Rebirth Begins with Rejecting my Childhood Friend - Chapter 495

Heyang replacing Kouzi Liquor’s position in the Nanjing liquor market wasn’t entirely due to buying out stores.

When Kouzi Liquor first entered the Nanjing market, it was priced at 80 yuan per bottle in supermarkets. Restaurants and hotels added a markup of 20 to 30 yuan, selling it for about 100 yuan per bottle. This price perfectly aligned with consumers’ desire for something both affordable and prestigious, making Kouzi Liquor an instant hit in Nanjing.

Heyang understood the same consumer psychology. With the rise in Nanjing’s purchasing power, Heyang successively launched the “Hai” and “Tian” series, priced at 138 yuan and 280 yuan respectively in supermarkets. After restaurant markups, these sold for 150 to 350 yuan, perfectly meeting consumer expectations at the time, and they quickly became popular.

Now back to the main point: restaurant entry fees and display fees for tobacco and liquor shops were things Xu Xiuwen was very familiar with. But when Li Zengli directly brought up “entry fees,” it left Xu Xiuwen somewhat displeased.

Lowering his voice, Xu Xiuwen asked, “How much are you asking for?”

The moment he said this, the private room erupted into a stir, with smiles appearing on several faces.

Li Zengli, feeling smug, replied, “I’m not asking for much. I have five stores in total, 800,000 yuan each. Just give me 4 million yuan a year.”

Hearing this, Xu Xiuwen sneered inwardly.

From his research, he knew that the most profitable store Li Zengli owned was a restaurant called “Fu’an,” which had an annual liquor sales total of only 600,000 yuan. Yet, Li Zengli dared to ask for 800,000 yuan per store as a “entry fee.”

This wasn’t just taking Xu Xiuwen for a rookie; it was treating him and the Guangming Distillery behind him as cash cows to be slaughtered.

For Guangming Distillery, paying entry fees wasn’t a necessity. Most stores that were “bought” would still continue to sell premium brands like Maotai and Wuliangye, and the companies paying these fees usually turned a blind eye. Since Maotai and Wuliangye were priced significantly higher, they didn’t directly compete with brands in the 100 to 200 yuan range.

However, Guangming Distillery’s aged original grain liquor wasn’t cheap and targeted the mid-to-high-end liquor market. It didn’t directly compete with these brands either.

More importantly, Xu Xiuwen didn’t like being strong-armed, nor did he believe in losing money for meaningless “advertising effects.” Such an approach often cost just as much as actual advertising but delivered far worse results.

Was Xu Xiuwen a fool? Clearly not.

With that, Xu Xiuwen quickly made up his mind.

Turning to Li Zengli, Xu Xiuwen suddenly chuckled. His laughter made the distributors present believe he was about to agree to pay the entry fees.

But the next second, his laughter abruptly stopped.

Xu Xiuwen first glanced at Li Zengli, then swept his gaze around the room before calmly stating, “Guangming Distillery will not pay entry fees. If you’re counting on this, you can leave right now.”

“What?!”
“What did you say?”
“No entry fees? Are you kidding?”
“Do you still want to sell your liquor or not?”

The distributors, especially the smaller ones relying on entry fees to make easy money, were in an uproar. For them, Guangming Distillery’s refusal to pay entry fees was tantamount to cutting off their source of profit.

Raising his voice to be heard over the commotion, Xu Xiuwen declared firmly, “This is the last time I’m saying it: Guangming Distillery will not pay entry fees. If you still want to cooperate, stay. Otherwise, please leave now!”

Faced with so many distributors, Li Zengli originally thought Xu Xiuwen would back down.
After all, even a powerful dragon doesn’t suppress the local snake.

Unexpectedly, Xu Xiuwen’s temper was so unyielding.

Caught off guard, Li Zengli grew angry. He felt as though Xu Xiuwen was toying with them—inviting them over and then asking them to leave.

In a fit of rage, Li Zengli snapped, “Xu Xiuwen, who the hell do you think you are? You don’t want to pay us, but you want to sell liquor in Nanjing? Dream on!”

However, Xu Xiuwen didn’t even glance at him, let alone respond.

Li Zengli was so furious he nearly lost it. Being a hot-headed person himself, he shouted, “Fine! Let’s see how you sell liquor in Nanjing without us! Vintage spirits, my ass! Even if you paid double, I wouldn’t sell it for you!”

After venting, Li Zengli stood up and left.

The remaining people glanced at Li Zengli, then at Xu Xiuwen.

Someone sighed softly.

Shortly after, others began getting up and leaving one by one.

Xu Xiuwen didn’t try to stop them. In fact, despite their numbers, very few of them actually carried weight in the market.

The more influential distributors in Nanjing remained seated.

Turning to Wu Fang, who was sitting nearby, Xu Xiuwen asked with a smile, “Secretary Wu, did you come for the entry fee too?”

