Chapter 143: Scratch Me
Shortly after the plane took off, the stewardess distributed menus for them to order.
Qi Feng had just heard his brother and Fu Yansheng talk about business affairs and he took the opportunity to ask, “Ge, just what has happened at Dad’s company?”
Qi Yu: “A major shareholder was arrested.”
Qi Feng said in shock, “A shareholder was arrested? Are we going back to save him?”
Qi Yu said coldly, “He can’t be saved. He broke the law.”
Qi Feng: “Oh, how will this affect us? Is Dad going to go bankrupt?”
Qi Yu said: “Why is it always bankruptcy with you? Can’t you smarten up a bit?”
Qi Feng felt a little wronged being criticized by his brother. He anxiously wanted to know but he really didn’t understand much about Qi Yuancheng’s company and he didn’t know how to ask.
Qi Yu also felt a bit like scolding him. All these wouldn’t be going over Qi Feng’s head if only he showed some interest in the company. Before, Qi Yu would have to keep bugging his younger brother every time to help him read the company’s information and Qi Feng would only do it because he could no longer avoid it.
Qi Yu impatiently looked down at the menu. He stretched out his hand and pointed at the table in front of Fu Yansheng’s seat. “Please explain to him.”
Seeing Qi Yu kicking the ball to him, Fu Yansheng smiled helplessly. He raised his hand and rubbed the back of Qi Yu’s neck to appease him. Looking at Qi Feng, he asked, “Do you know that your father serves as chairman for a company called the Si Yuan Group?”
Qi Feng was shocked by the scene just now and he unconsciously gulped. “I know.”
Fu Yansheng: “The Si Yuan Group has many shareholders. Your father is the largest shareholder. The second largest shareholder’s surname is Si, and his family is the richest in Haicheng.”
Qi Feng and Ling Ke: “…”
“Of course, the Si Family also has their own group and properties. Si Yuan is just one of the listed companies they’ve invested in.” As though afraid that they wouldn’t understand, Fu Yansheng added, “A listed company is a company that offers stocks to the public.”
Qi Feng had at least a concept of this and he nodded to show that he knew.
The flight attendant just so happened to have brought over some pre-dinner snacks which included a small packet of salt-baked almonds. Fu Yansheng opened the packet and poured the contents onto the small table. He divided the almonds into three parts with his index and middle fingers, and continued, “Assume that these shares belong to the Qi Family, the Si Family and the public, But now, several important powerholders of the Si Family have committed economic crimes. All of them have been arrested and they need to be punished.”
Qi Feng asked, “What kind of punishment?”
“They may be deprived of their political rights for a period of time. The state will also impose heavy fines on the crimes they have committed before. These fines may be range from billions to tens of billions. They may even directly confiscate all the family’s property.” Fu Yansheng pointed to one portion of the almonds and said, “These shares are still theirs for now. When the punishment is imposed, they may be forced to auction off these shares. It is uncertain who will take over or even whether anyone will take over.”
Qi Feng stared at the several almonds belonging to his family and said, “But isn’t our family’s shares still there?”
“It seems so right now.” Fu Yansheng pointed to the almonds belonging to the public, and said, “However, when the public initially bought the shares of Si Yuan Group, they made a comprehensive evaluation of the company and confirmed that these shares would keep their value or that they could make money off it. Now that the second shareholder has met an incident, there may be a lot of people who will feel a sense of crisis because of this instability. They would then scramble to sell these shares. Do you know what determines the price of a stock?”
Before Qi Feng could react, Ling Ke, who was beside him, had already said, “Supply and demand.”
Fu Yansheng: “Yes, if everyone rushes to sell or discard something, its value will depreciate. The operations of most listed companies rely on bank loans, investments from fund companies and other such sources. In case this turmoil causes shareholders to withdraw their capital, the company’s assets would shrink and the banks and investors will also cash out as soon as possible. At that time, the sources of funding will dry up and the ongoing projects will be unable to proceed. The company will be unable to pay their suppliers and they’ll be unable to generate profits. It is not impossible for the company to go bankrupt.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Fu Yansheng: “…”
The man coughed lightly and said hurriedly, “Si Yuan Group though, has industrial support, unlike shell companies without substance. So long as they make a timely response and try to maintain the existing shareholding structure, the group’s losses can be reduced to a minimum.”
Qi Feng and Ling Ke breathed a sigh of relief.
