Chapter 426 - 219: The Acquisition Plan Begins

Tianfu Airport.

The Bombardier 7500 landed, coming to a smooth stop at its designated spot on the tarmac.

As the airstairs lowered, Qi Sheng was hit by a wave of heat.

In late May, Chengdu was so hot that even the stray dogs on the street couldn’t help but lie on their backs with their bellies in the air.

After a quick security check, Qi Sheng got into the Cullinan he hadn’t seen in a while.

The person who came to pick him up was none other than Lu Fang, the CEO of Jinshi Capital.

Lately, Lu Fang’s emotions had been on a roller coaster ride.

She had been stuck in endless back-and-forth negotiations with several local industrial funds over the details of their contributions.

Who would have thought that her boss would just go out for a bit and effortlessly close a four-billion-yuan funding gap?

In less than half a month, he had completed a five-billion-yuan fundraising round.

That level of efficiency was truly astonishing.

Since the fundraising was complete, Lu Fang had tactfully informed the industrial funds.

Unexpectedly, this only made the industrial funds even more interested.

A fundraising scale of a full five billion yuan.

That was no small sum, even looking at the entire country.

For Jinshi Capital, a newly established venture capital firm, to have such fundraising capabilities was remarkable.

To these industrial funds, it naturally made Jinshi Capital a more desirable fund manager.

Qin Qingyi, who had the good fortune to be traveling with them, felt her head spin as she listened to the astronomical figures that occasionally came out of Lu Fang’s mouth.

Figures that would be astronomical to an ordinary person were just a perfectly normal string of numbers in the conversation between Lu Fang and Qi Sheng.

Especially when she heard that Qi Sheng now had five billion yuan in cash at his disposal, Qin Qingyi couldn’t help but feel her mouth go dry.

She had reached a new level of understanding about just how rich her boss was.

When they passed Qin Qingyi’s home, Gu Feng stopped the car.

"Thank you, Boss. I’ll get going, then. If you have any plans, just let me know in advance."

Standing by the roadside, Qin Qingyi politely thanked Qi Sheng, who was in the car.

"Alright. Get some good rest over the next few days."

Qi Sheng smiled and raised the window, and the Cullinan started to move.

’Qin Qingyi, you have to keep working hard!’

She watched as the four Carlyles escorting the Cullinan in their midst drove away.

Qin Qingyi withdrew her gaze and returned to her rented apartment.

The experiences of the past few days were certainly a little hard for her to adjust to.

Switching from a private jet company to work for Qi Sheng as his exclusive flight attendant seemed like a good thing, but it had a profound impact on Qin Qingyi’s prospects for finding a partner.

After being around a god-tier boss who was top-class in every respect, how could she ever find an ordinary guy appealing?

The problem was, her boss was surrounded by beautiful women. How could he possibly have the energy to notice her?

...

Kuanzhai Alley, Zifei Restaurant.

Lu Fang had called ahead, which was the only reason they were able to get a table.

For some time now, the hottest high-end restaurant in Chengdu had been Zifei, which stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Even after the price of its most basic tasting menu was raised to 1,500 yuan, it still couldn’t stop enthusiastic diners from flocking to it.

Even tourists from out of town would come to check it out, drawn by its reputation.

This only further boosted Zifei’s popularity.

"A table is hard to come by" was the most fitting description of just how explosively popular Zifei’s business was.

"Hello, Boss!"

Looking at their handsome, god-like boss, the eyes of every waitress at Zifei Restaurant were sparkling.

After all, their boss was even more handsome than a male celebrity.

Many of her colleagues had even set his photo as their lock screen wallpaper.

"Carry on with your work."

Qi Sheng smiled and waved, leading Lu Fang into Private Room 1.

Seeing Lu Fang walk in with a tall, handsome man, the middle-aged men who had been sitting, chatting, and drinking tea all rose to their feet.

"President Lu."

"Everyone, this is the chairman of our Jinshi Capital, Mr. Qi Sheng."

After formally introducing Qi Sheng, Lu Fang then introduced the heads of the various industrial funds to him.

Qi Sheng shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with each of them before they all took their seats.

"Boss, should I have them start serving the food now?"

A waitress came over and carefully asked for instructions.

"Yes, we can eat while we talk."

Qi Sheng nodded with a smile. "Arrange the Master’s Omakase for us, and have Chef Yu prepare it himself."

"Of course."

The waitress respectfully exited the private room and contacted the kitchen through her earpiece.

"Chairman Qi, this Zifei Restaurant of yours under Zhuangyu Catering is doing incredibly well. I can’t imagine how many people are envious," one of the more portly industrial fund heads remarked with a cheerful laugh.

"You’re too kind, President Huang. No matter how popular Zifei gets, the number of restaurants is still limited."

"Now that I’m back from fundraising in Shanghai, I’ll be increasing the investment in Zhuangyu Catering."

"That includes the organic farm project, which will also see increased investment as appropriate."

Qi Sheng knew exactly what these industrial fund heads were thinking.

They were willing to contribute capital, but the reinvestment ratio had to be no less than their investment amount.

For example, if they invested five hundred million yuan, that five hundred million would have to be invested in companies within their own province.

This was equivalent to driving local employment.

Despite this restriction, there were still plenty of venture capital firms, desperate for funding, that would agree without a moment’s hesitation.

"I’ve heard President Lu talk about Zhuangyu’s organic farm project. That’s exactly the kind of project we love to see."

This President Huang, whom Lu Fang had singled out in her introductions, was finally showing his hand.

As long as Qi Sheng was willing to accept their terms, they could help Jinshi Capital achieve an oversubscribed fundraising round.

A fully subscribed round and an oversubscribed round.

It might seem like a small difference on paper, but the significance was vastly different.

Any firm that managed to secure an oversubscribed round was invariably a star company in the investment world.

If a newly established venture capital firm were to pull off the feat of an oversubscribed round, it would undoubtedly shock the entire investment circle and massively boost its reputation.

"If the amount of your contribution is satisfactory to me, I can guarantee that two companies, each with a market cap in the hundreds of billions, will be established in Chengdu in the future."