Chapter 1988: Gome

Since no one wanted to save face, they might as well just flip the table.

Zhao Fusheng was truly getting impatient.

From his original intention, he certainly respected athletes who won glory for the country.

But with these people making such a fuss, Zhao Fusheng was naturally in a very bad mood.

So that was why he did what he did.

Everyone exchanged glances, none daring to speak.

Clearly, even those leaders could tell that Zhao Fusheng was genuinely angry.

"Let's leave it at that."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, somewhat disheartened, and turned to walk out of the meeting room.

Things had reached this point; he no longer had any intention of dealing with them insincerely. Whatever Liu Xiang chose was his own business.

"Chairman Zhao, Chairman Zhao..."

Seeing that Zhao Fusheng was about to leave, the vice president of the Athletics Association quickly stopped him.

A vice president, after all, usually did the president's work.

The dirty and tiring tasks were his responsibility, and he had to deal with all sorts of messy matters.

After all, everyone knew that the president was the face of the association, often used to intimidate others, while the real work was done by the vice president.

It was like how the Four Heavenly Kings actually had five members—same principle.

"Sorry, let me through."

But Zhao Fusheng showed no courtesy, walking straight past the other person and heading out the door.

Behind him, Liu Yiming and the others followed Zhao Fusheng out.

And Zheng Yao, though her face was dark, had already understood Zhao Fusheng's intention.

...

...

"Chairman, what is this about?"

Following Zhao Fusheng out, Liu Yiming asked cautiously from behind him.

"Nothing."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand.

He naturally didn't plan to tell Liu Yiming what was going on; or rather, even if he did, it wouldn't help.

"Come on, let's go out for a walk."

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and said to Liu Yiming.

Though Liu Yiming didn't understand why, he could see that Zhao Fusheng was in a bad mood, so he obediently accompanied him out of the company.

"To Future Investment."

Sitting in the car, Zhao Fusheng instructed.

"Okay."

Liu Yiming nodded repeatedly.

Soon, the convoy arrived at Future Investment.

"What's wrong?"

Dong Chenxi, seeing Zhao Fusheng walk into her office with a gloomy face, asked curiously.

"Don't ask, I'm angry."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand: "You just got back and you're already busy, you should rest."

"Don't mention it, it's all Liu Qiangdong's fault."

Dong Chenxi said irritably: "That guy plans to go head-to-head with Gome and wants to raise funds again."

"Gome?"

Zhao Fusheng was a bit surprised, ignoring the word 'fundraising' and instead showing more interest in Gome.

"Yes, take a look, this is the information on Gome Electric." Dong Chenxi casually handed a stack of documents to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng looked through them while thinking about the situation with Gome.

To be honest, he wasn't interested in Gome Electric; what interested him more was its founder, Huang Guangyu.

Huang Guangyu's ancestors had been well-off, apparently from a landlord family.

But with the arrival of the turbulent times, the Huang family declined. It was said that he even went garbage picking with his brother when he was young.

After graduating from middle school, the two brothers went north to start a business.

Calling it a business, but it was simple: they carried large travel bags and sold things like radios and electronic watches. Because the area was remote, they could make good money by exploiting information asymmetry.

After a year in Inner Mongolia, the brothers earned their first pot of gold—four thousand yuan.

In 1986, the two came to the capital and took out a thirty-thousand-yuan loan from the bank.

Of course, they didn't start with home appliance sales; they sold clothes.

But soon they found the clothing industry too deep and hard to navigate, so they switched to selling home appliances.

In the 1980s, many industries were seller's markets, meaning many goods were in short supply, and as long as you had stock, you had no trouble selling.

So most people who went into business at that time made money.

What happens when goods can't meet market demand?

Prices go up!

It's like Moutai now: the ex-factory price is 1,000 yuan, the suggested retail price is 1,500 yuan, but many people simply set the price at 1,700 yuan.

Back then, many home appliance retailers sold goods above the suggested retail price.