Moreover, Fu Yansheng’s explanation just now made Qi Feng, who usually had no interest in the company, curious. He asked Fu Yansheng a lot of questions that centered around this topic.
The stewardess brought over their meal and the three of them chatted while eating. Qi Yu, though, became lost in thought, thinking about Fu Yansheng’s “shell companies without any substance.” comment.
He remembered how he had added Fu Yansheng as a friend because he was researching Mei Wei’s financial report. If Fu Yansheng hadn’t reminded him to have his father investigate and deal with the problem, taking back part of Mei Wei’s stocks a year ago, then there would have been a possibility that Mei Wei, now that Si Holdings has run into a problem, might actually have changed hands…
Qi Yu felt lingering fears at what might have been. He glanced at Fu Yansheng, only to see that Fu Yansheng was still answering silly “what is capital stock?” and “what is a fund company?” kind of questions for his silly brother. He couldn’t help but recall the first time he asked Fu Yansheng for guidance.
At that time, Fu Yansheng said to him on WeChat, “The question you just asked was like asking me how I calculated 1+1=2. Don’t I have to spend time thinking about how to answer such an obvious question for you?” He’d felt that Fu Yansheng had been mocking him. He had been so angry that he wanted to drag him out through the phone and beat him up…
At this moment, he watched as his younger brother “made things difficult” for Fu Yansheng, asking question that even he, his own biological brother, didn’t have the patience to explain. He was a top student in F University. If there was something he didn’t understand, couldn’t Qi Feng just read the encyclopedia by himself?
But Fu Yansheng showed not the least bit impatience because of this. Although he occasionally frowned slightly, as if thinking about how to answer “1+1”, after clearly sorting out his thoughts, he would explain it systematically. In order to make Qi Feng better understand the related concepts, he would even tell him some small stories from the industry, just like he how explained to Qi Yu in the beginning.
It wasn’t until the meal was over that Qi Feng, although he had yet to fully exhaust his questions, reluctantly stopped with his questions. He whispered to Ling Ke, “It seems like it would be fun to start and run a business…”
Qi Yu was a little surprised. He looked at Fu Yansheng thoughtfully and said, “You’re really suitable to be a teacher.”
Fu Yansheng put the knife and fork back onto the tray and asked, “Is that so…”
“En…” Qi Yu remembered something, “Before I left Haicheng last time, I went to see Si Hang and asked Xu Yizhou a question.”
Fu Yansheng: “What?”
Qi Yu: “I asked him why he won’t teach Si Hang well. In fact, Si Hang doesn’t know much about the truth of what his brother does. He’s not really someone who’s committed some sort of unforgivable crime. But do you know what answer Xu Yizhou gave me?”
Fu Yansheng: “…What did he answer?”
Qi Yu: “He said that not everyone is as patient as you are.”
Fu Yansheng was momentarily stunned. He looked at him and said, “I’m really not that patient with everyone. Isn’t this because I like you?”
Qi Yu: “…”
Qi Yu didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but he thought Qi Feng and Ling Ke, who had been whispering beside them, suddenly fell silent.
Fu Yansheng didn’t shy away from arousing suspicion. He even glanced at them and whispered to Qi Yu, “After all, they are your younger brothers. In the future, we will all be family so I have to be a bit patient.”
Qi Yu suddenly grabbed the blanket and stuffed it into Fu Yansheng’s arms. He closed his eyes and said, “Go to sleep. Stop talking…”
After quieting down, the four of them felt a little drowsy and for a long period after, they didn’t chat as much as they had at the beginning because whenever someone woke up, there was always someone else who was still asleep.
During the times Qi Feng woke up, he saw his brother still sleeping soundly… He didn’t know what he did last night for him to be that tired.
At one meal time, the stewardess came to ask them what they would like to eat and Fu Yansheng made a silent gesture at her, telling her not to disturb Qi Yu’s sleep.
It was only halfway through the flight that Qi Yu opened his eyes. And even though he’d woken up, he didn’t get up, lying there lazily. Qi Feng saw Fu Dage lean in close to him, asking how he was. He then rang the bell for the flight attendant to deliver some water and coffee.
Qi Feng listened to them whispering by the side. They clearly weren’t doing anything outrageous, but he felt that the ambiguous atmosphere around him was about to condense into a ball and wrap him in it. His entire body felt ill at ease.
