Chapter 27 The car's air conditioning was very hot...
The car's air conditioning was very hot, and the atmosphere between the two people was strangely tense.
Both remained silent, their eyes fixed on each other. During the brief silence, Huang Shiyu's mind was also racing.
She had actually been preparing for this project for a year, and at that time she had a preferred investor in mind, namely Zhang Jingyan.
She is widely recognized in the industry as a "sharp-eyed expert" because of her unique vision. Once a project is launched, no one will refuse to buy it.
However, cooperation is not so easy; both parties must be on the same page. With Speed Technology as an irreplaceable resource, there is at least an 80% chance of cooperation.
Unfortunately, the company was later acquired, and the project has been delayed until now.
She could wait, but the project at hand couldn't.
Nothing in the market is irreplaceable; the pace of change in the market is simply too fast. So, despite not wanting to have any further contact with Li Xingzhou after their reunion, she was willing to try cooperating with him on the financing terms he proposed.
However, after this back-and-forth, somewhat tense and probing conversation, Huang Shiyu was still a little confused about the other party. Could it be that he still held a grudge about what happened back then and was now waiting for her to bow her head and admit her mistake?
Actually, it wouldn't be a problem if Li Xingzhou didn't raise funds. At worst, she could just take out the hundred gold bars she had stored in the bank to tide her over, and then slowly look for investors. She just needed to find them as soon as possible, otherwise, she might run into cash flow problems with that amount of money.
After a brief standoff, Li Xingzhou calmly said, "Just kidding. Remember to send me a copy of the BP later."
Huang Shiyu knew he was referring to the business plan, but she was curious why Li Xingzhou had suddenly changed his mind. She looked at him for several seconds, and seeing that he seemed normal, she didn't hold back and asked directly, "Can I ask you why you changed your mind again?"
Li Xingzhou stared at her for several seconds, as if trying to see right through her, then said in a tone full of ambiguity, "You know perfectly well that you shouldn't take what I say at night seriously, especially around nine o'clock."
Upon hearing this, Huang Shiyu turned his gaze to the central control screen, where the displayed time was exactly the time Li Xingzhou had mentioned.
Looking at the fluctuating numbers, her nerve endings found a point of memory and took root. Li Xingzhou had said something similar before, but it was a long time ago. If she hadn't heard those words again, she would have almost forgotten them.
During evening self-study, Li Xingzhou posted a picture of the Manhattan Sunrise on his WeChat Moments. Huang Shiyu thought it was taken in Manhattan and commented: "Is this the Manhattan Sunrise from the geography question?"
Li Xingzhou also replied in the comments: Yes, I waited for more than six hours.
She genuinely believed it because she had never been to Beijing or Manhattan in the United States, so she naturally couldn't distinguish the city's layout.
Later, on their way home from school, Li Xingzhou told her, "Actually, that wasn't the Manhattan Sunrise but the Beijing Sunrise, which was taken on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing. But it's true that I waited there for more than six hours."
It wasn't just this one thing; there were quite a few others. Huang Shiyu was too lazy to continue recalling them. In the end, just as Li Xingzhou said, at this point in time, what he said could be completely ignored.
However, Huang Shiyu roughly knew the real reason why Li Xingzhou had agreed. After so much time had passed, she really didn't want to admit it. She knew Li Xingzhou well. Putting aside everything else, the two of them had been deskmates for at least three years.
He is the type of person who would help his competitors. The two were assigned to the same group because their grades were similar, and the teacher assigned them the positions with the understanding that they were both classmates and competitors.
When faced with a problem he couldn't solve, Li Xingzhou would generously offer his help, showing absolutely no fear that Huang Shiyu would surpass him.
After spending a long time with him, Huang Shiyu discovered that he also acted this way when he encountered opponents in competitions. Her curiosity was piqued, so she went to ask him about it.
His words surprised Huang Shiyu. He said, "This is a great opportunity to learn from others' strengths, and it's also the easiest opportunity to see their weaknesses."
It must be admitted that some people are born to strategize in the business world, and Li Xingzhou's vision and planning were clearly evident at this time, no, perhaps even earlier.
Li Xingzhou was about to start his car when suddenly two cars collided in front of him, and the guardrail on the side of the road was also damaged. It seemed that the collision between the vehicles was quite serious.
He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw no other vehicles behind him. Just as he was about to go around them, the driver of the sports car in front suddenly leaned out. In just one glance, Li Xingzhou saw Xiang Zhinan, that idiot.
Both of them unbuckled their seatbelts and headed south.
Before I even got to Xiang Zhinan's side, I saw Xiang Zhinan, who had been arguing with another car owner, suddenly jump onto his own sports car, holding something in his hand.
