I'm A Baller

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Wang Siming was not as difficult to deal with as Wang Yan had imagined.

In particular, his ability to control his emotions was unbelievably poor.

Everyone would have their own unique tricks when it came to business negotiations. You could tell jokes and brag, but of course, I could flip the table and leave as a threat.

No matter who won or lost, a normal response was a must. One could not lose his composure.

In the end, Wang Siming’s expression collapsed on the spot. He lost his temper in a hurry.

“F*ck! We’ve been negotiating for more than a week. Everything has been settled. There’s only one last problem. Now you’re telling me you are giving up? Who are you trying to scare?!”

“Mr Wang, Mr Wang!”

President Shi hurriedly stopped him and advised him nicely, “Calm down. Let’s talk again. Let’s talk again!”

Wang Yan completely ignored Wang Siming. He turned to Li Yixu and said, “Brother Xu, it’s not that I’m not giving you face, right? What did you say to me back then?”

Li Yixu looked troubled.

Back then, they had agreed on 30 million in cash while the official announcement would be 80 million and payment will be made immediately after signing the contract.

Now, he suddenly changed his mind and delayed the settlement until six months later. Moreover, he only settled 20 million. It was indeed a little unreasonable.

However, Panda suddenly lacked money. Wang Siming wanted to talk to Wang Yan and change the payment method. How could he not agree?

Li Yixu was sandwiched in the middle. He was simply in a dilemma.

Just as he was deliberating over his words, Wang Siming was once again persuaded by President Shi.

“There is nothing much we may talk. You don’t even give me any face. You think I, Wang Siming, am shameless?! Oh, f*ck. I’ll say it clear here, this is the condition. We can talk about it if you agree, but if you disagree, just get lost!”

After saying this, President Shi widened his eyes in shock while Li Yixu opened his mouth and was completely dumbfounded.

Big brother, were you kidding me?!

What did Wang Yan just say that make you so angry?!

Even Wang Yan was stunned for a moment.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Wang Yan would never have imagined that the son of the richest man would actually be so… indescribable.

In business negotiations, it was perfectly normal to be unable to reach an agreement. Out of ten, maybe just two of them went smoothly. The rest would definitely have problems.

However, problems were basically equivalent to disagreements, and it was not equivalent to falling out with each other.

It was the most important business principle of the Chinese people to be benevolent and righteous if one could not make a deal.

Wang Siming directly cursed. It was obvious that he did not see Wang Yan as an equal opponent. From the bottom of his heart, he was looking down at Wang Yan.

Would a dignified rich guy used to this?

His face turned dark and his temperament became as cold as the winter wind. He stood up immediately.

He raised the wine glass in his hand and made a feigned toast to Li Yixu. “Thank you for your hospitality. That’s all for today.”

He then finished the remaining wine in the glass in one gulp.

In the midst of his anger, the taste of the 96 Lafite became more and more complicated. It was bitter, astringent, sour, and sweet. Then, a long-lost tinkle sounded in his mind.

Now was not the time to look for reward. Wang Yan did not say a word and turned around to leave.

Brother Xizi immediately followed, making Li Yixu extremely worried. Li Yixu sighed and chased after Wang Yan with large strides.

“Young Master Wang, I’ll send you off.”

Wang Siming sneered disdainfully as he watched Wang Yan left. His expression was still gloomy.

President Shi was so anxious that his head was full of sweat. Although he did not want to offend Wang Siming, the matter was important, so he still held back his fear and spoke.

“Young Master Wang, I completely respect your personal attitude and your final decision.

“But sitting in this position, I have to do my duty and remind you that our platform really needs Wangting Entertainment! Ling Ya can support a category, and the rest of the streamers can fill in a third with their beauty and popularity. But… Wang Yan’s official funding can greatly increase the flow of data. If you want to raise funds, you really can’t do without Wangting Entertainment…”

“I know!”

Wang Siming waved his hand impatiently. He raised his right foot and stepped on the edge of the coffee table. His upper body fell onto the back of the sofa.

“Send the signed contract over in two days. The 30 million will be paid in one go. The guild’s recharge and cashback ratio will be increased by another 2%. The cooperation won’t be delayed.”

“Ah?!”

President Shi’s eyes widened as he was puzzled.

Then why were you doing this?!

Throwing a tantrum and paying 2% more? Are you acting willfully because you were rich?!

“I just don’t like that d*mn idiot!”

Wang Siming’glared at the nominal panda boss with a sullen face.

