Chapter 22

"Of course my mom made it. I grilled the lamb chops." Li Chi'an held a packet of tea in his hand, a smug look on his face. "Want to eat first?"

Xu Zhuwen bent down, smelled the aroma of the food, and asked, "May I try a bite first?"

Li Chi'an shoved a pair of chopsticks into her hand, then took the tea leaves and tea set to the balcony.

Xu Zhuwen smiled broadly, took a bite of the dish, and then restrained herself from eating, saying, "Delicious."

Before her, the blue-green tiles danced like a clear spring, and the herringbone wood flooring and beige pendant lights shone with a warm glow. She suddenly realized that her cousin's home now had a more vibrant and fresh natural feel than before.

"It's probably because you planted flowers and plants," Li Chi'an said, gently placing the brewed second infusion of Phoenix Dancong tea in front of Xu Zhuwen. "I've wanted to plant them before."

Her voice lowered.

Xu Zhuwen roughly guessed the reason, "Now it's great, a space that is completely your own, you can tidy it up however you want, I suddenly miss my old life of living alone."

Before dating Qian Song, Xu Zhuwen had been single for about five or six years.

Li Chi'an looked up and asked, "Cousin, are you in a bad mood today?"

Xu Zhuwen picked up her cup and slowly sipped her tea, the leisurely tea smoke brushing against her slightly downcast eyes in the evening breeze.

Li Chi'an also picked up his teacup and drank some tea. The two were quiet for a while before Xu Zhuwen sighed softly, "Qian Song and I had a fight."

"Why?"

Xu Zhuwen told Li Chian about what had happened at home before she left that morning, and as she spoke, her voice became increasingly strained.

“Didn’t you say that an investor was interested in Song’s company?” Li Chi’an felt that Qian Song was acting strangely. “That’s a good thing.”

People are usually in high spirits when they have good things happen, so why is it that Qian Song's mood is not good when good things happen to him?

Something unusual must be going on.

“I have a feeling that his investment is questionable.” Xu Zhuwen pursed her lips and frankly told Li Chian about some things she had observed when she accompanied Qian Song to the party last time. “I think he is overly optimistic.”

“I see.” Li Chi’an picked up the teapot and refilled Xu Zhuwen’s cup with water. “I don’t know much about financing, but I believe that money that hasn’t been received isn’t money.”

“I also told him to be realistic and focus on making the money we can first.” Xu Zhuwen’s brows furrowed even deeper. “But every time I bring these things up with him, he says I don’t know anything and just make assumptions. Tell me, between the two of us, who’s making assumptions?”

Li Chi'an looked up and saw his cousin's frustrated expression. "You did attend the business classes, didn't you?"

She listened to the course, thought it was good, and shared it with her cousin, which is how her cousin got hooked.

Over the years, although my cousin has always had a fixed job, she has never been willing to spend money on self-improvement. Whether it is business awareness courses or psychology, she has seriously studied with famous teachers.

Of course, it wasn't just my cousin; she and Yinxi did the same. The three of them always shared good books and courses with each other, learning and improving together.

Therefore, after listening to her cousin's explanation of the conflict between her and Qian Song, she felt that her cousin's ideas were more insightful in terms of business acumen.

“I told him I wasn’t making it up, but that’s what the teacher said in business class, but…”

"But he wouldn't listen."

Xu Zhuwen nodded helplessly, "I don't understand why he's so stubborn."

“Because he thinks he’s right,” Li Chi’an pointed out incisively. “No one wants to admit they’re wrong, especially someone with a very high ego.”

"I'm speechless." Xu Zhuwen was furious at Qian Song's stubbornness. "Why can't he be more realistic and rational? Would I ever harm him? Tell me, besides me, who in this world would unconditionally help him without any benefit to themselves?"

"The closer someone is to you, the harder they are to teach."

“I didn’t intend to teach him,” Xu Zhuwen said. “I just saw that he was under a lot of pressure and wanted to help him.”

“He’s trapped in his own delusions and can’t get out,” Li Chian said. “You can’t help him.”

Xu Zhuwen sighed, "I don't know why he just can't see something so obvious."

"He always says that Blue Ocean Capital values ​​his company highly, but I don't think so. The underlying logic of business is actually very simple: if your product is good, sells well, and makes money, people will be willing to trust you and give you money. Other concepts, marketing, etc. are all empty. Qian Song's company has been open for more than two years, and the sales of his products are getting worse year by year. There is so much inventory stuck in the warehouse, which already speaks volumes."

