"Is that Su Ming?" Ye Zhi asked.
"Yes," the receptionist replied.
"I'll be right down!" Ye Zhi hung up the phone crisply.
Su Ming was here? Then she had to welcome him personally!
Although Su Ming was one of Qianbai's investors, he was genuinely wealthy!
Su Corporation was also in real estate, but unlike the Ye family, Su Corporation developed commercial real estate. Almost every major city had a commercial plaza owned by their Su family, and these were large commercial districts that integrated shopping, entertainment, dining, and leisure.
Su Ming was a very sharp-minded individual. Every commercial plaza of the Su family featured a large cinema. By leveraging these cinemas, he established a cinema chain entirely controlled by Su Corporation. These two industries were the pillar industries of Su Corporation, earning them a significant amount of money.
Therefore, Ye Zhi had to personally go downstairs to greet him to show him respect.
When Ye Zhi arrived downstairs, she smiled and stepped forward, "Director Su, welcome, welcome!"
Seeing her personally come to greet him, Su Ming felt a bit proud. He said cheerfully, "General Manager Ye, I happened to be passing by and thought I'd drop in. I'm not disturbing you, am I?"
"Not at all," Ye Zhi smiled politely. "Director Su, it is my honor to have you visit."
After a few pleasantries, Ye Zhi accompanied Su Ming to the reception room upstairs.
"Your Taoxun is truly thriving, General Manager Ye," Su Ming commented. "It seems it's now your generation's world, and we old folks should step down and make way."
"What are you saying, Director Su?" Ye Zhi smiled. "I'm merely standing at the cusp of the times and reaping the benefits of this era. I still have much to learn from seniors like you."
Su Ming was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Ye Zhi, despite her achievements, to be arrogant or condescending. Her attitude remained humble and polite, neither servile nor overbearing.
This reminded him of Ou Minghan, whom he had met before. Ou Minghan always wore a sullen face, as if the whole world should be fawning over him. This was also why they had unanimously decided to remove Ou Minghan from the decision-making circle when they took over Qianbai.
He now regretted not meeting Ye Zhi before investing in Qianbai.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have made a misjudgment, thinking Taoxun was just a newly established small company that had gained traction solely by pouring in money, and would quickly decline after the initial hype, unable to contend with the combined forces of major capital.
Fortunately, the money Su Corporation had invested in Qianbai was still within their means. However, he would have to carefully consider future investments and would likely not continue pouring money into this bottomless pit.
"General Manager Ye, you've been back in the country for over half a year now, haven't you?" Su Ming asked with a smile.
"Yes," Ye Zhi recalled and replied with a smile, "It's been over nine months, to be exact."
"I know a young man who recently returned after completing his doctorate. He comes from a good family, is ambitious and has a strong drive for his career. He's an only child, and his parents dote on him. But this young man has integrity; he doesn't want to rely on his parents but instead wants to build a career for himself..."
As Su Ming spoke, he observed Ye Zhi's expression.
He had two sons. His eldest son was married, and his second son was still single and of a similar age to Ye Zhi.
Of course, he didn't genuinely intend to pursue the boss of Taoxun. However, he had once jokingly asked his second son if he wanted to pursue Ye Zhi, only to be flatly refused. Both his sons had bluntly stated that Ye Zhi was solely focused on her career and was difficult to pursue.
But his nephew was present at the time, and that young man had also recently returned from abroad and had become interested in Ye Zhi, even begging him for an introduction.
Unable to refuse, he had agreed. Remembering his sons' comments about Ye Zhi's sole focus on her career, he wondered if he could arrange for his nephew to work with Ye Zhi.
Su Ming snapped back to the present and continued, "...That young man has a new project. I wonder if you're interested, General Manager Ye?"
"What project?" Ye Zhi asked.
"It's a high-tech project, but he only has the idea right now and nothing else is finalized. If you're interested, General Manager Ye, I can arrange for him to talk to you? Then, our Su Corporation could potentially collaborate with Taoxun!" Su Ming said with a smile.
"Director Su," Ye Zhi's brows furrowed slightly. "Are you perhaps encountering a crowdfunding scam?"
"...Ah?" Su Ming looked utterly bewildered.
"That sounds very suspicious," Ye Zhi analyzed seriously. "If he genuinely intends to start a project, he should focus on the project's detailed plans. But the person you know keeps emphasizing his personal background.
Returned from overseas, doctorate, good family background, ambitious, high-tech project... all these are meant to make people blindly trust him personally, rather than believe in the project's prospects. Director Su, please think thrice."
Su Ming: ...
General Manager Ye, I concede!
Su Ming finally understood why his second son spoke so highly of Ye Zhi and firmly supported her, but refused to pursue her.
This must be what's known as a career-minded individual. She considered everything from a business perspective.
"Cough... that young man is my nephew," Su Ming said somewhat awkwardly.
Ye Zhi blinked, then immediately laughed, "I see. A family member, someone you know inside and out. No wonder Director Su used so many words to praise him. Then I'll trouble Director Su to convey my regards and ask him to write down the detailed project information and send it to me. I will consider it."
Su Ming: ...
He suddenly felt the hope was quite slim. Should he start thinking of comforting words for his nephew?
"Director Su, may I ask you a question?" Ye Zhi spoke.
"Please do," Su Ming said, somewhat surprised.
"Su Corporation already has a mature cinema chain. Why haven't you considered producing films yourself?" Ye Zhi asked, puzzled.
"It's not that Su Corporation hasn't considered making movies," Su Ming sighed. "Su Corporation previously tried investing in two films, and the results were that for every dollar invested, a dollar was lost."
Ye Zhi couldn't help but inwardly scoff. Perhaps it was because the two films they invested in were too terrible?
She had done some research before. The two films Su Corporation invested in were both large-scale productions with exquisite visuals but dreadful plots. One was incredibly boring, and the other was extremely artistic; both were muddled and difficult to understand. It would be a miracle if such films could make money!
Of course, if Su Corporation invested in two more films, the amount of money spent would be enough to launch a satellite! It was no wonder that Su Ming, a generally bold person, had not ventured into the film industry again, focusing solely on revenue sharing.
Ye Zhi said gravely, "Director Su, I've seen those two films. I personally feel their biggest problem is that they lack commercial appeal and market viability."
"General Manager Ye knows even this?" Su Ming asked, somewhat surprised.