Chapter 145 The internal competition among top chaebols is different!
The next day!

Su Chen got up early in the morning. Considering the annual meeting this afternoon, he specially found a top-notch barber shop near Seaview No. 1 and fixed his hair.

Even his attire changed from his previous casual style to a formal suit that had been tailored for him by the chief tailor of the Luwei Group in the imperial capital.

The temperature in Shanghai in January is around 7 or 8 degrees Celsius, so this formal suit is just right for wearing.

Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the cloakroom and carefully looking at his image, Su Chen nodded with satisfaction.

Before he could fully appreciate his handsome appearance, Fade Chen appeared at the door and said softly, "Sir, we can leave now. Young Master Sicong called and said they are already in the garage!"

"Okay, let's go!" Su Chen straightened his collar and turned around and walked out of the room.

Just as he was about to enter the elevator, a call came in. Su Chen looked at the caller ID and a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, "Why is there a long-distance call from abroad? It can't be that old fox Arnault calling, but it's not the number we contacted before, right?"

Although Su Chen was a little confused, he still answered the phone, "Hello, who is that?"

"Hello, Mr. Su, I am François Pinault!"

"François Pinault?" Su Chen felt the name was very familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a moment.

It seemed that the other party had guessed the doubts in Su Chen's heart, and he introduced himself again: "I am François Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering Group!"

Hearing the name of Kering Group, Su Chen suddenly realized and quickly explained: "Mr. Pinault, I'm sorry, the signal in the elevator was not very good just now!"

Chen Fei, who was pressing the elevator button, twitched his mouth when he heard this. His boss didn't even think before he lied.

"Hahaha~ I wonder if Mr. Su is free now? I want to talk to you about something."

Su Chen looked at the time. It was 1:10 in the afternoon. There were still fifty minutes before the annual meeting started in the afternoon, so there was still plenty of time.

"It's very convenient now. I wonder if Mr. Pino has any important matters!" Su Chen said and waved to Chen Fei, indicating that he would not go down yet and asked him to tell Sicong and the others.

Su Chen also turned and walked into the house. He knew that this call could not be completed in a short time, so it would be better to go back to the house and sit down and talk slowly.

The two briefly chatted about the current development of Kering Group. After all, Su Chen is still the largest individual shareholder of Kering Group, so it is reasonable for him to understand the development of the group.

After chatting for a while, Pinault saw that the time was almost right, and then changed the subject, "Just these two days I saw the Arnault family return the snake beast, the sheep head, and some precious cultural relics to China, which caused a huge sensation in Europe."

"It just so happens that I have a lot of precious Chinese cultural relics, including the dog in the Chinese zodiac and some national treasures. I wonder if Mr. Su can help me. I also want to return these cultural relics to your country!"

What Pino said really makes it impossible to deal with Su Chen. Can't you just contact the relevant department directly?

Why did you call him specifically?
Thinking of the Arnault family that Pino mentioned, Su Chen quickly figured it out.

The Pinault family and the Arnault family are both famous luxury goods groups in Gaul, one is the world's number one and the other is the world's number three. Both groups are headquartered in Paris. The feud between the two families can be traced back decades ago.

Their feud is not the kind of life-and-death hatred, but rather commercial competition. After all, they are both in the luxury goods industry, and it is said that competitors are enemies, and they are no exception. The two groups have started various confrontations since the 1980s and 1990s.

The Arnault family acquired Hennessy, and the Pinault family took over Gucci.

The Arnault family entered the wine industry, and the Pinot family directly sold the most expensive winery - Latour.

Whether it is investment, hobbies or other aspects, the heads of the Pinault family and the Arnault family are full of involution.

Unexpectedly, after seeing the Arnault family return cultural relics to China, Pino called Su Chen himself. I think Pino had investigated the matter clearly before calling, otherwise he would not have asked Su Chen to act as a matchmaker.
To put it bluntly, they just want to compete with the Arnault family.

Su Chen didn't know much about Pinault. When he was searching for information about Kering Group on the Internet, he learned that the head of the Pinault family was a real art lover. His family had a collection of countless precious cultural relics, both from home and abroad. It was said that he had even built a museum specifically for those collections.

Su Chen did not expect that the effect of the Arnault family's donation would come so quickly. It has only been about half a month.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Mr. Pinault, there is no problem with this matter, but you also know that the Spring Festival of our China is coming soon. Most people are thinking about the Spring Festival. If we hold a donation ceremony during this period, the effect will not be as lively as the previous one of the Arnault family."

"If you don't mind, I suggest that we hold this donation ceremony after the Spring Festival. It will definitely be much more grand then. After all, you are the first international friend to donate cultural relics after the New Year!"

