YA Ch9: Debt
Before Zhao Yanqing could figure out what was happening, he was ushered out of the conference room by the combined efforts of the secretary and Yang Chen.
He felt like a whirlwind had swept him away, and just as he saw the conference room door close with a “bang,” he came back to his senses and found himself outside.
“Mr. Zhao, this way, please.” The secretary maintained a perfectly curved smile and invited Mr. Zhao to the lounge.
The secretary looked very much like a robot, performing every task with impeccable precision, as if every angle had been calculated. He poured tea for Zhao Yanqing and brought over a plate of snacks, thoughtfully explaining, “I asked your assistant, and I learned that you like to drink Blue Mountain coffee at 60 degrees Celsius and prefer savory cookies. Our company doesn’t have Blue Mountain, only regular coffee beans, but I assure you it’s 60 degrees. Please make do.”
Zhao Yanqing took a sip of the coffee and nodded in satisfaction. “Just now, your President Lu, did he call me President Ximen1西门总 (Xi Men Zhong)? What did he mean by that?” He felt there was something fishy about it.
The secretary’s expression didn’t change, and the curve of his smile remained the same. “You misheard. He called you ‘Xi Men Zou2 (西门走 meaning go west gate).'”
Mr. Zhao scrutinized the young secretary in front of him. He looked proper and refined. “…You’re quite clever, aren’t you? What’s your name?”
The secretary adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his face. “You can just call me Xiao Jiang.”
Mr. Zhao took another sip of coffee. “Are you interested in working for Qingqu Capital? I can offer you 1.5 times your current salary, plus project opportunities. How about it?”
Secretary Xiao Jiang adjusted his glasses again and slowly stood up straight. “Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Zhao, but I am Mr. Shen’s person. I won’t leave here.”
“Hmm?” Zhao Yanqing was taken aback. He hadn’t seen anyone with the surname Shen on the senior management list of Chenyu. Where did this Mr. Shen come from?
Meanwhile, in the conference room.
Only the three of them were present at the so-called financing discussion meeting.
Lu Yu was still in the same position as before, leaning on the back of his chair and complaining, “That guy surnamed Zhao doesn’t look like a good person.”
“Exactly,” Lao Yang echoed.
Ming Yan slapped Lu Yu’s arm, signaling him to sit properly. “No matter what, he’s the financial backer. Show some respect.”
Reluctantly, Lu Yu let go, sat down next to Ming Yan, and picked up the inquiry letter on the table. When he saw the contents of the letter, his face immediately darkened. “Is this why you want to divorce me?”
“We need this money,” Ming Yan didn’t deny it, but instead had the intelligent system display the financial statements on the big screen. “You’ve spent a lot on the simulator. We’ve taken out loans and issued corporate bonds.”
The intelligent system automatically highlighted the loan and corporate bond sections in red and circled this month’s profits and deposits in blue.
After highlighting these, before Ming Yan could speak, the intelligent system Xiao Bai autonomously listed detailed calculations in the blank space and spoke in Shen Baishui’s voice: “According to the calculations, this month’s profits are just enough to cover the loans due this month. But if monthly profits do not increase, with the current financial situation, we won’t be able to repay the corporate bonds due in three months.”
Lu Yu gasped, wanting to stop Lao Er’s free reign. He looked up and saw Lao Yang’s calm expression and closed his mouth reassured.
He then realized that the original data for Lu Dongdong and Shen Baishui were both created by Lao Yang, so he naturally understood the uniqueness of these intelligent systems.
“If we can’t get enough money before the debt matures, we’ll fall into a debt crisis, and the company’s credit will go bankrupt,” Ming Yan clasped his hands together on the table. “And Qingqu Capital is currently the only consortium extending an olive branch to us.”
The conference room fell into a brief silence.
Lu Yu held the inquiry letter between two fingers. “What do they mean by this now? Do they want us to divorce?”
Yang Chen reached out to take the inquiry letter and look at it. “This is just a question. They didn’t say they wouldn’t invest if you two don’t divorce.”
Ming Yan calmly analyzed, “Since the investor prefers not to have a unified action person, divorce is naturally safer.”
“I disagree! I’ve never heard that a couple can’t work in the same company. The world’s richest man’s wife is still a major shareholder in his company,” Lu Yu angrily pointed at the wall in the direction of the lounge and cursed, “I think that Ximen Qing is abusing his power!”
Ming Yan’s left fingertips were clenched white. He raised his voice slightly, “Our marriage was for business in the first place. What’s the problem with divorcing for business now? Besides, we originally agreed on three years, and it’s almost up.”
