Milady's Fine Gentleman 84 THE CRUISE

The day of the cruise arrived. Chen Linyun and Xue Jinxu rose up early at dawn, and drove to Tianjin port. It took a little over an hour.

Embarkation to The Great Adventurer commenced at nine in the morning at Tianjin port. After an hour, the gangway was pulled up, and slowly the cruise ship started off.

Inside, the guests were welcomed and ushered to their respective cabins first. The ratio of guest to server was one is to one. Each cabin had a built-in balcony, so that the picturesque scenery could be privately viewed from the guests' cabins.

There was a lavish buffet inside the hotel where the guests could eat their meals. The buffet had all sorts of cuisine from Mediterranean, Asian, vegetarian, and all other cuisines from other parts of the world. They had all sorts of meat from turkey, steak, chicken, duck and lamb, and of course, a variety of seafood. They had all sorts of beverages with and without alcohol. They had as simple as booze and as expensive as aged wine. They had cheese to go with the wine. They also had breads, pastries and sumptuous desserts. The place was heavenly with a palatable treats.

There was also a pianist who made the atmosphere livelier. He usually played timeless classical music such as Canon, Moonlight Sonata, and other works of Schubert, Mozart, and Chopin. At times there were a live string quartet and played a violin concerto of Bach.

Chen Linyun and Xue Jinxu were having the time of their lives. They were at the deck, watching the picturesque sceneries go by. Their cruise was going to Shanghai port first, then it would go to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea then back to Tianjin port.

At times Chen Linyun worked with his laptop inside their cabin, or on the deck, but wherever, Xue Jinxu was always beside him. Sometimes he made calls to his college friends and business partners Si Yazu, Mo Wenbin, and Zhou Xin to check on their business and to also give inputs from his end.

He introduced his lovely wife to his trusted business partners and friends.

"We'll call you Sister-in-law now." Zhou Xin said in a video conference.

"Congratulations, Chen Linyun! It's all worth it in the end, isn't it?" Si Yazu exclaimed, beaming brightly. Chen Linyun's victory was also their victory. They were in this together. They saw how this man, Chen Linyun had started everything from scratch.

However, they were only there to help him. This whole business, and the idea itself was his brainchild. Therefore the company was named after him. It was called the Chen Holdings.

Their business was simple, albeit being a breakthrough. They offered a type of investment that was accessible to all sorts of investors, mostly common citizens, by opening an online platform. They piqued their interest by modeling it to a game that was famous online in which the players tend to their own farm. The catch, is that all the things they choose in the website will have a corresponding real plant in real life, and the players also invest money to those farms. After such a certain time of around six months, the farming cycle will come to an end, and therefore the harvest and sales of the crops would dictate the actual growth of their investment, which were initially used as capital of the farmers, such as in the form of fertilizers providing nutrients for the crops, and improvements on irrigation.

Their market was in Country D at first, although their target was to expand worldwide. Since it's in Country D, the persons responsible for the concerns related to the end-users' side such as publicity and marketing were Si Yazu, and Zhou Xin while the persons at the other end of the business, related to the farms and local governments were Mo Wenbin, and Chen Linyun, mostly the latter because he had the time.

Mo Wenbin, being in Finance, was more efficient in making deals with the banks since he already had the proper representation and connections. Therefore he was assigned in monitoring the influx and outflow of their funds, checking with the banks how much they received for a certain period and how much fees they own the banks. He's also responsible for the liquidation of their investors if they want to withdraw their investment.

Chen Linyun was in charge of presenting their business proposal and model to local governments, and farming communities all over China. This is because his background in investments and trading made him the best person to be able to take positions and make good decisions in growing and managing investments portfolios and businesses. He could see the bigger picture, the return of investment if this or that scenario happened. He's also in charge of the insurance of the investments.

In Country D, Si Yazu developed the two websites-slash-platforms, "Farm Realm Online" and "Seed Harvest Portal", and singlehandedly managed both. He made sure that there are no system issues, no hacking, and that both sites were running smoothly. He made sure that the security was in place too, and that the platforms were easy to understand and navigate into, from their end-users' perspective. The responsibility of ensuring that the information was up-to-date also fell on him. He and his team should update the sites on which farms were open or closed to investors, and which farming cycles were starting or finishing up. He also had to ensure that the accounts of each of their investors reflect the accurate data, otherwise it would lead to big money problems!

Zhou Xin took care of all the publicity and marketing. He promoted their own platforms in social media, making false accounts for "Farm Realm Online" and another false accounts for "Seed Harvest Portal". He added fuel to the neck-and neck competition, rather, he initiated it. He made it appear that their investors were torn in choosing one over the other. It made their business grow even faster. He was also the initiator and forefather of their very own water army [1] and pushed the interest of the consumers positively towards the two platforms.

The teamwork of the four friends was solid.

"When will the two of you visit Country D and introduce Sister-in-law in person?" Zhou Xin asked.

"Let us know, we will organize a welcome-victory-congratulatory party for you!" Si Yazu added.

"I might be able to join in the party!" Mo Wenbin looked forward to it. "I have not returned to Country D for such a long time already!"

The lady let out a genuine little laugh. She was quite touched at the acceptance and warm welcome from Chen Linyun's friends and business partners. It seems that her circle of friends was expanding too. "Thanks guys! My husband is so lucky to have met you guys!" She put her hands on top of her heart, gesturing that she was quite moved by them.

They ended the video conference on a good note.

Xue Jinxu could only gaze lovingly and admiringly towards Chen Linyun when he unfolded the whole setup. She was extremely proud of him. Any comments would only be an understatement and could not give justice to how she felt. He was able to fulfill his promise to her at such as short time. He had not even reached his estimate of one to two years yet. It had been only a little bit over six or seven months!

[1] ghost writers who post online with a particular objective in mind, to direct the attention of other netizens towards a desired outcome

Chapter end

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