Chapter 102: That Simple?!

Chapter 102: That Simple?!

Su Qingying knew this middle-aged man.

In fact, listening to his voice over the call earlier, she had vaguely felt it sounded familiar. But there were far too many people with similar voices.

More to the point, listening to the two of them talk, she could tell Wu Chen truly was threatening the other party, and murder and arson had come up. So she had absolutely not dared to imagine the man on the line was someone she knew.

Her impression of him had never been a bad one.

And yet here he was.

Yao Honglin, forty-six years old, chairman of Donghai Rutong Trade Investment Company and chairman of Donghai Meifu Decoration Company.

On paper his net worth ran past a billion. In all of Donghai that was not low. But his standing in Donghai’s business circles was merely middling.

Because net worth and assets were two different things. Counting only Yao Honglin’s own businesses, his personal fortune capped out at a few hundred million. The reason his paper net worth could exceed a billion was that… he held 3.8 percent of Jinfu Group’s shares.

Most of those shares had been pledged as loan collateral, and he had lost a great deal for the sake of his own ventures, but as long as he wasn’t forced into bankruptcy liquidation he remained one of Jinfu Group’s major individual shareholders, enough to place in the top ten.

So of course Su Qingying knew him.

Yao Honglin’s relationship with Jinfu Group was highly complicated. He had started out in jade, then went into partnership with others to found Meiyuan Jewelry Group, where he was the second-largest shareholder.

In its early years Meiyuan Jewelry had been Jinfu Group’s biggest competitor in the East China region, but its growth had fallen far short of Jinfu’s.

Fourteen years ago, the rapidly expanding Jinfu Group acquired Meiyuan Jewelry outright through a mix of cash and share swaps. As Meiyuan’s second-largest shareholder, Yao Honglin came away with 6 percent of Jinfu Group.

Afterward Jinfu Group went through rounds of financing and expansion, and later listed-company financing, which pushed Yao Honglin’s stake down further.

The number of shares he held never changed. Only the percentage fell, until it reached the present 3.8 percent.

In his ten-plus years inside Jinfu Jewelry, Yao Honglin had held a string of important posts. But as Jinfu Group swelled in size, the limits of his personal ability were exposed.

Beyond that, in recent years his heart had no longer been in Jinfu Group at all. He took less and less part in the company’s operations, and the positions he held there had become nominal.

Mainly because he had other businesses.

When Meiyuan Jewelry was acquired, Yao Honglin had received not only equity but a certain amount of cash.

He had used that money to start ventures of his own, and he had made them work.

Perhaps because those ventures kept growing while his small slice of Jinfu didn’t amount to much, and because his ability fell short and he gradually lost his voice there, he had lost interest in Jinfu Group’s affairs.

Su Qingying also knew that after shifting his focus to his own businesses, Yao Honglin had repeatedly pledged his Jinfu Group shares for loans, converting them into capital to expand those ventures.

In the end the reckless expansion collapsed. He lost a great deal of money.

Su Qingying’s overall impression of Yao Honglin was of a wealthy middle-aged businessman with ideas and nerve, ability that was merely average, somewhat half-hearted, and fond of being his own boss.

That “average” was of course measured against people of real ability. However poor Yao Honglin’s ability might be, he was still several dozen streets ahead of ordinary people.

Su Qingying and Yao Honglin looked at each other.

The air in the room stalled slightly.

Yao Honglin was frightened. How had Su Qingying suddenly appeared here? Why had she pushed the door open and walked straight in?

Su Qingying was somewhat dazed herself. Yao Honglin had…