Qin Moling woke up at 5:30 in the morning. Still half asleep, he reached out to hug the person next to him, only to find no one there.

He opened his eyes and realized where he was.

Qin Moling arrived at the company around the same time as usual, but Secretary Gao arrived earlier than him.

Seeing the wedding ring on the boss’s ring finger and the couple’s watch on his left wrist, Secretary Gao felt relieved. It seemed that the boss and Jian Hang hadn’t argued when they got home.

However, the boss left that glass water cup on the corner of the table unused and continued to use his old cup.

There was a knock on the door.

Secretary Gao went to open the door. “You’re here.” She thought it was Vice President Wu, but when the door opened, she was slightly taken aback. “Chairman Qin, good morning.”

Uncle Qin nodded and said to her, “Go ahead and get busy.”

He came in and closed the door.

He heard from Vice President Wu about yesterday’s meeting. After Jian Hang joined the Fourth Division, he asked Vice President Wu to keep him informed of the company’s developments.

“Is Third Aunt not home again?”

This sentence has almost become their opening line whenever they meet.

“She’s at home, I just went out for my morning exercise.” Uncle Qin waved his hand, indicating that he didn’t need water. “I’m not thirsty, I’ll just sit for a few minutes and then leave.”

He never expected that Ji Xianggu and Jian Hang would hit it off. He knew Ji Xianggu too well. “If Jian Hang wants to improve the taste, Old Master Ji would agree to it 100%.

“How much financing did you give Jian Hang?”

Qin Moling said, “No more than two hundred million.”

Uncle Qin did a rough calculation in his mind: improving the taste, redesigning the bottle opening, and promoting the new product on a large scale—two hundred million yuan was simply not enough for Jian Hang to do all these.

“At this rate, we’ll have to throw money into the Fourth Division again.”

The Fourth Division was a bottomless pit. Since the factories were built, so much has been invested over the years, hurting both the shareholders and the board of directors.

Uncle Qin was also against investing too much money. Jian Hang’s plan, from new product development to market promotion, would be difficult to implement across the entire region. It would be impossible to fully revitalize the market for the Fourth Division without a minimum investment of one billion yuan.

The original intention of bringing Jian Hang to the Fourth Division was to find a way to revitalize the market under the existing conditions. If that failed, the Fourth Division would be spun off.

Who knew that Jian Hang would go this far, even fighting to improve the product?

“I’ll be sitting in on the regular meeting next Monday.”

Qin Moling advised, “Third Uncle, your heart is not good to begin with, so you shouldn’t come. Vice President Wu has already lost weight recently because of this.”

Uncle Qin: “…”

Then he was definitely attending. If Jian Hang didn’t have enough reasons and a novel enough promotional model to convince him to invest more money, he’ll veto it, and the improvement of the soda’s taste will stop here, so as not to cause any more conflict between the young couple.

“You’re busy,” Uncle Qin said as he left.

As he reached the door, he reminded again, “Have Secretary Gao send me the specific time for the meeting.”

After seeing his Third Uncle off, Qin Moling received a message from Jiang Shenghe.

Jiang Shenghe: [When exactly are you going to Jian Hang’s home for dinner?]

Qin Moling: [Jian Hang and I are having a disagreement about company matters, so it’s best you don’t get involved.]

Jiang Shenghe: [Resolve any disagreements quickly, don’t let it affect me.]

Qin Moling: “…”

Jiang Shenghe: [I’ve prepared some gifts for you; go and reconcile.]

Qin Moling wasn’t in the mood to argue with Jiang Shenghe, so he picked up his water glass and drank some water.

Last night, he dreamt of Jian Hang. He dreamt of a scene from when he was a child in Teacher Chen’s office, where she was holding an English picture book, saying in a hesitant little voice, “But… Older Brother, Olive means olive oil.”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Jian Hang left home and went directly to the credit department of Yishuo Bank instead of going to the company.

The person in charge of credit was Feng Mai. She had a meeting at nine o’clock, so Jian Hang arranged to meet her at eight o’clock.

Feng Mai received her call in the morning and couldn’t believe it.

She poured water for Jian Hang, “Your Fourth Division is in such a bad situation? Doesn’t the Second Division invest hundreds of millions in marketing every month? Qin Moling won’t even give you two hundred million, telling you to figure it out yourselves?”

“I can’t disclose too much about internal company matters.” Jian Hang was more concerned about other matters. “What kind of low interest rate can your bank offer me for a personal loan?”