He looked at Ling Ke and whispered, “Ke Ke…”
Ling Ke was watching a movie. He took off his headphones and asked, “Huh?”
Qi Feng hugged himself and blinked twice, “I think I’m feeling a little itchy right now.”
Ling Ke: “???”
Qi Feng: “Scratch me.”
Ling Ke silently stretched out his hand and scratched him for a bit.
Qi Feng closed his eyes and hummed, “I feel better…”
Ling Ke: “Then why are you still frowning?”
Qi Feng said in distress: “I just have a question that I don’t understand…”
Ling Ke: “What’s the question?”
Qi Feng: “I’ll tell you when we get off the plane.”
***
Fifteen hours later, the plane slowly landed at Haicheng International Airport.
As soon as he turned his phone on, a bunch of messages poured in. Qi Yu opened WeChat and glanced at it. He saw that there was also a message from Su Jing.
Su Jing: “Something has happened to the Si family!”
Su Jing: “You? Last time?”
Su Jing: “F*ck…”
Su Jing: “Meet with me and have a chat?”
Qi Yu’s eyes lit up. He quickly showed Fu Yansheng the message and asked, “Should invite him out?”
Fu Yansheng: “Okay.”
Qi Yu replied to Su Jing: “I just arrived in Haicheng. Do you have time to meet with me?”
The voice of the flight attendant prompting them to get off the plane came from overhead. The passengers got up one after another. At this moment, Fu Yansheng’s cell phone also rang.
The man glanced at the screen of the mobile phone, gave Qi Yu a wink and answered the call. “Hello? Chairman Qi…Okay, I’m here. I understand…” After hanging up, he said to Qi Yu, “Your dad asked me if I was at the office. He said he’ll meet me later.”
Qi Yu: “…”
Fu Yansheng took down Qi Yu’s carry-on luggage and said, “You go down first. I’ll leave later.”
Qi Yu frowned: “Will you make it in time?”
Fu Yansheng: “Help me delay him for a few minutes and I should be able to make it.”
Qi Yu gave an “en” and didn’t say much after. Just as he was about to take Qi Feng and Ling Ke out of the cabin, Fu Yansheng grabbed him again. The man quickly placed a kiss on his temple and said in a low voice, “I’ll see you in a while.”
Qi Yu: “…”
Qi Feng and Ling Ke saw this scene from behind them. When they were about to get out of the cabin, Qi Feng also grabbed Ling Ke’s arm and said, heart itching, “Give me a kiss.”
The corners of Ling Ke’s lips twitched. “Don’t make trouble…”
Qi Yu took his younger brothers to meet up with his parents and Secretary He at the luggage area. When they left the airport, the ground was damp and water stained.
Yesterday, it already rained for an entire day but the skies had yet to clear. The sky was overcast, which seemed to foreshadow everything they were about to face.
Secretary He arranged for the company’s car to pick them up in advance. Jiang Ying also called the family driver to bring Qi Feng and Ling Ke home first. Qi Yu would go with his dad to the office.
They put away their luggage in the car and were about to get to set off when Qi Yu suddenly said, “Dad, wait. I need to go to the bathroom…”
Qi Yuancheng’s mind was all on business and he didn’t have the slightest suspicions. He waved his hand while on the phone and said, “Go.”
————
【Little Theater】
Qi Feng: I just have a question that I don’t understand – how could such a Type-A person like my brother be a shou?
Ling Ke pushed up his glasses: Hey.
————
Qi Feng: Ke Ke, give me a kiss, kiss please, kiss please!
Hmph, isn’t it just spreading dog food? Come on then, let’s deal mutual damage!
Ahahahaha the little theatre (/>v<)/~
Thanks for the Chapter! ♥️
Pfft- Mutual damage- Haha, Little Feng is as petty as ever and Ke Ke is as adorable as ever~ Seeing the FengKe and YuYansheng pairs side by side like this really shows how different and similar these two brothers are- Ah, the third ‘brother’ doesn’t count and the fourth one is still underground XD
Hehe loving these double date interactions
thanks for the chapter.
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️
Hoping for more future interactions between LK and FYS, they are both really smart albeit in their own ways. I just love seeing great brains at work.
PS: The Qi brothers just had to get partners that are smarter than them, didn’t they?
Keke had helped his ge shao since QY’s initial position picking ah..