Homo Sapiens

After leaving Dongzhi Airport, the minibus didn’t head toward the city center, instead taking the ring road around the outskirts.

Although Ma Chi was a body double, he kept a low profile. After all, there were quite a few factions who wanted ’Li Qingye’ dead.

Loyalty didn’t mean he was a fool. He knew full well that the identity he represented was a thorn in the side of many powerful groups. To act recklessly without any precautions would be toying with his own life.

Therefore, Ma Chi’s location was known only to core internal staff, and he never stayed in one place for long.

The minibus was now headed for the East Suburb of Dongzhi, an area with vast tracts of forest and farmland.

Ma Chi’s current residence was situated within one of the farm-style estates there.

Jiang Haitao wasn’t too surprised when he saw the discreet estate. What happened to Li Qingye’s parents back then would have certainly made him extremely vigilant.

After passing through layers of security checks, he finally saw ’Li Qingye’. Looking at his much more mature nephew, Jiang Haitao felt a surge of both excitement and relief.

”Uncle Jiang, long time no see,” Ma Chi greeted, without a hint of unease.

”Qingye, you’ve matured so much. You remind me of your father, Zhong Hua, when he was young...” Jiang Haitao’s eyes grew misty, but he quickly composed his complex expression.

”I’ve come today mainly about Xinxin Group. Du Shuping and his cronies have gotten what they deserved, which is cause for celebration. But Xinxin Group has been dragged into it. As the largest shareholder, Old Su and I hope you can step in. It would also be a matter of returning the company to its rightful owner.”

Ma Chi poured him a cup of tea and said with a helpless tone,

”I can’t go to Peng City in person. I hope you can understand, Uncle Jiang. What assets does Xinxin Group have left?”

Jiang Haitao, who had come prepared, took out an internal list of Xinxin Group’s assets and handed it over.

Although Ma Chi already knew all the details about Xinxin Group, he still made a show of looking through the document.

Currently, Xinxin Group itself was not a publicly traded company, but it had four listed subsidiaries: Xinxin Real Estate (51% stake), Xinxin Building Materials (42% stake), Wanli Network (34% stake), and Xinxin High-tech (36% stake).

Xinxin Group itself also owned one headquarters building, seven office buildings, and five employee housing complexes.

Du Shuping and his cronies had already swallowed up the other assets through various schemes.

Based on stock prices and fixed asset valuations, Xinxin Group currently had total assets of 27.2 billion yuan.

However, its debt-to-asset ratio was a bit high, reaching 71%, with total liabilities of 19.3 billion yuan. This was clearly more of Du Shuping and his cronies’ handiwork.

”I’ve looked it over. The group’s debt ratio is too high. With its current revenue, it can’t be sustained.”

Jiang Haitao nodded. He knew this all too well.

Xinxin Group was now basically beyond saving. Even if Qingye Group were willing to inject capital, it would still face all sorts of problems.

Ma Chi continued, ”My recommendation is to sell the four listed companies and the fixed assets, pay back the bank loans first, and then file for dissolution and liquidation.”

”This...” Jiang Haitao hesitated, clearly surprised by how blunt ’Li Qingye’ was.

”If you have any thoughts, Uncle Jiang, please speak freely.”

”If we sell the four subsidiaries and the fixed assets now, we’ll probably recover less than 20 billion yuan. After dissolution and liquidation, what will happen to the employee-shareholders? Their losses will be devastating.” Jiang Haitao was a shareholder himself, so he naturally understood the consequences of liquidation.

The real estate market was currently in a slump, and the building materials industry was also treading on thin ice.

As for Xinxin High-tech, its business was engineering robotics, but its technology was mediocre, and the subsidiary had always been operating at a loss.

Wanli Network’s main ventures were in smart homes, its ”Wanli Home Decor” website for home renovation services, and ”Meijia.com” for rental services. It was also operating at a loss.

All four of these subsidiaries were money pits.

”They will certainly suffer losses, but this is the only option right now. Otherwise, when the debts come due and the capital chain breaks, they won’t get a single cent,” Ma Chi stated his position bluntly.

It was obviously impossible for Qingye Group to spend its own money to prop up Xinxin Group.

This was also Li Qingye’s intention. After all, the Li Family owed Xinxin Group nothing. Not resorting to immediate bankruptcy liquidation was already a show of considerable leniency.

By selling the assets to pay off debts first, the group would still have over a billion yuan in assets left. Then, upon dissolution and liquidation, the employee-shareholders could receive a portion of that as compensation.

If they waited for the capital chain to break and were forced into bankruptcy liquidation, the banks would show no mercy.

Ma Chi asked calmly, ”Surely you don’t think Xinxin Group can continue operating, Uncle Jiang? What Du Jianxin did has already gotten the company blacklisted. It’s better to part ways amicably.”

”...” Jiang Haitao was left speechless.

They talked for over half an hour. In the end, Jiang Haitao accepted reality. It was clear that Xinxin Group was beyond saving. He agreed to the dissolution and liquidation plan and promised to persuade the other executives and shareholders.

After dinner, Jiang Haitao returned to his hotel room.

After showering, he called Su Ruoyu and told her the outcome of the day’s discussion.

They spoke for over an hour. Su Ruoyu, on the other end of the line, couldn’t bear to see Xinxin Group come to such an end, but she knew in her heart that this plan was the best option available.

Compared to bankruptcy, a dissolution and liquidation would at least leave them with something. So, Su Ruoyu agreed to the plan.

Early the next morning, Jiang Haitao relayed the news to Ma Chi.

When Li Qingye, who was in Luzon, received the news, he wasn’t surprised.

However, for old times’ sake, Li Qingye had Ma Chi add a few supplementary clauses to the plan.

This included allowing the remaining 1,372 employee-shareholders to exchange their shares for ownership of the employee housing properties.

After all, these people had held onto their Xinxin Group shares specifically to resist Du Shuping and his cronies. Without them, Xinxin Group wouldn’t have even been able to hold onto the few assets it had left.

Of the five employee housing complexes, four were in Huizhou, totaling 2,000 units. These would be distributed among the employee-shareholders, with the surplus units going to employees with larger stakes, like Su Ruoyu.

All other assets would be bundled and sold off, with monetary compensation distributed according to shareholding ratios.

Since Li Qingye had no interest in these scraps, he planned to dispose of the assets at a low price. He estimated he would only end up with a billion or so yuan.

He felt no regret about this, considering it a final severance of ties.

Besides, he had already gotten his hands on the overseas assets of Du Shuping and his group. He had also acquired the better assets from Wu Heguang’s Donghua Group. The remaining scraps of Xinxin Group were meaningless to him.

He assigned the task of selling off Xinxin Group to Long Yuanzhi, the president of Donghua Group.

Su Ruoyu, Jiang Haitao, and the others would cooperate with Long Yuanzhi’s work.

The sale and liquidation were expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Perhaps out of consideration for Qingye Group’s involvement, the restructuring of Xinxin Group’s management and the sale of its assets proceeded without much obstruction.

Otherwise, it would have been nearly impossible for Su Ruoyu, Jiang Haitao, and the others to sell off these assets smoothly on their own.

Li Qingye only paid scant attention to the matter. His focus had already shifted back to his research work.