Chapter 94: Beautiful Sailor

After the meal, Zhuo Xiuwen left with his secretary.

Chen Weiqiang, Liu Shiqi, and Zheng Qian remained in the private room.

"President Chen, didn't you say it was already settled?" Liu Shiqi asked, a bit confused.

"Sigh... We talked it all through a couple of days ago; I'm frustrated too." Chen Weiqiang sighed.

Zhuo Xiuwen's backing out had disrupted his plans for the second half of the year.

"Do you think what he said is true? Some senior predecessor looking for him?" Liu Shiqi asked.

"It doesn't seem fake."

"I suspect that Elder Hu from the Yamei Group must have intervened personally."

Chen Weiqiang told them that back in the day, Tianxia Shipping only had seven or eight people and three or four ships. It was acquired by Elder Hu of the Yamei Group and cultivated by him personally, and the two companies once had a deep cooperative relationship.

Although they have parted ways now, the favor from back then still remains.

The senior predecessor Zhuo Xiuwen mentioned is very likely Elder Hu from the Yamei Group, who is also Hu Yuebin's father.

"Forget it, I can't blame him." Although Chen Weiqiang said this, he felt extremely unwilling to give up.

Now, he could only hope that Zheng Qian's passionate speech at the Maritime Trade Summit would attract some investment; Chen Weiqiang would figure out the rest later.

"President Chen, how about this? I have some spare cash on hand; why don't I invest it in the company first?" Seeing Chen Weiqiang so frustrated, Zheng Qian couldn't help but feel a bit sympathetic.

He had over 100 million in his account. Since it was just sitting there, he might as well take it out to expand the scale of Zhengxin Shipyard.

"How much more can you put up?"

"50 million is no problem." Zheng Qian said confidently.

Chen Weiqiang was extremely surprised.

Damn it, is this kid Zheng Qian's family running a money-printing factory?

Did the money come from a strong wind, or did they print it overnight?

With such deep pockets, why bother being an entrepreneur? He could already be called a success, couldn't he?

Buying a couple of small islands in the Pacific and enjoying life would be so good; why insist on diving into the treacherous business world?

Chen Weiqiang couldn't understand this.

"I also met two presidents during the day. They have a substantial amount of capital they are willing to entrust to me, which is also around 50 million."

"If President Zheng and I pool our resources, we can scrape together 100 million."

Only then did Zheng Qian realize the purpose of Liu Shiqi attending the Maritime Trade Summit.

She didn't have much interest in maritime transport. At Zhengxin Shipyard, she was just a nominal Vice President, a hands-off manager who didn't worry about anything. She came here just to see if she could network with some clients.

Although she was attending as a representative of the Zhongguang Fund, she wasn't here to throw money around, but to collect money.

What a shrewd woman!

Zheng Qian couldn't help but exclaim in his heart.

Zhengxin Shipyard had been developing well over the past half year, and the shipping schedules for their existing ships were already fully booked for the second half of the year.

Chen Weiqiang didn't want to waste this six-month growth period, which is why he came to discuss financing, wanting to buy more ships for the company to operate.

He believed that the Yamei Group would collapse sooner or later, and when that happened, Zhengxin Shipyard would be the undisputed leader in Yebai.

The three of them finally decided that Zheng Qian would stay in Modu to finish attending the Maritime Trade Summit to see if anyone would be willing to invest in Zhengxin Shipyard over the next few days; if so, he would do his utmost to secure it.

"President Chen and I will fly to Xiamen urgently. If that president is willing to invest in us, then you two won't need to put up money. We'll talk about it when it reaches a critical point."

After the decision was made, Zheng Qian was granted full authority by Chen Weiqiang and stayed at the Dizun Hotel.

The two of them flew urgently to Xiamen.

Upon returning to the room, Xiao Xinhao eagerly stepped forward and asked, "How was it? Did you close the deal?"

Zheng Qian pursed his lips and shook his head silently.

Xiao Xinhao did not attend the banquet that evening. Although he was close to Zheng Qian, he wasn't qualified enough.

"Elder Hu from the Yamei Group intervened personally and snatched the investment away."

"That old guy actually showed up? It seems you guys really messed up the Yamei Group!"

Xiao Xinhao had asked a few friends in the industry to quietly inquire about Zhengxin Shipyard. He heard about the recent business war with the Yamei Group, where both sides used various tactics, but in the end, Zhengxin Shipyard had the upper hand and managed to impound almost all of the Yamei Group's ships at the dock.

"Elder Hu is a legendary figure. Decades ago, he was a hegemon in the Jiangnan and Modu regions, and even those foreign companies had to give him some face."

"Then how did it become like this now?" Zheng Qian asked.

"There were problems with the company's planning. The Jiangnan waters, Modu waters, and the Northeast waters have been key waters for thousands of years. I don't know what Elder Hu was thinking at the time, but he insisted on placing the company's focus on Yenan Dock. As a result, one wrong step led to every step being wrong."

"The Yamei Group has long since lost its dominance at sea and has been gradually surpassed by others who took over the market."

"After Elder Hu retired and his son, Hu Yuebin, took over, the company fared even worse. Bankruptcy and liquidation are only a matter of time."

"The Yamei Group has no vitality left now, but Elder Hu doesn't want to watch the Yamei Group become a mess waiting for bankruptcy, which is probably why he intervened personally."

A sense of realization dawned on Zheng Qian.

The Yamei Group actually had such an unknown history.

Zheng Qian had always thought that the Yamei Group started going downhill only after Hu Yuebin took over. It turned out it had already begun to decline long ago.

The third day.

Zheng Qian had no interest in the awards ceremony for contributions to the maritime trade industry, but since other presidents would be attending, he had to attend as well in order to wait for potential investors.

"You don't understand the way things work today, do you?" Xiao Xinhao said with a smile.

"Hmm? What's the way things work today? Isn't it just an awards ceremony?"

Xiao Xinhao shook his head, denying Zheng Qian's assumption.

He told Zheng Qian that although today looked like an awards ceremony, it was actually an occasion for those captains and sailors to find new employers for their teams.

Hearing his explanation, Zheng Qian suddenly realized.

No wonder there were so many people wearing white and gold captain uniforms today; Zheng Qian had thought so many people were receiving awards.

"Why are there women going up to receive awards?" Zheng Qian frowned, looking at the several graceful and lively young women on the stage, wearing white sailor uniforms and white hats, looking a bit like the "uniform temptation" scenes from Japanese movies.

In Zheng Qian's understanding, 99% of people doing this work were male. Suddenly seeing seven or eight women pop up really opened his eyes.

Zheng Qian looked around and found that others didn't seem surprised.

"Well... they aren't working on cargo ships; they are from international cruise ships. Didn't they introduce them just now..." Xiao Xinhao patiently explained to Zheng Qian.

These girls won the award because they risked their lives to save 25 tourists during a cruise ship fire, earning honor for the cruise company, so they received the Outstanding Contribution Award.

"Do you think they might also be here to find a new employer?"

"It's possible. Any sailor or captain who can appear here today might be. Why don't we go over and ask?"

"Let's go!"