Since the company now had the potential to go public, Meng Suihuan naturally couldn’t remain idle. She had to start making the necessary plans in advance. From company operations and management to its current status and future development, she thought it all through. Operations and management were manageable since she had already worked out the details once before; this time, she just needed to refine and improve based on the previous work. As for the company’s future development, she drew a “ten” on a nearby manuscript. Since Xuyu was established, it had been revolving around real estate. Now, it was time to expand in other directions.

As for the internet sector, she didn’t need to worry too much, as she already had a strong ally in Lu Linshen. But for other industries, she had yet to delve into them. It was time to explore those as well.

Thus, while Zhao Chen and the others were focused on building the commercial tower, Meng Suihuan was equally busy. In just half a month, she had already invested in over thirty companies. This caused quite a stir in Ning City. Even Qin Yu, who was deeply involved at Ning University, received the news immediately. He rushed back, out of breath, and told Lu Linshen and the others, “Hey, Lao Lu, Lao Xie, you guys need to come quickly, I’ve got some new gossip!”

He looked anxious, but unfortunately, the others just glanced at him casually and didn’t respond. Qin Yu, seeing this, became even more anxious, almost pounding his chest in frustration.

“It’s gossip about Meng Jie! You guys are acting so indifferent!”

But then, in the next second, he noticed three pairs of eyes focusing on him, and even Lao Lu, who was usually only interested in research, turned his head to look at him. He knew it! This huge gossip and they weren’t interested? Impossible!

Noticing their cold reaction, Qin Yu decided to tease them.

“Tsk.”

“Now you’re interested? Too bad, I’m not so eager to share, unless—”

Before he could finish the sentence, he heard Lu Linshen’s calm voice, “Then you can keep it to yourself.”

After speaking, Lu Linshen turned his head dismissively. Zhao Xinzhi and Xu Xuanyi nodded seriously in agreement.

“Mm.”

Qin Yu: “…”

These people were insane. Were they not curious at all? What was more, Xu Xuanyi added, “I can go and find out for myself later.”

Qin Yu: “…”

Was it really necessary?

“Alright, alright, I give up. Meng Jie has invested in over thirty companies in the past half month! Her momentum and presence are even stronger than when the Feiyun Group first launched!”

“Can you imagine how much money that must cost?” Just thinking about it made him feel pained.

Xu Xuanyi was visibly stunned when he heard this. “Over thirty companies? How do you know about this?”

During this time, they had been holed up in the school working on the chip research. Their usual activities, aside from studying, were either sleeping or researching.

Qin Yu, feeling pleased with himself, replied, “The whole of Ning University knows about it now. Everyone’s talking about it.”

“But what do you think? If this keeps up, will her earnings match her spending rate?” Thirty-plus companies! It would surely cost a lot just to keep them running. If that’s the case, wasn’t she deceiving them when she claimed she would allocate resources to their side?

At the thought of this, Qin Yu’s mood rose sharply, and he slammed his hand down on the desk next to him with a bang!

“Sure enough, women’s words are all just to scare people! When she convinced us to sign the contract, she said she’d allocate all the resources to us.”

“And now she’s signed thirty-plus companies!”

How could he have been so impulsive to agree at the time?

At that moment, Lu Linshen, who had been silent, interjected calmly but with certainty, “She’s not that kind of person.”

“Hey, Lao Lu, why do I feel like something’s off? This is the first time I’ve seen you defend someone like this!” Qin Yu reacted quickly, swiftly finding a flaw in his words. If this had been Xie Zhixin or Xu Xuanyi speaking, his reaction wouldn’t have been so intense. But with Lu Linshen saying this, it felt all wrong!

“Could it be that you two—” Did they have some kind of secret? Before he could finish, Lu Linshen coldly interrupted him, “If you could put those strange thoughts into research, I think we’d have solved a third of the problems we’re facing.”

Qin Yu: “…”

Pfft! With Lao Lu’s head always full of research, he was destined to be lonely for life! There was absolutely no secret between them!

On the side, Xie Zhixin weakly added, “Lao Qin, you’ve really misunderstood. As for the resources,Meng Jie didn’t lie about that.”

Hmm? Now, not only Qin Yu but even Lu Linshen looked curious.

“Our research funding this time, Meng Jie sent it over. It’s much more than before.” As he spoke, he raised his hand, holding out five fingers.

“Fifty thousand?” Qin Yu guessed.

Xie Zhi Xin shook his head.