“I’m spending some money to teach that d*mn idiot a lesson. What can he do to me? He still have to sign the contract obediently! Don’t mention that idiot in front of me in the future. You don’t even understand the trivial things. What are you guys doing?! Show your capability if you are capable. You may quit if you can’t help the company! There are plenty of people who want to take your position!”

It wasn’t the first time President Shi had been scolded, so his mood was still okay.

What really made his heart palpitate was the sentence, “Don’t mention Wang Yan in front of me in the future.”

The shrewd President Shi immediately understood what the problem was.

In recent times, whenever Wang Yan was mentioned, he and Li Yixu would praise him endlessly.

On one hand, they truly admired him. Their main goal was to make Wang Siming take him seriously, repair his relationship with Wang Yan and cooperate with him wholeheartedly.

Unfortunately, it backfired.

The reason for today’s conflict was clearly laid out there – Young Master Wang was jealous.

On one hand, the internet was filled with people calling him husband and shouting that they want to give birth a child for him.

Yet, no one thought highly of Young Master Wang’s business vision and ability. After removing those who were envious of his family background, the remaining voices were full of doubts.

Some found him a vulgar claptrap to please the crowds, dependent on his father while others were saying they could achieve what he had done…

Even those girls who wanted to be Mrs Wang did not really recognize Young Master Wang’s personal ability.

Anyone would be angry seeing others praising another business genius every day.

What, I didn’t pay you enough salary?

President Shi and the others’ flattery had seriously stirred up Young Master Wang’s disgust and he wanted to let go some of his fumes.

In the end, he was the loser when he did a hand-to-hand wrestle with Wang Yan today!

His image, temperament, and manner of speech were basically crushed. In particular, when the phrase “Fate is needed to cooperate and make friends” came out, it really disgusted Wang Siming to death.

The Chinese language was broad and profound. Many times, a sentence could be interpreted in many ways.

Combined with the context at the time and past interactions, it was an extremely high-profile knock.

Wang Siming had once taken the initiative to call Wang Yan and threw out an olive branch in a polite manner.

The meaning was probably: I think you’re doing quite well. I’ll give you a chance to work with me.

In the end, Wang Yan ignored him and declined.

Then, the small fry from back then became more and more successful. Recently, he had even obtained a pivotal position in the live broadcast industry. If Wang Siming wanted to develop his own platform, he even had to beg Wang Yan.

Did Wang Siming feel uncomfortable?

Of course, there was no need to think about it.

Then, with a sentence “lack of some fate, so we didn’t become friends” was used as a hammer by Wang Yan to hit Wang Siming. How could the young master not feel disgusted?

In Wang Siming’s ears, that sentence meant –

We lack some fate to become friends. Working together isn’t certain yet. If you don’t show your attitude to make me happy, it’s very likely that we’re not destined to work together.

This was too much!

I’m a top second generation, condescending to make friends with you, yet you’re not responding in a positive manner?!

Wang Siming was about to explode, but the vastness and profundity of the Chinese language was reflected here.

The sentence itself was not sarcastic at all, and the other party even laughed while speaking it, as if it was a joke and there was nothing wrong with it.

Under normal circumstances, the only way to return the favor was to strike back and make the other party suffer a loss.

But how could it be so easy?

In any case, Young Master Wang didn’t have that level of skill. He knew it.

So he could only hold it in.

After holding it in for a long time, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Then, he told jokes and tried to find some common interest yet that “idiot” refused to take the bait. In the end, he even threatened to cancel the cooperation. Young Master Wang finally exploded.

Only after he was satisfied did he realize that he really needed the other party.

Then what should he do?

He could only give him more benefits and pull him back!

In Young Master Wang’s mind, one had to endure it whenever he scolds someone. When his anger passed, he would look at the situation and perhaps make it up to you.

Based on past experience, it worked for him every time. No one really dared to fall out with the crown prince of Yida.

People travelled a thousand miles was only for the sake of money. Who would be against money?!

Logic seemed to be fine, but there were still some people in this world who were not willing to compromise themselves for money, for example, Wang Yan.

What was money?

It was something that could be obtained just by breathing. It was not worth mentioning.

Don’t use some small goal as chicken soup for him. He won’t like it.

However, Li Yixu could not understand Wang Yan’s personality. He was still trying to use money to move Wang Yan.

