Chapter 2: He witnessed his most wretched and savage side. ...
Inside the quiet carriage, the driver turned the steering wheel and smoothly entered the overpass, merging into the traffic on the highway.
Assistant Ding Chu sat in the passenger seat. After the car had stabilized, he turned around and handed over a thermos.
"You must have had a long journey, boss. I was worried that your legs might have problems from the long flight, so I've already made an appointment with a doctor in China. If you're not feeling well, don't push yourself. We can come over anytime."
Ye Yuying accepted the cup and thanked her softly. Unscrewing the lid, a refreshing medicinal aroma wafted out, carrying a hint of familiar licorice.
It doesn't have a bitter smell, but a warm and soothing one; the thought of the person who prepared this health-preserving tea is hidden in its aroma.
Ding Chu is a straightforward person. Now that the whole team is tightening their belts, Ding Chu's care for her far exceeds the salary Ye Yuying pays.
No matter how many times she hands something to someone, she always says thank you sincerely.
Because she is sometimes slow to react to emotions and doesn't know how to respond to other people's kindness, but she is grateful in her heart.
“Boss, we’ve known each other for so many years, why are you still being so polite…” Ding Chu waved his phone, looked at her in the rearview mirror, and said seriously, “So, should we go straight to see a doctor or go back to the hotel first?”
"Let's go to the hotel. I feel fine. I brought three months' worth of medicine with me before I left." Ye Yuying held the thermos in both hands, not in a hurry to drink, but just letting the steam warm her face, savoring the warmth and dispelling the chill from her body.
Outside the window, the city of Jiangcheng, shrouded in a thin layer of frost, gradually shrouded in the damp chill of early winter. Ding Chu glanced out the car window, her tone softening:
"The treatment methods used by doctors in Germany may be different from those in China, and it may take some time to adjust, but fortunately your condition is relatively stable for the time being."
Ye Yuying looked down at the cup in her hand, trying to examine the dark bottom of the cup carefully. A bright smile appeared on her face. "I don't really care. It's a miracle I survived such a serious car accident. If my legs really don't recover, I can just use a wheelchair. It'll be easier if I don't have to walk."
"Don't say that." Ding Chu interrupted her irritably, turning to look at her and saying, "Have you forgotten that you're meeting with investors in a few days? A team researching artificial exoskeletons, whose founder has spent his entire life in a wheelchair, is that acceptable?"
Getting down to business, Ye Yuying curled the corners of her lips, her smile not deep but rather cold, "When I meet with the investors, I'll have the doctor give me a nerve block injection, just enough to let me stand up and finish my speech."
Ding Chu pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Actually, it was quite impressive to see you standing on the stage with a cane. You are the best tester of your own product, so you are trustworthy."
Ye Yuying gently raised her head, her voice lower: "This is the first time we've let everyone know us, we can't lose face. Don't try to be melodramatic, we're not that kind of person."
She paused for a moment, then added casually:
"Besides, I'm not completely disabled."
It's astonishing that someone would casually mention the word "disabled," speaking lightly of something that nearly ruined her life, yet with a sharp edge.
Indeed, this is a fact, but Ye Yuying herself has shut down any possible pity.
Ding Chu opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't say anything.
Outside the car window, the lights of Jiangcheng gradually densed, casting colorful shadows on the glass as the city's nightscape unfolded. The car's speed remained unchanged, but the air pressure seemed to drop a few degrees.
At this moment, Ye Yuying's eyes were calm as water, but her fingertips were gently stroking the cold metal edge of the cane.
She doesn't play the sentimental card. Those investors all have kind faces, but when it comes to getting real money out of their pockets, personal relationships are useless. The key is the team's earning potential.
She was determined to win, and to win decisively and cleanly, in a way that left no room for criticism.
"By the way, did you get the materials for next week's VC investment and financing meeting? Let's review the list of attendees and judges again, focusing on who will be present. I need to do background checks beforehand." Ye Yuying looked up and screwed the lid back on the cup.
Ding Chu immediately realized what was going on and opened his Pad to check the schedule: "This time, it's a closed-door meeting led by Zhonghui Capital, in conjunction with Chishan Venture Capital and Chentai Fund, and it's being held in the private hall on the first floor of Jinyue Bay. The format is the same as always—each entrepreneur's project has a five-minute pitch, followed by a five-minute rapid-fire Q&A session. PPTs are not allowed at all; they can only rely on product materials and verbal presentations."
Ding Chu hesitated for a moment, then added, "Five of the founders are male, with an average age of over 36, and all of them are science and engineering men."
Ye Yuying listened quietly, her eyes initially expressionless, and then jokingly asked in a light tone, "How much resentment do you have towards science and engineering men...?"
"I've just seen too many tech guys who are prejudiced against female founders, and I'm just overreacting," Ding Chu complained. He continued, "The host is a former strategy director at Fuheng, very tech-savvy, but has a bad temper. The judges are a tough bunch, and they ask really tough questions. One founder was so badly criticized on the show last year that she didn't even make it to the next round."
"I'm not afraid of being criticized, I'm just afraid they won't pay." Ye Yuying opened her thermos, took a sip of herbal tea, raised an eyebrow, and casually asked, "Who are the judges?"
