Chapter 891 Rushing to Nasdaq
Readers have always used similar methods to urge for updates, such as "My roommate wants to read it before he dies" and "I'm sacrificing my friend's 20 years of singleness." Mr. Wan is no exception, but the old man is more ruthless to himself, forcing Lin Weimin to take it seriously.
After dinner in the evening, he did not watch TV with Tao Huimin as usual, but locked himself in the study.
His last novel, "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow," was completed in January 1997 and published in "Contemporary" in March. It has been almost two years since he last wrote new work.
"Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" is a tragic story. After it was published, it successfully earned the tears of countless readers. Of course, Lin Weimin was also criticized a lot.
He was organizing his thoughts in his mind. If there was one event that had the greatest impact on him this year, it would undoubtedly be the great flood that had occurred not long ago.
Nuwa mended the sky, Suiren drilled fire, Dayu controlled floods...
Although Chinese people always like to worship gods and Buddhas when they have nothing to do, when faced with natural disasters, Chinese people never pin their hopes on the illusory gods and Buddhas in the sky.
Be it internal strife or the decline of prosperity, whenever disaster strikes, this nation always shows its most tenacious side, with the heroic spirit and feat of firmly believing that man can conquer nature.
With a myriad of thoughts in his mind, Lin Weimin's ideas gradually became clear.
He wanted to write a story about a man who was indomitable and self-reliant in the face of the fickle fate. This is not only a man's story, but also a story unique to the Chinese people.
"66 buzz buzz buzz", "78 reform and opening up", "91 wave of going into business", "97 mass layoffs"...
He picked up a pen and wrote down these phrases on paper. Thirty years seemed a little short to last a lifetime. After a brief thought, he wrote "05 Coronavirus" and "15 Real Estate Bubble" at the end.
From 1966 to 2015, half a century of ups and downs happened to the same man. The world has changed, but the only thing that remains unchanged is his unyielding fighting spirit in the face of fate.
He deliberately blurred the time in the later nodes, which can be regarded as a reminder to the public.
In terms of character and plot design, Lin Weimin referred to two later works.
One is Liang Xiaosheng’s novel "The World" published in 2017, and the other is the Korean movie "International Market".
Many people are familiar with the story of "The World", and the TV series adapted from it is a big hit. "International Market" tells the story of De Xiu, who has great ambitions but has never lived for himself, and struggles for his family all his life.
Lin Weimin kept writing and drawing on paper, and the story in his mind became clearer and clearer. Until midnight, he turned on the computer.
"Li Jianguo was born on the day when Mao Zedong stood at Tiananmen Square and announced that 'the Chinese people have stood up'..."
When a writer starts writing a new work, his reaction is probably similar to that of a man in ancient times who had just married a concubine. They work hard at night, hold their old waists and sigh the next day, and then continue to toss and turn at night without learning their lesson.
In the end, the eldest wife became jealous.
"You are already so old, but you don't know how to be careful. Do you think you are still a young man in his twenties?"
Lin Weimin slept until noon and was yawning during lunch. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked listless. Tao Huimin couldn't help but complain when she saw him in this state.
"It's mainly because I haven't written for a long time. It will take a few days to adapt," said Lin Weimin.
Tao Huimin sneered at this. How could she not know what kind of physical condition Teacher Lin was in?
"Go to bed early today. You have to go to work tomorrow. Don't delay your work."
She gave a very clever way out. Teacher Lin pondered for a moment and nodded, "Okay, I understand."
After lunch, Lin Weimin took a walk in the yard and paced around the corridor. He had gone to bed in the late night and got up almost at noon. He felt tired, and he felt much better after moving around.
Xiao Doubao was clamoring to go roller skating at the roller rink. She had made an appointment with her classmates to go roller skating together today, and Tao Huimin was preparing to take her out.
At this time, Sister Qin, the nanny who had cleaned up the kitchen, suddenly found her and said that she wanted to take a week off in two days.
The two exchanged a few words, and Tao Huimin called out to Lin Weimin: "Weimin, come here!"
Lin Weimin returned to the house and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Sister Qin's son is getting married, and he will need to take a leave in two days to go back to his hometown for a week." Tao Huimin said.
"Your son is getting married? This is a good thing. Congratulations, Sister Qin!" Lin Weimin smiled and bowed to Sister Qin.
Sister Qin returned the greeting somewhat embarrassedly.
Lin Weimin added: "Since you are getting married, you have to go back early. There is no need to rush back. Don't wait a week, wait half a month. You will still get paid."
Tao Huimin smiled and said, "That's what I meant, but shouldn't we also express our opinion?"
Lin Weimin nodded, "It should be."
Sister Qin quickly said, "No, no, you two are always nice enough to me..."
She was a nanny, hardworking but poor at speaking. After she declined a few times, Lin Weimin and his wife persuaded her so much that she didn't know what to say and just kept saying "no" and "no".
"We call you sister, and your son's wedding is also a wedding gift from us to the younger generation!"
Lin Weimin made the final decision and asked Tao Huimin to take Sister Qin to the mall to pick out a DVD player.
