Chapter 5

Shen Huan's crying was not entirely because of Chang Yueqing. The board meeting the day before was not peaceful.

Xuantao started out with investment, and in recent years has turned to real estate, finance, mass consumption and entertainment. It earns more and borrows more, and the promises made to creditors always backfire on the management.

Among them, Weiss Capital was brought into the group by Meng Zixian six years ago, followed by several small overseas shareholders.

Xi Yuhui, a representative of Weiss Capital, came up with a cold expression. "The channels for foreign investment in and out have been limited this year, and we were already considering withdrawing our investment. With the collapse of Noyan Technology, many overseas creditors are just now facing financial difficulties and may not give us an extension."

The atmosphere in the conference room became tense. Several pairs of eyes turned to Li Ting, but Li Ting did not speak.

Secretary Bei Hong beamed. "Policies change very quickly. Ultimately, the attitude from above remains open, moderate, and tolerant. Even if a few American creditors panic and want to withdraw their capital, they'll have to do so in batches according to the contract, six months at a time. We have plenty of wiggle room. I'm very optimistic."

After listening to Bei Hong's speech, Xi Yuhui turned his attention back to Li Ting. He probably wanted to hear Li Ting's opinion, but Li Ting still didn't speak.

Chen Huan lowered her head and fiddled with her nails. She couldn't remember if the board meeting was always this tense, or if today was an exception. She'd rarely heard anything before, and wouldn't have understood it if she had. But she could tell that Bei Hong was trying to cover up for Li Ting. Without Li Ting's response, Bei Hong felt a little uneasy.

Bei Hong started to point out the generals again: "What do you say, Wan Lin? You have seen a lot in this area."

Before coming to Xuantao, Wan Lin worked in the regulatory department, having steadily risen through the ranks in Hancheng. Because of his personality, he often disagreed with Xi Yuhui, who represented foreign capital. But today, Wan Lin sided with Xi Yuhui.

Wan Lin first offered a few polite words, then continued, "This isn't just a matter of integration for us. Several of the group's business groups are operating in this way, borrowing short-term to invest long-term, hoping to keep rolling. If several foreign investors were to withdraw simultaneously, we would all be in a difficult position."

The implication is that if everyone does this, then if we are to fail, we will fail together, and the entire group will bear the consequences of Nuoyan's failure together.

When Xi Yuhui heard this, he let out a dry laugh. Bei Hong fell silent.

Li Ting then asked Lou Hetai, "A few days ago, I showed you several major projects Ronghui invested in. How long does it take to get your money back?" Lou Hetai looked up and motioned for his assistant Xingbin to project the materials on the screen. He replied briefly, "For consumer goods, the average is three years. Real estate will definitely take longer."

Li Ting didn't wait for the PPT to be presented. He said, "Give me a number. How big will the gap be by the end of the year?"

Lou Hetai swallowed hard, checked his phone, and sent a message to see the numbers. The numbers were roughly accurate, but Lou Hetai was a cautious man, so he checked with the team.

Lou Hetai spent several minutes asking for data on his phone. Li Ting remained silent, so the others waited quietly. The only sound in the conference room was the whirring of the air conditioner. Shen Huan scratched the seat with her fingertips; she felt the air conditioner was turned too low.

She thought Li Ting must know this number. Not only did he know it, he had also calculated it many times with Lou Hetai. This number had been a big stone in his heart recently.

The debt issue was a major hurdle this year. Li Ting had noticed it early on, and he knew everyone else was watching too. But he couldn't be the first to bring it up. That would mean he was panicking first, and that would throw everyone off balance.

Xi Yuhui brought it up today, which was an opportunity for Li Ting to inform everyone.

"About 34 billion." Lou Hetai finally said, "Just look at Ronghui. 60% of them are overseas loans with a maturity of less than one year."

The meeting room was silent.

After a few seconds, Li Ting made the decision and said, Wanlin, we still have to open the bank channels in Hancheng.

