Chapter 19

When Lin Yushu was about to finish his work, he glanced at the WeChat group messages and found that Song Qiming had gone to the racetrack, helping with suspension adjustments for one moment and exhaust modifications for another. The group was filled with messages praising the “god among men.”

That god seemed to have a lot of free time.

Lin Yushu didn’t join in the excitement and went straight home. His subordinates provided a budget proposal for research funds, and he had to review it. If the budget was too high, the company couldn’t afford it. If it was too low, Song Qiming would certainly have objections.

After a while, familiar engine sounds could be heard outside the residential area. A few minutes later, the sound of a door opening and closing came from across the street. Lin Yushu knew that the god had returned home.

He had intended to directly approach Song Qiming with the research fund issue, carrying the documents. However, his phone suddenly vibrated.

“Senior?” Lin Yushu answered the phone, slightly surprised.

“Do you have time tomorrow?” Du Yufei asked. “Let’s have lunch together.”

Tomorrow… was Lin Yushu’s birthday.

He didn’t believe that Du Yufei wanted to have a meal with him just because of his birthday, so he asked, “Is there something you want to talk about?”

Du Yufei chuckled, “Can’t I reach out to you for no reason?”

“If that’s the case,” Lin Yushu paused, “I might not be able to spare the time.”

They were all adults and understood the value of time.

Lin Yushu’s meaning was clear: if there was nothing important, he didn’t want to spend his time on socializing.

“You really don’t give face,” Du Yufei’s tone sounded somewhat helpless. “I do have something to discuss with you. Didn’t you ask around about someone buying Yong Xing’s stocks at a bargain price? I’ve heard some rumors.”

Lin Yushu’s attitude immediately changed, “Is it confirmed that someone is buying at a bargain price?”

“It’s hard to say,” Du Yufei said, “Let’s talk about it in detail tomorrow at noon.”

During the day, Lin Yushu had mentioned to Shao Guangjie that there might be someone buying at a bargain price, but Shao Guangjie didn’t seem to care.

This was because Yong Xing Group had a typical family-owned corporate structure.

This structure could roughly be divided into three levels: the top level was Yong Xing Holdings, which was not publicly listed and entirely owned by members of the Shao family.

The middle level was Yong Xing Public Company, which was the public face of the group and controlled more than 50% of the shares by the upper-level holding company.

The bottom level consisted of Yong Xing Automotive, Yong Xing Real Estate, Yong Xing Entertainment, and other operating companies, all fully controlled by the middle-level public company.

Thus, after peeling back the layers, in reality, all the companies under Yong Xing were controlled by the top-level holding company.

Shao Zhenbang had placed all the shares of the holding company in an offshore trust, adding an extra layer of security. In other words, outsiders couldn’t dilute the Shao family’s shareholding and couldn’t shake the position of the holding company.

Even if someone acquired shares of the middle-level public company in the secondary market, it wouldn’t have any impact on the upper-level holding company. The holding company would still be a major shareholder of the public company.

However, Lin Yushu couldn’t help but wonder, who would do such a thing?

Naturally, his first thought was of Fang Tian Real Estate.

Fang Tian Real Estate was the second-largest shareholder of Yong Xing Public Company, holding 15.3% of the shares. If they acquired more shares…

But it wouldn’t affect the Shao family’s decision-making power.

Since it doesn’t make sense for Fang Tian Real Estate to buy up Yong Xing’s shares, except for enjoying stock dividends, Lin Yushu can only think of another beneficiary – Song Qiming.

With the stock price plummeting, Song Qiming wouldn’t suffer any losses; instead, he would gain all the benefits. If he orchestrated these events, he would be incredibly cunning.

First, the news of the divorce was leaked, causing Yong Xing to fall into a crisis and creating an opportunity to raise the acquisition price.

Then, Song Qiming bought up Yong Xing’s stocks. Although he couldn’t influence the controlling group, he could become a shareholder of the listed company.

Finally, he would wait for the completion of the acquisition and the reversal of the stock price, making a substantial profit from it.

This plan seemed like killing three birds with one stone.

However, Lin Yushu still couldn’t explain some crucial points.

How did Song Qiming learn about the impending divorce between Shao Hexu and Fang Lan? This matter was significant, and Song Qiming couldn’t have obtained this information from Yong Xing.

Even if he did manage to find out, why didn’t he reveal it earlier or later? Why choose to expose it right when the acquisition was about to be finalized?

Moreover, the most important question was, where did he get the money to acquire Yong Xing’s stocks?

Yong Xing’s market value was approximately $70 billion, and even if he owned only 1% of the shares, it would amount to $700 million, which was not a small sum.

According to Lin Yushu’s observations throughout the day, the trading volume of Yong Xing’s stocks today was around $3-4 billion, which couldn’t be solely attributed to Song Qiming’s personal investment.

After all, Song Qiming was just the owner of a modification factory, and his entire net worth was approximately the same as the acquisition price, around $200 million. How could he afford such a big game?

After thinking for a long time without finding any answers, Lin Yushu planned to ask Du Yufei the next day if he had any information.

