"How much capital have you invested in the grocery department?" Celine asked.
Jack began calculating in his mind. From buying the stores to signing the supply contracts, to the salaries and vehicles that he had bought.
The amount that he'd spent for the grocery department to be stabilized was over ten million. Since they were talking here, there was no need for him to hide anything.
"I spent over fifteen million." Jack said. All of this was said calmly, as if it was normal for him to spend that amount of money. But, who could blame him? He wanted his grocery to dominate the city. In other words, he wanted to monopolize the grocery market here in inchoate. So, he had to spend.
When Celine heard Jack's words, her eyes immediately revealed shock as she stared at Jack. It was true that Celine was shocked by the amount of money that Jack had invested in the grocery department.
Fifteen million, that wasn't a small amount of money. Although she had seen far big figures of money, she still thought that, this was a big amount to start a grocery in such a small city..
There were several cities that were far bigger than Inchoate. And, if this fifteen million was used as capital, the groceries would definitely develop well. Even though there would be tougher competition in the big cities, at least, the income would be higher.
"Are you serious about that?" Celine asked Jack while looking at him incredulously.
Jack was confused by her expression at this moment. He wondered of what he had just said was magical. So, he could only reply by saying, "I had to get the stores, get someone that could supply me with the groceries, get the vehicles that can be used for delivery, warehouses that have conditions that would ensure that the groceries would remain fresh…"
Jack went on to say what and what he'd bought. The more Celine heard his words, the more shocked she became. 'How rich is he? And, is he sure that he's not a prodigal? Is all of this depending on himself?'
As thoughts ran through her mind, she couldn't help but spit out some of them. "Jack, is that just the grocery department? Considering the fact that, they are just beginning and they don't have any influence, if they collapse, you'll end up losing everything."
Upon hearing Celine's words, Jack smiled to himself. He couldn't help but think about the fact that he had the system. With it, although he would gain less profit, he wouldn't be able to make a loss. That, was unless all his stores were robbed or burnt on the same day that he opened them.
Otherwise, just a single week was enough for him to get all the money that he'd spent over a hundred times.
But, although he had the system, there was no way that he was going to agree running a business that was full of losses. After all, he was doing a business and not a charity.
And for that reason, he had made sure that all the things that he did were according to quality and not just about quantity. All the stores that he'd bought were located in good positions and their performance before he bought them were good.
"I've spent money to buy the already existing groceries. So, at the end of the day, I won't be adding competition for them, I'm going to reduce the number of competitors. I've bought the groceries all over the city. They would retain the competitors but, if that competitor happened to be bought by me, then the competition would be reduced." Jack explained.
When Celine heard his explanation, she finally understood why he was so sure about what he was doing. He made sure not to create new competitors. As for the original ones, he made up for that by improving the quality of his stores, making them the best.
After chatting for a while, Jack came to know that, the company that was started by Celine for her friend used a starting capital of ten million. By now, all the arrangements were completed.
So, from next month, the company would start its operations. After that, Jack asked Celine if she knew where he could find a reliable manager or if she had a recommendation.
Celine had been in business since she was about sixteen. Although at that time she was only handling small things, that didn't mean that she was idle. She knew many people in the almost four years that she's been in business.
"Yeah, I can recommend you to someone. But, she's quite strict when it comes to handling things. Sometimes, she forgets that she's the one that has been employed the moment that the employer makes a bad decision." Celine said with a chuckle.
"For this very reason, she's been fired three times. The recent reason for her dismissal was that, the owner of the company that she was managing had decided to suddenly increase the price of items that they were selling. At that time, they had suffered some losses and he wanted to recover."
"In the end, she refuted and said that, if he dared to do that, the business will close down. In the end, after a round of argument, the owner of the company was furious that he immediately dismissed her."
When Jack heard her words, his eyes shone brightly. That was the person that he wanted. A decisive person that only thought of the company and not some people who only thought of flattering their bosses.
"She's perfect. Can you introduce her to me?" Jack asked.
"Hehe, she will be here in about three days. Then, I'll let you meet her so that you can discuss about this." Celine replied.
Jack had eight managers, with Agnes counted as one. He now wanted to get a manager that could manage all the business operations.
This manager had to get those that could deal with sales, finance and so on. Only in this way would the big burden that was on him be reduced or removed completely.
Looking at the time, he found that, it was nearing nine. But, since he had made a decision to race with Ben, there was no way that he could keep him hanging. He still had some more money to win.
As for the issues of buying shares, he decided against it for now. He would just use the stock market to do the purchase. Then, he would make sure to have a hundred percent ownership which would on turn make him the sole decision maker.
Only in this way could he agree to pour his money into the company. After all, how could he allow some shareholders to enjoy profits that they haven't worked hard for?
They exchanged contact information and agreed that Jack would come and pick her up from the hotel the following day at ten in the morning.
When they got back to the banquet hall, they found that Faith was finalizing talking about the company. Of course, the duo only looked into the hall from the door but didn't enter.
After a few minutes, Faith finished whatever she was saying and thus ending the banquet. The big wigs inside began interacting with each other as there were those that had come from other cities.
On the other hand, the young masters began flirting with the ladies in the hall. After all, although they had come with a partner, that didn't necessarily imply that they were in a romantic relationship.
Some were of course angry when they saw that someone was trying to seduce their partner while others were I don't cares. If not for the fact that they were inside glaze hotel, Jack was sure that there would have been a fight amongst these youths.
As he watched the commotion, a group of people approached them. And upon seeing this, Celine immediately bid Jack goodbye and left together with Faith, heading to the eighth floor. It was obvious that they were staying in a presidential suite.
The group that was approaching Jack had a young man leading them. This guy had a dark face that stated that he was ready to slaughter someone. But, Jack completely ignored Ben's expression considering that, he was still angry with him calling him a dog, a stray one at that.
He still had to make sure that this young master was going to suffer so that, the arrogance that he'd accumulated would be dispelled.
"You've got some guts on you kid!" Ben started the moment that he arrived in front of Jack. His expression was like that of an aggressive gangster.
Jack completely ignored his words as he looked at William and the others that were following behind Ben. "You guys ready for a spin?"
"Yeah, we're ready to win the race!" William replied while looking at Ben's darkened face. He could even see that veins had already began popping up on Ben's face and neck. He could tell that Ben was really angry. And for this reason, he was happy that he could make a come back.
Ben didn't like the way that he was ignored. He went from being angry to being in rage. But, he controlled his temper when he thought that there was still a race.
When he thought of this, he smiled coldly as he stared at Jack and the others. He said, "Let's not waste our time. Let's get to the track and race. I want to end this as soon as possible." And with that, he left alongside his flunkies.
William and the others snickered the moment that they heard these words. They couldn't wait for the show.