"Investors aren't stupid. They wouldn't give him money just because of a PowerPoint presentation, would they?"

"You know, at the last party, those people didn't even have the patience to listen to Qian Song speak."

Lacking patience means having no interest in Qian Song or his products.

This is something any normal person could understand, but Qian Song, like a madman, was absolutely convinced that he could acquire capital in the blue ocean market.

"I don't know where he got his confidence," Xu Zhuwen said with a self-deprecating laugh. "Was it Liang Jingru's 'Courage'?"

Li Chi'an chuckled, "The road to entrepreneurship is like a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge; it's quite remarkable that Brother Song has persevered this far."

“I also think he’s had a tough time. Do you know that I’ve been paying for my family’s rent and living expenses all year?” Xu Zhuwen said, getting angrier as she spoke. “The funny thing is, even though I’ve been so understanding of him, he still thinks I don’t understand him and don’t support him.”

“If I didn’t understand him and didn’t support him, I wouldn’t have given my family a single penny.”

Li Chi'an's heart sank. "Sister, are you familiar with Song Ge's company's finances?"

Xu Zhuwen shook her head, "I never interfere in his company's affairs."

“You can choose not to interfere in his company’s affairs,” Li Chi’an said calmly, “but you can’t be kept in the dark. You know what I’ve learned from my experience, right?”

Even the least alert person sleeping next to another will inevitably sense something from the other.

If you don't have this string, that's fine, but if you do, it's hard not to find something by following the clues.

Seeing Xu Zhuwen's unnatural and evasive gaze, Li Chi'an felt a chill run down his spine. While worried about her, he couldn't help but raise his voice, "We are all ordinary people. The myth of getting rich overnight is very unlikely to fall on our heads."

This is already a very subtle way of reminding Qiansong Company that the chances of getting financing are very low.

Xu Zhuwen lowered her eyes, quietly sipped her tea for a while, and then said meaningfully, "Didn't you suddenly become rich overnight?"

"When did I become rich overnight?" Li Chi'an frowned. She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she sensed aggression from her cousin.

"Your new book contract, isn't it?"

Xu Zhuwen's tone was indifferent, but it contained a complexity that Li Chi'an could only vaguely understand.

"My contract had a lot of luck involved."

Li Chi'an lowered his eyes slightly, picked up his teacup and slowly took a sip of tea to ease the tension that had inexplicably risen in his heart.

She suddenly felt somewhat fortunate, fortunate that she had never told anyone around her how much money she had made recently because of her sudden fame.

So much so that at this moment, I can flexibly face the dark side of my cousin's heart that suddenly arises when she is in pain, a side that is enough to hurt her.

I am grateful to myself for fighting against the dark side of human nature this year. I have finally grown the armor and tools to protect myself, so that I am no longer a naive and innocent person with no protective shell, who can be easily hurt.

She doesn't blame her.

People in pain often develop all sorts of thorns on their bodies.

Then you'll inflict a thousand casualties on the enemy, but also lose eight hundred of your own.

Each has its own suffering.

Not everyone can calmly bear the pain of losing all sunk costs.

Just as Li Chi'an understood, Xu Zhuwen was indeed very anxious about Qian Song's matter. When people are anxious, they are bound to be restless and say things they don't mean, and do things irrationally.

“Right.” She seemed unable to see Li Chi’an’s tolerance, trapped in her own predicament. “Qian Song is a bit unrealistic when it comes to financing, but he is still very talented, and his company’s products are of good quality, but he doesn’t have good sales channels.”

"oh."

Xu Zhuwen frowned as she looked at Li Chi'an, who was calmly drinking tea, and bit her lip. "He's been working very late every day lately. He's really working hard."

I don't know what she was thinking. After saying a lot of bad things about Qian Song, she said, "Actually, what Qian Song said about 'blockchain traceability ensuring that every pair of jeans is traceable from the cotton field to the wardrobe' is also quite good. What do you think?"

What else could Li Chi'an say?

"It's pretty good."

Xu Zhuwen's eyes lit up noticeably. "Qian Song Company's vision is also very appealing."

"oh."

“One investor said his project fits their investment theme of ‘upgrading traditional industries’ very well.”

"oh."

...

On the other side.

Qian Song sat in the luxury car that had arrived using a ride-hailing app, searched for "smart clothing business plan template" on IPA, quickly made a few changes, and then saved it.

