Lin Guangyao furrowed his brow as he took the phone, and at the sight of the seven-figure amount, he thought he was seeing things.
But when he saw the string of zeroes that followed, Lin Guangyao felt a sense of unease.
He counted the zeroes carefully.
One, two, three, four, five...
What the heck?!
It's really seven hundred thousand!
Lin Guangyao's expression froze, unable to believe it was real.
But the transfer information was from an official bank phone number starting with 9, so it couldn't possibly be fake, right?
The private dining room fell eerily silent; everyone was still clueless about what had happened, only knowing that the text message on the phone must contain some bombshell news.
Otherwise, Lin Guangyao wouldn't have such a devastated expression.
"Young Master Lin, what does the text say?"
Finally, someone couldn't hold back and asked.
Xie Haijie was also curious about what the text could possibly contain, looking at his cousin Lin Guangyao, hoping to glean some clue from his expression.
But Lin Guangyao didn't speak, his face alternating between pale and flushed.
After a long silence, he gingerly handed the phone back, and then quietly slipped his own phone into his pocket and stood up, "Um, Young Master Li, I have some matters at home, so I'll have to excuse myself; let's meet up another day."
Lin Guangyao pretended to be composed as he prepared to leave, but internally he was panicking.
This damned Shen Yuan actually has the means, and he took a taxi over to eat?
What kind of charade is this?
Forget about finishing this crappy meal, and there's no point in going to the speakeasy anymore. Coming to this dinner was a mistake!
"No way, cousin, what's going on?"
Xie Haijie grabbed Lin Guangyao's hand and asked.
"Stop asking, just go, your uncle and aunt are looking for you."
Lin Guangyao said impatiently.
It looked like his cousin's two years of being a sales manager was all for naught. His parents should never have pulled strings for him; he can't read the room at all!
"???"
Xie Haijie checked his phone suspiciously, finding no WeChat messages or calls, "What the hell is it? They didn't call me."
"If you're not leaving, I am!"
Lin Guangyao didn't bother with him anymore and, holding his Internet-celebrity girlfriend's hand, left the room promptly.
This really is a stupid cousin. Does he expect me to tell him that Shen just transferred 700,000 to Li Yuhang?
If we don't leave now, are we supposed to just sit here and keep them company?
Seeing Lin Guangyao leave the private dining room, the rest grew restless. Someone with a bit more nerve walked over to Li Yuhang, trying to see what the text message was that had caused such a big change in Young Master Lin's demeanor.
Li Yuhang had recovered from his shock, and couldn't help but ask his childhood friend, "When did you get so rich?"
"Made it trading coins."
"Bitcoin?"
"Yeah, you know how much that's multiplied by; I've been buying it for years, and just cashed out these past few days."
Shen Yuan had used this story before; he'd told the same to Old Shen and Ms. Li Hongjuan last time, and they hadn't suspected a thing, so he resorted to the same explanation once more.
"Awesome!"
Li Yuhang couldn't help but give a thumbs up, then added, "If I'd known you were so loaded, you damn dog, I wouldn't have set up this crap today, waste of money!"
"Now that you know, that's fine. Those guys are unreliable; they're okay for fun, but they won't be there for the serious stuff."
Shen Yuan had been through it, so he knew better. They were only fair-weather friends.
Hoping they'd pull together was just wishful thinking.
They became cold and indifferent at the first sign of trouble, forget about help when you were down; even adding icing to the cake was asking too much.
Shen Yuan patted his shoulder as a gesture of consolation, then continued, "Let's talk about your idea for the speakeasy. Just remember, even though I'm a minor shareholder, you'll have to listen to me from now on."
"OJBK!"
Li Yuhang readily agreed.
He genuinely felt happy, partly because his old friend Shen Yuan had turned his fortunes around.
On the other hand, he was thrilled to have a good brother to partner with in opening a store and progressing together; it was the kind of scenario he'd always dreamed of.
Most crucially, he no longer had to worry about startup capital!
For the rest of the time, the two of them planned out the future of the speakeasy within the private dining room.
Li Yuhang had actually scoped out a location half a month ago, and the storefront had been a speakeasy before.
Therefore, Shen Yuan thought there was no need for major renovations. They could keep the fixtures and make appropriate adjustments to the furnishings as long as the overall style fit, controlling the cost as much as possible.
Although they had over two million, which seemed a lot, it would run out quickly if spent carelessly, trying to improve this or that without restraint.
Regarding staff, they would see if any of the previous employees were willing to stay. Naturally, for this kind of work, experienced hands were preferable, and they would hire more staff based on how the business was running later on.
Furthermore, for attracting customers, especially during the opening phase without regulars, Shen Yuan felt that aggressive promotion was necessary to bring in new customers.
They could make some deals with Star City's online influencers to create videos about their visits.
Of course, for effective promotion, these influencers would need to have a sizable follower base.
But hiring popular influencers would come at a higher cost, so Shen Yuan thought that focus of the startup fund should be on promotion and attracting customers.
Last was the matter of the speakeasy's unique features. With so many similar places already existing, customers would only come back for a second time if the store had its own advantages.
However, neither of them had figured out what that could be yet; they were still in the renovation phase, and there was no rush to decide.
After discussing all these aspects for half an hour, Li Yuhang hadn't expected Shen Yuan to be so knowledgeable, and blurted out, "You damn dog, all that college really paid off."
Shen Yuan hummed lightly, "It's called talent; you know what that is, right?"
...