New Times, New Hell

Chapter 60 - Buying Stock in the Amusement Park

Gu Hai’s sudden change in attitude not only shocked Wu Yuping, but also confused all those worshippers who were originally waiting to watch the drama unfold.

Fortunately, there were people in the crowd who were familiar with the Daoists in the temple. After asking each other about the situation, they finally got a general sense of what had unfolded.

It turned out that Gu Hai’s mother, Grandmother Gu, had been persuaded to buy the Underworld energy purifier because she had felt something off at home. The old lady was normally very devout, so was more sensitive in this regard than normal people. But she hadn’t expected to accidentally discover such an occurrence.

Grandmother Gu was a familiar face at Qinglian Temple; she was friends with several worshippers who visited often. She had a pretty good reputation too. After the situation with her family got out, a good number of people actually believed it. Coincidentally, there were a lot of worshippers present for this lecture. Many had come from out of town too. Everyone spoke to one another, eventually spreading the story completely. Those with the financial means pondered a bit, then decided to join in the trend and buy a purifier to bring home.

There weren’t many purifiers left in the first production stock either. In addition to the sales to Luofeng’s VIP customers, in an instant, they had already sold most of the machines.

Of course, the majority of people were still suspicious, but following the spread of positive feedback from the first group of customers, the market for purifiers naturally started growing.

Currently, Gu Hai was in the middle of sincerely apologizing to Qinglian Temple. He also earnestly requested for Daoist priest Mu to perform a soul releasing ceremony for Meichao. The entire situation could be considered a strange kind of destiny. After brief thought, Daoist priest Mu agreed.

Gu Hai was incredibly grateful that he was able to successfully get Daoist priest Mu to perform the ceremony. After agreeing, Daoist priest Mu and them got surrounded by the other guests. Thus, Gu Hai started apologizing profusely to Wu Yuping.

Gu Hai: “Daoist priest Wu, I’m truly apologetic about just now. Please don’t be angry with me.”

Wu Yuping: “……”

Gu Hai: “I truly hadn’t thought that Underworld energy could be purified with a machine. As expected, Qinglian Temple is a big temple. Even your technological advancements are further ahead than other Daoists. Daoist priest Wu, I express my greatest respect for you guys.”

Wu Yuping: “……”

After speaking for a long time, Gu Hai still didn’t get a response from Wu Yuping. He wondered if the other was still mad at him, so carefully asked, “Daoist priest Wu, how come you aren’t speaking? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, no.” Wu Yuping’s expression was very dazed. He patted Gu Hai’s shoulder and stumbled away. As he walked, he muttered, “I was the one who was wrong. There are still many subjects I need to learn……”

Gu Hai gazed at Wu Yuping’s desolate figure and sincerely praised, “As expected from the temple that is at the forefront of technology. Daoist priest Wu is so humble.”

After solving Gu Hai’s issue, Daoist priest Mu politely led Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que to the side hall where they received guests. It turned out that there had been an important guest waiting there earlier, but it was someone everyone was familiar with: the CEO of Excellent Jade Corporation, Yang Xin.

Yang Xin was also Luofeng’s VIP customer. But Luofeng only sold products; they didn’t deal in spell casting or anything else. Thus, whenever Yang Xin encountered trouble, he would still seek out Daoist priest Mu.

Upon seeing Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que, Yang Xin looked pleasantly surprised. He hurriedly rushed forward and shook their hands. “Boss Shang, Little Boss Yu, what a coincidence. You guys are here too?”

“It’s truly a coincidence,” Yu Zhengdu greeted Yang Xin. “We’re here to see the new product.”

Yang Xin: “New product?”

Yu Zhengdu nodded. “The Underworld energy purifier being co-produced by our company and Qinglian Temple.”

Back then, when he had suggested the idea of developing an Underworld energy purifier, Yang Xin had been present too. Yu Zhengdu didn’t need to explain further.

