Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 435: Hostility

Saturday the 15th.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, Feng Yiping stood in front of the hotel window. With his current level of 3.0 in both eyes, he could clearly see the long queue in front of the registration desk for trade fair guests, which was somewhat similar to the ticket offices at popular scenic spots during the Golden Week holiday.

However, the people in the queue were all foreign businessmen, many of them looking tired and dusty, carrying a bag and dragging a large suitcase as they got out of the taxi. They had either just arrived from the airport or had not been able to book a hotel in the city centre and had stayed in the suburbs or a nearby city.

Although there were many people, there was order. The police officers in olive green uniforms with white gloves standing next to the queue were particularly conspicuous. It seemed that they were about to change their uniforms as well, to the internationally recognised black and navy blue uniforms.

'We're ready to go,' Jin Ling said, opening the door and calling out.

'It's still early, I'll talk to you later, let Manager Ou and the others go first,'

At Nanmen Square, the staff were setting up the venue. Although the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation had already held a press conference yesterday afternoon, there would definitely be an opening ceremony later, and it was estimated that there would be more than one ministerial leader present. Feng Yiping could not join in the excitement, and did not want to.

'Okay, we'll go first, call us when you want to come in,' Jin Ling hurriedly left.

As the company president, she was one of the 3,000 people invited to attend the opening ceremony. Before the ceremony, she had to go with the main exhibitors to the booth to check it again.

Ou Yang, in charge of foreign trade, followed Jin Ling with two assistants, Xiao Yu and Xiao Zhao, a man and a woman, and passed through rigorous inspections before entering the exhibition hall. They walked all the way through the lavishly decorated home appliance exhibition area and finally arrived in front of their own exhibition hall.

Director Jin made a few phone calls before getting this small booth, which was three metres long and three metres wide, with a total area of nine square metres. The location was quite good, not in the middle of a row, but at the end, a good location that was quite conspicuous.

Jin Ling looked at it a few times and was not satisfied. 'Remove the table provided by the exhibition and bring the one inside and place it by the door.'

When Ou Yang and Xiao Yu were adjusting it according to Jin Ling's instructions, the exhibitor in the booth next door also arrived. A middle-aged man of medium height but a big belly was walking in front with his arms crossed, followed by a man and a woman carrying bags.

The middle-aged man watched as his two subordinates tore off the pieces of tape stuck to the front of the booth, glanced over in their direction a few times, and his eyes wandered up and down the grey skirt suit worn by Jin Ling. He then looked dismissively at the layout of the Jiasheng booth a few times, saying, 'Haha, once this quota is lifted, any small factory will be able to come in.'

He was so condescending and arrogant, that people who heard him say that would think that it was the booth of the provincial Minmetals Corporation. (China Minmetals, the oldest state-owned import and export trading company, is also a training centre for export and foreign trade talent. Many of the main foreign trade talents of private enterprises were poached from Minmetals.)

His male subordinate, who must be used to being the butt of jokes, immediately followed up, saying, 'Yes, everyone wants to take a chance, maybe they'll win the jackpot?'

Prior to this year, there were export value requirements for non-circulating companies like Jiasheng Furniture. In other words, if a company like Jiasheng, which had not yet completed a single foreign trade transaction, applied to participate in the Canton Fair last year, it would not be accepted.

Upon hearing this, Ouyang and Yu did not react. Having had their hair done and wearing light makeup, Zhao, who was dressed in the same way as Jinling, rarely had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the president. He glanced over there and whispered, 'I don't know what's going on. We haven't offended him or provoked him, but ever since the day the exhibition was set up, they've been cold and critical.'

Jin Ling didn't even look over there, but instead crossed her arms as she watched Ao Boyang and Xiaoyu making the adjustments she wanted. 'Just do your job well.'

Since they weren't responding, they couldn't provoke them further. After all, this was a provincial event, and it was such an international exhibition, so they didn't want to make things too difficult.

And there was the beautiful woman over there. The middle-aged man with the big belly had just said those things, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Jin Ling.

Feng Yiping leisurely sat by the window watching the opening ceremony over there. While the leader was speaking, he even had time to change the channel with the remote control. Unfortunately, the TV series 'Foreign Daughter-in-Law, Local Son' that he was learning Cantonese from seemed to not be broadcast until the second half of the year, so he couldn't watch it yet.

He waited until Minister Shi of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and Director Lu of the conference sounded the opening salute and announced the official opening, and after the guests had all entered, he slowly walked towards the venue.

