Chapter 1 A Rude Awakening

He woke up from a good night’s sleep.

Nong Qingying ordered takeout, buying two servings of ramen.

While Su Yehao was eating his noodles, she asked, "How did you sleep last night? My bed is a little soft, and sleeping on it for too long can cause back pain. The new custom mattress hasn't arrived yet."

"..."

The seemingly ordinary question made Su Yehao a little flustered.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but there's a limit to everything. He needed to slow things down. Daring not to continue being lovey-dovey with her at home, he decisively said:

"Indeed, no wonder I didn't sleep well last night. My jet lag hasn't worn off yet. Where should we go shopping today? This season is perfect for skiing up north, but I need to return to Hong Kong. There are some things I haven't finished dealing with. I'll come back and keep you company next time."

Looking up at Su Yehao, Nong Qingying didn't ask further. She only told him, "I have an appointment with the president of a company this morning. I need to go to the office first. Their sensitive skin product line is very unique. I heard they invested two hundred million yen specifically to develop new products. I had an allergic reaction on my face a while ago, and it cleared up the day after using it. It's really suitable for Asian skin."

"Two hundred million yen, how much is that in Hong Kong dollars? If the product is really good, we can invest in or acquire it. SK2's product line is too limited now. We can't just have a few products on the shelves."

Nong Qingying explained, "Two hundred million yen is about twelve or thirteen million Hong Kong dollars. I also want to merge with them. That company's performance isn't very good."

Su Yehao said with a smile, "Sounds like a lot, but it's only that much money? Then I'll go to the office with you first."

Nong Qingying rolled her eyes at him after hearing this, teasing, "You're the only one who's rich and generous. Some time ago, employees were discussing you, saying you were on a Japanese newspaper. The new boss is a tech tycoon, which made the employees so happy. If you don't give them a raise, you'll feel like you're letting them down."

Being on newspapers and magazines was nothing new to Su Yehao, so he didn't care about it anymore.

Due to product promotion needs, he had been giving interviews frequently recently. To cooperate with iCQ and tvt's overseas expansion, the *Japan Times* arranged an interview a few days ago. Su Yehao talked with them for more than ten minutes, stating that he valued the Japanese market and would increase investment.

If he wanted to make money in this place, he had to say a few nice words.

The reason he was planning to increase investment was actually to suppress Japanese domestic internet companies. Some instant messaging products had already appeared on the market, and Su Yehao certainly didn't want them to grow.

The topic of acquiring SK2 was also mentioned during the interview, which was probably why SK2's employees paid attention to it.

Su Yehao smiled and said, "Salaries should be increased slowly. If you do it all at once, there will be no sense of anticipation. Yesterday, you walked around the company with your arm around mine. Aren't you afraid of gossip, affecting your queen image?"

"What kind of gossip could there be? You're not married, and neither am I. People in Tokyo are too materialistic. It's common for men to go out drinking with girls. They don't care about these things. The girls in the company will only envy me, while the male employees are afraid of me. Do I have to hide when my man accompanies me to inspect the company?"

Nong Qingying said indifferently, then continued, "Besides, with you backing me up, others will only think I have power. A big Hong Kong real estate developer, heir to a medical group, plus your own business, it will definitely be easier for me to negotiate business in the future."

"Hearing you praise me like this, I suddenly feel a little embarrassed."

Su Yehao had barely finished speaking.

Nong Qingying changed the subject, asking with a smile, "What, you don't want to make our relationship public? Are you worried about it affecting your ability to pick up girls? Then I won't say anything in the future, and we'll walk two meters apart. Are you satisfied now?"

"..."

Su Yehao was dripping with sweat and immediately replied, "It's not like that at all. I'm just worried that I'll affect your glorious image. If you achieve something, others will say it's my credit. How unfair is that to you?"

"Hmph, that sounds nice. I hope you can help me more. As long as I can make money, I don't care what others say."

After finishing breakfast.

After resting for a while, the two of them took a car out.

The extended Silver Spur driving on the road was particularly eye-catching.

The locals also valued keeping a low profile, but Nong Qingying didn't care about these things. The more glamorous, the better.

Anyway, she always brought two or three female bodyguards with her when she went out, so she wasn't afraid of causing trouble...

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In the tech world, making money is too crazy.

In the blink of an eye, Su Yehao's assets were being calculated in "billions of US dollars."

As long as iCQ and tvt's performance improved, their valuation would definitely skyrocket. Or, if the Nasdaq did a little better, he wouldn't be far from a net worth of two billion US dollars. He estimated that he could reach that number before the end of the year.

The R&D cost of that skincare company that Nong Qingying was optimistic about, at a mere ten million Hong Kong dollars, wasn't worth making a fuss about. It wasn't even as much as tvt's monthly expenses.

In Su Yehao's eyes, as long as the product was good enough, it would be easy to overtake others through online e-commerce sales channels in the future.

And the physical stores and counters were more like fixed billboards. The monthly revenue might not even be enough to pay for the store rent, like the mainland flagship store opened on the Bund, which was purely a loss-making venture to create a brand image.

This idea was relatively ahead of its time, so Su Yehao wasn't in a hurry to bring it up to Nong Qingying.

He himself had lost some of the joy of running a business, without the uncertainty of gains and losses, like knowing the winning lottery numbers before the draw, or knowing the score at the beginning of a game.

Although the feeling of making money was still great, something was missing after all.

Success came too easily, seeming somewhat bland. SK2 was a career that Su Yehao gave to her. He only helped her find the right direction and provided some necessary funds. He didn't want to ruin Nong Qingying's passion for entrepreneurship.

So, when he came to SK2 headquarters again, when Nong Qingying was negotiating with her counterparts to discuss a possible acquisition.

Su Yehao only listened from the side, not intervening from beginning to end.

It's difficult to complete the overall acquisition of a company with just one negotiation.

The other party offered 650 million yen, while Nong Qingying was only willing to offer 400 million yen. The difference was a bit large, but she didn't completely dismiss the idea. They would have to continue negotiating.

SK2 was founded in the 1970s and launched its first product in 1980.

To this day.

The company had been around for more than twenty years, and like most Japanese companies, it had formed a clear hierarchical pyramid structure internally. The hard and tiring work was left to the newcomers, and it was difficult for subordinates to go against their superiors' wishes. If something went wrong, they might be sent to the production plant in Kobe.

Listening to Nong Qingying, Su Yehao realized that the secret formula of this skincare product was a natural active yeast extract found in a brewery.

To avoid industrial pollution, the factory should be far away from the city. Kobe had natural spring water and was close to the rice raw material production area. The labor cost was two-fifths lower than in Tokyo, making it suitable for building a factory.

Japanese companies generally don't lay off employees, but they will demote employees who are not capable enough to unimportant, unpromising positions.

The production plant in Kobe had become the company's "retirement home", making it difficult to achieve results.

Intense competition and severe involution led to cautiousness among company employees.

For example, the president before the acquisition, now the vice president, after finishing the serious business of negotiation, led a group of employees to bow and salute Su Yehao.

Seeing this scene, Su Yehao's face lit up with joy. He immediately had Nong Qingying arrange for everyone to go out for dinner that night...