Chapter 197: Valued at $18 Billion, the Third Largest Shareholder

When Chen Yansen arrived in Luzhou, it was already dark.

A convoy of three cars rolled slowly into a five-star hotel near the Central Bureau; he had arranged to meet Tao Jingwen the following morning.

After everyone finished checking in, Chen Yansen walked in front, with Meng Jie and Gao Weilin close behind, followed by financial analysts and legal counsel—eleven people in total.

Guests in the first-floor lobby noticed and turned their gazes his way.

Though Chen Yansen looked extremely young, the aura about him was not to be underestimated.

"Who the hell is this from Bixia Gate? Some kind of traffic celebrity? He's got over a dozen assistants trailing behind him."

"He looks familiar, can't quite place where I've seen him."

"Isn't that Chen Yansen, the boss of Sister Chengzi Tech? Dad, it's really him! I'm going to get an autograph!"

A young girl in the lounge area slapped her forehead in recognition and was about to dash toward the elevator.

"Don't bother! You won't catch him. We're all staying in the same hotel anyway—you'll have your chance tomorrow."

Her father reached out to stop her.

"Fine, he's even better-looking in person than in photos." Watching the elevator doors slowly close, the girl gave her cheerful verdict.

"He's a big boss, not some little celebrity. Being handsome doesn't count for much—a man needs money to be worth anything." Her father laughed helplessly.

"But he's loaded too." The girl shot back.

Meanwhile.

Chen Yansen had just stepped into his room and set his luggage down when he heard a knock at the door.

Under his beggar-version divine sense, the outline of a petite girl appeared in his mind.

Chen Yansen walked over, opened the door, and asked, "Why aren't you resting?"

"I want to go out and look around." Meng Jie said with a smile.

"Where to?" Chen Yansen asked noncommittally.

"The pedestrian street, okay?" Meng Jie looked at Chen Yansen with shining eyes, her face full of anticipation.

This was the first time Chen Yansen had taken her on a business trip.

"Sure. Go back and change—wear the outfit I gave you for your birthday last time."

Chen Yansen agreed readily and tossed in a request.

"Uh, I didn't bring it." Meng Jie's cheeks flushed red as she hastily cobbled together an excuse.

"Really? I don't believe you."

Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes and stared at Meng Jie.

Flustered under his gaze, Meng Jie finally conceded: "I'll wear it for you tonight, okay?"

"Deal." Chen Yansen nodded in satisfaction, draped an arm around Meng Jie's shoulders, and headed toward the elevator.

In his previous life, he had gone to Hucheng right after graduation and only passed through Luzhou two or three times on business trips, so he had no real impression of the place.

The two drove out of the hotel, speeding along Huangshan Road toward the pedestrian street.

At that time, housing prices in Luzhou's core district were just a little over six thousand; seven years later, the average would rocket to twenty thousand.

For the vast majority of ordinary people, catching the best window to buy a home meant winning half of life.

Buy in '12, sell in '19—at least a threefold profit.

Of course, buy in '19, sell in '24, and you've lost more than half of life.

"The apartment my dad bought me is right in that building up ahead."

Passing Yinhe Park, Meng Jie pointed at a building ahead and said with a smile.

Meng Zhenguo had assumed his daughter would repeat a year and keep trying for a university in Luzhou. He never expected that, for the sake of Chen Yansen, she'd insist on going to Xucheng.

As a result, the apartment bought two years ago had to be rented out.

Chen Yansen's heart warmed. He knew the sacrifices Meng Jie had made for him were a little foolish, a little silly.

But what came out of his mouth tasted different: "Our dad's got a good eye. There's no problem with prices in this area hitting twenty thousand down the road."

"Who's your dad? Always talking nonsense." Meng Jie's lips curved up as she threw a punch at Chen Yansen.

The two parked nearby and walked straight into the pedestrian street as its neon lights were just coming on.

……

……

The next morning.

Chen Yansen, neatly dressed, arrived at the second-floor restaurant with Meng Jie.

Gao Weilin and the others, sharp in their suits, looked every bit the elites, seated around two round tables, eating breakfast while coordinating the work ahead.

"Chen Yansen, could you give me an autograph?"

At that moment, a young girl in a white sweater suddenly came over, a Sister Chengzi c2 phone in her hand.

She spoke so softly that no one else noticed.

"The Sister Chengzi c2—there were only 300 engineering units in total. You were pretty quick on the draw."

Chen Yansen took the pen she offered and teased with a smile.

"Actually, I paid two thousand extra to a scalper for it." The girl grinned sheepishly and confessed.

Two thousand yuan?

