Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!
Chapter 438 - 356 "This Child is Like Me

Chapter 438: Chapter 356 "This Child is Like Me

In the small reception room at Star City, a brief silence descended.

In just over three minutes, Cheng Zhu had managed to persuade Yue Dongyi to double his investment from 80 million to 160 million by describing Youu Tea’s innovative business model, which was unlike anything in the traditional milk tea industry.

But no one expected that he would reject the offer so decisively.

Moreover, he set the price at one billion.

It was a good thing that Shen Minglang wasn’t present at the time, otherwise he would definitely have blurted out, "Cousin, have you gone mad?"

Cheng Zhu’s approach was indeed puzzling.

When Tiancheng Capital had approached him and were a minute late, he immediately raised the price to 130 million.

"Add a billion for being one minute late"—this phrase had been causing quite a stir in the investment circle recently.

There was no helping it, the story really grabbed attention, and it was hard not to take notice.

Of course, the discerning few in the investment circle were well aware that the young founder of Youu Tea had probably set his expectations high from the start and what he wanted was not the mere 30 million initially offered by Tiancheng Capital.

Yue Dongyi had just made some quick calculations in his mind.

He felt that given Youu Tea’s current situation, they would need to burn through at least a billion in 2015 alone.

This was just a baseline figure.

Adding several tens of millions would provide a bit more breathing room.

Yue Dongyi felt that the amount of 160 million would be enough for the young man to make bold moves in 2015.

With his sharp business instincts, he was extremely optimistic about the prospects of high-end internet-famous milk tea.

In his view, it might not even take three years, maybe around two years, or even within two years, Youu Tea could start its second round of financing!

Once the second round of financing began, the amounts raised would be much more substantial than merely one or two billion.

These figures would snowball, reaching an astonishingly staggering amount!

For Yue Dongyi, if he was exceptionally bullish on the Youu Tea project, the more he invested in the first round, the greater the subsequent returns would be.

This way, when it moved into the second or even third round of financing, Pulin Capital would have more room to maneuver.

But he didn’t expect Cheng Zhu to outright refuse, without even giving it a second thought.

"Does he think Pulin Capital would own too much if we invested 160 million?" Yue Dongyi wondered.

The entire conversation had initially been under his control, but with Cheng Zhu’s two interjections, it seemed the rhythm had started to falter.

Yue Lingjing watched from the side, her initial distraction turning into curiosity.

She too began to wonder what exactly Cheng Zhu was thinking.

"Mr. Cheng, you should be aware that one billion, for Youu Tea, I can only say is... just enough," Yue Dongyi said.

He watched Cheng Zhu, who remained composed, and suddenly smiled.

"I nearly forgot, Mr. Cheng isn’t a typical freshman. Managing an e-commerce business to this extent in just a few months, you must also have a sizeable sum of readily available funds."

Cheng Zhu: "..."

Indeed, his identity as a QQ Tycoon was as clear as glass to Pulin Capital, impossible to conceal.

In the age of big data, what company you’ve opened, what enterprises you’ve invested in, how much equity you own... even in 2015, such information wasn’t hard to find.

Yue Dongyi also knew about another guy on Youu Tea’s team called Shen Minglang, whose family background was no ordinary matter.

He hadn’t mentioned QQ Underwear directly because Jingjing was sitting beside him.

As an uncle, he was somewhat reluctant to utter those words in front of Jingjing.

In fact, Yue Dongyi had taken some time to learn about Cheng Zhu’s operation of QQ Underwear.

He didn’t harbour any prejudice or discrimination against this young man for selling such sensitive items.

On the contrary, he thought Cheng Zhu was full of ideas.

His path might be unconventional, but it was solid!

Those in investment care about return on investment.

Many projects with grey areas are backed by large investment firms.

What Cheng Zhu was doing was legal business, so what’s the issue?

Actually, through QQ Underwear, one could see how savvy this young man was with marketing.

It seemed he could deploy different marketing strategies for different businesses!

He was a pure marketing genius!

For this reason, Yue Dongyi was somewhat reluctant to invest only one billion.

From his past investment experiences, it was clear that he was not one for minor ventures.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become such a legendary figure in the investment field.

"One billion is too little for us at Pulin Capital," Yue Dongyi said.

Yue Lingjing, listening from the side, found the scene before her quite magical.

To her knowledge, in the past, many project leaders had humbled themselves, begging Uncle Yue for investment and using all sorts of connections to get a leg up from Pulin Capital.

Like her father, who was always self-pitying and aware that he was not favored by his brother-in-law, often lamented in front of his daughter, "Yue Dongyi is just overwhelmed by people begging him every day!"

But now, Pulin Capital wanted to give more money, and the other party refused to take it!

