Chapter 49 Shaving Leg Hair

On Saturday, Ye Baoling and her cousins ​​returned from a hike. With the air conditioning on, the girls lay sprawled out on the wooden floor of their room to rest.

My uncle started working in Shenzhen last week to oversee construction. Yesterday, my aunt took her two youngest children to Shenzhen for a trip.

The tenants had all gone to visit their relatives, making this house unusually quiet.

After her younger sister left, Gu Man'er asked her older cousin, "Who did you make plans to play tennis with tomorrow?"

Ye Baoling yawned, closed her eyes, and said lazily, "You know Sir Fang, right? His grandson Fang Shanxing, and his friend Fang Haiming."

This was a scheme orchestrated by Fang Shanxing; Ye Baoling's only goal was to give Gu Man'er a chance to meet the male lead from the original script.

"Fang Haiming?" Gu Man'er sat up.

Ye Baoling opened her eyes in surprise: "You know him?"

"How could I not know him? That person is a real pain in the neck. I'm not going."

Ye Baoling: "..."

It turns out that last week, Gu Man'er went out to meet a client with her senior brother and they got into a car accident on the way. The other car involved was driven by Fang Haiming.

Perhaps due to their inherent bickering nature, Fang Haiming and Gu Man'er would start arguing every time they met, almost ending up in court.

"This is the first time I've driven on the road since I got my driver's license, and I ran into this kind of unruly person. Can you believe how angry I am? I used to watch his treasure appraisal show and thought he was quite interesting, but when I actually met him, he was just... so petty and stingy, with no manners at all..." Gu Man'er said, gesturing as if she wanted to crush his head from a distance.

Ye Baoling never expected that they would meet like this.

It seems her previous worries were unnecessary.

The male and female protagonists are destined to meet in various ways.

Since that's the case, Ye Baoling decided not to get involved.

"If you don't want to go, that's fine, I'll turn him down."

But Gu Man'er changed her mind again: "No, I'm going to beat him to a pulp on the tennis court!"

"..."

Ye Baoling rolled her eyes at her. "Going or not?"

"Go!" Gu Man'er said, getting up to comb her hair. "Is brother-in-law going too?"

“He’s not going. He’s going to Shanghai tomorrow, not Gangcheng.”

So, early the next morning, Ye Baoling and Gu Man'er went to the tennis court next to the golf course.

Ye Baoling finally met the legendary male lead, Fang Haiming.

One word to describe it: Handsome!

He's handsome, but his temper is annoying.

Unlike Fang Shanxing, who is so charming and approachable, like a central air conditioner, he is warm and considerate to everyone.

Gu Man'er couldn't help but whisper to Ye Baoling, "This is the difference between people. Although Young Master Fang is chubby, he's so friendly and cute, unlike that person! He's utterly detestable!"

Ye Baoling watched like she was watching a play, wanting to see the chemistry between the male and female leads. She smiled and replied, "You're right."

In the mixed doubles, Ye Baoling didn't cheat; fate will surely help her.

Sure enough, Gu Man'er was paired with Fang Haiming. The two argued from beginning to end. Of course, they had a halo above their heads, and while arguing, they also managed to beat Ye Baoling and Fang Shanxing to a pulp.

Fang Shanxing was truly a master of social interaction. Even when he lost, he wouldn't get angry and was always smiling, like a young Maitreya Buddha.

He heard about Gong Jiahua's embarrassing incident at the charity gala that night, and later learned that Gong Jiahua was pursuing Ye Baoling, so he couldn't help but speak up for Gong Jiahua.

"I was going to invite Gong Jiahua to play tennis with me, but I was afraid you would be upset, so I didn't dare to invite him. Gong Jiahua is not usually like that. He must have been drinking too much that day. Maybe he was set up."

Ye Baoling laughed and said, "You can call him that. I don't mind, and he probably doesn't mind either."

Fang Shanxing realized he had meddled, so he immediately laughed it off and let the matter drop.

