Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 86 (Part 1)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 86.1 Extra [Sixteen years later I]
A tide of people dispersed after the adjourned meeting like an opened can of sardines that fell to the ground.
Foreign faces, with tall nose bridges and deep set eyes, filled the streets.
Lin Jingzhe had spent several restless days in preparation for this meeting. When he exited outside, he was hit by the dazzling rays of sunlight, and couldn't help but squint his eyes.
Deng Mai arrived in the United States in the morning and drove over to pick him up. He couldn't explain clearly on the phone, so he simply reported in person the results of New Beginnings Real Estate during their latest land bidding.
"We’ve obtained two of the plots of land you have previously set your eyes on within the fourth ring[1]. The transaction price of Plot No. 7 on Homesick Street was 950 million while Plot No.12 on White Pony Bridge was 1.6 billion. Mao Dongqing had kept a close watch on Plot No. 2 and 3, but Fertile Estates kept counteroffering, and the final bidding price exceeded our estimate. After some discussion, we decided it was no longer appropriate, so we gave up on those two lands."
"Okay, if anything similar happens in the future, you can continue to act according to your discretion." Lin Jingzhe didn't have any objections to this. Deng Mai and Mao Dongqing had worked under him for so many years, and transformed New Beginnings from a real estate company to a conglomerate. Although they usually buttheads, when it came to serious matters, their combined power could not be underestimated. There were even rumors in the domestic real estate industry that the conglomerate’s proprietor was merely a figurehead for these two old employees. Many companies offered upwards of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of annual salaries to poach these two capable men. Just these numbers further validated the abilities of Deng Mai and Mao Dongqing.
What others weren’t aware of was that these two people both currently held nearly 10% total equity of New Beginnings Conglomerate and its various subsidiary corporations; their annual dividends alone were far greater than nine figures. Therefore, the headhunters from various parties were nothing more than conversation starters to please Lin Jingzhe during dinner parties.
The weather had not completely warmed up in May, and its winds chilled the body. Lin Jingzhe's cell phone dinged in his pocket. He took it out and saw that Xiao Chi's dialog box popped up from Best Partner MSG——
—Baby Curls: [Is the meeting over?]
The avatar on the dialog box was a drawing of Buddha holding a flower. Xiao Chi drew it himself. Lin Jingzhe only found out that Xiao Chi had this skill when he saw the latter creating oil paintings in the attic of their house in Dongtai Community a few years back.
—Combing Baby Curls' Hair: [Just came out, how was it on your end?]
Seeing Lin Jingzhe on his cell phone, Deng Mai played with his car keys and sighed, "Land prices in China have really skyrocketed in the past ten years, especially in Yan City. When you established our company in the ‘90s, White Pony Bridge was still an unknown area, but now that it’s right below the fourth ring’s elevated road, with only a 300,000 square meters area, cost us 1.6 billion.”
—Baby Curls: [Not over yet, the idiot in front is still talking 🙁]
"No wonder you developed so many properties by the subway line in ‘97 and ‘98. I thought you were stimulated by Mr. Xiao at first, but when our country won the Bids for the Olympic Games in 2001, the land prices increased by two or threefold the very next day. Times. It’s still growing at an unimaginable rate. Last month, Mao Dongqing calculated the rents collected from the shopping malls and offices from our earliest project, Absolute Edifice, on 2nd Middle Road. Guess how much it has increased?"
With the profits from New Beginnings Conglomerate’s four subsidiaries, along with the annual dividends of Best Partner IT and Haitang Non-staple Food Incorporated, Lin Jingzhe had long obtained financial freedom. As pretentious as it sounds, money was just a boring number to Lin Jingzhe. He wasn't very interested in this topic, but Absolute Edifice on 2nd Middle Road had a special meaning to him, so he took the time to listen and reply, "How much?"
At the same time, he edited his message to send to Xiao Chi, who since learned about the use of emoticons, had always typed spoiled words.
Deng Mai answered, "From twenty-something per square meter to three hundred yuan per square meter, that's more than tenfold!"
Before Lin Jingzhe could send his message, Xiao Chi’s next message was already received——
—Baby Curls: [I miss you, I want to video call 🥺]
On behalf of Best Partner IT and Hero Electronics, Lin Jingzhe and Liang Pi flew to the United States for the inauguration of the World Internet Conference (WIO), and have already stayed for six full days.
Xiao Chi was extremely displeased by this. However, Flux Realty had officially replaced New Era Group as the bellwether among domestic real estate developers a few years ago, and with the approaching Olympic Games, domestic regulations had stricken. He was also tasked with organizing a large-scale meeting, so he really had no way of tagging along.
Since their marriage, the two had become more and more attached to one another. Seldom do they separate for such a long time; the couple could only make do with video calls to relieve their lovesickness.
Xiao Chi was currently attending a conference, and as a key figure who needed to participate at any given time, it was obviously not a good time for a video call.
—Combing Baby Curls' Hair: [I miss you too.]
—Combing Baby Curls' Hair: [After the meeting’s later, go home and go to sleep early.]
