December 15, Thursday.

Jingzhou, Fuhui Capital.

Xue Zhebin arrived at the reception room door, knocked gently, and entered.

“Mr. Li, what’s so urgent?” Xue Zhebin sat down on the sofa, still somewhat confused.

The weather was nice today. Xue Zhebin had been cruising around the suburbs in his convertible sports car when Li Shi called him over, apparently for something very urgent.

Xue Zhebin didn’t ask much and drove directly to the Fuhui Capital building.

Li Shi poured Xue Zhebin a cup of tea: “That money we were planning to invest in Cold Face Girl, let’s wait and observe a bit more. Don’t invest it yet!”

Xue Zhebin was stunned, somewhat bewildered: “Mr. Li, haven’t we been researching this for a long time? Has something changed?”

Xue Zhebin had been learning investment from Li Shi, and recently, Cold Face Girl had been their focus project.

Previously, Xue Zhebin and Li Shi had made a special trip to the capital to visit Cold Face Girl’s stores, personally tasting various food items and checking out the store conditions.

After that, Meng Chang began to accelerate his cash burn rate, opening new stores and giving speeches, frantically increasing exposure, and Cold Face Girl’s fame grew higher and higher.

A few days ago, after repeated consideration, Li Shi finally decided to invest in Cold Face Girl.

On one hand, Cold Face Girl was indeed performing well, with good buzz and media reviews. The stores were also well-established, appearing to be a high-quality investment project with no real flaws.

On the other hand, Li Shi suspected that Meng Chang’s accelerated cash burn rate meant he had secured money from some investor, but given Meng Chang’s personality, he hadn’t publicized it widely. This indicated that the funding source was very likely from Mr. Pei’s side.

Mr. Pei had invested twice before, and Tenda had also sent financial personnel to Cold Face Girl, greatly increasing its credibility in Li Shi’s eyes.

Therefore, after the investigation, Li Shi decided to invest a small amount of money. Although the current timing wasn’t particularly early, it wasn’t too late either, and making a small profit shouldn’t be a problem.

Li Shi was not a greedy investor. He pursued small profits from each project, which accumulated over time into a very substantial figure.

Naturally, Xue Zhebin also planned to follow Li Shi and symbolically invest two or three million. It didn’t matter how much he earned, as long as he didn’t lose everything, it would be considered a good investment experience.

Li Shi took a sip of tea and said to Xue Zhebin, “The situation has changed.”

“According to the latest information, Mr. Pei is selling off Cold Face Girl shares, and he’s selling a lot, without keeping any!”

“Moreover, the price Mr. Pei is offering is significantly lower than Cold Face Girl’s current valuation. He’s selling cheap.”

“This certainly confirms that Mr. Pei had invested in Cold Face Girl again and was holding quite a few shares, but now Mr. Pei is selling them… It’s a very dangerous signal!”

“We definitely can’t go against Mr. Pei.”

Xue Zhebin was somewhat surprised: “What? I don’t understand Mr. Pei’s move. From investing, to investing more, to withdrawing, isn’t this action too fast? Don’t they say investment shouldn’t focus on short-term but long-term?”

Li Shi chuckled: “Investment shouldn’t focus on short-term but long-term, that’s for ordinary people. Because ordinary people have limited information and can’t predict short-term movements, looking at short-term is equivalent to gambling.”

“But is Mr. Pei an ordinary person?”

“Mr. Pei definitely can see information that we can’t see, and understand some inside information about Cold Face Girl. Whether investing or withdrawing, he made his decision after obtaining sufficient information.”

“At the very least, this time, Mr. Pei selling Cold Face Girl shares conveys a very clear message to us: Cold Face Girl shares are not suitable for long-term holding, and problems may even be exposed within a short period!”

“Otherwise, why would Mr. Pei be in such a hurry to sell?”

Xue Zhebin nodded: “Hmm, makes sense! So, how’s the selling situation now?”

Li Shi took a sip of tea and said leisurely, “The transaction should be completed by now. It was quick, but the situation is quite complex, with investors reacting differently.”

“People like us who firmly believe in Mr. Pei’s investment myth certainly won’t buy these shares and become the last holders. Instead, we’ll choose to observe for a while longer.”

“But Cold Face Girl’s stores are in the capital, and Meng Chang himself has been active there. Many investors in the capital won’t blindly believe in Mr. Pei like we do. They think Cold Face Girl is a good investment project and are taking this opportunity to buy at a low price.”

“Of course, there are also many who have doubts about Cold Face Girl and have decided to continue observing.”

“This is Meng Chang reaping what he sowed.”

“When the Cold Face Girl brand was first established, he kept touting that this was a project invested in by Mr. Pei of Tenda. Since Mr. Pei’s invested projects have an extremely high success rate, by forcibly creating this association, he could give others the feeling that ‘Mr. Pei invested, so this project has a high success rate.”

“But Meng Chang probably never expected that Mr. Pei would suddenly withdraw so decisively and ruthlessly, selling all shares.”

