31
The first New Year after starting the job arrived quietly.
Taking advantage of the team's winter break, Shen Ning also took a few days of annual leave, which, combined with the Spring Festival holiday, created a considerable short holiday.
For the first few days, I accompanied my father to meet business associates, exchange New Year's greetings, and maintain relationships. In the following days, the family went on vacation to the Gold Coast of Australia and enjoyed a warm winter.
After diving and surfing at the beach, feeling refreshed and relaxed, I returned to the beach umbrella, gazing at the blue sky, white clouds, and waves. I lay with my parents, sunbathing and enjoying some chilled fruit juice.
Amidst the beautiful scenery, Shen Ning couldn't help but ask her father about his opinion of Zhang Xinjie after their conversation that day.
Shen Zhongxing laughed: "Your willpower is lacking. I thought you could hold out for another half month. What, you've become so infatuated with Zhang Xinjie that you can't extricate yourself?"
Shen Ning blushed with embarrassment and angrily snatched the juice from his hand. Shen Zhongxing laughed at her like a playful old man for a while before replying, "Your thinking is very clear, you have a thorough understanding of your profession, and you don't pretend to know things you don't understand. That's pretty good."
He paused for a moment and asked again, "How does it compare to Zhao Yixing?"
"Is it him who wants to ask, or you who wants to ask?"
“Yes, they all know. You keep praising Zhao Yixing to me all the time, and Zhang Xinjie knows about it.”
"To be honest, Zhang Xinjie answered better than Xiao Zhao did back then. At least when I asked Xiao Zhao about the international situation and futures, he was completely speechless and couldn't say a word."
With a satisfied expression, Chen Ning carefully placed the juice back into her father's hand, closed her eyes, and continued to bask in the sunlight.
"You silly child, you're happy to hear me praise Xinjie."
Shen Ning said with a rather arrogant tone: "Absolutely, the man I choose must be the best."
Of course, Shen Ning didn't tell Zhang Xinjie this evaluation. First, he himself didn't give up on himself or have any emotional issues; on the contrary, he further scientifically planned his future learning direction. Second, she didn't want Zhang Xinjie to get into trouble, so putting a little pressure on him was a good idea.
Because she had taken a few days of annual leave and returned late, Shen Ning was greeted with a warm welcome from a group of comrades as soon as she came back to the office after the holiday.
"Chen Ning, you're finally back! I've been so scared of the finance girls since you left. I feel so insecure." Zhang Jiale joked, playing with her braids.
"Don't tell me you got yelled at again for submitting your own expense reimbursement request?"
"No way, I'll wait for you to come back and bring it up, even if it kills me."
"Alright, alright." Shen Ning glanced at the row of invoice boxes by the door. Including those from before the Lunar New Year, there were quite a few in twos and threes. "I'll process them all for you today. Just wait a few days to collect the money."
Bai Yanfei clasped his hands together and said, "Thank you, Fairy Shen Ning!"
"By the way, Jiang You from the online game department came to see you the day before yesterday with Sun Yunchao," Qin Muyun said while eating the snacks Chen Ning had brought.
"Sun Yunchao is back at work?"
Zhang Xinjie explained, "His physical condition has stabilized. We originally wanted to temporarily transfer him to an administrative position, but he still wanted to keep his original position. So Jiang You arranged for him to be in charge of the daytime inventory and distribution of resources for the online game guild, and he will not be leading teams to run dungeons for the time being."
"That's alright, but we still need to be careful."
"They brought you some things and said they'd like to treat you to a meal."
"I thanked them several times already... It's alright, I'll go see them in a bit and discuss the guild's development plan for the new year. Anything else?"
"Girl, that's a very naive question." Zhang Jiale shook his head, his gloating expression making you want to punch him.
“That’s right, is there even a question? There must be a huge amount.” Qin Muyun chimed in.
“Yes, quite a lot.” Even Song Qiying chimed in at the end.
Shen Ning twitched her lips, mentally preparing herself for a critical hit at any moment. So she cautiously glanced at the two captains. Zhang Xinjie pushed up his glasses, took out his tablet, and began to list things out.
"The team plan, online game department plan, and training camp selection plan for the first quarter need to be submitted as soon as possible. I have already asked them to draft a copy for each of them. I will compile them here and make some revisions and additions."
