Chapter 122: A Crisis? A Sudden Call from the Bank!

Upon hearing that Cai Yao was actually worried about this issue, Chu Lin couldn’t help but smile. “President Cai, why fret over such a minor matter?”

“Minor?” Cai Yao hurriedly corrected him. “This cooking wine is a major concern for our restaurant, you know?”

Chu Lin chuckled softly. “President Cai, I meant that formulating this cooking wine is a small task. If secrecy isn’t a problem, it would only take a week. President Cai, however much you want, I can prepare it for you.”

Surprised, Cai Yao asked, “Is it really that easy to make this cooking wine?”

Smiling, Chu Lin replied, “For others, it might be impossible to replicate. But for me, it’s a trivial matter; the key is the week-long fermentation process. So, you really don’t need to worry about the cooking wine.”

“That’s a relief,” Cai Yao breathed out, visibly relaxing. Then suddenly, a thought dawned on her. “President Chu, is there a way to make a version of this cooking wine with a lower potency?”

“There should be plenty of ways,” Chu Lin pondered, recalling the notes on the formula scroll. The more the ingredient ratios were off, the weaker the effect; the order of ingredients also influenced the outcome, and temperature played a role as well.

In short, producing a less effective version was no challenge.

Cai Yao’s eyes lit up. “President Chu, have you considered marketing this less potent cooking wine? Our restaurant can use the premium version to maintain its edge, while the inferior version can be sold broadly. Even at its weakest, this miraculous cooking wine wouldn’t be worse than brands like Liubiju, Luhua, or Haitian, right?”

Chu Lin nodded thoughtfully. “Those brands each earn over 200 million yuan annually in the cooking wine category alone. If our cooking wine surpasses theirs and we succeed, our yearly revenue won’t be less. If we capture a large market share, the revenue will be even higher.”

Hearing this, Chu Lin’s eyes brightened. He had indeed considered this before. Though the cooking wine market wasn’t huge, building a brand could still be a viable industry.

He smiled warmly at Cai Yao. “Since you’ve brought this up, I assume you’re interested. But now that you’re managing the restaurant, do you have the bandwidth to handle other ventures?”

Cai Yao didn’t deny it and candidly replied, “Of course I’m interested in an industry with clear potential. As for being busy, look at all those industry tycoons with multiple businesses—do they ever seem overwhelmed? Besides, I’m not interested in dating or hobbies that waste time right now; I’d rather focus on building my career.”

In that long sentence, Chu Lin only caught one phrase: “Not interested in dating right now.”

That was the key for him.

After all, he had just shared a first intimate moment with Miss Cai last night. Even if he hadn’t fully won her over, he certainly wouldn’t let her start a relationship with someone else.

So, keeping her busy was good—if she had no time for romance, he had a better chance to win her over slowly.

With that in mind, Chu Lin quickly said, “Since you’re interested, let’s discuss the cooking wine. If we want to market it, what should be our next step?”

Cai Yao thought for a moment. “First option: President Chu could invest in setting up a new company dedicated solely to promoting the cooking wine. If you’re willing, I could also invest by taking out a mortgage on my property.”

“Second option: we could promote the cooking wine directly through Linyao Restaurant, build a cooking wine factory under Linyao’s management. You provide the formula, and I, together with Erbai, would invest an additional five million yuan as operating capital.”

“Which option do you think is better, President Chu?” she asked, smiling.

Chu Lin smiled back. Since the cooking wine market was relatively small—smaller even than the Blue Ring Jellyfish market—either option was fine by him.

The first option meant he would hold a larger share, but he’d have to invest more to establish the factory.

The second option required no initial investment from him; the startup capital would come from Cai Yao and Erbai. Crucially, he would still hold 60% ownership of the restaurant.

He was curious to hear Miss Cai’s opinion.

Without hesitation, Cai Yao said, “I personally recommend the second option. Although your share would be smaller, you could leverage Erbai’s 10% stake and make good use of his connections.”

“There’s a member in the Minjiang Chamber of Commerce who runs a chain supermarket—Huiyong Supermarket. You must have heard of it. They have numerous collaborations with Erbai’s real estate projects. The supermarket owner and Mr. Wu are close friends.”

“Huiyong Supermarket now has over a thousand branches. You understand what I mean, right?”

“Then let’s go with the second option,” Chu Lin said without hesitation.

Over a thousand chain stores—once the product gets on their shelves, the first step forward would be a leap. If the product sells well, expanding to other markets would be easy.

Even if his cooking wine performed worse than the perfect version, it would still surpass other brands. Some retailers might even approach them proactively.

Moreover, cooking wine isn’t a highly technical product. Once it hits the market, it could be quickly reverse-engineered. There was no reason not to choose the second, faster approach to capture the market.

“Since you’ve decided, I’ll prepare the materials right away. Meanwhile, please expedite creating the lower-potency cooking wine. I’ll then approach Mr. Wu to discuss this matter.”

“I’m entrusting this entirely to you, President Cai!”

“You’re quite the hands-off manager!” Cai Yao teased.

“President Cai, it’s because I trust you,” Chu Lin thought to himself, adding silently: keeping you busy means no time for dating.

That was part of his strategy.

