Chapter 144: Borrowing Money to Cope

Similar scenes were unfolding not only at the steel wire factory, but also at the cotton mill, the tire factory, the residential compound of the Water Conservancy Bureau, the thermos factory, the coal stove factory, and various other locations, where customers were demanding refunds.

Feng Weizhi received the news immediately. His face turned ashen with rage, and he felt a deep sense of panic. Due to his rapid expansion of late, his available capital was already dangerously low. Added to this was the setback dealt by Chen Huajiang, which had forced him to pay out 2,500 in cash, once again draining his reserves to the bottom.

"Boss Feng, shall I take the boys to handle this? I'll beat up anyone who dares to demand a refund for their membership card," Lang Gou said in a low, husky voice, offering his suggestion.

Upon hearing this, Feng Weizhi pointed a finger at him, trembling with anger, and snapped, "Are you trying to make things even more chaotic than they already are?"

In his eyes, this was tantamount to sabotage. The priority now was to calm people down and bolster support for his "Taste and Fresh" restaurants, not to alienate his customers. Lang Gou’s expression darkened at the reprimand, but he remained silent; he had no other viable solutions to offer.

"Everyone, let's pool our money and weather this storm together. Once we get past this hurdle, it will be smooth sailing from here on out."

"I am certain this is a scheme orchestrated by Chen Huajiang. We’ve fallen into his trap."

"As long as we stabilize public sentiment, we will overcome this crisis."

Feng Weizhi was no fool; when things go wrong, there is usually a culprit behind the scenes. Even without hard evidence, he was convinced it was Chen Huajiang. The group eventually scraped together some funds. Finally, Gou Weidong suggested that Wu De find a way to retrieve the rent money Feng Weizhi had paid, with the promise of returning it to the Red Flag Factory once the crisis had passed.

"Exactly, that’s a brilliant idea. Wu De, whether we survive this crisis or not depends on you!" Feng Weizhi’s eyes lit up as he stared intently at Wu De.

The others turned their gaze toward Wu De as well. Wu De felt a surge of hatred, piercing a metaphorical hole through Gou Weidong. He was, of course, unwilling to part with the money—2,500 was no small sum, and it belonged to the Red Flag Factory.

"I’ll see what I can do," he replied. Facing the pressure of the group, he could not refuse, or he would be ostracized from their inner circle. More importantly, he still wanted to make money by following Feng Weizhi and crushing Chen Huajiang.

Consequently, Wu De approached his father, Wu Min, and consulted with his cousin, Wu Lei, eventually raising the 2,500. The money was temporarily withdrawn from the Red Flag Factory, with Wu Lei, who managed the coal stove workshop, covering the gap using the workshop's high-turnover operating funds.

Once the crisis was averted, Wu De would return the 2,500 to Wu Lei, and both believed there would be no issue. The coal stove workshop had sufficient cash flow; as long as the stoves were produced, they could be sold. Moreover, in the worst-case scenario, they could withhold payments from the small retail distributors, so maintaining liquidity would not be difficult.

With the cash in hand, Wu De staged a performance. He chose the entrance of the cotton mill’s residential compound, where customer traffic was highest, and stacked the cash in neat piles on a table.

"There have been rumors recently that our Taste and Fresh restaurant chain is facing a liquidity crisis. This is a complete lie—it is slanderous fabrication."

"Once we have finished our investigation, we will hold the spreaders of these rumors accountable. Everyone can rest easy knowing our capital is fully secure."

"Any customer who wishes to return their membership card may do so. However, let me be clear: once a refund is processed, the membership card will be voided, and you will no longer be eligible for the discounts at our outlets."

Feng Weizhi spoke through a megaphone before ordering his staff to process the refunds.

"That’s a lot of money; it must be over ten thousand, right?"

"How could Boss Feng be short on cash? With all that money right there, we must have been deceived."