When talking about the first place, Su Chen's tone couldn't help but become a little heavier.

Sure enough, François Pinault's voice became much lighter when he heard this. Although he was not the first person to try something new like Arnault, he did not want to weaken his momentum, so as not to become a stepping stone for the Arnault family.

"Mr. Su, thank you for your concern on this matter!"

Hearing Pino's words, Su Chen also breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Hahaha~ These are all small things. I also want to thank Mr. Pino for returning the cultural relics to our country."

"Mr. Su, that's too polite. As friends, isn't this what we should do?" Pino's tone was much more friendly than before.

The two of them talked about the details again. The specific details would have to wait until Su Chen told Xiao Chen about this matter to see how they would arrange it.

After hanging up the phone, Su Chen did not call Xiao Chen immediately. The call lasted for almost twenty minutes, and there was only half an hour left before the annual meeting in the afternoon.

"Let's go!" Su Chen called Chen Fei and took the elevator down to the basement.

As soon as he got out of the elevator, he saw three Rolls-Royces parked in front of him.

"Old Su, you finally came down. The flowers we have been waiting for are almost withering!" Seeing Su Chen's figure, Si Cong said with some complaints.

"Something has delayed us, let's go!" Su Chen looked around and saw Deng Chao, Chen He and the others were in the two Rolls-Royces at the back.

This year, Yunmengze Capital's annual meeting was arranged at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pudong, which is located in the financial and commercial center of Lujiazui and next to the famous Oriental Pearl Tower. From the hotel, you can overlook the night view of the entire international building complex.

It was only a three or five-minute drive from Seaview No. 1 where Su Chen was, and the group soon arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

"Wow~ It's quite grand, with a red carpet, colorful flags flying, and a signature wall~" Sicong said in surprise as he looked at the layout of the hotel entrance.

When Su Chen got out of the car, he saw Pei Rang and a few people coming out from the hotel lobby.

When Su Chen saw the three people beside him, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he muttered to himself: "Why are they here too?"

"What? They are here too?" asked Sicong puzzledly.

Su Chen ignored him and strode towards the hotel lobby.

"boss!"

"Mr. Su!" x3
Su Chen nodded slightly and fixed his eyes on the three people beside Pei Rang. These three people were none other than the heads of the three major luxury groups in China, Emma from LVMH, Georges from Kering and Hamis from Richemont.

"Why are you three here?" Su Chen was still a little curious about the appearance of the three people. After all, they hadn't been in touch for a while.

The three of them looked at each other after hearing this, and finally Emma stood up, "Excuse me, Mr. Su, we heard from President Pei that your company is going to hold an annual meeting, so the three of us came here shamelessly!"

Su Chen waved his hand calmly, "It's okay, it can also be regarded as raising the profile of our company!"

When saying this, Su Chen gave Pei Rang a look, and Pei Rang understood immediately.

"Let's go. It's getting late. I believe everyone can't wait any longer!" Su Chen said after looking at the time.

Then the group of people walked towards the lobby in a mighty manner.

Because there were too many people and one elevator could not accommodate them, Chen He and his friends consciously walked to the next elevator.

When the elevator door closed, Sun Li, who had been calm just now, immediately lost her composure. She excitedly hugged Deng Chao's arm and said, "Brother Chao, if I saw correctly just now, those three people are the heads of the three major luxury goods groups in China. Why are they so polite to Mr. Su?"

Chen He, who was standing in front, turned around and glanced at Deng Chao, then said, "Old Deng, you didn't tell Sister Li about Mr. Su's background?"

Deng Chao shook his head belatedly after hearing this, and then he realized it with a pain in his waist. He quickly explained, "How can I spread Mr. Su's identity everywhere? Honey, I didn't hide it from you on purpose!"

Seeing that Deng Chao didn't look like he was lying, Sun Li took her hand back from her waist.

"Tell me what is the relationship between Mr. Su and them!" Sun Li was very curious now. If she didn't know, her heart would feel like it was being scratched by a cat.

Deng Chao thought about it and whispered in Sun Li's ear.

Sun Li also opened her mouth in surprise, her eyes full of disbelief, "Oh my goodness, I thought Mr. Su was very rich, but I didn't expect him to be this rich!"

Soon she thought of something and said excitedly, "Can you ask Mr. Su to arrange some top luxury endorsements for us? This will be very helpful for our development in the industry!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the elevator fell silent. Chen He turned around and looked at the elevator door, while Deng Chao also looked troubled.

After a long sigh, Deng Chao said earnestly: "Wife, you are throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds. Now we are considering how to get better in the entertainment industry and become the best actor or best actress?"

