Who answers like that!
Not only were there such comments under Chen Yue’s personal Weibo, but other rival businesses felt the same.
"He really doesn’t consider any of our industry peers at all!" Chen Yue was so annoyed she itched.
She even considered releasing the "Headphones 2.0" version to have a downright vigorous competition! Let’s see who’s afraid of whom!
But honestly, when she asked herself, was she afraid of Cheng Zhu in the business world?
Chen Yue did feel quite panicked recently.
"Youu Tea is about to have its second round of financing soon."
"From what I’ve heard from Zhao Long, Red Mountain Capital is still the lead investor this time."
"I hope the valuation isn’t too scary!"
The next day, Cheng Zhu rarely received a call from his childhood friend Jiang Wanzhou.
Their contact had been much less frequent lately.
Partly because Cheng Zhu was busy and partly because Jiang Wanzhou was caught in an emotional whirlwind, which took up most of his energy.
"Hey, Little President Jiang, who prioritizes romance over friendship, what made you think of calling your insignificant former buddy?" Cheng Zhu began the call with some snide remarks.
"Get lost!" Jiang Wanzhou rolled his eyes.
"Tell me, are you consulting the Think Tank about another romantic problem?" Cheng Zhu laughed, "Is Ji Shiwen’s clingy ex-boyfriend back again?"
Though he spoke with a laugh, his mind sneered coldly.
He had seen too many of Ji Shiwen’s types.
If you’re ruthless enough, where does the clingy ex-boyfriend come from?
Besides, she loved bringing up this issue with Jiang Wanzhou too much.
Although there are no absolutes in life, based on the details Jiang Wanzhou had mentioned, Cheng Zhu pretty much made up his mind about it.
It was very likely there was still some unresolved entanglement there, sparking a sense of crisis and possessiveness on this side.
Especially since Jiang Wanzhou seemed [gay] enough, which was a deadly factor.
She said she was just hanging out with a gay friend recently, her ex-boyfriend would probably believe it!
You’d never guess that this gay guy in your eyes has already been involved with her.
Annoyed, Jiang Wanzhou said, "So in your eyes, I’m just around to accompany Ji Shiwen, and even if I come to you, it’s just to talk about her, huh?"
"What else?" Cheng Zhu’s response pissed him off again.
"Seriously, get lost!"
"Spill it, it looks like you have something serious to discuss today," he said with a chuckle.
However, there was a brief silence on the other end from Jiang Wanzhou.
After hesitating, he finally said, "I’ve been struggling with whether or not to tell you about this, but I guess it’s not something I can’t mention."
"My uncle came to our family to borrow money." he said.
It took Cheng Zhu a moment to respond, "Shen Minglang’s Daddy?"
"That’s right, he’s tight on cash and wants to invest in your Youu Tea."
Cheng Zhu nodded slightly and said, "I see."
Young people, you know, they’re generally not very cautious with their words and actions, and tend to share everything with their friends.
But Jiang Wanzhou mentioned this partly because he thought Cheng Zhu might need to know about the situation and partly to emphasize how important the Shen family considered Youu Tea.
"You know, my uncle is the kind of person who seldom borrows money from family. We have been close without any conflicts for so many years, but in his priorities, our family is his last resort." he said.
"So what?" Cheng Zhu purposely said so.
"I think he must really be unable to raise that much cash at the moment, but he values your Youu Tea a lot." Jiang Wanzhou explained.
"Got it." Cheng Zhu responded earnestly.
At this point, he suddenly laughed, asking, "By the way, didn’t your parents say something?"
"Like, given our great relationship, having grown up together, why not bring you into the milk tea business?"
"Pssh, I fucking well don’t care, I want to be my own domineering president, not your sidekick," Jiang Wanzhou scoffed.
He added, "Besides, the fortune teller said our horoscopes clash, so no partnerships in business."
That fortune-telling session had Cheng Zhu present as well, dragged along by Jiang Wanzhou for fun.
It was a thousand per person, and Jiang Wanzhou picked up the tab.
Their past life ventures always went poorly in business, once lamenting, "Thought I got conned for 2000 bucks by a charlatan, turns out some who look like charlatans, are actually the real deal!"
At the moment, Cheng Zhu guessed, "His family must have said something."
He had met Jiang Wanzhou’s parents several times, especially in their past lives.
Generally speaking, his parents were quite nice, friendly toward Cheng Zhu.
But his mother was that typical wealthy type who tends to think: everyone around me who lacks money seems to be targeting something I have.
She wouldn’t go so far as to forbid Jiang Wanzhou from hanging out with kids from ordinary families.
Instead, she was grateful that under such a pampered condition of her son, Cheng Zhu continued to favor and protect him.
So she often took Cheng Zhu out for lavish meals and occasionally bought him small gifts.
A typical case where small favors are okay, but actual riches are off the table.
Once she heard that Cheng Zhu started a business after college, she had emphasized several times to Jiang Wanzhou to only help a little, but never to leverage his own resources or connections for Cheng Zhu, as some things were not appropriate to share, nor was setting up opportunities or lending money allowed.