Chapter 70: The Backup Plan

While Tang Renrong was at the Pujiang Municipal Government attending a meeting, Di Ye and Xia Fangfei arrived at Yuncheng Nanxi Airport, only to find that Huang Ya had chartered a taxi and come specifically to pick them both up.

"Xiao Ya, you're too amazing; you actually dared to misappropriate so much money for Di Ye. If it were me, I would have been scared to death."

"If I had gone to Pujiang to pretend to be a reporter, I would have been scared to death too."

"That won't do; neither of us can die. We have to keep a close eye on Di Ye, otherwise, it would be a waste to let an outsider benefit..."

After getting into the taxi, Di Ye sat in the front passenger seat. Seeing Xia Fangfei and Huang Ya sitting close together in the back row, chattering away about the interesting things they had encountered over the past few days, a subtle feeling welled up in his heart. When they arrived at the house rented near the north gate of Yun University, he discovered his premonition had been correct: a single bed had been added to the guest bedroom that was originally used for storing miscellaneous items.

"From now on, you sleep here; Fangfei and I will sleep in the master bedroom."

"I object."

"I approve."

"2 to 1, the objection is invalid."

"Hehehe, our household doesn't practice a democratic system, but a dictatorial one. You two little ladies shouldn't struggle..."

Earning over 20 million in just a few short days had brought a great sense of excitement to every participant. Driven by extreme emotions, reserve was no match for impulse, and the outcome was naturally self-evident.

It wasn't until 5 o'clock that Li Ailing called and asked Huang Ya to go to the Flagship Store to reconcile the day's financial accounts.

On the way to the Flagship Store, Huang Ya stopped by a Bank of Communications branch to check, and after confirming that the 23 million Di Ye had transferred yesterday had arrived, she said, "Over the past two days, Uncle Fan has started interfering in Yingfeng's business, raising the daily package quota to 1,000. We should withdraw as soon as possible to avoid further complications."

"I'll hold a shareholders' meeting with them tonight, resolve everything that needs to be resolved, and then officially withdraw tomorrow."

Huang Ya had a relatively strong sense of morality, and the love triangle had placed a great psychological burden on her. She had been quite reserved these past few days... but now, having regained her former lively and sharp demeanor, she asked with a giggle, "Do you still have the stamina to negotiate with them tonight?"

Di Ye was stubborn and said, "Negotiation doesn't require stamina; as long as your brain is sharp enough, that's all that matters."

"I'm afraid your brain is full of unhealthy thoughts, which will affect your judgment."

"Facing three grown men, what kind of unhealthy thoughts could I possibly have?"

In fact, negotiating with Fan Dazhi and the others didn't require much brainpower, because each of their interests and demands were different, making it easy to defeat them one by one.

For example, Fan Dazhi was concerned with the profits from VCD Players, Zheng Yingyong was concerned with how to maintain a good relationship with Di Ye, while Zhong Rongke was concerned with nothing but how much money was in the account.

"Uncle Fan, according to the contract signed previously, Yingfeng ordered 7,600 VCD Players from the studio you and my father partnered in at a price of 1,450 yuan per unit, for a total of 11.02 million. Is there any problem? If not, I'll have Xiao Ya transfer the funds tomorrow morning."

Fan Dazhi nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem, no problem."

Upon hearing the figure of 11.02 million, Zhong Rongke felt a pang of pain and said, "With so much money, can't we delay the transfer for a while?"

After deducting various expenses from this 11.02 million, half of the profit belonged to Fan Dazhi. Therefore, although he was an ally of Zhong Rongke, he was unwilling to drag it out and explained, "This money is to be used to pay the suppliers for the CD Players and Decompression Cards. It's already long overdue; if we don't pay by the end of the month, they will cut off our supply."

Zheng Yingyong had also been somewhat reluctant, but upon hearing it involved Di Ye's father, he decided to do him a favor and said, "Since that's the case, let's pay this amount. After all, integrity is very important in business."

After resolving this largest expenditure, the rest were just minor details. The company's specific operations had long been handed over to Li Ailing, and Huang Ya's financial accounts were also recorded very clearly, leaving nothing to question. Thus, the shareholders' meeting was soon left with only one final item—how much Di Ye's 20% stake was worth.

