Chapter 134: Jiang Zhou and Feng Yiyun’s One-Sided Meeting An hour later, two-thirds of the projects had already been presented. But the investors were clearly not very interested. Although these entrepreneurs all came from prestigious universities, not many of them were undergraduates. Most were graduate students or postdocs. The projects they brought were basically team ventures, many of which had already gone through one or two rounds of financing. Investing in such projects was usually stable, but profits were limited. Finding a truly fresh project was extremely difficult. Ninety percent of the business plans sounded like castles in the air, especially those in the early stages, which lacked real data to back them up. Until an hour later, when Qingbei University’s Yang Leduo took the stage. At the mention of her “Shared Flywheel” project, the investors finally showed a bit of interest. Shared projects were an emerging industry, leasing out idle resources, integrating fragmented assets. As long as there were enough users, one could collect enough membership fees. In other words, with enough leverage, they could move enormous amounts of capital. How much does one bicycle cost anyway? If the project took off, they could throw five hundred bicycles onto the streets and then confidently charge membership fees from tens of thousands of people. One-to-two, one-to-three, one-to-four. Capital could be hoarded and reinvested into secondary ventures. That kind of business was exactly what investors liked to see. “Congratulations to entrepreneur Yang Leduo for receiving a one-million investment intention from Baiyun Tech!” “Congratulations to entrepreneur Yang Leduo for receiving a one-million investment intention from Azure Group-Buy!” When her presentation ended, two CEOs were impressed enough to drop their investment tokens into her box. This step only marked an initial intention. Real funding would still need to be discussed in private. But two million already made it the highest investment figure of the entire conference so far. Thunderous applause erupted on-site. Yang Leduo proudly lifted her chin. Even as she walked off the stage, her steps were floating. Seeing this, Su Nan and Han Rou grew even more nervous. They didn’t want to disappoint Jiang Zhou, nor did they want to embarrass him. Yang Leduo had just arrogantly declared war on them. If Su Nan failed to secure funding, Jiang Zhou might not even be able to raise his head in University City again. After all, he too was considered a rising star in entrepreneurship just like Yang Leduo. The latter had already gone through two rounds of fundraising, each larger than the last. Ganfanren had been making a huge splash in University City, but if they walked away empty-handed this time, they’d become the laughingstock. “Next, from Shangjing University, entrepreneur Jiang Zhou. “His project: the food delivery platform Ganfanren.” At the call, Su Nan took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage. Relying on her understanding of Ganfanren and the contents of the plan, she gave the most detailed presentation she could. The investors below seemed intrigued, but only intrigued. When it came time for them to cast their investment tokens, the hall fell silent. Everyone just looked at one another. A suddenly emerging project often ran into this problem. Newness meant high risk. What’s more, Ganfanren had only existed for two months. The risks were undeniably great. The investors’ caution wasn’t unreasonable. In the first round, no one invested. Feng Yiyun’s lips curved faintly upward. This was the result she had expected. Her earlier investigation had told her everything: Jiang Zhou was the soul of this project. The reason Ganfanren had risen so quickly was entirely thanks to his capabilities. In other words, if someone else had been running it, not even two years would have produced today’s results. In that regard, she did admire Jiang Zhou. If he hadn’t dared to bully her niece, Feng Siruo, she might have been tempted to invest herself. But without him present, the project had lost its soul. And how could a soulless project persuade any investor? “It’s unfortunate, but Ganfanren has failed in the first round of fundraising. “Please take a short break. We’ll add five more minutes for this entrepreneur to make a supplementary pitch.” At the host’s announcement, Su Nan and Han Rou’s hearts sank. As expected, they had struck out in the first round. Though investors’ eyes had lit up, not a single one acted. That meant they were interested but full of hesitation. If Jiang Zhou had been there, he probably could’ve dispelled their doubts with just two or three sentences. During the break, Su Nan was extremely discouraged. She had no idea how she could secure funding in just five minutes. At that moment, Yang Leduo, flush with her two million, walked past them. “Now you see who the real trash is? “In five minutes, can you even scrape together ten yuan?” She sneered arrogantly and returned to her seat. Su Nan lowered her head, biting her lip in silence. Han Rou saw something was wrong and grew anxious. After some thought, she messaged Jiang Zhou. “Brother, we failed the first round!” “We failed. Only five minutes left for a supplementary chance.” In the interrogation room, Jiang Zhou’s eyes widened slightly. Where is Yin Shuya? That woman is being unreliable again? Did she leave midway? No, that isn’t like her. She isn’t the kind to break a promise. Maybe she just went to the restroom? Unfortunately, entrepreneurs couldn’t contact investors until fundraising was complete. Otherwise Han Rou could’ve gone looking for her. “Yin Shuya, how did Ganfanren miss the first round?!” No reply. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝕟𝕖𝕥 Isn’t this woman online 24/7? Of all times for the chain to snap, it had to be now. After thinking for a while, Jiang Zhou opened Han Rou’s QQ. “Have Su Nan mention my name multiple times during the supplementary pitch. Loud and clear.” “How is that supposed to help?” “I’m worried some interested investors may have dozed off.” “Oh… okay, I’ll tell her.” Puzzled, Han Rou relayed the message to Su Nan. Su Nan nodded and returned to the stage. “Ganfanren is the brainchild of my boss, Jiang Zhou. Unfortunately, due to urgent matters, Jiang Zhou couldn’t be here. “So I can only temporarily stand in for him and give a brief explanation… “My boss Jiang Zhou said… “My boss Jiang Zhou believes… “My boss Jiang Zhou estimates…” Front row, left section. Yin Shuya, who had dozed off out of boredom, nearly fell out of her seat. This whole venture conference had been unbearable. She had already gotten sleepy during the very first speaker. Now, after nodding off for a while, all she heard was “Jiang Zhou, Jiang Zhou, Jiang Zhou” echoing in her ears. Her mind buzzed, and she suddenly remembered her mission. “Yin Shuya, how did the first round miss?!” Looking at her phone, her mouth dropped open. No way… no way she had just missed it? She looked up and saw a girl on stage pitching Ganfanren, every sentence plastered with Jiang Zhou’s name. The investors below looked bewildered. Was this girl chanting an incantation? Meanwhile, Su Nan and Han Rou grew colder by the second. They were sure this time they would come away empty-handed. Two months of effort, about to dissolve into nothing. “Thank goodness I didn’t miss the final round. “So boring. Let’s get this over with so I can go back to sleep.” Yawning, Yin Shuya brought her investment tokens to the stage. Without hesitation, she tossed all ten into the box, then walked out of the hall with a weary expression. Never again would she come to something . Gaming was way more fun. That bastard Jiang Zhou had completely used her as a tool. Ten million wasn’t a small sum. If that film project didn’t make a return, she’d personally wring his neck, then make him hand over Ganfanren as compensation! At that moment, Su Nan’s voice faltered. The entire hall fell silent. Inside the glass box were ten investment tokens. That meant… a ten-million investment intention?! Yang Leduo’s eyes widened in disbelief. Feng Yiyun furrowed her brows and left the venue.