"What?"
Wang Yu was startled. Wu Lingling?
"Old An, you'll oversee the production line debugging here. I'm going to take a look!"
Wang Yu instructed Andre and quickly followed the person who had come to fetch him.
"He gets so agitated as soon as he hears she's in trouble, and he still claims there's nothing between them."
Andre muttered, then shook his head and picked up the wrench in his hand. "These damn shoddy tools. I should have asked someone from back home to bring me a batch of decent tools next time..."
"What's going on? Why are people surrounding our industrial park? And why did they corner Lingling? Why aren't your security guards helping?"
Wang Yu hurried along, questioning the man who had brought him the news, a member of the security department.
"The people who came are a bit unusual, so we couldn't really intervene."
The security guard gave a helpless wry smile. "In any case... you should go and see for yourself."
Hearing his evasive words, Wang Yu stopped asking and jogged directly to the main entrance. He saw that a large crowd had indeed gathered outside, surrounding a significant area.
Upon closer inspection, he recognized many familiar faces.
Leading the group was a very greasy, fat man. He was the agricultural machinery parts merchant Wang Yu had met in Jiangping City, the source of his first bucket of gold. This fellow had shrewdly proposed a partnership with Wang Yu.
Later, when Wang Yu and Wu Lingling were allocating regional sales rights, this man had brought a group of friends, who collectively secured numerous sales territories for trucks, dump trucks, and agricultural vehicles.
Seeing Boss Hu's now oily and well-fed appearance, it seemed he was living quite a good life. Although the automobile factory's agricultural machinery and car products had price restrictions and required cash upfront, even demanding a deposit, Wang Yu's vehicles were of good quality, stylish, had low failure rates, and were fuel-efficient. Most importantly, they were affordable!
Furthermore, the freight market in rural and even urban areas had not yet been developed, creating a state of supply far exceeding demand.
Consequently, these dealers would sell their products as soon as they received them, with no worries about how to sell them!
To put it bluntly, it was like picking up money!
Then, Wang Yu also launched fuel-assisted vehicles, micro-generators, and various small appliances through their distribution channels, selling quite a lot.
Although not their main business, they made considerable side income by selling these items alongside their primary products.
As a result, Wang Yu noticed that many people in the crowd had put on significant weight in just a few months. Especially the shrewd, short man who had secured the general agency for Jiang'an County was now much fatter, resembling a dwarf gourd. His once sharp, intelligent eyes were almost sunken into his flesh.
"What are you all doing?"
Wang Yu approached and directly questioned the crowd.
Logically, these people should have been prospering together. Why did they now all look so distressed as they surrounded Wu Lingling?
These wealthy bosses, behaving like market grandmothers, were all chattering around Wu Lingling, bombarding her with a cacophony of words.
Wu Lingling, who was at the center of the encirclement, remained calm despite being heavily surrounded. She calmly surveyed the crowd, saying nothing.
"Factory Director Wang is here, Little Factory Director Wang is here!"
Someone spotted Wang Yu and quickly called out to him. Others eagerly flocked around Wang Yu, offering greetings and flattery.
"What is all this?"
Wang Yu frowned, casually pushing away the cigarette offered by Boss Hu. The man had squeezed over with considerable effort, his corpulent body moving ponderously, and was still obsequiously trying to get Wang Yu to smoke.
"Oh, he's even got special edition 'Little Panda' cigarettes. I wonder where this smooth operator got them from."
"Don't try that with me. No smoking in the production area of the factory. Just tell me what's going on."
Wang Yu sneered and then moved in front of Wu Lingling, blocking the crowd.
"Factory Director Wang, you must uphold justice for us!" Boss Hu was the first to cry out to Wang Yu, his oily, fat face filled with a look of grievance.
"Yes, Factory Director Wang, you must uphold justice for us!"
The crowd surged forward, all clamoring at Wang Yu.
"Quiet! You've been rambling for long enough, what exactly happened? Old Hu, you tell me."
Annoyed by the crowd's noise, Wang Yu pointed at Boss Hu.
"It's like this, Little Factory Director," Boss Hu organized his thoughts. "You appointed Ms. Wu Lingling as the provincial general agent for our new agricultural machinery, the Hope No. 1 product, didn't you? And then we distributed through her channels."
Wang Yu nodded at Boss Hu's words and glanced at Wu Lingling.
This shrewd woman wasn't making much money from the vehicles themselves, but she had devised a deposit system, essentially using these people's funds for capital turnover.
For instance, this time, her registered trading company was purchasing goods in large quantities from food stores, grain and oil shops, and clothing factories across the province and then reselling them to people in the Ice Bear Kingdom, earning a price difference.
Because of her large volume purchases, she could negotiate prices lower than the market rate. She then sold them to the Ice Bear Kingdom at a price slightly below market value... After all, the people of the Ice Bear Kingdom weren't foolish and knew how to compare prices.
Such large volumes naturally required capital. The majority of the funding came from the deposits and vehicle payments from these people, for inter-lending and circulation.
"Originally, this was fine. Everyone is looking to make money, and as long as there's profit, it's okay. But recently, the supply cycle has been getting slower and slower."
Boss Hu continued with a sigh. "Normally, after we paid the deposit, production would begin. Then, once the vehicles were manufactured, we'd pay the vehicle price and take delivery, settling everything. Including logistics and transportation, we'd get the goods within two to three days.
But lately, it's become increasingly delayed. Even though the money was transferred long ago, they still haven't shipped the goods. It went from two or three days to four or five, then a week or ten days, and now it's dragging on longer and longer. Little Factory Director, we're all using real cash to buy these goods!"
At this point, Boss Hu sighed helplessly. "If this continues, our cash flow will be cut off! Moreover, the Jiangping Machinery Industrial Company has also developed a similar product and is now competing fiercely in the market. The pressure is immense!"
"That's right, that's right!"
"Exactly, so Little Factory Director Wang, you must uphold justice for us!"
Everyone chimed in. Boss Hu was about to start wailing again.
Wang Yu quickly stopped him and turned his gaze to the silent Wu Lingling, smiling slightly.
"Out of money?"