Chapter 34

"If it weren't for Dad's stinginess, and if you gave me another 600,000, I could become a great entrepreneur like you in three years!" Zhai Yue said with a smile.

"Ha ha!" Zhai Kuo laughed heartily, patted his daughter, and said, "Talking big without any basis! Yue, such an attitude is a big taboo in business!"

Zhai Yue rolled her eyes at her father and said, "Not at all! Once you hear it, you'll know that our plan is much more sophisticated than your capital operations back then!"

"Oh?" Zhai Kuo was slightly surprised, leaning forward slightly, as if ready to listen attentively, "Tell Dad about it!"

At that moment, Zhai Yue recounted Song Chen's plan in detail.

"Amazing! Apart from the initial investment, the rest of the funds are a typical case of getting something for nothing! All the risks are transferred to the bank!" Zhai Kuo drew a deep breath. He didn't understand the profit model of internet cafes, so he inevitably overestimated the risks of Song Chen's plan.

But Zhai Kuo wasn't entirely wrong. Song Chen's financing method was entirely through the bank. If the capital chain broke, the company mortgaged with the internet cafe's assets might go bankrupt, but the impact on the shareholders of the internet cafe would be very limited! Even in the worst-case scenario, Yang De and the others would only lose the money they invested, and the operating income before bankruptcy would likely have already recovered all their investments!

"Even the franchise fees in the later stages are a form of capital operation. Song Chen, this young boy, focuses more on the brand than on the profits!" Zhai Kuo sighed, "With a son like this, how can Song Hua let him stay with his mother? He should be brought up and nurtured properly!"

"His father might not be as capable as his son!" Thinking of Song Chen's goal to "salute Bill Gates in three years," she somehow felt that this boy could achieve it.

"Pity, he's too young! Otherwise, you two would be a perfect match!"

Zhai Yue said indifferently, "I'm only four years older than him, I..."

Seeing her father's teasing smile, Zhai Yue pouted and said, "Dad! You're so bad, trying to get me to talk!"

"Ha ha! You're too obvious!" Zhai Kuo didn't know that Song Chen had a girlfriend; otherwise, he wouldn't have thought this way. He thought for a moment and said, "Yue, since everything is settled, how about you take charge of the new department?"

Zhai Yue shook her head and said, "Dad, the Zhai family's business should be left to Ah Zheng! Since I and Yang De have found our own path, I should take on some responsibility! Besides, I believe in Song Chen's words. In three years, I can stand on the same stage as you!"

"Good! Well said!" Zhai Kuo looked at his eldest daughter with joy, "I'm very happy that you have such ambition! I'm even happier that you've found your own path! I can't wait for the day when you can stand with Dad at the Dongou Hotel, speaking with the leaders of Dongou City!"

Zhai Kuo pondered for a moment and then said with difficulty, "Then, who should manage the new business department? Ah Zheng? He's young and hot-headed, and he likes to talk big... Ah, if he were half as smart as Song Chen! You don't know, ever since he became the HR manager, he's offended so many people! Your uncles and aunts are all complaining to me, and I'm the one cleaning up his mess! Ah!"

Zhai Yue also sighed, pondered for a moment, and thought of a slender figure. She said softly, "Dad, let Zhai... Ah Yan give it a try!"

"Ah Yan?"

"Zhai Yan graduated from a prestigious university, and she is meticulous, steady, and intelligent. Although her experience is shallow, she has been an HR assistant for two years. Letting her be the manager of the new business department to handle the setup work won't repeat the mistake of your son being the HR manager, which would invite gossip!" Mentioning Zhai Zheng as the HR manager, Zhai Kuo's face twitched; it was his most foolish decision!

Nodding silently, Zhai Kuo said softly, "Then the new business department will temporarily be called the 'Electrical Appliances Development Department'..."

As he murmured, a sharp cry suddenly came from outside the door. Zhai Yue heard the sound, pursed her lips, and looked out the window with disgust. Zhai Kuo's face turned pale, and he looked extremely displeased.

He strode to the office door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open. The secretary's office immediately filled with sharp, high-pitched voices, piercing his eardrums.

"Mom! Stop making a scene! Let's talk about it at home! Mom! Please!"

"What are you begging for? Ah Yan, the one who shouldn't be begging is you! Not you! It's Zhai Kuo! Zhai Kuo, you bastard, come out!"

A young woman with her hair held up by a ballpoint pen was desperately pulling a middle-aged woman who was raging like an injured lion. Behind them stood a well-dressed young man, his face twisted with resentment and cruelty, showing no remorse for his actions.

"Have you had enough, Ah Yuan!" Zhai Kuo roared.

Seeing the chairman come out, the more perceptive people in the secretary's office automatically disappeared, and those who weren't so perceptive were pulled away.

"Have I had enough? Is it me making a scene? Is it me still making a scene?" Zhao Yuan, with tears streaming down her face, pointed at the young man and screamed with immense sorrow, "I begged you, if you didn't want Ah Yan to work in the company, just say it! Just say it! Even if Ah Yan refused, I would have taken her away! She's so smart, where can't she find a job? Besides, Ah Yan herself didn't want to work in your company! Why? Because her sister never recognized her as a sister! Because she has a brother who never treats her like a human being!"

"You never took my requests seriously!" Zhao Yuan looked at the man she once considered her true love with a face full of resentment. She couldn't forget the man who fled into her home in 1976, how she became his woman in a daze, and how she gave birth to a daughter in a daze, enduring the contemptuous looks of others as she registered the child under her brother's name! Her entire life had been a daze, so she didn't want her daughter to be the same!

"You didn't take it seriously! I had no choice! I could only beg your son to give my daughter a different position, at least one farther away from your son!" She lunged at Zhai Kuo, grabbing his collar and shrieking, "Everyone in Zhai Kuo Electrical knows that your son doesn't treat my daughter like a human being! If she's one minute late in the morning, her salary is docked! She has to work overtime until 10 PM, or her salary is docked! He introduced a boyfriend to her, but he was a homeless man with a face full of scars, and he openly came to the company to profess his love! Because of your son, my daughter is a laughingstock in the entire Zhai Kuo Electrical, and I, as her mother, was the last to know!"

"I just want to ask you, Zhai Kuo! Do you know that your son has been abusing my daughter, abusing your daughter? Do you know or not!" Zhao Yuan screamed.

Zhai Kuo's eyes, like those of a wolf, glared at his own son with immense anger. At that moment, he had the urge to strangle his son, because he was the last to know about his daughter being abused!

"I don't know!" Zhai Kuo spat out four words through his teeth. He had just returned from a business trip to Beijing last week, and China has a fine "tradition" of keeping things from the top but not from the bottom! Thinking of his brother Zhai Yang's hesitant and sighing expression from yesterday, he instantly understood many things.

Zhai Yue silently walked behind her father, looked at the "aunt" who was almost crying, then at Zhai Yan, who was looking away, silently shedding tears, and finally at Zhai Zheng, who showed no remorse and only sought revenge without considering the consequences. She sighed softly.