“What is the purpose?”

“Research and development”.

“Is the Fourth Division going to release new products?”

“No, it’s to improve the texture of the bubbles. The current one isn’t smooth enough.”

Feng Mai found it increasingly interesting that even the research and development costs had to be borne by the Fourth Division itself, indicating that Qin Moling had no intention of giving the Fourth Division a way out.

Finding a way out of a desperate situation was not so easy.

“I’m not trying to discourage you, but your Fourth Division can’t even come up with two hundred million. Do you know how difficult it is to build up the market? It’s almost like climbing to heaven.”

In the past, she would have definitely used this opportunity to mock Jian Hang, but now that Jian Hang was in front of her and needed her help, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything sarcastic.

“I have a question for you,” Feng Mai stated beforehand, “It has nothing to do with loans.”

Jian Hang picked up her water glass. “Go ahead.”

Feng Mai asked in bewilderment, “So many companies offered you a job, but you ultimately chose Lemeng. Was it just because the Fourth Division could give you a chance to gain experience?”

Jian Hang paused, then put the water cup to her lips and drank.

“Alright, you don’t need to answer.” Feng Mai stood up and sat down at her desk. “Have your finance department submit the documents. Although the funds are for your Fourth Division, the borrower is Lemeng. Lemeng has good credit, so the loan will be easy to get approved.”

Jian Hang’s purpose in coming today was not to discuss whether such a loan could be approved, as Lemeng’s financial situation would naturally make obtaining a loan easy. She stated her purpose, “I urgently need this money, and I will ask the finance department to apply for the lowest possible interest rate.”

Feng Mai flipped through the calendar. “If you can make it to the next loan review meeting, your loan application will be reviewed then.”

“I’m grateful.”

“You’re welcome. I hope I can enjoy a finely bubbly carbonated drink soon.”

When Jian Hang came out of Yishou Banks, it was not yet 8:30 a.m.. She arrived at Lemeng at just one minute before 9 a.m., which wasn’t considered late.

Zheng Yanshu was waiting for her to arrive; he needed to resolve the expenses.

The company’s funding was far from sufficient. Previously, they pressured the distributors, and General Manager Luo took the lead in signing next year’s distributor’s contracts and making advance payments for the goods. Other distributors have also softened their stance.

Some distributors took the initiative to make payments at the beginning of July.

If they were willing to do marketing now, then the Fourth Division should provide financial support.

“Ms. Jian, this is the market investment needed for July” Zheng Yanshu put the compiled data on her desk.

Jian Hang carefully placed her bag on the table, picked up the summary sheet, glanced at it, and then sat down.

“There’s still a shortfall of 30 million in funding?”

“Mm.”

Zheng Yanshu sat down opposite her. “It was barely enough before, but starting this month, the company cut the expenses in half.”

He proactively suggested, “Didn’t the company give you the right to raise funds? Now you can only rely on yourself.”

Jian Hang stared at the numbers and said, “I came back from the credit department of Yishuo Bank.”

For the first time, Zheng Yanshu and Jian Hang had a tacit understanding. 

“Thank you,” he said, his mind relieved of the immediate crisis. Without market investment, the market would be difficult to penetrate, and distributors would naturally not be willing to invest their own money.

Jian Hang looked up and said, “The loan money is to be used to develop new products.”

Zheng Yanshu stared at her for a long time, “You asked the company for financing rights not to do marketing?”

Jian Hang said, “Without products, where does the market come from?”

Zheng Yanshu said coldly, “You have the product, but you don’t have the money. Are you planning to do marketing with just two hands?”

“…” Jian Hang smiled slightly, “Is this the level of skill you gained from arguing with Zhou Yi?”

Zheng Yanshu: “…”

He was almost choked to death.

“I thought you had managed to handle Mr. Ji, but it turns out we have to pay for the R&D ourselves now.”

Zheng Yanshu felt palpitations and thought there was something wrong with his heart.

He pulled the expense summary sheet over and folded it repeatedly. “Jian Hang, you’ve got the priorities backwards!”

Jian Hang didn’t argue with him. “I’ll take care of the expenses.”

“Go to the meeting and argue with President Qin again?”

“I will not use a single penny of the company’s money.”

“Oh.”

Zheng Yanshu pointed to his head, “There’s probably something wrong with my head. That’s why I agreed to do whatever you said in the first place.”

Marriage First, Love Later translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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