Chapter 55
“Do you want to ask me out?”
It was an unexpected question that silenced the room.
“What?!” Jiang Chen suddenly realized what she had asked and almost fell off the sofa. He stared at Xia Shiyu and was dumbfounded by the question.
He didn’t understand where her logic came from. How did she come up with the “I want to ask you out”?
“The existence of the corporation serves one purpose which is to create profit. If you already have a method in which you could generate a profit greater than one hundred million within half a year, then why would you invest the hard earned profit into a technology industry which poses the highest risk?” Xia Shiyu had paused before she explained.
To be honest, although she may get frustrated by his grin and unserious attitude from time to time, she never disliked Jiang Chen. Also, she felt an emotion she never experienced before interacting with him.
Relieved? Relaxed? It was hard to say.
These feelings made her confused.
The straightforward and unexpected question was the result of her confused emotions.
She suspected before that Jiang Chen created this company as an excuse to date her.
[When did he start to like me? When he worked at the clothing store? I seemed to have hurt him. Because of the pain I had brought him, it has forced him to transition to where he is now.]
Xia Shiyu was conflicted. She hated the idea of becoming a trophy. She always wanted to use her determination to prove her ability and create her own personal worth.
When she was in university, a lot of rich guys chased after her and even promised her job opportunities in reputable firms, and even management positions right away. But Xia Shiyu rejected all of them. She had her own pride, a pride backed by ability. Although she was born into an ordinary family, what she possessed was anything but normal.
Looks are important in this day and age, but it is not everything. Most people still worked diligently.
However, she felt conflicted with Jiang Chen.
She guessed that Jiang Chen created this company just to keep her here. He didn’t have any aspirations with the company. The blueprinted he painted were just bloated statements to make her feel better.
[Because I owed him? No, then what is it?] Xia Shiyu couldn’t think it through.
Women are stubborn creatures that once they made up their mind, they would selectively ignore all other points that negate the point. For example the potential value of the mobile game, as well as investing one hundred million just for her.
All those counter arguments have been fully ignored.
“I don’t understand, one hundred million RMB. If you invest it in real estate, with the return now…”
“Because I want to experience what it feels like to be at the top,” Jiang Chen interrupted her.
Xia Shiyu was confused by the odd answer as she stared at Jiang Chen blankly.
“One hundred million? Hehe, it would only be decimals compared to the future market capitalization of Future Technology. I did make a lot of money, but putting it in a savings account would never bring me to the top. One million interests a year would take me years to double my investment. As to if it is for you? Hehe, I could bang girls for years with one hundred million.” He didn’t avoid the derogatory words as he stood up and headed straight to the door, leaving Xia Shiyu shocked in place.
[So that’s the reason? Then it should be okay…]
She gazed mindlessly at the door as she didn’t know how he had the confidence to say those things, and couldn’t believe that she bought into it.
[Not because of me?]
She didn’t know why a hint of disappointment crept into her heart.
He closed the door and forced a smile at the door behind him.
[Was I too harsh?
But that girl, how great did she feel about herself to have made a conclusion like that?]
He shook his head as he took a deep breath and walked downstairs.
However, he didn’t even realize that, for a split moment, his heartbeat hastened.
The next morning, Jiang Chen took Ayesha to try some steamy buns. He watched as the girl devoured the food and he felt his heart ache at the scene. The image reminded him of Sun Jiao. How is she doing? Yao Yao? Is her body getting better?
He remembered the times in the apocalypse as a smile appeared on his face.
Ayesha peaked at the smile as she felt a stream of warmness flowing inside her.
Maybe it’s time to revisit them. Jiang Chen in deep thought did not notice the girl’s vision as he gazed at the steam rising from the congee.
After breakfast, Ayesha went to her Han lesson. Jiang Chen, instead, took a taxi to Xia Shiyu’s place and picked her up to go to the bureau for the equity infusion process.
Jiang Chen initially felt nervous as he was afraid it would be awkward because yesterday he only left a brief explanation before running away. Now that he thought about, he did escape the conversation.
But he clearly overthought it as Xia Shiyu acted as if nothing had happened. When she saw that he didn’t react to anything, she got into the taxi and sat beside him.
“How was your sleep last night?” Jiang Chen didn’t know how to start the conversation, so he asked nonchalantly.
Xia Shiyu rolled her eyes and didn’t respond. She just took out a piece of document and stuffed it into Jiang Chen’s lap.
“There is a career fair next Wednesday at Wanghai University. I have managed to secure a spot there, and I hope you can come with me as the company’s president.”
“No problem, do you have time this afternoon.” Jiang Chen accepted without hesitation as he then asked another question right away.
“Yes, what’s happening?”
“Go house hunting with me.” Jiang Chen shrugged as he asked with his thick skin.
“Is this considered business or personal?” Xia Shiyu let out a sigh.
“Umm, you promised me. It should be considered personal.”
Xia Shiyu looked at the side of Jiang Chen’s face as she subconsciously bit her lips.
She was about to reject him, but the words never came out. Why is this happening? She still didn’t fully understand.
The night before, Jiang Chen followed Robert’s instruction to wire one hundred million USD from his Swiss bank account to his account here. Of course, the money was already converted based on current exchange rate along with some fees into RMB.
