SAG -Chapter 76 The Acquisition Progress

After breakfast the next morning, Zhang Ran first took the two little ones to school before calling Meng Mingxuan over.

The moment he saw him, Zhang Ran was startled.

Meng Mingxuan had heavy dark circles under his eyes and looked utterly exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept properly in days.

“Uncle Zhang…” Meng Mingxuan greeted weakly.

Zhang Ran couldn’t help wondering whether he’d pushed the young man too hard.

“Have you eaten breakfast?” he asked.

Meng Mingxuan shook his head.

“Not yet.”

“Eat something first. It’s only been two days since I last saw you. How did you end up like this?”

Zhang Ran was puzzled.

He had seen Meng Mingxuan just the day before yesterday.

The young man had looked tired then, but nowhere near this bad.

Taking a huge bite of a steamed bun, Meng Mingxuan mumbled through a full mouth, “I barely slept these last two days.”

“I never imagined buying a company would be this complicated—even one this small.”

Over the past two days, Meng Mingxuan had devoted every ounce of his time and energy to the acquisition.

At first, he had assumed that with a team of professionals handling everything, he could simply act as a hands-off boss, stepping in only to approve the final offer.

But once the work began, he quickly realized how naïve he’d been.

Acquiring a company involved countless details, even when the target was a small business.

Initially, he believed he could simply trust the professionals and let them handle everything.

But after actually sitting in the decision-maker’s seat, he discovered that even being a “hands-off boss” wasn’t easy.

Take the valuation reports, for example.

Looking at pages upon pages of financial figures and all the information they’d gathered…

His first instinct had actually been:

What if they’re working together to deceive me?

Although he quickly talked himself out of that suspicion, he knew deep down he still didn’t fully trust them.

So even though he couldn’t truly understand many of the reports, he forced himself to read them carefully anyway.

Not only that, he even asked his father, Meng He, to send several independent experts.

Their sole job was to verify whether the reports were genuine and whether any of the financial data had been falsified.

It was during these two days that Meng Mingxuan truly began to admire Zhang Ran.

He was only trying to buy one tiny company, yet he was already mentally and physically exhausted, constantly worrying that something might go wrong.

And Zhang Ran?

His family business had been enormous.

Yet he’d simply handed it over to Meng He to manage without hesitation.

Meng Mingxuan knew that Zhang Ran had been doing exactly that long before the ship incident.

If nothing else, just that level of confidence and decisiveness was enough to earn his complete respect.

For the first time, he also began to understand why his father remained so utterly loyal to Zhang Ran.

“Slow down. Don’t choke,” Zhang Ran reminded him before adding, “It’s good that you’re busy.”

“The more you learn now, the less you’ll have to worry in the future.”

“When you truly understand how everything works, you won’t need to work yourself this hard.”

“Hrk!”

Meng Mingxuan nearly choked.

He quickly grabbed his soy milk and gulped down several large mouthfuls.

After letting out a long sigh of relief, he complained, “It isn’t that easy, Uncle Zhang.”

“My brain feels like it’s about to explode.”

“Especially those financial reports.”

“I swear, just looking at those numbers makes my head hurt.”

Zhang Ran simply listened to him complain with a smile on his face.

Although he didn’t know much about Meng Mingxuan’s past personally, Meng He had told him enough.

For someone like Meng Mingxuan to push himself this far…

Zhang Ran was already quite satisfied.

Only after Meng Mingxuan had finished venting—and finished breakfast—did Zhang Ran say, “I’ll remember your efforts.”

“When this is over, you’ll be rewarded.”

“And I promise, it won’t be a small reward.”

Meng Mingxuan immediately perked up.

“Thank you, Uncle Zhang!”

“Alright.”

“Now tell me how things are progressing.”

Meng Mingxuan straightened up.

“Here’s the situation.”

“Brother Sicheng’s company is already operating at a loss.”

“They’re practically on the verge of bankruptcy.”

“We spoke with the owner yesterday.”

“He’s very willing to sell.”

“I estimate we can acquire the company for around thirty million yuan.”

There was obvious confidence in his voice.

This was the result of two days of hard work—and the source of his newfound confidence.

After all, he’d earned admission to a prestigious university through his own abilities.

Although he’d spent much of his college years having fun, he certainly hadn’t learned nothing.

That academic foundation allowed him to get up to speed remarkably quickly.

Besides, Meng He had previously hired professional tutors to teach both him and Meng Zixuan.

Many concepts were already familiar to him.

What he lacked wasn’t knowledge—it was practical experience.

Over these two days, specialists had patiently broken everything down, explaining each step until he understood.

Of course, the biggest reason he was learning so quickly was because this was merely a small company.

Its operations were nowhere near as complicated as those of a major corporation.

“Good.”

“In that case, I’ll give you a maximum budget of fifty million.”

“If the purchase price exceeds that…”

“…your reward will be reduced significantly.”

“So don’t say I didn’t warn you in advance.”

The moment Zhang Ran finished speaking, Meng Mingxuan’s face fell.

In truth, he’d been fishing for praise just moments earlier.

“Uncle Zhang…”

“Can you raise the budget a little more?” he asked shamelessly.

He had never been someone who cared much about saving face.

Zhang Ran looked at him with an amused smile.

“A promise is a promise.”

“You already boasted just now.”

“Now you have to deliver.”

“Uncle Zhang~~”

The exaggerated, almost whining tone made Zhang Ran shudder.

The kid was actually trying to act cute.

“Don’t disgust me.”

“It’s settled.”

“No more discussion.”

Seeing Zhang Ran’s firm attitude, Meng Mingxuan had no choice but to accept it.

“…Then can you at least tell me what the reward is?”

“We’ll talk about that later.”

“It depends on how well you perform.”

Zhang Ran rolled his eyes.

Just then, He Yong arrived.

He had just dropped He Qing off at university, asked Zhang Ran for his location, and came straight over.

“This is He Yong,” Zhang Ran introduced.

“Call him Uncle He.”

Turning to He Yong, he continued, “This is Meng He’s son, Meng Mingxuan.”

“You two should get acquainted.”

Meng Mingxuan curiously sized He Yong up.

Judging from Zhang Ran’s tone, He Yong knew his father.

Yet he’d never seen or even heard of the man before.

“Hello, Uncle He.”

He extended his hand.

He Yong smiled and shook it.

“I can’t believe you’ve grown up already.”

“You’ve met me before?” Meng Mingxuan asked in surprise.

He Yong simply smiled without answering.

There was no way he was going to tell him that, when Meng Mingxuan was still a child, he had secretly tailed him on several occasions.

Nor was Meng Mingxuan the only one.

Meng Zixuan, Tian Ya, and several others had all once been under his discreet protection and surveillance.