"Damn those rumors! Boss Feng has a massive operation with over twenty locations; how could he be broke? Even if he were, don't his stores themselves represent wealth?"

Within moments, many customers began to waver, their confidence in Feng Weizhi and the Taste and Fresh restaurants restored. While a few remained determined to get their refunds, they were in the minority.

Feng Weizhi and his staff repeated this routine, moving from one store to the next, morning and afternoon. Soon, the public mood stabilized, and customer trust in Taste and Fresh climbed once more.

"What kind of man is Boss Feng? He has dozens of restaurants; would he really bother to cheat you out of that pittance?"

"Exactly. He can pull out ten thousand in cash just like that—do you think he cares about your few measly dollars?"

"I don't know where those rumors came from, but doubting the Taste and Fresh restaurant chain is just ridiculous."

The customers were full of confidence again, and Feng Weizhi had successfully weathered the storm. After the final tally, there were over two thousand yuan left over.

"Damn that Chen Huajiang. Let's go—tomorrow, we're going to shut down his stores."

"Lang Gou, bring your men tomorrow. I want to smash his shop to pieces right on the spot!" Feng Weizhi said coldly, giving his orders to Lang Gou.

Upon hearing that they were going to trash Chen Huajiang’s flagship store, Lang Gou licked his lips in excitement, nodding frantically with a sinister expression, his eyes gleaming with malicious anticipation.

That afternoon, Chen Huajiang received word that Zhao Xuemin’s critique of the report in the *Shenyang Daily* had been approved and would appear in the newspaper the following day. Chen Huajiang thanked him appropriately, while internally signing the death warrant for Feng Weizhi and his restaurant chain.

He had not originally planned to strike early, preferring to let Feng Weizhi and his associates "die" naturally. The factory was already struggling to pay wages, and the number of people dining at the restaurants was dwindling. By next year, the capital chain of Taste and Fresh would inevitably snap, and a slight nudge would be enough to finish them off.

However, since Feng Weizhi had pushed his luck and dared to covet the storefronts of his Red Flag Factory, Chen Huajiang would not hesitate to give him a push over the cliff.

Of course, Chen Huajiang had another motive. Being a native of Nanming, he hoped that Zhao Xuemin’s report would alert more workers to the difficulties of the current economic climate, encouraging them to save money and prepare for the "winter" ahead.

"Brother Chen, isn't this a bit too wasteful?" Liang Long pointed at the rotating air-intake cover on the coal stove.

Currently, Chen Huajiang was in a warehouse one street away from the Red Flag Factory. It had originally belonged to the thermos factory but had been rented by Chen Huajiang and converted into a workshop specifically for producing coal stoves.

"Indeed, the cost is definitely higher this way," one of the workers agreed. "Boss Chen, the coal stove business is booming right now; everything we make sells instantly. There's no need for this."

In the workshop, besides Chen Huajiang and Liang Long, there were several master craftsmen recruited from the Red Flag Factory and a few young apprentices.

"There are places where we should cut costs, and places where we shouldn't. We are already using discarded paint buckets for the stove walls, but we shouldn't skimp on the adjustable air-intake cover," Chen Huajiang said calmly, crouching down to test the intake cover on a prototype.

This type of cover was something that wouldn't appear until the 2000s, though by then, few people used coal stoves. It wasn't a simple lid to be placed or removed; it worked like a pair of scissors, allowing it to be fully closed, opened to a slit, or opened completely according to the user's needs. This provided a level of regulation far more convenient than the covers on current stoves.

"This idea is truly excellent. It provides controllable intake for the stove's combustion. The only issue is that this cover is harder to manufacture than a traditional iron lid, which increases costs slightly."

"True, but Boss Chen’s intuition is spot on. I believe once these stoves hit the market, they will be incredibly popular. We could even sell these adjustable covers separately."

Seeing that Chen Huajiang had made up his mind, everyone set aside their concerns about costs and focused on the product, showering Chen Huajiang with praise and agreement.