Near the venue, there would be Alibaba salespeople handing out promotional bags to foreigners, which contained pens and other things that were quite useful for attending the exhibition. However, they only handed them out to foreigners, so Feng Yiping couldn't take advantage of them even if he wanted to.

Alibaba was nowhere near as big as it would later become. It was probably also affected by the Internet bubble, and didn't want to spend a lot of money, right?

Later, at the Canton Fair, Feng Yiping also didn't go to join the fun. I guess at that time, Alibaba, as an influential Internet company in the world, would not have been so humble and servile in trying to attract customers.

In this place where foreign businesses gather, in addition to these industrious corporate promoters, there are also many equally industrious beggars who have discovered this rare opportunity. They are so tenacious in their survival that even the police can't stamp them out, and they can all speak a few words of English: 'Hello, please, money, money,'

Feng Yiping found it a little funny. It seems that the current beggar gang has not yet infiltrated some highly educated talent.

So they mistakenly and optimistically estimated the market situation, thinking that this was a gold mine. However, judging from the results, they really have misplaced their affections. They are not looking for those foreign tourists, but for the capitalists of the authentic capitalist society. They are ruthless. It's not bad enough that they don't rob them of their begging props, who would give them alms?

The foreign businessmen ignored them like they were air, chatting with their companions as they walked past without looking up, leaving the miserable-looking people who had gone to so much trouble to dress up in rags to curse angrily.

There were indeed many foreign guests, and the queue of foreign businessmen waiting to register had now reached the entrance to Hall 2.

There was also a long queue at the entrance.

The Canton Fair is probably the most highly secured exhibition in China. The security checks are now definitely above the level of those at foreign airports during the same period. While Feng Yiping was waiting in line, a man in front of him was politely but firmly asked to leave by four armed police officers, presumably because he had used a fake badge.

If you want to say the most deceptive thing about the Canton Fair, it would be this: it is very easy for foreign businessmen to get an access pass, but exhibitors are only given three passes for a standard booth, which is usually not enough for a company. Getting additional passes is not only troublesome, but also expensive – one pass is worth the price of an air ticket.

There are actually some loopholes. When Feng Yiping attended the Canton Fair for the first time, all eight members of his company got in. It was actually very easy. After entering, while the security guards were not paying attention, he simply threw the pass back out to the next person.

This time, he didn't have to go to all that trouble. Jin Ling gave him a pass from the Provincial Department of Commerce.

Feng Yiping slowly walked forward. According to the rules, on the first day of the fair, buyers are all waiting and comparing, so the transaction rate is not high. He didn't think his help would be needed at his own booth.

The most eye-catching part of the exhibition hall was the electrical and mechanical hall, and the most impressive electrical appliance companies were in there. The booths of the well-known domestic companies were all over 200 square metres, with Haier being the most extravagant, taking up more than 30 booths and over 500 square metres!

When Feng Yiping thought about his own poor 9 square metres, he felt so envious!

However, all good things must come to an end, and many of these companies later disappeared from the market.

The popularity of the home pavilion was good, with many people standing at the door watching. Jin Ling personally went down to the floor to introduce to customers in fluent English, while Ouboyang and Xiaoyu were also introducing to customers from the samples with all their might. Another girl, Xiaozhao, was smilingly holding a stack of information and standing next to the aisle to attract customers.

Feng Yiping did not rush over, but watched for a while in the next house. Here, rattan furniture was on display, and the shapes were quite nice. However, it was obvious that there were more Southeast Asian customers, while European and American customers were not very interested. Unlike Feng's home country, there were customers from both places.

The middle-aged man with a big belly didn't seem to speak a foreign language. He was outside, arms folded, and after taking a look at Feng Yiping's pass, he said to him in a familiar tone, 'What's there to see over there? Those things don't even look like they've been processed; they're just raw materials put together. That's the level of quality? The provincial government actually arranged for them to exhibit? I don't know what kind of connections they have.

I'll see for myself. When the exhibition ends, they won't be able to get a single order, and they'll have wasted such a large sum of money. I'll see if they can still smile then.'

He felt quite close to Feng Yiping when they met in a foreign land, but after hearing what he said, he suddenly felt that the short, fat man was very obnoxious and not at all close.

The exhibits over there were my idea, okay?

But this is quite strange. From what this guy said, it seems that he has a prejudice against his own family. Why is that?