"We also need to propose a new equipment procurement plan for the year. You should discuss with them what we need, and if it exceeds the budget, we should compare prices from all three parties."
"The sales team has given us the advertisements to be filmed in the first quarter, including individual and group ads."
"There are two business activity proposals and an interview outline. I originally wanted to take a look at them myself, but the salesperson said they would prefer that you take a look as well."
"Another aspect is the overall data statistics for last year, which is required for financial report disclosure..."
At this point, Zhang Xinjie looked at the sympathetic expressions on everyone's faces, then met their blank and bewildered gazes, and finally, under the pangs of conscience, added, "If you're too busy, I'll take care of the last two."
Chen Ning stared blankly at Zhang Xinjie, then turned to look at Han Wenqing. A sly smile suddenly appeared on his previously bewildered face. He propped his arms on the table and his chin, speaking in a rather sarcastic tone: "Tell me, are you two now unable to live without me?"
"Pfft..." Qin Muyun, who was behind, couldn't help but laugh. He quickly covered his mouth and said in a cheeky tone, "Mistake, mistake, you guys continue."
"Be serious, this is a very proper topic." Shen Ning pretended to be angry, lightly patted the table, and turned to look at the two captains again. She saw Han Wenqing with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed, with an indifferent expression, as if to say, "Hurry up and leave! Everyone leave! This is so annoying." Zhang Xinjie, on the other hand, smiled helplessly.
Shen Ning seized the opportunity, her eyes fixed on Han Wenqing: "Hey, I don't know who it was back then, slamming their fist on the table and accusing me of using connections to drag the team down..."
He shook his head again, then gave Zhang Xinjie a sarcastic look: "And who said I was an arrogant nepotism hire? Oh, who was it again..."
Seeing a group of people covering their faces and laughing, whispering among themselves, Han Wenqing's forehead veins were about to bulge. As if trying hard to suppress his anger, he gave Zhang Xinjie the order: "Tell Wu Meng to replace her for me."
"...Calm down, we were indeed a bit prejudiced at the time."
You're still openly protecting her?!
Han Wenqing rolled her eyes at him, then looked at Shen Ning's sly smile and was furious.
The key is that Chen Ning didn't give up and continued to ask Han Wenqing with a smile, "Captain, how is it? Don't you find me super—useful?"
Zhang Xinjie sighed, "That's a little too arrogant..."
Zhang Jiale laughed so hard he could hardly breathe, patting Han Wenqing on the shoulder to comfort him, only to be dodged away by Han Wenqing in disgust. Bai Yanfei, with his back to the two captains, winked and gave Chen Ning a thumbs up.
Shen Ning knew the limits of joking, so she immediately took over all the work: "Don't worry, I can handle these tasks. You all just focus on the competition. We've done well this year, so we need to keep up the good momentum."
"Yes, let's press on with it!" Song Qiying clenched his fist.
Shen Ning, seizing the opportunity, began to flatter again: "I've been so sincere, so please, my two wise and mighty captains, don't try to find someone to replace me, okay?"
Han Wenqing felt more and more that Shen Ning was about to climb over him: "You have the skill to talk a good game, but you've already done half the work."
"Yes, yes, the captain is right."
Zhang Xinjie clapped his hands: "Everyone, get ready, training will begin in ten minutes."
"Okay!"
"Captain, Shen Ning, I need to quickly discuss something with you."
Shen Ning and Han Wenqing exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with questions. After following Zhang Xinjie to the conference room, Han Wenqing asked directly, "What happened?"
Has there been any news regarding the strategic cooperation with Shengchong Group at the General Office?
"Not yet, but it will be soon. They should be drafting the approval documents, and we expect to set a date next week."
Zhang Xinjie then turned to Shen Ning and asked, "Have you looked at its financial reports recently?"
Shen Ning paused, surprised that it was related to the financial statements: "Not yet, I've been on vacation abroad with my family. Do you think there's something wrong with the company's financial statements?"
Zhang Xinjie handed the two documents to Han Wenqing and Shen Ning respectively: "Take a look at its accounts receivable and turnover rate."
