Restart life

Chapter 311 0308 [Everyone is working hard!]

The American review process wasn't over yet, but as it entered the later stages, ByteDance's management was already rehearsing for the roadshow.

The key speakers are Chen Guiliang, who personally serves as CEO, and Chang Zhongxiang, who serves as CFO. Other senior executives are also required to attend. Lu Zhihui, the person in charge of the listing, will attend as an advisor.

This is currently a private rehearsal within the company. Every other day, after get off work, everyone works overtime in the conference room to rehearse.

The content of the speech was determined jointly by management, investment banks, lawyers, and IR consultants. Everyone had to rehearse to familiarize themselves with the data, logic, and time allocation.

Once the rehearsals have progressed to a certain point, Goldman Sachs' project team will fly over to simulate investors asking some pointed questions.

Now, Professor Wu and his graduate student team come every night as guest investors, deliberately asking pointed and sarcastic questions to make things difficult for the investors.

The graduate students were in a state of excitement, interested in every step of the pre-IPO process. They wouldn't have known that there was such a long mock presentation process before the official roadshow unless they were actually involved.

During rehearsals, we constantly pointed out flaws and made revisions, resulting in countless changes to the PowerPoint presentation.

"Let's go have some fun at Nine-Headed Eagle today!" After another day of rehearsals, Chen Guiliang shouted for an extra meal to boost morale.

"Mr. Chen is so generous!"

The happiest people were the group of graduate students.

Almost every time I come to a rehearsal, I have to go out for a meal afterward.

I started at the Resource Hotel, then went to Fuhua Beef, Guo Lin Home-Style Cuisine, and Lao Shu Ren, and today I switched to Jiu Tou Ying. I've been trying different cuisines at various restaurants near Peking University.

A group of people rushed off in a flurry, chatting and joking along the way.

Everyone signed a confidentiality agreement, prohibiting them from discussing the IPO in any non-private setting. Even in private, they are forbidden from discussing it with outsiders. Otherwise, they would be violating the rules.

Lenovo's CEO, Mr. Liu, not only violated regulations but also boasted to reporters afterward about his actions. He even braggart about how much money someone made by buying and selling stocks ahead of time.

It's hard to make that connection.

"Please come in, everyone!" the waiter greeted warmly.

Nine-Headed Eagle is a well-known chain restaurant serving Hunan and Hubei cuisine in Beijing, and its business has been booming lately.

Just two weeks ago, the boss's wife and children were kidnapped. And it happened right outside the gates of the University of International Business and Economics; the kidnappers, posing as traffic police, stopped cars for inspections and abducted them in broad daylight.

Halfway there, his wife was thrown off the car, and he was told to raise 1000 million in ransom to redeem his son.

Four days later, Uncle Hat caught the man and successfully rescued the bound child.

This news spread like wildfire throughout Beijing, and as a result, the flagship store and all its branches of Nine-Headed Eagle suddenly saw a surge in customers. It wasn't so much about sympathy; it was mainly out of curiosity, and people came in for a meal.

Chen Guiliang led his group into the large private room, which filled two tables. The dishes had been ordered in advance.

This restaurant specializes in Hubei and Hunan cuisine.

After chatting for a while, and with two or three dishes served, Chen Guiliang raised his glass and said, "Thank you all for your hard work these past few days. I'd like to propose a toast to everyone!"

Everyone raised their glasses and responded with laughter.

After the waiter who served the food left, everyone started talking about today's rehearsal.

The graduate students enthusiastically shared their ideas, suggesting how certain details could be modified more reasonably. However, an American member of the team argued that such ideas were wishful thinking and that American investors wouldn't buy into that.

The conversation got more and more lively, and most of the time they communicated in English, mainly because they were too lazy to translate for the Americans every time.

Chen Guiliang and Xie Yang both felt a lot of pressure listening to this.

Not only Chen Guiliang was practicing English, but Xie Yang was too.

In Xie Saobang's own words: "If I had worked this hard in high school, I would have gotten at least 130 points in English and would have been admitted to a top-tier university long ago."

"Boom boom boom!"

The waiter came knocking on the door again to serve the food.

The group immediately changed the subject; even though the waiter might not understand English, they still wouldn't discuss the matter in front of outsiders.

Two more dishes were served.

As the waiter was leaving, one of the graduate students asked, "Was your boss kidnapped?"

The waiter, who had probably been asked this many times, patiently replied, "It wasn't the boss who was kidnapped. It was the boss's wife and son who were kidnapped, but they have been rescued."

"Is it like in the movies, where they prepare the ransom while simultaneously calling the police to arrest people?" someone asked curiously.

The waiter said, "I'm not sure."

Although this incident caused a great stir, the details reported by various media outlets differed, even specifying the exact location of the kidnapping.

After the waiter left, everyone started chatting again.

Professor Wu remarked, "Before, I only knew the general process of an IPO, but after actually getting involved, I realized there are so many details. Every detail is crucial; even a slight mistake can cause delays." Ao Yanzhen added, "Yes, it's exhausting. We're alright, but even President Chen has dark circles under his eyes."

