The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 424 - 423: Searching for the Traitor

Chapter 424: Chapter 423: Searching for the Traitor

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"What are you doing?"

At night, after taking a bath, Shen Mingzhu returned to the bedroom and saw Pei Yang hunched over the vanity, writing something, and couldn’t help but lean in curiously.

Pei Yang handed her what he had written, his gaze sweeping over her fair neck and shoulders, and he inhaled softly through his nose.

"Did you change your soap? It smells good."

"Yeah, the previous bar fell into the toilet drain, so I opened a new one."

Seeing her read the content on the paper seriously, Pei Yang reached out to hook her waist, pulling her in front of him and asked with a face upturned, "Do you see anything?"

Shen Mingzhu glanced at him, "Aren’t these companies notorious and blacklisted for non-cooperation?"

Pei Yang’s large hand tenderly caressed her waist, "Weren’t you trying to track down a spy? Use them as a touchstone."

Shen Mingzhu suddenly understood.

"How about it? The idea I thought of is pretty good, right?"

"Not bad."

"Then is there any reward?"

Shen Mingzhu nodded, in the man’s expectant gaze, she said with a smile, "Reward you with a month’s trip to Rongcheng, happy or not?"

Happy my ass!

Pei Yang’s face looked as sour as the bottom of a pot.

Shen Mingzhu lowered her head and left a fragrant kiss on his lips, "Sun Feifei is targeting me. I’ll stay here and play with her, while you go to Rongcheng to explore the market. Whether our family can have meat to eat this year depends on you, our main pillar. Husband, it’s hard on you."

After she finished, she kissed him again.

All the grievances in Pei Yang’s belly vanished in the warmth and fragrance of his woman.

...

The next day, Shen Mingzhu arrived at the factory first and distributed customer data to three salespeople.

"These three clients were not easy to gather; I had to call in some favors. Everyone, put in extra effort to win them over."

Encouraged by Shen Mingzhu, all three salespeople left the door full of confidence.

After finishing her tasks, Shen Mingzhu drove to the airport and booked two tickets to Rongcheng on the earliest flight.

From Fengcheng to Rongcheng, it takes two days and nights by train, and in such hot weather, a train carriage is so hot you could steam buns in it, not to mention how uncomfortable it is.

Though the plane ticket was ten times more expensive than the train ticket, it only required three hours one-way, which was much more comfortable.

By the time she returned to the factory, it was nearly evening, and all three salespeople were back, each sitting silently at their desks.

Shen Mingzhu clapped her hands, "How did it go? Any achievements today?"

All three shook their heads dejectedly.

Wa Feiyu said angrily, "It was Sun Feifei again. When I met with the client, she was there too. She quoted lower prices than us and told the client that everyone was buying Meixin’s mooncakes this year, claiming that our Ronghua is outdated. Boss He signed the order with her."

Shen Mingzhu looked at Chen Cheng and Guan Qiang, "How about you two?"

Chen Cheng replied, "The boss wasn’t in, and the others couldn’t make a decision. I left the brochures and came back."

Guan Qiang, "Zhuoyue found our mooncakes too expensive and said they would buy if we offered a 50% discount, which I didn’t dare agree to."

Shen Mingzhu nodded, "You all worked hard today, don’t worry, I’ve sorted out some more quality client data and will distribute it to you tomorrow. You can go off work now."

That evening, Pei Yang took Chen Cheng and left for Rongcheng by train.

The next day when Shen Mingzhu arrived at the factory, she gave the prepared customer data to Wa Feiyu and Guan Qiang.

"President Shen, Chen Cheng didn’t come to work today."

"Oh, something urgent came up at his home, and he took leave. During this period when Vice President Pei is not in Fengcheng, report business matters directly to me."

The two acknowledged.

To make Chen Cheng’s absence appear legitimate, Shen Mingzhu had Shen Hongmei post a notice for hiring a new salesperson.

...

The situation at the food factory, including one of the pieces of excellent client data given by Shen Mingzhu, was reported in detail by the "spy" to Sun Feifei.

