CH 19

After reading the documents, Mu Qingyan had an understanding of the cooperative project. He said, “It seems that Chen Gu has already negotiated twice with the general manager of Ye Yun Real Estate Company. Both sides have a strong willingness to cooperate, and we just need to finalize the project list.”

Mu Yuchen was pleased to see his son finish reading the thick stack of documents in just a few minutes and accurately report on the project progress. He nodded in agreement and said, “Indeed, the Jishi Group is very mature in the real estate industry, with three real estate companies under its umbrella. Among them, Ye Yun Company not only has the strongest comprehensive strength in the Jishi Group, but also in the entire country.”

Mu Qingyan added, “So, by choosing to work with Ye Yun, we can not only ensure the successful completion of the project, but also learn from their business model.”

“Exactly,” Mu Yuchen said, satisfied.

Mu Qingyan analyzed, “The senior living apartment project in the new development zone has great potential and can also raise the profile of the Mu’s Group in the real estate industry. But it’s an independent project that requires a lot of upfront work. On the other hand, if we can finalize the cooperative project for this development, it can be launched immediately after the real estate company is established.”

Mu Yuchen and Shen Xiaoxiao smiled at each other, feeling relieved. “It looks like it was completely right to entrust the real estate company and this project to Yan Yan,” they said.

Not long after their discussion, Shen Huai, wearing a red shirt and green pants, arrived at the Mu estate with five female bodyguards. As soon as he entered the villa, he enthusiastically shouted, “Godfather, godmother! I’m here!”

Although Shen Huai was a third-generation wealthy person and his family owned the top bodyguard company in the country, he did not have a happy life at home. He was the third son of his father, with two older brothers and one younger brother. The brothers often fought for shares and the position of President.

As he looked the most like his father, Shen Huai received the most love from him since childhood and was groomed as the heir. Wherever his father went, he would take Shen Huai, his favorite third son, along with him. Therefore, Shen Huai’s brothers always saw him as a thorn in their side.

Even though Shen Huai chose to open a bar and work as a flamboyant bartender to avoid the power struggles, his brothers only thought that he was using the bar as a smokescreen, when in reality he was still fighting for power.

Shen Huai once said that he would rather stay at the Mu’s house to take care of his godparents than go home and fight with these people.

Mu Qingyan was relieved when she saw that her mother was satisfied with the female bodyguard she chose for Shen Huai and was willing to have her accompany him everywhere.

That night, he slept directly in the pre-marriage bedroom in the manor.

In the following days, Mu Qingyan was busy with MU Company’s affairs and also had to attend meetings with the top executives of Mu’s Group to familiarize himself with the company’s affairs.

Because he had achieved remarkable results in managing MU Company and had not made any mistakes during meetings with Mu’s Group, he also proposed many constructive suggestions, so many of the high-level executives of Mu’s Group had a better opinion of him.

Especially the vice chairman, Qiu Congbo, had high expectations of Mu Qingyan.

However, the other vice chairman, Guo Rong, still liked to contradict him. Whatever Mu Qingyan said, he would oppose it, regardless of whether it was right or wrong.

However, Mu Qingyan was still full of tricks.

“If you dare to contradict me, I will immediately fight back and mock you a few times.

“If you dare to collect dirt on me, I will send someone to collect evidence of your three sons’ illegal activities and send them to the police station.

After a few times, Guo Rong became obedient and no longer dared to have any thoughts of changing Mu’s Group’s surname.

Mu Yuchen saw all of this but never intervened because in his heart, Mu’s Group would eventually be handed over to his son.

As the saying goes, starting a business is easy, but keeping it going is difficult. If his son did not have these means of self-protection, he might really be devoured by old monsters like Guo Rong.

This morning, Ye Qiqi walked into the general manager’s office: “Boss, Ye Yun Real Estate Company contacted us and said they can meet this afternoon at three o’clock for the third round of negotiations.”

Mu Qingyan looked at the memo: “There is no meeting or other business scheduled this afternoon, so just reply that it’s okay. You can confirm the specific meeting place with them.”

Although Mu Qingyan’s personality and preferences were completely different from the original owner, Ye Qiqi was smart and quickly figured out his temperament, so Mu Qingyan trusted her to handle many small matters.

Half an hour later, Ye Qiqi appeared again in his office.

Mu Qingyan was signing several documents and looked up to see Ye Qiqi’s mysterious expression. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I made an appointment with the secretary of the general manager of Ye Yun Company. We are meeting at the coffee shop on the first floor of MU this afternoon.”

“Okay.”

Ye Qiqi lowered his voice and said, “From what the secretary said, the person coming to negotiate the project list is not the general manager of Ye Yun Company, nor the main person in charge of this project.”

“Hmm?” Mu Qingyan furrowed his brow slightly. “Then who is coming?”

“I asked around later. It’s Mr. Ji who is coming in person.”

“Ji Liyun?” As a rule, the general manager would not need to come to negotiate with another general manager. Ji Liyun, as the president of Mu Shi Group, did not need to come in person.

