Chapter 615: White Heart and Yellow Skin
Zhu Chongliang is a very shrewd businessman. After sending Tang Zhu away, he did not try to please Lu Yiming. Instead, he took out evening gowns with a very attentive look on his face for Yu Jiayi and Qi Xuecheng to try on.
He knew very well that he couldn't try too hard to get close to Lu Yiming at this time. As long as he tried to please the two ladies in front of him, he would have plenty of opportunities to get close to them when they got to know each other better.
Lu Yiming was of course very clear about what was happening, but he didn't care. He had originally planned to buy an evening dress for Yu Jiayi today, but seeing Qi Xuecheng was so excited, he didn't say anything.
After a while, Zhu Chongliang brought the evening gowns, and Qi Xuecheng said to Yu Jiayi excitedly, "Let's go and try them on. I've long wanted to see why these clothes are so expensive. Could it be that they are mixed with gold and diamonds?"
To be able to say such a thing, you can imagine how little she knows about luxury goods. But Zhu Chongliang did not dare to neglect her at all.
It doesn’t matter if they don’t understand, as long as the big money sponsor next to them understands!
The desire for luxury goods can almost be said to be an instinctive desire of human beings. Yu Jiayi could only watch from afar before and dared not approach. The price tags in the store alone were enough to discourage her. But today, with Lu Yiming by her side, she was finally able to fulfill her wish.
Yu Jiayi was very cautious and afraid of damaging these things, so she moved slowly. After a long time, she only tried two or three sets.
Each set is very beautiful.
Yu Jiayi compared the two and had difficulty making a decision: "Qi Xuecheng, which one do you think I should choose? I like both of them."
Lu Yiming immediately said: "Then why choose? Why not just buy both sets?"
When Zhu Chongliang heard this, he felt so happy that he felt dizzy.
Luxury stores like theirs serve a small group of top customers. In addition to a few regular customers, they can usually do two orders a month, which is considered to be booming. After all, in this era, few people can afford clothes that cost tens of thousands of yuan.
And being able to produce several sets at once today is definitely a huge achievement!
Rich second-generations are awesome.
Yu Jiayi looked at the tag and frowned, "These two pieces cost more than 50,000 yuan. Aren't they too expensive?"
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Don't worry. You will probably have to accompany me to important social occasions in the future anyway. Buy a few more sets so that you don't have to buy more later. Choose a few more pieces."
Afterwards, he said to Qi Xuecheng, "Since you're here, why don't you take a look too? If there's anything you like, I'll give it to you as well."
This amount of money was nothing to Lu Yiming, but it allowed Yu Jiayi to see how generous he was. Lu Yiming still valued this senior who was strong-willed and serious about her work, and planned to win her over and train her as his confidant, so he didn't mind spending more money on her.
After more than an hour, the two girls left the clothing store with several gift bags each.
Zhu Chongliang stood at the door and watched until the three people turned the corner and disappeared.
He was so happy today. By serving these two customers, he directly completed his annual KPI.
"He is indeed a rich second-generation who is not short of money. He can spend 200,000 or 300,000 yuan by credit card without blinking an eye. If I could have a big customer like him every day..."
While he was daydreaming, Tang Zhu came over sullenly and said, "Boss, the warehouse has been tidied."
Zhu Chongliang nodded slightly and said, "Very good, I will pay you this month's salary later, you can go home now."
Tang Zhu looked puzzled and said, "It's only the 8th of this month, how come the salary has already been paid? Isn't it usually paid at the end of the month?"
Zhu Chongliang said expressionlessly: "Because you were fired!"
In the girls' dormitory, Qi Xuecheng was still extremely excited.
Although she joked with Yu Jiayi before leaving that Lu Yiming had the money to buy her a few pieces, she was just saying it casually and didn't think about it at all.
But what she didn't expect was that Lu Yiming treated her and Yu Jiayi equally and bought her several evening dresses worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Needless to say, Yu Jiayi bought six evening dresses in various styles, which cost her more than 100,000 yuan.
