They finally arrived at the conference room.
Fu Linzhou had not arrived yet; it was his assistant who received them.
Assistant Lin looked at Ji Zhaoxi: "Mr. Mu and Assistant Ji, please take a seat first. President Fu is still in a meeting."
This was a blatant show of disdain, but Mu Zheng acted as if he hadn't noticed a thing, continuously looking around at the conference room's layout.
"Didn't they say the Fu Corporation was really impressive? Why does the conference room look so shabby?" Mu Zheng looked at Assistant Lin curiously.
The conference rooms at his own company were all sparkling with gold.
Assistant Lin remained silent.
Ji Zhaoxi smiled awkwardly. "What Mr. Mu means is that Fu Corporation's conference room is very minimalist and premium. President Fu has excellent taste."
"That's not what I..." Mu Zheng was just about to speak.
Ji Zhaoxi quickly interrupted him: "Mr. Mu, please go ahead and drink your tea."
Secretary Lin didn't feel offended. As a fellow corporate drone, he only felt that Ji Zhaoxi was quite pitiful.
Being stuck with a boss like this, her daily life must be exhausting.
Ji Zhaoxi and Mu Zheng waited for about ten minutes. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from the previously quiet corridor, and then the door was pushed open by a secretary.
First came a few employees holding laptops. Their expressions were very serious. After entering the room, they didn't offer any pleasantries and sat directly at the other end of the conference table.
Assistant Lin quickly adjusted the screen projection, and the atmosphere instantly grew tense.
Mu Zheng, experiencing a formal meeting for the first time: ...
He suddenly felt a bit nervous.
He looked at Ji Zhaoxi beside him. She was still reviewing the documents, looking no different from usual.
Mu Zheng stared at her in surprise. No way, is she really not nervous?
He cleared his throat. Well, he couldn't be nervous either; he was the boss, after all.
Fu Linzhou was the last to enter. He smiled at Mu Zheng, his voice clear and gentle.
"Apologies, the previous meeting ran over by a few minutes."
As soon as Mu Zheng saw Fu Linzhou's demeanor, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He looked so easy to talk to—Ji Zhaoxi had totally exaggerated before.
Mu Zheng's true nature was instantly exposed. He laughed cheerfully and reached out his hand: "President Fu, I've heard so much about you. You actually look quite a bit like Fu Wanyi."
Fu Linzhou smiled and shook his hand, releasing it almost immediately.
Acting overly familiar, Mu Zheng tried to pat Fu Linzhou on the shoulder, but the secretary beside him seamlessly blocked the gesture.
Fu Linzhou's gaze fell on Ji Zhaoxi, and he gave a polite, slight nod.
Mu Zheng failed to notice the shift in the atmosphere and kept making small talk with Fu Linzhou. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were close friends.
"Mr. Fu, I know your sister very well. We're great friends."
"I heard that wealthy families always arrange marriages. Does the Fu family do that too? What do you think of me?"
"Mr. Fu, will Fu Wanyi be coming to the company today?"
Beside him, Ji Zhaoxi watched this scene numbly.
She really wished she could live her whole life playing the fool like this, with someone else always there to clean up the mess.
Fu Linzhou took his seat at the head of the table, not responding to any of Mu Zheng's remarks. He opened a folder while saying something to his team next to him.
Mu Zheng smugly crossed his legs. Was there even anything to worry about? With his future brother-in-law here, this collaboration would be secured in minutes.
Assistant Lin looked at Mu Zheng: "Mr. Mu, since time is precious, let's get straight to it."
Mu Zheng nodded without a care in the world: "Let's begin then."
He wondered if Fu Wanyi had seen his WeChat Moments post; he took a pretty good photo today.
The secretary frowned at the document and asked, "Mr. Mu, your capital injection has priority entry, but your repurchase clause sets the trigger point only after a 30% drop in net profit. Could you explain this?"
All eyes in the conference room turned to Mu Zheng.
Mu Zheng crossed his arms and looked at Ji Zhaoxi with absolute righteousness: "Explain it."
The secretary fell silent for a moment before looking at Ji Zhaoxi as well.
