Muttering to himself, he turned and went straight toward the floor-to-ceiling landscape painting.

’I thought I saw that secretary come out of here earlier.’

’That means there’s probably a secret room in here.’

Sure enough, when he reached the painting and gave it a push, the entire thing swung open.

He stepped inside to find a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom. It wasn’t small, either—at least twenty square meters.

Lu Zhisen hadn’t had a chance to return since he’d arrived.

As a result, the room was a complete mess.

On the wrinkled bed lay a pair of used stockings and some red panties. Worse, several used condoms were scattered across the floor.

Seeing this, Fang Chenyi, who had originally planned on collecting the items inside, frowned in disgust. He couldn’t bring himself to pick up that stuff, not even if the "recycling" value was high. He just couldn’t do it.

He shook his head helplessly, turned, and left the room.

After leaving the office, Fang Chenyi called Qi Xiaotian and learned that his father-in-law was downstairs, busy helping the new department heads settle in.

He decided to wander around the company building by himself.

With nothing better to do, he decided to call Brother Xiaoma and offer to treat him to a meal to show his thanks.

When the call connected, however, Brother Xiaoma replied with a wry laugh that he was already on his way to the airport to fly to Jingcheng.

He had to attend an important conference in Jingcheng over the next couple of days. As for the meal, he promised he would treat Fang Chenyi when he had the chance.

After a bit more conversation, Fang Chenyi hung up.

He wandered all over the company building, and before he knew it, it was past four in the afternoon.

His father-in-law, however, was still swamped, with no time to even take a short break.

He met up with his father-in-law to check on the situation, and the older man just shrugged helplessly.

"Chenyi, if you have things to do, you should head back. I don’t think I’ll be able to get away for the next few days."

Seeing the look of fulfillment on his father-in-law’s face despite how busy he was, Fang Chenyi smiled and agreed.

He had come here solely to raise money, but it was now clear that the company’s funds were frozen. He would have to wait until the audit team finished its review, at the very least.

’In that case, I’d better try raising money from my other companies first.’

Fang Chenyi looked at Qi Xiaotian.

"Xiaotian, stay here with my father-in-law. It’ll be good for him to have someone to help out if anything comes up."

Qi Xiaotian agreed without hesitation, and Bai Zhenhua didn’t object. After all, he was new to the place, and it was true that two people were better than one.

Just like that, Fang Chenyi hailed a cab to the airport. Sitting in the taxi, he started to think. Since Southern Airlines couldn’t provide any funds for now, the only companies left that he fully owned were:

Lu Chao Technology, Tokyo Entertainment, Xuanji Animation Technology Development Co., Ltd., Qinhuang Island Yuejian Company, Qinhuang Sunlight Private Middle School, an Er Guotou Distillery, and the Jingcheng Celestial Paradise Golf Course he had just acquired.

But among these, Lu Chao Technology, Xuanji Animation, Yuejian Company, the private middle school, and the Er Guotou Distillery definitely couldn’t come up with five billion.

That left Tokyo Entertainment as the only truly powerful contender. But that company was in Tokyo, and large international wire transfers were rather inconvenient.

’As for the golf course,’ Fang Chenyi thought, ’I know next to nothing about it. Still, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. How much cash can an entertainment venue really have on hand?’

Just then, Fang Chenyi’s phone suddenly rang.

He took it out and saw it was an unknown number from Jingcheng.

Though he didn’t recognize it, Fang Chenyi answered anyway.

"Hello, is this Chairman Fang?"

He paused for a moment, certain he’d never heard the voice before. Puzzled, Fang Chenyi asked,

"This is Fang Chenyi. Who is this?"

Hearing Fang Chenyi confirm his identity, the person on the other end of the line immediately adopted a more respectful tone. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Chairman Fang, hello. I’m the manager of your Celestial Paradise golf course. My name is Xia Bingbao. I’m calling to report to you about our work."

Fang Chenyi nodded. ’So, it’s the manager of the golf course I just acquired.’

"Oh, hello. Just continue business as usual. I don’t have any other instructions for now."

The man replied, "Yes, Chairman Fang," and then continued,

"Chairman Fang, I’ve already prepared the new financial statements. May I email them to you now?"

Xia Bingbao was well-prepared. He knew exactly what a new boss would want to see first.

When a company changes hands, the new owner is obviously going to want to see the financial statements. That goes without saying. So, the moment Xia Bingbao heard about the change in ownership, he had immediately started preparing the report. Now, after spending the better part of the day on it, he had finally finished.

Fang Chenyi didn’t think much of it. He just said "okay" and hung up.

A moment later, his phone buzzed with a notification for a new email.

Still frowning and worrying about the money, he absentmindedly tapped open the email and began to read.

But as he read, Fang Chenyi’s eyes suddenly lit up.

He couldn’t help but curse inwardly. ’Holy shit!’

He immediately started reading the financial statement carefully.

Celestial Paradise’s annual revenue was a staggering ten billion!

Fang Chenyi couldn’t understand how a simple entertainment venue could be such a cash cow.

But as he read on, it all started to make sense.

The Celestial Paradise Golf Course was an integrated entertainment and leisure complex—the largest golf course and private club in all of Jingcheng.

It operated on a membership system, and the annual fee for a top-tier membership was in the tens of millions. With that kind of model, reaching an annual revenue of ten billion really wasn’t so difficult after all.

But even with an annual revenue of ten billion, it still couldn’t solve Fang Chenyi’s current problem.

The reason was simple: aside from the necessary operating capital, all surplus funds in the Celestial Paradise accounts had already been withdrawn by the previous owner.

To put it bluntly, it was a cash-free acquisition.

Sigh...

He let out a long sigh. It was true what they said: even a hero can be brought to his knees by a lack of cash.

To think that his total net worth easily made him the richest man in Huaxia, yet here he was, struggling over a mere five billion.

As he was lost in thought, the taxi pulled up to the airport entrance. Char, having been notified in advance, was already waiting outside in an electric airport cart.

"Boss, are we heading home?"

Fang Chenyi waved his hand.

"No, not home."

...