“Mr Wang, Siming’s temper is really bad. As the middleman, I am deeply sorry. I have let you down today. I will make up for it later. But you really don’t have to lower yourself to his level. I will tell you the bottom line: Panda had no problem to pay 30 million in one lump sum. We don’t have to go against money, right?”

It was inconvenient for Wang Yan to comment on what he had said, but Wang Yunxi didn’t stand on ceremony.

“Mr Li, what are you planning actually? Changing your mind before signing the contract? Do you think Wangting Entertainment would not survive without Panda?”

Although it wasn’t something that Li Yixu had done, Wang Yunxi’s fierce rebuke still made Mr Li embarrassed.

Seeing that Wang Yan didn’t say anything and had a mocking expression on his face, Li Yixu began to weigh the pros and cons.

After pondering for about two seconds, he gritted his teeth and poured out the truth.

“I really didn’t expect Siming would directly explode, but when I think back, I might know a part of the reason.

I’ll make it clear in advance that I’m not looking for an excuse for Wang Siming. There are indeed some off-field factors involved.

Panda went online in September, and it had been three months since then. There were simply too many accidents.

There were bugs on the platform every three days. The interface was not user friendly, the gift system was not perfect, and the operating ideas lacked incentives for the players. And less than half of the target streamers had been poached…

It could be said that there were problems in all aspects.

Since the beginning of the game, it was far worse than expected. It was indeed quite infuriating.

The most uncomfortable thing was that Siming was looking for financing, but two days ago, there was a sudden explosion – part of Panda’s operations were using their power for personal gain, secretly poaching the platform.

The relatively small problem that had been verified was the private sale of Panda coins. Using the early preferential policies, they gave some guilds excessive discounts, and then split the profits with the guilds in private.

Other than that, some of them had set unspoken rules for female streamers, received illegal money from guilds to provide double standard treatment, or forcefully charging streamers for advertising fees, and so on.

Seeing the daily data, retention, conversion, and recharging were all declining, the few financing institutions that were originally very interested had now changed their mind and would like to spend more time to observe the situation.

If nothing unexpected happened, it would be very difficult to raise the money.

There was no other way now. Siming planned to sign a guarantee agreement with those few institutions and add a repurchase promise clause.

Do you understand what that means?”

Wang Yan was a madman who planned to list the company on NASDAQ. How could he not understand?

“As expected.”

Wang Yan nodded without batting an eyelid. He asked the key question, “What is the interest rate you plan to give?”

Li Yixu looked left and right. He wanted to say something but hesitated. After a moment, he gritted his teeth and said,

“The first round is for valuation purposes. The target is 50 to 100 million with an annualized interest rate of 12% over a period of three years. When it matures, regardless of whether it can be listed or not, the repurchase agreement will automatically start.”

Wang Yan sneered disdainfully, “12%? That’s not low. Unfortunately, those working on VC aren’t that easy to fool. There are a lot of potential projects in the market. Who has the patience to invest in a fixed-income project?”

Li Yixu nodded, “That’s why we’re still lacking a lead investor.”

Wang Yan suddenly asked, “So Mr Wang plans to use Yida’s resources to exchange for it?”

Li Yixu was stunned. He was surprised by Wang Yan’s sensitivity and professionalism. His expression at that moment had already revealed the truth.

He sighed, “You really know a lot. I can’t hide it from you… Siming does indeed have that plan.”

Wang Siming’s entire plan might be a little complicated to explain.

First, the purpose of financing.

Normal financing was an enterprise who lacked of development funds used the equity to exchange for cash to expand the operation. It would then distribute the future profits to the investors.

The above is a formal game.

The other reason of having financing was to brag.

One would find related enterprises and receive 500 million from financing, for instance. And only a small part of the equity will be involved, for example, 20%.

In an instant, an enterprise with a value of 100 million would suddenly valued at 2.5 billion by VC.

Next?

Everyone would happily brag and look for a second round of financing.

Anyway, they would brag all the way until there was a takeover or listing.

After three or four rounds, the valuation would reach 10 to 20 billion. If there was a foolish takeover and buy the company directly, everyone would be happy.

If not, A shares waould be listed, investment institutions would then withdraw, and shareholders cash out. It would still be perfect.

The worst thing was that both of them were not successful. What would happen?

Everyone would suffer a terrible loss together.

Those brilliant investors would never want to lose money. What should they do?

They would carefully brag, patiently pick out beautiful heifers, and find unicorns that could be hyped up to invest.

If the company’s data and prospects were not good but wanted to pull people together to brag, you had to go a little crooked way – repurchase terms.

