After divorce, I can hear the voice of the future

Chapter 177 The Evil Capitalist
"Let's give everyone a day off tonight. Let's go take a bath, get a massage, and relax. It's my treat."

Yang Zhenyuan was stunned when he heard Lu Liang's words. Just as the words of refusal came to his lips, he was met with a pair of eyes like those of hungry wolves.

Especially those partners who had been with him since the beginning of the business, some of them didn’t even go home for the Chinese New Year.

For a full six months, I didn't take a single day off, and spent almost all my time eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, and sleeping in the company.

Yang Zhenyuan hesitated again and again, leaving a few team leaders on duty: "Why don't you hurry up and thank Mr. Lu."

As soon as the words fell, the office was filled with excited wolf howls: "Thank you, Mr. Lu~ Mr. Lu, I love you."

Although they received overtime pay and subsidies for working overtime, they lost a lot of weight after a few months.

Everyone was working overtime, and even if someone wanted to ask for leave, they were too embarrassed to say it. At this time, Lu Liang was like a god descending to earth.

Lu Liang smiled and said, "Old Yang, give those on duty a 2,000 yuan subsidy when the time comes."

"Okay, Mr. Lu." Yang Zhenyuan nodded.

Lu Liang asked Wen Chao to contact the Hilton Hotel where they were staying and asked them to send three business cars over.

Dozens of people came to the largest bathing center in Beijing, which was said to have cost 600 million yuan to build.

The area covers more than 50,000 square meters, and there are nearly 500 Spa technicians alone, with the average per capita consumption being around 2,000.

Lu Liang led everyone to the front desk of the club and pointed at the crowd behind him and said, "All these people's consumption will be recorded in my account."

The lobby manager was stunned, then he smiled fawningly and asked his colleagues to help distribute the wristbands.

He looked at Lu Liang again: "Boss, what's your name?"

"The last name is Lu."

"Mr. Lu, what is your estimated consumption? I can also arrange for your colleagues."

The lobby manager rubbed his palms together, smiling widely. He could tell at a glance that these people were all programmers.

Because they are so easy to recognize, eight out of ten of them have greasy hair, wear glasses, and wear plaid shirts.

Lu Liang turned his head to face everyone, with a slight smile on his face: "Brothers, how much do you think is appropriate to spend tonight?"

Someone in the crowd bravely shouted, "Since it's Mr. Lu who's treating us, then of course the higher the price, the better."

Lu Liang couldn't help laughing: "You think I'm a rich man, right?"

He thought for a moment and said, "As long as it's not pornographic, it's fine to do anything. The upper limit is 10,000 per person. Eat well, drink well, and rest well."

All the people, including Lu Liang's driver and secretary, only amounted to 46 people, or 46 yuan, which was not even as much as what he and Xiao Wang spent in the bar that night.

"Mr. Lu is awesome~~"

Suddenly, the loud wolf howl was heard again.

Some northerners even had excitement flashing in their eyes. They have been scrubbing baths for nearly 30 years, but the fees they earned in the past 30 years may be less than 10,000 yuan.

The carnival of a group of people is the loneliness of one person.

Yang Zhenyuan was worried. He thought there must be something wrong when the situation was abnormal. He suddenly had a bad premonition.

"Help me take care of these colleagues."

Lu Liang patted the manager on the shoulder and ordered another large business pool for 15,800 yuan.

He changed into a bathrobe in a private room, and went to the open-air private hot spring pool with Yang Zhenyuan wearing slippers.

In early May, the temperature in Beijing was still relatively low, just over 20 degrees during the day and dropping to around degrees at night.

This kind of sky-bubble open-air hot spring is just right.

Lu Liang went into the water, closed his eyes and felt the warm current enveloping his body. After a while, he suddenly said, "Just now, Zhu Hu asked me to meet with Zhang Yiming."

Yang Zhenyuan opened his eyes, a look of astonishment on his face, waiting for Lu Liang's next words. Lu Liang said: "He wants to promote the merger of Douyin and Xigua. He said that the success rate will be the highest if everyone works together. If there is a war, all investors will suffer losses."

Since Zhu Hu was not there, Lu Liang kept pushing the responsibility onto him, but even if he was there, it wouldn't matter.

Yang Zhenyuan remained silent for a long time, and then his voice became a little hoarse: "Mr. Lu, what do you think?"

"The condition I proposed to Mr. Zhang is that Douyin should be the main one, and Xigua should be the supplementary one." Lu Liang said slowly.

Yang Zhenyuan was stunned: "Mr. Zhang, I don't think you will agree."

Obviously he also misunderstood, and the look in his eyes when he looked at Lu Liang suddenly became admiration. His President Lu still loved him.

So what if Zhang Yiming's team is technically strong? As long as Lu Liang continues to provide financial support, the gap between the two sides will be narrowed sooner or later.