“As a result, all his previous promotions completely backfired. The attention he attracted through Mr. Pei instantly turned against him when Mr. Pei withdrew. You could say he’s caught in his trap.”

“So, the situation has become confusing. Although Mr. Pei sold at a slightly lower price, he still profited, while Cold Face Girl’s current situation doesn’t look too optimistic.”

Xue Zhebin nodded, somewhat sighing: “At first, I thought this was just an ordinary investment project. How has it become more and more exciting?”

Cold Face Girl had been developing well. Following this script, with a few more rounds of financing, it might quickly expand and become a Chinese fast food success story.

But unexpectedly, Mr. Pei suddenly made this move when Cold Face Girl seemed to be doing very well.

Meng Chang had been riding on Tenda’s popularity, but now it had led to problems.

Nevertheless, even so, many investors in the capital didn’t believe in Mr. Pei’s investment myth and thought this was a good opportunity to enter at a low price.

Xue Zhebin asked again: “So, Meng Chang is in a difficult position now?”

Li Shi nodded: “Very difficult.”

“Mr. Pei selling all his shares at a slightly lower price will find buyers, but the problem is that the money won’t reach Meng Chang’s hands.”

“In other words, at Cold Face Girl’s current burn rate, Meng Chang still needs to find ways to secure more funding.”

“But the problem is: those who don’t believe in Mr. Pei and want to invest in Cold Face Girl will choose to buy shares from Mr. Pei, as they’re cheap and cost-effective; while those who believe in Mr. Pei won’t invest at this critical juncture.”

“This means… for a long time to come, no investors will hand money directly to Meng Chang. Cold Face Girl might not be able to raise funds, and there could be problems with working capital.”

“Of course, this is just my guess. If Meng Chang truly has other channels to get money, then Mr. Pei’s withdrawal won’t have too much impact.”

“If Cold Face Girl stores have truly achieved profitability, Meng Chang can also choose to tighten his belt and reduce expenses. As long as he doesn’t spend so much on marketing, he should be able to hold on…”

Li Shi briefly explained the current situation to Xue Zhebin.

Mr. Pei’s sudden withdrawal would cause great trouble for Meng Chang, but as long as Cold Face Girl itself was solid, Meng Chang should still be able to hold on.

Xue Zhebin asked: “Then, Mr. Li, should we still invest? Since Mr. Pei doesn’t have confidence in Cold Face Girl, shouldn’t we stop throwing money in?”

Li Shi took a sip of tea and shook his head slightly: “Mr. Pei selling all shares doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t re-enter.”

“Do you remember the previous incident with the Smart Student Come APP?”

“Mr. Pei appeared to withdraw, selling his shares, but after the education group bought in at a high price and the Smart Student Come APP collapsed, Mr. Pei forcefully re-entered, bought in at a low price, and then completely transformed the Smart Student Come APP…”

Xue Zhebin’s eyes lit up: “Mr. Li, are you saying that Mr. Pei might be feinting? He might buy back in at the bottom?”

Li Shi nodded: “We can’t rule out the possibility that Mr. Pei is using his old tactics.”

“If Mr. Pei wants to re-enter after Cold Face Girl encounters a crisis, then following Mr. Pei’s subsequent investment would be the best timing!”

Xue Zhebin nodded in realization: “Mr. Li, I think I understand your investment philosophy now…”

…

Meanwhile, at Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital.

He Desheng was reporting the current situation to Pei Qian.

“Mr. Pei, we’ve found suitable buyers for Cold Face Girl’s shares. After selling all of them, the price is 15 million. Although the investment return isn’t as high as before, considering we sold in a hurry, getting such a price is still not bad…”

Pei Qian nearly spat out a mouthful of blood upon hearing this.

You call this not bad?

Invested 8 million, earned 15 million!

How many days has Cold Face Girl been open? And it’s already made this much?

Fortunately, he got out quickly. If he had been slower, wouldn’t he have earned even more in the future?

Although this time they sold in a hurry and the price was lowered quite a bit, Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital had invested very early and held many shares, so even selling urgently at a lower price still made Pei Qian feel somewhat uneasy.

Pei Qian felt his heart bleeding and asked: “What was Meng Chang’s reaction?”

He Desheng thought for a moment: “He didn’t have much of a strong reaction. In front of investors, he still appeared confident and spirited, otherwise, this transaction wouldn’t have been completed so smoothly.”

Pei Qian nodded. Indeed, Meng Chang was very confident about Cold Face Girl. Withdrawing quickly was the right decision.

He Desheng asked: “Mr. Pei, what about this money? Should we follow the previous approach and continue investing in those companies waiting for investment?”

Pei Qian sighed silently.

Yes, what should he do with this money?

Logically, there were many places to spend money now, but Pei Qian felt his luck was really bad.

“Let’s wait and see. I’ll think about it,” Pei Qian looked at the date, “If there’s no new situation by the end of the month, then continue investing in the companies waiting in line at Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital.”

He Desheng nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”