“Five hundred thousand?” Xu Xuanyi joined in with his guess, but still, they both shook their heads.

Qin Yu’s eyes immediately widened in shock, his voice trembling, “Five… five hundred… million?”

When no one responded, he exclaimed, “Fifty million?!”

Xie Zhixin quickly stopped him. “Hold on, it’s not that exaggerated, even in your wildest dreams.”

He then slowly explained the meaning behind his hand gesture.

“Five times.”

Although this number was different from their guesses, Qin Yu still couldn’t help but gasp. After all, their project’s costs had already been in the millions before. Now, it was five times that! That was over five million!

“Lao Xie, are you serious?” How could he not have known about this?

“Yeah, I just found out too,” Xie Zhixin kindly added. “While you were out chasing gossip, I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”

Qin Yu: “…”

The issue of money wasn’t just on Qin Yu’s mind. At Xuyu’s finance team, team leader Lao Deng frowned when he saw his boss bring in another large stack of invoices. Recently, his company had already spent several tens of millions, and if this kept up, in just a month, their company’s accounts would be cleared out!

Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but speak up to remind her, “Boss Meng, we still need the company to operate. Could you exercise some restraint?”

The rest of the finance team silently agreed with the team leader. It was exactly what they were all thinking. Good jobs were hard to come by these days, especially for them, who had relatively relaxed positions. So they naturally hoped the company could continue smoothly, not operate like it was on the edge of collapse.

Meng Suihuan heard this and touched her nose. She knew she had been quite active recently. Not only were there rumors outside, but there were also murmurs within the company. Although she had called a meeting and explained things succinctly, the discussions had lessened, but the unease hadn’t completely dissipated.

With that thought, she nodded to the finance team leader. “Don’t worry.”

“I know how to handle things.”

“Besides, our company’s projects are still bringing in revenue.”

Everyone: “…”

“You said the same thing last time!”
And then, in the blink of an eye, over thirty million was gone! Gone! But as Xu Ming had already mentioned, Lao Deng could only sigh and approve the accounts. As he went over the numbers, his expression started to shift. Eventually, it turned into a look of horror.
“Boss, are you sure these figures are correct?”
Meng Suihuan smiled at him, speaking in a calm tone.
“You can double-check them if you want.”
Lao Deng quickly re-checked the numbers, but nothing had changed.
He couldn’t help but inhale sharply. Trembling, he stamped the documents and signed his name.
Seeing Lao Deng’s expression, Meng Suihuan couldn’t help but start to think. It seemed like it was time to launch the “Tianxia Net.” Otherwise, she feared Lao Deng wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure, and they’d have to hire new financial staff, which would be a hassle.

Meng Suihuan’s investments were causing quite a stir in Ning City. Many people were waiting in the shadows to see what would happen, especially Zhou Fan. The moment he heard the news, he immediately shared it with his team members, including Shen Jin.

“Heh, Lu Linshen sure is unlucky. He hasn’t even come up with a single project yet! And the company’s owner just gave up on them! How can someone like him even compare to you, Shen Ge^[1]Ge or Gege means brother?”

Shen Jin frowned slightly upon hearing this, “Never underestimate him. His capabilities should not be underestimated.”

Zhou Fan immediately disagreed, “Shen Ge, we can’t give up our own momentum to boost his. After all, we’re the ones who developed the Interlink Network, while he still hasn’t found a single person worth mentioning.”

“Moreover, we still have you in our team, Shen Ge. As long as we can develop a better project, we’ll definitely crush them in the second round!”

Zhou Fan said this confidently, not realizing that Shen Jin’s expression had darkened slightly, his face showing some displeasure. But within the blink of an eye, his face returned to its usual calm demeanor.

“Don’t bring this up again.”
“To avoid any misunderstandings by those with ulterior motives.”

Zhou Fan scratched his head when he heard this. “Alright, Shen Ge, I understand.” The others nodded in agreement.

Shen Jin nodded and said, “You all go ahead. I still have some research left to finish.”

Since Shen Jin had already dismissed them, Zhou Fan and the others left without further delay. As they walked, Lin, a member of the same team, couldn’t help but tap Zhou Fan on the shoulder to give a kind reminder.

“Ge, be more careful with your words next time. Don’t bring up Lu Linshen in front of Shen Ge. His look just now was strange, like he was really upset.”

Zhou Fan immediately rebutted, “Shen Ge’s not like that! Don’t make wild guesses! You probably misunderstood.”

Lin didn’t bother explaining further, just casually responded, “Maybe.”