Saturday. Overcast.
At eight o’clock, Xu Ye hauled Zhang Xinzhou and Yang Fei out of bed, and then they split into two groups — Zhang Xinzhou went to the print shop to collect the campaign banners, roll-up displays, and message slips, while Xu Ye went with Yang Fei to the courier pickup point to bring the apple packaging and red-string bracelets back to the fruit shop.
The whole group spent the morning packing apples, with Xu Ye supervising from the side.
“Zhang Xinzhou, did you find the drivers I asked you to find?”
“Found them.” Zhang Xinzhou smiled. “There’s a whole pile of unlicensed cab drivers at the school gate. I found two who drive vans, explained the situation, and they agreed on the spot — said they’d come whenever we called.”
Xu Ye nodded. “We’ll pack one batch today. Tomorrow we call the drivers in and ship the first batch of apples out to the schools where our machines are installed.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Yang Fei, what are you gawking at? Get packing.”
Yang Fei rolled up a message slip and chuckled. “The stuff written on these is pretty sappy, huh.”
“You don’t even have a girlfriend. What are you looking at them for?”
“Zhang Xinzhou, you absolute — can you not go poking at the one sore spot?”
The group started trading barbs in the shop. Xu Ye was about to join in when his phone rang in his pocket.
The call was from Cai Haoyu.
Xu Ye hurried outside the shop and picked up.
Cai Haoyu got straight to the point. “Xu Ye, our team discussed it at length last night, and we’ve reached a decision.”
“What’s the verdict?” Xu Ye said.
“We can accept your investment — ten percent equity. But I’d like to know: at the earliest, when could the funds arrive?”
“When do you need them?”
“The sooner the better.”
Xu Ye gritted his teeth. “Send me your corporate account details. Before next Wednesday, once we’ve signed the contract, I’ll transfer the money.”
“Understood. Contact me anytime if there’s an issue.”
“Will do.”
Xu Ye hung up, and his expression immediately turned grave.
He’d had no other choice just now. If his tone had been anything less than certain, and Cai Haoyu’s team changed their minds, then Xu Ye would have let this opportunity slip past him entirely. So he’d steeled himself and committed to a deadline of next Wednesday.
He stood outside thinking for a moment, then went back into the shop, gave a few instructions, and left. Walking back toward the dorm, he sent Chen Hansong a message.
Xu Ye: “Uncle Chen, are you busy?”
It was Saturday; the bank was closed. Chen Hansong had no lunch engagement today and was in fact just then considering whether to go mooch a meal off Jiang Meilin at midday, and mention while he was there the matter of spending New Year’s Eve together this year.
Seeing Xu Ye’s message, he replied quickly: “Not busy. What is it?”
Xu Ye: “I wanted to consult you about a question regarding business loans.”
Chen Hansong: “Business loans?”
Chen Hansong: “Why are you looking into that?”
Xu Ye: “I need a sum of money.”
Xu Ye: “For an investment.”
Chen Hansong: “Your own money isn’t enough?”
Xu Ye: “Not enough.”
Chen Hansong already knew Xu Ye had over a million yuan. Seeing this reply, he was puzzled: what investment could a university student be making that over a million wasn’t enough for?
He thought about it, then simply called. Xu Ye had wanted to speak by phone anyway — neither typing nor voice messages were as convenient as talking directly — and picked up at once.
Chen Hansong: “Has your company hit a bottleneck?”
Xu Ye: “No. The company’s doing very well. But this opportunity is hard to come by, and I don’t want to miss it.”
Chen Hansong: “How much do you need?”
Xu Ye: “Five million.”
Chen Hansong: “Five million?”
He sounded astonished. “That’s no small sum. Setting aside whether you can even get a loan — even if you could, have you considered the consequences if the investment fails?”
Xu Ye: “I have confidence in myself. Just tell me whether a loan is possible, and if so, what procedures are involved.”
Chen Hansong: “I don’t know the situation in Shanghai. But generally speaking, a small or micro-enterprise loan requires meeting at least three conditions. First, the business must have been operating for over two years. Second, the business must have good credit standing. Third, it must already have a relatively stable working relationship with the bank.”
Xu Ye: “Uncle Chen, could you help me think of something? I really need this money. Or maybe you know some private lending firms — a higher interest rate would be fine.”
Chen Hansong: “Are you out of your mind? Don’t you dare touch loan sharks!”
