Chapter 1714: Pleasant Cooperation

“President Xu, back then my grandpa held 35% of the shares in your company. My condition this time is to raise that 35% to 49%. But rest assured, I’m not going to interfere with you. Your company is still your company, I just want my cut of the dividends at year-end according to my share ratio. I won’t interfere in any aspect of your company, nor in your personal affairs. On the contrary, if you need any help, you can come straight to me.”

As soon as he said this, Xu Hongxing sucked in a sharp breath.

He hadn’t expected Xu Ke to really dare say it, opening his mouth and directly asking for 49% of his company.

Right now in Red Star Group, aside from the 35% that Old Master Xu used to hold, the remaining 74% of the shares are all in Xu Hongxing’s hands.

As for that last 1%, it’s held by the other members of the board.

The people on the board are very clear they’re basically just here to make up the numbers.

All they hope for is to get some money from the year-end dividends, that’s enough.

As for the company’s day-to-day decisions, it’s entirely up to Xu Hongxing alone.

Only when he runs into something big he can’t handle will he consult the other shareholders.

Otherwise, on normal days, the board at most is just for show. Its existence is purely for the employees to see.

These 49% of shares already make up half the company; in other words, to some extent Xu Ke would be able to sit on equal footing with him.

Xu Hongxing started hesitating, wondering whether this deal was worth it or not.

After all, we’re talking about 49% of the company. This company is the career he’s fought for most of his life.

Seeing Xu Hongxing hesitate and waver, Xu Ke knew exactly what this guy was worried about.

“President Xu, you don’t need to worry. Didn’t I already say? Even though I’d hold 49%, my joining in would bring a lot of convenience to the company. I’ll use Xu Group’s resources to introduce lots of business to you. And I won’t interfere with your company’s independent decision-making, nor any of your decisions. In other words, I just want to sit back and collect the money, I don’t want to do anything else. Besides, I don’t even care about this little asset of yours. You know very well how strong Xu Group is.”

Even though Xu Ke’s words sounded unpleasant at some points, Xu Hongxing knew he was just stating facts.

Xu Group’s companies are already spread all over the country; you can even hear people in the most remote towns talking about Xu Group.

That alone is enough to show how influential they are domestically, enough to show how strong they are right now.

Xu Hongxing is very self-aware; he knows the gap between himself and Xu Group isn’t just a tiny bit.

And what Xu Ke just said is absolutely true: he really doesn’t have his eye on this tiny business.

At this moment, Xu Hongxing also started to vaguely understand why Xu Ke wanted to do this.

It looks like he just wants to treat this as a pure money-making project; as for anything else, he doesn’t want to think too much.

If that’s really the case, then for Xu Hongxing, this is indeed extremely favorable.

First, he can leverage Xu Group’s resources to rapidly expand his own company.

After all, he’s already the Boss in the domestic services sector; if he expands further, his business will be all over the country.

As long as the company scales up, their returns will definitely be better than now.

If the returns grow, then Xu Hongxing honestly doesn’t feel stingy about that bit of money.

What’s more, from a long-term perspective, this is very beneficial to both sides.

It’s not like Xu Ke has any reason to trick him, and this partnership is basically mutually beneficial and win–win.

After a tough internal struggle, Xu Hongxing finally decided to cooperate with Xu Ke.

After all, his current situation is already very grim; if he can’t even solve the immediate problems, how can he talk about the future?

“President Xu, I agree to work with you. But I also have one condition: Xu Group is not allowed to poach people from our company. We don’t have many people to begin with; if your company starts stirring things up, then we’re really done for.”

Even though that sounded harsh, it was simply the truth.

Xu Hongxing knows the internal situation of his own company very well. The domestic services industry already struggles to attract talent, especially with business being so hard this year.

Xu Ke froze for a moment; he hadn’t expected Xu Hongxing to throw this at him.

To be honest, he really doesn’t think much of the people inside Red Star Group.

Xu Group’s recruitment standards are arguably the highest among all companies, and also the strictest.

Granted, you can’t say everyone in his company is a top elite, but when it comes to talent, they dare claim second, and no other company would dare claim first.

“You can rest assured on that point. I will absolutely not poach from your company. In fact, I think later on you’ll definitely come to borrow people from us. With the number of people you have now, I don’t think you’ll be able to support the business that’s coming.”

Xu Ke’s words left Xu Hongxing stunned for a good while; he couldn’t figure out what exactly Xu Ke meant.

It wasn’t until he looked at what was on his computer that he suddenly understood.

Right, once he establishes a partnership with Xu Group, there will be a steady stream of orders pouring in from that side.

By then, the current staff in his company definitely won’t be enough; he might even have to expand recruitment.

Thinking of this, Xu Hongxing became extremely excited. The stars and the sea are right ahead of him; just a bit more effort and he can reach them—how could he not be happy?

“President Xu, thank you so much. You’ve really helped me out big-time this time. In future, as long as you say the word, I’ll go through fire and water for you.”

Xu Ke nodded lightly. In fact, he didn’t take what Xu Hongxing said to heart at all.

All that “go through fire and water, no regrets” stuff is just polite talk.

Unless it’s a brother you’d die for, in the business world you should never believe these words.

Ever since Xu Ke took the chairman’s seat, he’s come to understand a lot of things he didn’t know before.

Don’t be fooled by those people laughing and grinning at you on the surface; who knows how many times they’ve cursed you behind your back.

Just a while ago, Xu Ke was still working with a certain company, but in the end that company suddenly and inexplicably went bankrupt.

He only found out when the police released a public report.

Turned out the president’s wife at that company had somehow managed to siphon off a huge amount of the company’s cash.

And that wife had actually been cheating many years prior.

She took all of that president’s assets and ran off with her lover.

That president was basically ruined by his own wife for no good reason.

Thinking of that piece of news, Xu Ke still felt a bit shocked.

Betrayed by the person on your pillow—he figured that president must have been crushed inside.