Chapter 230 Investing in ByteDance

Li Sisi hurried over with her eyebrows knitted, her tone carrying a hint of frantic urgency.

"Lin Chen, there's something else I need to report to you."

Lin Chen was leaning back in his office chair, spinning a fountain pen between his fingertips. He lifted his eyelids slightly.

"Speak."

"It's about that intermediary consulting firm we work with. They just sent me a message saying there's a two-year-old tech company looking for financing."

Li Sisi spoke faster than usual, her hands unconsciously clutching the hem of her clothes.

"The gap is quite large—a full hundred million!"

"But our company just invested fifty million in miHoYo, and we've been buying buildings and stocks."

She paused, her tone becoming even more urgent. "Right now, there's only a few million in cash left in the company account. Even if we liquidated our stocks, we'd only have thirty million at most. That's a far cry from a hundred million."

"The intermediary said this company's prospects are actually quite good, but since they want so much money at once, many investors are getting cold feet and don't dare to make a move."

"I took a look, and this company fits our investment direction; it's at the forefront of new technology."

Li Sisi bit her lower lip, looking troubled.

"But right now... we don't have much money."

Seeing her so anxious she was practically fuming, Lin Chen couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile. He didn't say anything, however, simply picking up the coffee on his desk and taking a slow sip.

"What's the specific company? To ask for a hundred million in financing."

Lin Chen finally spoke, his tone still leisurely, without a trace of urgency.

Li Sisi's eyes lit up as if she had forgotten her previous anxiety. She turned and ran toward her office, her footsteps clicking loudly.

A moment later, she ran back clutching a folder and handed it to Lin Chen.

"It's right here, everything's been organized!"

Lin Chen set down his coffee cup and tapped his fingertips on the folder. He wasn't in a hurry to open it.

He picked it up and took another sip.

Who would have thought that just as he swallowed half a mouthful, he would hear Li Sisi's voice drift over.

"The company seeking financing is called ByteDance."

Pfft...!

Unable to hold it in, he sprayed a mouthful of coffee all over the desk, even dampening the corners of the folder.

Lin Chen coughed twice, his chest still heaving, his eyes filled with utter disbelief.

Li Sisi was startled and quickly leaned in, reaching out to pat his back, her tone frantic.

"What happened? What happened? Did you choke? Do you need some water to calm down?"

Several female colleagues at nearby workstations also looked over at the sound, their eyes filled with curiosity and concern.

Lin Chen waved his hand and wiped the corner of his mouth. His voice was still a bit raspy, yet it carried a hint of eagerness.

"It's fine, it's fine. What did you just say? What company?"

Li Sisi didn't notice anything unusual and repeated herself with a calm face.

"ByteDance. What's wrong, Brother Chen? Have you heard of this company?"

Lin Chen didn't respond. He grabbed the folder and flipped through it rapidly.

It was written clearly inside: this ByteDance needed a large initial round of investment to build its douyin short video track, which was why they were so eager for financing.

After flipping through the materials, the surprise on Lin Chen's face had vanished, replaced by an irrepressible smile. He patted the folder.

"This intermediary company is good. We'll work with them long-term; they have a very sharp eye."

He looked up at Li Sisi, who was still looking confused, and spoke decisively.

"We're following this investment."

"We'll cover the entire hundred million."

"Go contact ByteDance's representative right now. Tell them we are very interested and set up a time. I'll go for a face-to-face meeting personally."

Li Sisi was completely stunned, her eyes wide with astonishment.

"What? Follow the investment? Lin Chen, where are we going to get the money?"

"Didn't we just say we didn't have much capital?"

Lin Chen smiled, took out his phone, unlocked it, and handed it to her. His tone was as calm as a light breeze.

"Oh, I have the money. See for yourself."

Li Sisi leaned in to look. On the balance screen of the mobile banking app, a string of numbers made her eyes blur: 120,000,999.00.

She suddenly covered her mouth, almost screaming. Her voice turned high-pitched.

"Ah! Over one hundred and twenty million?! Brother Chen, you were hiding this way too well!"

"Don't make a scene."

Lin Chen took his phone back, his tone casual.

"Go take care of something now. Establish a Star City branch of Qicheng Investment Company. I'll transfer this hundred million directly into the branch account."

He paused and added.

"I'll provide 90 million for the branch, the Hong Kong parent company will provide 7 million, and I'll tell you the names for the remaining 3 million quota later."

The surprise in Li Sisi's heart hadn't subsided when another question popped up. Her eyes held a hint of expectation mixed with embarrassment.

"Why later? Will... my name be in there?"

Seeing her cute expression, Lin Chen couldn't help but laugh out loud. He reached out and ruffled her hair.

"Silly girl, your name must be there. Do you even need to ask?"

"You'll know in a bit. And for this 3 million, none of you need to pay a cent. I'll cover it. You just need to have your names listed and enjoy the shareholder benefits."

Li Sisi's eyes grew even wider, her tone full of disbelief.

"You... you're directly giving away dry shares?! Lin Chen, you're being way too generous!"

"Is it because I'm your woman? Then that's pretty good."

She pursed her lips, then added with curiosity.

"Fine then, I want to see who else gets to enjoy this benefit."

Lin Chen didn't say much more. He took out his phone and started making calls one by one.

First was Su Qingran, then Su Wan, Xia Wanqing, Xia Wanrou, Zhao Mengyao, He Yun, Chen Qian, Chu Feifei, Huang Jiayi, Shen Nian, Qin Shu, and Chen Shuang.

Counting Li Sisi, there were exactly twelve people.

When the call connected, Lin Chen's tone softened slightly, sounding casual.

"Hello, Qingran. I have something to tell you. I've registered an investment company and saved a shareholder position for you. You'll have a 200,000 stake. I'll provide the money, so you don't have to pay a cent. You just need to enjoy the shareholder benefits."

Su Qingran on the other end of the line was clearly stunned for a moment, then let out a cry of surprise.

"Ah? Lin Chen, you're not joking, are you? Isn't this the same as giving me 200,000 for free?"

"It's no big deal. It's just about the same as the price of that bag I bought you last time."

Lin Chen said with a smile.

"I'll send you the relevant materials. Sign them, attach a copy of your ID, and call a courier to send them to the address I'll text to your phone."

There was a two-second silence on Su Qingran's end. Her tone was a bit helpless yet amused.

"Oh, alright then. I'll listen to you."

After hanging up with Su Qingran, Lin Chen called the rest of the people in turn, saying the exact same thing.

The girls on the other end of the phone responded similarly—either surprised or shy—but in the end, they all obediently agreed.

By the afternoon, wave after wave of couriers arrived at the company, piling up on Li Sisi's desk.

Li Sisi looked at the pile of packages, frowned, and turned to Lin Chen. "Brother Chen, so many? Just how many people are there?"

"Including you, there are a total of twelve other individual shareholders."