“Ah, has that been successfully developed?” Yang Xin asked in surprise. He had only rushed to Diyang from out of town this morning, so hadn’t heard the news yet. Upon hearing it now, he pretended to act displeased. “You should’ve told me before anyone else.”

“Too late for that,” Yu Zhengdu smiled. “But if you order now, you can still try to be one of the first people to receive the product.”

“That works too,” Yang Xin laughed. After a short pause, he said, “Then give me fifty.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Everyone else: “……”

Yu Zhengdu asked in shock, “Why do you want so many?”

“I have many houses,” Yang Xin responded naturally. “I have houses in all the big cities in the country, and also have several apartments. Besides, my houses are very large. I probably need at least two or three machines per house?”

“Okay, got it,” Yu Zhengdu interrupted him expressionlessly. “You don’t need to go into so much detail.”

Off to the side, Yuan Qing used his phone to check on the current sales situation. He regretfully said, “Householder Yang, we just sold most of our purifiers. Currently, we only have thirteen left in stock.”

“How about this – that’s fine, I’ll just take them all first.” Yang Xin waved his hand carefreely. His tone was a bit sorrowful, “There’s no other choice. The houses I rarely live in will have to go without them for now.”

Yu Zhengdu pressed a hand against his chest. He felt a huge sense of imbalance in his heart. After brief thought, he silently pulled out his phone and sent a message to the customer service department:【Increase the service fee for VIP customer Yang Xin tenfold!】

Very quickly, Shang Que’s message appeared too:【Agree.】

Yu Zhengdu lifted his head to glance at Shang Que, only to see Shang Que elegantly sitting with his chin on his hand. No one could tell at all that he was in the middle of being angry because of others’ wealth.

Yang Xin was completely clueless about the fact that his fees had been secretly raised. He casually bought out the rest of the Underworld energy purifiers, then eagerly looked at Daoist priest Mu. “Daoist priest Mu, about the situation I explained before. Do you have any suggestions to help me resolve it?”

Daoist priest Mu answered apologetically, “The situation you mentioned is not related to evil spirits or demons. There is truly nothing I can do about it.”

Yang Xin sighed heavily. His tone was depressed, “I actually know that too. I was just asking casually. There was always a chance.”

Daoist priest Mu looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “What chance could there be? Business is always a game of human wits. Even ghosts or gods are incapable of changing anything.”

Beside them, Yu Zhengdu was completely lost. Consequently, he asked curiously, “Has Boss Yang encountered trouble?”

“Big trouble.” Yang Xin’s expression immediately became pained. He completely lost the high-spirited and daring energy he had when buying the purifiers just now and said, “Do you remember the Feiyu Amusement Park our company was building in Chuandong?”

Yu Zhengdu nodded. He naturally remembered.

Excellent Jade Corporation had started from dealing in real estate relating to commercial entertainment. Previously, they had bought a piece of land in Chuandong and were planning on building their corporation’s third “Feiyu Amusement Park”. The investments that had gone into this project were enormous. They were working towards the goal of creating a top tier domestic entertainment base. All sorts of eyes were on them.

Because of this, Yang Xin placed a great emphasis on this project. Previously, he had specially invited Daoist priest Mu to perform a spell casting ceremony, and had even invited Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que over to double check. It was also at that time that Yu Zhengdu had come up with the idea of developing an Underworld energy purifier.

Who would’ve thought that after so long, their Underworld energy purifier had already been successfully developed, but the problems with Yang Xin’s land had yet to cease.

This situation was originally a trade secret, but Yang Xin felt that he knew Yu Zhengdu and them well enough. In addition to the fact that they weren’t competitors, he told them the truth.

It turned out that the standards for the third “Feiyu Amusement Park” they were building were extremely high. The configurations in the park had all been created to the standard of top tier international theme parks. To do so, they hadn’t hesitated to spend an enormous amount of money bringing in several completed projects from out of the country. Among these was a Western mythology theme park IP. This IP was currently in use in several developed countries around the world; it was a very famous and very popular project.

