Song Mingmei wished him happiness, but those four words sounded almost like “I couldn’t care less.”
Just like on the plane, this time, Ding Zhitong didn’t respond.
She knew Gan Yang wanted to take their relationship further. If she asked “Shall we marry?” now, he’d surely say “I do” without hesitation. That’s how focused these busy figures in industry and investment circles were. Unfortunately, she’d already been married once, with poor results. She had other cautionary tales around her too, like Qin Chang and Song Mingmei.
Yet, the intimacy felt good, even better than before.
After more than a decade, their lifestyles had miraculously synchronized. When busy, they didn’t disturb each other; when free, they enjoyed similar activities. At night, whether at his place or hers, the bedroom was equipped with 100% light-blocking curtains, silent non-luminous alarm clocks, temperature-sensitive pillows, and all-latex mattresses—standard gear for the sleep-deprived.
Then there was work.
LT’s merger and acquisition advisory service was negotiated in Shanghai, with little involvement from Dr. Chen in Quanzhou.
Only then did Ding Zhitong realize that Dr. Chen was considering retirement, even gradually divesting his shares.
The clues had been there earlier. During their last visit to Quanzhou, while drinking tea in the mountain villa, Dr. Chen had told her that by the third generation in his family, everyone either studied art or taught at universities. They all thought money wasn’t everything and lacked the drive. Then, pointing at Gan Yang, he’d said, “But he’s different.”
In recent years, LT’s series of investments in the online sports and fitness industry, along with the planned acquisition, were both adjustments to the group’s business strategy and Gan Yang’s increased involvement.
Li Jiaxin was once again summoned from Hong Kong to complete this investment sale.
The proposed acquisition target was a Hong Kong-listed company, primarily operating leisure apparel and sporting goods channels in mainland China. It had a retail network of over 8,000 directly-operated stores across the country and more than 30,000 frontline sales staff. Due to declining leisure apparel sales and unsuccessful online platforms, its performance has been poor in recent years. With low stock trading volume and relatively low valuation, the major shareholders were considering an exit.
In other words, LT had the opportunity to acquire this company at an attractive price. After reorganization, they could complete their M2C (Manufacturer to Consumer) layout, directly connecting factories to consumers, integrating online and offline closely, and covering experiential and customized consumption in new retail.
The advisory service agreement was signed, with the entire transaction planned for completion before September of the next year, though ultimate success remained uncertain.
For sell-side M&A, once discussions with investment banks about selling begin, it’s a one-way street. Long-term availability for sale is unfavorable for the seller; once news of the sale goes public, selling cheaply is better than not selling at all, which increases the final success rate of the transaction.
Buy-side M&A is entirely different. It’s not a programmatic auction process and can face many unpredictable situations midway. Perhaps the parties can’t agree on a price, or irreconcilable issues arise in specific terms. Maybe at the last moment, someone comes in with a sudden price hike, and another buyer successfully acquires the target. The buyer might even change their mind and prefer to pay a break-up fee to exit.
Most of the transaction fees are only received after the entire deal is completed, which is why investment banks prefer to represent the sell-side from a profitability perspective.
But Ding Zhitong knew Gan Yang’s determination. Perhaps no one understood better than her how long ago he had started thinking about this. Initially just a strange, unrealistic idea, it had slowly taken shape during his long adventures from Ithaca to Quanzhou, Vietnam, and then Shanghai.
Meanwhile, she particularly understood what Qin Chang had told her that day in the teahouse—investment bankers, as intermediaries, may not directly create value, but they achieve Pareto improvements in facilitating transactions.
As Qin Chang always emphasized, the future for these intermediaries lay in buy-side M&A, as it involved more communication, mediation, and technical analysis in modeling and pricing strategies.
A series of bad deals had made her question her career, but once she encountered good transactions, it truly felt like a mutual achievement.
She even discovered that despite one being in the industry and the other in intermediary services, Gan Yang and Qin Chang, two seemingly vastly different individuals, actually shared some similarities.
While most people busied themselves finding shortcuts to success, rushing to fame at a young age, competing to be the youngest at their level, with ubiquitous online wishes for “overnight wealth,” few were willing to steadily pursue long-term goals, focusing on slow variables they truly understood and loved, even if it meant late success.
Around the same time, Song Mingmei found another lawyer, dividing the divorce into two parts: property and custody.
She felt Ding Zhitong’s advice was sound—risks should indeed be left to professionals. Since doctors weren’t suitable, lawyers would have to do so.
The first lawyer had already analyzed that for children between 2 and 10 years old, the court would mainly consider the following conditions when deciding custody: Would it change the child’s living environment? Were there other family members to help with care?
She and Deng Baiting both lived in Shanghai, had similar economic conditions, and both had living parents, so there wasn’t much difference between them on these points.
But the second lawyer, who specialized in marital disputes, gave her another perspective—since two children were involved, the court, adhering to the principle of social harmony, would generally award one child to each parent. To get both children, one would have to prove the other party had major defects. In custody battles, major defects were limited to two types: incurable infectious diseases and criminal records with minors as victims.
Song Mingmei had a sudden inspiration.
The company had bought team commercial medical insurance, and Deng Baiting’s parents’ insurance was under her account. She had been making appointments for them all these years. She asked the lawyer to contact HR colleagues and then the insurance specialist to retrieve all medical records of Deng’s father’s treatment for hepatitis B. She also had the lawyer gather testimony from neighbors, asking if they had seen or heard Deng Baiting beating the children.
None of these constituted major defects, but they hurt Deng Baiting’s pride. The company only had a few dozen employees, and the house was bought when he worked for a big firm. There were many industry friends in the neighborhood.
A few days later, she received an angry call from Deng Baiting, demanding, “What do you mean by this?!”
Song Mingmei remained silent, steadying herself before speaking, “You can consult your lawyer. There’s no hepatitis B discrimination in job hunting now, but having someone with severe hepatitis B take care of children is a different matter.”
Deng Baiting immediately retorted, “I can take care of them myself. It’s just about hiring help, isn’t it?”
Song Mingmei wasn’t surprised by his reaction and continued, “Remember when you locked Yulin outside, threw toys at him, and told him you’d beat him to death if he kept crying? Did you know we have cameras in our yard?”
Deng Baiting didn’t answer.
Song Mingmei went on, “He’s said similar things to other children at school. I have WeChat records of communications with his homeroom teacher.”
“Are you threatening me?” Deng Baiting asked.
Song Mingmei waited for his emotions to subside, speaking firmly but sincerely, “No, we may not be husband and wife anymore, but we’ve been partners for many years. You’ve seen how I work and know my temperament. I don’t want things to end up like that, but if it comes to that point, I’m not afraid.”
Deng Baiting paused, about to curse again, but Song Mingmei softened her voice, “Old Deng, you’re just in your early thirties, a successful person with a great life ahead. I’m having surgery next week. Why make things difficult for me?”
She hung up without waiting for his response, knowing that in this round of negotiations, his resolve would crumble first.
Afterwards, she told Ding Zhitong everything.
Ding Zhitong asked, “Do you have the video?”
Song Mingmei smiled and shook her head, “It’s long gone, and the lawyer said unless it’s long-term beating, it doesn’t constitute abuse and won’t help much in custody battles. But you were right about one thing—why should I fear an emotionally immature mama’s boy? I’ve handled all his important negotiations. How could I lose to him in a negotiation?”
“Then what?” Ding Zhitong asked.
“Then?” Song Mingmei laughed, “I just wished him happiness.”
But those words sounded almost like “I couldn’t care less.”