"neither!"

"Have you ever thought about the purpose of Mr. Su asking us to attend the annual meeting?"

"We are now part of Su's boat. You should take a long-term view and stop thinking about the trivial things in your circle!" Deng Chao's words resounded in Sun Li's mind like an epiphany. When she thought about it carefully, it was true. Even if she won many Best Actor and Best Actress awards, she was still an actor.

Just like the movie that Deng Chao shot and directed before, although the response online was mediocre, it was also an attempt for him to become a director.

It is said that a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier.

Those who don’t want to be the boss are not good actors.

Soon the elevator arrived at the 58th floor, which was where Yunmengze held its annual meeting. Pei Rang booked the entire floor.

As soon as I got out of the elevator, I heard the bustling sounds.

There were many people chatting in groups of three or five in the aisle, and everyone had a festive smile on their face.

When they saw Su Chen and the others coming out of the elevator, they all shouted enthusiastically, "Hello, Boss!"

Su Chen nodded slightly, but in fact he was already laughing his ass off in his heart. Such a scene was really exciting.

The entire banquet hall is 2,000 square meters, accounting for two-thirds of the entire floor. It is the banquet hall of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel dedicated to the public.

After Su Chen and the others walked in, discussions in the corridor began to be heard.

"Boss, you are so young and handsome!"

"Did you see the guy next to the boss? He's the national husband! I didn't expect him to attend our company's annual meeting. The boss can't be some third-generation rich man, right?"

"Did you see those three foreigners? They are the heads of the Chinese region of the world's three largest luxury brands. I didn't expect them to come. Could it be that our boss is also involved in the luxury goods circle?"

"Is this true? Such a big shot will also come to attend our company's annual meeting?"

"And there are Mr. and Mrs. Deng Chao and Chen He following behind us. We didn't expect to see living stars. I wonder if we can take photos with them and get their autographs after the annual meeting!" some young girls said excitedly.

Everyone was talking more and more excitedly until a leader from the logistics department came out of the banquet hall, looked around, clapped his hands and said, "Why are you still standing outside? Don't you know that the annual meeting is about to start?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the corridor, which had been bustling with discussion, suddenly became quiet, and everyone hurried towards the banquet hall.

There were a total of thirty tables in the banquet hall, and most of them were full.

Led by Pei Rang, Su Chen sat at the main table. Sitting next to him were Emma and her three companions, Si Cong, Deng Chao and his wife, Chen He, Pei Rang and others. Including Su Chen, there were exactly nine people in total. As for the other senior executives of the company, they all sat at a table nearby.

"Old Pei, why are there so many? The company has less than a hundred people. I just took a look and there are about two or three hundred people!" Su Chen asked with some confusion.

Pei Rang quickly explained: "Boss, those extra people are from the company's subsidiaries. Basically, each subsidiary has ten people!"

Su Chen also knew that the subsidiaries Pei Rang was talking about were those wholly-owned companies, and there were about a dozen or twenty of them.

It is also a good opportunity for the annual meeting to allow the senior executives of Yunmengze Capital to get acquainted with the middle and senior management of these subsidiaries. This will also help improve the cohesion of the company and avoid unnecessary trouble for future development.

It was two o'clock and the annual meeting officially began.

I don't know where Pei Rang found the two young hosts from. In addition to introducing the guests attending the annual meeting, the opening remarks alone took five minutes. Su Chen couldn't help but glare at Pei Rang while listening to them.

"In the future, the opening remarks of the annual meeting should be kept simple. By the time they finish speaking and the leaders go up to speak, I'm afraid everyone will fall asleep!"

Pei Rang nodded somewhat embarrassedly. After all, this was his first time organizing such an annual meeting and he wanted it to be perfect. He didn't expect that his boss didn't like such a complicated thing.

As soon as the voice fell, the host shouted excitedly: "Now, everyone, please give a warm round of applause to welcome Mr. Su Chen, the boss of Yunmengze Capital, to the stage!"

Instantly, the entire banquet hall was filled with thunderous applause, which lasted for more than ten seconds before stopping.

Su Chen strode onto the stage with a wine glass in his left hand, took the microphone from the host, and looked at the hundreds of people sitting below. His heartbeat was much faster than before.

It's not fear, but excitement. He never expected that Yunmengze, which he founded, has become so large.

"Good afternoon, everyone from Yunmengze!"

There was another round of applause.

Su Chen stretched out his right hand and pressed down, and the banquet hall immediately became quiet.

"I can feel everyone's enthusiasm. As Yunmengze's first annual meeting, I know everyone is very excited and looking forward to the performances and lucky draws that will follow. I won't take up too much of your time!"