Xu Ye: “…”
Chen Hansong: “That’s enough for now. Wait for my call.”
Chen Hansong hung up. As a bank president, he knew perfectly well that a university student like Xu Ye going to a bank for a loan would hit a wall almost immediately — even with policies encouraging entrepreneurship, the loan amount would never come close to five million.
But hearing the direction Xu Ye had been heading, and realizing the kid had actually entertained the idea of going to loan sharks, Chen Hansong hadn’t dared tell him the truth outright. He was afraid Xu Ye would do something rash.
He sat on the sofa and thought, then quickly stood, grabbed his car keys, and drove to Red Leaf Estate.
He parked at the entrance, rang the doorbell, and smoothed down his clothes. That was the one drawback of having no woman around — his clothes were always rumpled.
Click!
The security door pulled open from the inside. Seeing Chen Hansong standing there, Jiang Meilin crossed her arms and gave a cold snort. “What are you here for?”
“Are there slippers?”
“I haven’t invited you in yet.”
Chen Hansong said flatly, “Xu Ye called me just now.”
Hearing that, Jiang Meilin turned and said, “Slippers are on the rack. Wear the black pair. If you put on the wrong ones, next time you come in barefoot.”
Chen Hansong didn’t take offense. He took down the black slippers, changed into them, walked into the living room, and shut the door behind him.
“What did Xu Ye call you about?” Jiang Meilin knew the relationship between Xu Ye and Chen Hansong had been strained. Even though Chen Hansong’s impression of him had shifted after that trip to Shanghai, the two were nowhere near the stage of exchanging phone calls, so she was very curious what they’d discussed.
Chen Hansong said quickly, “You’d better talk some sense into him. The kid called to ask me about business loans — said he wants to borrow five million for an investment. I told him someone in his position can’t get that kind of money, and he actually started entertaining the idea of going to loan sharks.”
“A loan for an investment? What’s he investing in?”
“How would I know.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“No.”
“You were the one who said he made over a million in less than half a year — which means his business instincts are quite sound. He wants to borrow this much for an investment, and you didn’t even ask what he’s investing in?”
Chen Hansong said at once, “What good would asking do? Where am I supposed to get him five million?”
Jiang Meilin ignored him, took out her own phone, and called Xu Ye.
He picked up instantly. “Hello, Auntie.”
Jiang Meilin: “What investment do you need five million for?”
Xu Ye: “A game company.”
Jiang Meilin: “A game company?”
Xu Ye: “Mm.”
Jiang Meilin: “Five million is no small sum. Have you thought about what happens if you lose it?”
Xu Ye: “Even if I lose it, based on my company’s current profitability, I can pay it back. But if it succeeds, the returns could be beyond imagining.”
Jiang Meilin paused a moment, then asked, “How much money do you have on you right now?”
Xu Ye: “Adding everything together, around two million.”
“Two million? Didn’t your uncle say it was just over one million last time?”
“The company and the fruit shop have been bringing in revenue steadily, and the stock market’s been especially good lately. Honestly, I’d rather not pull this money out.”
Jiang Meilin: “Auntie does happen to have a sum of money.”
Hearing that, Chen Hansong shot to his feet. “Jiang Meilin, have you lost your mind?”
Jiang Meilin ignored him and continued, “But I have conditions.”
Xu Ye: “What conditions?”
“This five million counts as a loan from me. You repay me monthly within two years, plus interest at the bank’s fixed-deposit rate. On top of that, Qingqing gets a ten percent stake in your investment company.”
Xu Ye thought about it, then answered, “No problem. I can accept all of those terms. In fact, I’ve already thought of a name for the investment company — Qingye Investment.” [TL: 青野投资 — combining the 青 (qīng) from Chen Qingqing and the 野 (yě) from Xu Ye, exactly as Xinye Trading Co. was formed from Zhang Xinzhou’s 信 and Xu Ye’s 野.]
Jiang Meilin laughed. “You haven’t asked me yet what happens if you can’t repay it.”
Xu Ye followed her lead. “What happens?”
Jiang Meilin: “I’ll make you marry into the family.”
“…Huh?” [TL: 入赘 — for a man to marry into his wife’s household, taking her family’s name and having the children carry it as well. Traditionally seen as a loss of face for the man, though here it’s plainly a joke — and also plainly not entirely one.]
(End of Chapter 157)