"My goodness, are you guys robbing a bank?"
"I think I've seen this brand in a fashion magazine. I heard that a pair of socks costs thousands of dollars!"
"Did Lu Yiming buy all these?"
The envy, jealousy and hatred in the eyes of his roommates greatly satisfied Qi Chengxue's inner vanity.
She smiled and said, "What bank robbery? Are we that kind of people? These were all given to us by Lu Yiming. Let me tell you, we met an acquaintance when we were buying clothes."
"Oh? Who is it?"
"Tang Zhu."
"Tang Zhu?"
After all, we are all classmates and are familiar with this name.
"She is always arrogant. She relies on the fact that she is a local and has some connections, and she looks down on others all the time. Did you still do business for her?"
Yu Jiayi said: "No, she just happened to work in that store."
Qi Xuecheng smiled and said, "You don't know, when we left, the boss was like a lapdog, wishing he could send us back personally. I think Tang Zhu's job is over. She must be scolded to death by the boss for offending us."
"OK."
"This is called evil will be punished."
After hearing what Qi Xuecheng said, his roommates all applauded.
A roommate looked at Yu Jiayi, revealing an unknown teasing in his eyes: "Mr. Lu is really generous. He bought several sets of evening gowns worth tens of thousands of yuan. He simply doesn't care about money. Yu Meiren, tell the truth, do you have any other relationship with Mr. Lu besides the relationship of superior and subordinate?"
"Is Mr. Lu still in need of a secretary? Whether it's housework or something else, I can do it."
Facing her roommate who was becoming more and more unserious, Yu Jiayi blushed slightly and quickly argued, "What are you thinking about? Mr. Lu is a very good person. He is very generous to his subordinates. He has so many companies under him. You can go and apply for a job."
The event venue of the China Overseas Tourism and Hotel Industry Association.
Many industry leaders are here today. In addition to online travel companies such as Home Inns and Ctrip, there are more old-established leaders in the offline travel industry.
However, the ecology of Xia's offline tourism industry has basically stabilized. It can even be said that it has become a bloody red ocean market. There are basically not many stories to tell, and there is no room for imagination, so it is not favored by capital.
So the two most eye-catching people in the crowd were Ji Qi and Liang Jianzhang.
Their company is now the banner and benchmark of the online travel industry, and the relationship between the two makes things even more interesting.
"The former four gentlemen of Ctrip, is this considered a split?"
"Yeah, it felt like just a blink of an eye, and it felt a little unreal to me."
"It's not just a split, we've become competitors."
"You are out of touch with the news. Now they are almost going crazy. I am afraid it will be a battle of life and death."
"I heard that Ctrip asked for peace, but Home Inn refused."
"I wouldn't agree to this either. Who doesn't have a temper? The king's return is the normal scene."
"Is it so serious? What happened between the four gentlemen?"
"No one can explain the details. Anyway, it's a mess right now."
“I don’t know whether the two sides will take advantage of this opportunity today to do something.”
"It's hard to say, let's just watch the show."
The former partners have now become enemies, and countless colleagues in the tourism industry are watching the show, waiting for Ji Qi and Liang Jianzhang to decide the winner.
At the meeting, Ji Qi was wearing a neat suit, with a confident smile on his face, full of energy and vigor. He saw Liang Jianzhang in the crowd and even took the initiative to greet him: "Old Liang, I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon."
Liang Jianzhang appeared calm on the surface. He shook hands with Ji Qi and said with a smile, "I really didn't expect it. Congratulations. Home Inn has seized an important opportunity and is now soaring."
The two people don't seem to have any intention of colliding with each other.
However, what Liang Jianzhang meant by "unexpected" was that he did not expect Ji Qi to act so quickly. In the blink of an eye, he had pinned Ctrip to the ground and rubbed it like crazy.
Ji Qi also smiled and said, "You are not bad either. Under your management, Ctrip has made steady progress at every step."
