Back to the prime of life

Chapter 163 Helping in times of need
Lu Changge still remembered when he first met Zuo Shuya. At that time, she was still a small-time lawyer hiding in the Fangda Law Firm in the New World Building. She wore a business suit that didn't fit her very well, and her true self was hidden behind the frames of her glasses.

It’s not like now, when I’m the general manager of a successful and profitable high-end swimming pool.

Lu Changge offered her a salary of 10 yuan here. In addition, she also invested yuan to obtain part of the equity.

Even though he still can't come up with the cash for a house, he is now far better off than the young lawyer he was back then.

Now she has refreshing and smooth black hair combed down her back, and wears an elegant cotton velvet coat. No matter how you look at her, she exudes the style of a young woman who lives in a high-end apartment.

The charm of young women is not uncommon, but the dignified and sophisticated feeling is relatively rare. The more so, the more people will feel satisfied after conquering her. If she is just an ordinary married woman, she will not have this feeling at all.

What's the word? Contrast.

Yes, contrast.

Lu Changge's thoughts were ignited by his lower body, and the heat from his blood entered his brain, making him suddenly realize that he didn't know how to respond to other people's jokes.

If it's really a joke.

Seeing this, Zuo Shuya lowered her head and pursed her lips, feeling a little embarrassed. She rolled her eyes at him and said, "What are you thinking about?"

If it was an inexperienced girl, this would probably just be coquettishness, but she was not, so there was no doubt that she had the wrong idea!

So this is not flavor, it’s clearly style!
Oh my, Lu Changge felt even more itchy and said, "You've already said everything, and you won't let me think about it anymore?!"

"Then go back and think about it secretly, don't think about it while looking at me."

"So, I'm allowed to think about it."

If you are not careful, you will be caught in a difficult situation.

However, Zuo Shuya wasn't too shy after all. She just burst out laughing and said, "You're really good at everything. You're also quite good at dealing with women."

"The word 'deal' is used well, and the Chinese language is profound and extensive." Lu Changge put this aside and continued, "Speaking of the broad spirit of this language, I was thinking about the word 'shabi' the other day, and it seemed to suddenly appear. Why does it express that meaning? After thinking about it over and over again, I thought of its antonym, and then I understood."

"Which antonym?"

"Wisdom."

"Hui...gen, gen?" Zuo Shuya was stunned for a moment, and finally blushed at his half-hearted joke. "Bah, it's just a perfectly good word, but now that you've said it, I can't say it anymore!"

Lu Changge laughed triumphantly.

It may be that HaiLan Bay has achieved a temporary success, and the two of them have put their minds at ease, so they are in a good mood to chat and joke.

Life can't be all about work.

However, the situation does not seem that simple for Wang Hongcheng.

As soon as Lu Changge saw him today, he could tell that he was different from before. This guy actually didn't have some of the habits of the rich second generation, but his life experience was like that, and he still had a sense of pride in his bones.

But today, when he sat down in the box, not only did his brows find it difficult to relax, but even his energy and spirit seemed a little weaker. To use the fashionable term later, there was no light in his eyes.

"What's wrong with you? We haven't seen each other for a while, and you don't even smile when we meet?" Lu Changge actually vaguely guessed something.

Two days ago, HaiLan Bay invited the Olympic champion. Logically, he should have been there to congratulate them. Just as a friend, this was necessary, but he said he had something to do and didn't come.

Although he didn't say much at the time, the reason was self-evident given the general trend.

"You're still smiling. I'm strong enough not to cry now." Wang Hongcheng said this joke weakly. Then he did not hide anything and said, "I have some funding problems for my project."

Both Lu and Zuo knew that Lao Wang had been promoting a residential project, Cuijing Garden, before he met them.

"A financial crisis suddenly broke out in the United States. I still have two shareholders, both bosses from Zhejiang, and they want to withdraw their investment. Ah... I really want to curse." Wang Hongcheng rubbed his forehead, his voice a little hoarse.

Lu Changge was not surprised, but just sighed.

He sometimes asks himself, if he had advised against it half a year or a year ago, would this situation have been avoided?
The answer is actually no.

Anyone with a bit of life experience knows that a person's own thoughts or desires are unlikely to change based on a few words from others. Forget about ordinary friends, what about parents?
When you were a child, your parents told you to study hard and get into a good university in the future. Did you listen to them?
Future crises are unpredictable. Even for things like gambling and internet addiction that are foreseeable to have serious consequences, how many people would listen to advice?

