Liu Jun didn’t know that the matter involved so many causes and consequences. Under Mr. An’s arrangement, he was assisting with the investigation, already feeling like walking on thin ice, with no time to consider whether Jiali’s problem had been resolved. Besides, he trusted Cui Bingbing’s capabilities—someone who could manage a bank certainly could handle such a small matter.
He had originally thought that when facing interrogation, he would find it hard to be confident and justified. He had already determined that Mr. An’s behavior was suspicious, and there were also irregularities between him and Mr. An. When the investigation team asked questions, he suspected he would have difficulty coping—this was one of the reasons he had initially thought of avoiding going abroad if Mr. An’s company got into trouble, to avoid cooperating with investigations. But he unexpectedly handled the interrogation smoothly and even won the favor of the working group, further influencing the group’s investigation of Mr. An. Since such a large sum of money that could easily involve under-the-table dealings had withstood investigation and was being used where it mattered most, everyone adopted an attitude of focusing on major issues while letting minor ones slide. Combined with Mr. An’s efforts to turn things around after returning to the country, the investigation work quietly dragged on indefinitely, and gradually, no one mentioned it anymore.
After dealing with the investigation team’s interrogation, Liu Jun also went to Mr. An’s company to report the research and development progress to the production technology department, taking people’s money meant letting them understand how their money was being spent. He showed everyone a video on the computer of the preliminary framework of Donghai No. 1 components and the entire trial processing procedure. People could see the fully automated feeding and fully automated processing. If precision were limited to a certain value, this equipment could be considered a great success, and similar precision equipment should have a certain market. However, Donghai No. 1 had different requirements—it demanded modern international upper-medium processing standards, which meant the engineers at Tengfei Research and Development Center still had a long way to go. Regarding further solutions to linear output problems, industry technical personnel all knew this couldn’t be achieved overnight. The current progress had already left all the experts present with nothing to criticize.
While everyone was discussing, Liu Jun said meaningfully: “The entire research work—everyone here is an expert—frankly speaking, it’s about burning money. The second batch of funds has already been spent, and we’re now using my company’s funds. But looking at your company’s current situation, I really can’t bring myself to ask. I’m very worried about what to do next. We’re caught between two phases—stopping means all previous efforts are wasted, but continuing forward faces a funding problem.”
Everyone looked at each other, and no one answered Liu Jun. With the company’s survival at stake, where could they find funds to continue letting Tengfei conduct research and development? When survival takes priority, everything else can be pushed aside. In most people’s eyes, research and development were just a luxury for the company.
“It looks like our research center will have to find its way,” Liu Jun said, leaving it at that. He knew this group couldn’t solve the funding problem, but he had to say it to prevent Mr. An’s company people from always thinking they were the financiers with every right to boss him around, treating Tengfei almost like a colony—coming whenever they wanted, investigating whenever they felt like it, making him fly back and forth constantly. Now, well, they could shut up. Sure enough, after an awkward silence, they no longer raised questions with such confidence. The meeting ended abruptly.
Liu Jun left on an afternoon flight and went to Mr. An’s office to say goodbye after the meeting, not waiting for lunch. He figured Mr. An wouldn’t be convenient to invite him at this time, and he was unwilling to pay for a meal himself. There were five or six people in Mr. An’s office whom Liu Jun didn’t recognize, and Mr. An didn’t intend to avoid these people. He grasped Liu Jun’s hand and said, “You’re a very busy person, and I feel terrible making you travel back and forth for two days this time. But explaining the situation was still necessary—consider it doing me a favor, and I owe you one.”
“Mr. An, you’re too polite. It’s just a small favor. Our company develops many new products and applies for many tax refunds from the tax bureau. Seeing that our new product tax refund applications exceed the industry average, the tax bureau is very vigilant toward us and often comes to audit our accounts. We’ve therefore developed the habit of keeping separate accounts for each product and project. When the tax bureau comes to inspect, everything is clear at a glance, very transparent. This collaborative research project is no exception—it’s not troublesome, just our company’s normal management procedure. Besides, auditing accounts is also the investor’s right, haha.”
Mr. An sighed: “Cooperating with advanced management companies like yours not only saves us worry but also teaches us many good management concepts. Keep up the good work. I believe our company’s difficulties are temporary. Leaders from provincial to municipal levels all attach great importance to us, so our collaborative project should have unlimited prospects.”
Liu Jun spoke directly: “Mr. An, I’ll advance the third phase funding first. I hope your company can implement it quickly, otherwise, we’ll have nothing to work with. At the current equipment debugging stage, every time we start the machine, we’re burning money. I’m worried we won’t be able to hold on.”
“Just bear with it for now, bear with it.”
Under everyone’s gaze, Liu Jun returned empty-handed. He knew in his heart that Mr. An probably wouldn’t pay the third installment readily. If the restructuring succeeded and the money became Mr. An’s own, few people would be willing to dig into their pockets for research and development. Then Mr. An might use both soft and hard tactics to discuss a plan with him, trying to pay the third installment at a discount or in a different form. If the restructuring failed, where would their company get the money? But there was a clause in the contract stating that if payment wasn’t made on time and exceeded a certain period, the contract could be terminated from that point. There were still three months until the agreed time, so Liu Jun could only wait and see.