But Gome adopted a strategy of small profits and quick turnover, quickly capturing the market.

Not only that, Huang Guangyu also started advertising in newspapers. The slogan 'Buy appliances at Gome' is still in use today.

Later, he boldly bought out the newspaper's advertising space for the entire year, leaving competitors unable to advertise.

In 1992, at the age of twenty-three, he already had multiple stores in the capital. He began to unify his stores—Guohao, Yahua, Hengji, etc.—under the Gome brand, starting Gome's chain brand path.

After that year, the brothers split up, and Huang Guangyu got Gome and several hundred thousand yuan in cash.

At twenty-four, Huang Guangyu began to lead Gome's rapid development alone.

From Zhao Fusheng's perspective as someone who came later, Huang Guangyu was one of the domestic big shots who achieved success early in life.

Without a formal background, he was more like a grassroots hero.

In 1999, the year Zhao Fusheng was reborn, Gome began its nationwide expansion.

While Ma Yun was still struggling to find funding and hitting walls everywhere, Huang Guangyu was continuously expanding his territory. He opened 330 Gome Electric stores in 88 cities across the country, reaching his first peak in 2004.

At that time, Gome Electric had spread across the country and successfully entered the capital market.

Gome also developed more than thirty companies globally, and Huang Guangyu was only thirty-five that year.

At that moment, he seemed to be the most glamorous big shot in China.

Zhao Fusheng even remembered that Sicong's father had cooperated with him, and in a posture of clinging to his coattails.

But if Zhao Fusheng remembered correctly, it seemed that this year, Huang Guangyu was going to prison!

"What should we do? Should we support Liu Qiangdong?"

Seeing Zhao Fusheng holding the documents and not speaking, Dong Chenxi said helplessly.

To be fair, she didn't think much of Liu Qiangdong's decision. After all, compared to Gome, Jingdong was still too small to compete.

To put it bluntly, it was like a strong child challenging an adult—there was no chance of winning.

"Support."

Zhao Fusheng said directly: "Of course we should support Liu Qiangdong."

"Ah?"

For a moment, Dong Chenxi thought she was hallucinating.

She stared at Zhao Fusheng in shock: "Did I hear you wrong?"

She really couldn't understand this. Was Zhao Fusheng crazy?

That was Gome.

Although the home appliance and advertising industries didn't overlap much, and Future Group's business didn't have much in common with Gome, there was no direct competition between the two companies.

But Dong Chenxi was well aware of how powerful Gome was.

Under these circumstances, Jingdong's move was like an ant trying to shake a tree.

And at this moment, Zhao Fusheng was thinking not of dissuading Liu Qiangdong, but of supporting his actions.

Dong Chenxi even wanted to grab Zhao Fusheng and ask him if he had some special relationship with Liu Qiangdong.

"I have no relationship with him, and he's not a beauty."

At that moment, Zhao Fusheng's dissatisfied voice rang in Dong Chenxi's ears.

"Hey, did I say that out loud?"

Dong Chenxi looked at Zhao Fusheng with an innocent expression.

Zhao Fusheng didn't even have the energy to complain. He rolled his eyes at Dong Chenxi, waved his hand, and said: "On this matter, I think we can trust Liu Qiangdong."

"Why?"

Dong Chenxi asked Zhao Fusheng, puzzled.

In her view, Zhao Fusheng was clearly acting on impulse, an irrational move.

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly and said: "What if there's a problem inside Gome?"

"Hmm?"

Dong Chenxi immediately fell silent.

She suddenly realized that Zhao Fusheng seemed to know something.

Otherwise, given his personality, how could he so decisively support Liu Qiangdong without even investigating?

That guy must have been in contact with Liu Qiangdong behind her back.

Looking at Zhao Fusheng, Dong Chenxi took a deep breath and asked slowly: "Tell me, what do you know? If you don't tell me, I won't agree to Liu Qiangdong's plan."

She was determined to get the truth out of Zhao Fusheng.

No matter what, she had to be responsible for the interests of Future Investment!