sbdcsierra Chapter 286 Meeting the Empress Dowager: Unconventional Strategies
Chapter 286 Meeting the Empress Dowager: Unconventional Strategies
The back room was quiet.
A faint, delicate fragrance permeated the air—not perfume, but top-grade Hainan agarwood. Just one whiff was enough to calm the mind.
In the center sits an elderly woman with a full head of silver hair, dressed in a dark purple Tang suit, on a huanghuali armchair.
With her eyes closed, she slowly and deliberately twirled a string of understated sandalwood prayer beads in her hands.
Although he didn't utter a single word, the powerful aura that only someone who has long held a high position could cultivate enveloped the entire room as if it were a tangible entity.
She is the pillar of the Su family, the "Old Buddha" Su Mingzhu.
Jiang Chen followed Ye Hongtu in, and the scent of sandalwood invigorated him.
nice one.
The fragrance was even better than the agarwood he had seen in the system's shop that cost 100,000 yuan per gram.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Jiang has arrived."
Ye Hongtu stood respectfully to the side, his voice low and full of reverence.
Su Mingzhu paused slightly as she held the Buddhist prayer beads in her hand.
She didn't even lift her eyelids.
There was no expression on that face, which was marked by the passage of time.
"You're Jiang Chen?"
The voice was old, yet carried an undeniable authority.
"It's me, old lady."
Jiang Chen wore his signature sunny smile, seemingly oblivious to the heavy atmosphere in the room.
"I heard it from Tianhao."
Su Mingzhu's voice remained cold.
"You have some money and you have indeed done the Su family a great favor, which is very good."
"But, young man, you must know this."
The old lady finally slowly opened her eyes.
What kind of eyes were those!
It appears murky, but deep within lies the sharpness of a hawk, as if it can see right through people's hearts.
"The threshold for our Su family is very high."
"Some things can't be bought with money alone."
"For example, cultural heritage."
These words, though seemingly innocuous, actually set a condescending tone for the entire conversation.
The implication is clear: you're just a country bumpkin, no matter how rich you are, you're still just a nouveau riche, and you're not from the same world as a family with a century-old heritage like ours.
Ye Hongtu, standing to the side, sighed inwardly.
The Empress Dowager played her trump card right from the start; it seems this young man is in for a tough time today.
However, Jiang Chen's reaction was completely unexpected.
Jiang Chen did not refute, nor did he show the slightest displeasure.
He simply carried the red plastic bag in his hand and walked to the rosewood eight-immortal table worth millions in the center of the main room.
"Clatter".
He casually put the plastic bag on the table.
Then, he pulled over a chair also made of rosewood and plopped down on it.
He sat right across from Su Mingzhu, without any bias.
This action caused Su Mingzhu's sharp eyes to narrow slightly.
This also made Ye Hongtu, who was standing next to him, feel his heart skip a beat.
This kid... he's got some nerve!
In the Su family, no one has ever dared to sit on equal footing with the Empress Dowager!
Jiang Chen acted as if nothing had happened and even poured himself a cup of tea.
He picked up his teacup, blew on it to cool it, and began to speak with a smile.
"Grandma, I don't quite understand that thing you're talking about, what's it called 'cultural heritage'?"
"We country folk don't understand those fancy, literary things either."
Jiang Chen took a sip of tea and continued:
"I knew it, there's a rule in our Jiangjia Village."
"If anyone can lead everyone to a better life, so that the elderly in the village can afford medical care and old age support, and the children in the village can have access to education and meat to eat."
"Then, in the eyes of everyone in our village, he is the most cultured person!"
That's a very rustic and straightforward way of putting it.
But it was like a heavy hammer blow, striking Su Mingzhu and Ye Hongtu hard in their hearts.
Su Mingzhu's hands, which were holding the Buddhist prayer beads, stopped completely.
She finally raised her head and, for the first time, seriously began to examine the young man in front of her.
Bold!
That's incredibly bold!
He didn't explain or agree with what she said.
Instead, he used the most basic and solid logic to build his own "foundation".
