Chapter 125: Chapter 125 Heading to Guangcheng
 

On the first day of the ninth lunar month.

Xu Yang arrived at Jiang Di Lao and first went to the Finance Department to see Zhou Ruyan.

Before appointing Zhou Ruyan as Zhao Hai’s assistant, he needed to ask if Zhou Ruyan was willing.

If Zhou Ruyan was unwilling, a forced appointment would definitely be inappropriate.

If she was reluctant, he could find another way to bring them together later. It would just be a slower process.

In fact, when it came to Liu Yujuan wanting to get back together with Zhao Hai, as long as Zhao Hai wasn’t out of his mind or kicked in the head by a donkey, he would never agree.

This was something Xu Yang didn’t need to worry about at all.

The matter was even smoother than Xu Yang had anticipated. Upon learning that she was to be Zhao Hai’s assistant, Zhou Ruyan simply stated, “I accept the company’s arrangement.”

She was a smart person and knew it must be Zhao Yuxin trying to match her with Zhao Hai.

She accepted the favor, because she truly liked Zhao Hai.

After leaving the Finance Department, Xu Yang convened a meeting with the executives.

“Considering General Manager Zhao Hai’s busy schedule, he needs someone to share the workload. Let Zhou Ruyan be the General Manager’s assistant!”

Xu Yang directly announced the appointment.

Nobody was surprised at this appointment.

The General Manager indeed needed an assistant.

The previous General Manager did have an assistant, who was a confidant of the boss. After the boss left, that assistant resigned.

Since Zhao Hai took office, he had not recruited an assistant.

Some vice presidents had suggested that it was too much for Zhao Hai and he should hire an assistant.

However, Zhao Hai said he could still manage and did not agree to it.

Therefore, Zhao Hai had been without an assistant.

Now that Zhao Hai needed an assistant, it was perfectly normal.

But to have Zhou Ruyan, the Finance Manager, take up the role of General Manager’s assistant was somewhat unexpected to everyone.

Nonetheless, they didn’t think too much of it.

This was a routine personnel move and none of their business.

Even if some made any inferences, they wouldn’t say anything.

As long as they did their own jobs well, that was enough.

Sometimes, spreading untruthful gossip that one shouldn’t can be damaging to one’s career.

Only those with no aspirations would concern themselves with others’ gossip everywhere.

The meeting ended quickly.

After handling this matter, Xu Yang discussed with Zhao Hai about the expansion of Jiang Di Lao and then left.

The new year had passed, and Jiang Di Lao was ready to begin its full-scale expansion.

Starting from the four major first-tier cities and then to second-tier cities, they aimed to spread rapidly to build an empire of hotpot restaurants.

Jiang Yuheng and Su Wenbin had already invested in the company. If there was any obstacle they couldn’t overcome, they would turn to those two for solutions.

Their shares were not for free; when needed, they were expected to take action.

…

On the tenth day of the lunar month.

Xu Yang, accompanied by the General Manager of Yangxin Company along with lawyers and financial staff, took a flight to Guangcheng.

They arrived in Guangcheng around noon.

After checking into their reserved hotel, the group had lunch in the restaurant and rested briefly in their rooms before asking the hotel to arrange for a car to take them to Hui’an Pharmaceuticals.

Hui’an Pharmaceuticals was located in a high-tech industrial park.

At this moment, Ye Kaifeng, the owner of Hui’an Pharmaceuticals, was standing at the entrance of the company with his executives, awaiting Xu Yang’s arrival.

Gao Zimo, who was not an executive, stood out notably beside Ye Kaifeng.

The executives had no complaints about this arrangement, only envy.

This was because they all knew it was Gao Zimo who had brought in the investors.

During this time, the executive managers had been leveraging their connections to find investors.

But they had found none, as everyone deemed the development of a stomach cancer treatment drug too unreliable.

No one believed that Hui’an Pharmaceuticals could achieve such a feat.

Unexpectedly, a minor researcher from the R&D department had actually pulled in an investor.

If this investor really put in the money, Gao Zimo would obtain one percent of the company’s shares and also receive a promotion.

If the company could succeed in developing the stomach cancer drug with this investment, its future development would be rapid.

The net worth of these executives would also soar.

Salaries would certainly increase, and so would bonuses.

“Little Gao, thank you for this. Rest assured, as soon as your classmate invests, I will immediately fulfill my promise,”

Ye Kaifeng hadn’t had a good year at all, not in the slightest.

The company’s funds could only last until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

If they couldn’t secure an investment before the fifteenth, the company would be left without funds, just waiting for death.

Over the years, he had sold his villa for the sake of developing this stomach cancer drug.

He had sold the several luxury cars he’d bought and now drove a dilapidated Audi A6, which was even inferior to the cars driven by mid-level managers in his company.

Now, he and his wife and children were living in a rented house.

Fortunately, he had a virtuous wife who never complained about the changes in their life and silently supported him.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to persist and would probably have collapsed by now.

As the company faced closure due to the lack of funds, his heart was filled with unwillingness.

But what good was this unwillingness?

All his connections had been tapped, every potential investor had been met, and every stone had been turned, yet they couldn’t attract any investment.

Unexpectedly, right after the new year, on the first day back at work, the R&D department manager brought Gao Zimo to see him, explaining that Gao Zimo had found a classmate interested in investing.

This news thrilled him.

When he inquired about Gao Zimo’s classmate, Xu Yang, the owner of Fengcai Guild and Jiang Di Lao, he was staggered.

He also knew that the owner of Jiang Di Lao was known for acquiring Fengkai Mining’s South American aluminum mine for fifty million yuan, discovering a huge aluminum resource there, and then selling it back to Fengkai Mining for 1.6 billion yuan.

This investment case had been discussed by many investors.

He had heard about it while seeking investments himself.

This showed that Gao Zimo’s classmate had real strength and vision.

Since there was an intention to invest, there was a high probability that the investment would happen.

So, Ye Kaifeng instructed Gao Zimo to immediately contact Xu Yang, and they agreed that Xu Yang would visit the company at three o’clock that afternoon for an evaluation.

If everything looked good after the inspection, he would invest.

Indeed, to show his sincerity, Ye Kaifeng, along with a group of executives, stood at the company’s entrance to welcome Xu Yang by half past two.

The temperature today was ten degrees, cloudy, and there was a strong wind howling.

Ye Kaifeng and the other executives had their hair disheveled by the wind and felt a bit cold.

Despite that, no one dared to utter a single complaint.

With someone willing to invest, the company could survive; a bit of wind was nothing to them.

It didn’t matter that it was just ten degrees or that the wind was strong.

Even if it was minus ten degrees and snowing, they would still have to stand here.

This was about everyone’s livelihood.

The executives were all highly paid; some even had incentive shares.

If the company successfully developed the stomach cancer drug, their salaries and bonuses would increase significantly.

Compared to the gains they would potentially reap in the future, braving this wind was truly trivial.

“Thank you, President Ye,” Gao Zimo expressed his gratitude.

He couldn’t be sure if Xu Yang would invest until the last moment, so it wasn’t a good time to say much.