Chapter 35 Discussing Cooperation
“Bye-bye!”

Standing at the dormitory door, Li Xinran waved goodbye to Xu Yuandao with some reluctance.

Xu Yuandao also waved back at her, then got into Ye Hao’s car.

A luxury car parked at the dormitory entrance naturally attracted a lot of attention. Although Ye Sisi was a bit too lively, she was usually very low-key and had never revealed her family’s wealth background.

So many girls in the dormitory, seeing this scene, excitedly ran out, eager to get the first-hand gossip.

“Sisi, Xinran! Who was that handsome guy just now? I think he looks like the Ice City Beverage Hero from the forum!”

Li Xinran looked at the somewhat lovestruck girl and couldn’t help but feel a bit proud, saying, “That’s my boyfriend!”

This was the first time Li Xinran told outsiders that Xu Yuan was her boyfriend. Unfortunately, Xu Yuan was not present.

“Ah?” The girl on the other side was obviously a bit surprised; she was more inclined to believe that Xu Yuan was Ye Sisi’s boyfriend.

After all, Xu Yuan was dressed in a flashy and handsome manner. Meanwhile, Li Xinran wore a long-time worn jacket with an inner lining suitable for all seasons, and a pair of originally light yellow pants that had now faded to white from washing.

No matter how you looked at it, the two didn’t seem to match.

In fact, even though Li Xinran wore glasses and didn’t deliberately dress up, her appearance was still quite striking.

Only the loose clothes completely concealed her almost godlike figure. And those thick lenses made her look somewhat dull.

After returning to the dormitory, Li Xinran seemed to have made up her mind and said to Ye Sisi, “Sisi, do you know how much laser surgery costs?”

Wearing glasses is too troublesome; they always slip down during dissections, affecting the operation.

Also, my hair is too messy, which also has an impact.”

Ye Sisi slightly squinted her eyes upon hearing this and asked suspiciously, “Is it really because it affects your dissection? But haven’t you always been first in the lab class?”

  ……

  ……

“Taking you back?” Ye Hao took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, surprisingly the same Old Building brand Xu Yuan smoked last time.

Such a big boss actually smokes such cheap cigarettes.

Ye Hao handed Xu Yuan a cigarette.

“President Ye, let’s get straight to the point. Zhang Ming’s character animation, let’s cooperate,” Xu Yuan said calmly after taking a deep drag.

Ye Hao didn’t respond immediately, seeming to be thinking. The two were now considered friends, but in business, there is no such thing as friends.

Just like him and Zhang Chao, even though they have been friends for many years, if Zhang Chao had to choose again, he would still choose Xu Yuan’s investment. And Ye Hao would naturally feel it was justified and wouldn’t get angry because of it.

The car window slowly rolled down, and Xu Yuan didn’t rush to urge a response from the other party, instead enjoying the view of the tall buildings outside.

“Does President Xu think I can’t handle it?” Ye Hao finally spoke, pondering why Xu Yuan wanted to propose cooperation.

Zhang Ming’s company has great potential; its Toutiao app has only been online for two months but has already dominated a region. However, since its scale is still insufficient, no one can guarantee what will happen in the future.

Ye Hao felt there was absolutely no reason for the two companies to cooperate.

“Yes!” Xu Yuan answered very honestly.

“Two hundred and fifteen million, I think even buying Character Jump wouldn’t be a problem!” Ye Hao revealed his bottom price without any hesitation. Because he believed that even if Xu Yuan didn’t know now, if he decided to make a move, Zhang Ming would truthfully inform him.

It must be said that Longhua Capital was indeed wealthy and powerful. Even in Xu Yuan’s previous life, the name Longhua Capital was well-known.

“That’s true, this is the current price of Character Jump, and you even paid more.” Xu Yuan nodded, “Ye Hao, I really offered Zhang Ming 215 million to propose acquiring the company.”

The other party would definitely agree without hesitation, then turn around and sell the shares they hold. Doing so would be meaningless.

Even if Ye Hao, out of caution, had the other party sign a non-compete agreement, it would be to no avail.

“Does President Ye believe me? The future belongs to self-media. Character Jump will grow into an existence that both you and I will look up to,” Xu Yuan continued calmly.

Ye Hao flicked the cigarette from his hand, his expression a bit doubtful: “President Xu, you’re that confident?”

Xu Yuan did not respond. Ye Hao probably had the same thought in his mind, but he was not as determined as Xu Yuan, who had been reborn. There was no need for him to explain too much; Ye Hao would make the choice.

“What do you want to do?” Ye Hao finally compromised.

“Establish a new company, with you and me each holding 50%. The company will jointly invest in ByteDance.

One hundred thirty million, for 35% equity. At the same time, it must be clearly stated in the contract that we have absolute participation rights in every future round of financing for ByteDance!”

Xu Yuan’s idea was simple; he didn’t care about decision-making power, that was not important at all. Zhang Ming would handle everything well, they were just picking the fruit.

Pushing too hard would only backfire; in that case, Zhang Ming would definitely choose to give up Character Pulse and start his own venture.

“President Xu, I understand that you don’t want to interfere with management, but I’m not satisfied with 35%!”

Ye Hao shook his head. Since he had recognized the potential of Character Pulse, he wanted to maximize the benefits. He estimated in his mind that he should get at least 60%.

As for whether Zhang Ming can be retained and whether the other party’s say can be preserved, it’s just a matter of adding a few more pages to the contract.

“President Ye, if it’s ten yuan, even taking it all wouldn’t be much. But if it’s one hundred million, even just 1% is a lot.”

