On the contrary, Lin Chen had nothing to do, and there were only two chairs in the office, so there was no room for another one. Helpless, Lin Chen could only silently leave and prepare to find a seat in the next office.
"Comfortable." Lin Chen casually found a seat in the next office and sat down. "Why is such a big office all empty?"
Lin Chen looked around and found that the office was quite large, with eight workstations and a small meeting room consisting of a conference table and two sofas, but there was indeed no one there.
"They've probably all gone out on business," Lin Chen muttered.
"Excuse me, this is my seat, could you please move it?" A voice suddenly came from behind, startling Lin Chen.
"Ah? Uh... I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Lin Chen turned around and saw a girl wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He quickly stood up and offered her his seat. "I was just tired from standing outside. I saw that there was no one inside, so I just found a seat to sit down."
The girl with gold-rimmed glasses shook the teacup in her hand and sat down: "I just went downstairs to get some water, but there's really no one here. Everyone's probably out running errands right now."
Lin Chen asked curiously, "What does your company do?"
"Our company is a food delivery platform called Ele.me."
Lin Chen was surprised to find that it was the famous Ele.me. However, he then realized that at this time, Ele.me was only well-known in the university market and had not yet entered the wider society.
At that moment, two young men in suits walked in.
"Xuhao, Xiaoyezi is burning money to take over the market. Time is of the essence. Why don't you ask your family for help?"
“Wang Yuan, I’ve already said it, I, Zhang Xuhao, will not ask my family for a single penny again. This is my bottom line, so please don’t say anything more.”
"But we've visited so many investment firms these past few days, and no one is willing to invest in us. If we don't seize the market we've already captured now, are we going to wait for others to take our market share and then try to take it back? Will we even have a chance then?"
“I know that too. Give me a few more days, and I’ll visit a few more investment banks to try.”
"Sigh!" Wang Yuan walked out of the office in disappointment.
The girl with gold-rimmed glasses gestured with her eyes and whispered to Lin Chen, "Those two are our bosses. The one who just left is called Wang Yuan, and the other is called Zhang Xuhao. He's been going out to solicit investment every day, and he always comes back with a crying face. Sigh, I don't know how long this company can last. Maybe I'll be unemployed soon."
Yes, Lin Chen remembered that back in 2009, Ele.me encountered its first competitor – Xiaoyezi Dangjia. At that time, Xiaoyezi Dangjia was much wealthier than Ele.me. After discovering that Ele.me was trying to seize the market, it immediately launched a money-burning war, frantically grabbing orders by subsidizing beverages for consumers.
At the same price, consumers would definitely prefer the platform that delivers drinks. As a result, the customers that Ele.me had worked so hard to build up turned against it. If Zhang Xuhao hadn't managed to secure investment in a desperate situation and at the same time unleashed his potential to optimize Ele.me's ordering system, there might not have been a situation where Ele.me and Meituan would have shared the market equally in the future.
Lin Chen thought for a moment. Zhang Xuhao was short of money, while he himself happened to have a small amount of spare cash. Why not take the opportunity to invest? After all, Ele.me was later acquired by Alibaba for a sky-high price of 66.5 billion yuan.
With that in mind, Lin Chen said to the girl with the gold-rimmed glasses, "If I help you keep your job, you have to treat me to dinner." After saying that, he walked over to Zhang Xuhao, who was sitting in a seat.
"Hello Mr. Zhang, my name is Lin Chen, and I am your next-door neighbor."
"Hello, is there anything I can help you with?" Although Zhang Xuhao wasn't in the mood, he still greeted her politely out of courtesy.
"I heard you're trying to attract investment lately. How much do you need? I'd like to invest."
"What?!" Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuhao jumped to his feet and carefully examined the person in front of him. Although he was handsome, he seemed a bit too young. Besides, wasn't the office next to his own quite small? If the startup center hadn't refused, he would have applied to use it as a storage room. What kind of big company could be in such a small office? So, he was disappointed again. "Sorry, I'm not in the mood for jokes right now. If there's nothing else, please sit for a while. Xiaoxiao, pour this handsome guy a glass of water."
"Okay," the girl with the gold-rimmed glasses replied.
Lin Chen wasn't angry. It was expected. He didn't have a face that said he was rich. He was just an ordinary, handsome college student. If someone suddenly offered to invest money in him, it was already a big favor not to kick him out like a fool.
Lin Chen took the water from the girl with the gold-rimmed glasses, thanked her, took a sip, and continued, "Mr. Zhang, I'm not joking with you, I'm serious. How much money do you need? Just name your price."
Seeing that Lin Chen was still boasting, Zhang Xuhao lost his temper and sneered, "Five million? Do you have it?"
Lin Chen was taken aback: "This little bit is enough?"
Zhang Xuhao was amused by Lin Chen: "Hehehe, so little? If you can come up with five million, I'll give you half of the company's shares."
"Okay, deal! Let's sign the contract."
"Uh..." Now it was Zhang Xuhao's turn to be dumbfounded. "Dude, are you serious?"
"Yeah, didn't I just say I wasn't joking with you?"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, let me sort this out. You're not kidding me, are you?"
"I'm not kidding you. I'll transfer the money to you immediately after the contract is signed. No installments required. I'll give you the full five million in one lump sum."
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