Needless to say, Chen Ning, as a senior executive of the company, would naturally also look at the financial data. Looking at last year alone, Shengchong Company's annual revenue was 3.84 billion yuan, but its accounts receivable were only 0.2 billion yuan, and the accounts receivable cycle was only 15 days.
"While low accounts receivable and high turnover seem good, they're too extreme." Han Wenqing put down the documents and looked up thoughtfully. "Shouldn't they be much shorter than the industry average accounts receivable cycle?"
"Yes, the average should be around 100 to 150 days. Their turnover is too high. And with such low accounts receivable, it seems to reduce the bad debt rate and increase cash flow, but this 'zero credit sales' financial system will significantly weaken market competition and definitely affect sales, even though their annual profit growth is very high."
Zhang Xinjie added, "You should take another look at the loan situation."
The two quickly flipped through the reports and saw that Shengchong Group had borrowed 2.2 billion yuan from banks last year!
Han Wenqing was also surprised: "With such a high cash flow, how could they possibly borrow 2.2 billion?"
With a grave expression, Shen Ning went through the data again, compared it over and over, did some calculations on his phone calculator, and said in a deep voice, "If we only look at these data, the audit should not have given an 'unqualified opinion.' This could be fabricated financial data. The company is only relying on bank loans to maintain its operation. Once the banks stop lending, it will collapse immediately."
Zhang Xinjie asked, "Is it possible that it's related to the business structure?"
“Theoretically possible, but…” Shen Ning hesitated, paused to think for a moment, and continued, “Did the investment department have any objections to the review?”
"They only assess investment returns, and they don't scrutinize corporate security unless the audit report reveals anything unusual."
I didn't expect Tyranny's risk assessment to be so immature. It's clear that there are still systemic flaws in the transformation from esports to a comprehensive enterprise.
Shen Ning sighed softly. She knew that now was not the time to study the system. If the investment department had no objections, they would have to rely on the three of them.
"Why don't we all go back and take a close look at the complete annual reports, including those from previous years? If we still can't find a reasonable explanation, we can talk to the sales department about it?"
After all, it involves an investment of hundreds of millions. If the partner has serious financial problems, it will directly lead to the project's capital chain breaking, and Batu's investment of hundreds of millions will go down the drain.
The severity of the situation exceeded expectations, and Han Wenqing immediately agreed with Shen Ning's suggestion to expedite the implementation of the project before it was submitted to the general office meeting, without disrupting the team's overall rhythm.
Upon returning from her vacation, Chen Ning immediately transformed into a spinning top, showing no fear of the long list of plans. She ran from floor to floor, attended various communication meetings, conducted preliminary reviews of proposals and outlines, and summarized and analyzed a lot of data. In the evenings, she also had to review reports from companies suspected of having problems.
If Zhang Xinjie hadn't constantly reminded her not to stay up late, she would have been working non-stop.
After three busy days, I finally clicked "send" on the email, and the last backlog of work was finally completed.
She leaned back in her chair with abandon, let out a long sigh, stretched comfortably, and closed her eyes to enjoy a moment of peace.
Less than two minutes later, her phone received another message notification. Shen Ning immediately opened her eyes and sat up straight to check. She saw that Han Wenqing had sent the latest news about the project meeting in the three-person group chat—the general office meeting would be held at 10 a.m. next Wednesday.
Today is Friday, and there's a competition tomorrow. Considering the need for cross-departmental communication, time is still very tight.
Chen Ning asked in the group: When shall we meet up?
Han Wenqing: We'll cooperate with you, depending on your schedule.
Chen Ning: So, what about after the match on Sunday?
Zhang Xinjie: I can
Han Wenqing: I went straight back to the team after getting off the plane on Sunday.
Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie need to focus on the competition, and since Shen Ning is more skilled at professional work like analyzing financial data, this heavy responsibility falls more on Shen Ning's shoulders.
She had already read through the financial reports for the past two years and had a general idea of the situation. During the entire day of the match against Yanyu in Suzhou, not to mention on the plane and in the car, even during the breaks in the match and the ten or so minutes before the food was served at the dinner party, Chen Ning squeezed in work whenever she could, making the whole group tremble with fear. Even Chu Yunxiu was greatly impressed, wondering where Tyranny had found such a chosen one.
The match was won smoothly. After returning, the three of them took a taxi directly back to the club and went straight into the conference room.