“We have to leave some room for other capital, don’t we? We can’t eat such a big piece of the cake all by ourselves,” Xu Yuanping said calmly.
There are many investors in the future willing to invest in ByteDance; space must be left, otherwise capital will be forced to cultivate entities that can rival or even crush ByteDance.

The wheel of history is not inevitable; rather, the inevitable laws of the market may change many things.

“I don’t understand, Mr. Xu’s current behavior doesn’t seem like that of an investor,” Ye Hao frowned. In his view, Xu Yuan’s vision was at least ten years ahead.

In fact, most companies both love and hate powerful investors. They love them because they bring sufficient funds, but hate them because they pursue absolute exorbitant profits.

Even if Ye Hao were a god, he would never have imagined that just four years later, social media would sweep away all previously established notions with an overwhelming force!

“Time will prove that I am right. President Ye, are you willing to take the gamble?” Xu Yuan didn’t necessarily need an answer; he just thought Ye Hao was fairly reliable, though not the only option.

“Based on your estimated scale, I guess I’d have to bet on Longhua’s development for the next ten years. I need to think it over.” Ye Hao really had to consider it.

Although Xu Yuan didn’t say it outright, the implication in his words was clear: Character Jumping would very likely attract several, even a dozen, major capital players in the future.

This was a high-stakes gamble! Because Ye Hao believed what Xu Yuan said was entirely possible. With the growth of the domestic economy and breakthroughs in communication technology, the explosive rise of the self-media industry was unstoppable.

Ye Hao originally did not plan for long-term development; short-term but rapid vested interests were irresistible to investors.

But now, once considering long-term profits, Ye Hao must think carefully about whether he can afford to take the risk. What he just said about investing everything from Longhua’s ten years was definitely an exaggeration, but if he loses the bet, it would be a serious blow.

“Of course, President Ye can think it over, but you only have ten days. After ten days, I will look for someone else.”

  ……

  ……

“Manager Zha! Tell me! Are you the Ice City Beverage Hero?”

Xu Yuan had just returned to the dormitory when Li Rui and the others pinned him down together.

“Look at how flashy he’s dressed, it has to be him! Although the photo doesn’t show the face clearly, with my sharp eyes, I recognized Yuan’er at a glance!” Zhang Long said almost through gritted teeth.

“When the hell did you become the owner of Ice City Drinks? It’s free for the whole city! Do you know how long I waited in line this afternoon? Why not open one at our school too?”
No way! One per district! If other students find out the boss is right at our school, they’ll think we can’t afford to drink!”

Li Rui was so furious he was grinding his teeth; the big boss was right beside him, and he didn’t even know it.

“I was wrong, wrong!” Xu Yuan was really convinced. Did these guys have to get so worked up? He could just take them for a free drink another day; it’s not like it’s anything expensive.

“Damn it! It’s already trending on Weibo. Wang Xinji was directly blacklisted by Tianqi Entertainment because of you, do you know that?”

Even Sun Tianqi tried her best to distance herself from Xu Yuan, but the eyes of the onlookers were sharp. Xu Yuan’s entire outfit, combined with the slogan of free drinks for all university students in the city, made it impossible not to attract attention.

Now, the top trending topic on Weibo was: Why doesn’t our school have a single Bingcheng Beverage store!
The second was Wang Xinji’s sky-high priced milk tea.

All the comments below were unanimously saying, “We need a Bingcheng Beverage hero.”

“Do we not know if Bingcheng drinks taste good? Milk tea that costs over ten bucks, I’ve been drinking it for three years, and the house is gone! Now finally there’s milk tea for just a few bucks a cup!”

“Hug a bit, people in the capital, treat the whole class to milk tea.”

“Upstairs, don’t be shameless! In the capital, that’s free, crying to death!”

“Urgent telegram from JS Province! Our people can’t afford 100-yuan milk tea, urgently need to summon the Bingcheng Drink Hero!”

“HUN Province requests a review!”

“GZ Province strongly requests a review!”

“I am a university student, can I get a free drink from Ice City? (I’m in Shaanxi, but my heart is in the capital)”

…..

I have to say, this round of sales for Bingcheng drinks has been insanely profitable; the company headquarters’ phone lines are almost overwhelmed.

Zhang Chao is so busy that he hasn’t even had time to call Xu Yuan to share the good news.

This marketing campaign is more cost-effective than investing in ten variety shows!
“It has nothing to do with me; she brought it on herself,” Xu Yuan said with a bitter smile.

As the saying goes, some are happy while others are sorrowful; Ice City Beverages made a killing this time. But Wang Xinji’s side was miserable—not only was she blacklisted by Tianqi Entertainment, her Weibo was also flooded with attacks, with the comments all saying the same thing—Rich Lady, V50 show your strength.

Wang Xinji never dreamed that just by appearing on a variety show and saying some things she didn’t think were wrong, she would be completely kicked out of the circle.

The three of them took turns interrogating Xu Yuan again and got a promise from him to give them an Ice City Beverages 20% discount card when he had time, only then did they let Xu Yuan go.

  ……

The night was deep, and Xu Yuan sat in front of a small desk lamp, scratching his head incessantly.

Tomorrow is Xia Ke’s birthday, and he still has to make a grasshopper; it was really giving him a headache.

He had already failed more than ten times, all of them looking like some kind of hybrid creature, completely unusable. Xu Yuan wished he had just bought one online; it wouldn’t have been so troublesome.

“This should look like a grasshopper, right?” Xu Yuan held up a fairly decent piece he had made and examined it carefully, trying to convince himself that this was indeed a grasshopper.

“Forget it, I’ll go pick another gift tomorrow and give it together with this grasshopper.”