The entire afternoon, Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing stayed in the office with the door tightly shut, making Cheng Hao and Gu Yanning glance over from time to time, but they dared not knock to disturb them.
Compared to Zhou Dong's album, Chun Ge's album sounded much more perfunctory, and Tan Jincheng's mood returned to normal.
"I'm going back to my hometown in a few days. Do you want to come back with me and see my hometown?"
Given Tao Qinian's sincerity, if Tan Jincheng didn't go back, it would seem a bit unreasonable.
What if he develops and gets promoted in the future?
By then, old scores would be brought up, and Tan Jincheng really wouldn't dare to gamble on that.
For some matters, face-to-face communication always appears more sincere than over the phone.
Those who run businesses must always maintain a cautious attitude, like walking on thin ice.
Avoid offending people whenever possible; this isn't weakness, but wisdom.
"Go to your hometown?"
Gu Qingqing suddenly felt a little nervous.
If she remembered correctly, this should be the first time Tan Jincheng invited her to his hometown?
"Yes, do you want to go together? Although it's not a holiday season right now, National Day is coming soon. How about we go back and stay for a while? I'll bring my mother and sister back too."
She was a junior now, and her career direction wasn't her current major.
Coupled with Kaixin.com, Gu Qingqing no longer paid as much attention to her studies as she did in her freshman and sophomore years.
Taking leave had become quite common.
Her roommate Zhao Wenjia had changed majors, and even Li Manli and Chen Yanan were somewhat wavering, considering whether to make more plans for the future.
If everyone was still in a relatively ignorant state during their freshman and sophomore years, then junior year was a watershed, and everyone had to start thinking about their future.
"Do you understand the meaning of a guy inviting a girl back to his hometown?"
Gu Qingqing said with a light chuckle.
Guys generally only take a girl home when they truly approve of her.
With Tan Jincheng, it was different; due to work and other reasons, although she had met his parents, she had never been to his hometown.
Gu Qingqing was a girl who dared to love and hate, with a decisive personality, and she knew how to seize opportunities.
She also knew Tan Jincheng's character, so she spoke directly what was on her mind.
Tan Jincheng pulled her closer with one arm, smiling, and said,
"Of course I know. Don't think of me as such a straight man."
He liked such direct personalities.
How annoying would it be to have "green tea" behavior, always guessing?
Caught off guard, Gu Qingqing fell directly into Tan Jincheng's arms, and the ambiguous conversation made her breathing suddenly quicken.
"Straight man?"
"It means lacking romance and having low emotional intelligence."
"You always come up with such strange words. I really want to pry open your head and see what's inside."
"First, pry open my mouth."
Boss Tan's hands started to become mischievous.
"Mm, this is the office, be careful."
"It was fine until you said that. Now I feel even more excited. It seems we haven't done this before, have we?"
Gu Qingqing only felt her head throbbing with blood, unable to think at all.
Boss Tan was not a straight man; he was just busy and lazy, and he understood much more than true twenty-somethings like Zhang Xupeng.
If he wanted to be a playboy, there would be no problem at all.
One could even say that in this life, there would be no "most affectionate man in Jiangnan" to speak of.
However, in this life, he probably wouldn't have much to do with it either.
Boss Tan's current popularity, by the time the mobile internet exploded, was simply not something an influencer could contend with.
While the office play was ongoing, Zhou Ao had already started to piggyback on Zhou Dong's popularity.
At the same time, he also contacted Zhou Dong's management team, asking them to cooperate, and Shanchi would also assist him in promoting the album.
It was a mutually beneficial matter.
Shanchi's promotional capabilities had always been well-known in the industry, and Zhou Dong's team readily agreed.
One thing worth affirming was that while Shanchi liked to leverage popular topics and was shameless during competition, it never caused public revulsion.
This was because Shanchi never piggybacked on negative news and never engaged in moral blackmail.
This was why even Lüyuan and Bidewen, despite being exasperated by Shanchi, couldn't say much.
Privately, Shanchi donated a lot of money in various places.
For example, during the last two rounds of voting on Kaixin.com, Shanchi collectively donated teaching buildings for five schools in a certain area of Sichuan Province.
Besides Chun Ge's fans winning both rounds and getting three schools, Shanchi also donated one school each in the name of Zhou Dong's and Liu Yifei's fans, being extremely generous.
All these competitors knew about it, but Shanchi didn't over-publicize it, which earned the great admiration of other bosses in the industry.
If Shanchi had publicized this widely, they would have had to bleed a little as well.
---
"Boss, what do you think Boss Tan and the Boss are doing in there? The door's been closed all afternoon."
Gu Yanning rolled her eyes at him and said,
"Is that what you should be concerned about? Have you finished writing your code?"
"No, it's just that there are a few points in the new game that I can't quite figure out. I wanted to ask Boss Tan for his thoughts. Or maybe, Boss, you can go knock on the door for me?"