Wu Fang had been quietly observing Xu Xiuwen’s actions.

She couldn’t help but admire him for his composure. If it were her, she wasn’t sure she’d have the courage to simultaneously offend so many distributors in Nanjing.

But admiration aside, it didn’t affect her decision.

Wu Fang suddenly gave an apologetic smile and said, “Mr. Xu, if you’re not willing to pay the entry fee, then we can’t cooperate. But if you change your mind in the future, feel free to reach out to us. I’ll take my leave for now.”

“Of course, Secretary Wu, take care,” Xu Xiuwen replied, his smile unwavering.

Wu Fang got up and left.

Her departure prompted another wave of people to follow suit.

In no time, the room was down to just a dozen people.

At this moment, Liu Yang, who was seated to Xu Xiuwen’s left, suddenly spoke up: “Mr. Xu, I admire your courage, but perhaps we’ll cooperate another time.”

“Understood, Mr. Liu. Take care.”

Liu Yang stood up, ready to leave.

However, the woman who had accompanied him didn’t follow.

She said to Liu Yang, “You go ahead.”

Liu Yang froze for a moment, glancing at the woman, then at Xu Xiuwen, before leaving the room with a sullen expression.

At this point, all the distributors who had come for the store purchase fee had left.

The remaining distributors were those with relatively weak positions in the market. They didn’t stay because they saw great potential in Guangming Distillery’s liquor but rather because other brands didn’t see them as worth partnering with.

But there was one person who stayed behind, which genuinely surprised Xu Xiuwen—Jiang Yuanzhou.

Xu Xiuwen candidly said, “Mr. Jiang, I’m surprised to see you stay.”

Jiang Yuanzhou smiled bitterly and replied, “I don’t have much of a choice.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s not just you liquor companies that face competition—we distributors do too. Over the past year, Wu Gaohu and Liu Yang have been suppressing me. I haven’t been able to get much stock for months. I’m barely holding on with my current inventory, but soon, I’ll have nothing left to sell.”

Before coming here, Xu Xiuwen had asked someone to look into Jiang Yuanzhou.

In recent years, Jiang Yuanzhou had been primarily working with Kouzi Liquor, focusing on selling their products.

But now, it seemed he couldn’t even secure sufficient supply.

No wonder he hadn’t walked out with the others.

Based on Xu Xiuwen’s understanding of the Nanjing liquor market.

This year marks the last glorious phase for Kouzi Liquor—more precisely, the first half of the year.
By the second half, the tides will shift dramatically. Kouzi Liquor will find itself increasingly unable to compete with HeYang’s Blue Series, and its market share will shrink to less than 10 million.

Jiang Yuanzhou, who has primarily focused on selling Kouzi Liquor, is unable to secure stock due to the combined suppression from Nanjing’s two major distributors, Wu Gaohu and Liu Yang. He is likely to switch alliances and begin selling HeYang’s Blue Series instead.

Ironically, Wu Gaohu and Liu Yang’s pressure inadvertently leads Jiang Yuanzhou to partner with HeYang Distillery, which soon surpasses Kouzi Liquor.

Jiang Yuanzhou experiences a reversal of fortune thanks to the success of HeYang’s Blue Series white spirits. Meanwhile, Wu Gaohu and Liu Yang find themselves in trouble, sitting on too much unsold Kouzi Liquor stock as it struggles to compete with HeYang. Their days won’t get easier until they clear their inventory.

Of course, Xu Xiuwen isn’t omniscient. He doesn’t remember the events of the previous timeline in such detail. This is all his speculation.

However, his guesses align perfectly with what had actually transpired in the previous timeline. Without Guangming Distillery’s emergence, Jiang Yuanzhou would have soon thrown his lot in with HeYang Distillery.

Xu Xiuwen couldn’t credit Jiang Yuanzhou for having great foresight; his decision to partner with HeYang was out of desperation. But it did highlight Jiang Yuanzhou’s remarkable luck.

Xu Xiuwen considered himself lucky and liked collaborating with lucky people.

He thought to himself: In the previous timeline, you chose HeYang Distillery. This time, will it be Guangming Distillery or HeYang?

“So, does staying mean you’re planning to cooperate with Guangming Distillery?” Xu Xiuwen asked.

“I don’t seem to have any better options,” Jiang Yuanzhou replied with a bitter smile.

“Why not choose HeYang Distillery? They’re developing well, and their spirits are very popular.”

“HeYang Distillery is too domineering. They force you to choose sides. If I could sell off my remaining Kouzi Liquor stock, I might consider working with them—but not right now. Besides, their profits are too low. Selling a bottle of their Blue Series, priced at over 100 yuan, only makes a margin of two or three yuan. Meanwhile, a bottle of Kouzi Liquor priced at around 80 yuan yields a margin of over 10 yuan. You’d have to sell five or six bottles of Blue Series to match the profit from one bottle of Kouzi Liquor. How does that make sense?”

