Chapter 106: Complete Rejection

“Chengzi, don’t speak up for her… This girl was spoiled rotten by her mother since she was little. How old is she now? She has absolutely no manners!” Chen Xian scolded sternly with a severe expression, then turned his head and said kindly to Su Chunfeng, whose expression had returned to calm, “Chunfeng, it has been quite some days since I last saw you. With such a big undertaking as contracting development for the Logistics Park, you seem to leave it all alone without a care. How are things? Is the academic pressure at school quite heavy? After summer vacation, you’ll be in your second year of high school, right? You’ll have to choose your class track. Have you decided which one?”

“Studies are alright,” Su Chunfeng smiled and said, “I chose the Liberal Arts Class.”

“Oh,” Chen Xian nodded.

Chen Yufang, who was making tea, felt puzzled inside—why was her father showing such concern for that kid Su Chunfeng? He had previously reminded her and her brother Chen Yufan specifically to treat their cousin Chen Xiulan’s family well, especially Su Chunfeng. He even said this kid was no ordinary person and would definitely achieve great things in the future…

What achievements?

I can’t see any.

Hmph!

Chen Yufang curled her lip, carried the tea set over, poured a cup of tea for Su Cheng, Su Chunfeng, and her father each, then gracefully walked back and sat down beside the single-seat sofa.

“Little Feng, you take a look too…” Su Cheng pointed at the other design blueprints and engineering reports on the tea table.

Only then did Su Chunfeng pick up one of the blueprints. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the red stamp on the bottom of that stack of several pages of construction plan reports—Pingyang City Hongyun Construction Co., Ltd.

This name looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.

Su Chunfeng thought for a moment but couldn’t recall. He picked up the blueprint, gave it a general browse, then took the other blueprints one by one for a look. He placed them back on the tea table and said with a calm expression and tone, “This kind of planning and design isn’t thorough enough… It’s completely designed according to the current layout of an ordinary parking lot. There’s no forward-thinking or innovation at all. If we build according to this plan, within two years we’ll need to invest huge funds for large-scale reconstruction and renovation, even having to demolish some buildings and overhaul the entire park’s plan. It’s too wasteful.”

“Huh?” Su Cheng was taken aback.

Chen Xian also looked at Su Chunfeng with some surprise.

These words were basically a complete rejection of this engineering report and design blueprint.

“What does a kid like you know?” Chen Yufang immediately got angry and scolded with a stern face—she was the one who found the construction company. The initial concept for the Logistics Park’s layout planning and the general construction process were also proposed by her to the construction company, which is why they had this engineering report and preliminary project design sketch.

Now, a half-grown kid like Su Chunfeng had given such a merciless, complete rejection. Chen Yufang was naturally one hundred percent displeased.

“Auntie,” Su Chunfeng said seriously, pointing at the design blueprint. “Shops on both sides, parking lanes and driving lanes in the middle, plus three gates, an office building, a guard room… Does this even need design planning? This is just an ordinary parking lot with some shell freight forwarding agencies. Maybe a few of them can barely be called Freight Companies? How can such a design be called a Logistics Park?”

Chen Yufang sneered, “Oh, seems you know quite a lot…”

“Little Feng, watch your tone,” Su Cheng frowned and pretended to be angry as he scolded. Actually, deep down he had high expectations for his son’s ideas. But to directly and mercilessly dismiss Chen Yufang’s work as worthless… it made Su Cheng feel awkward too. He said, “I think it’s quite good.”

Chen Xian, however, frowned and looked at Chen Yufang. “Mind your attitude. Let’s hear what Chunfeng has to say.”

“Fine,” Chen Yufang said discontentedly, looking at Su Chunfeng. “You tell me then, how should a Logistics Park be planned and built?”

Su Chunfeng spread the floor plan on the tea table and pointed at it. “For a Logistics Park, don’t just blindly pursue having many storefronts to rent out more and collect more rent! There must be complete supporting facilities. It must be able to accommodate formal large, medium, and small-sized freight and Logistics Companies… How can such small shop units work? Also, the planning for the warehouse area is unreasonable. As a Logistics Park, having insufficient warehouses is simply not acceptable.”

“Look carefully!” Chen Yufang snorted coldly. “There are planned construction areas and areas for warehouses on it. Besides, the entire southern row are uniformly two-story shop units. What kind of Freight Company would think two-story shop units are small? If they have enough strength, they can rent two units, three units even, no problem.”