Ye Baoling also heard about Zheng Junni's attempt to matchmake Fang Shanxing and Ye Baoxin. Since their scenes weren't in the original script, it meant they weren't important, so she didn't bother to ask.

After playing ball, the four of them went to have lunch in a very harmonious way. Although the bickering friends couldn't help but banter, the overall atmosphere was still very joyful.

When I got home that evening, around 10:30 p.m., Ye Huaizhang called from Shanghai.

"Isn't it only me who can call you?" she asked with a smile after answering the phone.

Ye Huaizhang: "It's 10:30. You're in your bedroom, and there's no one else around. Why can't I call you?"

Ye Baoling laughed and said, "Who said I can only be in the bedroom? I can also be in bars, dance halls... there are many other fun places."

He knew she wasn't the type to frequent those kinds of places, so he smiled and changed the subject, "Did you play tennis with Fang Shanxing and the others today?"

"Hmm." Ye Baoling's voice rose slightly. "What? Did you send someone to follow me?"

Not at all.

There were ship horns on the riverbank. Ye Huaizhang got up to close the window. "Gong Jiahua called to tell me that he wanted me to be careful of Fang Shanxing, lest Fang Shanxing introduce you to all sorts of weirdos again."

Ye Baoling laughed; Gong Jiahua was a really interesting person.

“If I hadn’t married you, Gong Jiahua would actually have been a pretty good choice.”

His voice turned cold: "What's so good about him?"

"Handsome, kind-hearted, rich, and good to me..."

Ye Huaizhang scoffed: "He kisses other women whenever he wants, is she someone you can entrust your life to?"

Tsk tsk!

The two chatted quirkily for more than ten minutes before Ye Baoling remembered to ask him, "Was Shanghai fun?"

"I haven't had time to go out yet. What do you want to eat? I'll go buy it for you."

Ye Baoling didn't stand on ceremony with him: "Buy some pork jerky and butterfly pastries, the rest is up to you."

After hanging up the phone, Ye Baoling realized why he had called.

She forgot to ask. He didn't say either.

I guess it's nothing serious, just a phone call to report my itinerary.

She idly flipped through the latest issue of "Tumbleweed Financial Weekly".

At the very end of the page, there was even an advertisement for Tumbleweed itself.

The notice stated that, due to its development needs, Tumbleweed Newspaper is now recruiting interested investors to invest in the company.

It seems the boss doesn't have enough money or the shareholders have run away and the business can't continue.

The next day at noon, Ye Baoling took advantage of the lunch break when no one was in the office and called the Tumbleweed Newspaper. A girl answered the phone.

"Hello, I'm looking for the editor-in-chief, Bai Zhu."

"I am Bai Zhu. And who are you?"

It turns out Bai Zhu is a woman, and her voice sounds very young; she's probably only a few years older than her.

Ye Baoling asked with a smile, "Hello, Editor-in-Chief Bai. I saw the news you published in the Tumbleweed Financial Weekly. I would like to ask, if I want to become your shareholder, how can we cooperate?"

This was the first investor to call and inquire, and Bai Zhu immediately asked enthusiastically, "Is your boss interested in investing?"

"I am my own boss."

Bai Zhu was surprised; judging from her voice, the woman on the phone was very young.

Among the people she met, very few young girls were interested in finance, especially wealthy women, most of whom were heiresses. Their interest in entertainment gossip and luxury goods was definitely greater than in financial news.

But since it was rare for someone to ask her a question, she didn't dare to be negligent: "What's your name?"

"Can we talk in person?"

The two immediately agreed to meet at the Tumbleweed Newspaper Office at 5:30 p.m.

After finishing the promotion plan in the afternoon, Ye Baoling left work early and went to Tumbleweed.

In the most secluded corner on the fourth floor of a building, the Tumbleweed office is even smaller than Qiyuan Investment's.

A large shelf piled high with newspapers and documents blocked the entrance.

Ye Baoling squeezed in by turning sideways.

Chen Yulan had arrived at the newspaper office early to wait for her. When she saw Ye Baoling come in, she took the initiative to introduce her: "Editor-in-Chief Bai, this is my boss."

