Jingzhou, outside the Dream Fulfillment Investment building.
Meng Chang put away his phone, his face maintaining an impassive expression. His composure was deep, making it impossible to discern his true emotions.
On his way here, Meng Chang had been following the online drama.
This weekend’s events—Mr. Pei traveling alone to Shanghai and routing Dragon Yu Group and IOI—had spread wildly online, undoubtedly breaking beyond gaming circles.
Although Meng Chang had absolutely no interest in the esports field, because it involved Mr. Pei, he dared not be negligent and paid close attention.
The more he delved into it, the more he found it astounding!
Meng Chang carefully analyzed Mr. Pei’s moves in this IOI qualification tournament and discovered that Mr. Pei truly was infallible, making no mistakes whatsoever, always staying a step ahead of Dragon Yu Group.
Even more amazingly, many steps in Mr. Pei’s entire plan seemed to involve tremendous luck.
One coincidence could be attributed to luck, but what about many coincidences?
If all this had been calculated by Mr. Pei, then he was terrifyingly formidable, indicating that his strategic abilities far exceeded most people’s imagination.
If it wasn’t calculated by Mr. Pei, if it was all luck, then he was even more terrifying, as it showed his fortune was heaven-defying.
An infallible person couldn’t be provoked, because they would use the intelligence gap to grind you into the ground. A person with heaven-defying luck was even more untouchable—once you provoked them, bad things might happen to you.
It was precisely because Mr. Pei’s reputation was so illustrious and his legendary moments so numerous that many timid swindlers stayed far away from him, not daring to approach.
Who didn’t know that Mr. Pei had unparalleled wisdom and a clear sense of love and hate?
With so many precedents, even large companies like Daark Group and Dragon Yu Group couldn’t withstand him. What petty villain would dare to pull the tiger’s whiskers?
Meng Chang was in a similar state now, extremely nervous!
Initially, he took money from Dream Fulfillment Investment simply because their money was the easiest to obtain.
But over this period, from the product launch to the assignment of financial personnel, to Mr. Pei’s follow-up investment some time ago… all of this made Meng Chang increasingly feel that things weren’t so simple.
He always felt that while Mr. Pei seemed completely uninterested in Cold Face Girl on the surface, behind the scenes, he saw everything clearly—none of Meng Chang’s little tricks had escaped Mr. Pei’s eyes.
But the problem was that Meng Chang had already come this far.
If he had known earlier that the situation would develop to this point, Meng Chang might have chosen not to take Mr. Pei’s money from the beginning.
But now, Cold Face Girl’s stores were open, brand recognition was established, and the valuation was steadily rising. Meng Chang was already doing everything possible to connect with various capital sources, and he was just one step away from his final goal.
For Meng Chang, it was impossible to give up at this point.
Like a gambler who had already placed all his chips on the table and had a good hand, he absolutely wouldn’t stop until he saw his opponent’s cards.
Since last week’s inexplicable fiasco, Cold Face Girl’s situation had undergone some changes.
Last week, Meng Chang had arranged for several investors to inspect Cold Face Girl’s store, but for some unknown reason, the kitchen suddenly experienced frequent problems, leaving a very bad impression on the investors. The previously almost-certain investment fell through.
Of course, these investors wouldn’t completely lose interest in Cold Face Girl just because of such minor kitchen issues, but once psychological expectations were discounted, the investment terms naturally became more stringent.
Meng Chang completely rejected these harsh terms, so both sides entered a stalemate again.
On the surface, both sides appeared evenly matched, but the pressure was entirely on Meng Chang’s side.
Investors had money and could wait as long as they wanted, but Meng Chang was burning money every moment!
He had previously increased his cash burn rate, renting venues for speeches and organizing various marketing activities. Cold Face Girl frequently topped trending searches, gaining more and more recognition.
But all of this was maintained by burning money.
Once the money ran out, Cold Face Girl would be exposed for what it truly was.
Moreover, Meng Chang couldn’t slow down his spending, because once the buzz died down, investors would become even more suspicious about Cold Face Girl’s true situation.
Therefore, Meng Chang had to continue finding money, otherwise, Cold Face Girl’s cash flow would become very precarious.
After much consideration, he could only approach Mr. Pei again.
Meng Chang could sense that most investors’ attitudes had already softened considerably. If Mr. Pei provided another investment and Cold Face Girl could sustain operations a bit longer, they could secure more money from other investors, and the game could continue.
However, Mr. Pei had just given six million yuan, less than half a month ago.
Meng Chang was somewhat concerned that his rapid cash burn might displease Mr. Pei.
So, after thorough preparation, Meng Chang decided to make another trip to Jingzhou to personally persuade Mr. Pei.
He had meticulously prepared a PowerPoint presentation and had also worked hard to make Cold Face Girl’s two stores appear profitable on paper.
For example, he used longer depreciation periods for store assets, deferred as many costs as possible, or used wordplay to exclude part of the marketing expenses from costs. This way, looking at the PowerPoint, Cold Face Girl appeared to be in a very healthy, profitable state with excellent prospects.
Combined with Cold Face Girl’s current brand recognition, awareness, trending search index, and other data, everything seemed impeccable from all angles.
Strictly speaking, Meng Chang wasn’t falsifying anything—he was indeed using correct numbers. He was just embellishing and processing them during the presentation, and with his persuasive speaking, it was easy to create misconceptions.