Wan Lin spread his hands. "Usually, it was the local banks that came knocking on his door," he said. "But this year, their reserves are tight, and approving loans is becoming increasingly difficult. Banks, after all, always push money to people who don't want it."

Li Ting said, "This is exactly where we need you. You have a lot of connections in this area. I've said this before: we can't always look to foreigners for favors, right?"

Wan Lin said yes, yes, yes.

Wan Lin was a soft-spoken character with a tough heart. He wouldn't embarrass Li Ting in public, but he probably did run into some difficulties.

Li Ting turned to Xi Yuhui and said, "Thank you for your help in going to the Eastern US and exploring their willingness to work with us long-term. The company is facing a difficult time right now, but the difficulties will only last this year. If we can't rely on them this year, we won't need them in the future."

His words were filled with a hint of coldness. Xi Yuhui understood, and Chen Huan also roughly came to his senses. Li Ting was planning to make a final plea for foreign investment, while also trying to cut ties with them.

The US side is giving us face, and we can work together in the future. If we just sit back and watch the fire from the other side, there will be no need to talk about it in the future. Li Ting said this to Xi Yuhui, probably hoping that Weiss Capital would come forward to lobby.

Weiss is both a shareholder and a creditor. If pushed to that point, Li Ting will drag Weiss into the water as well.

Xi Yuhui did not respond immediately. He stroked his hair back, as if struggling whether to speak out loud or not. In the end, he calmly agreed.

The board meeting was not held in Hancheng, but at the State Guesthouse in Rongcheng, a two-hour drive away.

At the end of the morning, Li Ting took out a crumpled travel guide from his trouser pocket, which he probably picked up from the front desk.

He spread out the paper, glanced up and down, said there seemed to be a Taoguang Temple here, and they could go and have a look, and asked Xi Yuhui if he wanted to go with him.

Bei Hong and Wan Lin had both stood up, but when they heard him specifically call out Xi Yuhui's name, they both sat back down in their seats. One said he wanted to go eat steamed dishes, and the other said he had made an appointment with a friend in Rongcheng for tea.

The road to Taoguang Temple was paved with gravel. Two people walked side by side, Li Ting and Xi Yuhui in front, and Chen Huan behind.

Whenever crossing a stream or jumping over a stone, Xi Yuhui would instinctively look back at Chen Huan. However, every time Li Ting was talking about business, he was too busy to pay attention to her and never turned his head back once.

Li Ting called Xi Yuhui out alone, hoping to hear something he couldn't bring up at the meeting. Chen Huan saw this, and Xi Yuhui certainly understood. But the two of them chatted about everything, never once mentioning Weiss or the debt.

It was not until they stepped onto the stone steps of Qiuyue Peak that the two Buddhist monks took off their masks and revealed their worldly ambitions.

Qiyue Peak is dotted with temples of all sizes, but Taoguang Temple is a relatively unremarkable one. After the State Guesthouse acquired the land, it became even quieter, with even the center of the Tianwang Hall courtyard barely a glimpse of incense.

Chen Huan invited Xiang to come in and saw Li Ting and Xi Yuhui standing and talking, their faces serious. Chen Huan knew that the softer their voices, the bigger the incident. Chen Huan was standing a few steps away, but he still felt that Xi Yuhui's voice was barely audible.

A gentle breeze blew the fallen osmanthus blossoms through the courtyard, carrying with it a few scattered words. Chen Huan heard the name, Meng Zixian. In Xuan Tao, it was a name everyone avoided whenever possible. Xi Yuhui had brought it up again today, probably out of necessity.

Xi Yuhui said that he couldn't go to the East Coast of America alone. Without Meng Zixian, those tough tasks would be difficult to tackle.

Shen Huan saw Li Ting's hands folded in front of his chest, his right fist slightly tightened, and then quickly loosened.

Xi Yuhui's voice remained steady, even rising slightly. Since he had made the suggestion, he wouldn't return empty-handed.