"Mr. Yue, isn’t investment about return?" Cheng Zhu said, "I believe that an investment of one billion will definitely yield returns that far exceed your current expectations, perhaps even multiplying them severalfold!"

"Oh? Are you that confident?" Yue Dongyi raised his gaze toward him.

He felt that this young man before him was rather bold.

Their earlier conversation had a clear implication.

Yue Dongyi was complaining that the returns were too small.

Cheng Zhu was telling him, if you think you want a fivefold return, I can make it tenfold or even fifteenfold!

In the end, what you gain will be far more than what you’re currently estimating based on 160 million!

At that moment, Cheng Zhu calmly lowered his gaze to his phone, meeting Yue Dongyi’s eyes.

"Five minutes left, with just under twenty seconds remaining," he said.

He abruptly brought the topic back to when Yue Dongyi gave him fifteen minutes, which Cheng Zhu insisted he only needed five.

He’s reminding Mr. Yue that the negotiated five minutes aren’t up yet!

The "story" I’m telling still isn’t quite... complete!

Cheng Zhu began to describe content beyond the PPT.

"What I’ve just described is Youu Tea’s existing business model."

"There will be a new model in ’15."

In the final seconds, he uttered three words.

Those mere three words caused Yue Dongyi to furrow his brow, lost in thought.

Cheng Zhu spoke of "Brand Collaboration!"

...

...

Yue Dongyi and Yue Lingjing left.

It was after they exchanged contact information with Cheng Zhu and shook hands that they departed.

Within those five minutes, Cheng Zhu had convinced him.

In the first three-plus minutes, he increased 80 million to 160 million, from wanting to share the risk with other capitals to wanting to participate alone in the first round of financing.

But the final few seconds were the most critical.

Or perhaps, it was the last three words uttered by Cheng Zhu that convinced Yue Dongyi to invest just one billion.

Yue Lingjing watched and listened, yet she was still slightly confused by the end.

She studied fashion design, and collaboration tactics existed in the fashion industry too.

Only that it was just the beginning of ’15, and the trend for such collaborations hadn’t really taken off extensively yet—unlike several years later, when even luxury brands started crazy collaborations for hype and profit, with Balenciaga and Gucci’s collaboration being quite iconic.

"But how could milk tea possibly pull off a collaboration?" Yue Lingjing couldn’t quite wrap her head around it.

As they got into the business vehicle, Yue Dongyi looked at Yue Lingjing and said with a smile, "Jingjing, your schoolmate is very interesting."

Little Wu, the driver sitting in the driver’s seat, was surprised to hear these words.

He seldom heard Mr. Yue praise someone like this, especially when the other party was just a college student.

"Uncle, can collaboration really popularize a milk tea brand?" Yue Lingjing rarely showed interest in business matters.

"The effect is definitely there, but it really depends on how he executes it," Yue Dongyi replied, "To be precise, I haven’t seen many milk tea brands doing this kind of collaboration."

"Whether it works or not, I honestly don’t know either," Yue Dongyi said.

"The real outcome would depend on practical execution. However, just having this kind of idea is very impressive."

"Plus, I can tell he takes this collaboration idea very seriously and has big ambitions for it," Yue Dongyi said solemnly.

"Jingjing, just imagine, if Youu Tea didn’t have the backing of Pulin Capital, what level of brands do you think they could collaborate with?"

"Definitely not the big ones," Yue Lingjing replied.

This was common sense.

Sure, your store is popular, but so what?

You’re still just a budding sapling, how could you have the audacity to propose such a request?

What credentials do you have to collaborate with us big brands? Don’t we lose out?

Given the current stage of Youu Tea, there’s simply no chance for them to collaborate with top brands, and even if there were, it would be a very unequal partnership, with the parties not being on equal footing.

But... if you say you are backed by Pulin Capital, and the partner who invested in your project is Yue Dongyi, the legendary figure of the investment world, who just raised a billion for you?

"Hello! Pleasure doing business!!!"

Yue Dongyi smiled, "So you see, this guy has had a step-by-step plan all along, he’s been waiting here already!"

"Even if I hadn’t come today, he would’ve found a way to connect with other leading venture capitalists."

"We investors sometimes invest in not just the project, but the person behind the project."

"This Cheng Zhu is full of ideas, very smart, ha-ha, he reminds me a bit of myself when I was young," Yue Dongyi’s laughter was hearty.

—Classic example of "I see myself in him."

"What this guy wanted, wasn’t just money from the start!"

"He also wanted resources, he wanted to leverage!"

...

(ps: First update, seeking monthly tickets!

Today, my head doesn’t hurt as much, but my neck is in pain, puzzling...)