"The preliminary confirmed representatives are Feng Ting from Chishan Capital, Gao Gong from Chentai Capital, and a representative from Jianghui Capital... The current information suggests that it might be their domestic partner, Zhou Ruochen."
"Zhou Ruochen?" Ye Yuying's gaze sharpened slightly, as if she remembered something. "He seems to be from Baiyue?"
She remembered seeing the name Cheng Mingdu before when she searched for him online.
“Yes.” Ding Chu nodded. “He’s a veteran partner in the Baiyue Group. He co-incubated Baiyue with Cheng Mingdu back then, and now he’s in charge of the TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications) sector at Jianghui. He’s also the most likely among these people to invest in us, and he has a vote on everything from due diligence to post-investment decisions, and…”
"I've heard that sometimes there's an unofficial judge at a meeting, someone who just listens without saying a word. Baiyue Capital happens to be looking at this area recently, and if we're lucky, they might be chosen on the spot."
Ye Yuying's gaze sharpened slightly. "Who from Baiyue will come?"
Ding Chu paused for a moment, "I'm not sure, but Cheng Mingdu has a public speech that day, so the timing overlaps. It's probably not him coming in person."
The air suddenly felt heavy for a moment.
Ye Yuying's fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around the cane, but she simply placed the thermos back into the car's cup holder, her tone calm and collected: "Didn't he abandon his early days last year? And now he's back?"
"He's not saying anything right now, and nobody outside can figure him out. His investment style has been a bit strange lately, but he's always been pretty aggressive. Once he's got his eye on something, even a seed-round project, he can get hundreds of millions of dollars in follow-on investment within a week..."
When Ding Chu mentioned Cheng Mingdu's name, it was as if he were mentioning a certain person, requiring no further introduction, because anyone who embarks on the path of tech startups in China would know Cheng Mingdu.
Ye Yuying lowered her eyes, tightened the lid of the cup, and said in a steady voice, "Cheng Mingdu..."
The name she used to know so well that it was almost a muscle memory of her lips, the name she hadn't had a chance to mention or reminisce about for years, now sounded strangely unfamiliar as she said it, her lips touching her upper lip.
Ye Yuying remained silent for two seconds, holding her thermos without saying a word, a fleeting glimmer of light reflected in her eyes through the car window.
She chuckled, "So he's this amazing now."
From the moment they first met, they had already maxed out their skills. Now, she is improving, he is improving, and they are both improving...
This shows that the distance between the two people remained unchanged—still so far away.
Cheng Mingdu now stands at the top of Jiangcheng's venture capital world, no longer the person she remembers. He is the one who sets the trends and defines the new rules, while she is a gambler who crawled out of the mire, someone who, despite her broken body, insisted on getting injections from doctors to maintain her dignity and return to the poker table.
She felt somewhat relieved to hear that Cheng Mingdu would not be attending.
She couldn't imagine the scene of their meeting in that cramped and suffocating investment and financing hall.
In that cold, brightly lit environment with sharp questions, I faced him once again.
He sat on the judges' panel, and she stood under the spotlight. No matter how well prepared she was, she couldn't guarantee that her heart wouldn't race and her words wouldn't choke under his gaze the next second—just like years ago when she was fighting with someone in an alley, her eye was bleeding, and when she looked up, she saw him staring at her.
He stood there, like the only unspoiled place in the city, his expression indifferent and his gaze restrained.
The emotion in his eyes was hard to decipher; it wasn't disgust, nor concern, but rather a look of surprise, as if he were scrutinizing a stranger.
He witnessed his most wretched and savage side.
That moment was more shameful than being covered in wounds.
Ding Chu hesitated for a moment, then came up with a terrible idea, which Ye Yuying thought was pretty terrible.
“Boss, actually… I’ve been thinking about whether I should try to ask Cheng Mingdu out, or maybe when we have the money, I could go to his charity gala and make an appearance. As long as you two can hold your own, with your eloquence, you’ll definitely be able to get him to invest in us.”
“We don’t have the money to attend the charity gala.” Ye Yuying’s tone was gentle but firm. “Don’t even think about those underhanded methods.”
Ding Chu was unaware of the intricacies of the situation, nor did she know anything about Ye Yuying before she went abroad. When they met, they were both people who had fallen to the bottom, and later they supported each other and made it through step by step.
The car slowed down gradually at the elevated highway entrance, and only after exiting the highway did the city's neon lights slowly shine through the car window.
The light shone on the silver outline of the cane, casting a cold arc that reflected in her calm eyes.
Fifteen minutes later, the car slowly drove into the hotel's underground parking garage.
"I'll review our pitch materials again tonight. Could you check the data crossovers for me, especially the part about exoskeleton neural feedback delay? The data graphs need to be clean and as concise as possible."
Presenting the core of her project within five minutes was a significant challenge.
Ye Yuying put away her thermos, put on her mask, and got out of the car.
She walked slowly but steadily, without the slightest sign of distress. The sound of her cane hitting the ground seemed to deepen in the empty garage.
Today, many people in this city don't recognize her face or remember her past.
But finally, she can speak with the city herself.
A note from the author:
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20 red envelopes~
My next book will be "Her Foot Dance"!
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