Lin Ze's question didn't stump Zhao Wenrou, the experienced HR professional.
She smiled. "Since the company is just getting started, the first thing we need to do is clean up and set up the office. Since it's a trading company, we can then hire the finance and purchasing staff the company needs, along with warehouse sorting staff. After that, we can officially begin operations."
Over the years, she had gained plenty of experience at work, and she was now considering a career change to become a professional manager.
That was precisely why she had gotten in touch with Lin Ze.
She planned to gain more work experience with Lin Ze, then see if she could eventually jump ship to a large company.
Hearing her answer, Lin Ze nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Then let's get started."
Zhao Wenrou knew she had passed the initial test. Lin Ze was already treating her almost like the company's CEO.
So she immediately got down to work.
She contacted a cleaning company to clean up the two-story building.
While the cleaners were busy, she asked Lin Ze about his budget, then started buying desks, a printer, pens, paper, computers, and other office supplies.
All Lin Ze had to do was pay.
Once these preliminary tasks were finished, Zhao Wenrou began posting job listings and recruiting the staff the company needed, as Lin Ze had requested.
By the end of the day, no one had come in for an interview yet.
But the dusty, weather-stained building had already been transformed beyond recognition. It was beginning to look like a proper company office.
Lin Ze watched Zhao Wenrou bustle about the whole time, and in his heart, he gave her abilities his approval.
"Now, let's sign your contract."
Lin Ze placed the contract he had prepared from a template in front of Zhao Wenrou.
Along with the agreed monthly salary of twelve thousand yuan, it also included a clause promising a year-end bonus of at least four additional months' salary.
"Thank you, Boss."
After reading it through, Zhao Wenrou signed the contract, officially joining Zhiyuan Trading Company.
"Mm. This is the company account. I've deposited five hundred thousand in it for now. You can use the money for the company's operations. Just keep the receipts."
Lin Ze handed Zhao Wenrou a bank card and explained.
Although they had finished cleaning up the office that day, they would still need money to clean out the warehouse, buy assorted office supplies, and pay the employees.
On top of that, Lin Ze planned to use Zhiyuan Trading Company's name to buy up some matsutake, creating a public-facing source for the large quantities he intended to sell.
All these expenses would come out of this account.
Lin Ze wasn't worried that Zhao Wenrou would run off with the money. In this day and age, given her means, that amount wasn't worth the risk.
"Understood, Boss. I'll get the company on track as soon as possible," Zhao Wenrou replied with a smile.
From Lin Ze's apparent intention to be a hands-off owner, she could tell that he was treating her like the company's CEO.
As the company grew, she would benefit more and more.
Even if the small company had no future, she would still gain a completely new kind of work experience, different from anything she had done before.
Having left the work of setting up the company to Zhao Wenrou, Lin Ze only needed to wait for it to get on track.
After that, Lin Ze once again opened the door to the Other World.
He drove out of the Cloud Mist Mountain Range and headed toward Two Rivers Village.
Two Rivers Village was even livelier this time than when Lin Ze had visited before. It wasn't just the villagers who lived there—he could see many people from other villages as well.
These villagers had come to Two Rivers Village to sell matsutake.
Ever since An Ye, the village chief of Two Rivers Village, had announced that he was helping Lin Ze—Young Hero Lin Zi Yi—buy matsutake for eight copper coins per jin, Two Rivers Village had become the center of the surrounding villages.
The villagers had come with bags and bundles on their backs, or loaded their matsutake onto donkey carts and ox carts. They had brought plenty.
"Looks like things are going smoothly."
Lin Ze looked at the scene, a smile forming at the corners of his mouth.
Just the matsutake the villagers had brought in while he was there amounted to at least several hundred jin.
He had been back for three days. Adding what he had left behind last time to what had been bought over the past few days, it was easy to calculate that An Ye now had at least two tons of matsutake at his home.
If he could transport all of it back, then at nine million yuan per ton, he would make at least eighteen million yuan!
The villagers weren't hauling ordinary matsutake before him. They were bringing him the most important source of his fortune!
"Young Hero Lin has arrived!"
Greetings rang out all around when Lin Ze appeared.
Lin Ze nodded in reply and drove his donkey cart toward the village chief's house.
"Zi Yi, you're here. We've collected quite a lot of matsutake at home, and the whole area's been bustling because of it. It won't be easy for you to carry it all this time. How about I have a few of the young men here help you move it today?"
When An Ye saw Lin Ze, his deeply lined face lit up with a beaming smile.
"No need, no need. This place is quite far from the mountain gate, so there's no need to trouble you, Elder."
Lin Ze waved him off at once.
As if he could let these villagers help carry the matsutake! Wouldn't that expose the fact that he came from another world?
If he could reveal his secret so freely, he'd just drive over in a truck. A few tons of matsutake was nothing; he could take it all in one trip and still have plenty of room left.
But this time, he could only transport a few hundred jin of matsutake, which really did limit the trade between the two worlds.
Lin Ze's thoughts turned, and he came up with a solution.
"I could build a separate storeroom nearby and have the villagers store the matsutake there. Then I could just open the door and move it from the storeroom back to the Main World. No need to haul it back and forth on a donkey cart, trip after trip."
After parking his donkey cart in An Ye's courtyard, Lin Ze asked curiously, "How much matsutake do we have now?"
An Ye led Lin Ze to the storeroom and said proudly, "A full seven thousand three hundred jin. And we can still collect at least fifteen hundred jin a day. If you wait until evening, Zi Yi, there'll surely be nine thousand jin here."
Hearing that number and gazing at the mountain of matsutake piled before him, Lin Ze couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"Nine thousand jin is 4.5 tons. At the lowest price of nine million per ton, selling it all to Green Curtain Mountain in a single batch would bring in more than forty million yuan. I'm getting rich in one fell swoop!"
Lin Ze calculated the value of the matsutake almost instantly.
As soon as he reached the figure, he could clearly feel his heart start to pound faster.
"How can I get all this matsutake back as quickly as possible without making the people in the Other World suspicious?"
At that moment, Lin Ze's mind began racing.
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