Wu Hao felt a little uncomfortable looking at Ye Chen, who had been favored by a Big Shot.

Originally, he had thought that by studying hard, he could surpass Ye Chen one day.

But now, it seemed he had been overthinking things.

The gap between him and Ye Chen was growing wider.

His Dream Goddess’s Boyfriend was becoming increasingly outstanding, and he felt his hopes were fading.

"General Manager Jiang, thank you for your kind offer, but I do not wish to accept investment."

Ye Chen politely refused.

The smile on Jiang Tao’s face instantly vanished without a trace.

He looked at Ye Chen in disbelief.

Jiang Tao had originally thought that Ye Chen would be extremely excited to hear about the investment, but the answer he received was a refusal, which caught him completely off guard.

Jiang Tao had prepared to haggle with Ye Chen and even expected Ye Chen to agree without hesitation.

The only thing he hadn’t expected was Ye Chen refusing... Wu Hao, who was standing nearby, was also stunned.

What was he saying?

He actually refused? How could this be?

How could this guy refuse?

Wu Hao turned to look at his roommate.

Sure enough, his roommate wore the same dumbfounded expression as him.

"My God, why did he refuse?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Clearly, the roommate, like Wu Hao, couldn’t believe Ye Chen would reject capital investment... Jiang Tao stared blankly at Ye Chen.

He was even more willing to believe that Ye Chen was playing hard to get, hoping to use this method to negotiate a better price.

But Ye Chen’s expression was too calm.

So calm that it made Jiang Tao feel somewhat despairing.

Jiang Tao took a deep breath and said, "Student, do you know what it means that you just refused me?"

"You might have lost an opportunity to reach the heavens in a single step, losing assets worth hundreds of millions."

Ye Chen nodded calmly and said, "Of course I know."

Jiang Tao continued, "Then do you know that even if I don’t invest in you, I can easily find another investor, and I guarantee that in just one month, I can replicate a second Hot Pot Restaurant to compete with yours?"

"I know you have that capability."

Jiang Tao’s tone was icy cold: "I’m very curious why you would refuse me. I believe that since you were able to get into Jing University and open this Hot Pot Restaurant, you are definitely not a fool, but your refusal is an extremely foolish decision."

After hearing Jiang Tao’s arrogant words, Ye Chen suddenly laughed.

That laugh carried contempt, making Jiang Tao even angrier.

As the President of an Investment Company, Jiang Tao considered himself very patient when it came to investing.

For a good investment project, he could even choose to endure humiliation.

But today, he was facing a student from Jing University.

A young man who was only eighteen or nineteen years old.

Yet at this moment, he actually felt a sense of humiliation.

Furthermore, he had never encountered a reaction like Ye Chen’s before.

It even made the highly experienced investor Jiang Tao feel helpless.

Ye Chen said calmly, "Senior, I know exactly the ’correct answer’ you are referring to."

"You chose to finance my Hot Pot Restaurant, naturally for performance, but what will you do to achieve that performance?"

"If I haven’t guessed wrong, you will rapidly expand, seek out franchisees. The more stores there are, the more capital you accumulate. I believe it won’t be long before our Hot Pot Restaurants are everywhere, not just in first-tier cities, but even in second-tier cities."

"In that case, we will gain a large amount of franchise capital. Conservatively speaking, if we have a hundred stores, our 300,000 franchise fee means 30 million. Furthermore, we can earn fees for supplying raw materials to franchisees, easily reaping profits from them. This is a highly profitable business."

Hearing Ye Chen’s words, Jiang Tao was stunned.

That’s right, what Ye Chen said was exactly his plan.

Jiang Tao never expected Ye Chen to be so impressive.

To be so familiar with capital operation.

That’s right, expansion is the best way to make money.

Xia Yingluo was beside him. She wanted to say something but kept her mouth shut.

Ye Chen continued, "But Senior, have you considered that such rapid expansion is bound to have drawbacks? With so many franchisees, you won’t be able to manage them uniformly. While we are reaping profits, those franchisees will also try every possible means to cut corners and make money. The consequence of that is that the quality of some peripheral stores will be very poor, potentially even damaging our entire brand."

Jiang Tao wanted to say something, but Ye Chen didn’t give him the chance.

"You will definitely say this is unavoidable. After all, since we’ve secured financing, we must make money faster, so we will continue to expand. Capital doesn’t wait for anyone, and this creates a vicious cycle."

After hearing Ye Chen’s words, Jiang Tao fell completely silent.

Don’t look at how grand the vision he just painted was.

But just as Ye Chen said.

Although money is made quickly, the drawbacks are also very obvious.

To put it bluntly, they would be chasing quick profits.

His investment is solely for maximum economic benefit.

At that point, even if Ye Chen wanted him to slow down, Jiang Tao wouldn’t.

Jiang Tao pursues maximizing profit. Once Ye Chen accepts his investment, he loses control over the Hot Pot Restaurant.

Everything Ye Chen said is the normal operating procedure for investment capital; it’s not a secret.

Franchisees are inconsistent, and guaranteeing that all franchised stores achieve perfection is simply impossible.

This is one of the reasons why many brands in later generations choose direct operation instead of franchising.

Ye Chen smiled, "Actually, I have many other methods for your type of operation."

"For example, what if a store isn’t popular? It’s simple: spend money to hire some shills, film videos, advertise everywhere, post them online, and hype it up. The store will easily become popular."

Jiang Tao: "..."

This kid’s business acumen is too sharp; he can even think of ideas like that.

Ye Chen chuckled, "If that method doesn’t work, we can engage in Scarcity Marketing. If that still fails, we could even promote a Hot Pot Festival."

"If that’s still not enough, control raw material costs and then suppress employee wages."

"In short, none of this really concerns us much. We’ve made our money. As for the other franchisees, whether they profit or lose, what does that have to do with us? After all, the money is already in our pockets."

Ye Chen looked intently at Jiang Tao.

"General Manager Jiang, tell me, am I correct? The answers I gave you are the exact solutions you had in mind, aren’t they?"

Xia Yingluo tightly clutched Ye Chen’s hand. Thinking of the answer Ye Chen provided, her expression also became saddened.

However, she still didn’t speak. Instead, she lowered her head, trying not to let Ye Chen see the sadness on her face.

Because Xia Yingluo didn’t want to influence Ye Chen’s decision because of herself.

Jiang Tao’s expression was complicated.

Ye Chen’s understanding of capital operation exceeded even his imagination.

Jiang Tao said, "Since you understand all this, why do you still refuse me?"