Another Chinese lawyer said, "The really tiring part is yet to come. Two weeks of high-intensity roadshows can make you lose a lot of weight. Flying around all day and having to deal with investors' tricky questions, everyone's nerves are on edge. Especially Mr. Chen, he might have insomnia at night and be so tired during the day that he could fall asleep standing up."

Insomnia and drowsiness are both torturous.

An American said, "Among so many Chinese companies going public in the US, ByteDance is progressing relatively quickly."

Chen Guiliang took out a pack of cigarettes, smoked one himself, and then gave away the rest on the spot.

He was smoking a cigarette to calm himself down; he was already exhausted.

I was trying to control the number of times I smoked, but lately I've been smoking much more, and I've had to resort to tobacco to relieve my anxiety.

Sometimes I try to comfort myself by saying that I'm not the only one who's exhausted.

Kingsoft, Giant Interactive, Perfect World... are all preparing for their IPOs, and those companies are facing similar challenges.

In particular, Chi Yufeng of Perfect World is already on a formal roadshow and is expected to go public this summer.

A couple of days ago, Chen Guiliang called Chi Yufeng, who was speaking in broken English. After a while, he realized what was happening and switched to Chinese to chat with Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang then asked with a wicked grin, "When is Perfect preparing for its IPO?" Chi Yufeng declined to reveal any information, only saying that he had such plans.

……

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the two drivers took them back to their respective lodgings in their large Jinbei vans.

Yang Shuo also drove Chen Guiliang back to his house. Because of the Nine-Headed Eagle kidnapping case, he dared not relax for a moment, fearing that kidnappers might be targeting Chen Guiliang.

That's terrifying! They kidnapped the student right outside the university gate!
Chen Guiliang was slightly tipsy and lay on the living room sofa, not wanting to move. Feeling empty and bored, he called Bian Guanyue to chat.

Bian Guanyue is very hardworking and ambitious; she is currently studying for the postgraduate entrance examination.

I recently enrolled in a postgraduate entrance exam preparation course, hoping to pass the exam on my first try next year.

After chatting with Bian Guanyue, I called Tao Xue.

Tao Xue was typing away on the keyboard.

"What are you doing?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Tao Xue stopped typing and said, "I'm so bored. I'm not interested in most of the courses in my major. Every day is so boring, so I might as well write online novels to pass the time."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Haha, you also write online novels? Which website do you publish them on?"

Tao Xue said, "In the past, I read 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' on Qidian. I'm not familiar with other websites, so I just posted it on Qidian."

At that time, Qidian.com only had a male-oriented section and did not yet have a female-oriented section.

"What did you write?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Tao Xue said, "I wrote four books in two months, each only a few tens of thousands of words long before I had to abandon them. Writing long novels is so difficult. I didn't realize it when I was reading books, but I only found it difficult when I started writing them myself. The first two books were about tomb raiding, and the third was about history. I realized that I lacked sufficient knowledge in both tomb raiding and history, so I decided to write an alternate history for this one."

When talking about her novel, Tao Xue chattered on and on.

“I might have to abandon this project again,” Tao Xue said. “I’ve written almost 100,000 words and I can’t write anymore. There are only a few reader comments in the book review section, and most of the recommendation votes were cast by myself. I don’t think I’m good at writing historical fiction.”

That dead eunuch!
Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Then let's change the subject."

Tao Xue laughed too: "Hehe, if I abandon any more of these novels, I'll definitely switch accounts. I'm too ashamed to show my face with so many abandoned books. Recently, there are a lot of 'apocalyptic + spiritual energy revival' novels on Qidian, all copying 'Future Era'. That novel was already a little popular on Qidian, and it became even more popular after the game's beta test."

Chen Guiliang suggested, "You can't write anything long right now, so why don't you write a fanfiction of 'Future Era'? I'll give you a beta test account. Play the game and then read the original novel. Hmm... just write about the protagonist playing this game, but he gets transported to the world of the novel, complete with a game data panel. No one else has a game panel, only the protagonist does."

"Wow, this is a great idea!" Tao Xue exclaimed in surprise.

Before "Future Era" opens for registration, Chen Guiliang plans to collaborate with Qidian to hold a fan fiction contest.

Although Qidian is under Shanda Games, it operates independently, so collaborating with other games on writing contests is perfectly normal. Once this type of novel becomes popular, it will definitely attract many readers to play the game.

After chatting for a while, Chen Guiliang hung up the phone, stretched, and went to take a shower.

Tao Xue, however, immediately abandoned her current alternate history novel and went to read the novel of the same name, "Future Era." Next, she planned to use the invitation code to play the game, hoping to achieve some small success through her fan fiction.

She never expected to become an overnight sensation; a few hundred subscribers would be enough.

Tao Xue longed to earn her own royalties instead of spending her parents' and brother's money. The royalties might not be much, but they were earned through her own hard work.

I wonder if I'll be able to receive my payment before my senior's birthday this year.

If only I could use my first earnings from writing to carefully select a birthday gift for my senior.

Tao Xue, who has abandoned four books in a row, hasn't even secured a contract for one yet, but she's already thinking about how to spend her royalties.

(End of this chapter)