Chapter 152: Weeds Team
The two met at a café. After two years, Xiao Ye looked a little more mature than before but he was still shy when he met face to face with Qi Yu. Maybe it was because he was there to ask for something, he was acting quite nervous. He sat in front of Qi Yu with his hands on his knees, he kept faltering and couldn’t get to the point even after a good few minutes.
Qi Yu said: “I know a little about your situation. If you have a request, just say it.”
It was only then that Xiao Ye was able the summon his courage to talk. He still had a year and three months left in his contract with Si Hang. Now that Hangfan Technology had met with this mishap, the company couldn’t even pay their salaries. The players in the club were clamoring for their contracts to be terminated early. However, if they were to do it through litigation, it would take at least a year. Taking into consideration how the Si Family couldn’t even take care of themselves, once the case finishes, they might not even have enough money to pay damages.
One year for an e-sports players wasn’t the same as a year for workers in other industries. No one wanted their usable years to be consumed like this. Hearing that Lin Huan wanted to buy them as a whole, some people were very happy but Xiao Ye was unwilling.
Qi Yu was a little surprised. He thought that it was only Si Hang, this rash kid, who couldn’t understand the situation. He didn’t expect that Xiao Ye would stand with Si Hang at this time.
Qi Yu asked, “I heard that Lin Huan’s club is the strongest club in your game. Why don’t you want to go?”
Xiao Ye clenched his fists tightly. “LAS is our mortal enemy. If we go there, it would feel like we’ve been taken prisoners. Some people could stomach that but I can’t. Besides, Fang Ting has always disliked me…”
Qi Yu interrupted him: “Who’s Fang Ting?”
Xiao Ye: “Fang Ting is the captain of LAS and LAS is Lin Huan’s team…”
Qi Yu: “Oh, go on.”
Xiao Ye: “I heard that Lin Huan treats Fang Ting like his own brother. They may just want to buy me in order to shelf me. Or, they’re going to make me a substitute. One mountain can’t bear two tigers. If I had to go there and see Fang Ting’s face every day, then better just kill me!”
Qi Yu: “…”
Xiao Ye talked about the grievances and resentments between their team and LAS. Hearing it all, Qi Yu’s felt a little dazed, he asked, “Then, what are your plans now?”
Xiao Ye suppressed the murderous aura in his eyes and said, “Yu Ge, we talked in West City two years ago…”
Qi Yu reacted, “Do you want to form your own team?”
Xiao Ye showed an embarrassed expression on his face again. “En, I have never given up on this idea and I’ve been keeping in touch with my former teammates. Truth be told, during the past few years here with Si Hang, I’ve saved up some money. My original plan was to wait for the contract to expire in a year, after which I could go out and form my own team. I talked to Hang Ge and he told me that after Hangfan Technology goes public, he also plans to sell the company within a year so he didn’t mind me leaving. But we didn’t expect things to turn out like this… In this case, I don’t want to waste time any more. You told me at the time that if after three years, I still want to do this, I should bring my team to find you. Although I’m a year early, I still want to fight for this… Hang Ge said, as long as it’s not Lin Huan, if someone else takes over, he’s willing to let me go.”
Si Hang was willing to let Xiao Ye go, but the team responsible for cleaning up the Si Family’s mess was not. there was still money to be made from Xiao Ye’s one-year contract. If Xiao Ye wanted to terminate the contract early, not only would he have to pay it himself, he might also be asked to pay a penalty. If he does, he won’t have any money to form a team. If he waits for a year for the contract to expire, the gains won’t make up for the losses. If Xiao Ye hadn’t found himself at this impasse, he wouldn’t have come to Qi Yu at this time.