The gross profit on a Sister Chengzi c2 is barely four hundred yuan—scalpers earn more than I do?

Chen Yansen laughed in spite of himself and glanced up at the girl.

Eighteen or nineteen, tall and slender, with two shallow dimples when she smiled, chestnut long hair, delicate features—she looked like a college student.

"I'm Xu Jiujiu—double-xu Xu, beer-jiu jiu. I want a to-sign. Just write: 'Wishing Xu Jiujiu forever eighteen.'"

The girl looked at Chen Yansen with eager anticipation.

Chen Yansen looked at the palm-sized Sister Chengzi c2 — how could something this small possibly fit so many characters? He casually wrote a single character, "Sen," and handed it back to Xu Jiujiu.

"Huh?! That's it already? Way too fast!" Xu Jiujiu took the phone, her heart full of doubt.

But when she clearly saw the character on the phone's back cover, she immediately wanted to chase after him — she had clearly asked for a to-sign, yet the other party had only written one character.

Chen Yansen had no time to bother with her. After finishing breakfast with Meng Jie, Gao Weilin, and others, he went out, got in the car, and drove toward the Central Secretariat.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the destination.

Tao Jingwen sat composed in the rest area by the entrance with a subordinate. Only when his peripheral vision caught Chen Yansen's license plate did he smooth the creases at his collar and stride forward to greet him.

Chen Yansen stepped out of the car and saw a bespectacled middle-aged man, just over 1.8 meters tall, smiling warmly at him.

"Mr. Chen, hello, I am Tao Jingwen."

Tao Jingwen extended his hand and greeted him first.

"Secretary Tao, pleasure to meet you." Chen Yansen shook his hand with polite small talk.

The man's standing in Luzhou was equivalent to Song Siming in "Snail House" — he looked like just a minor secretary, but the power in his hands was anything but small.

"Mr. Chen, the partners participating in today's equity swap are mainly Wang Qingsheng from Luzhou Construction Investment and Xu Minggang from Xincheng International. As for the specific valuations and swap ratios, our Central Secretariat will not interfere — business is business, take your time communicating."

After the pleasantries ended, Tao Jingwen immediately tightened his expression and stated his position with a solemn face.

"Fine, no problem." Chen Yansen nodded slightly.

What he wanted from Jingdongfang was the right to speak, not controlling stake — naturally he would not make things difficult for Meng Yuanzhi.

Seeing that Chen Yansen understood the situation, Tao Jingwen's evaluation of him instantly rose another notch.

The group moved forward slowly and arrived at a bright, spotless conference hall.

An arc-shaped long table stretched across the center of the room.

The placement of bookshelves, greenery, teacups, and the projector was all meticulously orderly — one glance was enough to sense the extreme sense of planning.

By the window sat representatives from both sides, totaling about ten people.

"Mr. Chen, this is Wang Zong Qingsheng from Luzhou Construction Investment, and this is Xu Zong Minggang from Xincheng International."

Tao Jingwen stood at the center of the three parties' representatives and slowly made the introductions.

"President Wang, President Xu!" A faint smile on his face, Chen Yansen greeted them in an extremely relaxed manner.

Xu Minggang laughed out loud, leaned forward, grabbed Chen Yansen's right hand, and responded warmly: "The young people of our Hui'an Province are truly outstanding — President Chen's name, I've heard it till my ears have calluses. Today I finally get to meet you in person."

"President Xu is too kind. You're the senior here — in business, I still have much to learn from you."

Everyone props up a pretty show. Although Chen Yansen had never even heard of a figure like Xu Minggang, since the other party was giving face, he wouldn't play hard to get either.

But Wang Qingsheng of Luzhou Construction Investment merely lifted his eyelids, grunted, and stayed seated.

Chen Yansen sneered inwardly and couldn't be bothered to engage with him.

Tao Jingwen frowned — he hadn't expected Wang Qingsheng to be so clueless.

This equity swap deal concerned whether the Sister Chengzi phone factory could be established in Luzhou — this was his own boss's key strategic move. Who was Wang Qingsheng putting on airs for?

Thinking of this, Tao Jingwen narrowed his eyes and silently noted it down without a flicker.

"Jingdongfang is valued at 60 billion; Sister Chengzi Tech's valuation at its last funding round was 9 billion USD, roughly equivalent to Jingdongfang's market cap. A one-to-one swap — on behalf of Luzhou Construction Investment Group, the most I can offer you is 3%."

Wang Qingsheng sat in his chair, laying out his own terms to himself.