"I'm busy, and you're not to knock either. Boss Tan came today to discuss something very important with the Boss. None of you are allowed to disturb them."
"What is it? Is it about financing?"
Recently, Kaixin.com's valuation was the focus of industry discussion.
Currently, Kaixin.com's registered users and daily activity had steadily ranked in the top 15.
After rejecting several institutions' financing requests, the industry was speculating when Kaixin.com would accept its first round of financing.
As Kaixin.com's first batch of employees, they were equally concerned about financing, because financing meant their benefits would rise again, specifically, stock options.
That's right, Tan Jincheng's initial promise regarding employee stock options was that Kaixin.com would exercise stock options for all employees after its first round of financing.
This was the advantage of joining an internet startup.
Internet startups lacking talent would often promise employees certain stock option benefits, allowing them to receive a certain amount of dividends from the company each year in addition to their regular salaries.
Orange Technology was no exception.
Furthermore, internet company salaries were vastly different from those of traditional businesses.
Employees who could obtain stock options would have to struggle several years less than ordinary people.
The people Gu Yanning brought weren't exceptionally capable, but unfortunately, their luck was good.
In the workplace, good luck is often more important than ability.
When they first joined Orange Technology, they were even mocked by their classmates, who believed it was unwise to give up the stability of a big company for a little immediate gain.
However, no one expected Kaixin.com to become wildly popular across the entire internet just a few months later.
"Stop prying, and do your work properly. Boss Tan has his own plans for when the company will seek financing. Or are you saying your current benefits are bad?"
Gu Yanning said sternly.
"No, no, I was just chatting casually. Back to work, back to work."
"Don't worry, you won't miss out on benefits if you work diligently. Ask Shanchi's employees; Boss Tan always keeps his word."
After several months of high-intensity work, Gu Yanning had already developed a leader's demeanor.
Even with her own classmates, she would still be strict when necessary.
As a fellow woman, and due to her special relationship with Gu Qingqing, Gu Yanning was the only one at Orange Technology who could freely enter and exit Gu Qingqing's office.
She knew that Tan Jincheng had signed a contract with the owner of the Financial Building today to buy it.
She was originally curious about the details of the purchase and thought she would ask about them later.
Who knew that when she just passed the office, she vaguely heard sounds of "umm-hmm, ah-ah" from inside!
"I can't believe Qingqing is so bold, and Boss Tan too. He usually seems so mature and steady."
She wasn't an ignorant newbie; she just hadn't expected these two to dare do such a thing in the office.
How embarrassing would it be if the employees heard them?
The annoying thing was that she actually had to cover for them!
However, she really needed to bring up the financing issue with Qingqing.
Orange Technology currently had enough money in its accounts to last until the end of the year, and with only three-plus months left until year-end, it was impossible to wait until the money ran out before seeking financing; that would be too passive.
Although Gu Yanning knew that as Orange Technology's major backer, and even her uncle, money was not an issue, supporting Orange Technology's next spending spree was completely fine.
But there's no reason for an internet company to always fund itself, and if they keep refusing financing, the project team employees would also have thoughts.
In any case, they needed to first get in touch with some venture capital firms.
Even if it wasn't successful, it would reassure the employees.
It wasn't until five o'clock in the afternoon that Gu Yanning finally saw Gu Qingqing's office door open.
The two, walking side by side, approached Gu Yanning's seat.
Gu Qingqing said to Gu Yanning,
"Sister, I might not be in the company for a few days. I'll leave company matters to you and Director Cheng."
"Oh, where are you going? Your coursework shouldn't be very busy this year, right?"
"To Yicheng, I'll be back after National Day."
Gu Qingqing said, blushing.
Gu Yanning looked at her in surprise.
She understood what her cousin meant; otherwise, Gu Qingqing wouldn't have called her Sister.
She truly congratulated her.
But this wasn't the time to talk about that.
These two were going to be gone for half a month, leaving the company to her and Old Cheng.
Some things would definitely need to be accounted for, right?
"President Tan, can we talk for a moment?"
Tan Jincheng just wanted to go home at this moment and didn't want to discuss any work, so he smiled and said,
"Cut to the chase, what is it?"
"Regarding Kaixin.com's financing plan, I wonder what arrangements President Tan has?"
She was the CEO's assistant, and Gu Qingqing had been in school recently, so she was basically handling the company's daily affairs, including receiving financing institutions.
"Oh, you mean that. You can spread the word: don't bother if the valuation is below 100 million, and we will only accept investment from one venture capital firm for the first round."
As for valuation, for Orange Technology, which had passed the angel investment stage, the first round of investment couldn't be too high, so as not to affect subsequent financing, but it certainly couldn't be too cheap either.
A valuation of 100 million was the baseline.
Anyway, these venture capitalists had plenty of money; if they could be fleeced, they should be fleeced.
(End of chapter)