In time, when your guard lowers, I’ll invite you for drinks again. After a few such evenings, feelings will naturally grow.

Chu Lin and Cai Yao chatted for a while longer before he escorted her back to the restaurant.

Taking the matter seriously, upon returning to the breeding farm, Chu Lin summoned Liu Fa. “Master Liu, buy another batch of those ingredients for the cooking wine. This time, bring more small vats back.”

“All right, President Chu,” Liu Fa nodded eagerly. Given a task, he was always motivated and quickly headed to the market.

Thanks to prior experience, Liu Fa was efficient, visiting the same shops and soon returning with all the supplies.

He helped carry the materials into another empty room in the steel-structured building.

Chu Lin then turned on the temperature controller and began the brewing process.

Since these were experimental batches, the small vats filled quickly with cooking wine.

He deliberately placed ingredients in the wrong order in two vats, and in two others, he used incorrect proportions.

He also moved two vats to a different room, purposely not controlling the temperature.

These batches, brewed with errors, would never achieve perfect effects.

He planned to compare their outcomes and select the best candidates for marketing.

Even if someday someone cracked the formula, only the inferior version would be exposed.

As he finished, Chu Lin’s phone suddenly rang. Seeing the number, he paused—it bore the area code +555.

555? That was China Merchants Bank’s number.

He had long used China Merchants Bank for his accounts.

Only those who had opened stores truly appreciated the bank’s quality and knew why it was called the retail banking king.

From his own experience, the big four banks often fell short compared to China Merchants Bank in client service.

But why was the bank calling him?

Curious, he answered.

A smooth male voice came through: “May I speak with Mr. Chu Lin?”

“This is Chu Lin. Who’s this?”

“Mr. Chu Lin, please forgive my boldness in calling you. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Sun Chang, branch manager of the Lougu District branch of China Merchants Bank in Min City. Recently, I noticed significant changes in your account balances, which have now reached the standards of our high-end private banking. We sincerely invite you to join our private banking service, where we will customize a special bank card and offer VIP privileges. If you’re available this evening, I’d like to invite you to dinner.”

Chu Lin was momentarily stunned.

High-end private banking, customized VIP cards? Was this the famed black card?

Of course, this black card wasn’t the “Golden Sunflower Black Card,” which required only 500,000 yuan and was rumored to be common on the streets or online.

This high-end private banking black card was a special numbered black gold card, requiring at least 10 million yuan in deposits and an average daily balance of no less than 10 million over a continuous period.

If several million were withdrawn without replenishing in time, the qualification would be revoked.

This was only one of the criteria; the bank considered other factors too.

A genuine China Merchants Bank black gold card holder would have at least 10 million yuan deposited.

When courting women, flashing this black gold card was far more effective than flaunting a Porsche Panamera.

Of course, some women might not appreciate it, but among the discerning, the social prestige of this card was immense.

Rumor had it that China Merchants Bank even hosted exclusive events for their high-end private banking clientele, featuring select beauties—some even sought out invitations actively.

Chu Lin didn’t know if this was true, having never qualified before.

Besides, his account only held around 11 million yuan, sometimes dipping below 10 million, so he probably didn’t meet the daily average requirement.

Did the branch manager really need to call him personally and invite him to dinner?

“Mr. Chu, are you there? Can I invite you to dinner tonight?” Sun Chang asked again after a moment of silence.

The reason for this call was that Sun had noticed Chu’s registered accounts at their branch. Although Chu hadn’t yet met the average daily balance requirement, Sun saw potential.

Chu was linked to three accounts: one with over 11 million yuan, another belonging to a water pet company with assets long exceeding 10 million, whose prospects Sun had analyzed as good, and a third tied to a restaurant named Linyao, which had exploded in popularity recently, with Erbai holding shares and daily revenue surpassing one million yuan.

In short, Chu Lin was a highly promising client who could easily meet the private banking standards.

Sun Chang, under pressure to perform as a branch manager, wanted to secure this potential client before competitors did.

“Manager Sun, of course I’ll come!” Chu Lin eagerly agreed. He had heard that the bank’s events even attracted celebrities and was quite looking forward to it.

“Great! Then let’s meet tonight at your Linyao Restaurant, Mr. Chu.”

“Sounds good,” Chu Lin replied, realizing the bank had done its homework and categorized him as a high-potential client. Impressive foresight by Manager Sun.

Meanwhile, after ending the call, Sun Chang breathed a sigh of relief. Chu Lin seemed easy to get along with.

He then called over a woman of strikingly ample proportions.

“Xiao Wan,” Sun said, “Tonight you’ll accompany your uncle to meet a client. This is a potential customer, and it might help both your and my performance reviews.”

“All right,” Liu Xiaowan sighed silently upon hearing the request.

Truth be told, she disliked accompanying leaders to meet clients. Even working at a bank, sometimes there was no avoiding it.

Her plans to go shopping with her best friend were ruined.

After leaving her uncle’s office, she called her friend Chu Yan. “Yan, I can’t go shopping tonight. I have to accompany my boss to meet a client. I don’t know which bastard insisted on this timing.”

Chu Yan, disappointed, replied, “I wish I could curse that clueless client for you.”

(End of chapter)