"President Xu, let's sit down and chat slowly." Chen Yansen ignored Wang Qingsheng and instead chatted amiably with Xu Minggang.

Seeing this, the corners of Tao Jingwen's mouth curled into a smile he couldn't hide — he hadn't expected Chen Yansen to be this tough, giving Wang Qingsheng no face at all.

"President Chen, don't misunderstand — our Xincheng International's valuation of Sister Chengzi Tech is 16 billion USD. Regarding the equity swap ratio, within my authority, the most I can put forward is 6%."

After sitting down, Xu Minggang got straight to the point.

This equity swap deal, frankly put, was just a formality.

After all, Meng Yuanzhi had said hello — Xu Minggang had no reason to slight Meng Yuanzhi's face over a bit of Jingdongfang equity.

Compared with Wang Qingsheng's valuation offer, Xu Minggang was clearly more sincere.

At present, Sister Chengzi Tech's valuation — whether by price-to-sales or price-to-earnings — was basically between 15 billion USD and 18 billion USD.

"President Xu, I have no objections to Jingdongfang's market cap, but for Sister Chengzi Tech's valuation, I have a more reasonable valuation model."

Chen Yansen said lightly.

Gao Weilin beside him took out a laptop and opened a file — this was the valuation model he had built based on Sister Chengzi Tech's financial, market, product, and economic data from last year.

As Gao Weilin explained, he calmly raised the valuation to 18 billion USD.

Xu Minggang felt it was a bit high, so he turned his gaze to Xincheng International's financial analyst.

The man's brows were knit together, and only after hearing Gao Weilin's full explanation did he give Xu Minggang a slight nod of agreement.

"I have no problem. I wonder how much of Jingdongfang's equity President Chen wants?"

Xu Minggang asked tentatively.

"Since President Xu has already said so, naturally I want it all." Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

6% plus the original 4.9% — combined, that's 10.9% in total.

One could say that, apart from the two investment firms in Yanjing, Senlian Capital's shareholding ratio was already Jingdongfang's third-largest shareholder.

In the future, regarding LCD panel supply volumes and procurement bargaining power, his words would carry far more weight.

Through the equity swap to achieve deep binding, Chen Yansen could grasp more discourse power on the supply chain side.

Wang Qingsheng snorted coldly, his face unable to hold composure.

He had promised Meng Yuanzhi yesterday. As for his performance just now, he had only wanted to seize the initiative and push the price down — he hadn't expected Chen Yansen to give him no face at all.

This left him feeling caught between a rock and a hard place. If he walked out, it would mean offending Meng Yuanzhi; if he stayed in the conference room watching Xu Minggang and Chen Yansen chatting and laughing so amiably, it made his face burn with pain.

Tao Jingwen took it all in at a glance. After a few seconds of thought, he still stepped forward to smooth things over: "President Chen, that won't do! Jingdongfang is a key investment industry for the city. I think it's safer for each side to put up 3%."

As he spoke, he shot a glance at Wang Qingsheng.

"Secretary Tao is right." Wang Qingsheng chimed in agreement.

"But President Wang is only willing to offer a valuation of 60 billion. To be frank, that price — I really can't account for it to the other investors of Sister Chengzi Tech."

Chen Yansen looked at Wang Qingsheng with playful mockery.

Wang Qingsheng's face flushed and palmed in turns upon hearing this. In the end, he forced out a smile and said dryly, "I can accept a valuation of 18 billion USD."

Xu Minggang watched Wang Qingsheng with an amused look, thinking to himself: What a fool. If not for the boss covering you, with your qualifications, would you even be fit to sit at the same table as me?

Tao Jingwen, seeing that everything was going smoothly, couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

The subsequent procedures could simply be handed over to the finance and legal teams to coordinate.

"Mr. Chen, please follow me."

Tao Jingwen beckoned to Chen Yansen.

Xu Minggang knew this was most likely Meng Yuanzhi's arrangement. He waved his hand, signaling Chen Yansen not to mind him, and arranged to host a welcoming dinner for him that evening at Luzhou Prefecture.

"President Xu, then I'll see you this evening."

Chen Yansen stood up and agreed directly. Befriending Xu Minggang was not a bad thing.

Once a company reaches a certain scale, contact with people like Xu Minggang and Meng Yuanzhi becomes unavoidable.

As long as it was properly leveraged, the expansion speed of Sister Chengzi Phone Factory could meet his expectations.

Otherwise, relying solely on capital as the driving force, it would be very difficult to break through the production capacity bottleneck.

Tao Jingwen led the way ahead, passing through a corridor paved with rosewood, and finally stopped in front of an office.

(End of this chapter)