The cafe was near Jingzhe, and Ye Zhou had gone out without a driver. After finalizing the cooperation with Song Qifan, he had originally planned to go directly to find Boss Jiang and hitch a ride back home with him after he got off work.
However, Ye Zhou had just walked out of the cafe when his phone buzzed.
The call was from Xu Cheng, and his voice carried a hint of caution: “Ye-ge, may I ask if I can really use the money on the card you gave me?”
Ye Zhou thought something had happened. But when he heard it was this matter, he almost laughed at Xu Cheng’s cautious tone. Suppressing his laughter, he said heartily: “Of course, I would never go back on my word.”
“Uh, if I need to use a larger amount…” Xu Cheng squeezed out his words slowly, leaving room for Ye Zhou to interrupt him at any time.
Before he could finish speaking, Ye Zhou cut him off.
“Stop.” Ye Zhou’s voice turned stern.
Just as Xu Cheng thought Ye Zhou would stop him, he heard Ye Zhou say in a very serious tone, “Have you watched any movies recently?”
Xu Cheng was startled by the question. He looked at his teammates around him and finally understood Ye Zhou’s meaning through their gesturing. He said, “You mean the comedy you filmed? Yes, I watched it several times with my te…friends.”
This statement didn’t have a hint of embellishment.
As their angel investor who supported them in forming an e-sports team, when Xu Cheng heard that Ye Zhou’s movie was going to be released, he had bought advanced tickets for his friends and relatives early on. They went together in groups to watch it.
Watching it once was not enough, so he took several teammates to watch it again and again, gathering momentum to contribute to the box office for Ye Zhou.
Not only did they watch it themselves, but they also logged into their Weibo accounts with millions of fans that they hadn’t updated for a long time. They gave out movie tickets through lottery events everywhere.
If Ye Zhou had known about all these things they did behind the scenes, he would have definitely been amused by these boys.
Hearing Xu Cheng’s reply, he was not surprised. After all, after that kind of marketing onslaught, the National Day dark horse film “A Farce” had become almost universally known. Even if one hadn’t watched it, they would not be unfamiliar with it.
Ye Zhou’s tone was extremely exaggerated, a stereotypical privileged second generation who was just short of writing ‘showing off wealth’ on his face. His tone was extremely arrogant: “Do you know how much money that movie made?”
Such a punchable thing to say! If it had been anyone else, they would have definitely spat at him in contempt. But…
When the person hearing this was a fanboy like Xu Cheng, who had a golden master filter for Ye Zhou, not only did he not find Ye Zhou punchable, but he was even a little admiring: “I’ve, I’ve heard it was close to over 2 billion…”
“Then why are you afraid to spend it!” Ye Zhou said in anguish. “Captain Xu, I feel like your ideological awareness is very lacking. Tell me, do I lack that little bit of money for you? I’ve given you the card already. What’s there to be afraid to spend?”
“…” Xu Cheng was rendered speechless.
The teammates beside him were no better off. Even the usually talkative Wei Xun and Fatty were shocked into silence by the golden master dad’s generosity.
After all, they were all championship winners who had signed lucrative contracts and were quite worldly people. But of all the team bosses and sponsors they had interacted with, there were really few who spent money as decisively and refreshingly as Ye Zhou.
It would be one thing if they were still the champion team – the boss would value their potential and trust they could bring him several times or even dozens of times the returns.
But now, although they didn’t want to admit it, they couldn’t conceal the fact that since Xu Cheng’s retirement, their own states had not been good. Later, because they didn’t produce results, they were split up and sold to different teams.
E-sports depend on ability.
Although they had won two championships before, once they could not meet fans’ expectations and continue their winning streak, past glory would become nothing more than the past.
To be honest, if not for their poor performance these two years, the team would not have let them go so easily with just paying liquidated damages.
For people like them, Ye Zhou was actually willing to generously take out so much money. Even the calm Xu Cheng and the shrewd vice-captain could not help but feel moved.
It was so generous. Just this boldness made people feel emotional.
This complete trust also made the four people present feel their blood boiling hotly in their hearts.
After Ye Zhou finished speaking, he did not hear a response for a long time. Looking at the still-connected call, he couldn’t help but wonder if his words just now had been too heavy.
Slowing down his voice, he tried to explain, “Uh, what I mean is…”
“Ye-ge, you don’t need to say anymore, I understand.” Xu Cheng closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and as a captain, solemnly made a promise to Ye Zhou, “Don’t worry, we will definitely produce results.”
Unless he could no longer play and no longer swallow losses, Xu Cheng would not let down his trust and would not let all this money of his go down the drain.
After the call ended, silence fell over the Chenzhou E-sports room in Jingzhe for a long time.
About five minutes later, Xu Cheng grabbed the clothes hanging on the chair, put them on as he walked out, and said to his teammates without looking back, “Let’s go. We can go talk about the transfer now.”
As soon as his voice fell, the others immediately followed. Along the way, they did not communicate at all. It was only when they reached the entrance of the TOK team that Xu Cheng stopped in his tracks.
Xu Cheng stared at the team signboard. A few seconds later, he said, “Remember.”
“Once we walk through this door and spend this money, we will have no reason to fail anymore.”
Others might not understand Xu Cheng’s words, but the three people present understood what he meant.
Without hesitation, they nodded together.
…
After hanging up Xu Cheng’s call, Ye Zhou looked at the time and decided to follow his original plan to pick up Boss Jiang after work and hitch a ride home with him. It would be even better if they could settle dinner on the way.
But to Ye Zhou’s surprise, the secretary told him that Boss Jiang was not in the company today when he arrived downstairs at Jingzhe.
Ye Zhou was quite shocked at this. It did not match Boss Jiang’s style.
