The full name of VC is “Venture Capital,” also known as “Startup Investment,” which mainly invests in startups.

Lin Zhixia couldn’t help but comment: “Would venture capital firms be willing to support Chai Yang’s startup this time? Livestreaming is a popular field with fierce competition. Major e-commerce, video, and gaming platforms are all doing livestreaming, and they already have established user bases. Chai Yang is entering the livestreaming market with a small team, using arguing with me and suing you as ways to attract traffic, this is too…”

“Naive,” Jiang Yubai commented, using words sparingly.

Indeed naive.

Jiang Yubai had a professional legal team. Before signing the investment contract with Chai Yang, he had lawyers review and modify the contract, considering all possible consequences.

After Chai Yang resigned, he no longer held shares and also lost his directorship, since Chai Yang was not a company shareholder, Jiang Yubai could remove him from his director position without notifying him personally.

Although Chai Yang was a founding team member of “Jiangke Software Company,” Jiang Yubai successfully used the terms and conditions in the contract to completely separate Chai Yang from “Jiangke Software Company.”

What made Chai Yang feel most frustrated was that in September of this year, when he had just broken ties with Jiang Yubai, he had behaved properly, trying to avoid contact with Jiang Yubai as much as possible. He wouldn’t answer Jiang Yubai’s calls, reply to emails, or engage in pointless arguments. Yet Jiang Yubai contacted his team, forcing him to communicate face-to-face with Jiang Yubai under pressure.

At that time, Jiang Yubai’s attitude toward him was very friendly, even saying many pleasantries, such as “With your abilities, you’ll quickly rise again” and “Your team includes technical talent from Silicon Valley in the US, what are you afraid of?”

Chai Yang thought that Jiang Yubai, considering their future cooperation, wouldn’t be too ruthless.

However, in the following three months, Jiang Yubai didn’t leave Chai Yang an inch of room to retreat. He not only canceled Chai Yang’s directorship at “Jiangke Software” and reclaimed his equity but also used a valuation adjustment mechanism agreement they had previously signed as leverage. This put Chai Yang at a complete disadvantage. He always felt as if a Sword of Damocles was hanging over his head, with the tip pointing directly at his brain, ready to fall at any moment.

Rather than waiting passively for his demise, it was better to strike first.

On December 31, 2016, Chai Yang cast aside all his concerns and released an explanatory video online, detailing his entrepreneurial journey over the past five years and the disputes with his investor from beginning to end.

In that video, Chai Yang didn’t dare to directly say Jiang Yubai’s name, so he used “Investor A” to refer to Jiang Yubai. He also self-proclaimed to be “the global IT industry’s entrepreneur with the most difficult experience” and described “Investor A” as a wealthy and powerful person who snatched the fruits of victory.

Wearing a custom-tailored high-end suit, Chai Yang emotionally poured out: “Friends, I’m not yet thirty years old. I’m sharing my personal experience, not to set up a target for you to help me criticize Investor A. Those familiar with me know that I was the first male university student from my village to be admitted to a 985 university. My parents taught me from a young age to be grateful. Without Investor A, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Similarly, without me, there wouldn’t be Jiangke Software. When I just graduated from university and started my business, I had no connections or background. I’ve slept on floors, eaten instant noodles, been slapped by security guards… Friends, I’ve taken many wrong paths. If you’re also a young person with entrepreneurial dreams, after watching this video, remember the most important lesson I want to tell you—when signing contracts with partners and investors, you must, must check the contract terms one by one!”

He opened his arms wide, looking back on the past: “Those familiar with me know that I come from a technical background. Five years ago, when I signed a contract with Investor A, I didn’t bring a lawyer, just casually searched for a few contract terms on Baidu. The Baidu search results showed no problems… The investor’s lawyer kept urging me, my mind went blank, and I signed right away. Five years have passed, Jiangke Software has grown larger and larger, while I have been driven out of the company by the investor…”

He straightened his back and said proudly: “I will represent the founding team of Jiangke Software, sue Investor A, take up legal weapons, and protect the legitimate rights of entrepreneurs!”

After these words, the video even added the sound effect of “applause.”

Chai Yang was full of energy.

Years ago, when he, Lin Zhixia, and Jiang Yubai first met at a café, he was willing to testify for Lin Zhixia’s group, proving that the boy named “He Shangqing” was slacking off in the group assignment.

Chai Yang clearly remembered that He Shangqing was about 1.9 meters tall, with tight, sinewy muscles throughout his body, giving an extraordinary quality to a thin sports shirt. Yet Chai Yang wasn’t afraid of him coming for revenge and insisted on testifying for Lin Zhixia and others.

How brave was he back then?

He considered himself to have a lone courage.

Now, he still dared to fight back, not afraid of Jiang Yubai’s vast resources, and not caring about winning or losing the lawsuit. As long as he could increase his topic’s popularity, he would consider it a victory in this difficult battle.

Five years had passed, but Chai Yang’s original intention remained unchanged.

—

Chai Yang’s video quickly spread through Lin Zhixia’s friend circle.

Everyone expressed strong condemnation.

Even Lin Zeqiu, who had never gotten along well with Jiang Yubai, said: “Chai Yang is such an idiot.”

Lin Zeqiu rarely used “idiot” to describe someone unless he truly couldn’t stand it.

Lin Zeqiu’s parents were also very concerned about Jiang Yubai’s work situation.

On New Year’s Day 2017, Jiang Yubai visited his parents-in-law, bringing many New Year gifts. The family sat on the sofa chatting about their respective work, and Lin Zeqiu casually mentioned Chai Yang.

Lin Zhixia picked up the topic and analyzed carefully: “The truth is, Jiang Yubai never forced Chai Yang to leave the company. They had different approaches to managing the company, so Chai Yang left with his team…”

Lin Zeqiu jumped to the main point: “Chai Yang has insulted Lin Zhixia online.”

“Yes,” Lin Zhixia added, “he thinks I’m a fraudster without real skills.”

A fraudster?!

How could that be possible?

Having raised their daughter for so many years, Lin Zhixia’s parents knew just how smart their daughter was, although the extent of this intelligence wasn’t something they, as parents, could fully understand.

Lin Zhixia’s father couldn’t help but frown: “Does he even know our Xiaxia to call her a fraudster?”

Jiang Yubai interjected: “No, he’s only met her a few times.”

Jiang Yubai sat next to Lin Zhixia on the other side of the sofa. Lin Zhixia leaned against Jiang Yubai’s arm and continued: “In our quantum team, there are many other extremely smart people, like my classmates Wen Qi and Feng Yuan… They completed their doctorates in just three years, and their research results have made the news.”

The doctoral classmate circle Lin Zhixia described…

It was probably a circle exclusive to geniuses.

Lin Zhixia’s parents had nothing more to say. Lin Zeqiu pretended to be watching TV, Jiang Yubai lowered his head and quietly peeled tangerines, while Lin Zhixia hadn’t yet realized she had created an awkward silence. She happily said, “They’re coming to the provincial capital tomorrow. I’m going to pick them up at the airport!”