Chapter 324: Wealth is a Balloon
"Why?" Alice asked Li Tang, puzzled.
"I was once in a similar situation myself," Li Tang answered sincerely. "I had dreams, a project at hand, but lacked money. I trust people who have dreams. Let's give their dreams a little boost."
"I'll never fully understand what goes on inside your head!" Alice said with resignation. This wasn't the first time she'd encountered this kind of scenario, yet once again, she chose to trust Li Tang unconditionally.
Carroll had succeeded.
After pitching all day without success, someone had finally agreed to invest in his gold exploration project. Yet, instead of joy, he felt bewildered and uncertain, almost unable to believe this was real. But when he thought carefully, the man standing in front of him was none other than the mysterious billionaire behind Lianying Mining. Five million Australian dollars was just a drop in the ocean for this young Chinese tycoon. He had no reason to joke around with a minor figure like Carroll—it simply wouldn't make sense.
"When should we sign the official contract?" Carroll cautiously asked, seeking confirmation.
"It's too late today," Li Tang glanced at the time. "Let's do it tomorrow."
"Okay, great—I—I can't thank you enough..." Carroll stammered with excitement.
"Alice, you handle this," Li Tang instructed casually.
Alice gave Li Tang another doubtful look before turning to Carroll. "Let's exchange contact information. We'll discuss the investment tomorrow morning."
Lombur Resources had a simple shareholding structure, being a small, privately held exploration company, making the investment procedure straightforward. Alice saw no issue there, yet she still couldn't figure out what justified investing five million dollars in this obscure little company.
As she sat in the car after leaving the banquet, Alice continued to ponder Li Tang's reasons for investing in this unknown company. Could it truly be an investment in dreams?
"What's on your mind?" Li Tang noticed Alice lost in thought as he relaxed in the spacious back seat, legs casually crossed.
"Five million dollars isn't exactly a huge amount," Alice started cautiously, "but shouldn't we be more careful when investing? I'm quite sure you've never met Carroll before or even heard of Lombur Resources. You just glanced at a random exploration report and suddenly decided to invest."
"Investing is sometimes about instinct—there doesn't have to be a specific reason." Li Tang laughed, not explaining too much. "As a geologist, I have intuition. Reading a technical exploration report, I can get a feel for whether a mineral deposit might be there."
"Is that really enough?" Alice doubted a mere short report could reveal such potential. If it were that simple, someone else would've surely jumped in.
"Let's put it this way, the report was quite professionally written," Li Tang offered another explanation. "Often, when investing in a project, you're essentially investing in the person leading it. Carroll seems talented. I'm pretty good at evaluating technical talent."
"Alright then." Alice reluctantly accepted this explanation but continued questioning. "Still, isn't 30% equity for five million a bit low? Judging from Carroll's expression and attitude, we probably could've gotten 30% equity for just one million."
"Is there a big difference for us between five million and one million?" Li Tang chuckled again. "Dreams are priceless."
Alice rolled her eyes at Li Tang, clearly not believing his rhetoric. "I'll sign the contract with Carroll tomorrow and finalize this quickly."
"One more thing," Li Tang reminded her, "Add a clause to the agreement giving us priority investment rights in Lombur Resources' next financing round."
"You really believe in their gold project!" Alice finally realized Li Tang wasn't simply fooling around. If Lombur Resources required another round of financing, it would imply their project had yielded good initial results, necessitating more funding to expand exploration. Otherwise, who would dare raise more funds if they had nothing to show from their previous investment?
Li Tang smiled quietly without elaborating further.
Their hotel was close, and they soon arrived. As they stepped out of the car, Lu Chenyi and Long Fuyuan, already waiting at the entrance, saw Li Tang and Alice arriving together. Misunderstanding, they assumed these two young people were planning to share a romantic evening. Politely, they turned to leave.
"Mr. Lu, Mr. Long, shall we chat at the hotel café?" Li Tang quickly called after them.
Lu Chenyi glanced back at Li Tang, then at Alice, dressed elegantly and beautifully tonight, and waved dismissively. "We're tired, maybe another day. You two should rest early as well. Even young people shouldn't stay up too late."
Long Fuyuan eyed Alice, inwardly remarking that her attractive curves and youthful energy would likely exhaust Li Tang tonight.
As they headed toward the elevator to their rooms, Lu Chenyi quietly muttered to Long Fuyuan, "Doesn't Li Tang already have a girlfriend?"
"Young men have lots of energy," Long Fuyuan replied nonchalantly.
"I know Li Xingchao personally, and I've met his daughter—a lovely and decent girl," Lu Chenyi mused, feeling slightly uneasy. Men becoming corrupted by wealth had become an all-too-accepted excuse, yet he still found it morally troubling.
"Mr. Lu, let's not meddle," Long Fuyuan cautioned quietly.