Agreement: a certain time at a certain year, the company will use a pre-agreed price to buy back the equity.

It was equivalent to a guarantee of the bottom line, in order to calm the investors.

Under normal circumstances, repurchase agreements in the investment and financing field were benefit-sharing, but the bottom price was guaranteed to be low.

Taking the listing as an example –

Under normal listing, an investment institution could withdraw according to the market price, take a generous return and leave.

If it didn’t go public, the shares of investment institution would be repurchased and it would get back the invested money. The interest rate was basically about 4% per annum, just enough to cover the interest rate on bank deposits.

If the project was better, it was even possible that the interest will not be paid at all, and the shares would be repurchased at its original price.

Both could be negotiated.

But if the project was not good enough, the guaranteed price would have to be raised correspondingly.

The risk that the other party was taking was even greater, so this was very reasonable.

Wang Siming’s plan, however, was to give a fixed guaranteed price. Regardless of whether or not there was a buyer, or how high the market value would be, the first round of financing would only have a fixed income of 12% .

What did such a special provision mean?

The outside world had concerns, but Wang Siming himself was full of confidence.

How would he raise the confidence of the outside world?

He wanted to find an investor with enough weight to lead the investment.

It was either top investors like Xu Xin and Zhang Lei, or Internet hooligans like Alibaba and Tencent. No matter who stood out to endorse, those who followed would swarm forward.

Yet, just by looking at the internal problems of Panda revealed by Li Yixu, those top investors would definitely not be interested.

So what could Wang Siming do?

He would use his family background to exchange for it!

Thinking up to this point, Wang Yan had already completely confirmed what Wang Siming wanted to do.

Some time ago, he had just read a book called “33 days of financial fraud prevention”. The content was a little old-fashioned, but the discussed cases were interesting.

Combining his professional knowledge in finance and psychology, Wang Siming’s plan was immediately clear.

The establishment of Panda had been aimed at the share market from the beginning.

Wang Siming’s vision was indeed not bad. He did not stand in such a high position for nothing.

In the live broadcast industry, there would definitely be at least two to three listed companies.

And at this moment, it was still the start of the industry. There wasn’t much competition, so it could be said that this was the best time to enter the market.

If everything went well, going public in three years and earning a few billion wasn’t a dream.

Yet, the problem was “good enough” was a broad concept, and it contained too much content.

At the very least, there had to be someone to help, and no one to cause trouble, right?

Thinking of this, Wang Yan eyes suddenly lit up.

Wang Siming, come, let me give you a helping hand!

With a deep smile, Wang Yan nodded to Li Yixu, “Mr Li, thank you for the reminder, but I don’t intend to take the 12% interest. It’s meaningless.”

The reason why Li Yixu talked about this matter was mainly to express his goodwill and give Wang Yan a chance to enter the arena.

In his eyes, it was a deal that was guaranteed to make a profit without a loss.

With Yida backing at the back, no matter how bad Panda did, it would still make a solid investment profit.

The three-year fixed income of 12% annualized interest rate was already the best in the asset securitization project.

One had to know that the higher the interest rate, the greater the risk. The bank’s guaranteed wealth management was basically about 6% annualized, which was almost double the difference.

Li Yixu was not disappointed. In any case, he just had to express his intentions.

As long as Wang Yan was grateful, then today’s conflict would be considered as helping himself out.

In the end, he shook hands with Wang Yan, “Regarding the cooperation, you can think about it after you go back. Don’t mix up a man’s character with the opportunity of making money. Don’t be angry with yourself.”

“Alright, I’ll think about it again.”

Wang Yan gave a perfunctory reply and watched him return to the room.

Wang Yunxi immediately asked, “If it’s really a one-time payment, are we going to sign it or not?”

“Hehe!” Wang Yan laughed coldly, “Do I look like the kind of person who would send the right cheek after being slapped on the left cheek?”

“Then what should we do?”

Wang Yunxi was a little worried.

“It’s not about money, but even if we don’t cooperate, we can’t do anything to Wang Siming. No matter what, we have to hold back our anger…”

“Hold back?”

Wang Yan smiled and didn’t explain further. He turned around and walked towards the door.

I had to hold back.

I would hold back and get ready with a big move.

If you want to be the king behind the scenes in the live broadcast industry, you have to have both grace and authority.

Wang Yan was lacking a monkey to establish his authority, yet Wang Siming was here to deliver himself. Wasn’t this a rare fate?

It was a ill-fated relationship.