Can You Even Help?

Gao Mengting made a lot of money as a "Taoke" during her university years, and even has her own independent product guide website.

Taoke affiliates are professionals who earn commissions by helping sellers on e-commerce platforms promote their products.

Since 2020, the live-streaming e-commerce industry has suddenly experienced explosive growth. The interactivity, presentation, and convenience of live-streaming have changed users' shopping habits.

Her Taoke business suffered a huge blow, and her promotional revenue kept decreasing.

After careful study and research, she chose to follow the trend of the times and enter this popular field.

He bought a Wuling Hongguang to haul goods, rented the shop, and started a business with two classmates.

She owns 80% of the shares, while the other two classmates each own 10%.

They built their business on a foundation of brick-and-mortar stores and expanded through online channels. With the rise of live-streaming e-commerce, their business has been booming.

However, this also led to disagreements and conflicts.

The two partners felt they had received too little, which was completely disproportionate to their contributions, and demanded a redistribution of equity, with each of the three partners holding 33.3%.

This was clearly unacceptable to Gao Mengting. Since the store started operating, she had provided most of the funding, found the store's suppliers, and designed the live-streaming style and scripts.

The three broke up as a result, and the other two partners withdrew their shares in accordance with the "Individual Partnership Agreement" and took away a portion of the cash flow.

One of the partners in charge of the live stream used the store's verified account to post a long essay, inciting fans to cyberbully her, the owner. As a result, the store faced a wave of complaints and returns, and was eventually banned by the platform.

Another partner responsible for maintaining the fanbase quickly promoted his previously operated side account to the official account.

The two started a new business, doing the same thing all over her.

The online platform suffered a devastating blow, cash flow dried up, offline customers were insufficient, and inventory piled up unsold, directly causing her to fall into a quagmire.

Of course, what she found even more unacceptable was the betrayal of her two best friends.

During the conversation, one or two customers would occasionally walk in.

By the time Gao Mengting finished sharing her entrepreneurial experience, it was almost noon.

Tang Song remained silent throughout, his gaze towards Gao Mengting filled with pity.

Originally, the intention was to help a friend who was struggling to find employment to become wealthy, so the terms in the "Individual Partnership Agreement" were very lenient, which also gave them the ability to turn their backs on them at any time.

No wonder she was so particular about the wording of the "Used Car Sales Contract" before.

"Don't you think I'm pretty stupid in some ways?" Gao Mengting shook her head self-deprecatingly. "The three of us were college roommates, so close that we could even sleep in the same bed. But I still underestimated human greed and overestimated my own personal charm."

Tang Song pursed his dry lips and said, "I can only say you're too kind."

Gao Mengting stood up, took a bottle of mineral water from the cashier and handed it to him. "If you ever start a business, you must put a lot of effort into the agreement. It's best to find a professional lawyer. Not to take advantage of others, but to prevent them from having the courage to betray you."

Tang Song took the bottled water she offered, stood up, met her gaze, and said sincerely, "Ms. Gao, I have indeed made a business plan, and I've come here today to invite you to become my partner."

"Huh?" Gao Mengting was stunned, and said incredulously, "Me? A partner?"

They've only met twice in total, they're not even acquaintances, so how did they get involved in starting a business together?

Tang Song took a big gulp of water and said, "I have extensive and complete information on the clothing supply chain, which allows me to quickly find the lowest price for the same quality items. However, I lack experience in this field and need your help!"

Gao Mengting pondered for a moment, then shook her head with a wry smile and said, "To be honest, I'm in a lot of debt right now, and I'm overwhelmed with work every day. I simply don't have the energy to start over. It's too difficult."

"My initial investment was 1 million," Tang Song said, holding up one index finger with a serious expression. "I also own a 200-square-meter independent office in the Yunxi Building!"

In order to recruit this outstanding talent, he laid out all his greatest strengths.

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly came from the doorway.

"Meng Ting! Meng Ting!"

A young man in his early twenties ran in from outside the store, wearing a shirt and trousers, and had a rather sunny appearance.

He was also wearing a name tag around his neck that read "Aijia Real Estate Agency".

Gao Mengting turned to look at him, puzzled, and asked, "What's wrong, Yongming?"

Li Yongming, panting heavily, said, "I just received news that the property management company's leaders are having dinner at Juhui Restaurant, and the head of the Investment Promotion and Development Department is also here today."

Upon hearing this news, Gao Mengting immediately perked up and said anxiously, "Wait for me, I'm coming right away!"

She bit her lip and explained to Tang Song, "Mr. Tang, I'm currently embroiled in trouble. How about we talk about starting a business another time?"

Right now, she has no time to investigate whether Tang Song's words are true or false; she only wants to get through this difficult time and pay off her debts.

Moreover, starting a business is no small matter; partners, suppliers, funding, and market trends are all too important factors.

Even if she were to try again, the chances of failure would not be small.

Tang Song could tell she was in a bad mood and knew that this matter couldn't be rushed.

He replied frankly, "I understand, Boss Gao, I'll consider it some more. I'm very serious about starting a business. If you're willing to join, we can register a legitimate company. I'll contribute the capital, and the shareholding can be negotiated. We'll have a lawyer draft a complete Company Articles to avoid any unnecessary problems."

Looking at Tang Song, who was speaking eloquently, Li Yongming couldn't help but ask, "Who are you?"

"Tang Song." Tang Song nodded to Li Yongming, then looked back at Gao Mengting.

Li Yongming frowned and said, "Let's go, Meng Ting! Business is more important!"

He had been pursuing this college classmate for several years and knew that Gao Mengting was in her most vulnerable and helpless state, which is why he tried his best to help her and wanted to see if he could win her over.

But the boy's first words were "register a company," "start a business together," and "pay in capital," clearly aimed straight at Gao Mengting's heart.

The fact that the other person was tall and good-looking instantly put Li Yongming on high alert.

Gao Mengting and Tang Song exchanged glances and nodded, saying, "Okay, Mr. Tang! Let's communicate on WeChat. I do have urgent business to attend to today, and the shop needs to be closed for a while."

"Do you need any help?" After all, this was a partner he had chosen, so Tang Song was quite concerned.

Seeing Tang Song persisting in pestering Gao Mengting, Li Yongming finally couldn't hold back and said impatiently, "We need to talk to the property management about terminating the lease. Do you think you can help us now that we've already told you?"

"Yongming, please speak properly." Gao Mengting frowned and explained, "I'm sorry, Mr. Tang, my friend's words were a bit harsh. When I rented this shop, I signed an agreement with the property management company that if I terminate the lease before the term expires, I will need to pay the remaining rent for the next few months, and my deposit will be forfeited. You know my current situation, so I wanted to go to the property management company's management to apply for a different solution or to ease the tension."

"Understood." Tang Song nodded. He had heard of such things before. Many shopping malls set up similar thresholds during peak rental seasons to prevent merchants from running away and shops from being vacant.

Gao Mengting checked the time and said, "Mr. Tang, that's all for now. We need to take a taxi."

Tang Song offered, "How about I drive you there? I hope that Wuling will bring you good luck."

Upon hearing the name "Wuling," Gao Mengting's eyes softened instantly, and she nodded gently, saying, "Okay, thank you, Mr. Tang!"

Then, she took out a beautifully packaged belt from the drawer and handed it over, saying, "This was a gift from a previous event; consider it payment for the taxi fare."

"Thank you." Tang Song smiled and accepted it.

Li Yongming opened his mouth, but in the end he held back and didn't say anything, because he hadn't bought a car yet!