Unexpectedly, when one door closes, another opens—Tengfei, a traditional manufacturing enterprise, actually welcomed a visit from a VC (venture capital firm). Liu Jun knew about this VC through the lecture meetings he was frequently invited to attend recently. Although the stock market hadn’t shown much improvement, various fund companies were continuously coming to lecture wealthy businessmen throughout the city on how to manage finances, how to invest, and even how to seek listing. When Liu Jun had time, he would attend with Cui Bingbing, and often Liu Shitang would go alone and report back to his son and daughter-in-law. One of the most urgent needs of any enterprise is funding, and no boss would give up learning about funding-related topics.
Before the VC arrived, they put on quite a show, appearing very professional, with so many faxes and emails back and forth that Liu Jun found them annoying. Liu Jun privately told Luo Qing that the writing of those faxes and emails made Tengfei’s official documents seem amateurish, making one reflect on whether they were cultured. When the VC arrived, Liu Jun and his colleagues were given a very targeted lesson on capital expansion—how Tengfei should truly take off—and what was even more exciting was the VC’s description of listing prospects and personal asset gains after listing.
But as soon as the VC finished speaking, a group of stubborn engineers raised various questions about how such expansion speed exceeded the industry’s normal expansion capacity, especially unsuitable for an enterprise like Tengfei that had high standards and strict requirements for quality. If they truly expanded according to the VC’s planned scale, what would ultimately be sacrificed would inevitably be Tengfei’s product quality and reputation. Of course, some people also suggested that Tengfei could first rapidly develop through the financing that came to their door, quickly expand scale, then conveniently raise funds from society, and with the money, they could more conveniently realize Tengfei’s quality concepts.
Hearing different perspectives brought clarity—his colleagues’ opinions gave Liu Jun a deeper understanding of the VC. But regardless, when he was overwhelmed because the Tengda project had fully entered the installation phase while the Donghai No. 1 research project faced a funding shortage, leaving him financially stretched and utterly frazzled, having someone suddenly bring piles of gleaming silver was truly enough to make one lean toward it with all one’s might.
After the morning meeting ended, Liu Jun invited the VC for lunch right in the company cafeteria. The two VC personnel were somewhat surprised but still went to the cafeteria wearing their brilliant designer brands to eat set meals with all the employees. One of them looked like he couldn’t swallow his food. Seeing this, Liu Jun had the cafeteria prepare two stir-fried dishes. But the one who couldn’t eat still couldn’t eat, and Liu Jun pretended not to notice. His cafeteria met hygiene standards and tasted good, no worse than restaurants on the market. Even the discerning Cui Bingbing had no complaints, so Liu Jun didn’t understand what this VC found inedible.
He seized the time to ask the two why they had found Tengfei, and what considerations led them to believe in their report that Tengfei had good growth potential. They said a lot about research and development advantages, current scale potential for exploitation, product market share factors, and so on. But Liu Jun listened with confusion. Although they seemed to speak comprehensively, they hadn’t hit the key points. Liu Jun asked many questions at once. Having signed contracts daily, he knew at least one issue must be clarified in contracts—what happens in case of breach. What if the scale doesn’t meet contract requirements? What if listing time is delayed due to Tengfei’s reasons? What if the listing stock price doesn’t meet contract requirements? The VC said they should first discuss feasibility, then talk about contracts. Liu Jun demanded they lay their cards on the table now, to avoid being seduced by various benefits until he was burning with desire and unable to stop. He hoped the VC could provide a case they had already completed for him to investigate on-site. He desperately needed funding and had absolute sincerity, which was why he had to clarify everything beforehand.
However, the VC didn’t give Liu Jun the answers he wanted—they needed to report back before they could respond. After the VC left, Luo Qing laughed that Liu Jun had driven away the VC with two work meals and two home-style stir-fries.
But when the afternoon’s work ended and he was having dinner with colleagues, hearing them continue to eagerly fantasize about post-listing profits rather than rationally considering whether expansion speed would sacrifice the product quality reputation built over many years, Liu Jun suddenly realized a major problem. Years ago, when he followed Qian Hongming in futures trading, he had been so stimulated by the big money flowing in and out that he really couldn’t get interested in Tengfei’s meticulous profit-making methods, almost neglecting Tengfei’s operations. It was an intolerable quality problem that woke him up and made him resolutely cut off his fantasies about quick money. From his colleagues’ discussions, Liu Jun saw the restlessness rising in their hearts. And this was not a good sign.
But on one side was the VC’s promise of large capital investment, and on the other was the daily funding shortage that left him overwhelmed. Even Liu Jun couldn’t control his burning heart. In this company, besides Liu Jun, probably only Luo Qing could see how such a large company’s daily capital flow was so tight that even stationery purchases required the boss’s approval, with the boss controlling every penny. Therefore, who could understand Liu Jun’s indescribable excitement when faced with the temptation of a large investment suddenly falling from the sky? Liu Jun occasionally thought he would be willing to go through fire and water for it.
When he went home and told Cui Bingbing, her attitude was clear: take it, of course take it. As always, whoever gets the money becomes the boss. The only fear is that money won’t come knocking; not taking money when it’s offered would be foolish.