How did it feel when someone like Second Madam took the path she had planned to walk?
The feeling was quite complicated!
Of course, Xia Xiaolan no longer wanted to take this path.
If she had wanted to transfer Asia Mall’s shares, she wouldn’t have spent several months working on Asia Mall!
For the initial 18% shares, Second Madam offered 3.5 million USD, and Xia Xiaolan could have made nearly 2 million USD without much effort. But she hadn’t agreed, and after taking over as Asia Mall’s General Manager, she wouldn’t sell her 18% shares.
Everyone only saw how she led Asia Mall to establish its reputation and foothold in Shangdu’s retail industry over several months, but not how little her returns were… Asia Mall couldn’t even recover its capital this year. Even with dividends, Xia Xiaolan’s 18% shares wouldn’t amount to much.
This year was already a lost cause. It would take over two years of dividends to match the 3.5 million USD she could have gotten from selling her shares.
The effort and returns weren’t proportional – why bother?
Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t lose business. She wouldn’t be satisfied with 18% shares. The day she became Asia Mall’s General Manager, she had planned to get the majority stake – not Second Madam buying her shares, but her buying Second Madam’s. Xia Xiaolan had originally planned to acquire some of Second Madam’s shares during Asia Mall’s low point, mentioned it once, but was rejected by Second Madam.
She had planned to wait for an opportunity to meet Du Zhaoqi before making further plans.
Xia Xiaolan had planned to do this early next year, but unexpectedly, before she left Shangdu, the Second Madam actively proposed selling shares.
Selling at the peak – Second Madam’s mind had indeed become sharp!
“Have you thought this through, Second Madam? You hold 80% of Chaoyang Real Estate’s shares, indirectly holding 65.6% of Asia Mall’s shares. If you sell 60% of Chaoyang Real Estate’s shares, you’ll only have 16.4% shares in Asia Mall… Second Madam will instantly drop to being a minor shareholder like Zhu Suizhou.”
Currently, Second Madam has 65.6% shares.
Xia Xiaolan had 18%, and Zhu Suizhou had 16.4%.
60% of Chaoyang Real Estate’s shares meant indirect ownership of 49.2% of Asia Mall. If Xia Xiaolan bought these shares, her stake in Asia Mall would instantly become 67.2%, making her the undisputed major shareholder.
Then, for every 100 yuan Asia Mall earned, Xia Xiaolan would get 67.2 yuan – this profit would be worth her extra effort. Whether to buy personally or through Qihang Capital needed consideration. Xia Xiaolan wanted to buy personally, but although she had many assets under her name, they were mostly on paper. 49.2% of Asia Mall’s shares wasn’t a small sum, and Second Madam would certainly ask for a high price.
Second Madam’s expression remained unchanged, clearly showing that selling shares wasn’t a sudden decision. Whatever her reasons for selling, this was a well-thought-out decision.
“I’ve thought it through. Just tell me if you’re buying or not. If you don’t buy, I’m sure Zhu Suizhou would be willing to!”
Xia Xiaolan laughed: “Second Madam, let’s be frank. You want to sell shares to me but not all of them, keeping 16.4%, still hoping for annual dividends from Asia Mall, right? Though not as much as a major shareholder would get, it’s enough for Second Madam’s family’s annual expenses. If you sell the shares to Zhu Suizhou and let him become the major shareholder, he certainly won’t agree to keep me as General Manager… With Asia Mall back in Zhu Suizhou’s hands, whether it can generate current profits would be a gamble for Second Madam!”
Selling shares to her was Second Madam’s best choice.
Cash out the majority, and keep a small portion for long-term dividends – this asset allocation might not be the most rational, but it was safe! To make such a decision, the Second Madam must have gone through an intense internal struggle.
“Selling to Zhu Suizhou is risky, but if you don’t want them, I can only gamble on my luck.”
Second Madam remained noncommittal.
She was negotiating with Xia Xiaolan now, so she couldn’t appear too weak.
Although they had worked together these past months and weathered Asia Mall’s crisis together, due to the Du family inheritance dispute, Second Madam could never become friends with Xia Xiaolan!
Right now, Second Madam needed to negotiate with Xia Xiaolan, and she couldn’t easily reveal her bottom line.
Xia Xiaolan also had no intention of beating around the bush:
“We don’t need to test each other. Second Madam coming to me first shows you want to sell the shares to me! Name your price, but don’t inflate it too much. Extravagant behavior like spending 3.5 million USD for 18% of Asia Mall’s shares won’t happen with me. Asia Mall has value because I’m its General Manager – this isn’t arrogance, we both know this fact… Whether Zhu Suizhou is as capable as me, Second Madam has no way to verify, and even if he could manage Asia Mall well, he doesn’t have enough money for 49.2% of Asia Mall’s shares!”
Zhu Suizhou had established ‘Yangfan Real Estate’ in Qiong Island and was buying land extensively, with money borrowed from banks by Sheng Xuan. The source of initial loans was unclear, but later loans were secured against the purchased land, playing the same game as Season’s Elegance had with bank loans.
Season had fallen, but Sheng Xuan hadn’t suffered much loss. After being blocked by Pan Yijun, she managed to transfer from Pengcheng to Shangdu.
Having not learned her lesson, Sheng Xuan wasn’t afraid of this scheme going wrong.
Xia Xiaolan’s thoughts had wandered too far; she quickly pulled them back.
The fact was that Zhu Suizhou had no money now, with bank loans tied up in Qiong Island’s land. Even if Second Madam wanted to sell shares to him, he couldn’t afford them.
Sell to others?
Don’t joke – even if any capital dared to take over Asia Mall’s shares, angering Xia Xiaolan would be risky. She could prop up the mall, and she could also bring Asia Mall down… Not to mention, if Xia Xiaolan resigned as Asia Mall’s ‘General Manager’ and applied at Zijingshan Department Store, they would probably welcome her despite past grievances!
So after analysis, for Second Madam’s share transfer, she was the best buyer.
With this confidence, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t be soft in bargaining with Second Madam.
Second Madam was truly getting a headache from her arrogance.
However, there was no choice – if the shares weren’t sold to Xia Xiaolan, Asia Mall couldn’t keep her, and if Xia Xiaolan left, who would keep Asia Mall profitable?
Xia Xiaolan had guessed correctly. Second Madam sold most shares but kept a small portion to ensure Asia Mall would provide steady annual dividends. With Second Madam’s experience, negotiating with Xia Xiaolan was indeed difficult, so she simply played her final card:
“For 60% of Chaoyang Real Estate’s shares, indirectly holding 49.2% of Asia Mall’s shares, I only want 30 million RMB flat – do you think that’s excessive?”
Oh!
Xia Xiaolan was very tempted.
30 million RMB wasn’t much; she had thought Second Madam would ask for more.
After all, before Asia Mall opened, Second Madam had offered 3.5 million USD for Xia Xiaolan’s 18% shares in Asia Mall, valuing Asia Mall at over 60 million RMB.
At that time, Asia Mall was in a suspended state.
Now Asia Mall was at its peak, and Xia Xiaolan had thought Second Madam would value Asia Mall at 70-80 million, or even 100 million if she was aggressive.
Asking for only 30 million RMB flat wasn’t like Second Madam’s style. Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help but probe:
“Second Madam, you’ve seen Young Master Du, haven’t you?”