"Other things are too big, so the DVD player is more convenient to carry. It will go well with the big color TV you bought for your son."
Sister Qin couldn't refuse in the end, but she felt embarrassed to accept a gift, so the smile on her face was a little shy.
In a blink of an eye, the National Day holiday is over and everything is back on track.
Guowen Publishing House's second Internet creation competition is still ongoing, with thousands of new works submitted every day.
From last year to this year, not only has the Internet Creation Competition become more famous, but with the co-organization of literary websites such as Rongshuxia, the number of domestic Internet users has also increased dramatically, so the number of users participating in the Internet Creation Competition is also increasing.
The workload of the jury is much heavier than last year. Lao Cheng has been lazy for a few days. Now that his vacation is over, it would be a bit unreasonable for him to slack off again.
But the high-intensity work still made him unable to help but curse.
"Thinking back to when I was the president..."
In mid-October, Sohu's third round of financing was officially finalized, with Goldman Sachs investing US$6 million to acquire a 15% stake in Sohu.
This also means that Sohu's valuation has jumped from 1.5 million US dollars in the second round to 40 million US dollars, which is undoubtedly a huge improvement for Sohu.
Zhang Chaoyang, who had just reached a verbal agreement with Goldman Sachs, immediately called Lin Weimin to report the good news.
"Teacher Lin, what you said is so right! So right!
Goldman Sachs is indeed very wealthy, and I made the right bet! "
On the phone, Zhang Chaoyang's voice was extremely excited.
When he first came into contact with Goldman Sachs, he was a little dizzy by the 10 million US dollars valuation given by Goldman Sachs.
Later, it was Lin Weimin who reminded him that Sohu was no longer a small fry.
Now they are the number one portal website in China's Internet industry, with millions of users and a large number of new users every day.
In China, if someone wants to access the Internet, Sohu is his best Internet portal.
By controlling the traffic entrance of the Internet, Sohu has also mastered the secret weapon for success.
And a company like Goldman Sachs is indeed as Lin Weimin said.
They are extremely shrewd and will not spend a penny no matter how rich they are before they see the benefits.
But if they see absolute benefits, then the bloodthirsty genes in their bones will be activated, and they will be willing to take any risk.
From the initial 10 million US dollars to the successfully negotiated 40 million US dollars, the conditions of both parties differed several times, and Zhang Chaoyang did not think that he would succeed at the beginning.
But he did it, not because of his eloquence or talent, but because the Goldman Sachs representatives saw a set of numbers.
As of October, the number of Internet users in China has exceeded 2 million. In the past six months or so, for every new user added to the Chinese Internet, Sohu has gained one more user.
With such a vast market, such strong growth, and such a high user conversion rate, Goldman Sachs cannot take its eyes off Sohu.
Faced with Zhang Chaoyang's uncompromising attitude, they finally had to resort to the "gold and money method" to increase Sohu's valuation from 10 million US dollars to 40 million US dollars.
Zhang Chaoyang told Lin Weimin the details of the negotiations with Goldman Sachs on the phone. He was happy and excited, as well as grateful.
"Thank goodness I listened to you at the time."
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "It should be said that you are determined, otherwise no one can do anything about it."
The two chatted for a while, and Zhang Chaoyang extended an invitation to Lin Weimin.
"Teacher Lin, we will hold a celebration banquet after the investment agreement is signed in two days. You can come and join us."
"Okay, no problem." Lin Weimin agreed readily.
Three days later, Lin Weimin drove to Guangming Building.
Just yesterday, Sohu officially signed an investment agreement with Goldman Sachs, and the $6 million investment will be received in three batches within two months.
After the agreement was signed yesterday, the first investment of 2 million US dollars has arrived.
Sohu has never fought such a prosperous battle, and we must celebrate today.
Lin Weimin's car carried Zhang Chaoyang, Chen Jianfeng and others, and there were several other cars following behind. The entire convoy was heading towards the Miyun Reservoir in a mighty manner.
Having just received a huge investment, and having eaten rainbow trout at the reservoir, the young people at Sohu were extremely excited.
While everyone was laughing and playing, Zhang Chaoyang and Lin Weimin sat together, looking at the scenery by the reservoir in the golden autumn season.
Zhang Chaoyang said: "Teacher Lin, Robert and others want to introduce a CFO to me."
CFO?
Lin Weimin immediately became alert, "Chief Financial Officer?"
"Yes. He said he used to work for Coca-Cola and two other large companies. He has extensive management experience and also has experience in listing..."
Lin Weimin asked: "What you value most should be the experience in listing, right?"
Zhang Chaoyang nodded. "You know me well. Robert and the others have never been confident in me. I understand that they want to bring some people into the company, but Sohu really needs a knowledgeable financial director now."
"You reminded me of the problems of our company some time ago. I came back and sorted them out. We do have a lot of problems. Some can be corrected with some time, but some problems require talents. Fortunately, we have coped with the due diligence of Goldman Sachs.
But I think we should bring in some professional talents as soon as possible. Sohu has now completed its third round of financing, and I want to prepare for a NASDAQ listing next year."
Hearing these words, Lin Weimin looked thoughtful.
(End of this chapter)
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