Chapter 287 – Down Feathers
Xu Youyou didn’t understand technology, but she felt she had a decent grasp of business.
Doing business was like trading stocks—the most important thing wasn’t how much you earned, but securing your capital. The faster you could recover your investment, the greater the potential.
What was rare was that the investment led by Shen Wenxing wasn’t just large, but had a very high return rate. Just one deal brought Xu Youyou over three billion yuan in profit.
“This project also faced bottlenecks in the beginning. Most of Ms. Shen’s technology was theoretical, and some had not been practically verified. Our hired technical team was stuck for over a month due to technical issues. Luckily, they overcame them all,” Xie Ran said.
Hearing this, Xu Youyou tilted her head thoughtfully. It seemed that the timing of the breakthrough was right after she had signed Liu Xiangyi.
Xie Ran continued, “Even though the technical challenges were solved, finding a buyer wasn’t easy. Honestly, we got lucky. A rich tycoon from the Middle East took a liking to our technology and was willing to pay a high price.”
Xu Youyou hadn’t expected things to develop like this. The Middle Eastern country in question was famous for its abundant gold mines and overflowing wealth. When they spent money, they were never stingy—if you quoted a price in RMB, they might just pay you the same number in USD.
Suddenly, the twelvefold profit margin felt completely reasonable to Xu Youyou.
“We’ve made so much money. Ms. Shen’s share must not be delayed. If needed, we should even give her extra. Think of it as sincerely maintaining a good relationship with her,” Xu Youyou instructed.
Xie Ran nodded and said, “Boss, don’t worry. The twelvefold profit already excludes Ms. Shen’s share. I’m planning to gift her a villa in the capital under the company’s name. I was going to show you the finalized plan later.”
Xu Youyou suddenly felt that she had underestimated the wealth of Middle Eastern tycoons. Even with Shen Wenxing owning 30% of the profits due to her technical contribution, the company still earned twelve times the initial investment.
“Have you thought about which villa to buy? I agree with this plan, but there’s one condition—the villa price must not be lower than 300 million yuan,” Xu Youyou said.
Although Shen Wenxing had returned to develop her career domestically, she was involved only in a few specific national research projects. The project she partnered on with Xu Youyou was something Shen had led and developed independently at a research studio abroad, completely unrelated to any domestic research institute, so the patent belonged to her personally.
Once again, Xie Ran marveled at how generous Xu Youyou was as a boss—without any of the typical miserly capitalist habits. She truly didn’t understand technology, but she understood people’s hearts very well. That’s why her path was so smooth.
Now that Xu Youyou was incredibly wealthy, she could shop all day without making a dent in her fortune. Living as though she were lying on a mountain of gold, she occasionally felt a sense of emptiness and aimlessness.
Since she would never be able to spend all her money in her lifetime, why not follow the teachings of “Mama Xu” at the orphanage: “When you succeed, help the world.”
She didn’t want to squeeze every last penny out of every deal. But some people, by contrast, were desperate to scrape up every bit of profit they could.
“If the price of down feathers rises, just switch to something else. Why insist on filling so much? Customers can’t tell the difference anyway.”
Father Gu hung up the phone with a dark expression.
Beside him, his eldest son Gu Fengchuan frowned and said, “Dad, things haven’t been going smoothly for our family these past two years. We can raise the price of our down jackets, but we mustn’t compromise on quality, or else the competitors will seize the chance to attack us…”
Gu Fengchuan’s words were reasonable, but Father Gu didn’t listen. He said instead, “Don’t worry. We’ve got backing now. No matter what happens, it won’t be a big deal.”
The Gu family had built its business through clothing, with down products being only a part of it, not the main focus.
In recent years, the Gu family had expanded from clothing into real estate and tech. Though they hadn’t become industry leaders, before boarding the “Star Diamond” ship, they had been steadily and safely making money.
But the collapse of Star Diamond triggered massive fallout. If the Gu family hadn’t sent their children abroad to personally invite the Red Dragon King to intervene with a ritual, their business would already be in ruins.
Even so, the Gu family had paid a heavy price, and their finances were now severely strained. Father Gu was desperate to make money from other sources.
“You’re right. We must raise prices. This year, down feather costs are rising. Other brands will definitely increase their prices too. We can’t fall behind,” Father Gu said confidently.
Gu Fengchuan’s heart thumped anxiously. He worried that this sudden cost-cutting and price-raising tactic could be a fatal blow to the Gu family.
“Dad, maybe we should rethink this. What if some stubborn person disassembles our jackets for testing…” Gu Fengchuan suggested.
But Father Gu was obstinate. “You’re overthinking it. In the down jacket market, our brand isn’t even top-tier. If the sky falls, it’ll crush the tall ones first, not us.”
Gu Fengchuan wanted to argue more, but Father Gu interrupted him, saying, “You should focus on recovering your health. Leave the company matters to others. Your younger brothers are still around. And if worst comes to worst, Xueying is smart enough to help me out.”
Hearing this, a shadow crossed Gu Fengchuan’s eyes. It had been nearly a year and a half since his bone marrow transplant.
Originally, his father had trained him as the heir. But over the past year, he had clearly felt himself being sidelined.
Important business deals were no longer assigned to him, and his father seemed increasingly guarded around him. If it weren’t for his younger brothers still being focused on their own industries, Gu Fengchuan might have suspected he was being completely ousted.
“Dad, I’ve been recovering for over a year now,” Gu Fengchuan said.
Father Gu smiled faintly and said, “When you collapsed last time, I was really worried. I’m getting old; I can’t take another scare.”
Gu Fengchuan couldn’t tell whether his father was being sincere.
Father Gu continued, “Don’t overwork yourself. If you’re too busy, I’ll have Xiao Gu help you.”
The “Xiao Gu” Father Gu mentioned wasn’t family, but a young man with the same surname who had been hired at a high salary. He was a foreign university graduate, about the same age as Gu Fengchuan. Since joining the company, he had been highly valued by Father Gu.
Xiao Gu and Gu Fengchuan had a good relationship. Gu Fengchuan had been the one to recruit him, and always thought of him as a loyal subordinate. Hearing this, Gu Fengchuan hesitated but eventually agreed.
Father Gu added, “Yuji is tied up. Next month, you’ll represent the Gu family on the trip to Hong Kong. I can’t trust anyone else with it.”