At 6:30 p.m., he walked into the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, a famous five-star hotel in Xianghai City, where Li Hui was already waiting.

Today she wore a sharp purple suit and bright red lips, quite different from Xu Zhuwen who wore a white cotton nightgown and looked plain and aloof when she woke up this morning.

Qian Song's eyes flickered, and a refined smile appeared on his impeccably groomed face. "Sister Li, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"No, we just arrived too." Li Hui stood up with a cheerful smile, first giving Qian Song a friendly hug, and then introducing the middle-aged man sitting next to her, "This is General Manager Zhang, he is very interested in your project."

"Hello, Mr. Zhang." Qian Song greeted the middle-aged man with a smile and extended his hand.

Li Hui laughed from the side, "Xiao Song, I've known Brother Zhang for over ten years, we're practically family, so make yourself at home."

"Mr. Qian, you look like a very handsome man. Mr. Li often talks about you to me. It's a pleasure to finally meet you today." This Mr. Zhang looked to be in his sixties, not very tall, and had a large bald patch on his head.

He was wearing a suit, a very expensive designer watch, and spoke Mandarin with a distinct Chaoshan accent.

Qian Song quickly scanned the other person from head to toe before sitting down opposite Li Hui.

A waiter came over and poured tea for Qian Song.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Qian Song, at Li Hui's prompting, handed his iPad to General Manager Zhang across from him.

Mr. Zhang's smiling face darkened as he reviewed Qian Song's hastily cobbled-together proposal. "Mr. Qian, does this 'dynamic motion-sensory adjustment' technology you mentioned have a patent? Which technical team are you collaborating with?"

Qian Songfei glanced quickly at Li Hui, who was leisurely sipping her tea across from him. "The patent is currently being applied for, and the technical team is... is collaborating with the joint laboratory of Jiaotong University."

"Is there a cooperation agreement? Can we visit the laboratory?" Mr. Zhang asked.

Unexpectedly, this Mr. Zhang, who has a face like Maitreya Buddha, is exceptionally difficult to get right when he asks questions.

Qian Song's back was covered in cold sweat.

Li Li kicked him under the table and then laughed as she replied, "Of course."

She personally picked up the teapot and refilled Mr. Zhang's half-empty teacup with hot tea, saying, "However, Komatsu's pure-bule laboratory is currently undergoing equipment upgrades and will not be open to the public until next month."

Two hours later, after seeing off the still skeptical General Manager Zhang, Qian Song collapsed onto the sofa, feeling completely drained. "Sister Li, why does this General Manager Zhang have so many questions?"

He was so exhausted from the meal that he no longer had the energy to maintain a composed expression. He reached for a tissue and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Isn't he from Chaoshan? How can he eat so much spicy food?"

“He’s worked on projects inland for many years, so why can he eat so much spicy food?” Li Hui thought of Qian Song’s performance in front of General Manager Zhang earlier, and said irritably, “Are you crazy? How come you didn’t even prepare the basic materials?”

"I don't have any technical team!" Qian Song lowered his voice, suppressing the unease rising within him. "Wasn't this whole concept your idea, sister?"

Li Hui curled her lips into a half-smile as she looked at Qian Song, "I'm pointing you in the right direction, but look at what you've been doing lately."

"Sister, why don't you go all the way and give me a few more directions?" Thinking of the ticking time bombs that would soon explode if he didn't secure investment, Qian Song clenched his fists tightly under the table.

Seeing Qian Song's ingratiating smile, Li Hui stood up and sat down next to him, poking his chest with her red-nailed fingers. "Listen, there's an investor dinner next week. If you mess this up again, don't expect me to help you anymore."

"Sister, you know I haven't had a good night's sleep in the past few months, right?" Qian Song gave a wry smile. "Business has been really tough this year."

Li Hui squinted at Qian Song and smiled for a while, then got up and went to the other side to get her bag. Then, she took out her phone from the bag and quickly made a few calls. "Is 100,000 enough? Remember to keep your company's accounts clear."

Qian Song immediately sat up straight and familiarly grasped Li Hui's hand, saying, "Sister Li still cares about me the most."

"Is that all you've got? Remember to delete all your personal spending records." Li Hui raised her hand and continued to poke Qian Song's chest. "If financing is really difficult, I don't think there's any need for your company to continue operating. Why don't you come work for my company?"

"Sister, didn't you say our company is great?" Qian Song reached out and grabbed Li Hui's hand, his voice low.