This answer was full of wildness and power.
For the first time, Su Mingzhu felt a genuine curiosity about this "country boy".
"Well said."
Ye Hongtu, who had been silent all along, clapped his hands and exclaimed in praise.
He took a step forward and continued the conversation.
This was a signal from the Empress Dowager, instructing him to continue exploring further.
"Mr. Jiang, since you have such unique insights into 'foundation'."
"So, what are your thoughts on the current business environment?"
This is a much more technical question.
This was to test Jiang Chen's true abilities.
After all, just talking big won't get you anywhere in a place like the Su family.
To everyone's surprise, Jiang Chen waved his hand after hearing this, looking impatient.
"Grandpa Ye, right?"
"Don't try to use those big terms like business environment or macroeconomics on me."
"It gives me a headache."
He put down his teacup, leaned forward slightly, looked at the two people opposite him, and said, word by word:
"In my opinion, doing business is just like building roads in our village."
"Just one thing."
"We've paved the road, filled in the potholes, so that trucks can run and goods can be transported out."
"When the roads are open, wealth flows in."
"You've made the road wide and smooth, while other people's oxcarts are still rolling around in the mud. Tell me, who else but you can earn that kind of money?"
"As for things like overtaking on a curve or business barriers..."
Jiang Chen chuckled.
"I've turned the road into a highway; they don't even qualify for my racetrack, so what are they talking to me about overtaking?"
"I am the rule, I am the barrier!"
"..."
The entire back room fell into a deathly silence once again.
Ye Hongtu's serene and otherworldly face was filled with shock!
糙！
The reasoning is too crude!
But it is precisely this most blunt and plain language that has clearly dissected the most advanced business logic!
The greatest truths are the simplest!
This young man's perspective on issues has completely transcended those so-called business theories and models!
He saw the essence of things!
Ye Hongtu looked at Jiang Chen with the eyes of someone who had discovered an uncut gem, no, a gold mine hidden deep in the mountains!
An unprecedented glint of light flashed in Su Mingzhu's cloudy eyes.
This kid is something else!
It's definitely not simple!
She's lived to be almost eighty and has seen more people than Jiang Chen has ever eaten rice.
She has met people who are rich, powerful, and talented.
But this was the first time she had ever met a young man like Jiang Chen, who possessed a wildness that was both domineering and unreasonable, yet also went straight to the heart of things!
"What a great 'I am the rule' statement."
Su Mingzhu's tone finally softened.
Her tense face seemed to relax slightly.
Her gaze fell on the red plastic bag on the octagonal table.
That bag seemed so out of place amidst all the rosewood and huanghuali furniture filling the room.
"After all that talk, is this the confidence you've come up with today?"
Su Mingzhu pointed to the plastic bag and asked casually.
She could hear the laughter and jeers of her relatives in the living room clearly, even though she was in the back room.
"That's right."
Jiang Chen smiled.
He opened the plastic bag and took out two items.
A simply packaged glass bottle.
There was another cucumber... a bright green one, covered with tiny thorns.
"Bang."
He gently placed the jar of strawberry jam on the table.
Then, I unscrewed the cap.
The moment the lid was unscrewed.
An indescribable aroma, rich, intensely sweet, burst forth from the small glass bottle like a spirit imprisoned for a thousand years!
The aroma instantly filled the entire back room!
It even overpowered the scent of the finest agarwood!
Ye Hongtu only took one sniff and felt his saliva being secreted frantically!
He even had an urge to pounce on it, snatch the whole bottle, and eat it!
Su Mingzhu's pupils also contracted sharply.
What is this?
Just smelling the aroma made this old lady, who had long lost her appetite, feel a long-lost sense of hunger!
Jiang Chen took a clean white jade spoon from the tea set next to him.
He scooped out a small spoonful of the crystal-clear, ruby-like strawberry jam and handed it directly to Su Mingzhu.
A playful smile played on his bright, sunny face.
"Grandma, have a taste."
"This thing is much more valuable than all the treasures in your vault."