Checking the time, it was already past 10 pm, and it seemed that Song Qiming didn’t like discussing work in the evening. After hesitating for a while, Lin Yushu decided to abandon the idea of going to him to discuss research funding.

The next morning, Lin Yushu received birthday wishes from Lin Yize, and even Lu Zibo hadn’t forgotten about it, inviting Lin Yushu to the bar for a drink in the evening.

Turning twenty-nine was not a particularly significant age, and Lin Yushu didn’t have much of a sense of celebrating birthdays. It just felt like another ordinary day.

As noon approached, Lin Yushu left the office early and went to a Chinese restaurant located in the city center.

Lunch was already arranged in advance, and when Lin Yushu arrived promptly at twelve o’clock, the food was already served and ready to be enjoyed.

However…

Du Yufei was late.

Lin Yushu really disliked when people were late.

Although Du Yufei sent a message saying he was stuck in traffic, Lin Yushu was still annoyed – couldn’t he leave earlier?

After about ten minutes, while Lin Yushu was scrolling through his phone, he suddenly heard a voice say, “Sorry, I’m late.”

He instinctively looked up but didn’t see Du Yufei. When he glanced to the side, he realized that the neighboring table was also waiting for someone.

Although he called it the neighboring table, in reality, the two tables were in different sections with a wooden barrier separating them.

If Lin Yushu hadn’t intentionally looked to the side, he wouldn’t have noticed… Song Qiming was actually sitting next to him.

This Chinese restaurant was one of the top three on Lin Yushu’s Excel spreadsheet, so he wasn’t surprised to run into Song Qiming here.

But what surprised him was that the person who arrived late was dressed in a pilot’s uniform. If he guessed correctly, that person seemed to be Song Qiming’s date.

“You are indeed late,” Song Qiming’s voice came through the wooden barrier. Lin Yushu didn’t want to eavesdrop on their conversation, but since Du Yufei hadn’t arrived yet, he was sitting alone and found it hard to divert his attention from the neighboring table.

“I got delayed on the road,” the handsome pilot sat opposite Song Qiming and glanced at the table full of dishes, looking puzzled. “Have you already eaten?”

Lin Yushu glanced at the neighboring table and found that all the recommended dishes from his spreadsheet were placed on it, and almost all of them had been devoured. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like the beginning of a date.

“Do you know what I dislike the most?” Song Qiming countered without answering.

Lin Yushu had a faint feeling that Song Qiming’s tone was off. It wasn’t as casual as when they chatted or as tense as during their negotiations. It carried a sense of inexplicable detachment and indifference.

The pilot didn’t answer, and Song Qiming continued, “I dislike it when people are late.”

…Well, Lin Yushu thought, no wonder he’s German, so particular about this.

He wouldn’t dare say such things when Du Yufei arrives.

“I’ve already explained to you. I had to queue on the runway for a long time today,” the pilot’s tone remained restrained, probably aware of his mistake. “My job nature is like this, and I find it difficult to guarantee punctuality.”

“Your job nature has nothing to do with me,” Song Qiming grabbed a tissue and wiped his mouth. “I don’t think your time is more valuable than mine.”

Is this really a date?

Lin Yushu muttered to himself in his mind. This should be a blind date, right?

Who speaks so impolitely to their date?

“I’m sorry,” the pilot no longer defended himself. “I apologize to you.”

“No need. I don’t think we’ll see each other again,” Song Qiming seemed dissatisfied with the apology and continued to blame the other person. “You were the one who asked for my contact information, but for the three meetings we arranged, you had something come up at the last minute the first two times, and on the third time, you were more than half an hour late. You’re busy, and I’m busy too, but I never expected a pilot to have such a poor sense of time. I can’t tolerate someone like you, so you don’t need to contact me anymore. I’ve already had lunch, but if you still want to eat, you can order for yourself.”

After saying these words, Song Qiming got up and left.

Lin Yushu quickly buried his head, using his hand to shield his profile and minimize his presence.

He had never known before that Song Qiming could be so fierce when he was angry.

Even if they were just dating, it didn’t warrant such harshness, did it?

If Song Qiming treated every date like this, criticizing and blaming them for every little dissatisfaction, who would dare to date him?

…Wait, hold on. It’s not really his concern.

With Song Qiming’s qualities, he would never be short of suitors. Even if this pilot left, there would be another one coming along. Why should he worry about it?

At that moment, the pilot next door erupted in a belated curse, “You’re insane! If you can’t tolerate me, then I can’t tolerate you either! Stay single for the rest of your life!”

Lin Yushu shook his head with some emotion. Why bother with love? It would be better to focus on his career.

But speaking of which, Song Qiming’s temper was unexpectedly bad. Lin Yushu suddenly remembered when he went to Song Qiming’s house late at night, relentlessly discussing the acquisition with him. Surprisingly, Song Qiming didn’t get angry with him. From this perspective, it seemed that Song Qiming was only picky with his dating partners, but relatively tolerant towards work colleagues…