"Keep peeling those chestnuts," Sheng Yuxiao said as he began flipping through the documents Dou Dawei had handed him.
Ning Heng, realizing this was serious business, refrained from interrupting further.
"Your factory's financial records and year-end reports are far from clear," Sheng Yuxiao remarked after a quick glance.
The middle-aged men exchanged looks, suddenly realizing that despite his young age, this young master wasn't easily fooled.
Dou Dawei nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, previously some positions in the factory were held by shareholders' relatives."
Sheng Yuxiao snorted softly. Noticing Li Xiaoya looking bored beside him, he lowered the documents in his hand and pointed at the numbers, asking her, "Do you know what this is?"
Li Xiaoya looked at him blankly.
"This is the transaction statement, and this one is the asset report, including short-term investment details, fixed asset details, and so on... Look, here we can see the net fixed asset ratio. It's too low, indicating their production capacity is already quite poor."
The middle-aged men's faces reddened slightly, not expecting to be so bluntly called out by a minor. What was most insulting was...
"Is it necessary to explain this to a child? She won't understand anyway," one of the middle-aged men couldn't help but interject.
Sheng Yuxiao looked up at him and asked, "Is the accountant your relative?"
The middle-aged man quickly replied, "Of course not!"
"Then why are you so agitated?"
The man gritted his teeth and fell silent.
"This is the balance sheet... we can see their capitalization rate. Generally speaking, if it exceeds 20%, it indicates excessive risk," Sheng Yuxiao continued, flipping through the pages.
Li Xiaoya cautiously said, "Their risk is very high, isn't it?"
"Hm?" Sheng Yuxiao paused, "Did you calculate that?"
Li Xiaoya shook her head, "I can't calculate it, but just by looking at them... I get a vague idea in my head."
Even Ning Heng couldn't help but exclaim, "Are you that sensitive to numbers? Little genius?"
This piqued Sheng Yuxiao's interest even more, and he insisted on meticulously explaining the entire report to Li Xiaoya.
While Sheng Yuxiao might not have experience teaching her regular schoolwork, as an heir to a wealthy family, he had been exposed to various financial reports since he learned to read.
His young uncle once said, "If you can't understand these, don't bother inheriting any company. You'll only end up being fooled."
By now, Sheng Yuxiao could spot issues in most reports at a glance.
And now, he was teaching this to Li Xiaoya.
He didn't see any problem with teaching these concepts to a child who had grown up in a small mountain village and was only in third grade.
Sheng Yuxiao's confident demeanor exuded an unconscious pressure, and as he taught, the others could only wait patiently on the side.
Those men felt like they were sitting on pins and needles, but Dou Dawei didn't seem to mind.
Dou Dawei also listened intently, his face flushed... His father was a capable man, but lacked some finesse in running a business. He himself wasn't much better.
Someone like Sheng Yuxiao, born into wealth, had been immersed in the teachings and education of various successful individuals from a young age...
The MBA courses that ordinary people would spend hundreds of thousands to attend were free, mandatory lessons for him since childhood.
Thinking of this, Dou Dawei couldn't help but glance at Li Xiaoya.
Did this little girl realize how incredible the education she was receiving right now was?
"Alright," Sheng Yuxiao cleared his throat, "That's enough for now. Their reports are too simple, not much to see overall. Next time, I'll show you something more interesting."
"Young Master Sheng, we..." Dou Dawei spoke up hesitantly.
"Your first problem right now is that your location is too remote, and your transportation methods are outdated."
"Secondly, you need to properly position and categorize your medicines before distributing them to the market..."
Sheng Yuxiao spoke slowly.
"Easier said than done. How do we distribute? We need to invest real money in marketing, offer profits to pharmacies and hospitals..."
"Marketing?" Sheng Yuxiao sneered, pointing at Li Xiaoya, then at himself, "Isn't this the best marketing?"
Dou Dawei excitedly agreed, "Yes, yes!"
Both parties quickly set a time to sign the investment contract.
Then Dou Dawei left with the other shareholders.
Once in the car, someone immediately said, "Didn't Sheng Yuxiao give us some ideas? Why don't we try them ourselves first to see if we can revive the business?"
In essence, they didn't want Sheng Yuxiao to have a share anymore. Now that things were looking up, they thought they could manage on their own.
Dou Dawei laughed bitterly, "Do you know what Young Master Sheng didn't say after mentioning our outdated transportation?"
"What?"
"The best transportation now is by rail, but do you know how to secure this transport route?... We need Young Master Sheng for that. Only the Sheng family has that kind of clout. Money is secondary; the connections are something we couldn't accumulate in ten lifetimes." Dou Dawei sighed, his tone quite emotional.
"Fortunately, I met Li Xiaoya first, and then got to know Young Master Sheng through her."
Dou Dawei paused, then asked rhetorically, "I only recently found out that the provincial government has been eager for Young Master Sheng and his family to come record that show. Do you know why? Because there are so many small and medium-sized enterprises waiting for investment! They're all waiting for the Sheng family's influence to revitalize this impoverished place! If another family beats us to it, who would we be? We wouldn't even be in the running!"
These words left the other shareholders dumbfounded.
Dou Dawei muttered, "Young Master Ning said it well today. I even want to recognize Li Xiaoya as my sister, no, my goddaughter. But we don't have that blessing."
Seeing Young Master Sheng's attitude today, wasn't it clear that with Li Xiaoya by his side, he had the world in his hands?
While they were deep in reflection on one side,
On the other side, the gift Dou Dawei had sent was still at Li Xiaoya's feet. Sheng Yuxiao said, "Let me open it for you and take a look."
It was a Barbie doll wearing a crystal crown.
Sheng Yuxiao immediately said, "What kind of gift is this? It's not practical at all. Not as good as what I gave you, right?"
Li Xiaoya nodded.
Sheng Yuxiao smirked, then reached out to take the crown off the Barbie doll's head and pinned it on Li Xiaoya's, saying, "I think you look more like a Barbie doll than it does."
Ning Heng watched from the side, his eye twitching.
It had been two days.
He still couldn't quite get used to seeing this expression on Brother Sheng's face.
Meanwhile,
Li Qingqing had been sick for two days now.
She deliberately cried herself into a faint, then intentionally took a cold shower, making herself come down with a high fever. This finally earned her a brief moment of pity from the Sheng family.
Now, curled up in bed, she waited for the maid attending to her to leave before quickly pulling out her phone to check the online news.
To her surprise, she learned that Ning Heng had also gone to that small village.
"How can this be?" she muttered to herself. "In my previous life, Ning Heng wasn't involved at all."
This was Ning Heng, after all.
So many female celebrities would do anything to climb into his bed, all for a chance at a brighter future.
In her previous life, Li Qingqing wouldn't have dared to even dream of encountering someone like him.
Gritting her teeth, Li Qingqing refreshed the page, only to see a trending topic about Ning Heng falling into a cesspit.
She immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness, oh thank goodness, haha. Ning Heng surely can't bear such humiliation. The village environment is just too harsh; he definitely won't be able to stay there. Li Xiaoya isn't some kind of irresistible charm – surely not everyone will fall for her?"
Just then, Li Qingqing heard the maid call out: "Miss Xu, what brings you here?"
Miss Xu? Oh, now she remembered.
Sheng Yuxiao's cousin... a person with a rather nasty temper.
Li Qingqing instantly hatched a plan.
She would have a nice, long chat with this Miss Xu about Li Xiaoya.