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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Qi Yu thought for a moment and said, “Xiao Ye, frankly speaking, my family has also been caught up in this incident with the Si Family. Funds right now are very tight within the group. All of the company’s investment projects have been stopped. The funds in reserve are all being used to maintain the company’s stock price. As a friend, I really want to help you. But if you’re looking for me to invest, I’m a businessman and businessmen do not do business at a loss…”
Xiao Ye: “…”
Qi Yu took a sip of coffee and turned the direction of the conversation. “Let’s do it this way. I’ll give you three days and you will give me a detailed plan for forming your team. I want to know your plan, your team members and your profit model. I also need you to explain to me the current situation and long-term prospects of your game industry. When the time comes, I will find a professional to evaluate your plan. If it’s evaluated to be feasible, I will have our Shanyu invest in you. But if the investment risk is too high, the only thing I can do is talk to Si Hang for you as your friend. We’ll find a way for you to terminate your contract at the lowest possible price. What do you think?”
Upon hearing Qi Yu’s words, Xiao Ye’s darkened eyes lit up once again. His eyes were full of gratitude and he nodded instantly, “Okay, I’ll do it right away!”
After parting ways from Xiao Ye, Qi Yu called back Si Hang and told him that Xiao Ye had come to see him. After all, Xiao Ye was still a player under contract with Hangfan Technology. Neither of the two plans Qi Yu just proposed to the other party could be done bypassing Si Hang.
Si Hang was almost brought to tears with joy when he learned that Qi Yu was willing to take action. When he’d asked Qi Yu for help the day before yesterday, Qi Yu refused outright on the grounds that “I don’t understand e-sports”.
Qi Yu said: “Don’t celebrate just yet. I only promised to help Xiao Ye and I still have to see if he has a feasible plan before deciding whether to help or not. I didn’t say I would help the whole FTD Team. Except for the rich and powerful Lin Huan no one else even wants to come into contact with your mess. He’s the only one who’s going to be willing to clean that up.”
Si Hang said, “As long as Xiao Ye doesn’t go to LAS, anything will do!”
Qi Yu was dumbfounded. “Si Hang, you should be more mature too. Your brother and your father have tried their best to keep you away from the Si Family’s business, so as to keep you safe and sound and your head’s still filled with resentments in the esports circle?”
Si Hang was silent for a couple of seconds and then let out another whimper.
Qi Yu said, feeling a headache coming on. “Don’t cry. A big grown man crying all day long, how would that look like? You’d better follow Lawyer Yin from now own and thoroughly understand your family’s situation. If there’s something you don’t understand, ask. If there’s something you can’t do, learn. If you go on like this, I won’t want to deal with you anymore!”
Si Hang choked and begged for mercy, “I’ll learn, I’ll learn. Don’t ignore me, I’m your friend now…”
Qi Yu hung up the phone helplessly.
Qi Yu gave Xiao Ye a deadline of three days, but in just one night, Xiao Ye’s team completed their team formation plan. He sent a message, asking Qi Yu when he was free, saying that he could bring the team members to meet him at any time.
Qi Yu went to Fengmao to find Fu Yansheng for lunch at noon and he took this opportunity to tell Fu Yansheng about this matter. Fu Yansheng was puzzled when he heard him, “You’re still planning to invest in an esports team at this time?”
Qi Yu sighed, “Two years ago in West City, I heard Xiao Ye tell his story and on impulse, I gave him a promise. I know the timing’s not good, but since he came begging for my help now, I can’t just pretend nothing happened… I asked him to make a plan. Help me look it over. If you think it’s a lost cause, I’ll forget it. ”
Fu Yansheng looked at him with a smile. He shook his head and said, “Only someone with a ‘true temperament’ like you could extend this kind of help.”
The words “true temperament”, Fu Yansheng spoke slowly, as though he were teasing.
Qi Yu raised his eyebrows. “You don’t support it?”
Fu Yansheng served him some fish. He leaned in closer and lowering his voice, “How can I not support what my wife wants to do?”
Qi Yu was stunned, chopsticks frozen in mid-air. He reacted a second later, glaring at him: “Who’s your…wife?” In public, he had to suppress the last word, pulling down his imposing manner.
Fu Yansheng’s lips ticked up. “Let them come over.”
Qi Yu’s gaze involuntarily landed on the Buddha beads around Fu Yansheng’s wrist. He asked, “Is Xu Jing still in the office?”
“Yeah,” Fu Yansheng raised his eyes, “if you don’t want to see him, you can call them over after seven o’clock in the evening or have them wait two more days. After this Friday, he is officially resigned.”