Bai Zhu, sporting a super short haircut that was popular at the time, rushed out with a smile to shake hands with Ye Baoling: "Miss Ye, are you? I'm Bai Zhu."

Ye Baoling asked with a smile, "Is the White Bamboo Forest also you?"

"You seem to know our newspaper very well."

“I have been a loyal reader of Tumbleweed since the second issue.”

In the small office, there were only Bai Zhu and another young man, just as Ye Baoling had predicted, only two people in total.

Their main operating capital came from Bai Zhu's own investment of 30,000 yuan, while the sales revenue of each issue of the newspaper was so low that it could not cover the printing costs.

Besides printing costs, the biggest expenses are rent and interview costs. The two of them are the only employees, and they have only received basic wages for the past two months to make ends meet.

They have been able to persevere until now entirely because of their ideals.

Bai Zhu previously worked as an editor at Citizens' Newspaper Group, where he had a network of contacts and resources.

She had a strong interest in financial news and a deep hatred for financial corruption, but the newspaper industry she worked for had been corrupted by the powerful and wealthy, leaving her with no way to resist. That's why she wanted to start her own newspaper.

Starting a business is more difficult than imagined. There are many places to spend money and few places to generate revenue. Sales are low and there are no advertising clients. To persevere, it is necessary to bring in major shareholders.

Ye Baoling said, "I want 51% of the shares. I will have control, but you will have the management rights. You can assess how much I should invest and whether you can agree to that."

Bai Zhu was flattered by the sudden appearance of a major shareholder, but she didn't want to agree casually.

"Ms. Ye, I'd like to ask, why do you want to invest in us?"

Ye Baoling said truthfully, "I had invested all my money in Haihua Construction before. If I hadn't read your report about the contractors of Dapeng Port, I would have suffered heavy losses. My investment in you this time is a way of returning the favor."

Bai Zhu was pleased to hear that his report had helped Miss Ye minimize her losses.

She said, "So that's how it is. Dapeng Port was the second issue's report. I only printed 1,000 copies at the time, but only sold about 20 copies; the rest were all returned. Because of those 20 copies, the impact was quite significant. Later, other media followed up on this story, so we sold all 1,000 copies of the third issue. The sales of the following issues were also quite good, and now we've sold over 1,500 copies. This is just the beginning, and I believe that our 'Tumbleweed' can become the best financial newspaper in Hong Kong."

Having confidence is a good thing. Ye Baoling said that investing in "Tumbleweed" is, in other words, investing in Bai Zhu as a person.

Finally, when it came time to quote a price, Bai Zhu cautiously quoted a high price of 150,000.

She thought Ye Baoling would try to bargain with her, but to her surprise, Ye Baoling simply took out her checkbook and wrote a check for 50,000.

"This is the deposit. We'll pay the remaining 100,000 after we sign the agreement at the law firm."

150,000 yuan isn't even enough for some rich heiresses to buy a few luxury handbags, but Ye Baoling bought a newspaper with potential.

Excellent value!

It was like a godsend had come knocking on their door. Bai Zhu held the check, extremely grateful: "From today onwards, Miss Ye, you are my boss. I will definitely work hard and live up to your expectations."

Ye Baoling smiled and said, "This is Qiyuan's first industrial investment. I don't have any requirements for the return on investment at the moment. Of course, I hope that 'Tumbleweed' will be successful. If it can make a fortune, that would be the best. You don't need to be under pressure to make a profit for the time being, but you also need to understand that we will continue to invest if there is an expectation of profit. So, you still need to work hard."

"must!"

Bai Zhu still had to finish her manuscript for the next issue, so the dinner out together had to be postponed.

In just one hour, they finalized an investment deal; their efficiency was truly remarkable.

Chen Yulan knew that her cousin had more than 40 million Hong Kong dollars in her account, so she didn't care much about this small amount of money of more than 100,000.

"Cousin, didn't we just hire an accountant? The workload isn't too heavy right now, so why don't we have our accountant come and help 'Tumbleweed' with the bookkeeping?"