Hearing Jiang Yuanzhou complain about the low margins of HeYang’s Blue Series, Xu Xiuwen wanted to laugh but held it in.

He knew Jiang Yuanzhou’s words were true. The Blue Series from HeYang Distillery indeed had low margins—lower than Kouzi Liquor, in fact. But that couldn’t be helped.

HeYang Distillery had invested heavily in production. If they raised distributor margins any further, the company wouldn’t survive.

Jiang Yuanzhou continued, “Besides, I’ve done some research on Guangming Distillery. You have great potential, and I’m optimistic about your future. Consider this a bet—if I lose, I’ll just start over. If I win, who knows who will dominate Nanjing’s white spirits market in the future?”

“Heh…”

Xu Xiuwen chuckled softly and suddenly extended his hand. “Then here’s to a successful partnership.”

“Here’s to a successful partnership,” Jiang Yuanzhou replied, shaking hands with him.

The meal continued. Xu Xiuwen and the remaining distributors chatted and drank together.

Although those who stayed weren’t particularly influential and had almost no choice but to partner with Guangming Distillery, Xu Xiuwen didn’t mind.

As the drinks flowed, everyone seemed to relax.

The woman who had come with Liu Yang suddenly picked up her glass and moved to sit next to Xu Xiuwen. Previously, there had been a seat between them.

“Mr. Xu, hello. I’m Ji Yan from SH’s Marketing Department. A toast to you…”

“Of course,” Xu Xiuwen replied with a smile, raising his glass.

Xu Xiuwen had almost forgotten about the woman who had come along with Liu Yang.

Now that Ji Yan was proactively toasting him, and since he was already in high spirits from drinking, he instinctively raised his glass and said, “Miss Ji, you’re too kind.”

Ji Yan downed her drink in one go, while Xu Xiuwen reflexively only took a small sip.

“Mr. Xu, that won’t do. You can’t bully a delicate woman like me,” Ji Yan said playfully.

Having attended countless social and drinking events, Ji Yan was well-versed in the unspoken rules of the table. She leaned in closer, almost pressing herself into Xu Xiuwen’s arms, and teased, “Mr. Xu, is it because I’m not pretty enough that you’re unwilling to drink with me? Come on, just finish your glass.”

A group of men in their thirties and forties saw this and immediately started jeering.

“Exactly, Mr. Xu, you can’t refuse a lady’s toast!”

“Yeah, Miss Ji will be upset if you don’t drink.”

Xu Xiuwen, though still sober, was slow to react after having quite a bit to drink. After hesitating for a moment, he agreed, raising his glass and downing it in one gulp.

“Cheers to Mr. Xu!”

He thought that would be the end of it, but to his surprise—

“Mr. Xu, have one more drink with me, please?”

“Another one?”

Xu Xiuwen really wanted to say, “Who the hell are you? Why should I have another drink with you?”

But such words would be too crass, so he kept them to himself.

“Come on, Mr. Xu. We didn’t even clink glasses. Just one more drink, please? If you agree, I can…”

“Can what?” Xu Xiuwen asked reflexively, though deep down, he wasn’t interested. His response was merely impulsive.

Ji Yan cast him a flirtatious glance. “I can agree to one request from you, but nothing too excessive, okay?”

“Mr. Xu, just drink it!”

“A request? Why not? Better to drink than miss out.”

“Exactly! If you don’t drink, we’ll drink it for you!”

The onlookers were enjoying the spectacle, egging him on.

But Xu Xiuwen frowned.

What’s up with this woman?

Dressing provocatively was one thing, but now she was throwing flirtatious glances and practically draping herself over him.

Is she trying to seduce me?

Xu Xiuwen thought about it. Sure, he might have a hint of a wandering eye—it was human nature, after all.

But he had standards. If a woman wasn’t attractive enough, he wouldn’t be moved.

Ji Yan, while not unattractive, with her sexy outfit and decent figure, still wasn’t up to his standards.

Then something clicked in Xu Xiuwen’s mind.

What did Ji Yan just say? SH Marketing Department?

In Jiangsu Province, there was a well-known term: the “Four Rivers,” referring to Tanghe Liquor, Shuanghe Liquor, Gahe Liquor, and HeYang Liquor.

These were the province’s four most famous local white spirits brands.

Shuanghe referred to Shuanghe Distillery, located in Shuanghe Town, Sigong County, Jiangsu Province. The town, with its rich history and cultural heritage, was hailed as “China’s Source of Liquor.”

So, Ji Yan worked for Shuanghe Distillery?

Xu Xiuwen’s gaze turned cold, and his mind sobered up considerably.

Though he didn’t know why Ji Yan, an employee of Shuanghe Distillery, had come along with Liu Yang to tonight’s gathering, nor why she had stayed behind, he decided to stay cautious and not act rashly.

Let’s see what Ji Yan is up to.