So at this moment, when Li Chonglou pointed out this little detail, Yu Ke felt a bit embarrassed, as if her little thoughts had been exposed by someone else.
To cover up her embarrassment, Yu Ke couldn't help but say, "I asked you out tonight because I want to discuss if you can come and help me."
"Help you? What do you think I can do to help you?"
"How about being my personal bodyguard?"
Li Chonglou's eyes immediately narrowed. He didn't know if the other party was joking or still harbored such an idea. If it was the latter, he would definitely leave immediately today.
Fortunately, Yu Ke soon realized Li Chonglou's discomfort and quickly explained, "I was joking. Actually, I've been thinking, aren't you familiar with the antique business? You can open a separate department in my company, which can be used to accumulate funds for me."
Li Chonglou said directly, "Then why don't I open an antique company myself?"
"It's different. If you open your own company and lose money, it's your loss. But if you come to me, I'll guarantee your losses."
It made sense. However, Li Chonglou had absolute confidence in this line of business. Losing money was impossible. It was just that how much he earned sometimes depended on fate. But he didn't immediately refuse Yu Ke's suggestion.
"How much is your startup capital?"
Yu Ke's expression suddenly showed hesitation. After a long pause, she finally said in a voice like a mosquito, "Thirty thousand."
"Hmm? How much?"
"Thirty thousand."
People's thick skin is cultivated this way. When she said it the second time, Yu Ke had become righteous. Li Chonglou immediately rolled his eyes.
"I say, young lady, do you know the process of opening a company? I'm afraid your 30,000 won't even be enough to get the company registered!"
Yu Ke's face immediately turned red. Her family was in business, so she couldn't be a complete novice in this area. However, one of her parents' conditions was that she was not allowed to borrow money from relatives, nor from friends she had known since childhood.
To put it bluntly, they wanted her to rely on her own efforts to get a company listed within half a year, which was essentially another way to extinguish her other aspirations and make her obediently return to accept an arranged marriage.
Li Chonglou realized this almost as soon as he learned her actual situation. However, Yu Ke still held out a glimmer of hope. After all, she was still young. As long as the path in front of her was not completely gone, she would always have expectations for tomorrow.
"If it doesn't work, we can start by setting up a stall. This 30,000..."
Before Yu Ke could finish speaking, Li Chonglou interrupted her.
"How about this, you come and work for me, and I'll pay you a salary. If things go smoothly, you might accumulate enough funds to start a company in less than half a year."
"What?"
Yu Ke's expression froze.
"You, you mean you're also going to start a company?"
Li Chonglou nodded and said, "I've had this idea recently, but I haven't found enough people yet. I hope the employees I recruit initially will be people I know."
Yu Ke felt her head was spinning. She never expected that she, who had called him out for this matter, would now be the one being reversed.
"How much will you pay me?"
Although her mind was blank, some instincts still remained. At this moment, she was indeed in dire need of money.
Li Chonglou smiled and said, "I don't plan to pay a fixed salary for now. If you agree, I'll directly calculate your commission. As I said, if things go well, you might accumulate the capital to start a company in less than two months, which will be at least not less than this amount."
Li Chonglou held up two fingers, and Yu Ke immediately covered her mouth.
"Two million?"
A flock of invisible black crows flew over Li Chonglou's head. Even his battle-hardened face couldn't help but blush slightly at this moment.
"It's two hundred thousand!"
With a touch of awkwardness and helplessness, Li Chonglou finally understood the real difference between ordinary people and the children of wealthy families. Yu Ke also finally realized the embarrassment her reaction had caused and quickly said.
"That's a lot, that's a lot, two hundred thousand."
However, the more she tried to explain, the worse it got. As soon as the words left her mouth, she herself felt that it sounded increasingly wrong, and finally could only meekly add, "I didn't mean it that way..."
Li Chonglou waved his hand and directly changed the subject, "So, do you agree? If you agree, I'll keep a spot for you."
Yu Ke quickly nodded, "No problem!"
"Mm."
Li Chonglou also nodded. At this moment, the boss brought over another plate of barbecue, which was what he had ordered earlier.
While eating, Li Chonglou gazed into the distance, contemplating his idea of starting a company.
This decision was made after he returned. Due to the sealing of his strength, Li Chonglou felt that to continue investigating the Wu family and the Zhang family, he had to find an alternative path. Therefore, he came up with the idea of starting his own company to accumulate funds and build connections.
As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Once he accumulated a certain amount of capital, he believed that both these matters could be resolved with money.
The key point is that for ordinary people, it might take years of accumulation and development to start a new company, achieve financial freedom, or even become wealthy. But for him, it was different.
In the antique business, it's not difficult to make a lot of money. As long as you have the professional knowledge and ability, you might become someone others look up to overnight.
And Li Chonglou happened to possess this quality. In the antique business, his confidence was sometimes almost as great as his confidence in his own strength, after all, he had studied for so many years, and it could be considered his legitimate main profession.
Therefore, his goal was very clear: first, start a company to accumulate capital and establish a foothold, and then directly move into antiques, penetrating the antique market in Shangjing and occupying a significant share!
As for why he didn't directly enter the antique business, the reason was very simple. As an old hand in this industry, he was well aware of the vigilance of the old foxes towards the new generation. As soon as they realized that Li Chonglou might take away their profits, no matter how strong his professional ability was, he might be banned in Shangjing.
So, if he wanted to enter this industry, he had to act decisively and not give them any chance to react!
Just as Li Chonglou was deep in thought, Yu Ke suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"Then what do you want me to do to help you?"
Li Chonglou withdrew his distant gaze, thought for a moment, and shook his head, "I haven't decided yet."
"Ah?"
Yu Ke was once again stunned.
"I haven't even decided what kind of company to start yet."
"Then aren't you like me..."
Yu Ke pointed at Li Chonglou and then at herself.