"Xiao Ye, what do you think of 2 million?"

"Di Ye, I wasn't haggling with you just now, so don't be too greedy now! A flat price of 2.5 million, how about it?"

"2.5 million doesn't sound good; let's make it 2.55 million. Manager Di has worked hard and achieved much, so give him an extra 50,000 bonus, lest others say we are stingy."

"Alright then, let's make it 2.55 million."

Di Ye was satisfied with this price, agreed to settle everything tomorrow morning, and then ended the shareholders' meeting.

Fan Dazhi and Zhong Rongke had other important matters and left quickly after the meeting. Zheng Yingyong stayed behind and tried to get close, saying, "Manager Di, starting tomorrow, you will no longer be the manager of Yingfeng. How should I address you?"

"Zheng, you can just call me Xiao Ye."

Zheng Yingyong preferred this intimate form of address, nodded, and said with a smile, "Xiao Ye, I have some good news for you. The Post and Telecommunications Bureau has decided to transfer your sister to be the director of the Data Communications Bureau. She will be officially notified next Monday."

"Is that so? Thank you, Zheng. My sister and I will treat you to dinner tomorrow night."

"No need, no need, it was just a small favor."

Zheng Yingyong declined a few times, but seeing that Di Ye insisted on treating him, he went with the flow and said, "I have a distant relative who returned from studying in the United States last year and has been wanting to start a company to do business. He is very interested in that internet access service thing. If it's convenient, I'll bring him along when we have dinner tomorrow, and you two can have a good chat."

"That couldn't be better. I was just worrying about not having someone knowledgeable to cooperate with."

After brushing off Zheng Yingyong, Di Ye hailed a taxi and returned to the rented house in a rush, only to find that all traces of the afternoon's wild behavior had vanished. Huang Ya and Xia Fangfei were sitting at the desk, reading books and writing their theses with serious expressions.

"You haven't been home for a week. Go home to sleep tonight; don't disturb Fangfei and me while we write our graduation theses."

"I'll go home tomorrow night. Let's strike while the iron is hot and fight another three hundred rounds tonight."

"Xiao Ya and I are sparing your face by letting you off the hook so you can go home and recharge. Don't be ungrateful, hurry up and leave."

Di Ye had been overly excited in the afternoon and had expended a lot of energy; he was indeed feeling a bit powerless now. Seeing the two women's firm attitude, he had no choice but to leave the rented apartment in a dejected manner.

While hailing a taxi on the side of the road, Di Ye saw that it was still early, so he temporarily changed his route to go to the Youdian Residential Quarter to find Di Yan and tell her the news about her upcoming transfer.

Di Yan had spent the last few days cramming the internet materials provided by Di Ye and was full of expectations for her new job, while Lu Hanming was unimpressed, feeling that the internet was nothing special.

"Americans say the internet is an information superhighway, but information isn't a car; it doesn't need a superhighway at all. It can be spread just as quickly through newspapers, radio, and television."

"Brother-in-law, newspapers, radio, and television spread information on a daily basis, while the internet interacts with information on a second-by-second basis. The two are not on the same order of magnitude."

"Knowing the news a day early is somewhat useful, but what use is knowing the news a second early?"

"Information is not just news, and dissemination and interaction are not the same thing..."

Lu Hanming was an unlearned liberal arts student, and Di Ye felt he couldn't explain to him what information was, so he gave an example: "Without the internet, it would take me at least half a year to hype up the telephone cards we bought. If we had the internet, I could hype them up in a month or two."

Over the past few days, with the financial support provided by Di Ye, Lu Hanming had bought thousands of Telephone Magnetic Cards issued by China Telecom and had become a small-time collector in the Chenghuang Temple area. Upon hearing this, he set aside the topic of the internet and said, "Xiao Ye, the market for telephone cards is very poor right now. The Post and Telecommunications Bureau's new cards can only be sold at a discount, and nobody wants the old cards. How can you hype them up?"

"I have already set the stage for the hype in Pujiang over the past few days, but the timing isn't ripe yet. Let's wait a little longer."