Chapter 212: Chapter 140: That Big Shot

Beijing Airport, international terminal exit.

Two men, one middle-aged and one young, were standing by a Mercedes business car, both dressed in high-end custom suits despite the summer. This scene caught the attention of passing travelers who occasionally turned to glance at them.

It seemed like the person they were waiting for was about to arrive.

The middle-aged man kept looking towards the airport hall, then turned to ask the young man next to him.

“What’s the reputation of this big shot in the United States?”

The young man, focused on the terminal’s entrance, thought for a bit and spoke cautiously, “Reserved, meticulous, slick, a workaholic, sharp-minded, good-looking, no bad habits, flawless…”

[Why mention good-looking?]

The middle-aged man thought in confusion but dared not ask more.

According to the time, the big shot should have already deplaned.

He straightened the hem of his uncreased suit and dusted his completely clean shoulder, then focused on watching those coming out of the terminal.

He couldn’t miss the chance to personally gain this person’s favor.

The company’s survival was hanging in the balance with this one meeting.

He had spent great effort to accompany the deputy head of “Starlight Investment Fund” here to greet their CEO returning from the United States.

To speak of it, this big shot was indeed mysterious.

Many years ago, he clearly founded the “Starlight Investment Fund” domestically but never appeared in the company, instead going to the U.S. to start another business.

According to industry rumors, this big shot might have felt that a single market was not enough for him, so he started the “MM Fund Partners” in the U.S., making waves in North America and the global financial markets.

Speaking of this big shot, Lao Zhang couldn’t help but express his admiration.

This is what it means to have great capability.

Others run companies, make investments, and earn money cautiously and strategically.

In his hands, investing was like planting fruit trees, planting an orange tree in the south today, and an apple tree in the north tomorrow.

Though it seemed scattered, when the harvest season came, he would reap the best and tastiest fruits.

Truly admirable.

As he was lost in thought, the young man beside him suddenly exclaimed with delight, “There they are.”

Immediately, someone rushed past him, leaving his side empty.

Reacting instinctively faster than he could think, the middle-aged man hurriedly followed at a jog.

Then, he saw the young man standing before two extremely young individuals.

One of them looked…

How to put it?

The middle-aged man racked his brain and finally a poem came to mind: “Like a young gentleman seen only in paintings, I alone see the ferry, written to the ends of the water and sky, not a person among the dust and dirt.”

Instantly stunned on the spot.

The young man was already done with the opening remarks to his boss, but seeing the middle-aged man hadn’t come over, he quickly glanced at him and smiled at his boss, “Mr. Shi, this is Mr. Zhang from Tianzhong Group, who came to the airport specially to receive you today.”

Hearing his introduction, the middle-aged man finally snapped out of it.

Shocked and nervous, he ran to the exceedingly handsome young man, slightly bowed, and extended his hand, “Mr. Shi, hello, hello, I’ve long heard of your great name domestically. It’s a great honor to finally meet you today.”

Shi Wangyue looked at the middle-aged man, plump-faced with an ostensibly honest smile but eyes glistening with shrewdness, lightly shook his fingertips, and smiled politely, “Mr. Zhang, nice to meet you.”

Then they started walking towards the car parked by the roadside.

The middle-aged man and the young man walked one on each side of Shi Wangyue. When they were about to get in the car, the middle-aged man quickly said, “Mr. Shi, today I’ve organized a welcome party for you at the Xia Palace Hotel. The invited guests are already waiting for your presence at the hotel, including top venture capital VC and private equity PE from Beijing…”

Shi Wangyue stopped and, with a hint of apology on his face, smiled, “Thank you, Mr. Zhang, for the warm invitation, but sorry, I’ve already made plans with a friend and can’t join you today. Let’s arrange for another time.”

The young man’s appearance was pleasing, his voice pleasant, and his tone gentle when speaking.

But anyone with any experience in business could tell that he was simply declining politely.

That “another time” could be indefinitely postponed.

The middle-aged man knew that if he let him go today, it would be much harder to see him again in the future.

So, gritting his teeth, he quickly revealed his purpose for insisting on meeting today, “Mr. Shi, our company’s product is indeed excellent, please consider our project.”

The middle-aged man wasn’t here for no reason today.

Their company was one of the targets “MM Fund Partners” had been examining in China.

Shi Wangyue had also returned this time specifically to use his project as a pretext to come back early.

Saying that plans needed to change for an early return to evaluate the project.

But Shi Wangyue was already well aware of the specific situation of Tianzhong Group’s project.

Now that he was on home soil, no more need for further pretexts.

With an elegant smile, he directly said to the middle-aged man, “Mr. Zhang, I’m curious, what is your opinion as a successful entrepreneur on our industry? As an investor, let me share this: the first thing we do in our line of work is calculations. Actually, whether your company’s product is good doesn’t have much to do with us, and whether I understand your product is irrelevant. From an investment perspective, the point is to scale your business, achieve synergies, scale effects, and rapidly capture market share. But if all calculations show that the money we invest would likely not be enough for you to achieve phased results, then no matter how good your model is, it’s meaningless, and my investment would be entirely wasted.”

The middle-aged man sensed imminent danger, looked panicked, and said, “Mr. Shi, didn’t you say MM has plenty of funds? How can it be…”

“MM is indeed well-funded, but our money isn’t just blowing in the wind. After analysis by our project team, we can offer you little.”

“So then…”

“If the money’s insufficient, you’d need to cut some parts of your business to survive first.”

“Which part do you think I should cut?” The middle-aged man took out a handkerchief and nervously wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Cut everything except semiconductors.” The young man remained pictorially handsome, smiling, yet his words cut like a knife.

As Shi Wangyue finished, everyone present fell silent.

After a while, the middle-aged man’s plump body trembled, shook for a long time, and finally, as if something was clutching his throat, struggled to gasp, “This, this…wouldn’t that mean cutting my company’s operations completely?”

“Even if you do cut everything, it would still only barely make financial sense to last until the next funding round, but afterward, your remaining operations would be too singular.”

“…” In utter despair, the middle-aged man directly fell onto the young man who foresaw he couldn’t stand anymore. 1314

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