"Ask them tomorrow if they need it. If they do, help them; if not, forget it. Otherwise, they might think I'm sending someone from the finance department to manage the accounts, which isn't necessary."

Chen Yulan nodded in agreement: "I'll call Bai Zhu again tomorrow to discuss this further."

*

While universities were still on summer vacation, the product department spent money to recruit more than 1,000 college students through connections to participate in a blind selection of jasmine herbal tea flavors in batches.

Finally, two light jasmine black teas, No. 4 and No. 9, with extremely similar flavors, were selected.

The project team held a meeting, which was chaired by Wan Xiwen as the project manager.

"Of the two selected formulas, No. 4 and No. 9, No. 9 has gained less than 1% more votes, but even with just one more vote, Formula No. 9 has won. I now announce that Formula No. 9 has been selected. Does anyone have any objections?"

Ye Baoling had an opinion: "I suggest that we should do another blind selection."

"Why?"

"I wonder if Manager Wan has ever tried the chilled No. 4 and No. 9 formula drinks. At room temperature, they taste very similar, but they are completely different after being refrigerated."

Wan Xiwen had obviously not tried it, and she remained silent.

The others all said they had never drunk iced drinks before.

Rao Qiutong muttered softly, "They taste similar at room temperature, so they must taste similar after being chilled."

Ye Baoling ignored her.

Following Ye Baoling's instructions, Gao Lizhen prepared two flavors of iced jasmine tea in advance, pouring the two teas into blue and yellow paper cups for everyone to try.

After everyone in the project team finished their drinks, they all whispered among themselves.

Ye Baoling asked, "Are the two flavors different?"

Rao Qiutong remained silent.

Others said, "It's definitely different."

Ye Baoling then asked, "Which color of paper cup do you think makes the jasmine tea taste the best?"

"blue."

"Blue jasmine tea with ice is so refreshing!" the person said, taking another big gulp.

"I also think the blue one tastes good."

"I didn't expect the two flavors to be so different after being chilled."

Everyone present chose blue without exception.

Wan Xiwen asked, "What formula number is blue?"

Ye Baoling: "Number 4."

Everyone was stunned.

Wan Xiwen had no choice but to agree to another blind audition.

One day later, the blind selection results came out, and as everyone expected, formula number 4 won by a large margin.

The results were still in Ye Baoling's hands and had not yet been announced when Qi Yuxiu summoned her.

Qi Yuxiu knew the results would be out today. She asked, "At the meeting this afternoon, the company had high expectations for the new jasmine herbal tea. The company is going public in September. If the jasmine herbal tea can make a name for itself before the IPO, it will greatly boost our stock price. If it really succeeds, Lin Zhong's faction will completely suppress us."

Ye Baoling pretended not to understand: "What makes Lin Zhong think he can compare to President Shen?"

"This involves internal power struggles within the Ye family, which you don't understand and don't need to understand."

"Then what should I do?"

"Have the blind selection results come out today?" Qi Yuxiu had been paying close attention to this matter, and Ye Baoling had been reporting all the progress to her in a timely manner.

Ye Baoling: "It's out. Formula No. 4 wins."

"Very good." Qi Yuxiu lowered her voice. "Does anyone else know that this formula won?"

"My colleagues in statistics all know this."

"Go to the R&D team and secretly switch formula No. 4 and formula No. 9. These two formulas are similar and taste similar, so no one will know if you switch them."

Ye Baoling was surprised: "It's no use even if you secretly change the formula. Both formulas were improved by Zeng Zhentao from the R&D team. If you change them, there's no way you can escape his eyes."

"I asked HR Manager Li to find an excuse to transfer Zeng Zhentao away from his post for a while. When Zeng Zhentao came back, he found that the formula was wrong, and then we shifted the blame to Qu Zhengming."

Ye Baoling: "How do I shake it?"

