once you start, there's no turning back. If we're going to do this, we need to act quickly and aim to open the supermarket before the college entrance exams. That way, it might affect your grades...?"

Chen Yang waved his hand, "No problem, Brother Lin. Actually, after school, I rarely review my studies. I have a lot of things going on at home every day, but my grades haven't dropped."

"Alright, since that's the case, then go ahead and do it."

"Oh, and when you have free time, you can chat with Ye Feng more, just don't mention the entrepreneurial stuff to him."

"Ah~!!" Chen Yang looked at Su Lin in surprise, not understanding how Su Lin knew his idea came from Ye Feng.

This idea definitely wasn't Chen Yang's; he didn't have that kind of thinking ability. So, who else had Chen Yang been in contact with?

It had to be Ye Feng.

Su Lin's reason for wanting Chen Yang to maintain a good relationship with Ye Feng was simple: he wanted to keep tabs on the guy's information.

Otherwise, with just a slight oversight, Ye Feng could easily acquire his first pot of gold, making it much harder to curb his development.

Su Lin patted Chen Yang's shoulder. He didn't intend to reveal this matter, instead saying, "Lately, this guy has been bothering Xiao Yu and me a lot. You handle him."

"So that's how it is." Chen Yang suddenly understood.

Su Lin nodded, "When we set up the company, I might ask Xiao Yu to join. Yangzi, you should be mentally prepared."

Chen Yang sounded a bit disappointed, "Brother Lin, aren't you going to participate directly?"

Su Lin chuckled, "Of course I will, but I won't be heavily involved. The main goal is for Xiao Yu to gain some experience."

"Brother Lin, you and Xia Shiyu..."

"It's exactly what you're thinking."

"And what about Lin Xiaowan?"

"That's also exactly what you're thinking."

Chen Yang: "..."

Did the medicinal herb business also fall through? [Seeking flowers and votes]

After school that afternoon, Su Lin planned to invite Xia Shiyu to ride home with him and then take her to the hospital. However, when he reached the school gate, he saw that Liu Yong wasn't there; Li Hongyang had arrived instead.

After waving goodbye to the two girls, Su Lin walked up to Li Hongyang, "Brother Yang, why are you here? Where's Uncle Liu?"

Li Hongyang smiled, "I told Old Liu to stay home. I came to talk to you about something and to give you a ride back."

Seeing Li Hongyang's anxious demeanor, Su Lin guessed why he was in such a hurry to find him.

Su Lin nodded, "Alright, we can talk in the car."

"Okay."

Getting into the car, Su Lin directly asked, "Brother Yang, are you here to discuss the sales of the Gastrodia elata with me?"

Li Hongyang nodded, "Young Master Su, I truly admire your foresight. We hardly ever encounter Gastrodia elata in ten to eight years, so how did you think of collecting it from the countryside?"

Su Lin chuckled lightly, "I only got the idea after hearing about it from a classmate."

"You have no idea, I only completed the acquisition this morning, and this afternoon someone called wanting to buy it. They didn't even negotiate and just told me to name my price, whatever it was."

Su Lin realized, "No wonder you came looking for me."

"Heh! I didn't know much about it, so I didn't pay him any mind and just hung up the phone."

"Mmm! Brother Yang, does this mean you intend to resolve the issue of selling it for me as well?" Su Lin raised an eyebrow.

The matter of acquiring Gastrodia elata, Su Lin provided the money and Li Hongyang the labor, and in less than a day they made over two hundred thousand. He had tasted success and naturally wanted to come ask Su Lin for the right to sell the goods.

Probe Technique~!

[Li Hongyang: Age 27, Height 175cm, Weight 67kg, Current Loyalty 70↑ Rising.]

His loyalty was already trustworthy.

Su Lin couldn't understand why Li Hongyang's loyalty would be so high when they hadn't interacted much. He guessed it must be due to Su Zhenguo.

"Brother Yang, are you interested in working for me?"

"Ah~! Young Master Su, what did you say?"

"I mean, stop working for my dad and come work for me instead," Su Lin said with a smile.

Li Hongyang shook his head, "Young Master Su, unless the boss asks me to come, I wouldn't come on my own."

"Alright, I understand."

Su Lin thought to himself, As expected. It must be because my cheap old man did him a favor, or there's some other reason.

"Since Brother Yang isn't willing to come, I won't force it. You can handle this batch of Gastrodia elata as you see fit. The price is three hundred, same as usual. Anything above that is your hard work bonus. If you can sell it for four hundred, you'll earn millions." Su Lin said with a smile.

Li Hongyang gave a wry smile, "Young Master Su, stop teasing me. I don't even know how you manage to time things so perfectly. The skill lets me earn money, but not too much, just the right amount."

Su Lin chuckled, "I did my research. Otherwise, would I dare to play around with millions?"

Li Hongyang nodded. At this point, he definitely wouldn't mistake Su Lin for some clueless rich second-generation heir.

They say you don't have to fear rich second-generation heirs who squander their fortune, but you do have to fear those who start businesses.

However, there were quite a few rich second-generation heirs who succeeded in their ventures.

Meanwhile, Ye Feng ran all the way home. According to his plan, if his father had strictly followed his instructions today, their family should now have millions worth of Gastrodia elata. They would sell it tomorrow, and everything would be settled.

However, as soon as Ye Feng arrived home, he saw Ye Weimin sitting at the table, smoking, his brows furrowed, looking deeply troubled.

"Dad~! What's wrong? Why is there so much smoke in the house?"

Upon seeing Ye Feng, Ye Weimin's anger flared up, "This is all your doing, you brat."

"What did I do, Dad? Didn't I ask you to go collect Gastrodia elata? I didn't do anything else?"

"Hmph, you told me to quit my job and focus on collecting medicinal herbs. But today, I went to three towns and seven or eight townships, and there wasn't a single stalk of Gastrodia elata left," Ye Weimin sighed.

He knew that getting angry at Ye Feng was just him venting his frustration.

Ye Feng hadn't done anything wrong. But now, he was unemployed at home and couldn't take on any new jobs, leaving him anxious.

Ye Feng frowned, "How is that possible? How could we not find any? This year is a major year for Gastrodia elata production."

"Sigh..."

"Little Feng, you have no idea. I didn't get a single piece today. Later, I found out that a wealthy tycoon came yesterday with a car and bought all the Gastrodia elata in the countryside on the spot, paying cash. I was too late."

"Too late? Is that what happened?"

Ye Feng thought back to the acquisition situation of Gastrodia elata in his previous life, but he found his once clear memories becoming hazy.

He only remembered that around this time, a major medicine merchant came to collect Gastrodia elata.

But he couldn't recall the specific day.

"Yeah, those unscrupulous medicine merchants are too greedy. They drove their cars around Zhongjiang, buying up everything they could."

"What about the ones we have? Have they been sold yet?"

Ye Weimin nodded, his expression improving slightly. "The ones we have have already been sold. We made two hundred thousand."

Only then did Ye Feng notice the two stacks of money wrapped in newspapers on the table.

He walked over and picked up one stack, "Dad, I'll take this one."

Ye Weimin slapped the table, "Leave it."

"Dad, I need it."

"You need it? What do you need it for?" Ye Weimin frowned, looking at Ye Feng.