Chapter 133 - 125: Extortion

Chapter 133: Chapter 125: Extortion

Suddenly,

a pair of warm hands gently came to rest on his temples, massaging them softly.

Gao Yuan didn’t open his eyes. He knew it was Li Mengqing.

If it had been Lin Wanyu, she would have thrown herself into his arms by now.

"My family called today and chewed me out."

"But it’s a good thing in a way. Now they all know I have a boyfriend, so they probably won’t keep forcing me to go on blind dates."

Gao Yuan reached out, took Li Mengqing’s hand, and pulled her onto his lap.

He held her, letting her rest quietly against his chest.

"Just give me a little more time. I’ll definitely sort things out with your family."

Li Mengqing didn’t speak, just nodded obediently.

The two stayed on the balcony for a little while before Gao Yuan put his arm around Li Mengqing and led her back to the living room.

It was already December, and it was quite chilly outside. He couldn’t bear the thought of letting Li Mengqing get cold.

After washing up, the three of them went to bed early tonight.

It had been a long day, and all three were a bit tired. Gao Yuan held them both and fell asleep early.

...

When Gao Yuan arrived at the company the next day, he found it wasn’t as hectic as it had been yesterday.

Although there were still some shipping boxes stacked in the warehouse area waiting to be sent out, it was only about a thousand or so orders, nowhere near yesterday’s insane volume.

In his office, he checked the previous day’s orders. As expected, sales for all three stores had plummeted.

The three stores had only sold a little over two thousand orders in a single day.

However, Gao Yuan wasn’t dissatisfied. This was entirely within his expectations.

Next, Gao Yuan contacted Old Xue. This time, he didn’t bring up a brand endorsement, only asking about the naming rights for his New Year’s Eve concert.

As it turned out, the naming rights for Old Xue’s New Year’s Eve concert had also been sold.

The crucial part was that the buyer was the L’Oreal Group.

This got Gao Yuan excited all over again!

Jay Chou’s side hadn’t announced the change in sponsorship yet. If he could also secure Old Xue’s naming rights and have them both announce the news at the same time...

The shockwave would be even bigger!

’This is getting fun.’ Gao Yuan directly offered Old Xue the same deal he had given Jay Chou yesterday.

Old Xue’s attitude toward the matter wasn’t nearly as rigid. He didn’t care who sponsored the concert; it was just a way to make a little extra money.

Not only did he agree to change the sponsor, but he also said he would record a special video for Gao Yuan’s GY brand and post it on his social media accounts.

This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise for Gao Yuan.

He immediately arranged for someone to send samples to Old Xue. Of course, these samples were also marked by the system.

Meanwhile, Gao Yuan synchronized the information with both Jay Chou and Old Xue, hoping they would choose the same day for their public announcements.

By this point, both of them understood what Gao Yuan was planning.

However, this sort of thing was quite normal in business. Since they had already agreed to switch sponsors, they didn’t mind this minor detail.

After dealing with the naming rights, Gao Yuan called Si Xue into his office.

"How much money do we have on the company’s books right now?"

Si Xue had already guessed Gao Yuan would ask this question when she came over. She had listed out all the upcoming expenses and began her report.

"Currently, the company has a total of 180 million on its books."

"Of that, 100 million needs to be paid to the TikTok platform within the next week."

"In January, we need to pay Jay Chou’s studio 40 million for the 2024 naming rights."

"And by the end of the month, we need to pay the Lin Group 3 million for goods."

...

After Si Xue finished her report, Gao Yuan rubbed his temples and said, "So you’re saying that of the 300 million we had, we’ll only have 76 million left by January?"

"Yes."

Gao Yuan thought for a moment, then said to Si Xue, "Hold off on the payment to the Lin Group for now."

"Contact Old Xue’s studio and pay the fee for the naming rights we just negotiated."

After Si Xue left the office, Gao Yuan did a rough calculation. By January, the company would only have 40 million left in its accounts.

The three stores should generate about 20 million in sales by the end of the month, but that money was on a delayed payment schedule and would only trickle in. This meant that for future operations, he would have around 50 million in liquid capital.

To achieve his goal of earning at least 300 million in 2024, he not only needed to stock enough product but also prepare a sufficient marketing budget in advance.

’This money sure doesn’t last long!’

It hadn’t even been a week since he got the 300 million, and it was almost all gone.

Gao Yuan felt like he was being a massive spendthrift.

’Starting a business is so damn hard. If I had known it would burn through this much money, I would have been better off just focusing on winning over that rich woman, Xiao Xiao.’

’After all, with a rich woman, all you need to contribute is your physical stamina!’

But Gao Yuan knew that a rich woman’s money wasn’t easy to earn, either. A man had to rely on himself, especially since he already had two women of his own.

With some free time on his hands, Gao Yuan opened TikTok to check on the livestream.

Today, the GY flagship store’s livestream looked a little different than before. It was no longer using the background from Jay Chou’s concert, having returned to a regular livestream format that matched the brand’s aesthetic.

The host was in the stream, energetically introducing the products and periodically recommending that viewers buy the bulk-stock packages.

However, the number of people placing orders was clearly much lower than yesterday. Fortunately, the host maintained a positive attitude, and the entire stream ran smoothly.

The company itself was now getting on the right track. GY’s sudden breakout success had been like a shot in the arm for the team, and everyone was fired up and working their hardest.

Gao Yuan was quite satisfied with this situation. At the very least, everyone’s fighting spirit had been ignited. As long as he didn’t drop the ball and provided them with the compensation they deserved, this team would work even harder.