Chapter 13
Adjust Your Mentality
The two male colleagues were reluctant to come with Xing Shu in the first place. Now that they finally found a way to vent their anger, they left with Hu Jie without hesitation.
“Hu Jie, don’t be sad. Xing Shu can’t handle such a big project on her own.”
“Xing Shu is too arrogant. Let’s go back first and see what she can do on her own.” The two male colleagues pushed all the blame to Xing Shu, as if everything was Xing Shu’s fault.
When Hu Jie heard this, she felt a little better. She bit her lip and sighed. “Sigh, it’s still best to leave negotiations to men. After I become the Manager, I’ll have to trouble you guys to work harder!” Men liked to hear such words—flattery—even if it meant more work for them.
Hu Jie instantly won the hearts of the two male colleagues, and the three of them bought plane tickets back. Xing Shu was the only one left in the waiting area at the reception. She blinked her sore eyes—tucked her hair behind her ear—and continued to peruse the information. Only then did she realize that there was a new email in her inbox. She opened it and saw that it was from Cheng Lang. There was only a single question mark.
Xing Shu hesitated for a few seconds before deleting the email. She had to adjust her mentality. It was fine as long as their relationship ended in the bed and maintained their distance outside of the bedroom.
At the thought of this, Xing Shu perused the information even more thoroughly. She could rely on nobody but herself. After waiting for more than an hour, President Chen walked in, accompanied by two staff.
Xing Shu quickly closed her laptop and went up to him. “President Chen, long time no see.” She stretched out her hand and looked smilingly at President Chen. President Chen vaguely remembered Xing Shu’s face. But when he thought of the purchase agreement that had yet to appear, his face darkened as he felt that he had been played by Cheng Corporation Group. “Miss Xing, what are you doing here?”
Xing Shu said, “President Chen, it’s my oversight that the purchase agreement has not been submitted yet. However, I hope you can give me another chance. This is the prospectus that I have drafted for Lirong Corporation. I hope you can read it before making a decision.”
President Chen was in his forties and had an upright appearance. He looked at the thick volume of prospectus—raised his eyebrows—and flipped through it briefly. “It’s rather thick…” Usually, a prospectus consisted of only a few pages, but this one actually had more than 70 pages.
“It contains my overview of Lirong Corporation’s business, asset analysis, and so on. President Chen, you have 100% control over Lirong Corporation. You should know that what Lirong Corporation needs the most is the chance to go public.” Xing Shu’s 70-plus-page prospectus had indeed moved President Chen. It was not how professional the prospectus was, but rather, Xing Shu’s attitude.
President Chen glanced at the watch on his wrist and his expression softened. “You only have 10 minutes. I still have to meet people from other companies in ten minutes.”
Xing Shu heaved a sigh of relief and made a “this way, please” gesture.
After the two of them sat down, President Chen went straight to the point. “Although going public is good, it goes against our business philosophy.” Lirong Corporation valued the quality of their product. The cost of going public was too high. For the company, going public could bring more financing and expand the company’s size. To the shareholders, they could quickly cash out, but there would also be many negative effects. The company would be curtailed by short-term benefits, and the quality of the product would deteriorate. This was something President Chen did not want to see.
“President Chen, the role of a company is to create jobs and produce new products. If the company focuses all its energy on repaying its debts in the future, it can’t guarantee the quality of its products. You have absolute control of the company now. Cheng Corporation Group can promise you here that once the acquisition is successful, Lirong Corporation can use Cheng Corporation Group to get listed but you will still retain control of the company. Cheng Corporation Group will spend more money on product development and won’t force your company headquarters to relocate.” Xing Shu’s offer was a huge temptation to President Chen. Although other companies offered a higher price, no amount of money can trump control.
President Chen studied Xing Shu carefully. He knew that he could not show that he was too tempted, or he would lose the bargaining power. “Miss Xing, if I can receive the purchase agreement from Cheng Corporation Group before nine o’clock tomorrow, we can talk about it in detail.” After all, all the conditions now were empty promises given by Xing Shu.
Xing Shu heaved a sigh of relief. The scale of Lirong Corporation was indeed nothing to Cheng Corporation Group. Maintaining control was not significant, so it was fine to give it to President Chen. However, the most important thing now was to submit the purchase agreement. President Chen was obviously tempted by her offer. As long as the purchase agreement was submitted, the acquisition of Lirong Corporation was a sure bet, a shoo-in.