When the two girls saw Claire blocking Mu Lin, they stuck their tongues out at him with triumphant expressions. Mu Lin became so angry he was about to stand up again.
Claire said to the two girls, “Alright, Winnie and Jessie, you two should stop fooling around. As senior administrative staff, you should remember the company’s core values.” Upon hearing this, the two girls’ expressions returned to normal. They really enjoyed working here and were reluctant to leave the company, but they still felt angry whenever they saw Mu Lin, because of how he had treated them initially.
Now that they saw Claire was a bit upset, as excellent personnel trained in an MBA program, they immediately recalled that personal emotions shouldn’t be brought into work. They quickly said to Mu Lin, “Sorry boss! We shouldn’t have brought our personal emotions into work.” Mu Lin had been completely confused by the two girls’ behavior.
Still, as a man, he responded, “I also did something wrong. Please forgive me!” As he spoke, he secretly thought, “Was I really wrong? They dared to call me a pervert. I’ll show them yet!” Returning to the matter at hand, the group began to sit down and deal with the issue.
Winnie, the administrative manager, proposed a plan: instead of leaving the houses empty and tying up the company’s working capital, the company should invest additional funds to renovate the houses and then sell them at new prices. She believed there were quite a few wealthy people who would be interested in this, and she had already prepared a formal proposal with detailed data. As she spoke, she handed the report to Mu Lin.
Jessie’s proposal was to renovate the houses and then contact the government. Since these houses had long histories, they could be listed as historical attractions for tourists. The income from ticket sales could compensate for the company’s revenue. This would not only increase income but also enhance the company’s reputation. Detailed data was also included in her plan. After presenting their ideas, the two women sat down and waited for Mu Lin to speak. Mu Lin asked them to wait a moment and picked up both proposals, flipping through them one by one, then slightly pondered.
Then he said to them, “Based on your data, the European branch currently has 219 such villas. The total renovation cost is 37,046,500 yuan, with an average renovation cost of about 169,200 yuan per house. This means the price of each house must be increased by at least 169,200 yuan from the original price, and that’s before tax. After tax, the increase should be 208,400 yuan. In other words, the renovation cost per house will be 208,400 yuan. According to your statistics, the current average price of such villas owned by our company is 624,600 yuan each. After renovation, the price would be 833,000 yuan. This still doesn’t include the company’s profit margin. Am I correct?” Mu Lin asked the two women.
The two girls had originally seen Mu Lin merely flipping through their reports before starting to think about the issue, which made them feel he was just brushing them off. The two women gradually showed expressions of contempt, which Mu Lin noticed. As Mu Lin continued speaking, their expressions gradually changed, so he intentionally asked them. When the two women saw Mu Lin asking them, they realized he had noticed their attitude and glared at him resentfully. Mu Lin didn’t mind their expressions, thinking to himself that as long as they were convinced, it was fine.
At this moment, Claire urged, “Daniel, what exactly are you trying to say?”
With a chuckle, Mu Lin began to explain to Claire, “Based on their data and research results, these two plans each have problems when implemented separately. According to the current real estate market prices, a three-story building covering about one hectare with a construction area of 650 square meters is currently priced at around 600,000 yuan.
“Just think, this adds an extra 233,000 yuan, not including property tax. If property tax is added, our villa’s final price will reach 1.1 million yuan, nearly 300,000 yuan more than a new house. Just think about it, how big is the market for such a price? The current millionaires basically already have their own classical villas, while the middle class, due to financial constraints, how much purchasing power do they really have?
“Looking at Jessie’s plan, first of all, we are a business, not a government welfare organization. According to Jessie’s plan, it assumes full cooperation from government departments and that all travel agencies will follow our lead. The total price of 219 villas is around 185 million yuan. Assuming each ticket is 5 yuan, with 10 million tourists annually, all visiting our villas, the annual income would be 50 million yuan. Even at 3 million tourists, the income would be 15 million yuan.”
He turned to ask, “Jessie, you calculated based on this method, right? But I ask you, what makes you think there will be at least 3 million tourists? Our villas are only old, with no historical figures or unique features to attract 3 million tourists.