In order to get this IP, Excellent Jade Corporation had taken several steps back during the negotiation. Both parties had finally reached an agreement and had even finished creating a land use plan when the IP owners suddenly backed out right before things were set to be finalized.

Here, Yu Zhengdu combined what he had just learned with the recent trending news and asked, “Is it related to the entry of a different amusement park into our country?”

Yang Xin hadn’t thought that Yu Zhengdu would be able to react so quickly. Immediately, his expression became admiring. He nodded and said, “Yes.”

Just as Excellent Jade Corporation was in the middle of investing in Feiyu Amusement Park, an internationally famous amusement park had also announced that they would soon be entering Huaxia. And, their chosen address was coincidentally – or not coincidentally – in the southeast area as well, in the zone of business for Feiyu Amusement Park.

And, after the official announcement of that amusement park’s entry into Huaxia, the IP owners who originally were planning to collaborate with Excellent Jade Corporation went back on their word. The reasoning behind this wasn’t hard to analyze.

“In actuality, we had already heard that that amusement park was planning on entering the country last year. Which was why we were so determined to get that mythological IP at all costs.” Yang Xin’s tone was filled with bitterness.

That international amusement park had gotten popular in the past few years and was famous for their special effects and new technology. After their immersive experience got released, they became almost invincible, causing several older amusement parks to barely be able to put up an equal fight.

It was exactly because of the pressure of such a strong competitor that Excellent Jade had been forced to find a top tier IP team to collaborate with. But they hadn’t expected that in the end, they would be stabbed in the back by this team.

“So what’s the situation now?” Yu Zhengdu asked.

“I’m unclear about the whole situation, but one of my friends gave me some insider information.” The more Yang Xin spoke, the angrier he got. He slammed a hand on the table and said, “That pair of dishonest assholes have already signed a contract without telling us. And, the amount the amusement park offered was the same as ours! Not even a cent more.”

Yu Zhengdu watched as the industry’s big boss lost his usual cool. He hurriedly comforted, “Boss Yang, keep calm.”

“I’m already very calm.” Yang Xin patted his chest and took a sip of tea. Then, he turned to ask Daoist priest Mu again, “Priest, this pair of dishonest assholes is even more evil than demons or ghosts. How about this, can you cast a spell that causes the both of them to suffer misfortune?”

Daoist priest Mu was an enlightened master indeed. He very calmly stated, “Householder Yang, that is wrongful sorcery.”

Yang Xin downed a few more gulps of tea. His tone was a bit depressed. “To prepare for this project, we specifically bought an extra piece of land. Now, we don’t know what to do with it either. On the surface, us land developers have all the glory, but in actuality, the cash flow is very limited……”

Shang Que suddenly laughed coldly off to the side. “You can sell a couple houses to increase turnover.”

Yang Xin was suddenly attacked. He looked at Shang Que, perplexed, then said, “The houses are my personal property. They aren’t related to the company at all.”

He gestured with his fingers, tone resentful, “But because of this situation, the total amount I’m going to earn in dividends this year is going to be at least ten million less……”

Shang Que: “……”

Though Boss’s expression seemed to remain unchanged, Yu Zhengdu very knowingly unlocked his phone once more to send a message to the customer service department:【Increase VIP customer Yang Xin’s service fees twentyfold!】

The customer service department was extremely shocked:【What did Yang Xin do wrong?】

Yu Zhengdu:【Show off his wealth】

Customer service department:【……Oh.】

Yang Xin was still complaining off to the side. “Right now I’m truly frazzled with worry. The people below aren’t useful either. A few days ago, the manager of the planning department actually recommended finding a domestic team to collaborate with. If there was such a capable team in the country, would we have needed to spend so much money off the bat buying a foreign IP?”

Yu Zhengdu casually asked, “What suitable teams are there in the country?”

“This is the most infuriating part!” Yang Xin responded angrily. “He didn’t even bring up a professional project team, just a Ghost Festival garden party created by some company for their employees! A garden party! And for the Ghost Festival! Does that seem suitable to you guys?!”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Shang Que: “……”

The more Yang Xin thought about it, the angrier he felt. He started pulling out his phone and said, “This won’t do. I need to yell at him a bit more.”

