Chapter 81: New Business

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: New Business

When Zhao Xiangjun got home that night, she didn’t tell Chen Xiao what had happened at the store during the day.

She was afraid he’d worry and forbid her from working at the store. That would be so boring—she had no desire to be a canary in a gilded cage!

She did, however, tell Chen Xiao that Zhang Shijie was coming to Jiangzhou for a private meeting and that she wanted him to come along.

Even though she was now a major shareholder of Yino Group, her mindset was still that of a top salesperson; she had no idea what she would even discuss with Zhang Shijie.

Chen Xiao would never refuse, of course, and the request immediately sparked a great business idea.

After all, Yino Group currently had billions in cash sitting on its books. Launching a project together would be a piece of cake.

[Ding! Mission issued: Secure an order of no less than 10,000,000 yuan with Yino Group.]

[Mission Reward: A random reward package based on completion percentage. A 10,000,000 yuan order constitutes 100% completion. The higher the completion rate, the greater the reward!]

’Not bad,’ he thought. He’d never even met Zhang Shijie, but he already liked the guy.

Of course, it would all depend on Zhang Shijie’s performance. He trusted that with Zhao Xiangjun there, President Zhang wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his own interests.

He would need to package a project nicely over the next two days to pitch to Zhang Shijie.

「At Bailu Manor.」

Gao Yue was here again.

Today, however, she was accompanying her boss, Ding Yong, the Sect Leader of Jindi Group, a local Jiangzhou real estate enterprise.

Ding Yong had invited a friend for a meal and had called Gao Yue over, needing a woman to liven up the atmosphere.

They were in the same room as yesterday, surprisingly. The difference was that Ding Yong sat in the host’s seat, while the seat of the guest of honor was now occupied by none other than Li Guoqiang.

That’s right—Li Guoqiang was a Jiangzhou local with a wide network of connections. He and Ding Yong had been high school classmates, and since both had gone on to have successful careers, they kept in touch regularly.

A few years ago, when the real estate market was booming, it would have been quite difficult for Li Guoqiang to even get Ding Yong to agree to a meal.

But times had changed in recent years. The real estate bosses were in a race to the bottom, each more miserable than the last. Take Ding Yong, for example: the interest he paid on his debt each day was enough to buy a brand-new Audi A6L.

His social circle used to consist almost entirely of other real estate magnates. Now, any gathering of that group just turned into a pity party, which was utterly pointless.

That’s why today, with nothing better to do, he invited his old classmate Li Guoqiang out for a chat, hoping an outsider could offer some good advice.

He hadn’t invited many people—it was just a reunion between old friends. Having Gao Yue there to pour their drinks was all they needed.

After a few drinks, Ding Yong couldn’t help but start venting. "Li, my friend," he said, "looking at our old crew now, you’re the only one who’s really stable!"

Li Guoqiang commiserated, "Business is tough for us too. Profits are down year after year, but overall, we’re hanging in there."

"The profits aren’t huge, but the risk is low."

Ding Yong sighed with emotion. "Yeah, not like real estate. Back when money was flowing, we were all taking out massive loans to snatch up land. And now? The properties won’t sell, and there’s no money to develop the land we have!"

"The worst part is I’m drowning in debt. Soon, I won’t even be able to make the interest payments!"

Li Guoqiang raised his glass to him. "Brother Yong, you need to consider whether it’s time to pivot."

"I won’t lie to you, brother," Ding Yong said. "I’ve been planning exactly that."

"Oh?" Li Guoqiang waited for him to elaborate.

"Real estate is dead, but the new-energy vehicle market is booming. A friend of mine has a BMW 4S dealership that’s struggling. I’m thinking of acquiring it and converting it into a Hongmeng Intelligent Selection center."

The Aito M9 is a massive hit right now, selling 17,000 units a month at an average price of 550,000 yuan. It’s a bona fide cash cow!

Meanwhile, the traditional BBA (BMW, Benz, Audi) dealerships are seeing their business decline day by day.

Li Guoqiang agreed with the logic but asked doubtfully, "I hear getting the authorization is extremely difficult. Are you sure you can swing it?"

"I have connections, I can get it done," Ding Yong said. "The only catch is I have to open at least ten locations at once. The estimated capital needed is 500 million."

Li Guoqiang gave a bitter smile. "It’s a great project, but the initial investment is just too massive."

Ding Yong laughed bitterly. "Exactly. A few years ago, I could have come up with 500 million. Now, drowning in debt, I couldn’t even free up 200 million."

"It would be a huge shame to let such a great project slip by. Once this window of opportunity closes, a chance like this won’t come again."

Li Guoqiang nodded. That was true. Once the market was saturated with locations, there would be no more room to enter.

With the BBA brands weakening, converting their existing dealerships was the most economical and efficient strategy.

"Sigh... Brother Yong, I’m afraid I can’t help you here. To be honest, it’s such a good business that I’d want to co-invest a little myself."

"I can manage a few million, but I can’t come up with tens of millions."

Ding Yong knew he was telling the truth. While his company’s revenue looked decent, as a systems integrator, his profit margins were slim.

"If this pulls through, Li, and you want to throw in a little, I would absolutely welcome it. When there’s money to be made, I want to make it with my brothers."

"But this funding gap is a massive headache. I’m short a few hundred million... If it were just a few tens of millions, I could probably muscle my way through it."

Li Guoqiang sighed. He truly was powerless to help.

"I’m looking for people to connect me with investors. Xiao Gao told me today that a classmate’s boss knows Liu Hongsheng of Hongsheng Capital. I’m preparing to pull some strings to get an introduction."

"But it’s a long shot. Investors always need to think about their exit strategy. This project can’t go public anytime soon, so there’s no way for them to cash out."

’Investors?’ A thought suddenly struck Li Guoqiang. ’How could I have forgotten about that!’

Ding Yong didn’t have high hopes for Hongsheng Capital, but at this stage, he had to explore every possibility.

"Xiao Gao, contact your classmate tomorrow. See if you can get an introduction through her boss."

Gao Yue immediately agreed. While the two men continued to drink and chat, she sent a message to the group chat she shared with Li Xiao and Xu Wu.

"Hey girls, want to go shopping tomorrow?"

She felt it would be better to bring it up with Li Xiao in person; some important things were difficult to explain clearly over the phone.

"Sure, I’m free! It all depends on our lovely Miss Xu!"

Xu Wu had been busy preparing to launch her company, but things had quieted down. She had originally planned to go car shopping tomorrow. After all, with 1.5 million yuan burning a hole in her pocket, she was eager to experience the thrill of spending money like water.

But since both of them had agreed, she decided to join them for half the day and go car shopping with the rest of her time.

She replied in the group chat, "I’m free too!"

The women discussed where to meet, and Gao Yue suggested the area around the auto mall.

She wanted to show Li Xiao the 4S dealership Ding Yong was planning to invest in, so Li Xiao would have a concrete idea of the project to relay to her boss.

Information passed from person to person could easily get distorted, like a game of telephone. If the information Li Xiao received was already inaccurate, who knew what mangled version would eventually reach Hongsheng Capital.

The other two didn’t suspect a thing. And since Xu Wu could go car shopping at the auto mall anyway, it was killing two birds with one stone for her, so she certainly had no objections.

Just as Gao Yue finished sending the message, she heard Li Guoqiang say to Ding Yong, "Brother Yong, you go ahead and talk to Hongsheng first. On my end, I happen to know an investment firm too. I’m pretty familiar with the person in charge there, so I’ll put out some feelers for you as well."