Huang Shiyu's eyesight was poor due to astigmatism, so he couldn't see very clearly. He could only hear Xiang Zhinan's strong voice: "I didn't drink any alcohol. This is milk tea, and it doesn't contain a single drop of alcohol. Besides, I was driving perfectly fine. A car changed lanes and I accidentally hit your car when I was trying to avoid it. I need to make that clear to you."
It turned out that Xiang Zhinan was holding a bottle of milk tea. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that she was leisurely drinking milk tea while dealing with the middle-aged man.
Xiang Zhinan's cheeks were puffed out, and his voice was a little muffled: "Didn't I already say to go with insurance?"
“You look like someone who doesn’t have a family yet. Don’t you know that everyone is rushing home at this hour?” The middle-aged man glanced at him, then at the sports car. “Besides, you look like someone who’s planning to go out too. Let’s just settle this privately. Going through insurance means waiting for the police to determine liability, which is so slow. We’re both in a hurry.”
Xiang Zhinan sipped his milk tea without speaking, clearly deep in thought. After a while, he realized the middle-aged man's words made sense. Since he wasn't short of money and didn't want to waste any more time there, he asked, "Name your price."
The middle-aged man clearly thought Xiang Zhinan was letting him extort money, and quoted a number: "Two hundred thousand."
Before Xiang Zhinan could react, Li Xingzhou walked over and said, "Let's just go with the insurance."
When Li Xingzhou arrived, he overheard the entire conversation and learned that Xiang Zhinan had swerved to avoid another car, which caused the collision with the middle-aged man's car. In principle, Xiang Zhinan should bear full responsibility, but the cause was the car that changed lanes.
The middle-aged man was clearly unconvinced: "No, look at the damage he did to the back of my car! I just bought this car not long ago. And the police determined the liability for my car insurance to be around this amount." He even gestured the number 200,000 towards Li Xingzhou.
He'd seen plenty of oddly dressed drivers on the road, so Li Xingzhou completely ignored the middle-aged man and insisted, "Let's go by insurance."
Huang Shiyu stood behind Li Xingzhou and Xiang Zhinan. She did not get involved in the matter. Firstly, she had never taken a driving test and only knew that an accident had occurred, but she did not know who was fully responsible. Secondly, she felt that she was no longer needed here, just like Xiang Zhinan. It was enough for Li Xingzhou to handle the matter.
Clearly, Xiang Zhinan in front had the same idea as her, planning to jump out of the car and take a good look at the extent of the damage to his beloved vehicle. As soon as he jumped out and turned around, he saw Huang Shiyu standing in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Xiang Zhinan was a little surprised, and then, considering Li Xingzhou's sudden appearance, she instantly understood. "Oh, I get it. You guys are all in the smart healthcare business, right? You must have some collaboration recently, right?"
She hasn't signed a contract with Li Xingzhou yet, so does this count as a collaboration? I guess so, since they just finalized the deal and it's still fresh in everyone's minds.
"More or less." In the end, I followed my heart.
"Let's go, let's go wait in the car first, we can leave this to him." Xiang Zhinan wasn't too curious about whether they would cooperate or not, he just wanted to find a warm place to stay as soon as possible, he hadn't dressed warmly enough today.
The late autumn wind blew mercilessly from the trouser legs all the way up to Huang Shiyu's fluffy hair, creating waves. It was so cold. Before leaving, Huang Shiyu turned around and glanced at Li Xingzhou, who was talking to the police. The man was tall and had long legs. Even when he was talking to someone with his head down, his back was very straight and he looked very handsome.
Xiang Zhinan had barely sat down, his backside still warm, when he started blurting out, "I was planning to go to a bar, but who knew this would happen? Oh my car, I just got it not long ago."
"It's good that everyone is alright."
The car was warm, and Huang Shiyu's voice was gentle. Her words seemed to have a truly comforting effect.
Although Huang Shiyu didn't recognize the car logos, she knew about Xiang Zhinan's car. She had seen someone driving a sports car with the same logo when she was strolling along the Bund with Lu Xiao. Lu Xiao had secretly told her that it was a convertible LaFerrari, and there were only four of them in the whole country.
The idea that scarcity increases value immediately popped into her head.
"How did it go? What did the police say?" Seeing Li Xingzhou get into the driver's seat, Xiang Zhinan immediately grabbed the front seat and leaned his whole body towards him.
"The police reviewed the surveillance footage and found that besides you and this driver, there was also the blue car that suddenly changed lanes. Ultimately, they determined that the blue car was primarily responsible." Li Xingzhou glanced at the face that was almost resting on his shoulder, not in a hurry to finish his sentence, "Do you think this has anything to do with you?"
"People can die knowing the truth before they die, there's no reason for me to guess here." Xiang Zhinan tried his best to maintain the leaning posture, which was quite uncomfortable for him due to his long arms and legs.
After finishing his water, Li Xingzhou slowly said, "You bear secondary responsibility. The other driver is not at fault; he was driving normally."
