Since they are reborn, they must be supported by the school beauties.

Chapter 186 I'm ready

Lin Zhenbang was momentarily stunned.

In his mind, Chen Cheng was just a college student from out of town. It was true that his family might be a little rich, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to come up with two million to buy his company. But what good is being rich? Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake.

Moreover, he couldn't swallow this insult or accept such a huge loss. Even if he was just trying his luck, he still had to ask Chen Cheng for a try.

But who would have thought that Chen Cheng was actually connected with the famous Su family in Jiangcheng.

He had long heard of the name Jinhan Real Estate.

Before his road trip during the National Day holiday, he had just bought a new apartment in a development by Jinhan Real Estate. It's a 180-square-meter, four-bedroom building that will be ready for occupancy by the end of next year.

Feeling uneasy, he asked Zuo Hu incredulously, "Xiao Hu, who exactly is this Chen Cheng? How did a college student become a manager at a disco?"

Zuo Hu said irritably, "I don't know the specifics. I arrived late. All I know is that the reason our store is the best in Jiangcheng is all thanks to Manager Chen. Also, I heard from Fourth Brother that the third young master of the Su family is going to open two new stores. Ma Erge is also a shareholder of the new stores. They are willing to give Manager Chen 10% of the shares for free. You should think about how capable Manager Chen is."

Lin Zhenbang felt utterly hopeless.

From this perspective, it's clear that I'm not going to get the company back. Whether Chen Cheng will hold a grudge against me is another matter.

Isn't this a case of losing both the wife and the army?
Liu Li, standing to the side, also panicked. How could she not know the reputation of Jinhan Real Estate? And what kind of background did that Brother Ma have? There were countless rumors about him. She and her husband were already in the wrong to come to Chen Cheng to ask for the company back. It was one thing if they couldn't get the company and the money back, but if they offended a big shot, it would be a huge loss.

Lin Zhenbang came to his senses and asked Zuo Hu, "Xiao Hu, you're familiar with Chen Cheng. When you get back, say a few good words for your brother-in-law to him, and tell him that it was all a misunderstanding before, and that I won't mention the company's affairs again."

Zuo Hu took a step back and hurriedly waved his hand, saying, "You tell him yourself. I don't want to get involved in this mess."

He took out his phone to check the time, and then said to the two of them, "I'm going back to work. It's not too late to go back now. Manager Chen said that if I don't take any days off for a month, I'll get 300 yuan for perfect attendance."

After saying that, without waiting for Lin Zhenbang to speak, he turned and left as if avoiding a plague.

Knowing his get-rich-quick dreams were shattered, the two brothers who came with him naturally left without looking back, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Lin Zhenbang standing there, their hearts in turmoil.

Lin Zhenbang felt uneasy and asked Liu Li, "What do we do now?"

Frustrated and anxious, Liu Li urged him, "Call Chen Cheng right away and apologize. Let's not talk about the company anymore."

Lin Zhenbang nodded; there was no better solution at this point.

However, when he called Chen Cheng, Chen Cheng still did not answer.

He didn't want to waste time and energy on Lin Zhenbang. He originally planned to call the police, but he happened to run into Lao Si's men, which saved him some trouble. He figured Lin Zhenbang wouldn't dare to cause trouble again, so why bother with him?

Lin Zhenbang waited until the notification tone turned into a busy tone before frantically telling Liu Li, "He's not answering my calls..."

Liu Li said, "Then you should quickly send a text message to apologize, and make sure it's sincere!"

"Row!"

Lin Zhenbang, who always obeyed his wife, quickly sent Chen Cheng a message:
"Brother Chen, I'm really sorry about what happened before. Please don't hold it against me. I won't bother you again."

The message was sent to Chen Cheng, but Chen Cheng still did not reply.

Lin Zhenbang waited for ten minutes, but still didn't receive a message. He then said to Liu Li, "He's still ignoring me. Is he still angry?"

Liu Li felt a little relieved and said, "He's not saying anything, probably because he doesn't want to waste his breath on us, which is for the best. If he sent a text message and started cursing us, he might hold a grudge. What do you think?"

Lin Zhenbang nodded: "That makes sense."

Liu Li sighed and said, "Alright, stop standing here and let's go home."

After a period of fear and anxiety, Lin Zhenbang regained his rationality. He and Liu Li went back to the car, and before starting the engine, he muttered to himself, "Actually, even if we hadn't sold it to Chen Cheng, it would definitely have been sold to someone else. In the end, it wouldn't have been our turn to make a fortune."

Hearing his mutterings, Liu Li nodded and said, "You're right."
-
When Chen Cheng arrived at Jiangcheng Hotel, it was still a bit early.

He originally wanted to book a private room, but there was a minimum charge for private rooms, so he simply found a spot in the lobby and sent a message to Li Dong.

Li Dong had already gotten off the plane and was on his way. Half an hour after receiving the message, he entered the Jiangcheng Hotel and, led by a waiter, came to Chen Cheng.

Li Dong was quite surprised when he saw Chen Cheng.

Liu Shiyu didn't tell him about Chen Cheng's specific situation, only saying that he was a friend of hers, but when they actually met, he was surprised to find that Chen Cheng was so young.

