At two in the afternoon, Secretary Sun knocked on his door again:
"President, the person you scheduled for today has arrived. Would you like to see him now, or have him wait?"
"See him now."
Lu Xing rose from the sofa, ran his hand through Xiao Yu's long hair a few times, felt that it had gotten a little messy, and went into the restroom to tidy it up.
"Would you like to meet them at the company, or find somewhere else to sit down and talk?"
"How was it handled before?" Lu Xing asked.
"Previously, most meetings were held at the company. Some were held at the coffee shop downstairs, and for a small number, you personally went to inspect the other party's company."
"Fine, then we'll talk here at the company."
Lu Xing could not be bothered to go anywhere. He chose a casual seating area by the floor-to-ceiling windows, had the assistant make coffee, and waited for the secretary to bring the visitor over.
Sun Ying quickly went to the front desk and had the receptionist bring the man over from the reception room.
Before long.
"Hello, hello!"
A middle-aged man not yet forty warmly shook hands with Sun Ying and introduced himself proactively. "I'm Wu Yunze, chairman of Yanmian Technology. I'm very pleased to be here to discuss cooperation with your company!"
"Hello. I'm the president's secretary at Taishan Company. You can just call me Secretary Sun."
Sun Ying introduced herself as well and led him toward President Xiao.
On the way, Wu Yunze tried asking, "May I ask, your company's president is...?"
What he really wanted to know was about the company owner's background, personal preferences, things to watch out for during the conversation, and so on. If the secretary was willing to tell him, there would still be room to maneuver.
It was not that Wu Yunze was being abrupt. This company was simply rather mysterious. The only information available online was public information, and even the intermediary knew little beyond the fact that they had money to invest, so he came.
"Our president just returned to the country and has recently been interested in investing more in domestic companies."
Sun Ying gave a simple answer and quickly led him to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
"Your president..."
Wu Yunze wanted to ask more, but his eyes uncontrollably landed on the beautiful woman seated in a chair by the window. Her profile was flawless, and the curves revealed by her figure from behind were dreamlike.
The beautiful woman wore a white dress and sat by the window, sunlight falling at her feet. Employees worked all around her, yet she calmly drank coffee there, beautiful as if in a dream.
Wu Yunze's gaze was firmly drawn to her, and he subconsciously asked, "Is this beautiful lady an employee of your company?!"
"No, she's our company president!"
Sun Ying stepped forward to introduce President Xiao, then pointed at Wu Yunze.
The moment Lu Xing turned his head, he saw a man stunned by Xiao Yu's beauty, staring blankly at him. Only after the secretary reminded him did he come back to his senses and hurried forward.
"Hello."
Lu Xing stood and greeted him.
"Hello, hello! I never expected you, President, to be so young and accomplished, and such a beautiful lady as well!"
Wu Yunze remained extremely enthusiastic. After the pleasantries, the two sat down. Assistant Zhang came over to serve tea, while Sun Ying sat to the side and took out a notebook to record everything.
Lu Xing had read the background checks on the three people he was meeting today. After chatting casually for a few sentences, he asked directly, "May I ask what Yanmian Technology does?"
He already knew, of course, but since they were meeting face-to-face, he wanted the man to introduce it himself so he could judge the other party's personality and ability from the content and manner of his speech.
"We do AI research!"
Wu Yunze looked highly pleased with himself.
But that first sentence alone made Lu Xing lower his evaluation of him by a level.
Didn't he know what level his own company was at? Was AI research something a tiny company like his could touch?
To put it bluntly, he should have honestly said they did AI applications, or simply called them AI-related mini-games, hoping to take off while AI was trending.
"What kind of research?" Lu Xing asked again.
"AI-related research!"
Wu Yunze continued, "We hired a master's student from a prestigious university and had him lead a group of undergraduates to work on the program, letting the little person in the phone move along with a person's facial expressions and play some interesting, fun games too. I let some friends around me try it, and they all said it was fun and had great potential!"
Lu Xing lowered his head and pretended to look through the documents Wu Yunze had brought, while muttering inwardly:
Was this boss originally in a traditional industry and got talked into entering the internet business?
A total sucker.
Where did you even find this guy, Xiao Yu?
"Please continue."
Seeing that the president was not saying anything, Secretary Sun forced herself to have the other party continue.
She could tell as well that this entrepreneur was not particularly capable...
Or rather, he did not fit Xiao Yu or He Mountain Investment Company's usual style at all.
Wu Yunze said cheerfully, "We started our business last year. We rented an office in Wanghai Building and renovated two hundred square meters. I didn't hire anyone. The renovation company quoted five hundred thousand, so I found people myself and personally laid the carpets and such, saving over two hundred thousand! Later, buying computers and other things cost me another two hundred thousand-plus. I never realized computers could be so expensive!"
Lu Xing felt something was off and asked, "Is the demo ready? Let me see it."
It did not matter if the boss was unreliable, as long as what they made worked well.
"What demo!?" Wu Yunze had not heard clearly.
Secretary Sun glanced up at him, then silently lowered her head again.
Lu Xing said, "The program. The one installed on a phone for demonstration."
"Oh, the program! I have it! Let me show you!"
Wu Yunze immediately took out his phone, opened the program he had made, and held it out in front of Lu Xing.
"No need. Just demonstrate it."
"Sure, watch me operate it. This thing is really fun!"
Wu Yunze faced the camera. As a 3D animated little person appeared, he began making faces at the screen, saying things, then laughing loudly, drawing the attention of employees working nearby.
Wu Yunze explained, "See? Whatever movements I make, the person inside can make them too. It copies me, and I can even make it appear in the real world, just like it's real!"
"Is there anything else?"
Lu Xing asked.
"Yes!"
Wu Yunze raised his hand and shouted, "Slash!" The female animated character in the image produced a small knife in her hand and swung it as well, chopping the Taishan Company background on the phone into pieces.
"How is it? Isn't the program's effect great?!" he asked expectantly.
Lu Xing had studied computer science. How could he not know how good it was?
But he merely said, "Not bad, but I need to consider the overall situation further."
"Don't consider it anymore, boss!"
Wu Yunze said anxiously, "You saw the demonstration just now. It can..."
Lu Xing patiently brushed him off for five minutes. Really too lazy to listen any longer, he waved his hand and had the secretary see him out.
"Boss, invest five million in me, and I guarantee I'll return ten million to you after a year!"
Before leaving, Wu Yunze did not forget to turn back and say that.
Lu Xing's mouth twitched.
Something three or five college students could make, and he hired people to work on it for a year?
It looked intimidating, but in reality, it was just someone else's open-source technology with a layer slapped over it for display. Whether it could make money depended entirely on luck.
"Has the next person arrived?" Lu Xing asked.
"He's already here. I'll go get him."
Before long, a young man in a suit enthusiastically came over to shake Lu Xing's hand. After sitting down, Lu Xing asked him one question, and he immediately launched into an endless speech:
"Our company primarily focuses on the short-video economy, entering the new traffic-driven market, combining community marketing with big data analysis, integrating online and offline channels, and establishing precise profiles for every potential customer!"
Lu Xing listened for a long time without understanding a thing. He could not understand the documents the man brought either, so he picked up the background check the secretary had given him and took a look.
Oh, so they sold products through livestreams.
Looking closer, their specific method was to cultivate a group of female streamers who showed off their legs and cleavage, spend money first to attract traffic, then create fan groups to sell products.
Damn!
Before you continue