“If we further invest to build unique features, the cost won’t be just 185 million yuan. It would at least double to 370 million yuan. Then think about it, 370 million yuan, how much interest would that generate annually? Even 15 million yuan annually must deduct depreciation of the houses and staff salaries, so a net profit of 5 million yuan annually would already be very good. Without considering the interest loss, it would take 74 years to recoup the cost.”
The two girls’ pride was completely shattered, and now they were struck down to the point of having pale faces and almost in tears. Seeing their expressions, Claire felt a bit sorry for them and asked Mu Lin, “So, what do you think we should do?”
Mu Lin said, “Just now, based on the data from these two plans, I considered it and think only combining the two plans is feasible.”
Seeing the two women attentively listening to him, he continued得意地, “I’ve been thinking this through: the houses indeed need renovation, but the purpose of this renovation must shift. This time, the renovation should ensure that the houses are immediately habitable. I’ve estimated that this approach would raise the cost by roughly 10%, bringing the total expense to around 200 million yuan. According to regulations, we cannot sell these houses externally. Instead, I will personally own them, separating them from the company, while entrusting our company with their management. This way, I can legally apply to the government for partial tax exemptions.
The final total cost will reach around 250 million yuan. Then we contact the government and travel agencies to transform our villas into hotels. Thus, our 219 European villas will have 4,380 beds. With an annual occupancy rate of 40%, there will be 639,400 guests annually, not including local residents. At 100 yuan per person, which is the price of a low-end hotel, we will have a gross annual income of 64 million yuan. After deducting taxes and other expenses, we will still have an annual income of 40 million yuan.
This is still based on the lowest price. Thus, we can fully recoup our costs within seven years. In other words, seven years later, we can have a minimum annual income of 40 million yuan. How about it, ladies! Do you think this plan is feasible?” The three women finally stood up excitedly.
Claire directly hugged Mu Lin and said, “You’re the best!” This time, since there were outsiders present, she didn’t kiss him. Finally, Mu Lin asked them to handle the villas in the American continent in the same way.
As for the specific implementation plan, Claire and her team would handle it, so Mu Lin didn’t need to worry. However, Mu Lin requested that the houses be transferred to his name first. Soon it would be summer vacation, and he planned to visit each villa for inspection before proceeding with renovation. This request was mainly due to Mu Lin’s cheap mentality, as he didn’t want to benefit foreign governments. Although Claire and the others didn’t understand this request, they still followed his instructions. When Mu Lin was about to leave, the two girls looked at him with stars in their eyes. Mu Lin thought to himself, “Who’s the pervert now?”
Back at the university, Mu Lin resumed his normal student life. The final exams were approaching, and Mu Lin also planned to study hard in the library to earn the credits for three majors all at once this semester and graduate, preparing to start graduate school next year.
One day, while Mu Lin was reading in the library, he saw the professor’s assistant looking around as if searching for someone. Recognizing him, Mu Lin stood up and greeted him. The assistant hurriedly whispered that the professor had something important to discuss with him and told him the professor was waiting in his office. During the long time he had been at the university, Mu Lin hadn’t sought out the professor, and the professor hadn’t troubled him either. Now the professor wanted to meet him, so Mu Lin didn’t think much about it. He packed his belongings and handed them to Kelly, asking him to take them back to the dormitory. Most people in the college now knew who Kelly was. Seeing Mu Lin handing his things to Kelly, the assistant assumed Mu Lin wanted to bring Kelly along and quietly told him that the professor wanted to meet Mu Lin alone. Thus, Mu Lin went to the professor’s office by himself.
When Mu Lin met Professor Chris Landen, the professor was pacing around the room, showing his current state of extreme anxiety. Due to his advanced age, as a tenured professor at the college, he was currently only leading a research group and supervising doctoral students, no longer teaching undergraduate courses. Therefore, since the beginning of the semester, Mu Lin hadn’t seen the professor again. Moreover, this professor was cunning and always set traps for him, so it was better not to meet. Besides, someone would naturally report his every move to the professor.
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