Once the door to the small shop shut, the two people inside began to feel slightly different from before.
Ji Yang had guessed Cao Li’s intentions, after all, he had been involved with several women and had some understanding of their thoughts.
He was pleased with the development, since he wanted Cao Li to work with him and learn some of his circumstances, turning her into one of his people became necessary.
Of course, Ji Yang couldn’t possibly let her know everything about his affairs.
This time, he had only allowed her to manage some small funds; he definitely had to use other identities for managing other funds.
Next, Ji Yang planned to create several more identities and continually transfer funds, and then diversify his investments.
The level of Cao Li’s cooking was truly commendable; the woman clearly had learned quite a few culinary skills.
When tasting the dishes she served, Ji Yang couldn’t help but eat a bit more than usual.
"How is it? My cooking isn’t bad, right? I specially learned from a master chef."
"Indeed, it’s very good!"
Cao Li simply smiled and said, "I have many other things to offer, brother. You will learn more about my situation in the future."
During the conversation, Cao Li poured wine for Ji Yang.
After drinking, Ji Yang said, "This is the rice wine from Wushu Village."
"Yeah, I actually know how to brew that kind of wine; it’s just my own brewing."
Ji Yang asked earnestly, "How is that distillery doing?"
He knew she was a smart person who was definitely aware of many things.
As expected, Cao Li said, "Ever since the distillery was established, they have been conducting various types of research. They really value the distillery, but what they care about even more is selling the rice wine. The research results so far have not been very effective."
The Wu Family still had shares in it, but there hadn’t been any dividend distribution, which caused Ji Yang to frown.
At the time, his mother’s identity held a five percent share; although that share was later withdrawn, the Wu Family should still hold three percent, and Wushu Village as well had a five percent share. He hadn’t heard any mention of these shares being addressed.
Thinking of this, Ji Yang picked up the phone and said, "I’ll make a call."
"I have one more dish to cook, I’ll go stir-fry it." Cao Li, having a sense of timing, excused herself to cook.
The shop had a backyard, and Ji Yang went there to call Wu Mi. Newest update provided by novel⁂fire.net
"Brother, what’s up?"
"Has the pharmacy not distributed dividends to you?"
"No, they haven’t given any to the village either; they said it would be at the end of the year."
"That’s not right, I left at the end of the year, and they hadn’t distributed anything?"
"Nothing, they said there wasn’t any significant return. Oh, and ever since we gave them our brew recipe, they haven’t contacted us at all."
"Give the phone to your dad, I need to speak with him."
Soon after, Wu Changshan’s voice came through.
Ji Yang said, "Uncle Wu, are you aware of the situation with the medicinal liquor?"
"How could we not be? I was just about to talk to you about it. You might not know, but they took all the rice from our village, brewed a lot of wine, and when the village asked for some dividends at the end of the year, they said they hadn’t sold much, all was used for research, and they didn’t give the village a penny. Now there’s a lot of discontent in the village. The research is their own concern; everyone knows that so much rice could be made into a lot of wine. Also, everyone saw them bottling the rice wine and shipping it out; it’s clearly meant for sale, not research. They took all of the rice and medicinal herbs for the first quarter of this year and shipped out even larger batches of wine. Until now, they haven’t even paid for those purchases."
This was not done in a decent manner!
Ji Yang was unaware of what had specifically happened, but he felt there were certainly problems with the way the Chu Family’s assigned personnel were handling things here.
"Secretary Ji, Wu Laofu is the one suppressing this, and now it’s almost impossible to keep it contained. Everyone’s opinion is strongly against them; they don’t disclose any production or sales figures and set very low prices for the rice and medicinal herbs. Originally, everyone thought they would make a good profit after harvesting, but now they’re not even paying those amounts."
"Is the pharmacy still operating?"
"It’s operating and producing as usual, and they’re continuing to sell the alcohol."
"Okay, I’ve learned about this issue; I’ll inquire further."
After hanging up, Ji Yang’s expression wasn’t too pleasant. He hadn’t expected the Chu Family’s representatives to conduct business in such a way—they started by purchasing rice and medicinal herbs at a low cost and then completely disregarded the shares, taking advantage of the fact that the villagers had no power.
Thinking about it, it was clear: the Chu Family had power and could oppress anyone who dared to defy them with certain tactics. The people of Wushu Village had absolutely no sales channels; even if they produced rice wine, they couldn’t possibly sell it.
Moreover, the sisters of the Wu Family and himself, in the eyes of the Chu Family members, were supposed to rely on them, not caring at all about the possibility of resistance.
The more he thought about it, the more he frowned.