Chapter 1 Kyzhou, Below Yuanmeng Ventures

Meng Chang put away his phone, his face still holding the same calm expression as usual. He was deeply calculating, making it impossible to read his true emotions.

On the way here, Meng Chang had been following the latest gossip.

This weekend, CEO Pei had single-handedly gone to Shanghai and utterly crushed Longyu Corporation and IOI. The news had gone viral online, undoubtedly breaking through to mainstream attention.

Although Meng Chang wasn't interested in the esports scene, he didn't dare to neglect the matter since it concerned CEO Pei, so he paid close attention.

The more he learned, the more impressed he became!

Meng Chang carefully analyzed CEO Pei's moves during the IOI qualifiers and realized that CEO Pei had been incredibly resourceful and made no mistakes. Every step he took was ahead of Longyu Corporation.

Even more amazing was that many steps in CEO Pei's plan seemed to rely heavily on luck.

One coincidence might be luck, but what about many coincidences?

If CEO Pei had calculated all of this, then he was extremely terrifying, indicating that his strategic planning abilities were beyond the imagination of most people.

If CEO Pei hadn't calculated all of this and it was all luck, then he was even more terrifying because it meant his luck was heaven-defying.

Someone who is resourceful should not be provoked, because they will use their intelligence to crush you. Someone with heaven-defying luck should not be provoked even more, because if you provoke them, something bad might happen to you.

It was precisely because CEO Pei was so prestigious and had so many famous moments that many timid con artists kept their distance from him and didn't dare to approach him.

Who didn't know that CEO Pei was incredibly intelligent and had clear likes and dislikes?

With so many cautionary tales, even large companies like Dayak Corporation and Longyu Corporation couldn't withstand him. What ordinary crooks would dare to beard CEO Pei in his den?

Meng Chang was in a similar state, feeling very guilty!

He initially took money from Yuanmeng Ventures simply because Yuanmeng Ventures was the easiest to get money from.

But lately, from the press conference to the dispatched financial staff, and then to CEO Pei's recent follow-up investment… Meng Chang increasingly felt that things weren't so simple.

He always felt that CEO Pei seemed to be completely ignoring Cold Noodles Girl on the surface, but in reality, he saw everything clearly, and none of his little tricks had escaped CEO Pei's eyes.

But the problem was that Meng Chang had already come this far.

If he had known that the situation would develop to this point, Meng Chang might have chosen not to take CEO Pei's money from the beginning.

But now, Cold Noodles Girl's stores were open, its popularity had grown, its valuation was constantly rising, and Meng Chang had been trying his best to contact various capitals. He was just one step away from his final goal.

For Meng Chang, giving up at this point was impossible.

Like a gambler, the chips were already on the table, and the cards in his hand were not bad. At this point, he would never give up without seeing the other person's hole cards.

Since the inexplicable mishap last week, the situation of Cold Noodles Girl had changed somewhat.

Last week, Meng Chang had originally invited some investors to inspect the Cold Noodles Girl stores, but he didn't know exactly what happened. The kitchen of this store suddenly had many problems, leaving a very bad impression on the investors. The investment that was originally a sure thing was also canceled.

Of course, these investors would not completely dismiss Cold Noodles Girl just because of such a trivial matter as the kitchen, but once the expectations were discounted, the investment conditions given would naturally become more stringent.

Meng Chang completely rejected these strict conditions, so the two sides were once again in a stalemate.

The two sides seemed evenly matched on the surface, but in reality, all the pressure was on Meng Chang's side.

The investors had money in their hands and could wait as long as they wanted, but Meng Chang was burning money every moment!

He had previously increased the amount of money he was burning, holding speeches by renting venues and engaging in various marketing activities. Cold Noodles Girl would occasionally get a spot on trending searches, and its popularity was getting higher and higher.

But these were all maintained by burning money.

Once the money was burned out, Cold Noodles Girl would show its true colors.

Moreover, Meng Chang couldn't slow down the pace of burning money, because once the popularity dropped, the investors would become more suspicious of the real situation of Cold Noodles Girl.

Therefore, Meng Chang had to continue looking for money, otherwise the funding chain of Cold Noodles Girl would become very dangerous.

After thinking about it, he could only come to CEO Pei.

Meng Chang could feel that most investors' attitudes had become very relaxed. As long as CEO Pei gave another sum of money and Cold Noodles Girl supported itself for a longer period, it could definitely get more money from other investors, and this game could continue.

However, CEO Pei had only just given six million, less than half a month ago.

Meng Chang was a little worried that he was burning money too quickly and would make CEO Pei unhappy.

Therefore, after sufficient preparation, Meng Chang decided to come to Kyzhou again in person to persuade CEO Pei.

He had carefully prepared a PPT and also worked hard to make the data of the two Cold Noodles Girl stores show a profit.

For example, using longer depreciation periods for the various assets of the store, spreading the costs that could be spread out as much as possible, or removing a portion of the marketing expenses from the costs through word games. In this way, Cold Noodles Girl would look like it was in a very healthy and profitable state with a bright future in the PPT.

In addition, there was Cold Noodles Girl's current brand awareness, recognition, trending search index, and other data. In short, it all seemed impeccable in all aspects.

Moreover, strictly speaking, Meng Chang wasn't falsifying data. He was indeed using the correct numbers, but he was modifying and processing them when presenting the PPT. In addition, with his own rhetoric, it would be easy to mislead people.

