Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 34: Beginning to build up one’s power

After she and the other 5 were helped out, Yao Xiaoxue had wanted to treat Zhao Xinglong and Wang Chao out to get a drink of tea as a sign of her thanks. Without declining, Wang Chao allowed himself to be led to a coffee shop and began to chat with the others.

After being introduced everyone, Wang Chao came to know everyone’s names and their connections to one another.

Both Yao Xiaoxue and Zhao Xinglong were both third year university members of the University of Media. The other three female students were from the neighboring university and were majoring in Business. As for the two males, they were majoring in Computer Science.

Because the third year was about to be finished, the upcoming fourth years were already trying to test their social connections for a chance to claim an internship in hopes to get a job later. But Yao Xiaoxue and the others weren’t willing to work under another and were hoping to talk about making a startup over a meal. Not a single one of them thought they would be assaulted by hoodlums however.

“Thank goodness you were there to help us out. Otherwise, who knows what trouble we would have gotten into?”

The two males were both frail in physique and wore glasses on their faces. From their appearances, even if there was just one gangster, they wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

“That’s right, we really have to thank you two. I didn’t think that you were one of the instructors for the Taekwondo dojo!”

The three female students had already knew of Wang Chao’s identity, but they were still curious nonetheless. “You’re not that much younger than us, are you an university student?”

Wang Chao smiled, giving himself a confident air, but he was embarrassed on the inside. He couldn’t just say that he was a third year high school student that hadn’t graduated yet, it would be far too shocking.

Yet his mannerisms had already been disciplined to the point where it was hard to tell what was his genuine personality and what was fake. In two or three phrases, he had managed to divert the topic to what startup Yao Xiaoxue was working on.

“We were planning on renting a store this summer and open an online company. By advertising with several company planners, we would help design web pages. With the technology skills of us two and Yao Xiaoxue and her friends’ skill at business, this won’t require much and will help start us off. This would be a good way to get some real life experience and earn some money at the same time.” The two males were adept at skills relating to the internet, and the more they talked, the more Wang Chao learned from them.

Wang Chao had only practiced martial arts, so any talks regarding computers had gone over his head. But after listening to them, even he had started to learn a few things.

“We’re just lacking in funds at the moment. Yesterday we found a nice looking place Youth Road, but the title deed is quite expensive and is only for one season.” Yao Xiaoxue began to complain about the very first road bump for their startup.

“Just how much money are you lacking?” Wang Chao asked.

“For the renovation, furniture, computers, and other utility bills, we’re short 40,000 RMB.” One of the males spoke, “To be honest, we’ve already designed several web pages and advertising plans for some companies, so we know several people. Right now if we were to start our company, pulling in some clients won’t be a problem.”

TL Note: 40,000 RMB is about 6100 USD.

“Oh, you’ve already some experience? Just how did you do it and did you earn a decent amount? I actually have some interest as well as some extra money, a cooperation doesn’t sound all that bad.” Wang Chao spoke, not realizing his mistake.

“Oh!” Yao Xiaoxue, the three females, and the other two male’s eyes began to shine brightly as if a switch had been flipped. Talking non stop, Yao Xiaoxue pulled out several files of paper that was filled with the pictures and names of several companies and their representatives.

“Starting from just our S Province, we’ve made inquiries for the past year. Just about 10,000 stores don’t have a website. But over half of them have interest in establishing one so they could sell their wares and purchase their necessities online. With the online business model being developed so much, the age of the internet is finally here….”

Yao Xiaoxue’s words continued to pour from her mouth with an inspired tone to them. From time to time, she spoke of her inquiries as if she had been trying to entice people into signing up for a multi leveled scheme. Even Zhao Xinglong who was listening nearby was stunned.

“To not investigate is to not have anything to say. These university students have studied the market extensively. It seems that there is more to university than just playing around.” Wang Chao wasn’t convinced just yet, but from what he had heard, he could concede that there was some merit to going to university.

“In anycase, if a child is found, don’t kill it. I have around 100,000 RMB, should I partner up with them? With the Taekwondo job, even the villa would be properly paid for nor do I have to worry about my living expenses.” Wang Chao thought for a moment before realizing that he couldn’t continue on this path forever. He had only knew how to practice martial arts and knew nothing about business or had any experiences. He wasn’t any better than these university students so it was best if he partnered with them to see the end result. Even if their startup tanked, it would be no major loss to him.

“Then that’s settled. Even I’m interested now. I’ll cover the rest of the costs if I can join in as a partner.” Waiting for Yao Xiaoxue to finish speaking, Wang Chao made his decision.

“Really?” Yao Xiaoxue’s eyes lit up with joy as she began to blink rapidly. Even the other three female students began to make a victorious pose.

“Of course. But first let’s talk. If I become a partner, how is this split up?” Wang Chao asked.

“En, that is a problem. I will have to write it out.” Yao Xiaoxue took out another piece of paper and began to write out several clauses to a contract.