—Combing Baby Curls' Hair: [I'm still in San Francisco but I’ll be back today. Get a good rest and I'll take you to Zhou Haitang's house for lunch tomorrow.]
"Mr. Lin." A hoarse voice behind him interrupted his editing and the unknown topic Deng Mai beside him was chatting about. They both subconsciously looked back; even the sturdy bodyguards also looked at the speaker’s direction warily.
Lin Jingzhe put away his phone with a smile and shook hands with the other party. "Mr. Chen."
This was Chen Wenchong, the chairman of Wenchong Technology. He could be considered a well-known oriental who partook in the meeting. After the true advent of the Internet Era, in addition to pioneer companies such as Best Partner IT and Immortal Science & Technology, more and more new faces have emerged in recent years. Wenchong Technology was one such representative figure. Since this company was established in 2003, in just a mere five years, its market value had exceeded 10 billion.
Chen Wenchong inquisitively glanced at the mobile phone Lin Jingzhe was holding. "This that the new model Hero Electronics that will be launching soon? How exquisite. Mr. Lin, do you mind showing it to me?"
Hero was an electronics company co-founded by Lin Jingzhe and Wang Quan seven years ago. They also shared some equity with Granville Technology Group, which they met through Best Partner IT. After its establishment, it had later merged with all of Wang Quan's original television factories, and transformed from an original design manufacturer that subcontracted work to an independent trademark. Nowadays, Hero’s colored TVs was synonymous as one of the best-selling colored TV brands in China, but the competitive products promoted by Hero Electronics had now changed to computers and smartphones.
"Apologies." Lin Jingzhe's attitude was polite but distant. "This is a commemorative themed model launched by Hero specifically for the Olympics. It’s still in the confidentiality stage, but if Mr. Chen likes it, when this model is launched, I can give you one for free. What is your favorite sports?"
Although Chen Wenchong was rejected by him, there was no visual dissatisfaction on his face. He just politely replied, "How could I accept such a kind gesture?"
Lin Jingzhe smiled, "It's just a small thought. If Mr. Chen wants to thank me for the matter, you can always post a photo about it on your Immortal Blog to advertise for us."
Chen Wenchong: "Hahahaha."
Lin Jingzhe felt refreshed after making him laugh awkwardly. No matter how high the market value of Wenchong Technology was, his impression of Chen Wenchong remained poor.
Almost no one in the domestic Internet and web trade was fond of him. This was because of the history of blatant plagiarism Wenchong Technology took to make its fortune. Every dollar of its market value was condensed with the blood and tears of the companies that he forced into desperation.
Many minor companies have worked hard for many years and spent countless efforts to develop small successful games, only for Chen Wenchong and his people to later rob them of it. Then those games’ structure and details would be casually changed, successfully allowing these ‘cuckoos’ to occupy the magpie's nest. Games, software, websites, or forums, whatever was popular, Wenchong Technology would replicate. Be it the people from Immortal Science & Technology’s forums and blogs, or Best Partner IT’s search engines and real-time communications, none had escaped his clutches.
Last year, Immortal Technology and Best Partner IT respectively began to operate their own new mobile communication softwares. After being launched on the market, it was very well received. As expected, Wenchong Technology started to follow suit from the beginning of this year, and with tumultuous momentum. They seemed well aware that it was necessary to take advantage of the early development era of smartphones to establish itself in this circle.
It would be more bizarre if Lin Jingzhe had shown him his phone. Hero’s Olympic commemorative model combined Hero Electronics’ latest technologies in smartphones; from its ultra-clear camera, to its handy shape, to the themed patterns on the back differentiating various sports. To display their developing product to a repeat offender like Chen Wenchong, was the same as actively stuffing a chicken into a weasel's mouth.
Suddenly there were two screams in the distance. Lin Jingzhe turned around and saw that on the other side of the road, next to several cars, a group of girls were jumping excitedly as they took out their mobile phones to take pictures.
Seeing him looking over, the girls let out another wave of screams: "Ahhhhh it's really him!!"
Lin Jingzhe waved to them and said goodbye to Chen Wenchong, "Mr. Chen, as you can see, it's not convenient for me to stay outside, so I’ll have to go for now."
Deng Mai opened the back seat door for him. Lin Jingzhe straightened his clothes and cufflinks, nodded to Chen Wenchong with a smile, got in the car, and left.
The modest black sedan slowly drove off, and the girls by the roadside chased after it and continued to take pictures, incoherently blabbering from excitement, until the car completely disappeared from their sights.
Looking back at Chen Wenchong, who was also looking in the direction where the car drove to with an unpredictable expression, the girls all dispersed unsatisfied.
.
.
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Footnote:
[1] Four Rings (四环) – In modern China, the larger cities are divided into what are known as four rings. The Urban Center, which is the very center, is the innermost part of the city, where all the livest things happen, also where the most expensive housing is. The ring bordering the center would be the Central Area, while the ring bordering the second circle is the Inner Suburb, etc, etc. The closer one is to the center of the city, the better.
Here’s a very helpful picture and article I found from Research Gate:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Four-rings-of-Shanghai-and-Nanjing_fig1_262490810