"When the time is right, you go and denounce her yourself. Say that she instructed you to change the formula just to bring down Wan Xiwen and Shen Wanjie. Qu Zhengming promised you that she would replace Shen Wanjie, and you would replace Wan Xiwen. At that time, Qu Zhengming will definitely fall from grace because of her framing, and Shen Wanjie will also be implicated due to his mismanagement." After saying that, Qi Yuxiu looked at Ye Baoling, "As for me, I will replace Qu Zhengming; and you? You can go wherever you want."

The promise of being able to go wherever you want is truly enticing.

If she were to steal the secret formula, and things got out of hand, and they were to investigate, Gu Baolin would have no choice but to go to jail.

How could Qi Yuxiu possibly help her then? She'd be lucky if she didn't kick her while she was down.

Even if she wanted to accuse Qi Yuxiu, she couldn't, because there was no evidence.

Ye Baoling asked, "This plan is too ambitious and may affect the company's stock price after its IPO. Will President Shen agree to us doing this?"

"Don't worry, this is his idea. I wouldn't dare let you do it without his support. Zeng Zhentao from the R&D team will be transferred by HR later, so find a chance to change the formula as soon as possible."

Ye Baoling thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I know what to do."

As I left Qi Yuxiu's office and returned to the product department, I saw HR come in and call away the head of the R&D team.

Half an hour later, Ye Baoling walked into the R&D team's office.

Within ten minutes, she called Qi Yuxiu back, "Manager Qi, I've finished what you asked me to do. Numbers 4 and 9 have been switched."

"Thank you for your hard work. Come see me tomorrow morning."

The next morning, Ye Baoling went to see Qi Yuxiu, who gave her an envelope containing ten thousand Hong Kong dollars.

Ye Baoling did not refuse, but accepted it with both hands.

Qi Yuxiu: "Now, you don't need to do anything, just wait to reap the rewards."

Ye Baoling asked, "I need to prepare for the promotion of our new jasmine tea. Should we continue with this work?"

"You must continue with your current work; you can't stop. Don't let anyone notice anything amiss. The more money you invest upfront, the more serious the consequences will be, and the better the results will be."

Ye Baoling put away the envelope: "Then I'll try my best to get the company to spend more money."

"Good!"

*

In the study on the third floor of Xihetang, Ye Kaimin reported to his father on the progress of the listing work.

Ye Kaimin: "I've talked to Lü Dexiang. He'll go and talk to the Listing Committee. The listing price is set at 7.95 yuan. We'll give them a priority allocation of 2.2 million shares. On the first day of listing, we'll try to push the price up to the 10 yuan range so they have a chance to make some money."

“2.2 million shares. If the stock price goes up to over 10 yuan, they will make a net profit of more than 4 million yuan. That’s no small amount of money! These people on the listing committee are always trying to skim off the top. They’ll get what’s coming to them sooner or later!” Ye Qizu wasn’t worried about the money; he just hated being taken advantage of by people he looked down on.

Especially the Lü family.

"The Stock Exchange gave us a range for the listing date, which could be between September 1st and September 15th."

Ye Qizu has already consulted a master for a reading.

He said, "We've set the launch date for Friday, September 11th, and Saturday, September 12th, is Baoxian's one-month birthday, so it's a double celebration."

Ye Kaimin was naturally pleased with this arrangement. He smiled and said, "Baoxian is lucky, he's born with good fortune. The company went public as soon as he was born, and we're sure to make a fortune. Should the listing celebration and the full moon celebration be held together?"

“That’s not appropriate.” Ye Qizu had considered it carefully and decided that it was better to keep public and private matters separate. “We’ll postpone the full moon celebration and have the 100-day banquet later.”

"That's fine too."

Ye Qizu put down the red paper in his hand and said, "Baoshun is currently interning in the investment department. Those people don't dare to let him do anything. I don't think he can learn much. You should take him with you when you're working on the IPO. Let him meet more people and learn more knowledge."

Ye Kaimin knew that Ye Baoshun was still the most important person in the old man's heart. Ye Kaimin had no intention of taking that brat out, let alone teaching him anything.

"However, if I'm going to pursue an IPO, I might run into that person..."

He didn't say his name, but Ye Qizu understood instantly.

This refers to Lü Tianyou.