“After the company is established, then the shares will be divided up in accordance to when the startup was first being funded. Every person so far has contributed 5000 RMB for a total of 30,000 RMB. With your 50,000 RMB, that makes a total of 80,000 RMB. This means you would have a share of 62.5%, giving the rest of us 5.5% in stocks per person. There’s also several clauses in regards to the company taxes and legality issues. Take a look, if there’s no problems, then we can have this signed and stamped before giving everyone a copy. There’s still some issues to be worked out in three months. After those three months, we’ll have another meeting to draw up a complete business contract, okay?”

Yao Xiaoxue’s movements had been extraordinarily swift and straightforward, leaving Wang Chao to feel as if she was projecting the air of Zhang Tong.

“Could she have the potential to be a great businesswomen?” Wang Chao thought in surprise, “There’s a lot of potential to be seen in the 21st century!”

Wang Chao had experience with contracts and quickly looked over the clauses before asking for clarification for the parts he didn’t understand. After several copies were made, each person left their own signature on it.

By the second day, Wang Chao had withdrawn 50,000 RMB and walked to the store where they were all located at. Under the directions of Yao Xiaoxue, they had bought furniture, a business license, computers, and several other miscellaneous items.

After a single day of observation, Wang Chao had felt that everything was in prime shape without any confusion. In his heart, he admired these university students for their entrepreneurship spirit. If it was him, he wouldn’t have even bothered with such an annoyance to begin with.

After a week during the weekends, Wang Chao arrived at the capital once more only to discover that the company was now open for business.

The company’s name was called Tianxing Networking LLC.

Author note: I had originally planned on calling it Shanda Online, but Qidian said no.

Yao Xiaoxue had even printed out several business cards with their industry, address, and telephone printed on it. With Wang Chao being the largest stockholder, he was the chairman. The others were called the general manager of technology and general manager of marketing.

Although the general manager was merely a commanding position, it still looked rather impressive on a business card.

“This is how business works, you cannot afford to look bad. You need to look big, you need to be aggressive. To not progress is to die.” Yao Xiaoxue explained to Wang Chao who accepted it as the truth.

With the company now officially open, they were able to attract several clients. Although they had a decent amount, it wasn’t enough to strike it even. Every day increased their losses, but the fact that they were able to open was a good sign.

But Yao Xiaoxue had been at her wits end. She had even tried to pull in some university students as client so as to turn the situation around.

“You must know a decent amount of people at the Taekwondo dojo, could you be sure to take note of them for us? After all, you’re the chairman, if the company goes down, then you will eat a major loss.” Yao Xiaoxue spoke to Wang Chao.

Wang Chao nodded his head in agreement, but he dedicated himself to practicing martial arts with Zhao Xinglong as his partner as well as Zhang Tong’s bodyguards.

It was after he had managed to bring his strength up to a sufficient level, Wang Chao had been able to increase his level of proficiency with Taichi, but there was still no noticeable change.

His temples were still barely raised up, unlike sis Chen’s whose temples were raised up an inch.

“Who knows when I’ll be able to get to the Hidden Jin stage and split apart even stone.” Wang Chao knew that he had to rise in skill steadily, but he was still anxious nonetheless.

The university exams in June had quickly gone by. Even after walking out of the room, Wang Chao didn’t know what subject he had just tested for, neither did he know what grade he could possible get.

The Tianxing Networking LLC was still keeping an adequate cash flow and had taken in only a minor amount of deficits.

As for Wang Chao’s martial arts, he hadn’t made any significant progress.

A week after the exams, Wang Chao was practicing with a staff under the moonlight when all of a sudden, his phone rang.

Picking it up, the sound of Cao Yi came through the receiver.

“I’ve heard you opened up an online company?” Cao Yi was straight to the point. “It seems that several parts of this area’s government is in need of replacing parts of their servers. After crunching some numbers, it’ll be worth several hundred thousand RMB. How about it, want to grab this prize? If you can beat the competition and disregard the middleman fees, you’ll get a net profit of at least four or five hundred thousand RMB. Even the future maintenance won’t be all that bad in terms of pay.”

Stunned, Wang Chao replied, “This is business with the government, officials, and even the big spenders. Would you help put a word in for us?”

Cao Yi replied, “Of course I’ll put in a word for you if you can just help me with a single task.”

“What task?” Wang Chao asked.

“It’s nothing major. Our public security bureau will be taking on a huge case tomorrow to sabotage one of the narcotic smuggling rings in the underworld. I don’t know how, but the news station managed to get wind of this and insisted upon doing an on-the-spot interview. It’s that reporter from last time, Zhu Jia, do you remember her? Your mission is to protect her; let her gather news and report it without making an issue of safety or security. Her father is an extremely influential person, so if you manage to keep up a good relationship with her, your business with the government won’t ever be finished! However, if she comes across any problems, then you’re finished! How about it, are you up to the task?”

Cao Yi’s words had an enticing tone it.

“Obviously!” Wang Chao replied.