35: Chapter 35 Adjustment of Shareholding in Sister Companies

6:00 PM, at Old Place BBQ Restaurant.

Four people sat around a table, which was covered with skewers and beer.

The lamb skewers sizzled on the charcoal fire, and the aroma of cumin and chili powder filled the room.

Luo Maifa picked up his beer can, clinked it against Li Xin's, and looked him up and down several times. "Are you okay? I couldn't reach you for days, and I thought something had happened to you."

"What could happen?" Li Xin smiled and took a bite of a lamb skewer. "There was just no signal in the mountains."

"What did you go into the mountains for?"

"To take care of some business."

"What business?"

Li Xin thought for a moment. "I negotiated a partnership. I'm working with a local boss on some medicinal herb business."

Luo Maifa nodded and didn't press further. Yang Hong and Qiang Zi didn't ask much either.

They were already used to it. Ever since Li Xin returned from Dubai, he had been acting mysterious. But they all knew one thing.

Li Xin wouldn't do anything illegal, and he wouldn't screw them over.

That was enough.

"Tie Zhu's shop renovation is finished, and it reopens next Monday," Qiang Zi said.

"How much did it cost?" Li Xin asked.

"Twenty-three thousand. The walls were repainted, the tables and chairs were replaced, and the glass was changed too."

Li Xin pulled a bank card from his pocket and pushed it toward Qiang Zi. "There's fifty thousand in here. Give twenty-three thousand to Tie Zhu, and use the rest as a reserve fund. If the shop gets harassed again, don't try to tough it out—call the police first."

Qiang Zi looked at the bank card, was silent for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Alright."

"Any movement from Wang Ming's side?" Li Xin asked.

"None," Qiang Zi said. "There hasn't been any movement since they smashed the shop. I had someone check, and he's been busy trying to raise investment, meeting with investors everywhere."

"To what stage is his product?"

"Yang Hong knows better than I do." Qiang Zi looked at Yang Hong.

Yang Hong pushed up his glasses. "I had someone look into their demo. It has fewer features than ours, and the interface is average. But they have money and have poached several people, so their development progress isn't slow. At the current pace, they'll launch about a month after us."

"A month is enough." Li Xin raised his beer can. "As long as we get ahead and capture the users first, it'll be hard for him to launch later."

The four of them clinked glasses.

Luo Maifa gulped down a big mouthful and hiccuped. "Li Xin, what kind of medicinal herb business did you actually negotiate in Yunnan? You're so mysterious."

Li Xin glanced at him and smiled. "You wouldn't understand even if I told you. As long as it makes money, that's all that matters."

"Tch." Luo Maifa curled his lip, but he didn't ask again.

Yang Hong just looked at him silently, clearly not believing it, but his greatest strength was that he would never ask about things he shouldn't.

The four of them drank a few more rounds and chatted until late.

When it was time to leave, Li Xin called the three of them to stay.

"There's something I want to tell you."

The three of them looked at him.

"I'm planning to adjust the equity."

Yang Hong frowned. "How?"

"I previously invested one million in Uncle Luo's logistics company for a forty percent stake. I invested over two million in Yang Hong's tech company for a sixty percent stake. I invested two hundred thousand in Tie Zhu's breakfast shop for a thirty percent stake."

He paused. "These stakes are too high."

Luo Maifa was stunned. "High? I think they're quite reasonable."

"Listen to me," Li Xin interrupted him. "I provide the money, you provide the effort. The company's success depends on you, not me. I can't take advantage of you just because I have money."

He pulled three documents from his pocket and handed them to each of the three men.

"These are the revised equity agreements I drafted. For all the brother companies, I will hold at most twenty percent."

The three of them looked at the documents in their hands and were stunned.

The noise of the BBQ restaurant seemed to fade away, and only the buzzing of the overhead lights remained.

Luo Maifa was the first to react, slamming the document onto the table. "No! This is absolutely not happening!"

"Maifa..."

"Listen to me!" Luo Maifa stood up, his face flushed red. "You invested one million in my dad's company; that was real money! My dad's crappy company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and it was your investment that saved it! Now you want to lower your equity—if my dad finds out, he'll beat me to death!"

"Uncle Luo is running the company; I haven't managed anything," Li Xin looked at him. "A twenty percent stake is already plenty."

"Plenty, my foot!" Luo Maifa's voice grew louder, and guests at the nearby tables turned to look.

"You made money in Dubai and came back thinking of helping us. Now that you've helped us, you're giving up your equity—how do you expect us to feel?"

Yang Hong sat nearby, silent the whole time. He read the document from beginning to end, then read it again, and pushed up his glasses.

"Li Xin, when did you prepare these documents?"

"When I was in Yunnan."

"You've been thinking about this for a long time?"

"For several days."

Yang Hong nodded and placed the document on the table. "Then let me say a few words."

Everyone looked at him.

"Li Xin provides the money, we provide the effort. That logic is fine," Yang Hong's voice was calm. "But the problem is, without Li Xin's money, we wouldn't even have the opportunity to put in the effort."

He turned to look at Luo Maifa. "Uncle Luo's company was about to close due to losses, and it only turned a profit because of your investment."

He looked at Qiang Zi again. "Tie Zhu's breakfast shop—he saved up fifty thousand himself, but was still short by two hundred thousand. How many people did he ask for a loan?"

Qiang Zi was silent for a few seconds. "I asked over a dozen people, and didn't get a single cent."

"Exactly," Yang Hong pushed up his glasses. "So the money Li Xin invested isn't just money. It's an opportunity. It's Tie Zhu's chance to turn things around, the chance for Uncle Luo's company to survive, and the chance for me to focus on building the product."

He paused. "But now, you want us to take the equity back. We will always feel uneasy about it, and we won't be able to face you."

