Chapter 252 — Testing Each Other
Translator: Lav
Editor: Seliniaki Ilikia
Lü Jiaqiang was even more angry after getting hung up on by Shi Lei. And Shi Lei had made it clear that he didn’t want to return.
He was the only person in his entire class, including the other students in the student council, who had been elected to office ever since his sophomore year in university, and his extra time on the post gave him a sense of superiority over everyone else. He didn’t even consider the class president or other student council members to be on his level, so why would he do so for Shi Lei, who had been like an invisible person in the class for four years, ?
Someone had come to him today and told him to contact Shi Lei. That person needed him to test Shi Lei and wanted to know what he had been doing for the past month or so. This person was an official from not the department’s dean’s office, but the university’s. This made Lü Jiaqiang suddenly feel like he had been entrusted with something of great importance. He had entered the student council wanting to climb up to perform well in front of the teachers, so if he successfully made it to master’s degree, then he would have a chance to remain in school. Now that someone from the dean’s office contacted him, he had to try his best to do it.
Before contacting Shi Lei, Lü Jiaqiang had gone to his dorm, but was told by Zhang Mo and the others that Shi Lei had already rented a house off campus and had moved out. Lü Jiaqiang subtly asked for more information. Perhaps those three thought that something was wrong, so they didn’t tell him much. After that, he found a few other students to gather more information on Shi Lei, but it was the same as before. The majority of them still thought of Shi Lei as invisible, mainly because it was almost graduation and everyone was looking for internships at companies instead of going to class.
Lü Jiaqiang didn’t collect much information and could only use his identity as the student council member of student life as well as the vice president of the student life department to call Shi Lei personally.
He didn’t imagine that Shi Lei would refuse to give him any face whatsoever and straightforwardly talk back to him over the phone. This made Lü Jiaqiang feel like he had lost face and he clenched his teeth in hatred.
He remembered that Shi Lei had said “Tree Coffee” to the driver, so Lü Jiaqiang decided to head there. He wanted to see why this guy was so busy that he didn’t even consider talking to him, a member of the student council, worthwhile.
Zhen Xu was already there when Shi Lei arrived at Tree Coffee. He immediately stood up and greeted Shi Lei politely after seeing him walk in.
“Mr. Shi, you’re here. What would you like to drink?”
Shi Lei smiled as he walked over. “No need to be so polite,” he replied. Then he found a waiter, asked for a latte, and took a seat opposite to Zhen Xu.
After Zhen Xu sat down as well, he hesitated for a while before asking, “Mr. Shi, I would like to ask why you were interested in my project at the racecourse when you didn’t even know what my project is.”
Shi Lei had expected this question in the plan he had written before. As an investor, it was impossible for him to be in such a hurry to invest after hearing about a project.
“I misunderstood you. I initially thought that you were only with a woman to survive. Then I realized that your wife…?” Zhen Xu quickly corrected him with “girlfriend,” and Shi Lei changed his words. “Okay, I learned that your girlfriend was trying to save money for you and you were trying to buy her a better set of equipment afterward. Because of this love between the two of you, I thought that you would be a trustworthy partner. So when I heard that you needed investments for a project, I assumed that the amount wouldn’t be too large, since you developed it by yourself. I just happened to have some spare money on my hands, so I wanted to know more about it.”
Zhen Xu nodded, although Shi Lei’s response was somewhat unexpected. But he thought about it carefully, and it seemed reasonable. Even though love had absolutely nothing to do with investments, it was a good way of measuring someone’s morals.
“I also would like to ask, Mr. Shi, where do you work?” Zhen Xu spoke again.
Shi Lei smiled once more, since he had also expected that question. He didn’t intend to lie. “I’m just a university senior and I haven’t graduated yet. It’s nearing graduation and all the other students are looking for places to accept them as interns, so I thought that I’d try starting a business myself…”
“Start a business?” Zhen Xu froze.
He wasn’t doubting Shi Lei’s identity. In fact, Zhen Xu had discussed this with his girlfriend as soon as he returned home from the racecourse. Shi Lei looked too young, so the money he had was probably given to him by his parents.
Except Zhen Xu hadn’t expected Shi Lei to say “start a business.” “Mr. Shi, you should understand that investing alone has nothing to do with starting a new business, since I can’t give you shares,” he said, confused. “Even if you have enough money to invest to the second or third stage, it’s impossible for me to give you shares.”
Shi Lei was still smiling. “What I meant was that I want to become an investor. Rest assured, I have no intention of tainting your project and absolutely none of seizing your company from you.” After a pause, Shi Lei asked, “Sorry, but may I ask if you’ve registered your company?”
Zhen Xu nodded. “I did, but the scale is small and I have almost no registration funds left. And my company has only me and my girlfriend. I’m in charge of everything other than the finances, which she takes care of.”
“Then we should get started on the topic. I need you survey the base market prospect of your developed app.”
Zhen Xu began to hesitate. After all, his app was only attractive because of its unique idea. As for the technological part, anyone who had learned programming could basically write similar codes, so it wouldn’t be too hard too to recreate it.
Shi Lei spoke again after seeing Zhen Xu’s expression. “Mr. Zhen, don’t tell me you are questioning my sincerity and ability to pay? To be honest, from your conversation with your girlfriend at the racecourse, I could see that you seem to have looked for many investors before, but none of them were willing to discuss this with you in person. My guess is that your project is easy to imitate, but no one has bothered to think like that. So, you didn’t dare reveal the project until you knew the intention of the investment clearly.”
Zhen Xu was shocked and stared at Shi Lei, feeling even more worried. It felt bad to be seen through by someone else.
“I mentioned this before. I have no interest in controlling a company. I don’t think directly participating in it is the best choice for me, so I’m more inclined to become an angel investor and bet the small to obtain the big. Mr. Zhen you should be very confident toward your project. Of course, every entrepreneur should be confident toward their project. Otherwise, they wouldn’t spend all their assets on it and run around all day looking for investments. And you shouldn’t lack money for daily necessities, otherwise you wouldn’t dare buy equipment worth almost 10,000 yuan. Oh, and the racecourse membership—”
Zhen Xu’s waved his hand in embarrassment. “I didn’t buy the membership and I really don’t have the time to do so. It was a prize I earned from an event from my previous company. It’s been a year and it’ll expire soon, so I had no choice but to take my girlfriend there. If I was riding the horse, I wouldn’t buy such expensive equipment. But she’s a woman and I’m worried that she’d be in danger…”
“In other words, you already quit your job?”
“Yes. I quit when I was about to develop this app, since I was worried that it would cause trouble for me during the process. I’ve been relying on writing codes for others to live for the past half year.”