Jiang Beihuai closed his eyes wordlessly and took a deep breath. "What do you mean by embezzling public funds? That sounds so unpleasant."
"I'm just leveraging the existing resources at hand to pave the way for my personal company." He added a cube of sugar to his iced Americano. "If I stay in the group, I'll just be stuck in a cycle of internal strife."
Bai Wenxi took a bite of her huge bomb sandwich, and a bit of cheese sauce smeared on the corner of her mouth. Jiang Beihuai reached out his index finger to scrape off the sauce and then wiped her mouth with a tissue.
"Awen, you're becoming less and less reserved in front of me." Jiang Beihuai cupped his cheeks, and his dimples appeared and disappeared.
Bai Wenxi didn't want to change the subject and still pressed on about the Jiang Group. "Haven't your aunt and the others given up yet? Or does your uncle want to place all his children in high - level positions?"
Jiang Beihuai blinked, a look of disdain on his face. "Both. Let them make a fuss. The big ship is about to sink anyway. If they don't run quickly, are they waiting to drown?"
Bai Wenxi was very interested in his private project that he had been talking about. She tapped the coffee cup in front of him with a spoon. "Tell me in detail about your entrepreneurial blueprint."
Jiang Beihuai took out a municipal map from his briefcase and drew a red circle on Hehua Village with a red pen. "This village is the place I've taken a fancy to."
"I've already won the bid and acquired this land." He waved his hands excitedly as he talked about his future plans, his eyes shining. "I'm going to develop the tourism resources here and build the first high - class hotel in this area."
Bai Wenxi rarely saw him so confident and enterprising in his work. Before, he was always exhausted from absorbing industry knowledge and overwhelmed by various meetings and decision - makings.
Even at the beginning when dealing with business with multinational groups, he was so self - conscious about his poor foreign language skills that his heart would pound. He had to hire two translators just to barely suppress his anxiety.
But now he was handling things with ease and could even make his own project the focus of development.
Bai Wenxi sincerely sighed at his change. "So, hard work can make up for lack of talent. You're becoming more and more like a real president. You can handle things independently so quickly. Who would dare say you're not excellent?"
Jiang Beihuai wasn't complacent. He knew he still had a lot of room for improvement in the business world. After they finished eating, he couldn't wait to take Bai Wenxi to his office and show her the bidding PPT he had made.
Hehua Village was a place with beautiful scenery and rich cultural relics. But due to the slow urban development, its tourism resources hadn't been well - developed.
Taking advantage of the government's investment this time, many groups wanted to get a share of the pie.
Actually, a large company like the Jiang Group had always been a popular type of enterprise locally. But this time, Jiang Beihuai didn't use his family background at all. He participated in the bidding as a completely new investment company.
Although he had won the project, it hadn't started yet because of the lack of investment. This was also the reason why he was eager to borrow a legal lawyer from Su Zhengfeng.
No matter how good the project was, if he couldn't raise the funds and missed the start - up time, he would lose a lot of money. This would be a devastating blow to his personal entrepreneurship.
Bai Wenxi smiled with relief, seeing how much effort Jiang Beihuai had put into this report.
But even as an outsider, she could see some problems. "Have you thought about the fact that the scenery there is too homogeneous? I can go to many well - developed scenic spots and see more or less the same things. So what's the attraction for me here?"
Jiang Beihuai clapped his hands, admiring her sharp intuition. "Sure enough, it was right for me to bring you here. That's exactly what everyone is skeptical about."
Bai Wenxi gasped and puffed out her cheeks. Although she was in the art industry and had never been involved in business, as an onlooker, she felt that it might not be easy to raise funds for this tourism development.
"Although this place will surely develop, the degree of development depends on the commercial value of this village. No matter how good its natural resources are, its commercial value is a bit weak, and there's nothing really eye - catching."
"It'll be difficult to attract a large number of tourists in the early stage."
She thought for a while and put it in a more euphemistic way. "Have you ever thought about asking the parent company of the Jiang Group to invest in your personal business at the beginning? Even the younger generation of other families gets money from their family when starting a business. There's no need to be shy about it."
As soon as Bai Wenxi finished speaking, Jiang Beihuai strongly objected. "I'll never use the Jiang Group's money again. Since I want to cut ties, I'll do it completely."
His cheeks flushed red, and his eyes shone with determination. "If I use such a devious way, I might as well just develop the project in the name of the Jiang Group. It would save a lot of trouble and earn more money. But I don't want that!"
Bai Wenxi thought his idea was a bit radical and tried to communicate with him calmly. "But don't cut ties with your original family so soon..."
Just as they were arguing fiercely, there was a knock on the door of the group office.
Jiang Beihuai held back his anger, straightened his suit, and sat behind the desk. "Come in."
A gentle young man wearing black - framed glasses walked in with a stack of documents. "Hello, Mr. Jiang. I'm Xiao Zhao sent by the bank president to talk to you about the loan business."
Jiang Beihuai stretched out a fair hand and shook hands with him with a proper smile. "Hello, Xiao Zhao. Let's not waste any time. Let's get to the point."
Xiao Zhao sat opposite Jiang Beihuai and pushed a document with a red seal in front of him. "To be honest, it's not that our bank doesn't want to approve the loan. It's just that your plan is too idealistic. We don't see the possibility of making a profit."
Jiang Beihuai knew that the bank had its own considerations and wouldn't do charity for free. It wouldn't lend money easily just because of a good relationship.
But because he had hit a wall everywhere in this financing process, he was a bit impatient. He was so eager to be independent from his family that he took failure very seriously.
"What if I mortgage my personal property? Actually, I thought from the beginning that if I couldn't get a loan, it would be okay to go for a mortgage loan."
Xiao Zhao quickly twitched the corner of his mouth, and a silver glint flashed across his glasses in the sunlight. For some reason, Bai Wenxi could hear the mockery in his tone.
"Mr. Jiang, why do you have to do this? With your family's assets, it would be easy for you to do this kind of thing." Xiao Zhao's index finger tapped on the table unconsciously. He seemed to be weighing the rewards of getting this thing done.
"Even our bank president said that if we approve the loan for your project, we'll be offending the entire Jiang Group. After all..."
The shadow of being controlled by his grandmother and the group's directors once again floated in his mind. Jiang Beihuai was furious. "Don't you make loans based on project evaluations? Are you rejecting me because you're afraid of offending my grandmother and the board of directors?"
Xiao Zhao softened his tone and offered a somewhat ambiguous consolation. "Mr. Jiang, actually, I personally have a lot of faith in you. But, as I said, without a selling point, developing this rural area will just be a money - burning venture."
He pushed up his glasses. "But you have to convince me first. Because I can make this financing deal happen!"