After a few polite words, Liang Jianzhang couldn't help but ask Ji Qi: "Old Ji, why do you have to fight to the death ? In fact, we can continue to cooperate, just like when we founded Ctrip together. Old Ji, have you forgotten? You were the one who named the company."
After hearing this, Ji Qi shook his head slightly, without any nostalgic expression on his face, and said indifferently: "This is a business competition, and there is no personal grudge involved."
Ji Qi still cherishes his friend Liang Jianzhang, and he doesn't even have much resentment towards Shen Nanpeng.
What really made him unhappy was being kicked out of the company, which was a huge blow to him.
Because he is an extremely strong-willed person, he is now trying to get back everything he lost just like he was kicked out of the company.
Prove to everyone that he, Ji Qi, has not given up yet!
Seeing that Ji Qi was so determined, it was obvious that no one could change his mind, so Liang Jianzhang completely gave up the idea of using words to persuade his old friend.
Liang Jianzhang knew Ji Qi's temper after knowing him for so many years. Although Ji Qi usually looked like an honest man, honest people were often more terrifying when they were angered.
Liang Jianzhang is really regretting it now. If he had allowed Home Inn to grow, Ctrip would probably not have been able to achieve the goals it had set. What's worse, there would have been a risk of being squeezed or even acquired by Home Inn. If he hadn't pushed Ji Qi too hard, or if he had agreed to Lu Yiming's investment, would things have been different? After rejecting Lu Yiming, he would have chosen other investors. Now, there is a competitor and an enemy for no reason.
But there is no medicine for regret in this world, especially in business competition. There are many examples of losing everything because of one wrong step. If Ctrip is still not ready to admit defeat, it will have no choice but to fight Home Inn to the end.
At this moment, someone shouted, "Mr. Lu is here."
Suddenly, everyone stopped talking and looked towards the door.
Lu Yiming and Yu Jiayi attended the event in their best attire.
"Mr. Lu is still young. Every time I see him, I feel inferior."
"Who says he isn't? He is about the same age as my son, but he started from scratch and became the richest man in Xia Country. He is truly unrivaled."
"Mr. Lu is really ruthless. He kills with every move. He personally led the split between the four gentlemen of Ctrip. His ability to make things happen is beyond the reach of others."
"How come Lu Yiming, a billionaire who likes to invest in Internet companies, chose to invest in the tourism industry? This puts a lot of pressure on me."
"I can only say that it is a dimensionality reduction attack."
"Let's gather together for warmth."
Those people working in the tourism industry who were present naturally hated Lu Yiming, a tough guy who appeared out of nowhere, with gnashing teeth in their hearts.
Since the implementation of the Golden Week policy in 1999, tourism-related industries have flourished, and big players from all sides have joined the game. After two years of fierce competition, the battle has now reached a white-hot stage, and the competition among various companies is very fierce.
Now Lu Yiming, the richest man in the Internet industry, has entered the market with completely different ideas and massive amounts of capital, and he is directly killing everyone. It is really terrifying.
Although he was filled with hatred, he was secretly reminding himself not to provoke Lu Yiming, otherwise Ctrip would end up like this.
Just because he rejected Lu Yiming's investment, he was beaten up by Lu Yiming in just one month and was at a loss without even a chance to make peace.
Although Lu Yiming has repeatedly stated that he does not have personal grudges, no one dares to verify this. Such a ruthless person who is willing to use money to kill his competitors is really scary.
Although Yu Jiayi had been to many occasions with Lu Yiming, Lu Yiming himself was not a person who liked to join in the fun, so this was the first time Yu Jiayi had attended such a high-end gathering. Looking at these bigwigs who usually only appeared on TV and in newspapers, Yu Jiayi was very nervous, fearing that she would say or do something wrong by accident.
After taking a few deep breaths, Yu Jiayi gradually calmed down. Then she silently observed the people around her and asked Lu Yiming in a low voice: "Mr. Lu, why do I feel that everyone here seems to be afraid of you? Are you that scary?"
Lu Yiming touched his cheek and asked, "Why are you afraid of me? Do I look scary? They are not afraid of me, but the money in my hand, right?"