It was an interesting method with a low price. Robert promised that there won’t be any legal problems.
He looked at the trail of zeros in his bank account on his phone as he laughed hysterically at the screen for a while before he finally closed his phone. As to Xia Shiyu’s curious gaze, he didn’t bother to explain it and simply closed his eyes.
[Should I drive a Lamborghini? Or a Bentley? This is such a difficult decision.]
Xia Shiyu was indeed an organized person as she seemed to be a perfect fit to do the assistant job. No, the CEO job. Jiang Chen can “do” the assistant role.
Xia Shiyu already prepared the necessary documents and familiarized herself with the legal process. Jiang Chen had scanned the document before he signed. Future Technology’s equity had a trail of zeros added to it.
Jiang Chen noticed that when he wrote one hundred million into the document, the eyes of the customer service representative across the counter were flashing stares at him.
Money is the root of evil. This is too funny.
Before he would have despised it, but now he only wanted to laugh.
“One hundred million of liquid asset. This is unbelievable.” With trembling hands, Xia Shiyu looked at the documents. She was still shocked by the series of events.
Although she was a store manager that had exposure to the world before, she was still too young.
“This is only the initial plan, I plan to make this mobile game into a world-class masterpiece. With this plan, it wouldn’t be difficult to recover the initial investment.” Jiang Chen opened the door for Xia Shiyu like a gentleman.
“So you do know something.” Xia Shiyu glanced at Jiang Chen with surprise in her eyes. She thought that Jiang Chen wanted to let her handle this pile of mess.
For a mobile game, it would damage its long term profitability if the company chased after short-term returns and cash generation. The better strategy would always be to not focus on short term losses.
“You have to understand the difference between the emperor and the general. You are in charge of fighting the war, but I, only need to tell you where to fight.” Jiang Chen cockily extended his finger and pointed around which made Xia Shiyu roll her eyes.
“I do feel like I am doing a servant’s work.”
“Haha, that’s your illusion. But to be fair, your mood seems to be a lot brighter. You can even make a joke or two now,” Jiang Chen looked at Xia Shiyu with surprise as he mocked her.
“Where are we going now? Mr. President.” Xia Shiyu casually avoided the topic.
“Wanhua Real Estate, the one in the city center,” Jiang Chen told the taxi driver, who clearly judged the two of them in the back.
If he wanted to buy a mansion, then he obviously would go to the company’s best location. It would be too low class to keep living in the hotel.
“…”Xia Shiyu didn’t say anything as she quietly followed his instructions.
Wanhua Real Estate, the industry leader in Wanghai City with a market capitalization of 1.327 trillion and part of the Fortune 500 companies. The reason why he chose to purchase the mansion here was that he had no understanding of the real estate market. Since he heard the company’s name a couple of times in the news before, he decided to buy it there.
When he got off the taxi, a magnificent building stood tall in front him. The marble floor was covered with clean red carpets. The unique carvings decorated the sides of the stairs. The combination of modernism and classicalness perfectly meshed together to display the high-end elegance of the building. The vibe of the design made people stop and envy the greatness of the building. The occasional passer would subconsciously avoid the vivid red carpet.
It was like a palace that stood heavenly above the ground.
The design of the building was to emphasize the purchaser’s class and force the peasants to stay away.
To put it simply, they didn’t want people who could not afford the place to enter the building.
The moment Jiang Chen stood on the carpet, he was even scared to take a step further. But then he remembered that he was a billionaire now, so how could he not have the confidence. So he took giant strides towards the door.
Wanhua Real Estate didn’t know that just in the few seconds, he almost missed a deal that could earn millions because of that stupid design.
This was an age that belonged to the new millionaires.
Xia Shiyu, instead, presumed a blank look as she followed Jiang Chen naturally. Not because she was used to the high-class life, just that she wasn’t the one purchasing the house.
“Welcome, Miss and Mister.” The two greeters in the front bowed to Jiang Chen and Xia Shiyu in synchrony. They wore clean and elegant Qipaos with their hair tied in a ponytail, along with their flawless skin and delicate face. Even the greeters were gorgeous girls which further emphasized the luxury of this real estate company.
The greeter looked strangely at Jiang Chen as this was the first time she saw someone take a Taxi to purchase real estate.
Although she was curious, she still must follow the rules of the company and be courteous. The company rules stated clearly that no judgment should be made based on impressions. Violators will be fired even if it was a manager that broke the rule. This was to avoid accidentally disrespecting wealthy people dressed in regular clothes.
There were plenty of people that liked to act low profile.
High salary equals high expectation, which is the culture of Wanhua Real Estate.
She was a greeter and therefore didn’t need to bother with these things. Even if Jiang Chen was here to look for trouble, that’s security’s concern.
Jiang Chen didn’t bother with what they thought as he walked into the grand hall in full, confident strides. Xia Shiyu behind him only glanced at the greeter with her head lowered before she left.
Marble pillars with stone floors, the giant crystal chandelier drew the attention of every visitor like a bright diamond. The elegant design of the grand hall filled Jiang Chen with expectations for the mansion he was going to purchase. If they would design the headquarter with such radiance, then the house they sell must be comparable.
The building itself was a great advertisement.
But when he saw the receptionist, he stood shocked in place.