Su Chen raised the wine glass in his hand and said, "Let us raise our glasses together and wish our Yunmengze will get better and better!"

"Shua!" Hundreds of people stood up, raised their glasses and said in unison: "I wish Yunmengze gets better and better!"

Su Chen drank it all in one gulp and handed the stage to the two hosts.

With Su Chen's example, Pei Rang, who came on stage later, only said a few words of encouragement before leaving the stage.

When the performance started, Su Chen discovered how talented the company's employees were. He originally thought it would just be simple singing and dancing, but these people came up with a lot of new tricks, and the scene was really exciting.

What impressed Su Chen the most was a subsidiary company from Pengcheng that specialized in manufacturing automobile paint. They put on a live magic show that stunned everyone. Su Chen and his friends discussed it for a long time but still couldn't figure out the principle.

During the event, Chen He and Deng Chao also went on stage to sing a song together, shouting out Deng Chao's iconic words "We are伐木累"!
Sicong was not to be outdone, and he got the courage from where he went up to sing a new song of Butterfly Dream. Everyone thought he would fail, but to Su Chen's surprise, he sang well and won applause from the whole audience.

Of course, the wonderful performance was accompanied by an even more exciting lottery session. The entire scene was boiling from the very beginning with the consolation prize session. There were a total of 100 consolation prizes, divided into four rounds, and each prize was up to 10,000!
As the third prize, second prize and first prize were announced one after another, the atmosphere on the scene reached its climax, and the employees who won the prizes were almost smiling from ear to ear.

Especially the three first prize winners, one of them was an employee of a subsidiary company, with an annual income of about RMB 100,000. Now he directly won RMB 500,000. He was so happy that he almost fainted. Fortunately, his colleagues patted him on the back in time to help him recover.

"Are you all happy today?" Pei Rang asked loudly holding the microphone.

"Happy!" Deafening voices rang out in unison.

"Hahaha~ Let me tell you something even happier. The boss has set up a mysterious grand prize!" Pei Rang waved to the host next to him, and saw the host walking onto the stage holding a huge key template.

When all the employees saw the logo on the key template, they screamed loudly.

"Mercedes-Benz? Could it be that the grand prize is a Mercedes-Benz sedan?"

"Of course it is. Anything produced by the boss must be top-notch! This Mercedes-Benz is worth at least a million, otherwise it wouldn't be a prize hidden away in the bottom of the box!"

Those who didn't win the prize are now looking forward to it. Even if the chance is only one percent, it is still more secure than the welfare lottery.

Su Chen was invited to the final prize-giving session, and he did not refuse. After all, the atmosphere was so lively, how could he do anything to hold back?

As Su Chen slowly pressed the button, everyone at the scene held their breath, looking at the number flashing on the big screen, and silently chanted in their hearts, "It's me! It's me!"

"I'd give up my brother's 20 years of singleness in exchange for me winning the lottery! If 20 years isn't enough, I'll give up 50 years!"

Many people who heard this silently took a step to the side and silently repeated this sentence in their hearts. At this moment, only the prizes and brothers were used for sacrifice.

Soon the jumping numbers stopped, and the number was quite auspicious, "168!"

"Yeah~ I won the prize!" A crisp cheer rang out, and everyone's eyes turned to that figure.

Soon the winner walked up quickly. Unexpectedly, it was a little girl. Su Chen also had some impression of her. She was the receptionist of Yunmengze Company.

"Congratulations!" Su Chen smiled and handed over the key model in his hand.

"Thank you, boss. Thank you, boss!" The little girl's eyes were filled with tears of excitement, and she kept bending down to thank Su Chen!
After giving a few words of encouragement, the host took the little girl off the stage.

"The annual meeting has come to an end. All that's left is to eat and drink. If you can't walk tonight, just sleep here. President Pei has already made arrangements!" Su Chen said while holding the microphone.

"Long live the boss!"

After a burst of cheers, several doors of the banquet hall were pushed open, and hotel staff came in pushing food carts.

Various exquisite dishes such as lobsters, king crabs, abalone, etc. were placed on the table. After an exciting whole afternoon, everyone was hungry and started eating with chopsticks.

"Thank you all for your hard work today. Thank you for coming!" Su Chen raised his glass and said to Si Cong and others.

After some pleasantries, everyone started to eat and drink, and occasionally chat about where they were planning to go for the New Year.

It was not until eight o'clock in the evening that Su Chen and others left the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the annual meeting was truly over.

After returning to Seaview No. 1, Su Chen originally wanted to take a shower and go to bed, but then he thought about what François Pinault said on the phone in the afternoon, and decided to call Xiao Chen to tell him about it.

(End of this chapter)