420: Chapter 419 Cao Xue's Troubles and Surprises

No matter the reason, it could not hide the shock in the Middle-aged man's heart.

He continued to walk a few more steps, tested all the movements, pondered carefully, and finally, the Middle-aged man returned to the front of the box.

"Zero."

The Middle-aged man said, "I want to come out."

It was a very vague command, but the armor on his body opened silently.

Stepping out of the Night Crow, the Middle-aged man tidied his clothes and looked at Wang Shuo with a solemn expression.

"Wang Shuo, we need to have a serious talk."

Donghai City.

Cao Xue put down the documents she had on hand and let out a slight sigh.

Since returning from Wang Shuo's place, she had immediately started recruiting talent, but it didn't seem to be going smoothly.

The people she wanted didn't want her, but she had managed to hire quite a few of those she didn't really want.

"So recruiting people is this difficult."

Cao Xue slumped over her desk, expressing the same sentiment as Wang Shuo.

She hadn't realized it before, but after studying diligently during this period, she finally discovered that running a factory well was not easy.

Not to mention the initial capital investment; even after the factory was built, how to manage it was a major field of study.

From the simplest tasks like recruiting staff, maintaining equipment, and processing products, to the more difficult ones like expanding the market and researching products—even personnel management, which Cao Xue had originally thought was the simplest, turned out to be a major field of study upon closer inspection.

It could even be said that whether a factory or company could survive depended on whether the upper management knew how to manage people.

If managed well, employee enthusiasm would be high, work ability would be strong, and efficiency would increase; it would be hard for the factory not to make money.

If managed poorly, employees would slack off, engage in internal friction, and take money without doing work—things that happened from time to time.

Therefore, how to manage personnel, establish a feasible positive reward mechanism, provide employees with career advancement paths, stimulate their inner desires, and mobilize their enthusiasm had become one of the most important things for an enterprise.

So, HR departments weren't just there to eat for free.

Cao Xue thought silently.

Their factory didn't have an HR position before, because she believed HR had no use other than taking money. Now it seemed she had been wrong.

Through Liu Yemei's training, she now recognized the importance of human resources, but there was no help for it—realization was easy, but changing was hard. Wang Shuo was pushing so hard, how could she have time to find an HR person before recruiting engineers? If she couldn't produce results and that Wang Shuo changed his mind, wouldn't this heaven-sent opportunity leave her?

She was counting entirely on this battery to turn things around.

There was no choice; she could only keep working hard.

Sighing, Cao Xue checked the time; it was almost lunchtime. She quickly tidied up the things on her desk and left the office building.

This noon, she had also asked a headhunter to arrange a meeting with a senior practitioner in the industry.

Whether it would succeed or not depended entirely on her performance today.

Driving out of the factory gate, just as she reached the main road, her phone rang right on time.

Cao Xue glanced at the screen and immediately tapped to answer.

"Hello, Sister Li, I'll be there soon."

Before she could finish speaking, Cao Xue slammed on the brakes and stopped the car.

"What? Not coming?"

Cao Xue was furious: "Wasn't the time agreed upon? How could he do this?"

The sound on the phone was rustling; it seemed to be a woman's voice.

After a while, Cao Xue said, "I understand. Thank you, Sister Li. Please keep an eye out for me again."

Hanging up the phone, Cao Xue felt a bit bewildered for a moment.

The sudden cancellation of the planned meeting left her unsure of where to go.

"Beep beep."

"Hey, are you moving or not? You're blocking the way!"

A man's angry roar came from behind.

Ignoring the voice behind her, Cao Xue thought silently for a moment, then started the car, made a right turn at the intersection, and disappeared from the man's sight.

"Damn it, psycho. If it weren't for the sports car she was driving, I would have beaten her up already."

The man cursed.

The Cao family of Donghai City was a genuine local wealthy family of Donghai City.

This history could be traced back to the war-torn era.

After China stabilized the war-torn era, the Cao family, building on an already very substantial foundation, seized the opportunity of Donghai City's expansion and promptly invested capital into the real estate industry, lifting themselves from ordinary wealthy people into the ranks of top-tier elite families in one fell swoop.

And what no one knew was that the inconspicuous female factory manager of Zhenghe New Energy Factory, Cao Xue, was a child of this Cao family.

As the fifth generation of the Cao family's main branch, the fact that she could invest tens of millions at this age to build a battery factory that could go bankrupt at any time also, in a sense, demonstrated the strength of the Cao family.

Driving the car into the Cao family mansion, Cao Xue had just gotten out of the car when a servant came forward to greet her.

