An Nuan smiled gently.
She didn’t know why, but every time Ye Jinghuai was mentioned, her heart would warm.
This feeling, this passionately hot love.
She didn’t experience any of this with Gu Yan Sheng at all.
Her feelings for him seemed to just follow procedure.
Because of her traditional thinking, she had decided that since they had become husband and wife, it would be for their whole lives, so she had given her whole heart to him.
She hadn’t thought too much about it.
Now, she really felt that she had been extremely naive in her previous life.
"An Nuan," Xiao Nanchen seemed to have called her a couple times without getting a response.
An Nuan quickly returned to her senses.
"What are you thinking about?" he jokingly asked from the other end.
"Nothing," An Nuan didn't admit it. She said, "I just wanted to ask, was Xia Qiqi very emotionally excited by your arrival?"
"What do you think?" Xiao Nanchen said indifferently, "She almost hates me to death."
"When she finds out the truth..."
"She won't find out," Xiao Nanchen interrupted An Nuan.
"You know, sometimes you're so good it makes me feel that Xia Qiqi is unappreciative."
"You're thinking too much. Because there is no love, there is no need to bear any responsibility. She has never forced me into anything, and I have only lent a helping hand." Xiao Nanchen spoke very calmly.
"Lent a helping hand?" An Nuan's brows raised slightly.
When did Xiao Nanchen start speaking so arrogantly?
Or could it be...
Ye Jinghuai, Xiao Nanchen, and Qin Jiang were all extraordinary people.
They had unimaginable superpowers.
She always felt like on the surface, these three people seemed to lack capability, but their true selves were immeasurable.
Anyway, she didn't dare imagine what kinds of capabilities these three people actually had.
"It wasn't too difficult," Xiao Nanchen said dismissively, "Let's not talk more about this. I need to get familiar with some of the work at Xia Hui Bank to look into the Gu clan's loan records. I'll call you after I find something."
"Okay, I won't bother you anymore then."
"Bye bye."
After An Nuan hung up the phone, her whole demeanor became more somber.
The Gu clan's assets were now tied into so many things.
Not to mention their existing investments, which were within the normal operating scope of Gu Corporation, but the construction of Nanywan New City and the international e-commerce project clearly exceeded Gu Corporation's capacity. Were the Gu clan just too ambitious and wanted to take risks on everything, or was there someone behind them providing aid?!
An Nuan sank deep into her thoughts.
There was a knock on the door.
Luo Sihui reported, "Boss An, the person you asked for has arrived at the company and is waiting for you in the conference room now."
"Good," An Nuan nodded. After thinking for a bit, she said, "Call Tan Yufei to come along too."
"Yes."
An Nuan got up and walked towards the conference room.
Tan Yufei also quickly caught up to her pace.
Inside the conference room sat a middle-aged man, an old owner of a small e-commerce platform whose investment wasn't huge and whose market reach was mostly just local e-commerce delivery services. An Nuan was planning to acquire his company.
And the man still seemed rather nervous when facing An Nuan.
For his company worth only a few million RMB in assets, meeting the leader of a company worth tens of billions of RMB, he couldn't help but feel nervous no matter what.
"Mr. Zhu?" An Nuan took the initiative to speak first.
"Hello, Boss An, hello, nice to meet you!" Zhu Qiang hurriedly stood up to shake hands.
"Please sit."
The two parties finally sat down.
An Nuan went straight to the point, "The main reason I asked you to make a special trip down today is because I wanted to discuss acquiring your Pearl Chain e-commerce platform."
"We just run a small business here, making some petty deals worth a few hundred thousand a year. Why does Boss An want to acquire our insignificant company?" Zhu Qiang still didn't quite understand.
To him, this bit of money was enough for him to support his family and live without worries.
But to An Group, it was less than a drop in the bucket.
"E-commerce platforms will definitely thrive in the future. Of course, small ones like yours will eventually be squeezed out by large e-commerce platforms sooner or later, like the one the Gu Group is currently building. It will soon eliminate small e-commerce companies like yours." An Nuan didn't try to hedge, "But if An Group were to operate and build it, the outcome would naturally be different. Of course you might wonder why I don't just start up an e-commerce company myself. I did consider it at first, but after thinking it over, starting from scratch would still be very troublesome with too much red tape that would delay our time. So it's better to just directly acquire an existing one and rebuild it."
Zhu Qiang listened.
And of course believed her.
For two companies with such a huge asset discrepancy, he didn't feel like An Group had anything to gain from deceiving him either.
He said, "How much are you planning to pay to acquire my company then?"
An Nuan had actually done a lot of research and knew that Zhu Qiang was relatively lazy when it came to business.
So as long as there was sufficient monetary temptation, he would be willing to sell off his company immediately.
An Nuan handed Zhu Qiang a transfer agreement.
Everything had already been clearly laid out.
Zhu Qiang hurriedly took a look and his eyes widened in shock.
5 million RMB.
Such a high opening offer.
His e-commerce platform was worth 2 million RMB at most.
"What do you think? Are you satisfied with the price?" An Nuan asked.
"Very satisfied," Zhu Qiang hurriedly said, then seemed to have some doubts again, "Can such a good thing really happen in this world?"
"Miracles are everywhere," An Nuan joked.
After thinking for a bit, Zhu Qiang said, "Fine. As long as you don't lie to me and really give me 5 million, I'll sell the Pearl Chain e-commerce platform to you."
"You can take a look at the contract. The money will be in your account tomorrow after signing," An Nuan said.
Zhu Qiang picked up the contract again and scrutinized it from top to bottom two more times. He said, "I trust you."
"Sign here. You did bring your company stamp, right?"
"I did," Zhu Qiang hurriedly replied.
"Then stamp it too."
Zhu Qiang hurriedly did as told.
The deal was sealed.
An Nuan stood up and shook Zhu Qiang's hand.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, An Nuan saw Zhu Qiang off and returned to her office with Tan Yufei.
An Nuan said, "Do you think it was worth it? I spent 5 million on a company not even worth 2 million."
"It was definitely worth it," Tan Yufei said frankly, "You spent 5 million just to increase Pearl Chain's market value and make it more competitive in the market. If the price had been too low, it would have just shown that the e-commerce platform wasn't worth much and the other company wouldn't have had confidence in us. Of course, compared to the 2 billion the Gu Group spent, 5 million is nothing to boast about."
"That's why we need to hype it up," An Nuan said. "What I acquired with Pearl Chain are two aspects of business. First is to continue Pearl Chain's original localized operations to provide the fastest same-day delivery services in town. Second is international e-commerce focused on import and export trade."
"So Boss An's intention is that unlike Gu Group's complicated endeavors, we identify a niche market and specialize, attracting partnerships from international e-commerce platforms."
"The only advantage we're currently lacking is..." An Nuan left her words hanging.
"Traffic," Tan Yufei affirmed.
