198 The First Meeting Between Wei Kai and Wang Heng
The next day was Saturday, and there were no classes at school. So Wang Heng skipped his one-on-one tutoring session with Ye Xun, bought a plane ticket, and headed straight for the Imperial Capital.
It was two in the afternoon when he got off the plane.
Carrying his backpack and walking in the terminal of the Imperial Capital International Airport, Wang Heng felt quite emotional for a moment.
Logically speaking, this was his first time here. But in the first timeline, his memories of this airport were countless. He had held hands with Han Yixuan in this terminal and was caught red-handed by Lu Qi… Those were painful lessons of blood and tears.
Fortunately, although he was still inevitably involved with the four girls, his situation was much better than in the first timeline.
He didn’t bring the hamster with him to the Imperial Capital today. But this wasn’t a big problem. Before leaving, he specifically put his laptop on his bunk, covered it with a quilt, and placed a miniature cooling fan next to it. This way, if there was any need for contact, he could use Q to contact the hamster and let the hamster use the computer without his roommates noticing anything.
Walking to the entrance of the terminal, Wang Heng looked at his reflection on the glass door.
A thin jacket and black jeans, plus a gray-black canvas backpack, he didn’t look like an investor at all. He looked a bit like an investment student, but obviously the kind who hadn’t experienced an internship, no higher than a sophomore.
As an angel investor going to meet an entrepreneur, this outfit obviously wouldn’t do, right?
Wang Heng pondered for a moment and decided to find a ready-to-wear suit shop first.
**
Wei Kai sat in his office, looking at the company’s financial statements, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
His company had only six people—including himself. The other five were also classmates from Imperial Capital University. Everyone was a graduate student from the same school, some graduated and some not, with different majors, but all had the ideal of starting a business. After repeated discussions, they jointly decided to start a business with cycling, which everyone was interested in, as the core.
As a former student union leader and a capable person who had cycled to Qinghai-Tibet, Wei Kai naturally became the leader of the six-person team. But after registering the company and starting to run the project, they found that they seemed to have underestimated the difficulty of starting a business…
Although they did succeed in financing through the connections of seniors, the financing amount of a few hundred thousand yuan seemed a bit insufficient. And the key was that although ofo’s cycling project was successfully launched, after actually doing two phases, everyone calculated the accounts, and the registration fees just offset the expenses of organizing the cycling. So what about the company’s profit?
Organizing cycling was for profit, not for doing good deeds to serve classmates.
In the plenary meeting two days ago, after some discussion, Wei Kai made the final decision that the price of the next phase of the cycling project would be increased across the board. But in this way, no one could say for sure whether the number of applicants could be guaranteed.
Not raising the price was definitely death, raising the price… there was still hope of survival. So how to choose, in fact, everyone could figure it out.
Fortunately, it seemed that another investor had come to the door this time, and it was Penguin Company. Think about it, if Penguin could invest and promote ofo, this small startup company, by the way, how great would that be? Probably wouldn’t need to worry about the number of applicants anymore.
Thinking of this, Wei Kai couldn’t help but be a little excited. He stood up and walked around the office twice. This office wasn’t big, but with six people sitting, the workstation arrangement was slightly crowded. The space available for Wei Kai to walk was really limited.
A partner couldn’t help but protest, “Brother Wei, sit down, you’re making me dizzy…”
Wei Kai: “You can call me President Wei or Old Wei, don’t call me Brother!”
Another partner laughed. “Okay, Brother Wei.”
This person was even more unscrupulous, deliberately pronouncing the word ‘Wei’ in the third tone… (T/N: in the third tone (wěi), sounds like “flaccid” or “impotent” (萎, wěi),)
Suddenly, the third partner, who had been silent, put down his book and opened his lunch box. A strong smell of cooking oil immediately filled the entire office.
Wei Kai: “What time is it that you’re eating!”
That person said slowly, “I was reading just now and forgot.”
Wei Kai glanced over. Sure enough, Old Zhang was reading archaeological works again, those yellowed old books. After all, Old Zhang was a master’s graduate in archaeology…
“No, I can’t talk to him here,” Wei Kai muttered to himself.
The partner who called him Brother Wei laughed. “Of course not here, the conference room is next door.”
Wei Kai shook his head. “Not in the conference room either. Our place is too shabby. There is a Starbucks on the street next to us. I have to go there to talk.”
“Do you want me, the vice president, to support you?”
“It would be nice if you didn’t cause trouble!” Wei Kai glared at him, then suddenly laughed again. “Don’t worry, wait for my triumphant return. If this deal is successful, we will immediately move to an office in a high-end office building!”
**
More than ten minutes earlier than the agreed time, Wei Kai walked into that Starbucks coffee shop.
That Penguin investor hadn’t arrived yet. He ordered a cup of black coffee for himself first—the strong and bitter taste could always remind him of the cruelty of reality and the fierceness of the business world.
Although, regarding whether he had really set foot in the business world, Wei Kai was still not quite sure.
Ten minutes later, a young man in a business suit walked into the shop, ordered a cappuccino at the counter, and then walked up to Wei Kai with the paper cup.
“Hello, I am Wang Heng from Penguin.” The man took out a business card and handed it over.
The business card was brand new, beautifully printed, and the words ‘Penguin Company Investment Department’ were also written clearly—of course, Wei Kai couldn’t have imagined that this business card was fresher than imagined, printed less than half an hour ago.
Finding a small shop on the roadside and spending a little more money, it wasn’t difficult to achieve such an effect.
Wei Kai just sized up this young man named Wang Heng and couldn’t help but be surprised. He found that the other party seemed younger than himself, simply like an undergraduate junior brother who could be seen everywhere on campus, and a rather handsome one at that.
And Wang Heng was also observing him. A decent suit, glasses, short hair, a confident smile on his face… Seeing him up close, it wasn’t hard to find that this Wei Kai was actually quite charming in appearance, giving people a feeling of being friendly and full of energy. As an entrepreneur, he looked good.
However, in some details, his preparation was a bit insufficient.
After Wei Kai took Wang Heng’s business card, he dug into his suit pocket but found nothing. Only then did he realize that he seemed to have forgotten his business cards…
Wang Heng smiled and extended his hand, shook hands with him, and said calmly, “No need to care about these details. Let’s just chat casually.”
