Chapter 69: A Broader Vision
Li Jiacheng was a very busy man, and naturally could not spend too much time chatting with Lin Haoran. After they had an open and sincere conversation and cleared up their doubts, he politely bid farewell and left.
This meeting turned out to be a win-win for both parties.
Lin Haoran not only secured Li Jiacheng's clear commitment to cease pursuing Qingzhou Cement but also successfully negotiated the acquisition of Li Jiacheng's shares, greatly strengthening his control over the company and raising his shareholding to a very satisfactory level.
As for Li Jiacheng, the meeting allowed him to put his worries to rest and, more importantly, to liquidate his diminishing-value Qingzhou Cement shares at a reasonable price, achieving an optimized reallocation of his assets.
After Li Jiacheng left, Lin Haoran returned to his company, accompanied by his bodyguards.
By then, it was already past six in the evening. The setting sun shone its brilliant colors through the clouds, casting a surreal, beautiful light onto the office's floor-to-ceiling windows.
Lin Haoran sat on the sofa, reflecting on his experiences over the past month.
Initially, his sole focus had been on winning the battle for inheritance rights. Yet now, with his growing strength in the business world and rapidly increasing wealth, he found himself no longer so attached to Wanan Group, a listed company valued at just over a billion Hong Kong dollars.
The competition for inheritance had gone from being a "hard mode" challenge to something much simpler.
His vision, naturally, had grown with his strength.
In this past month alone, he had personally met with three major figures of Hong Kong's business world — Bao Yugang, Shen Bi, and Li Jiacheng — and had managed to leave a lasting impression on each of them.
This was something he could never have imagined just a little over a month ago.
After all, when he first crossed over into this world, he had been just a freshly graduated young man with almost nothing.
In just over a month, he had gone from owning a mere cement factory to preparing to control a listed company valued at over HK$200 million, with an actual worth exceeding HK$500 million, while also holding tens of millions in cash. It was truly unbelievable.
At present, Lin Haoran held 11.459 million shares of Qingzhou Cement. With Li Jiacheng agreeing to sell him another 3.91 million shares, once the transaction was completed tomorrow, Lin Haoran's total holdings would reach over 15.37 million shares, accounting for approximately 30.7% of the company.
Such a holding should be enough to officially enter the board of directors of Qingzhou Cement, although it was still not entirely secure.
According to his detailed recent research, the current chairman of Qingzhou Cement's board was a British national, personally holding about 12.6% of the company's shares.
In addition, the public shareholder list disclosed that five other British shareholders collectively held around 16.2%.
If these British shareholders stood united, their combined holdings would reach 28.8% — a force that could not be underestimated.
Furthermore, three Chinese shareholders appeared on the list, each holding smaller individual stakes, but together accounting for about 7.9%.
In other words, the known major shareholders — both British and Chinese — collectively held about 36.7% of Qingzhou Cement.
From his past life's memory, Lin Haoran recalled reading that Li Jiacheng had only managed to join the Qingzhou Cement board after quietly accumulating about 40% of the company's shares.
Clearly, Li Jiacheng had calculated cautiously and built his position until it was overwhelming before making his move.
With the capital he currently commanded, Lin Haoran knew he could continue acquiring shares on the market and surpass the holdings of the existing shareholders without too much difficulty.
Moreover, he had discovered that none of the existing shareholders were particularly powerful tycoons.
This explained why, in the alternate history he remembered, Li Jiacheng had managed to take over Qingzhou Cement so easily without encountering any real opposition.
Perhaps, Lin Haoran thought, he could first join Qingzhou Cement's board. As for becoming chairman, there was no rush. Qingzhou Cement was already within his grasp.
Joining the board would allow him to familiarize himself with the company's internal operations and build relationships with other shareholders.
Later, once he held a sufficient percentage of shares, gaining full control would be much easier.
With that, Lin Haoran made up his mind.
After tomorrow's transaction with Li Jiacheng, he would head to Qingzhou Cement's offices.
This company, which he had long been planning to control, was about to bear his mark.
Just as Lin Haoran was deep in thought, the telephone in his office rang suddenly, snapping him out of his reverie.
He swiftly rose from the sofa, walked steadily to the desk, and picked up the receiver.
"Hello, this is Lin Haoran," he said, directly giving his name.
"Haoran-ge, it's me, Jia Hui. Are you free right now?" came the sweet voice of Guan Jiahui from the other end.
"I'm free. I'm at the office. What's up?" Lin Haoran asked with a smile.
"Haoran-ge, my daddy is returning from Malaysia tomorrow afternoon. After that, I don't know when he'll be traveling again. I want to see you before he comes back," Guan Jiahui said quickly.
Having tasted the sweetness of their romance, she found herself missing him desperately after just one night apart.
"Alright. Where are you? I'll send someone to pick you up," Lin Haoran said with a laugh.
"Haoran-ge, I'm at the convenience store downstairs at Hengfeng Building. Since you're upstairs, I'll come up to find you," she said playfully.
"Okay, I'll wait for you," Lin Haoran replied and hung up.
He hadn't expected Guan Jiahui to come all the way from Kowloon to Central just to see him.
Ten minutes later, Lin Haoran saw Guan Jiahui standing at the company's entrance.
"Young Master, we'll leave you two alone," Li Weiguo and Li Weidong said tactfully.
"Alright, you can go. Tonight, stay at the hotel across the street as usual," Lin Haoran replied casually.
Hearing these words, Guan Jiahui blushed.
After the bodyguards left, Lin Haoran closed the company door, looked at Guan Jiahui carefully, and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
"Mm, I grabbed something simple at a small eatery in Hung Hom before coming," Guan Jiahui said shyly.
With Li Weiguo and Li Weidong gone, she seemed to relax, regaining her natural intimacy with Lin Haoran.
Her arrival added a bright touch to Lin Haoran's evening, making it exceptionally delightful.
After a tense day of work, having a relaxing evening like this was a rare and pleasant treat for Lin Haoran.
As night fell, the emotions between them naturally deepened, and a period of tender, intimate time became an inevitable part of the evening.
In the prime of her youth, Guan Jiahui was full of longing and dreams of romance — her heart entirely filled with love.
But reality was rarely as perfect as dreams. Although Lin Haoran liked her, his feelings were mixed with other complex factors.
One reason he pursued Guan Jiahui was the allure of her fame — the future superstar he remembered from his previous life — and the thrill of something fresh and new.
Thus, he could not devote himself to her as wholeheartedly as she hoped.
After all, having crossed into this world, how could he be satisfied with just one woman?
At the very least, Lin Haoran thought, he would want to fill a mahjong table — four players.
His standards weren't even that high.
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