Qi Yu thought for a while, then hesitantly said, “Did he tell you where he’s going next?”
Fu Yansheng: “No.”
Qi Yu didn’t ask further. He sent a message to Xiao Ye and asked him to bring his team to the café on the first floor of Fengmao at 7:30 pm. In the afternoon, he went back to the Science and Technology Department and busied himself with work for a while. When it was almost time, he asked Wang Meng to take him to Fengmao.
At 7:15 in the evening, Xiao Ye and the others were already waiting in the café. There were seven people in total. Qi Yu swept his eyes over them and saw that they were all eighteen or nineteen-year-olds. The oldest was only in his early twenties. Two of them also had their their hair dyed in eye-catching colors. They looked like a bunch of non-mainstream, chuuni teenagers.
Xiao Ye got up and said, “Yu Ge, these are my bro-… uh, future team members.” He then introduced Qi Yu to his group of brothers, “This is our future boss… uh, maybe.”
Several people respectfully greeted, “Hello, Yu Ge” and “Hello, Boss”. They introduced themselves one by one. The eldest among them was called Bai Cao. He was tall and the most sedate among the seven; only that when facing Qi Yu, it was hard for him to hide the nervousness in his eyes.
When Qi Yu saw one of the young men stuffing an unfinished hamburger into his bag, he asked, “You haven’t eaten yet?”
Bai Cao hurriedly said, “We ate. We bought McDonald’s at the high-speed rail station.”
Qi Yu was stunned. “You came from outside the city?”
Xiao Ye explained, “They don’t live in Haicheng. They bought high-speed rail tickets this afternoon to come here from N city.”
Qi Yu nodded and said calmly, “Then, let’s head up and have that meeting.”
The group took the elevator upstairs. Fu Yansheng heard they were coming and came out of the office, entering the conference room with them.
After everyone was seated, they opened their presentation and went straight to discussing the main topic.
The assistant turned on the projector. The cover page of their powerpoint presentation appeared on the screen— Weeds Team Formation Plan.
…
An hour later, Qi Yu saw Xiao Ye and the others to the door of Shanyu Investment’s office. He said, “Go back first. I’ll discuss your project with Chief Fu and I’ll tell you when there’s a result.”
Xiao Ye gave a sound of assent. Up until the elevator doors closed, this bunch of teenagers were still looking at Qi Yu with hopeful expressions.
Qi Yu sighed. He returned to the conference room to see Fu Yansheng still frowning at the powerpoint presentation they just put on, looking at it page by page.
“What do you think?” Qi Yu himself didn’t have much confidence.
Fu Yansheng chuckled and said, “If this Xiao Ye wasn’t a well-known e-sports player, I would have thought they were setting up some fly-by-night team to cheat us out of some money.”
Qi Yu: “…”
Fu Yansheng looked at him from the corner of his eye. “Feeling sorry for them?”
Qi Yu remembered how that kid stuffed the hamburger in his bag just now. He remembered the look in their eyes before they left. He said in a low voice, “I was just thinking that they haven’t got it easy…” After a pause, he pretended to be calm, “But you don’t have to worry about what I think. Let’s discuss it.”
————
【Little Theater】
Xiao Ye: This is our future boss!
Weeds Team: The boss is so imposing! The boss is so bright. The boss is so wealthy!
Qi Yu: …
Bai Cao: President Qi! As long as you are willing to invest in us, we will help you kill Lin Huan, that f*cking dog!
Qi Yu: …
THAT LITTLE THEATER- XD I mean, I’d also be swayed by the “we will help you kill Lin Huan” part 😛
thanks for the chapter!
E-Sport Players at their finest~
Let them do it Xiao Yu!!! (But make sure to have that few available)
Fee**
There is just something about the MC having a group of blind loyalists/worshippers….I mean it in the nicest way possible.😁😁😁
Meant to comment this in a previous chapter but the author claims it’s not angst with the subtle jabs of pain with lines like he won’t be with my forever. This is the most painful type of angst, the angst that is slow and leaves you with doubts. 😭😭😭
ikr!! It’s making me so anxious 😭😭 but i know something will work out 🤞