In the end, Chen Hongjun still felt that a thirty-percent share was a little too small for Li Long's investment of twenty thousand yuan. After some back-and-forth, they settled on thirty-five percent.
Li Long firmly refused to take forty percent. He told Chen Hongjun:
"Brother Chen, it's not that I don't trust you. Once you get into this business, you'll find that as long as you sort out the connections and get to know the right people, making money is really easy. By the end of the year, you might have earned more than twenty thousand yourself. Then you might feel that thirty-five percent is a bit much for my twenty thousand yuan..."
"No, no, absolutely not!" Chen Hongjun grew a little agitated. He felt that Li Long's words showed a lack of faith in his integrity, and raised his voice over the phone. "I've worked at a purchasing station too. I know experience matters in this business, but so does money. Without enough working capital, you can't buy much of anything.
"So that startup money really matters. I understand, and you don't have to keep reminding me. When I come over, we'll sign a contract and put it down on paper. Whatever happens in the end, once it's on paper, there's no backing out."
At that, he said half-jokingly:
"You're offering too much. Honestly, I wish I could get to Ma County right now and sign that contract with you. I'm the one worried you'll change your mind! Twenty thousand yuan! Some people never see twenty thousand yuan in their whole lives, do they?"
Li Long could now earn several hundred thousand yuan a year. He was no longer the young man who got excited over earning a dozen yuan or a hundred or so.
Hearing Chen Hongjun put