After thinking for a moment, Ye Zhou walked towards the roadside while calling Boss Jiang. The call was soon picked up, and Boss Jiang’s voice came from the receiver, sounding even colder than usual.
In addition, the vague sounds of arguing and porcelain shattering on the ground could also be heard.
Ye Zhou was startled and immediately asked anxiously after associating the abnormality in Boss Jiang’s voice, “Jiang-ge, where are you? What happened?”
There was silence on the phone for a moment before Ye Zhou heard Boss Jiang speak, “Nothing, did you finish discussing the script?”
“It’s done already. I’m preparing to head back now.” Sensing that Boss Jiang was in a bad mood, Ye Zhou did not bring up the idea of hitching a ride again. To avoid Boss Jiang asking, he changed the topic and said, “I called to ask if you want anything for dinner. I can buy it on the way and bring it straight home. It’ll be ready to eat when you get back.”
The quarrel on the other end continued. The man’s roar and the woman’s hysteria sounded suffocating and made Ye Zhou even more worried.
“Um… Jiang-ge, are you okay?” After hesitating again and again, Ye Zhou still asked.
Jiang Tingyuan glanced at the woman not far away who was picking up a vase to smash, put his hand over the receiver, and said coldly, “Enough.”
His voice was not loud, but it was like a pause, instantly quieting the noisy environment.
With just a glance from Jiang Tingyuan, the previously aggressive man now did not dare utter a word, like a chicken being choked by the neck.
Putting his hand down, Jiang Tingyuan said to Ye Zhou, “Send me your location, and I’ll come to pick you up now.”
“Ah, if you’re busy, I can just take a taxi home.” Although Ye Zhou didn’t know what was happening on Boss Jiang’s side, since he couldn’t help, he at least didn’t want to add to the chaos.
“It’s almost over.” Jiang Tingyuan said expressionlessly.
Ye Zhou still wanted to refuse, “No need to…”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Boss Jiang cut him off, then added, “Wait for me.”
With things said to this point, refusing was obviously unrealistic. Ye Zhou could only agree.
After the call ended, Jiang Tingyuan looked at the arguing man and woman, his expression growing increasingly impatient. He said coldly, “You guys keep arguing, I’m leaving first.”
He had always been a man of his word. Seeing that Jiang Tingyuan really turned to leave, the man could no longer bother feeling resentful towards this son, who had been pampered in the old man’s lap since childhood. He shouted loudly, “That money is very important. You must transfer it to me on time!”
Jiang Tingyuan acted as if he hadn’t heard it. He didn’t even turn his head back, let alone pause in his footsteps.
The man was anxious now. Jiang Tingyuan’s past deeds suddenly surfaced in his mind, and the pent-up resentment could no longer be held back, gushing forth all at once. Anger overtook reason, and he directly threw the vase in his hand at Jiang Tingyuan.
The vase did not hit him but smashed heavily on the ground, shattering into pieces that scattered everywhere. Many of the shards landed on Jiang Tingyuan, who was closest.
A long, thin cut appeared on Jiang Tingyuan’s wrist from the sharp porcelain shards, with blood continuously flowing from the wound. The scene was shocking to behold.
Jiang Tingyuan slowly turned around, ignoring his bleeding wrist. He walked step by step towards the man, not quickly, but every step seemed to step on the man’s heart.
Even the father’s voice trembled a little now, but he still tried to put on the stance of a father to suppress Jiang Tingyuan. “No matter what, I’m still your father! And Ah Yu is also your younger brother. Don’t tell me you really want to watch your brother lose the company he painstakingly built up just because of that bit of money?!”
Things might have been fine if he hadn’t brought this up, but at the mention of this matter, Jiang Tingyuan’s expression grew even colder.
Standing in front of Father Jiang, just as Father Jiang thought he would strike at himself the next second and closed his eyes nervously, something was suddenly stuffed into his hand instead.
Thinking that Jiang Tingyuan still didn’t dare fight with his own father after all, Father Jiang cautiously opened his eyes. His gaze jumped when he saw the envelope in his hand, and he asked, “What’s this?”
“Open it and see,” Jiang Tingyuan said calmly.
Knowing his cold and selfish eldest son would never give him anything good, Father Jiang had no intention of opening the envelope at all and reflexively wanted to throw it away.
But Jiang Tingyuan seemed to see through his thoughts and said before he could act, “You’ll definitely regret it if you throw it away.”
Father Jiang’s actions froze.
After struggling for a while, he still opened the envelope and took out the thin stack of papers inside.
It was a contract.
At first, Father Jiang didn’t think much of it, but as he read on, his expression grew uglier and uglier. By the time he finished reading the entire contract, Father Jiang’s face was ashen.
This was a loan contract. Party A was a small leather goods company under Jiang Tingyuan, while Party B was none other than Father Jiang’s beloved younger son, Jiang Yu.
The loan amount was a staggering 20 million, not to mention that Jiang Yu was already half a year overdue in repaying the debt. Just the interest alone was no small sum.
“You, you actually!” Father Jiang was so angry he couldn’t speak and directly tore the contract to shreds.
Jiang Tingyuan did not stop him. Just after he finished tearing it, Jiang Tingyuan said indifferently, “It doesn’t matter how many copies of this photocopy you tear up.”
Before Father Jiang could react, Jiang Tingyuan threw out another bomb.
“The debt owed by Jiang Yu is not limited to just this 20 million. If you want, I can show you the loan contracts for the rest of the amounts owed.”
“How dare you!” Father Jiang no longer had his previous composure. His voice broke from being too angry.
Jiang Tingyuan took out a tissue and slowly wiped away the blood stains on his wrist.
“If you want to repay the debts for your beloved son…”
“Why not use Jiang’s equity as collateral.”
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