Of course, Meng Chang didn't think he could 100% deceive CEO Pei. He wasn't that arrogant.

But Meng Chang felt that he could at least give it a try. He was using real data, and CEO Pei knew more or less about Cold Noodles Girl's financial situation. Meng Chang himself had never thought of finding a way to get kickbacks from Cold Noodles Girl and was wholeheartedly thinking of hyping up the valuation to cash out.

Even if CEO Pei was not satisfied with this, at most he would just not continue to invest. Would he expose him on the spot?

This possibility was very small.

Therefore, Meng Chang came to Kyzhou after sufficient preparation and decided to give it a try.

Arriving at the Yuanmeng Ventures building, Meng Chang met He Desheng, and the two shook hands warmly.

"Wait a moment, CEO Pei has already agreed to see you, but he just returned from Shanghai not long ago and is on his way here," He Desheng said.

Meng Chang quickly nodded, "Of course, I will definitely perform well since CEO Pei is giving me this opportunity despite his busy schedule!"

He Desheng didn't say much, asked someone to bring tea, and the two chatted while waiting for CEO Pei's arrival in the reception room.

About half an hour later, CEO Pei arrived.

Meng Chang quickly stepped forward, his attitude attentive, "CEO Pei! Welcome back from your triumphant return from Shanghai! The legendary feat of sailing thousands of miles on a small boat and relieving the troops of their heavy burdens is truly admirable!"

For the past few months, Meng Chang had been taking money from CEO Pei, but he had never had a chance to communicate with CEO Pei face-to-face.

It could only be said that Meng Chang's level was too low before, and it wasn't worth CEO Pei's time to see him.

But now, as Cold Noodles Girl's valuation was getting higher and higher, its performance could be said to be outstanding among the companies invested by Yuanmeng Ventures. It had gradually gained CEO Pei's favor and attention.

Therefore, Meng Chang was generous with his compliments when he saw CEO Pei.

In his opinion, CEO Pei's trip to Shanghai to meet with Longyu Corporation alone and defeat them without using a single soldier was something to be proud of.

As the saying goes, a smiling face is not struck. Many people say they don't like flattery, but who wouldn't be happy if the flattery was pleasing?

However, to Meng Chang's complete surprise, CEO Pei's expression instantly fell. If he had been indifferent before, he was now clearly unhappy.

Meng Chang felt a chill in his heart and thought that things were not good.

What's going on? Did I say something wrong?

That's not possible, right?

Meng Chang was extremely puzzled. CEO Pei didn't even like a simple compliment?

Pei Qian's mouth twitched slightly, and the more he looked at Meng Chang, the more displeased he became.

He had just returned from Shanghai, and the anger hadn't subsided yet, and this person was adding salt to his wound!

However, Pei Qian was a magnanimous person after all, so he didn't say much and just entered the reception room with Meng Chang and He Desheng.

When Pei Qian was still on the high-speed train, He Desheng had already called to report that Meng Chang had arrived in Kyzhou and wanted to report on the current situation of Cold Noodles Girl in person.

Pei Qian didn't think much about it and immediately agreed. After all, he had been paying attention to Cold Noodles Girl and was very worried that Cold Noodles Girl would suddenly start making profits, allowing him to earn a lot of money. He was always preparing to slip away.

Meng Chang was completely unaware of this and thought that CEO Pei had agreed so readily because he must be very optimistic about Cold Noodles Girl, which greatly increased his confidence.

He Desheng played the PPT on the projector, and Meng Chang briefly prepared his emotions and began his performance.

"CEO Pei, I came to Kyzhou specifically this time to report good news to you! Cold Noodles Girl stores have achieved profitability! Although it is still too early to say that this business model will be successful, it definitely represents a solid step on the road to success for the Cold Noodles Girl brand!"

Pei Qian picked up his teacup, wanting to take a sip to moisten his throat, but the teacup stopped at his lips.

"Already profitable? So fast?" Pei Qian's voice was seven parts surprised and three parts horrified.

Seeing CEO Pei's reaction, Meng Chang couldn't help but feel happy.

CEO Pei's reaction was big, which meant there was hope!

He quickly continued, "That's right, CEO Pei, you can see the current situation of Cold Noodles Girl very intuitively from this chart. Our financial situation is very healthy at present. As long as we continue to increase investment, we will definitely get rich returns…"

Meng Chang's preparation was very thorough, and he also made the data into various bar charts and pie charts, which were intuitive, vivid, and clear at a glance.

Pei Qian looked at He Desheng with suspicion and asked, "Is this data… accurate?"

He Desheng hesitated for a moment and nodded.

Although Meng Chang's operations to forcefully create profits were a bit flashy, most companies would do similar things to make their financial reports look better. It didn't count as falsification.

CEO Pei asked whether this data was accurate, but didn't ask anything else. Of course, He Desheng answered truthfully. The data was indeed accurate.

Seeing CEO Pei's reaction, Meng Chang instantly felt pumped and prepared to perform at his best.

It seemed that as long as he performed well today, he would definitely win CEO Pei's favor and get a few million more in investment!

However, just as Meng Chang was about to continue speaking, he saw CEO Pei raise his hand to stop him.

"Alright, you don't need to speak."

Pei Qian turned to look at He Desheng, "Sell all of our shares in Cold Noodles Girl!"