Ji Ling said in discouragement, “If Old Song was still here, chief Lee might still show some respect to us. But now… we should just be glad that he’s not planning to push us down like the others.”
“But Madam, we have to do something! If we do nothing right now, there’s no way we can recover!” Ye Wen Sheng said anxiously, and very rightly so.
What kind of general tells his troop to give up on fighting before the war even begins?
“Uncle Ye, is there anyway for you to reach to Chief Lee?” Song Shi Cheng asked as he tried to remember everything he learnt about this Lee Dong Sheng person.
Lee Dong Sheng. As both the founder and the current chairman of the Jun Shi fund company, he became a private fund tycoon from practically nothing. Because of his combined efforts with Old Song, the Fenghua group flourished as one of China’s leading investors in real estate.
With Lee Dong Sheng’s private fund and Old Song’s diligence as a businessperson, the Fenghua group was able to get its hands on several of the most crucial properties within China’s major cities before any other competitors did. If it weren’t for Lee Dong Sheng, there was no way the Fenghua group could make so much revenue during the early stages of China’s urbanization.
Unlike most real estate entrepreneurs, Lee Dong Sheng came from an agricultural industry background. He was hence much more pragmatic than most other investors in the same field. When many asked chief Lee to invest stocks, he would always reply with his classic statement:
“I don’t care about investing in stocks, nor do I care about learning about them. Stocks are just a bunch of scams designed by a bunch of lowlife cheats. The whole point of it is to make money out of dumbasses who would believe in such bullshit.”
Sounds quite self-righteous, doesn’t it? However, there had been rumours of Lee Dong Sheng scraping away his corporation budget so he could start his own private fund, but there’s really no way to know that for sure.
One thing is for sure. Lee Dong Sheng became extremely wealthy from his private funds. Since he lived a quite plain lifestyle, no one really knew how much his total worth was. Some said that he was as rich as some of the richest men in China.
Not only was Lee Dong Sheng extremely good at making investments, he was also well known for his non-interference philosophy when it comes to company management. And because Lee Dong Sheng never sacked or promoted anyone within the Fenghua group, there had never been any collision between him and the Song family even after so many years.
No wonder Ye Wen Sheng would place his hope on Lee Dong Sheng.
“Son, are you thinking of…” Ji Ling gasped as Song Shi Cheng volunteered to see Lee Dong Sheng in person.
Song Shi Cheng insisted, “Mother, Ye Tian was right. If we don’t take an offensive position right now, the others will soon start climbing on top of our heads! If you don’t think it is appropriate for you to go, please let me be the one to negotiate with Lee Dong Sheng. If I’m the one he’s negotiating with, we don’t have to agree anything he might ask from us.”
“That was a very sensible idea,” Ye Wen Sheng agreed, “Since master Song is still young, there is nothing Lee Dong Sheng can ask from us if he demands some sort of benefit. Even if he does, master Song doesn’t have to agree to it immediately.”
“You might be right, but what price must we pay to get Lee Dong Sheng to help us? From what I know of Lee Dong Sheng, he’s the kind of person would do nothing until he sees so sort gain from it. Unless we give him our stocks…”
“Come on, mother, I’ll at least have a look and see what Lee might be thinking. There’s no point worrying about what might happen if we just stand here and do nothing,” said Song Shi Cheng as he suddenly raised his lips and smiled in confidence.
“As for the bait to lure out Lee Dong Sheng out, I know something way more appealing than our stocks. Uncle Ye, can you write a business plan for me?”
Uncertain of what Song Shi Cheng was trying to say, both Ye Wen Sheng and Ji Ling had theirs wide open and looked at him in bewilderment.
……
On the third day’s morning when the sun just came out, Song Shi Cheng arrived at an office building with his deluxe sports car. Yes, he came to the headquarter of the Jun Shi fund company.
After he got out of his deluxe sports car, Song Shi Cheng opened the door and headed inside straightaway.
The pretty front counter girl wanted to tell him that the company hadn’t opened yet, but changed her tone as soon as she realized that it was Song Shi Cheng.
“Mr. Song. I’m sorry, but if you’re looking for chief Lee, he hasn’t come yet.”
Song Shi Cheng ignored her. Instead, he headed to the elevator on his own.
“Mr. Song, please don’t trouble us like this when chief Lee really isn’t here. Would you like to come during chief Lee’s office hours ?” the front counter girl asked with a worried expression.
“You’re pretty good looking, aren’t you girl?” Song Shi Cheng suddenly winked suggestively at the front counter girl. “Sorry, but lying doesn’t make a good impression,” he said and smiled.
Stunned by Song Shi Cheng’s charisma, the front counter girl was caught up in her own fantasy for a while before she realized that he was already inside the elevator. Seeing that she had no ways to stop Song Shi Cheng, the front counter girl decided to run in the elevator with him.
After the front counter girl ran inside the elevator, Song Shi Cheng pressed the button to the third floor and closed the elevator door. He then raised his arm and looked at his watch, which was so expensive that the front counter girl would not afford even if she worked for four years without eating or drinking anything.
Song Shi Cheng asked, “Isn’t chief Lee in the gym right now? From what I’ve heard, he’s been working out in the morning for a few years now.”
Knowing that Song Shi Cheng had already done his research, the front counter girl closed her mouth in a guilty but cute expression.
Just as Song Shi Cheng expected, a wide, bright gym was in front of him as soon as the elevator door opened.
Most employees hadn’t come yet, but there were definitely some sounds of people exercising at this time. One particularly noticeable sound was the heavily breathing a man.
As Song Shi Cheng followed this heavy breathing sound, he quickly found the person he was looking for.
Right at the pile of treadmills in front of the French windows, there were a man and a woman. Both of them were in gym clothes, and both of them were sweating heavily from exercise.
The woman was hot for sure, but the same could not be said for the man. In fact, the man had an absolutely atrocious body shape at a height shorter than 170 centimetres. From the way he was quaking the treadmill he was running on, the man must had weighed more than a hundred kilograms.
“I’m so sorry, chief Lee, but Mr. Song insists on seeing you…” The front counter girl rushed in and apologized in advance.
The fat man turned and looked at Song Shi Cheng with his tiny eyes. While he was breathing heavily from exercising, there wasn’t much change in his expression.
“Leave us now. You can go pay your fines at finance management department,” Lee Dong Sheng said calmly to the front counter girl.
“I’ll pay the fine for her,” Song Shi Cheng intercepted, then took out a pile of cash out of his pocket.
As the fat man turned his head back towards the treadmill, he grunted at Song Shi Cheng while he continued to jog with his elephant-like legs.
“Mr. Song, I don’t recall me ever interfering with your family business, so why are you stopping me when I’m trying to teach my employee a lesson? Didn’t your father teach you manners before he died? Also, how disturbing of you to show up here without contact me first?”
‘Spoken like a true self-made tycoon,’ Song Shi Cheng thought.
Realizing how tough of a character Lee Dong Sheng was, Song Shi Cheng subconsciously rubbed the [Wang Ba jelly] he had in his pocket. Maybe one jelly wasn’t enough to persuade this man in front of him.