“Un, I think his suggestion is pretty good,” Yu Zhengdu started dryly.

Yang Xin glared. “How is it good?”

Yu Zhengdu looked at him and slowly got out, “Good in that……the company that did the garden party was our company.”

Yang Xin: “……”

Off to the side, Yuan Qing could feel the awkward atmosphere. He hurriedly tried to ease the tension, “The flood has washed down the Dragon King’s Temple. What a coincidence.”

Yang Xin gave him a long look. He couldn’t say what he wanted to.

Little Daoist, you don’t use this phrase like that.

Yang Xin had been beside himself with worry these past few days because of the mythological IP’s sudden renege of their contract. He didn’t have any time whatsoever to pay attention to outside news, nor did he have time to contact his old friends. Thus, he truly didn’t know that Luofeng had planned such an astonishing Ghost Festival garden party.

The manager below him had mentioned it, but before the other had even finished presenting his proposal, he had been kicked out of the office by an agitated Yang Xin.

Because of that, Yang Xin had almost missed this IP.

Now, Yang Xin finally pulled up the proposal document the manager had previously sent him and looked it over in detail. Then, he opened the videos and pictures related to the Ghost Festival garden party once more. After doing so, he seemed to fall into a trance.

Yu Zhengdu went to the bathroom twice. When he returned the second time, he saw that Yang Xin was still glued to his phone. He finally couldn’t take it anymore and asked, “Boss Yang, have you finished looking at it?”

“Yes, yes.” Yang Xin jolted awake. He stared at Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que unmovingly. “Boss Shang, Little Boss Yu, how come you didn’t invite me to go visit your garden party?”

“This was an employee event,” Shang Que answered coldly. “Do you want to come work at our company?”

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help side-eyeing Shang Que. Boss still hadn’t recovered from the shock of over ten million in dividends.

“Ey, I can’t. I’ve never worked for anyone else before.” Yang Xin waved his hands, giving up in an instant. Immediately after though, he scooted closer and said, “But, I think our companies can collaborate.”

He waved his phone with the proposal document on the screen and said, “Boss Shang, sell the Ghost Festival garden party IP to our corporation. Cost isn’t an issue.”

Yu Zhengdu glanced at Shang Que. Shang Que wanted to be more strong-willed and refuse, but upon thinking of the development team behind him that was barking in hunger, he could only lower his noble ghost head. He hummed and said, “Zhengdu decide.”

Yang Xin was shocked. “Isn’t Little Boss Yu only in charge of the technology?”

Yu Zhengdu smiled. “Our company is small, so our roles aren’t that specific.”

“Understood.” Yang Xin felt joy in his heart. Technicians weren’t very sensitive regarding the market. Talks would be comparatively easier. Though he wasn’t planning on tricking Luofeng, it was still better to have the initiative when it came to these large IPs.

Only to hear Yu Zhengdu say, “Boss Yang, we can collaborate on this IP, but we won’t sell it.”

Yang Xin was a bit confused. “If you won’t sell, how do you want to collaborate?”

“Through stocks,” Yu Zhengdu stated. “If we were to collaborate, I hope that our company can do so through buying stock in exchange for our IP and technology. We would own stock in Feiyu Amusement Park and earn dividends from profits.”

Shang Que’s depressed expression finally changed into a smile. “Dividends are good. This collaboration format is great.”

Yang Xin: “……”

Yu Zhengdu generously increased the benefits. “If our company collaborates with yours through owning stock, we can waive your VIP customer service fees.”

Yang Xin: “……”

Why does he sound like he’s being very generous?

Shang Que even appeared slightly unwilling. “Fine, we can get the short end of the stick.”

A twentyfold customer service fee!

Yang Xin: ??????

The author has something to say:

Today, Xiao Kui lowered his noble ghost head for the growth of the company once again.