Li Xin frowned. "That's not what I meant..."

"I know that's not what you meant," Yang Hong interrupted. "But that is the result of what you're doing."

The noise of the BBQ restaurant returned. People were playing drinking games, laughing, and the sound of beer bottles clinking was everywhere.

But at this table, it was very quiet.

Qiang Zi was sitting in the corner, silent the whole time. At this moment, he spoke up.

"Li Xin, let me ask you one thing."

"Go ahead."

"Do you feel like you've taken advantage of us?"

Li Xin was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "A little."

"Then do you think that without you, Tie Zhu's shop could have opened?"

"It couldn't have."

"Then without you, could my dad's company have survived?" Luo Maifa chimed in.

"Not necessarily."

"Then without you, could I afford to rent this office, recruit people, or build a product?" Yang Hong asked.

"No."

"Then how have you taken advantage of us?" Qiang Zi's voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight.

"You put up the money to invest in us. Now you want to give up your shares, saying it's because you're afraid of taking advantage of us. But have you thought about what we become if we take your money and then take back the equity?"

Li Xin was silent.

"What do we become?" Qiang Zi looked at him. "We become ungrateful wretches."

The words were heavy, but the tone was calm.

Luo Maifa nodded vigorously beside him. "Right! That's exactly what I mean! You invested money, helped us, and now you want to give up equity—how do you expect us to explain this to our families? If my dad finds out, he'll definitely call me ungrateful."

Li Xin looked at the three of them, and an indescribable feeling welled up in his heart.

He thought he was doing a good thing.

But his brothers didn't see it that way.

In their eyes, him investing money and them providing effort was a fair trade. Now that he wanted to give up equity, it was actually causing them psychological burden. This wasn't what he wanted.

"Then what do you want to do?" he asked.

The three of them looked at each other.

Yang Hong spoke first. "There's no need to change the equity. But we can renegotiate the dividend distribution ratio."

"How?"

"You invested money, so holding equity is appropriate. But you can stipulate that for the first three years, half of your dividends go into the company's development fund. After three years, if the company has succeeded, then we can adjust the equity."

Li Xin thought for a moment. "And if it doesn't succeed?"

"If it doesn't succeed, it means we aren't good enough, and whether you give up equity or not won't matter," Yang Hong said very directly.

Luo Maifa nodded beside him. "I think Yang Hong's idea is good. You take fewer dividends for the first three years, and the company keeps more money for development. After three years, when the company has grown, you can adjust the equity; by then, everyone will have more confidence."

Qiang Zi also nodded. "I think that's good too."

Li Xin looked at the three of them and was silent for a long time.

"Alright," he finally said. "Let's go with that. For the first three years, I'll contribute half of my dividends to the company's development fund. After three years, we can talk about equity adjustment again."

Li Xin added, "For the tech company, I'll take ten percent from my stake to create an option pool for core employees. If the company is to grow, it can't rely solely on you few."

"That works too," Yang Hong pushed up his glasses. "My individual capacity is limited; I need a reliable team. Only by offering equity will people be willing to give their all."

"Alright. It's settled then."

The four of them chatted for another hour and finalized the details. They signed supplementary agreements for the logistics company, the tech company, and the breakfast shop respectively.

After signing, Luo Maifa let out a long sigh and leaned back in his chair. "You scared me to death; I thought you were going to break ties with us."

"Break ties? Why would I do that?" Li Xin smiled. "I just felt the equity stake was too high."

"Too high, my foot." Luo Maifa curled his lip. "Just you wait. Three years from now, when the company has grown, I won't even agree if you want to increase your stake."

Qiang Zi smiled, which was a rare sight. "That depends on whether you have the ability to do so."

"Why wouldn't I have the ability?" Luo Maifa said, unconvinced. "I'm at the logistics company every day, keeping an eye on things, even more attentive than my dad. I was the one who contacted the seller for those newly purchased trucks."

"That's your dad's company; if you don't pay attention, who will?"

"That's true..."

The group laughed.

After signing the agreements, Luo Maifa and Qiang Zi left first. As Luo Maifa left, he was still muttering, "We'll see who has the most ability in three years."

Only Li Xin and Yang Hong remained at the entrance of the BBQ restaurant.

"Anything else?" Li Xin asked.

"Are you serious about the option pool you mentioned?"

"I'm serious." Li Xin didn't hesitate. "Su Manling, Zhou Mingpeng, and Li Xiaona—those three are all good. If the data is good after the product launches, give them each two to three percent in options."

Li Xin looked at him. "That's it. You're the CTO; you make the call on team matters."

Yang Hong nodded and turned to leave.

After taking two steps, he stopped and turned back to look at Li Xin.

"Li Xin."

"Yeah?"

"I won't ask what you actually did in Yunnan. But remember one thing."

"What?"

"No matter how much money you have, we will always be your brothers. You don't need to yield to anyone, and you don't need to protect anyone. If something comes up, just say it, and we'll face it together."

Li Xin nodded. "I know."

Yang Hong didn't say anything else and turned into the night.

Li Xin stood at the entrance of the BBQ restaurant, watching his silhouette disappear under the streetlights.

He took a deep breath, feeling incredibly relaxed and grounded. Now he wanted to take a good break for a while. During this time, he would also apply for early graduation. Now that he was busy with the gold mine, he had no mind to stay in school anymore.

One evening, while Li Xin was scrolling through videos, Mr. Liu suddenly sent him a message: "Mr. Li, both real estate projects are basically sold out. When are you free? Let's sit down together."

The corners of Li Xin's mouth curled up slightly, and he replied: "Tomorrow morning, I'll come see you."

Then he pondered for a moment.

Tomorrow, go see Mr. Liu.

The day after tomorrow, go to Dubai. He was tired of staying at home anyway.