Ji Zhaoxi cleared her throat: "You've misunderstood. In Article 10 of the appendix, we added a Valuation Adjustment Mechanism. As long as your internal rate of return falls below 12%, Mr. Mu will use the overseas trust assets under his personal name as settlement."
Saying it like this should be fine, right?
She looked nervously at Fu Linzhou and the secretary.
Fu Linzhou did not nod. He quietly looked at the document, his fingers gently rubbing its edge.
Mu Zheng also sneaked a peek at Fu Linzhou.
He was actually starting to find this a bit intimidating, like being called on in class.
He sneaked another peek at Ji Zhaoxi. Seeing how incredibly nervous she was, and knowing he couldn't help her at all, he silently prayed for her in his heart.
The person next to the secretary responded, "Understood."
Ji Zhaoxi had no idea what positions these people held; she could only wait for them to ask questions.
"Have you calculated the cash flow coverage ratio?"
Ji Zhaoxi nodded: "We can maintain it above 1.8. The statement is on the fifth page of the appendix."
After that, the people across the table directed almost all their questions to Ji Zhaoxi. They knew that Mu Zheng probably understood absolutely nothing about this project.
The questions grew increasingly difficult, and Ji Zhaoxi struggled more and more to answer them. Mu Zheng's expression also grew solemn.
Assistant Ji, you're on your own!
Thank goodness he wasn't the one being interrogated right now.
What was going on with his dad? Didn't he say he had already pulled strings and smoothed things over?
Why did he feel like the people across the table were so terrifying?
Fu Linzhou looked at the data on the document and smiled: "To think of using a trust for credit enhancement... it seems Mr. Mu is not only very knowledgeable about finance but also an expert in debt collection."
There was a hint of teasing in his words. Everyone in the conference room knew that this proposal couldn't possibly have come from Mu Zheng's hands.
"Mr. Mu, if this merger is successful, how do you plan to handle the subsequent goodwill impairment risks?"
Mu Zheng felt so desperate, so bored, and so eager to go home!
He couldn't understand! Couldn't read it! Couldn't speak to it!
Hearing Fu Linzhou ask him a question, Mu Zheng cleared his throat, smiled, and looked at Ji Zhaoxi: "Assistant Ji, how should we handle it?"
Ji Zhaoxi was sweating bullets. She hadn't prepared for this question.
But Fu Linzhou kept staring at them, seemingly with no intention of letting them off the hook.
Mu Zheng looked at Ji Zhaoxi encouragingly: "It's fine, Assistant Ji. It doesn't matter if you answer incorrectly."
Ji Zhaoxi's mouth twitched. He really thought this was just answering a question in class.
All eyes in the conference room were focused on Ji Zhaoxi. She honestly didn't know if she was the boss or if Mu Zheng was.
Fu Linzhou was also watching her quietly.
Ji Zhaoxi had no choice but to bite the bullet and start improvising.
"President Fu, regarding the goodwill risk, we plan to add an installment payment clause to the merger agreement, paying the remaining consideration based on the profitability over the next three years."
Mu Zheng clapped for her, looking at her with encouragement.
Well said!
Even though he didn't understand a word of it.
After hearing Ji Zhaoxi's proposal, the conference room fell into a brief silence. The people across the table raised their eyebrows but said nothing.
Fu Linzhou's knuckles tapped lightly against the table. Ji Zhaoxi knew she was doomed.
"Quick thinking," he affirmed softly.
Mu Zheng nodded approvingly at Ji Zhaoxi.
"But in top-tier mergers and acquisitions, Assistant Ji, this approach is what we call a slow suicide."
Ji Zhaoxi nodded in embarrassment.
A trace of an involuntary smile colored Fu Linzhou's tone. "Once there is a massive impairment of goodwill, it will trigger a crisis of confidence in the secondary market. The resulting collapse of the stock price would be far more fatal than the small amount of consideration Assistant Ji managed to save."
He looked gently at Ji Zhaoxi. "If I were Assistant Ji, I would demand that the other party sign a compensation agreement and mandate the major shareholders to pledge their shares."
Ji Zhaoxi froze for a moment before it dawned on her. "Thank you, Mr. Fu."
Was Fu Linzhou actually teaching her?