Ye Qizu asked in a huff, "Why are you letting that guy surnamed Lü participate? Didn't I say last time that he wouldn't be involved in our IPO project?"

Ye Kaimin explained, "Lu Tianyou was not involved, but he worked at Yingbao Securities and was also Lu Dexiang's son, so it was inevitable that they would have some interaction."

"Alright, alright, stop talking about it." Ye Qizu was still dissatisfied with his son. "Anyway, school starts soon, so let's leave it at that. What's the Gong family's attitude lately?"

Ye Kaimin: "Of course, the Gong family hopes that the children from both families can talk. Gong Jiahua came to see Le Qiong yesterday, and even invited Bao Ling over to play cards together last night."

"Baoling and Gong Jiahua were playing cards together?"

"Yes, I heard it from my subordinates. They said that Jia Hua and Bao Ling get along quite normally."

Ye Qizu nodded, quite pleased: "Judging from this incident, Bao Ling isn't entirely brainless. Men, as long as they don't do things too outrageously, can usually be forgiven."

"That's how I advised her."

"Alright, you can go ahead and get busy." Ye Qizu was also going out for a walk.

Ye Kaimin took the documents and went out first.

As she walked downstairs, she hummed a song.

When Liang Meiyun saw it from afar, she took a detour to the other side, and couldn't help but complain to the people around her: "Having a child late in life, the feeling is different from others."

Just then, she saw her son sneaking downstairs and called out to him, "What are you doing, acting so suspiciously?"

"Go out for a bit."

"Didn't you just get back from the company? It's almost dinner time, where are you going again?"

"I made plans with a friend."

“Your grandfather is having dinner at home today. You can have dinner with him before you go out.”

"I'm busy, I have an appointment." Ye Baoshun ignored his mother and quickly walked towards the underground parking garage.

Seeing that her son had no sense of crisis whatsoever, Liang Meiyun was completely at a loss.

As I walked out, I saw a servant go to open the gate to the back garden, and a man walked in. I recognized him as Gong Jiahua.

Gong Jiahua was carrying several bags when he ran into Ye Baoling, who was returning home from get off work.

Gong Jiahua handed her several paper bags, saying, "Here, these are for you."

"What?"

"A specialty of Shanghai." Gong Jiahua gave her a look. "She specifically asked me to deliver it."

Oh, Ye Huaizhang asked him to send it.

Ye Baoling smiled and accepted the gift, saying softly, "Thank you, you've worked hard. Please come in and have a seat. Would you like to have dinner at our house?"

"I won't go in. I don't dare to be too enthusiastic, lest I be hunted down." Gong Jiahua said the last two sentences in a low voice.

Ye Baoling laughed and said, "It's not that bad. Don't overthink it."

"Heh." Gong Jiahua snorted twice in a mocking tone.

Standing on the cantilevered balcony, Liang Meiyun asked with a smile, "Jiahua, what gift are you giving our Baoling?"

Gong Jiahua looked up and smiled, "Baoling said she wanted to eat Shanghai specialties, so I asked a friend to buy them for me."

"Oh dear." Liang Meiyun felt a mix of emotions, unsure whether she hoped Ye Baoling and Gong Jiahua's marriage would go through or not.

Gong Jiahua left after delivering the gift.

Ye Baoling returned to her bedroom and called the person who delivered the gift: "Why are you ordering Gong Jiahua around?"

"He was eager to run errands himself, and we couldn't stop him."

It's unclear which of the two is telling the truth.

He added, "There's still a box of pork jerky you haven't taken. I'll bring it to you tonight."

Ye Baoling glanced at her own bed sheet subconsciously and reminded her, "Shave your leg hair before you come."

Why should I shave my leg hair?

“Last time, when Sister Ping picked up your leg hair and asked me what it was, I could only say it was my eyelashes.”

Ye Huaizhang: "..."

Do not shave.

What kind of talk is that?

-----------------------

Author's note: Ye Huaizhang: Only a fool would shave his leg hair.

Pingjie: Whose leg hair is this now?

Ye Baoling: You idiot upstairs.