Chapter 22: Clever Negotiation

  In the remaining days of October, Loring was busy and happy about the renovation of the internet cafe. However, it wasn't as simple as he had imagined. Various materials and design concepts left him bewildered.

  But the funds are no longer a problem, Lorraine was originally thinking of financing and collecting some small shares, but then he had an epiphany and told his mother that he wanted to take advantage of the National Day holiday to travel abroad for a trip. As a result, his mother didn't say anything and transferred 50,000 yuan to his card.

  When the financial problem was solved, Lorraine did not feel relieved as expected, but a kind of inexplicable sense of inferiority rose in her heart. In the end, she was still a rich second-generation with no great skills...

  At the thought of this, Luoluo's deep-seated wound was reopened. With Pan Jiajun as the leader, the four young masters of the capital city were probably making waves in the business world and other fields at his age, relying on their family connections... As for himself, he couldn't even afford the 500,000 yuan renovation fee to open an internet cafe without lying to his mother to get it. It was really impossible to compare with them.

  Taking a deep breath, Lorrain quietly lay on the living room sofa, recalling his excitement when he first reincarnated back. He couldn't help but laugh at himself: "Great idea, hard to do." Even with reincarnation, even with foreknowledge of the future, what's the use? You still need your own strength. Everything is fleeting, only by being down-to-earth can you achieve greatness. Now he really wants to become a big shot who can cover the sky with one hand, and then appear in the capital with a high posture to have a refreshing showdown with those arrogant rich young masters, but unfortunately, his level is not enough yet.

  But thinking about it, what's the big deal with being a noble family or not? If we count back three generations in our country, who wasn't a peasant? Now that they have some dirty money, they're making a fuss about family status and family ranking. When all is said and done, aren't they just small-time nouveau riche from a backward third-world country?

  These words were said by the old man who taught Lorin orthodox Tai Chi boxing in his previous life. Now that I think about it, they are indeed some profound and famous sayings that can withstand scrutiny.

  Words are rough, but reason is not.

  Lorin leaned back with his arms propped up, lost in thought. Memories of past and present lives flashed by, leaving him momentarily bewildered, unable to distinguish reality from illusion. After a long while, the turbulent thoughts finally subsided, his mind gradually calming down, and a hint of his signature confident smile appeared on his face: "Don't worry about others' business, just focus on your own work, no need to think about these useless things."

  "Ding ding ding......"

  Just then, Lorraine's phone suddenly rang. She looked at it and saw an unfamiliar number. Without hesitation, she answered it.

  The phone was connected, but there was no one speaking on the other end. Loring had already guessed who it was and didn't say a word either. With a "click", he hung up the phone.

  After a while, the phone rang again. Lorraine directly put it on speaker and placed the mobile phone on the table. As expected, there was still no one speaking on the other end of the line. Lorraine smiled and hung up the phone once more.

  The phone rang repeatedly for four or five times, and the other end finally couldn't hold back when Lorraine was about to hang up again, saying: "Luo Xiaoqi, you're quite calm."

  It was a woman's voice, with a sharp tone of anger and a hint of elegance, Lorraine knew she had guessed correctly, but didn't answer directly, saying lightly: "Lady, my name is not Luo Xiaogui, it's Luo Lin."

  "Do you mind if I just like calling you Luo Xiaogui?" The woman on the phone retorted without hesitation, then chuckled and said, "Have you forgotten? I told you that if you don't answer my calls, I'll tell Qin... ahem, tell your Auntie Qin about how you took advantage of me that night. You're not afraid, little friend?" At the end, she couldn't stop giggling at the thought of calling Luo Lin "Auntie Qin".

  Lorraine said calmly: "Miss Song, I answered your phone call, but whether or not to hang up is my freedom."

  "It's Song Meihua!"

  "Really? (Song Mei Yuan) is sending US dollars? Can she send me euros instead? I heard the dollar has depreciated badly recently, so I don't dare to accept it."

  Song Meiyan didn't buy Lorin's excuse and changed the subject, saying: "I said little guy, Big Beauty personally called you, can't you show some enthusiasm?"

  "What's up? Want to grab a meal? Sorry, beautiful, I'm busy."

  Luo Lin didn't lie, now the internet cafe has just been renovated and is handling formal business licenses and store renovations, all of which require his personal attention. School starts tomorrow, he doesn't have time to cultivate feelings with a girl like you, even if he did, it would be with dear Qin Ayi, not you.

  But Song Meiyan was quite unexpected by Luo Lin, and when she heard Luo Lin say busy, she burst out laughing: "Busy with what? Is it busy handling the online business procedures? Or is it the store decoration? Or are you saying that your little brothers asked you for a massage?"

  This time Lorraine fell silent, and Song Meiyan was not in a hurry either, waiting for Lorraine to ask on her own initiative.

  After a long while, Lorrain's voice came through the phone, sounding as if he was smiling but not quite: "You're investigating me? That's not a good habit."

  Song Meiyan smiled and said: "Luo Xiaoqi, are you angry?"

  "My name is Lorraine."