As the saying goes, people cannot learn something even if they are taught, but they can learn something once they are taught. This is exactly what it means.

So Lu Changge could do very little, and he couldn't order Wang Hongcheng around. "How much funding is needed?"

Wang Hongcheng said, "Over 40 million. Originally, this wouldn't have been a big deal, but the impact of this crisis seems extraordinary. My entire family has been deeply affected."

Lu Changge asked again: "Have you contacted the bank?"

"Yes, they are trying every possible way to raise funds. So I want you to find Director Xu, and then we can go find Wu Yiming together."

This is the time to save lives.

"no problem."

Wang Hongcheng felt a little comforted, at least Lu Changge was not the kind of friend who would hide when encountering problems.

In fact, this is because Lu Changge has relatively professional financial concepts.

This needs a little explanation. When ordinary people look at a company, they always apply the common sense of cost and profit. That is, only profitable companies can survive, and loss-making companies are bound to go bankrupt.

But anyone with a little financial knowledge knows that the first factor that determines whether a company goes bankrupt or not is not profit, but cash flow.

So the correct statement of the above sentence should be that companies with cash flow will survive, and companies without cash flow will die.

It is relatively understandable that a loss-making company can survive in the end, as is the case with Amazon and JD.com. However, most people probably would not have thought that some companies made profits in the year but went bankrupt.

For example, the recently collapsed Lehman Brothers Bank had a net profit of $2007 billion in 42 and $7000 billion in assets on its books when it declared bankruptcy.

There is also a company called Toys R Us. This is an example from 2017. It declared bankruptcy that year, but its operating income that year was US$115 billion and its net profit was US$5 million.

This involves some accounting methods, for example, accounting profits will include non-cash items such as accounts receivable, depreciation, etc.

This is the profit on your accounting books, but you have not received any cash. At this time, your debts cannot be paid off. If you cannot repay your debts, you will die.

In addition, there is a concept called net assets, which is the residual value of a company after deducting all costs.

If the net assets are positive, it means that the company is still valuable.

Looking back, at the end of 2008, a residential community project that was half-developed, was this project itself valuable?

In 2008, Lu Changge had every right to say this—yes, and very much so. Give it money, keep it alive, and it will make money. Because housing prices have only recently dipped briefly, they will rebound immediately after the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package next year.

So Lu Changge immediately agreed. He would work together to find a way to help Wang Hongcheng overcome this difficulty, and he would even consider paying for it himself.

Again, the Cuijingyuan project is a valuable project.

So Lu Changge said again: "I still have some funds, although it is far from 4000 million, but if you need it, just tell me."

This statement is so loyal that it seems a bit fake.

Even Zuo Shuya was very surprised by the brilliance of human nature.

Wang Hongcheng asked, "You... I invited you to work with me on real estate development, but you refused."

"Hey, it's different. You're in trouble now. But to be honest, brother, this is my wife's money, and I can only fill it in for you at the end. I can't use it to help you at the beginning. Do you understand what I mean?"

If you've almost got the money together, I'll give you the top-up. But now you're 40 million short, what's the point of giving him a few million? That would be a waste of his money.

Wang Hongcheng is also very clear about this.

"I know I know."

This big man has always been rough, but at this moment he seems to be a bit emotionally delicate.

And as if he had made up his mind, he said, "Don't worry, I still have some ideas. If all else fails, I can just sell something. I'm putting this out there today. No matter how much you give me, if we make a profit, we'll split it up as we please. If we lose, I'll keep your principal."

Lu Changge naturally would not believe the assurance of a man who needed to protect himself, but the difference between him choosing to help someone in need rather than adding icing on the cake could be seen now.

Ever since he was reborn, he never felt that money could not be made in real estate. As long as it was not illegal, it would be a waste not to make money. On the contrary, if he did not make money, it would benefit other bastards!
This was a great opportunity to enter a sector that was poised for rapid growth over the next decade. His goal wasn't 100% to make money, but rather a desire to establish a legitimate company and build houses without ripping off the hard-working masses who had to pay for a single house their entire lives. Damn it!

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It should be relatively empty tonight, I should, I will try to update another chapter.

(End of this chapter)