Shen Ning projected the information she had compiled onto the screen and began to list the suspicious points she had discovered: "I have looked at the financial reports of Shengchong Group for the past five years. As we have discussed before, it has extremely low accounts receivable, extremely high accounts receivable turnover rate, and high loan amounts every year."
"After analyzing the business structure, we also found the following contradictions. First, the labor costs are not commensurate. It advertises a 'fully automated factory,' but the annual report shows that the total salary of equipment production personnel has surged by 48%, which means that the average output per person is only 180,000 yuan, while the industry average is 840,000 yuan."
Looking at the data on the large screen, Han Wenqing pondered for a moment and said, "So, this so-called 'intelligent production line' is actually only semi-manual assembly, and its production capacity is only 1/5 of what it claims?"
“Yes, that’s one of the points of contention. Another issue is the flow of funds.” Shen Ning turned to the next slide of the PPT and continued to explain, “It disclosed a payment two years ago, prepaying 50 million to a local machinery manufacturing company. Last year, it also prepaid 35 million. I checked the business registration information and found that the company changed its legal representative five years ago. The former legal representative is suspected to be a relative of the chairman of Shengchong Group.”
"A shell company?" Zhang Xinjie asked.
"That's possible. If that's the case, then this prepayment is a disguised transfer of assets, and the corresponding supply also has the problem of overstating its value."
In the conference room, everyone fell silent as they looked at the data on the screen. Zhang Xinjie looked down and pressed the calculator: "The annual report shows that the company's average gross profit margin is 63%, while the company's main products are equipment, and the industry average is only around 20-40%. It is difficult to have such a high gross profit margin."
"So, all things considered, there's a serious contradiction between revenue and production capacity, questionable costs, asset transfers, and the company is using large loans to keep it running..." Han Wenqing looked at the table with his pen, his face grave, and concluded, "Shengchong Group's debt ratio is very likely beyond imagination, and it will go bankrupt immediately if loans are stopped."
Although the result was cruel, Shen Ning still nodded.
Zhang Xinjie said, "With such a big project, I guess it will be difficult to communicate with the sales team."
“Even if it’s difficult to communicate, we have to say it. Besides, if problems arise, it could mean losses of hundreds of millions, which they can’t afford. I’ll go talk to them tomorrow; you guys don’t need to worry about it.”
"How about we change our story and say that an auditor friend we know discovered it and gave us a heads-up?" Shen Ning suggested.
"Can you explain this away?"
"It's not exactly a lie. I was originally going to tell this to a friend who works in auditing. Her auditing firm happens to be the competitor of Shengchong Group."
Zhang Xinjie said, "Using someone else to do the dirty work."
"Pretty much. If the issue starts with a fight between auditing firms, it's unlikely to involve us. Besides, if such companies aren't exposed sooner and continue to defraud loans, it's the country's money that will be lost."
"Okay, then you can handle it yourself." Han Wenqing naturally trusted Shen Ning's abilities, and it would also be easier to explain to the sales team if she could separate the department. It was indeed a good idea.
The three of them quickly discussed the details of the documents needed for the meeting with the sales team. After that, they said their goodbyes. Han Wenqing and Wu Meng had a dinner appointment and left first. Zhang Xinjie also had to go home. Shen Ning decided to do some work at the company first and then have dinner at the cafeteria.
Before leaving, Zhang Xinjie placed a bag of milk candy on Shen Ning's table, the same kind that Xu Xinnuan had given him, the White Rabbit brand.
Shen Ning took it and looked at it again and again, quite surprised.
"You, a health-conscious person who controls your sugar and oil intake, are actually giving me candy? What's going on?"
"...Don't you like to eat it?"
"Who said that?"
Zhang Xinjie gave a strange look: "You were always happy when your teammate's wife brought you things before."
Shen Ning paused for a moment, then smiled sweetly, and taking advantage of the fact that there were only the two of them in the office area and no surveillance cameras, she directly hooked her arms around Zhang Xinjie's neck.
Zhang Xinjie stiffened, his tone becoming unnatural: "Ahem... In public, be mindful of your behavior."
Shen Ning didn't care about any of that and sweetly wove a sugar-coated bullet for him: "I don't like eating candy, I like the person who gives me candy."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