Who in China dares to say that they are not afraid of a man who has billions of cash flow?
After a while, a few more people came in. They were investment representatives of foreign institutions. Although they had yellow faces, their inner skin was pure white, whiter than that of white people.
One of them was named Yang Xiangdong.
He walked into the venue with vigorous steps and a slightly defiant attitude.
Standing on the land of his hometown, as a Chinese American, he considers himself superior to others, so no matter who he looks at, he will subconsciously look down on them.
His unique posture also attracted a lot of people's attention.
"Who is he?"
"So arrogant. But why don't I seem to have seen it before?"
Someone recognized Yang Xiangdong and said, "His name is Yang Xiangdong. He is a very special person. He is the co-head of the Asian fund under Carlyle Group. Basically, all the financing projects of Carlyle in China have to be reviewed by him in the end."
Many small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the tourism industry suddenly began to breathe faster, and looked at Yang Xiangdong with expectation. Being able to influence the investment strategy of a foreign-funded enterprise like Carlyle, he must be a great financial sponsor!
Although all this money belongs to the company and not Yang Xiangdong himself, in the eyes of many people, Yang Xiangdong's status is no weaker than any billionaire.
Because although he doesn't have much assets, he can decide who to distribute the resources to.
When Shen Nanpeng saw Yang Xiangdong coming, he brought Liang Jianzhang over.
"Boss Yang, long time no see."
Shen Nanpeng introduced Liang Jianzhang and said, "Old Liang, this is Mr. Yang Xiangdong, co-head of the Asian fund of Carlyle Group. The investment of Carlyle Group was made possible thanks to his secret assistance."
"Mr. Yang, this is Mr. Liang Jianzhang from Ctrip."
"Hello."
"Hello."
Liang Jianzhang shook hands with Yang Xiangdong and said, "Mr. Yang, thank you for supporting Ctrip's development."
Yang Xiangdong said: "I am very optimistic about the future of Ctrip, and I am even more optimistic about your team, so I recommended you to the company. So you don't have to thank me, God will help those who help themselves."
Then Shen Nanpeng and Yang Xiangdong talked about the development of Ctrip. Shen Nanpeng himself came from the financial industry, so he was well aware of the nature of capital. When facing Yang Xiangdong, he basically only reported good news and not bad news.
But Yang Xiangdong is not a fool. Any disturbance in the market cannot be hidden from an extremely shrewd investor like him.
After Shen Nanpeng finished speaking, Yang Xiangdong asked directly, "What's going on with Home Inn? I heard that you've been in a state of panic recently because of Ji Qi's departure?"
Shen Nanpeng quickly denied it, saying: "Ctrip has the first-mover advantage. We have been in the industry for two years. It will not be easy for Home Inn to catch up with us."
Yang Xiangdong did not pursue the matter further, but simply said: "I will continue to pay attention to the development of the situation, and you Ctrip must also come up with a reliable response plan as soon as possible."
Shen Nanpeng nodded quickly and said, "We are already formulating a plan. We have a first-mover advantage, which is definitely not comparable to Home Inn."
He was very nervous. What he was most worried about was that investors would lose confidence in Ctrip, and if shareholders withdrew their capital, it would be a disaster for the company.
Yang Xiangdong looked at Lu Yiming with malicious eyes.
He personally has no grudge against Lu Yiming, but Carlyle Investment has suffered losses at the hands of Lu Yiming. Therefore, as a senior employee, he must clearly express his attitude and position, and be concerned about what the leader is concerned about and think about what the leader is thinking about.
After all, when the king worries, the ministers work hard; when the king humiliates, the ministers die.
Lu Yiming naturally felt Yang Xiangdong's hostility. When their eyes met, it seemed as if sparks were exploding in the air.
Lu Yiming patted Ji Qi on the shoulder, pointed his lips in the direction of Yang Xiangdong, and said with a smile: "Here, the opponent is coming. It seems that he is not friendly. Do you have confidence?"
