Hong Yaqin placed a bottle of Maotai on the table and looked at her father, saying, "Dad, he has to drive, don't let him drink."
Hong's father casually replied, "It's fine, I'm here. His most important task is to accompany me. You don't need to worry about this, you can go."
Helplessly, Hong Yaqin gestured to Ye Fei, who looked at the Maotai on the table with a dumbfounded expression. He thought Hong Yaqin would come up with some clever solution to help him, but it turned out she just said a few kind words. Would that really work?
"Come on, Xiaoye, let's have a drink," Hong's father poured two small glasses of liquor and said.
Ye Fei forced a smile, picked up the glass, and drank it all in one gulp. He had just finished eating and couldn't eat anything more at the moment, so he could only watch Hong's father eat heartily. Despite his age, Hong's father still had a good appetite and could both drink and eat meat.
"Uncle, please eat slowly," Ye Fei couldn't help but advise.
"It's alright, it's been decades of habit, always pursuing speed," Hong's father said. "Xiaoye, you have intuition, which is good. Using it to make money is not a bad thing, but it's not sustainable. The most important thing is to be down-to-earth. In the short term, you may make huge fortunes through gambling on stones, but it's not reliable. You can treat it as a means of making money or as a hobby, but don't see it as a career. Otherwise, you'll become a professional gambler. Your only advantage is that you won't lose, but is it interesting to gamble every day for a long time?" Hong's father said.
Ye Fei nodded, "Uncle, these are the questions I have been pondering. I have considered opening a jewelry store and selling the jade I collect. If I have talent in the antique industry, I also want to open an antique shop. But I have no experience at all, I don't know how to operate and manage! I don't know how to source goods, and I don't have stable customers. I'm worried that I won't do well!"
Hong's father took a sip of wine and said, "This idea is good and it fully utilizes your strengths. As for operations and management, they are not the most important because they are accumulated through experience in work. No one is naturally proficient in these things, and it's not something you can immediately understand just by studying in college for a few years. Running a business seems difficult, but it's actually simple. The most important thing is knowing how to use people. Liu Bei is an example; he wasn't good at fighting or strategy, but he eventually became the ruler of Shu simply because he was good at recognizing and employing talents."
"Uncle, are you suggesting that I can hire people to handle the things I'm not good at?" Ye Fei asked.
"That's right, leave the professional matters to professionals. For example, when registering a company, you can completely entrust the materials needed and the process to lawyers or professionals from registration agencies. Just like how I am a chef, I always find a helper when preparing ingredients, otherwise, I'd be overwhelmed. Even cooking would become a burden," Hong's father said.
Ye Fei listened with fascination, picked up the glass and poured wine for Hong's father, saying, "Uncle, please continue."
"After the company is registered, the rest is simple. Recruit suitable talents and let them be responsible for specific work. You only need to grasp a few major directions, such as finance, personnel, and sales. These are the most crucial parts of a company. If you don't understand or don't have trustworthy candidates, you can outsource it to accounting firms or find headhunting companies. As for sales, it's even simpler. Let the performance speak for itself, and if it's poor, just dismiss them," Hong's father explained in detail.
Ye Fei looked at Hong's father in astonishment. This elderly man, in his twilight years, actually knew so much.
"Uncle, how do you know all this?" Ye Fei asked curiously.
"Are you asking a chef why he knows these things?" Hong's father laughed.
Ye Fei nodded somewhat embarrassedly.
"The kitchen is like a small-scale company, and the head chef is akin to the CEO, needing to consider customer preferences, ingredient sourcing, pricing, and other issues. And I am not an ordinary chef. You will understand when you spend more time with Yaqin in the future," Hong's father said.
Ye Fei asked, "So, do you think my idea is feasible? But I'm worried. I've never tried it before, what if I fail?"
This time, Ye Fei wasn't just pretending. He truly felt anxious. Before this, he was just an ordinary person, relying on his special abilities to make money without facing risks, living a comfortable life. But running a company involves too many issues, and he has no experience. The possibility of failure is much greater than success, which is one of the reasons why he has been hesitant to choose an industry.
However, a mundane life no longer satisfies him. He harbors ambition, yearns for success, wants to become the envy of others, and possess his own power, no longer being an insignificant person. He wants everyone to know him and become an untouchable existence.
Hong's father nodded and said, "Xiaoye, you're young, and you need to have courage. Don't be afraid of failure. Who hasn't experienced failure? Who hasn't come through their youth? Life cannot always be smooth sailing; we will always encounter various difficulties, but we mustn't retreat because of them. The reason men are called men is because they have the courage to face challenges. Do you know how to write the character 'man'?"
"It's the combination of the characters 'field' and 'power'," Ye Fei replied.
"Not bad! This phrase means to work hard in the fields. In ancient times, clearing and cultivating land was a difficult task. Farming itself is one of the most laborious jobs in the world. How much effort does it take to cultivate arable land from overgrown grass? How much courage is needed? How many difficulties must be faced? However, men did not back down. They created fertile land from nothing, covering thousands of miles on this earth. Now, you are also a man who needs to strive for your own career. Just because you don't understand, haven't experienced it, lack experience, and even lack the courage to try, do you choose to retreat when faced with potential failure?"
Hong's father questioned firmly.
Ye Fei felt a surge of passion in his heart. He picked up the glass on the table and drank it all in one go, declaring loudly, "I want to give it a try! If others can do it, then I certainly can too. Even if I fail, it's just starting over."
Hong's father smiled admiringly. This young man had the true spirit of a man.
At the kitchen doorway, Hong Yaqin and He Linlin peeked secretly, with a glimmer of curiosity in Hong Yaqin's eyes.
"Hongjie, I didn't expect Uncle to speak with such weight. Why didn't I notice it before?" He Linlin exclaimed, her mouth wide open in surprise.
"You still don't understand him. Don't stand here, quickly bring the soup up and let them sober up a bit. If they get drunk, it will be troublesome," Hong Yaqin said.
He Linlin hurriedly agreed and carried the soup upstairs.
But it was already too late. Hong's father had successfully motivated Ye Fei, and he was in high spirits. He completely forgot about his lack of alcohol tolerance and kept drinking with Hong's father, one glass after another. Soon enough, he ended up gloriously passed out on the table, muttering to himself, "Cheers, cheers!"
Hong's father chuckled, "This young man is great in many aspects, except for his alcohol tolerance. It really needs improvement."