He said that these private debt companies came in with Weiss and gave 40 billion yuan in succession. If you say that the first 1 billion yuan was given to you for your face, Old Li, the rest was all money contributed by Meng Zixuan.

What Xi Yuhui said might be true, but in today's situation, it seems that he was taking advantage of the urgency of the situation to force Li Ting to make concessions.

Six years ago, Shen Huan had not yet been able to sit at the table, but she also knew roughly what happened that year.

Ten years ago, Xuantao obtained an inclusive finance license, opening up the market and urgently needing to invest in paving the way. Li Ting wanted to attract foreign investment, but his roadshow was mediocre. European and American investors, accustomed to more mature and regulated financial markets, were cautiously cautious about the promising Donglu.

Lou Hetai was the first helper Li Ting brought back. He had been working in that mature financial system for many years and was a down-to-earth technician.

Meng Zixuan was Li Ting's second weapon. No one knew what means he used, but he managed to bring Xuantao Ronghe, a small fund with assets of less than 100 million yuan at the time, into Morgan Stanley's sales channels.

With the guarantees of several major investment banks, Li Ting became the mysterious Oriental Mazu when he went on roadshows abroad. Foreign investment started with tens of millions of US dollars, and then snowballed into the behemoth it is today.

Xi Yuhui continued, saying that he had been constantly moving investors around over the past few years, but some things were stuck, making it difficult for him to resolve them. Without Meng Zixian, the channel in the Eastern United States would not last long.

Next to Xi Yuhui's hand-tailored cashmere suit, Li Ting's navy blue jacket and sneakers looked simple and unremarkable. But Xi Yuhui hunched his back slightly as he spoke to him, his eyes observing Li Ting's expression as he uttered every word.

Logically, Weiss Capital, represented by Xi Yuhui, was Xuan Tao's shareholder and financial backer. However, Xi Yuhui understood that if Xuan Tao truly collapsed, both Weiss and he would be drowned in the river. At this critical juncture, only Li Ting could paddle the leaf boat to the other side.

Li Ting replied, "I'm not a judge. Did I let him go inside and operate the sewing machine?"

Xi Yuhui showed an embarrassed look on his face and opened his mouth, as if he was going to refute something, but he swallowed it back. He said that Lao Li's past affairs were not discussed, and now there was this way.

His voice dropped again, and Shen Huan couldn't hear it clearly. The gist of it was that Meng Zixian was an American citizen, and there was an opportunity to exchange for a reduced sentence with Washington, D.C. Weiss had been following up on this matter, and there had finally been some progress.

After listening to this, Li Ting asked after a while: "Why are you telling me this?"

Li Ting's face was emotionless. He was the boss of the company, but he was also her husband, the man by her side. As the two of them talked, Shen Huan finally recalled the scene a few weeks ago of Li Ting standing in front of the toilet, turning sideways and wanting to say something.

He might have expected this. When he asked Meng Zixian, he wasn't asking about the little thoughts in Shen Huan's mind. Li Ting was at the end of his rope, and he had to invite the evil spirit back.

Xi Yuhui said there's a lot we can do, like having Xuan Tao's legal team in New York come up with a plan and see what the prosecutors on both sides say in response...

He suddenly stopped talking here, and the two men raised their heads at the same time and looked at Chen Huan. Her heart skipped a beat, and when she came to her senses, she realized that she had probably squeezed her hands too tightly and broke a stick of incense with her fingertips.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice her return until the incense sticks fell to the ground, making a slight sound.

Chen Huan showed no fear as he stepped forward and handed over the incense.

Xi Yuhui paused and looked at Li Ting. Li Ting lit the incense, slowly inserted it into the incense burner, and closed his eyes. The sound of a bell echoed from within the hall, its distant Buddhist chants covering the momentary silence.

After a long while, Li Ting said, "It all depends on whether the Buddha we worship is effective or not."