He tentatively asked, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Chen Cheng?" Chen Cheng stood up, extended a hand to him, and smiled, "Manager Li, right? Hello, I'm Chen Cheng."

Li Dong was still somewhat incredulous. He shook hands with Chen Cheng, sat down opposite him, and then asked in surprise, "Mr. Chen, you look so young! What year are you born?"

Chen Cheng said with a smile, "I was born in 83."

"Year 83?"

Li Dong was even more surprised.

He had thought Chen Cheng was at least in his early twenties, but he looked much younger than he expected; he was actually under twenty.

He asked in confusion, "Mr. Chen was born in 83, so he's only 19 years old this year?"

Chen Cheng nodded: "I'll be 19 soon."

Li Dong then asked, "So you're in university now?"

"Correct."

Chen Cheng said, "I am a freshman majoring in computer science at Jiangnan University."

"Jiangda University..."

Li Dong suddenly realized and said, "So you're Shi Yu's student! When she told me, she only said you were her friend. I thought we were all around the same age."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but sigh, "Mr. Chen is so young, yet he has created such an excellent website as Renren.com. It is truly impressive."

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "Actually, it's not so bad. Many excellent individual website owners are already quite famous when they are seventeen or eighteen years old."

"That's true."

Li Dong nodded and said seriously, "In that case, let's get down to business. I have a general understanding of the situation of Xiaonei.com. To be honest, I am very optimistic about it and would like to represent IDG in the development of Xiaonei.com. I wonder what Mr. Chen's views are on investment and whether he has any relevant knowledge about IDG."

Chen Cheng said, "If Xiaonei.com wants to grow bigger and stronger, financing is an inevitable path. As for IDG, I have heard of it. You invested in Tencent in the earliest days, and I think you also invested in ChinaHR.com."

"Correct."

Li Dong smiled and said, "The internet has always been a sector that we attach great importance to, and we have very strong financial reserves in this area."

Then, Li Dong asked him, "By the way, Mr. Chen, what is your current valuation of Xiaonei.com that you are personally satisfied with? And if we were to invest in your seed round, how many shares would you be willing to offer?"

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "My personal ideal valuation is fifty million US dollars. If IDG is the only investor, I can offer up to 20% of the shares."

Li Dong was startled by Chen Cheng and blurted out, "Fifty million US dollars... Mr. Chen, this price is indeed a bit too exaggerated. After all, it's a seed round. How can there be such a high valuation? When Tencent first received investment, their valuation was only over 500 million US dollars. ChinaHR.com took at least three years to go from zero to a valuation of 5000 million US dollars. Xiaonei.com was only established for 10 days. 5000 million US dollars is indeed a pipe dream."

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "Manager Li just asked me about the valuation that I am personally satisfied with, so what I said is also my expected value that I am satisfied with. Of course, this value will definitely differ from your judgment. We can slowly work together to find a price that everyone can accept."

Li Dong felt that Chen Cheng, this young man, was not very down-to-earth. He thought to himself, "Since you're offering such a casual price, I'll just offer one too, as a way of putting some cold water on your enthusiasm."

So, he said with a serious expression, "Mr. Chen, sometimes the actual valuation for financing may be far from the expected price. To be honest, I have worked at IDG for several years and participated in the investment evaluation of many Internet startups. Most of the entrepreneurs who come to us to raise funds are basically stuck at the business plan stage. In other words, we do not approve of their business model and future plans. In this case, we basically cannot talk about valuation."

As he spoke, he glanced at Chen Cheng and continued, "However, there is no such problem between us. I personally approve of the Xiaonei.com product, so I can tell you frankly that, based on the current product form and development trend of Xiaonei.com, I think a valuation of around $600 million is not a problem. Moreover, with Shiyu's connection, I will definitely give her some consideration, and the actual valuation may increase by about 10% on this basis."

Chen Cheng shook his head and decisively refused, saying, "Manager Li, if the valuation starts in the millions, then I don't think there's any need to continue this discussion."

Li Dong didn't expect Chen Cheng to be so firm in his attitude. He wouldn't even discuss anything starting with a million dollars, which meant he was talking about something starting with tens of millions of dollars.
Even the minimum standard of ten million US dollars is more than eighty million RMB at the current exchange rate, which is really too much.

So, instead of continuing to discuss this issue with Chen Cheng, he asked him, "Manager Chen, have you considered that given the current momentum of Xiaonei.com's development, your operating costs will increase exponentially? If your cash flow dries up, Xiaonei.com may come to a standstill. Users might be able to accept a shutdown for a day or two, but if it's shut down for more than a week, users will basically stop coming back."

Chen Cheng smiled and nodded: "I know that, so my idea is that if I can't raise a seed round, I'll invest in my own seed round. Since we've already met today, we can keep in touch, and we can continue to talk when I'm ready for Series A funding."

Seeing Chen Cheng's confident expression, Li Dong was even more puzzled. How could an eighteen or nineteen-year-old college student bear such high operating costs?

To prevent Chen Cheng from making the wrong judgment, he specifically reminded him: "Mr. Chen, once a product like Renren.com truly begins to attract users, its development will be very rapid. Your seed round may require at least five to eight million RMB."

Chen Cheng nodded and said calmly, "I have already prepared the money."

(End of this chapter)