"Zhang Yiming did not agree at that time."

Lu Liang spoke very slowly. As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Zhenyuan felt something was wrong. This meant there must be a but.

Lu Liang sighed, opened his eyes and looked directly at Yang Zhenyuan, showing his best expression: "Old Yang, the Douyin brand can be retained, and Xigua will also become an auxiliary tool for Douyin in the future." Yang Zhenyuan's heart trembled, and he smiled bitterly: "But have you given up the decision-making power and management rights, including me?"

He was once a member of the Xigua R&D team and knew how high hopes Zhang Yiming and ByteDance had for Xigua.

The fact that Zhang Yiming can accept the condition of Douyin as the main and Xigua as the auxiliary means that only a layer of skin will be left on Douyin.

Lu Liang looked displeased: "Who do you think I am, Lu Liang? Since I have invested in you, I will not abandon you."

He said: "If you want, you are still the general manager of Douyin, and ByteDance is just a technology enabler."

Yang Zhenyuan remained silent, as if he was lost in deep thought, and swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.

At first he thought of Zhu Hu, but when he remembered that it was Zhu Hu who organized the group, he gave up the idea.

He thought of Shen Peng again, but remembered that Shen Peng invested in Douyin to give face to Lu Liang.

Suddenly, Yang Zhenyuan felt suffocated, like an insect accidentally caught in a spider web.

It seems he has no choice.

Although decisions such as mergers and reorganizations require an absolute majority of more than two-thirds of the votes to be implemented.

Tianxing, Redwood and Jinshajiang together only hold 64%. As long as he doesn't agree, it will not be passed.

But what can I do if he doesn't agree?
As long as TikTok runs out of funds, it will die. With the three top domestic capitals banning it, who would dare to invest money?

Once TikTok goes bankrupt, he will have to repay the $150 million investment from Sequoia and Jinshajiang in its Series A round.

Although Lu Liang needs to bear 40% of the debt for Douyin, he still has a debt of 90 US dollars.

574 million RMB, plus 300 million yuan invested in advance, the total loss is nearly million yuan.

There are also programmers who have just been hired with high salaries. Each of them has a three-year contract and will have to pay at least one million in compensation.

For this item alone, the compensation must be at least more than 1800 million, and Yang Zhenyuan needs to pay at least more than million.

As a result, he was left with only a house and a car, nothing else.

His child is still in elementary school, and his wife quit her job and became a housewife to start her own business.

Yang Zhenyuan was calculating the gains and losses, and after a long while he asked, "Boss Lu, can I ask you for a promise?"

"explain."

“If I am fired within two years, I hope the company will buy back my shares at a valuation of $1000 million.”

Yang Zhenyuan sighed and bowed to reality.

If it were ten years ago, he might have had the courage to fight capital to the end, but now he doesn't have that anymore. He has too many concerns and too many things to worry about.

"can."

Lu Liang laughed but didn't explain.

Apparently Yang Zhenyuan mistakenly believed that letting him continue to serve as the general manager of Douyin was just a way to appease him.

Just like in ancient times, those who surrendered would not be killed, but would be heavily rewarded, promoted and given titles. However, how many people would enjoy such treatment?

Even if he doesn't wait until he secures his position, he will be eliminated because he enters the goal with his left foot first.

Yang Zhenyuan is looking for a way out for himself. With a valuation of 1000 million US dollars, he holds 36% of the shares, which is worth 360 million US dollars, or more than million RMB, which is enough for him to spend his old age in peace.

"Thank you, Mr. Lu."

These words seemed to have used up all of Yang Zhenyuan's strength. He shrank his head and sank into the water.

The TikTok career has given him a second spring in his middle age. Even his wife praised him for being much more capable and wanted to have a second child.

But now, he felt withered again.

Lu Liang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He stood up and pulled Yang Zhenyuan up, opened the ice-cold beer and handed him a bottle.

After clinking glasses, he drank half the bottle in one breath and burped comfortably: "Lao Yang, who am I in your eyes?"

Yang Zhenyuan asked, "Can you tell the truth?"

Lu Liang smiled and said, "You can say whatever you want. My memory of you and me tonight ends here."

Yang Zhenyuan drank a whole bottle in one breath and pointed at Lu Liang's nose. "Damn it, you evil capitalist. I suddenly remembered that you and Zhang Yiming probably had already agreed on this during the A round of financing. It's just that the conditions Zhang Yiming gave you at that time did not satisfy you."

He let out a long breath and immediately felt much more comfortable, and the depression in his heart was swept away.

"I feel much more comfortable now."

Lu Liang sat on the stone next to him, took a sip of wine, smiled and nodded: "We really didn't reach an agreement at that time."

(End of this chapter)