Moreover, Ji Liyun did not appear in the previous two negotiations for this project. It was strange.

At 3:45 pm, Mu Qingyan arrived at the coffee shop on the first floor of the MU building.

This coffee shop was built according to the original owner’s preferences. After all, the original owner and Mu Qingyan shared a strong love for coffee.

The decoration and furnishings of the coffee shop were all in a retro European medieval style. Mu Qingyan had been there a few times after transmigrating and found that he and the original owner, although different in many ways, had the same taste when it came to the coffee shop’s aesthetics.

Mu Qingyan had just sat down on the leather sofa in the VIP room when Ji Liyun pushed open the door and walked in.

The waiter from the coffee shop followed him to the door of the VIP room and asked, “What would Mr. Mu and Mr. Ji like to drink?”

“Hand-brewed coffee, please. Thank you,” Mu Qingyan and Ji Liyun said in unison.

“Okay, please wait a moment.” The waiter bowed and retreated.

Mu Qingyan placed a proposal in front of Ji Liyun and said, “This is a new plan modified according to the records of the previous two negotiations. Take a look.”

“I didn’t expect you to come in person to talk about this project. As far as I know, the direction of the cooperation has already been determined in the previous two negotiations, and the remaining work is just some details.”

“Not bad.” Ji Liyun carefully looked over the new plan. “I didn’t know this project would be handed over to you. Now that I know, I naturally want to take a look.”

“It seems you are here to nitpick.” Mu Qingyan joked.

Ji Liyun didn’t deny it, just smiled and said, “If there are any mistakes or misunderstandings, I won’t help you cover them up.”

Mu Qingyan nodded. “The more strict, the better!”

Ji Liyun took out his customized pen from his bag and scribbled on the document, very seriously, like a middle school student doing homework.

When the waiter brought the coffee, he didn’t dare to disturb Ji Liyun.

Mu Qingyan propped up his chin and found that his serious working appearance was quite charming. On his already handsome face, it added a touch of attraction.

He had long known that Ji Liyun was the object of admiration for many unmarried second-generation and Nth-generation wealthy individuals. Originally, he thought those people were only interested in his money and appearance, but now it seemed that it was not just that.

“I am being shallow,” Mu Qingyan thought.

In the memories left by the original owner, Ji Liyun preferred sweets and would drink fruit juice and milk tea instead of coffee. Even if he had to drink coffee to conform to the image of a President, he would order something like vanilla latte or caramel macchiato, which were sweetened coffees.

When did he start drinking hand-brewed coffee without milk or sugar, just like Mu Qingyan?

After seriously revising the plan, Ji Liyun handed it back to Mu Qingyan and said, “Take a look at the modifications I made. If you have any questions, you can ask me directly.”

Mu Qingyan immediately started reading the plan from the first page. He was curious how many mistakes and loopholes the plan had to make Ji Liyun revise it for so long.

It wasn’t until he finished reading that he realized – Ji Liyun’s serious revision wasn’t because of how many errors or mistakes there were, but because he was earnestly compromising benefits.

“I originally thought this cooperation plan was quite fair, but after your modifications, I think it’s too unfair,” Mu Qingyan didn’t know whether to laugh or be helpless. He took a sip of coffee, “The modified cooperation plan looks like both parties benefit, but upon closer inspection, it’s clear that Mu Shi is the only one gaining.”

Ji Liyun also took a sip of coffee, then raised his eyebrows and shrugged, indicating that it didn’t matter to him.

Mu Qingyan reminded him, “According to civil law, as long as both parties agree and don’t violate laws and regulations, the contract is valid. Are you sure you want to sign the cooperation agreement based on the terms you revised? By then, it will become Yeyun working for Mu Shi.”

“If I say I’m willing, what then?” Ji Liyun smiled.

“… President, are you being too stubborn?”

Ji Liyun saw that Mu Qingyan still seemed somewhat uneasy, so he said, “Actually, my purpose is very simple. I am interested in the commercial strength of Mu Group, and I am also interested in your personal abilities. I hope that through this cooperation, Ji Group can have one more business partner.”

Mu Qingyan knew that, according to the original book’s setting, the original host and Ji Liyun had known each other since they were young and had a good relationship when they were young. This was largely due to the fact that Mu Yuchen and Ji Liyun’s father were good friends with long-term business cooperation.

Therefore, Ji Liyun’s so-called “letting Ji Group have one more business partner” was just a poor excuse—Ji Group and Mu Group had already been close business partners for a long time.

But Mu Qingyan didn’t expose him, he just thought of it as Ji Liyun wanting to mentor this newly emerging “little brother” as an older brother.

“Since you are willing, then let’s go with your modifications. I will have the legal department prepare the contract tomorrow and hand it over to your legal department,” Mu Qingyan said.

“Okay.” Ji Li took a slow sip from his coffee cup, and a glint flashed in his eyes, as if he had remembered something.

He said, “It would be even better if Mu Group could give up the Arctic Plan.”