HLM -Chapter 1315 Business Partners

The donation process was very simple. The staff would briefly check whether a secondhand item had value—but this value wasn’t measured by how much money it was worth, rather by whether there might be a family who actually needed it.

As long as an item was considered useful, the Salvation Army store would accept it. If it truly had no value, the staff would point this out and politely decline the donation.

For relatively rare functional items, the staff would also ask a few basic questions about how to use them. Ordinary items, on the other hand, could be directly sorted and put into storage.

One interesting thing was that during Salvation Army activities, the staff never asked for the donor’s identity. They would simply thank the donor and then present them with a Salvation Army charity cap.

Wang Bo and the others learned the entire process, as well as some techniques for categorizing donated items.

During this time, Clare said that Wang Bo didn’t have to stay and learn everything since he was busy with work—after all, different people had different responsibilities, and not every Salvation Army staff member needed to know how to classify and price items.

Wang Bo refused and insisted on staying. Charitable activities like this were common and important in New Zealand life. Since he had chosen to live here long-term, he needed to adapt to the local norms.

Besides, the learning period wasn’t long. After just two days, he had picked up everything he needed to know.

Wang Bo couldn’t often take part in Salvation Army activities anyway. After all, he was the town mayor, and his official duties kept him genuinely busy.

At the beginning of November, Ye Qipeng, the head of Northern Grain & Food, once again flew to Sunset Town. After receiving the news, Wang Bo brought people to the airport in advance to wait for him—this was an honored guest of Sunset Town.

The cooperation between Sunset Ranch and Northern Grain & Food had begun more than half a year earlier. Now, nearly all of the ranch’s pork was sold through Northern Grain & Food, with a channel fee of 40%—that is, 40% of the proceeds from pork sales went to Northern Grain & Food.

This kind of channel fee was considered relatively high, but Wang Bo accepted it. Pork sales in New Zealand had been slow to take off. Although the quality of the pork was excellent, it was priced much higher than ordinary beef.

As a result, many New Zealanders felt that if that was the case, they might as well eat beef instead of pork.

Northern Grain & Food airlifted the premium pork back to China and branded it as “New Zealand Royal Pork.” With intensive promotion added on top of the pork’s genuinely delicious taste and rich nutritional value, it quickly became a high-end ingredient.

Under these circumstances, the pork naturally sold at a higher price than it did within New Zealand. Wang Bo felt that the channel fee was well worth paying.

However, after the company was established, Juan hired several professional managers. After analyzing the situation, these managers were unhappy. They felt that a 40% channel fee was simply too expensive. Ye Qipeng’s visit this time was precisely to discuss this issue.

A medium-sized cargo plane slowly descended onto the runway. The aircraft was even larger than similar civilian passenger planes, so it used the airport’s longest runway and didn’t come to a stop until it reached the very end.

This cargo plane belonged to the Northern Grain & Food Group and was used to transport important agricultural products—such as the premium meat produced by Sunset Ranch.

Looking weary, Ye Qipeng walked off the plane with his assistant, Mr. Lang. Wang Bo waved and said, “President Ye, welcome back to Sunset Town.”

Ye Qipeng burst into laughter. “Oh my, Little Wang, you came to pick me up personally? I’m truly honored! I was planning to quietly sneak back to my house to take a look after getting off the plane. Looks like that won’t be happening.”

He owned a house in the villa district, and Mr. Lang owned one as well. Both villas had been vacant for a long time, with property management arranging regular cleaning.

Wang Bo said, “President Ye’s house is right there—it’s not going anywhere. But President Ye himself is extremely busy. I was worried that if I didn’t come to pick you up, someone else might snatch you away.”

Ye Qipeng pointed at him and said, “No problem. This is your territory. Even if someone did snatch me away, you’d definitely snatch me back.”

Mr. Lang added, “That’s right. On Mayor Wang’s turf, he’s the one in charge. We guests have full confidence in his sense of responsibility.”

Wang Bo smiled. There was another meaning hidden in those words. Clearly, the proposed change to the revenue-sharing ratio had left the two of them dissatisfied, and Mr. Lang was getting his words in early to box him in.

Wang Bo avoided the topic and simply greeted them warmly. “Now that you’re on my turf, you should rest first. That was a long flight—must’ve been exhausting, right? I thought you’d charter a private plane. I didn’t expect you to come in with the cargo flight.”

A cargo plane was designed mainly for freight, leaving very little space for people. Staying inside for a day and a night was probably even more uncomfortable than being in jail.

Ye Qipeng sighed. “Rest is absolutely necessary. This plane really isn’t meant for humans. After flying all the way here, I felt like I’d turned into a slab of pork—nearly drove me crazy.”

Wang Bo laughed along. “President Ye, you really have a sense of humor. Come, I’ll take you to rest first.”

Although the villas were cleaned daily, they weren’t lived in often, so moving in immediately wasn’t ideal. Wang Bo arranged for the two of them to stay in floating houses instead.

When they reached the lake and saw the houses gently bobbing with the ripples, both men were genuinely intrigued. “Oh, this is interesting,” they said.

“Yes,” Mr. Lang added. “I’ve seen this kind of resort villa in the Maldives before. I didn’t get the chance to stay in one back then and always regretted it. Now, here in Sunset Town, that regret has finally been made up for.”

Wang Bo led them inside. Hot water, chilled tea, iced coffee, and cold drinks were all prepared. The two of them took a quick tour of the place and repeatedly praised the ingenuity of the floating house design.

They rested until the afternoon. By evening, Wang Bo received a call from Ye Qipeng saying they were awake, and the two sides met again.

The meeting location was still on the lake. The floating houses had originally been built as a tourism feature, but now they had become a popular place for people to conduct business while on vacation.

Located in the vast expanse of the lake, the floating houses offered beautiful scenery and, more importantly, wide open surroundings—no need to worry about competitors sending people to eavesdrop on confidential discussions.

Wang Bo chose this place mainly for Ye Qipeng’s sake. After all, he was already in his forties, and enduring a day-and-night flight was bound to be tiring.

Yet when they met again, Ye Qipeng was brimming with energy. His face glowed with health, his eyes were sharp as knives, and his voice was even louder and more forceful than when they had met that morning.

“President Ye’s energy is truly enviable,” Wang Bo said, half in praise and half in genuine admiration.

The comment hit Ye Qipeng right where it itched. He grinned smugly and said, “That’s thanks to you, Mayor Wang. The beef, lamb, and pork I eat now all come from your ranch. Our advertising isn’t fake either—the nutritional value of this meat really is high. These days, domestic celebrities and top chefs go straight to our stores to buy meat.”

Northern Grain & Food had set up exclusive retail outlets for Sunset Town’s pork. Large shopping malls in first- and second-tier cities all had their counters, with very impressive sales—selling thousands of tons of pork every month.