“It’s not enough,” Su Chunfeng waved his hand, interrupting Chen Yufang. “How would a formal, capable Freight Company do that? Having the warehouse and office location so far apart would cause many inconveniences. So, we should try to open up and build several independent compounds that integrate warehouses with office buildings in the warehouse area, providing more convenient and efficient work locations for capable companies. Also, we need at least two separate, dedicated areas for drivers’ accommodation. And one restaurant isn’t enough, one toilet isn’t enough… The reserved area for the entire warehouse zone and the budgeted area for individual warehouses are also too large. We are a Logistics Park, not professional warehousing. Our warehouses should be as small as possible, don’t make them so big. For logistics enterprises, the transportation and flow of goods are key. How many Logistics Companies would use such large warehouses?” Having said this, Su Chunfeng took a sip of tea and continued, “The parking space design is also unreasonable. We should designate special parking spots for large, medium, and small vehicles, and open up more passages for them. Parking spaces should connect to passages at an angle for easy entry and exit. This would also avoid messy parking in the park causing congestion and an unsightly appearance…”

A series of meticulous, logically rigorous, and highly reasonable statements left Su Cheng, Chen Xian, and Chen Yufang—who were essentially laymen when it came to the logistics and freight industry—completely stunned.

Were these words something a sixteen-year-old kid could say?

How did he know all this?

“Chunfeng, where… where did you learn all this?” Chen Xian finally couldn’t help but ask.

“Ever since we planned to develop the Logistics Park, I specifically looked up relevant information and some related newspapers and periodicals. Also, I asked some long-haul freight drivers and truck owners…” Su Chunfeng said with a smile. “Starting construction blindly without investigation, just based on empty ideas, only wastes resources!”

“Haha, well said!” Chen Xian couldn’t help but slap his thigh. “No investigation, no right to speak. Yufang, it seems in many aspects you still have a lot to learn from Chunfeng.”

After all, Chen Yufang graduated from a prestigious university and had years of experience working in government departments, which cultivated rich experience. Her thinking and reactions were quite sharp. Although she had to admit that the planning suggestions Su Chunfeng proposed were very reasonable, how could Chen Yufang simply admit defeat?

She sneered scornfully, “That’s easy to say. Just based on the current design plan to start construction until final completion, our funds are far from sufficient, let alone building a formal Logistics Park with complete supporting facilities as you described. A preliminary estimate shows the investment amount would need at least twenty million yuan. Where would the money come from? Loans? With the qualifications of our small Wantong Freight Forwarding Agency Co., Ltd., what makes us eligible for bank loans over ten million? Even the current loan of over three million yuan, I worked hard begging people and pulling strings everywhere to get it… And even if we built the Logistics Park like that from the start, are you sure there would be enough returns? Forget about repaying the bank loan sometime, do you know how much the daily bank interest is?”

“Then that’s even more reason not to start construction according to this preliminary design plan,” Su Chunfeng said with a serious and solemn expression. “Insufficient funds mean we must save expenses as much as possible. We absolutely cannot invest money only to tear things down and rebuild later. That’s serious waste, irresponsible to the company!”

“Heh, if we don’t start construction, what else can we do? Just talk big?” Chen Yufang’s words were already full of sarcasm and disdain.

“Yufang, mind your attitude. Let Chunfeng finish,” Chen Xian scolded.

“Hmph,” Chen Yufang didn’t speak anymore, crossing her arms and turning her head to look aside.

Su Chunfeng didn’t seem angry. He pointed at the plan and said calmly, “What we need to do first right now is use the funds the current company can invest for ground leveling and hardening in the planned construction area, excluding the buildings. Then build a perimeter wall all around, first establishing the parking lot. Then we can park vehicles and gradually recover funds by collecting parking fees. Although the profit won’t be high, having some is better than none. If there’s any money left, then we can start building single-story shop units from the north side, building as many as we can, step by step. At the same time, invest funds in extensive promotion to make some stronger, capable Freight Companies interested so they come here for on-site inspections. We can offer them preferential policies, letting them build their own warehouses and offices within designated areas, exempting them from rent for one year, or even three, five years, etc. However, even their own buildings must conform to our company’s planning. The exterior decoration, height, construction quality, etc., of warehouses and offices must maintain uniformity and aesthetics for the entire Logistics Park in the future.”

“All talk, still just an empty shell in the end,” Chen Yufang was convinced inside but refused to show weakness on the surface, taunting, “Might as well not build anything, just make a big parking lot then.”

“Funds are a problem, there’s no way around it,” Su Chunfeng showed a helpless expression.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Chen Yufang got up and walked over to open the door.

Outside stood a middle-aged man who looked about forty years old. With a smiling and deferential expression, he said, “General Manager Chen, hello, hello…” This man was of medium build, with a firm and well-defined face, sharp eyes, long eyebrows, and an impressive presence. Even though he deliberately showed deference and respect towards Chen Yufang, the inherently aggressive and sharp aura in his demeanor could not be concealed.

“General Manager Yan, please come in,” Chen Yufang smiled and stepped aside, gesturing an invitation.

“Thank you,” the middle-aged man walked in, neither humble nor pushy.