Acquiring Tianyu Technology

Guo Yuan and Lawyer Qin arrived at Tianyu Technology right on time.

Wu Tianyu and Xinglong Steel's lawyer were already there.

Just like last time, Lawyer Qin and Xinglong Steel's lawyer drafted the contract together, while Guo Yuan made idle small talk with Wu Tianyu.

"Mr. Guo, I've actually been quite curious. How did you acquire 15% of Longcheng Biology's shares?"

Guo Yuan did not want to answer that question, so he casually replied, "I bought them, of course."

Wu Tianyu curled his lip. He could hear the perfunctory tone in Guo Yuan's words, and he became even more convinced that Guo Yuan was living off a woman.

Perhaps the money used to acquire his company had come from Lin Yumo, the current chairman of Longcheng Biology.

Naturally, the narrator relayed Wu Tianyu's thoughts to Guo Yuan. Guo Yuan did not care, because in a sense, Wu Tianyu was actually right.

The money he used to acquire Tianyu Technology really was Lin Yumo's investment.

"President Wu, the contract has been drafted," Xinglong Steel's lawyer said quietly as he walked over.

Lawyer Qin handed the contract to Guo Yuan as well.

After both parties confirmed that there were no issues with the contract, they signed it. Guo Yuan immediately transferred the money, and from that moment onward, Tianyu Technology officially belonged to Guo Yuan.

"Mr. Guo—no, I should call you President Guo now. Tianyu Technology's office lease is about to expire. Would you like me to contact the industrial park's property management and renew it for you?" Wu Tianyu asked.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, President Wu. I'm unfamiliar with this place, so it'd be best if you could help get in touch with them."

"No problem. President Guo, I rented this place for two years at 1.2 million. Do you have any relevant policy support on your side? If not, it should be around the same price."

Guo Yuan turned to Lawyer Qin at that, and Lawyer Qin said, "There is some support, but it isn't substantial. It should save a few tens of thousands, plus one or two months of utilities."

"That's not bad either. Lawyer Qin, please take care of the office lease while you're at it!"

Qin Zekun nodded and agreed.

After Wu Tianyu helped contact the industrial park's property manager, he turned and left.

He had helped Guo Yuan in order to build goodwill, just in case Guo Yuan really could develop the intelligent engine.

After all, Guo Yuan had said before that he wanted to give it a try. Since he wanted to try, that meant he was not entirely without confidence.

But Wu Tianyu no longer wanted to gamble alongside Guo Yuan. He had already lost 50 million. If he kept going, his losses would only grow.

At that moment, Wu Tianyu could not help recalling something his dad had once said: "Son, there is only one way to guarantee victory in this world: don't gamble.

"By 'gamble,' I don't mean gambling in the narrow sense. I mean every all-or-nothing bet in life. Other than fools and saints, no one can avoid gambling forever, and no one can avoid losing forever.

"But once you lose, you need to pull back immediately and cut your losses in time. Otherwise, you'll only lose more."

This time, Wu Tianyu had chosen to cut his losses in time.

With the money he had left, plus the few million he had gotten from selling the company, he would try entering the internet industry through another track. If that failed too, he would stop struggling and go home to inherit the family business.

Watching Wu Tianyu leave, Guo Yuan looked around the office before sitting down in the boss's chair.

"From now on, this place is mine!"

Half an hour later, Lawyer Qin completed the renewal of the office lease.

The 154-square-meter office space was renewed for another two years at a total cost of 1.12 million. Under the relevant policy reductions, Future Technology's water and electricity bills would be fully waived for the first three months.

With the office space settled, the next issue was staffing.

Tianyu Technology had four departments: Human Resources, Finance, Technology, and the Propaganda Department.

The heads of Human Resources and Finance had already left with Wu Tianyu. They had never been Tianyu Technology employees in the first place; Wu Mingjie, the owner of Xinglong Steel, had sent them over to help his son.

Fortunately, Wang Hui could fill the position in Human Resources on Guo Yuan's side. The head of Finance, however, would need to be recruited anew.

The head of Technology would naturally be Zhao Liyi. But the Technology Department differed from the others. Zhao Liyi had brought Penguin's office culture with him, and the entire department had a very relaxed work atmosphere. Team members older than Zhao Liyi called him Chief Zhao, while younger ones called him Brother Zhao.

In fact, aside from Alibaba, all the major tech companies had a relaxed work atmosphere. Guo Yuan had a friend who interned at Penguin for two months after graduating from college.

Everyone in his department addressed their manager by a nickname. Guo Yuan's friend was much younger than the man, so he called him Big Head Brother. Although they often worked overtime and the job was quite exhausting, the work environment and atmosphere were absolutely beyond reproach.

ByteDance was the same. One of Guo Yuan's high school classmates joined ByteDance after graduating from college. At work, everyone chatted and laughed together, with no obvious sense of hierarchy.

(PS: My ByteDance internship was a real experience. There was genuinely no sense of distance at all between employees, or between employees and managers. I directly called my department manager Fat Brother, and I was actually quite happy working there.

It was just that there was too much miscellaneous work. Even 996 would have been nice—I was basically working 007 for two months. I was employed for 64 days and only rested for 2 of them.

To be fair, my evaluation was pretty good at the time, and I probably would not have had any trouble becoming a full-time employee after three months. But I felt that I could not handle such high-intensity work, so I ran.

One of my roommates interned at Penguin's headquarters in the capital. His situation was similar to mine, but he stayed and became a full-time employee. Now he has been transferred to Quanmin K Ge. Quanmin K Ge has a virtual avatar streamer, and some of that streamer's data is related to his work.)

Overall, the Technology Department did not need any major adjustments. Guo Yuan only needed to have Xun Haoran discuss things with Zhao Liyi and retain some of the staff.

Lastly, there was the Propaganda Department. It currently had two functions. One was operating a VTuber—that is, a virtual streamer—account across all online platforms. The account's virtual avatar was rendered using the intelligent engine developed by Tianyu Technology itself.

The overall results were fairly good. After more than half a year of operation, it had accumulated over 50,000 followers on Bilibili, the main battlefield for virtual streamers.

However, the virtual streamer's expenses were quite high. It held a 3D livestream once every two weeks, requiring the rental of a motion-capture studio, followed by rendering work. A single 3D livestream cost nearly six figures.

But this virtual idol was currently Tianyu Technology's only effective means of external promotion, so it definitely could not be cut.

As for the Propaganda Department's other function—handling Weibo, official accounts, and similar platforms—it did not cost much to begin with.

Therefore, Guo Yuan intended to leave the Propaganda Department as it was.

Knock, knock~ Just as Guo Yuan was considering his future plans, someone knocked on the door.

Xun Haoran was outside. He had come to bring you money.

Hearing the narrator's words, Guo Yuan smiled and immediately let Xun Haoran in.

Because of my own workplace experience, when the protagonist of my previous book became a boss, I wrote him as having no airs at all and addressing his employees like brothers. As a result, everyone roasted me relentlessly. I always found it strange, because the workplaces I experienced really did not have such rigid hierarchies. Even now that I work for the power grid, there is no particularly obvious sense of rank between superiors and subordinates, aside from the top leaders. But since everyone complained about it, I'll definitely pay attention to it in this book.