“If you want to divorce when the time is up, we can discuss it. But we can’t divorce because he’s threatening us. That’s a matter of principle!” Lu Yu was so angry that veins stood out on his neck. He pointed at the inquiry letter, “Today he can use this to make us divorce. Tomorrow he can make you marry him, and the day after that he can make Lao Yang have his child!”
Lao Yang, who was daydreaming, was startled: “No, that’s not appropriate.”
Lu Yu took a deep breath. Being threatened to divorce by Ximen Qing with money was very frustrating. “Besides financing, do we have any other solutions?”
Yang Chen nodded. “Yes, one week later, there’s the live broadcast transformation of the new product. If the new product promotion is successful, we might make enough money to repay the debt.”
At this moment, Ming Yan’s intelligent system couldn’t help but interject: “According to my calculations, as long as Lao San’s sales reach 80% of mine, we can repay the debt due in three months. But, well, he’s an ancient person and annoyingly dumb, so it might not sell well.”
The last sentence was purely Shen Baishui’s personal opinion and not of reference value.
Lu Yu clapped his hands. “Then that’s it. Let’s go see the simulator.”
Ming Yan said nothing more, silently following the two excited people out.
The so-called simulator, its full name being the Novel World Holographic Simulation Generator—Chenyu’s special customized version, was the only one in the world.
It was custom-made by Lu Dayu from a high-end holographic game company abroad and further modified by him and Yang Chen with wild ideas.
Since the emergence of intelligent systems, the “holography” described in science fiction has also been born, allowing people to immerse themselves and experience the virtual world from all senses: visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile. However, current holographic gaming devices are extremely expensive and only popular among the wealthy.
“Holography,” Lu Yu listened to Ming Yan’s whispered explanation and looked forward to it, “Did Lu Dayu buy a lot of holographic game pods for modification?” If it were just one, it shouldn’t cost that much.
Ming Yan gave him a meaningful look. “He bought a whole set of servers.” Equivalent to moving a game company back, extremely, extremely, extremely costly.
“…” Lu Yu looked at the large servers occupying an entire floor, his lips moving but unable to speak.
No wonder so much debt was owed!
Mr. Zhao, as a future investor, was also fortunate to visit.
Yang Chen briefly introduced the functions of this simulator. “Simply put, it can simulate the novel world and form holographic images. If used with a game pod, you can interact and communicate with the characters in the novel.”
“You spent so much money just for this?” As a financial professional, Zhao Yanqing couldn’t quite understand.
“Wait for the boot demonstration, and you’ll understand. It’s absolutely worth it.” Lao Yang was very excited, looking at these steel-like behemoth servers as if seeing a peerless beauty.
After inspecting the servers, everyone moved to the control room. This room was entirely different from the dark and quiet machine room; it was bright and exquisite. The floor was covered with thick carpets, and several egg-shaped game pods, with their sleek, futuristic design, were placed around the room.
Seeing this, Zhao Yanqing became interested. “I also want to experience it later.”
Lao Yang glanced at him disdainfully. “Alright, alright, just don’t regret it.”
“What our Manager Yang means is that using the simulator with the game pod can be quite stimulating. Please be mentally prepared,” Xiao Jiang translated considerately.
Zhao Yanqing felt pleased hearing this. He checked the list of senior management again and confirmed there was no such person as Mr. Shen, concluding that Xiao Jiang was just stalling him. He decided that after the tour, he would directly ask Ming Yan for Xiao Jiang.
With this in mind, he moved closer to Ming Yan. “Mr. Ming, will you sit next to me later?”
Lu Yu bared his teeth and was about to go over and beat him up, but Yang Chen stopped him. “Don’t rush. You can beat him up in the novel later. I chose Dongdong’s world; it will scare the hell out of that bastard!”
Lu Yu glanced at the screen, which displayed:
[Loading “The Fish King” world…]
Lu Yu reached out and grabbed Ximen Qing by the back of his collar as he tried to get closer to Ming Yan. “You sit next to Lao Yang.”
Yang Chen enthusiastically sat next to Mr. Zhao and, without saying a word, fastened the disgruntled Mr. Zhao’s seatbelt. “You and I will sit together. I’m more familiar with this, so I can look after you.”
After saying this, Lao Yang got up again to help Ming Yan and Lu Yu with their equipment. Then he returned, picked up a holographic helmet, and was about to put it on when he suddenly remembered something and put it down. He leaned in and whispered to Mr. Zhao, “By the way, my baldness is genetic and can be passed on to the next generation.”
Mr. Zhao was puzzled. “Why are you telling me this?”
Lao Yang: “Ahem, nothing. Just a heads-up. You just need to know.”
Mr. Zhao: “???”
Footnotes:
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