Upon receiving the list, Sun Feifei immediately began active negotiations, determined to utterly crush Shen Mingzhu.

...

A week flew by in the blink of an eye.

All the client information for development that Shen Mingzhu had was distributed among two salespeople, but the results were minimal.

Nearly twenty clients were approached, but only three signed on, with order quantities not exceeding five hundred boxes.

Less than two months remained until the Mid-Autumn Festival.

So far this year, fewer than five thousand boxes of mooncakes had been sold.

Shen Mingzhu called the two salespeople to her office for a meeting, "I have no new client information to hand out. With fifty days left, you’ll have to go out and find clients on your own from now on."

Wang Feiyu immediately thumped his chest, promising, "President Shen, rest assured, I refuse to believe that Meixin is the only big player in Fengcheng."

Guan Qiang didn’t speak and appeared disheartened.

"Guan Qiang, do you have confidence?"

Called out by Shen Mingzhu, Guan Qiang hesitated before speaking, "President Shen, I, I don’t want to do this job anymore."

Before Shen Mingzhu could speak, Wang Feiyu exclaimed, "Old Guan, what’s the matter with you? Waving the white flag at this critical moment, how can you let President Shen down like this?"

Guan Qiang remained silent.

Shen Mingzhu gestured for Wang Feiyu to go back to work first.

"Guan Qiang, can you tell me your reason for resigning?"

"I feel that I’m not up to this job."

Shen Mingzhu asked him, "Have you figured out what you’ll do after you resign?"

Guan Qiang shook his head.

"The factory is short-staffed right now. You can continue to work here, and once I recruit new staff, you can leave, how about that?"

"Okay."

As soon as Guan Qiang returned to the sales department’s office, Wang Feiyu approached him to ask what Shen Mingzhu had said.

"... President Shen told me to keep working until she finds a new employee, then I can leave."

Wang Feiyu sighed and patted his shoulder, "Have you found a new job then?"

"Let’s not talk about that, back to work."

Sensing Guan Qiang’s deliberate avoidance, Wang Feiyu couldn’t help but become thoughtful.

...

Soon the date to start producing mooncakes arrived.

Although the sales of mooncakes for the year were looking grim, Shen Mingzhu still proceeded with her original plan to start production with two hundred short-term workers.

Sun Feifei found this puzzling when she learned of it.

Two hundred short-term workers could produce fifteen thousand mooncakes a day, totaling 45 days of production, the overall output would reach sixty-seven thousand five hundred boxes.

Yet, up to that point, Shen Mingzhu’s total number of mooncakes sold was still less than five thousand boxes.

Who would they sell all these mooncakes to?

Just as Sun Feifei was secretly suspecting Shen Mingzhu of hiding a trick up her sleeve, Shen Mingzhu went on visits, carrying this year’s mooncake gift sets, to call on old clients one by one.

This move made Sun Feifei feel as if she was facing a formidable opponent, thinking that Shen Mingzhu must have some ace up her sleeve.

However, upon inquiring she found out that Shen Mingzhu’s visits to the old clients were not to sell mooncakes, but purely to curry favor.

On one hand, she expressed appreciation for the clients’ trust in the food factory over the years, and on the other, she hoped for future collaboration opportunities.

One doesn’t strike a smiling face, and the clients received Shen Mingzhu’s gestures well, developing a measure of admiration for her.

It was indeed rare for a woman to show such breadth of heart and grace.

In this battle, Shen Mingzhu may have lost business, but she won respect.

After visiting the old clients, Shen Mingzhu went on to call on the ladies and young misses from wealthy families she had become acquainted with before.

Rich families especially value social niceties and gift-giving during festivals is indispensable.

Shen Mingzhu’s mooncakes tasted good, and their packaging was refined and upscale. Moreover, she had a close relationship with the wives of Ning Yan’s clients. Everyone was happy to do her a favor and agreed to order her mooncakes.

Though the private orders weren’t large, one requested thirty boxes, another fifty; these small amounts added up, and Shen Mingzhu managed to sell nearly a thousand boxes of mooncakes.

And this was just the beginning...