"So wouldn't you say he's trying to extort money from me? He asked for 200,000 yuan right off the bat, and all I saw on his car was a little paint damage on the back." The more he spoke, the faster he got, and his dissatisfaction almost filled the entire car. "And his car only had a small dent in the back where I hit it, and there was no other damage. Look at my car, the front of it just fell off."
Li Xingzhou turned his head to look at Xiang Zhinan and said, "Anyone who knows cars will see your car logo and then look at you. If they don't try to scam you, who will they scam?"
Xiang Zhinan was puzzled: "I understand the car logo, but what does it mean to look at me as a person?"
Huang Shiyu couldn't help but chuckle. Xiang Zhinan was indeed quite naive, not stupid. It was obvious that he had grown up in a very friendly environment, which had given him a childlike innocence. In this respect, he was quite similar to Li Xingzhou in the past, except that Xiang Zhinan was clearly even more so.
After she finished laughing, she sensed something was off in the car; it was too quiet. Li Xingzhou didn't answer Xiang Zhinan's question either, and the atmosphere was a little awkward. She happened to be looking out the window with her head turned to the side, and a thought crossed her mind. She shifted her gaze slightly to the side and then stopped.
Their eyes met deeply through the car window, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. The night was pitch black, and with no lights on inside the car, they could only make out a general outline by the streetlights.
Before she could even analyze the information contained in those eyes...
Xiang Zhinan seemed to understand the implication in Li Xingzhou's words, and lightly patted Li Xingzhou's driver's seat, "Are you saying I'm stupid?"
Li Xingzhou neither confirmed nor denied it, but instead instructed him: "If you encounter this kind of thing again in the future, just go through insurance. You can't use too much money like this."
After glancing at the police officer who had just released the middle-aged man, he said, "Go to the police station and sign the accident report quickly."
Xiang Zhinan clearly saw it too: "Oh, right, right, I'll go right now."
As soon as he got out of the car, he ran off at lightning speed. Looking at this wild horse, Huang Shiyu felt that Li Xingzhou beside him was taking care of a child. His tone of disciplining was similar to that of Lu Xiao disciplining Dou Dou.
Soon, Xiang Zhinan got back into the car and asked the two people in the front, "Where are you going? Are you going to a bar? I'm planning to go to the bar you own today. Is Helen coming?"
Xiang Zhinan's call was so loud that Huang Shiyu almost didn't react. Since leaving Speed Technology, fewer people have called her by that nickname.
Li Xingzhou started the car and glanced at Huang Shiyu in the mirror, as if he had only caught a glimpse of her while checking for cars behind him. "Do you think she's like you, spending her days just going for drives and having fun?"
"No way, this is just a normal way to relax. Look how hard you guys work all day, you need to take some free time for yourselves sometimes, don't you think, Helen?"
Huang Shiyu just smiled, neither saying he would go nor saying he wouldn't.
Xiang Zhinan thought that Li Xingzhou hadn't agreed yet, and Huang Shiyu was too embarrassed to speak up, so she said, "It's okay, don't listen to this workaholic. He doesn't leave himself any leisure time at all, and I don't know what he's doing opening that bar. It doesn't make much money."
Li Xingzhou pondered for a moment, as if he had just come up with the answer, and then slowly said, "Isn't everything we do in life based on the premise of making money?"
Huang Shiyu, who was quietly watching from the side, heard Li Xingzhou's words and her big, dark eyes darted around a few times. She really didn't know that Li Xingzhou actually opened a bar. Could it be that the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Group's business had been updated again? But after hearing what he said, it seemed that it was his idea to open it.
Hearing this, Xiang Zhinan's eyes widened in surprise, and he replied, "Yes, yes, you're trying to give me more value again."
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Xiang Zhinan said before Li Xingzhou could say anything more outrageous.
In the end, we went to the bar owned by Li Xingzhou, which is on Fenyang Road and only takes a few minutes to get there.
As soon as Huang Shiyu got out of the car, he immediately noticed the name of the bar, which was too eye-catching.
The area outside the bar was pitch black. The two characters "渡已" (Du Yi) stood out like a piece of firewood thrown into a fire, making the sky brighter. The two characters stood on the roof of the bar, as if framing the bar and the world around it.
The doors for coming and going are designed in an interesting way; I don't know if it was done to cater to the students from the music academy next door, or if they simply like the style.
Huang Shiyu was quite curious about the use of musical notation as a door, her gaze lingering on the notes until Xiang Zhinan's voice drew her attention back.
"Isn't it different from other bars? Let me tell you, every single plant here has been ravaged by boats."
This piqued her interest. She hadn't really believed Li Xingzhou when he first told her, and now that Li Xingzhou had gone to park the car and wasn't around, she felt that Xiang Zhinan could tell something at a glance.
Huang Shiyu asked, "Can smoking really kill plants?"
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