Meng Chang certainly didn’t think he could deceive Mr. Pei 100%—he wasn’t that arrogant.
But Meng Chang thought he could at least try. He was using real data, and Mr. Pei was more or less aware of Cold Face Girl’s financial situation. Meng Chang himself had never tried to take kickbacks from Cold Face Girl; he was solely focused on inflating the valuation to cash out.
Even if Mr. Pei was dissatisfied with this, at most, he would just stop investing. Could he expose everything on the spot?
That possibility was very small.
So, after thorough preparation, Meng Chang came to Jingzhou to give it a try.
Arriving at the Dream Fulfillment Investment building, Meng Chang met He Desheng, and the two shook hands warmly.
“Please wait a moment. Mr. Pei has agreed to see you, but he just returned from Shanghai not long ago and is on his way here,” said He Desheng.
Meng Chang quickly nodded: “Of course! Since Mr. Pei is giving me this opportunity despite his busy schedule, I’ll make a good impression!”
He Desheng didn’t say much more, just had someone bring tea, and the two chatted in the reception room while waiting for Mr. Pei’s arrival.
About half an hour later, Mr. Pei arrived.
Meng Chang hurried forward, attentive in his manner: “Mr. Pei! Welcome back triumphantly from Shanghai! Your legendary feat of ‘a single leaf boat travels a thousand miles; a million strong troops unpack their battle gear’ is truly admirable!”
Over these past few months, although Meng Chang had been continuously taking money from Mr. Pei, he hadn’t had a single opportunity to communicate with him face-to-face.
It could only be said that previously, Meng Chang’s status was too low to be worth Mr. Pei’s time.
But now, as Cold Face Girl’s valuation kept rising and its performance stood out among Dream Fulfillment Investment’s portfolio companies, it gradually gained Mr. Pei’s favor and attention.
So when Meng Chang met Mr. Pei, he didn’t spare his compliments.
In his view, Mr. Pei’s solo journey to Shanghai, defeating Dragon Yu Group without deploying a single soldier, should be something to be proud of.
As the saying goes, “one doesn’t hit a smiling face.” Many people claim they don’t like flattery, but if the flattery feels good, who wouldn’t be happy?
However, what Meng Chang hadn’t expected at all was that Mr. Pei’s expression instantly collapsed. If his attitude had been relatively indifferent before, now he was somewhat unhappy.
Meng Chang’s heart sank, thinking to himself: This is bad.
What’s going on? Did I say something wrong?
That shouldn’t be possible!
Meng Chang felt extremely puzzled. It was just an ordinary compliment—did Mr. Pei dislike even that?
Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly. The more he looked at this Meng Chang, the more displeased he felt.
Just back from Shanghai, with his anger not yet subsided, and now this guy was rubbing salt in his wounds!
But Pei Qian was, after all, a magnanimous person, so he didn’t say much and just entered the reception room with Meng Chang and He Desheng.
While still on the high-speed train, He Desheng had already called to report that Meng Chang had arrived in Jingzhou, hoping to personally brief Mr. Pei on Cold Face Girl’s current status.
Pei Qian hadn’t given it much thought and immediately agreed, as he had been constantly concerned about Cold Face Girl, very worried that one day it might suddenly become profitable, making him rich, and was always preparing to cut and run.
Meng Chang knew nothing of this and thought that since Mr. Pei had agreed so readily, he must be very optimistic about Cold Face Girl, which boosted his confidence greatly.
He Desheng played the PowerPoint on the projector. Meng Chang briefly composed himself and began his performance.
“Mr. Pei, I’ve come to Jingzhou specifically to bring you good news! Cold Face Girl stores have achieved a turnaround from loss to profit! Although we can’t declare this business model a success yet, it represents a solid step forward for the Cold Face Girl brand on the path to success!”
Pei Qian was just about to take a sip of tea to moisten his throat when his teacup stopped at his lips.
“Already turned a profit? So quickly?” Pei Qian’s voice carried seven parts surprise and three parts horror.
Seeing Mr. Pei’s reaction, Meng Chang’s heart leaped with joy.
Mr. Pei’s strong reaction meant there was hope!
He quickly continued: “That’s right. Mr. Pei, you can see Cold Face Girl’s current situation very clearly from this chart. Our financial status is very healthy. As long as we continue to expand our investment, we’re certain to reap rich rewards…”
Meng Chang was very well-prepared, having converted the data into various bar charts and pie charts that were intuitive, vivid, and clear at a glance.
Pei Qian looked at He Desheng with skepticism and asked, “These figures… are they accurate?”
He Desheng hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Although Meng Chang’s operations to forcibly create profitability were a bit shady, most companies would do something similar to make their financial reports look better, which couldn’t be called falsification.
Since Mr. Pei only asked if the data was accurate and nothing else, He Desheng naturally answered truthfully—the data was indeed accurate.
Seeing Mr. Pei’s reaction, Meng Chang’s enthusiasm instantly peaked, preparing to give a godlike performance.
It seemed that if he performed well today, he would surely win Mr. Pei’s favor, and securing a few more million in investment would be no problem!
However, just as Meng Chang was about to continue, he saw Mr. Pei raise his hand to stop him.
“Enough, you don’t need to continue.”
Pei Qian turned to look at He Desheng: “Sell all our shares in Cold Face Girl!”