It Sounds Like Forever

"Okay, I'll hang up. I have so much to do." She groaned and hung up. She didn't have a very formal relationship with Li Jun so she didn't wait for his greetings. He wasn't the sort of person either. His gruffness and lack of emotions made it easy for him to get to the crux of the matter and fix problems.

Good for all sides.

She entered her room and quickly found herself exhausted. She had yet to unpack her clothes, moreover, she needed to remove her current clothes and wear something more casual for dinner. Though it wasn't meant to be a formal affair, all the investors and entrepreneurs would be eating today. She was about to go to the bathroom when she heard a knock at the door.

She wanted to ignore the knock but found herself trudging to the door anyway.

She opened it, her eyes drooping, and saw Mo Qingchen standing in the hallway.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I spoke to my lawyer. He wants to draw up the agreement between the two of us before we sign with Jiang Da," he said quickly. She pulled aside and let him in.

He sat on the little entertainment table and placed his laptop in front of him.

Qian Meng looked at the bathroom longingly and then lugged her laptop from her bag. She sat opposite him and opened the laptop. She had already dialed Li Jun put him on speakerphone.

"I'm still working on the agreement," Li Jun said in a bored voice. Qian Meng could hear him typing furiously in the background.

"Yes, Mo Qingchen wants to discuss it in detail with his lawyer over a call. Stay on the line and make the changes in real-time, okay?"

"Understood."

Mo Qingchen raised his eyebrow as he explained the situation to his lawyer and put the man on speakerphone as well. Introductions were made and the contract was drafted in detail. Of the postulates, the division of shares, the commitments to the companies, and money estimated to be needed to float the business and grow it was put down.

"You promised me fifty-five percent shares which will fetch me 2.2 billion dollars in shares in 5 years' time. I want to set that as a minimum. I also want a drafted detail of the games you wish to purchase over the next five years and what the return on those will be."

"For now, I want to work on simpler games that we can incorporate within the application and website so that individuals can play together to increase their interaction scores. It's like having games with quests to level up your relationship." The explanation was simple but Mo Qingchen understood it explicitly.

"So, you have a tentative plan about the whole trajectory of the company." He thought for a moment before dictating a few lines to the lawyers to add. "This basically means, that I am bound to exclusively partner with this company and input the games in the platform and I am under no circumstances allowed to partner with any other company."

Yun Qian Meng nodded before adding her own clause. "But I want to have the leeway to incorporate games from other companies as well to increase user traffic and new people interested in the platform. Exclusive games and in-game promotions will be a good option for that."

"Don't worry you'll make money from it too," she said quickly.

"How long have you known you want to buy this company?" he asked out of the blue. The people on the line became silent acting like they couldn't hear the intensity in Mo Qingchen's voice.

"I had gone through the list of companies attending the conference when the list came out and went through minor details. Two days ago, Li Min gave me further information on the ones I was interested in. Jiang Da approached me the next day and I had to dig in. It seemed like the stars had aligned and were begging me to take action. I was just going to be a shareholder, but I could see that this man doesn't respect others. He would ruin the company with his own hands, so I had to do it." She shrugged.

"And why not build your own dating website without this guy?" Mo Qingchen asked casually.

"They have ten thousand or so users already. Their selling point though not mature is good. The thing that actually drew me in? The name. 1314." She gave Mo Qingchen a pointed look.

"It sounds like 'forever'." His eyes widened in understanding.

"Once I saw that name, I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I had to have my finger in it." She chuckled. "Call me a shark if you want."

"Insane," he muttered under his breath. "Going back to the point. These are the minimum guarantees you have to give me. I hear your side and will work with you closely to form a team that executes the interface to your standards and beyond."

"With more color," she added cheekily.

"With more color," he added without protest.

The call was wrapped up in the next few minutes and the two slumped back into their chair.

Qian Meng reluctantly looked up at the clock and sighed. "We have twenty minutes to get dressed and go to dinner." She wanted to cry.

"Well, we can just go to the ground floor in half an hour," he offered.

"You can wear that. But I can't wear this while I eat food," she commented. The pants were meant for business and didn't leave room for a food baby. She preferred wearing something that was airy and allowed a little bump here and there without causing discomfort.

Mo Qingchen looked at her clothes and nodded.

"It does look a bit stiff."