"Miss, you are back."

"Mm."

Cao Xue tossed the keys to the servant and asked, "Are the Master and Madam still here?"

"Yes."

The servant replied.

"Good, I'll go in myself. You help me park the car, then go collect your tip."

Giving tips was a habit of the eldest Miss Cao, and also one of the reasons why these servants liked working for the eldest Miss Cao.

Amidst the envious gazes of the other servants, the male servant who had greeted her got into the eldest Miss Cao's car and drove it towards the garage.

Cao Xue walked along the path into her family's villa.

The villa was very large, with three floors.

In the spacious sunken living room, two people were sitting opposite each other on a luxurious sofa, discussing something in a harmonious atmosphere.

Seeing Cao Xue enter the door, young man who was talking to the Middle-aged man stood up and said with a smile, "Xiao Xue is back."

Cao Xue's eyes lit up: "It's Brother Kai. Aren't you in Pengcheng? Why are you back?"

"Your Brother Kai came to Donghai City on business. Don't ask about things you shouldn't."

The Middle-aged man had a stern expression and said, "Your mother is in the kitchen; go help her."

"No."

Cao Xue ignored her father's words, sat down on the sofa carelessly, picked up an apple, took a bite, and said indistinctly, "I finally came back, and you won't even let me rest. You don't know how to care for people at all."

"You child..."

Father Cao wanted to say something, but was interrupted by young man: "Uncle, don't blame Xiao Xue. She's had this personality since she was a child."

Cao Xue gave a thumbs up to Brother Kai, took another bite of the apple, and then asked, "Brother Kai, is there some urgent matter that brought you to Donghai this time?"

"Company business."

young man had a gentle smile: "There is a problem with an investment here, so I came over to confirm it."

"Oh."

Cao Xue nodded slightly and did not continue to ask.

Her eyes just turned slightly, as if she was thinking about something.

Father Cao shook his head helplessly: "Xiao Kai, you should also discipline Xiao Xue. She has been spoiled rotten by your aunt and me. She is already twenty-five now, has achieved nothing, and learns nothing. How will she take over my position in the future?"

"I'm not taking over your position."

Cao Xue came back to her senses, snorted, and said, "Whoever wants to take it, can take it. If it really doesn't work out, just give the company to Brother Kai. He is so capable, he won't run it into the ground."

"You..."

Father Cao was so angry he almost vomited blood.

"Hehe, the Cao Group is the backbone of our Cao family; I wouldn't dare covet it."

While saying he wouldn't dare covet it, a strange look flashed across young man's expression. He reached out and pushed his gold-rimmed glasses: "Xiao Xue is the only bloodline of the main branch; in the future, the position of company chairman will definitely be hers."

"Sigh."

Father Cao sighed, somewhat lamenting her lack of ambition: "I would like that too. If, after I pass away, she could take over as a director of the group, then at least she could be worry-free for the rest of her life. But look at her, how could she take on such a heavy burden?"

"Now all real estate is undergoing transformation. Several large real estate companies are injecting assets into other fields. Uncle, in the long run, China's real estate has entered a winter. You should also consider it."

young man advised.

Father Cao waved his hand: "You are talking about your company, right?"

"Our company is certainly an option."

young man smiled and said, "If Uncle really chooses our company, I will definitely secure the best immigration conditions for you."

"Let me consider it some more."

young man did not persuade him further, but turned his head towards Han Xue and said with a smile, "Xiao Xue, I heard you opened a battery factory?"

"Mm."

Cao Xue nodded and did not deny it. Many young members of the family knew about this, and quite a few of them mocked her.

"I heard it is already on the right track and is being managed well."

young man continued.

"It's alright."

Cao Xue looked at young man in front of her: "Brother Kai, why are you asking about this?"

"It's like this."

young man said happily: "I happen to have a project on hand, which is related to new energy, and it requires a decent new energy factory to cooperate."

"Cooperate?"

Cao Xue was puzzled.

"That is, to accept an injection of capital."

young man reached out his hand, revealing five fingers: "We need at least fifty percent of your factory's shares. In exchange, we will inject one hundred million in capital."

"One hundred million?"

Cao Xue was stunned. She was the eldest Miss Cao, so she naturally didn't think one hundred million was much, but if this one hundred million was to be injected into her own company, that would be different.

"Yes."

young man pushed his gold-rimmed glasses and revealed a hint of a smile: "Xiao Xue, we evaluated your factory to be worth only about ten million. Fifty percent of the shares in exchange for one hundred million—this is a very cost-effective deal."