  "Haha, actually, your little matters can be cleared up with just a simple investigation. Not only that, I also know that you are the young master of the Luo Corporation, and your uncle is our city's Secretary Li of the Municipal Committee. As for your grandfather... it's not necessary for me to say more, right? In school, you're a complete delinquent student, never studying properly, always hanging out with the street racing gang on Night Market Street. Because of this, our Wen Shu has had many headaches, and many times she's asked me how to discipline such a problematic youth... tsk, tsk, it's really pitiful... Ah, auntie's heart is aching."

  At this time, Lorraine did not get angry but smiled. What she said was right. Lorraine's background was not a secret either. As long as someone wanted to investigate, they could find out the truth with just one check. It's just that he didn't know what kind of tricks Song Meiyan had up her sleeve and why she was being so aggressive towards this high school student who wasn't even 18 years old yet.

  "I said, Miss Song, aren't you bored out of your mind, why bother me for no reason?"

  "You're really hard to talk to, but don't get any ideas, I'm not interested in you, it's just my innocent and kind Wen Shu... Ah, little guy, now I understand why someone like you, a middle school student, can make so many rich young masters helpless - Qin Wen Shu."

  "Does it have anything to do with you?" Lorin suddenly found that his words were not convincing, "Besides, Aunt Qin and I are in a very pure relationship."

  "Don't try to fool me, I can see right through your little tricks. Wen Shu is so naive, you'd probably deceive her to death and she still wouldn't know. I've been sisters with Wen Shu for over a decade, how could I just stand by and watch her walk into the tiger's den?"

  What's going on?

  Lorraine was getting impatient, and things were going well with Qin Auntie, what was this little girl doing sticking her nose in?

  "Are you done? I'm hanging up after this."

  "Hey, wait a minute." Song Meiyan said with a smile, "Don't you want to easily solve the problem of the internet cafe's business license? If you agree to my request, I'll also help you take care of the renovation of the internet cafe, absolutely at a price that's more than 50% off the market price. Anyway, as a rich young master, you don't care about this little bit of money, it's just for fun, and coincidentally, I have nothing to do either, so let's cooperate once."

  This sentence hit Lorin's heart, and he is now worried about this. If it can be easily resolved, then he will be able to hand over the stall to Xiaochuan with peace of mind and focus on more important things.

  Can't help but say, this Song Meiyan is a master of negotiation, directly targeting the other party's weaknesses. But what is her purpose? Like she said, worried that Qin Wanshu was deceived by herself, this excuse is so rotten that it can't be used to deceive even a child.

  Lorraine's tone gradually turned cold: "I don't quite like your negotiating style, give me a reasonable explanation, otherwise this call will be our last conversation."

  Song Meiyan heard that Luo Lin was getting impatient and stopped joking, pouring out: "To be honest with you, I'm currently living in Beijing, and this year I came to Zhenzhou City to pursue a master's degree. I want to find something to do for myself. At the same time, it's also for my sister to check things out. You opened an internet cafe, I want to see what kind of business you can do, all the procedures I'll handle for you, on the condition that you give me 30% of the shares. In the future, we'll be business partners, and I'll have something to do in Zhenzhou City, so it won't be so boring. Most importantly, with me keeping an eye on things in Zhenzhou City, you won't be able to harm my sister Yuanshu... who knows if you'll put poison in Yuanshu's drink or not..."

  When it came to the two words "poison", Song Meiyan's tone was unnatural, and her voice was stiff and rigid at the end.

  A blush-inducing scene flashed through Song Meiyan's mind, in a dimly lit bedroom, Luolin roughly pinned her to the bed, lifted his clothes, and injected himself on his belly, while she shamelessly stuck to Luolin's body, shouting "Little darling, thirsty...thirsty..."

  Noticing the silence on the phone, Lorrain naturally knew that the other party had thought of something and coughed softly without shame: "Don't think wildly, that night I was a very decent person giving you acupuncture, if you have any misconceptions, it's also the needle inserting into you, not me inserting into you. I didn't do anything."

  "Bang."

  The phone was suddenly hung up by Song Meiyan.

  Lorraine awkwardly covered her mouth, she didn't mean anything, this Chinese culture is profound and complex, casually pulling out a sentence has another layer of meaning, saying it badly is really embarrassing.

  Helpless, Lorraine put down the phone and began to recall every detail of her conversation with Song Meiyan. She found that Song actually didn't have any malicious motives, and according to what she said, it was quite credible. As far as Lorraine knew, Qin Aunt had very few friends in her daily life. If they were sisters for over a decade, then their family background must be extraordinary. After all, when Qin Wanshu was young, she grew up in the military district's residential area, and which of her childhood friends wasn't from an official or aristocratic family?

  It just so happens that Song Meiyan is a clever woman, who is here to further her studies and earn some extra income on the side. Working with this kind of woman wouldn't be a burden for Lorraine at all - business is business, after all. And... cough, actually Lorraine has quite a good impression of Song Meiyan, it would be great to make friends with her too. Later when she gets back home, there will be two beautiful women having dinner together with her.

  What's most important is that this woman can solve her own pressing problems, why wouldn't she be happy?

  Just then, the phone rang again.

  Lorraine picked up the phone, and on the other end was Song Meiyan's cheerful voice, as if nothing had happened earlier: "How about it, have you thought it over?"

  "Related procedures and store decoration are handed over to you, everything must be settled before the end of next month, but you only have a 20% share." Luolin said concisely.

  "So, is it a deal?"

  "It was a pleasure working with you."