"No, I have to remind Li Tang. This isn't right!" Lu Chenyi insisted, determined as ever. When the elevator doors opened, he didn't step inside, instead turning back to the lobby, where he found Li Tang and Alice collecting their room keys from reception.
"Are you two staying together?" he bluntly asked.
"No," Li Tang looked puzzled, waving two separate room keys. "We have two separate rooms, not even on the same floor."
"Let's talk," Lu Chenyi pulled Li Tang aside privately.
Li Tang called back to Alice, "Rest early. You handle the Lombur Resources investment tomorrow—I won't join."
Alice wrinkled her nose lightly, pretending to be annoyed, and walked toward the elevator with her two female assistants. In reality, she wouldn't have minded sharing a room with Li Tang, but he showed no such interest.
"Mr. Lu, what's urgent?" Li Tang asked innocently, gesturing upward. "The café upstairs is still open, let's have a drink."
"Never mind," Lu Chenyi quickly realized his misunderstanding about Li Tang. Clearly, Li Tang wasn't the type to indulge frivolously. Having witnessed many promising young men falling into vice, Lu Chenyi—and indeed, the entire steel industry—had high hopes for Li Tang. He couldn't allow Li Tang to lose his direction.
They sat in the café upstairs, ordering tea. Long Fuyuan joined them, teasing Lu Chenyi, "You insisted on interrupting the youngsters' evening. What a spoilsport!"
Ignoring the remark since he already knew he'd misread the situation, Lu Chenyi turned curiously toward Li Tang. "What was that about signing a contract with some resource company tomorrow?"
"Lombur Resources, a small, unknown exploration company," Li Tang sipped his tea, thirsty after having too many sweets at the banquet.
Hearing this, Lu Chenyi immediately perked up with interest. Lianying Mining had originally been just an overlooked small exploration company, worth less than twenty million dollars when Li Tang acquired it. Was Li Tang about to make another bold move?
"Tell me more—what kind of company is it?"
"Just an ordinary firm that was desperately trying to raise investment for a gold exploration project," Li Tang said casually.
"Oh, one of those," Lu Chenyi nodded knowingly. At the banquet, many people had approached him and Long Fuyuan as well, seeking connections, investments, or even arranging other questionable dealings.
"I saw Carroll getting rejected repeatedly, felt sorry for him, admired his persistence, and decided to offer a bit of help. So, I put in five million Australian dollars for 30% equity," Li Tang shrugged nonchalantly.
"Gold mine?" Long Fuyuan wondered aloud. Their original intention was to discuss the Hope Downs iron ore project—how did it suddenly shift to gold?
Thinking further, Li Tang indeed had gold reserves already. Gongcun copper-gold mine alone boasted over a hundred tonnes, a remarkable quantity in China. The Talego copper-gold mine had around 1,300 tonnes in total reserves—although primarily a copper mine, with lower-grade gold as a byproduct.
"Maybe we could follow your lead and invest a little too?" Long Fuyuan cautiously suggested.
"Honestly, it's just like buying a lottery ticket," Li Tang admitted, genuinely unsure of Lombur Resources' prospects. His vague recollection told him a significant gold discovery would occur soon in Australia, but he wasn't certain this was it.
Regardless, he'd converted $150 million of his recent $200 million Pebble Project sale into Australian dollars due to the U.S. dollar's rapid depreciation. Investing five million was negligible; even if lost, it wouldn't affect him. Moreover, the dollar's recent 30% depreciation had already earned him substantial profits indirectly.
"A lottery ticket?" Lu Chenyi doubted Li Tang's explanation, as every investment Li Tang had made so far was profitable.
"An investment in dreams," Li Tang laughed again.
"You really don't want us involved?" Long Fuyuan asked regretfully.
"It's just a small project. Your companies don't need it," Li Tang clarified, aware they didn't handle gold mining.
"Fair enough," Lu Chenyi accepted readily, mentioning their own potential investment. "We spoke extensively with Palmer—his magnetite project seems promising."
"Palmer's magnetite project?" Li Tang immediately remembered stories he'd heard from Fred. Two years from now, a Chinese firm would heavily invest billions into this project, losing everything due to Palmer's constant legal troubles.
"I strongly advise against investing," Li Tang bluntly warned them, describing Palmer's notorious lawsuits. Both Lu Chenyi and Long Fuyuan agreed to thoroughly investigate.
They wrapped up their discussion, planning a relaxed sightseeing day tomorrow, as their business in Australia had concluded unexpectedly.
"Boss!" Zhu Yanxi excitedly called out.
There wasn't a single employee in Lianying Mining who didn't admire their boss!
"Hasn't your internship ended yet?" Li Tang seldom visited, and it had been a long while since he'd last seen this overseas student working there.
"I've been interning here all along, and now I've graduated and officially joined the company," Zhu Yanxi said nervously. "I hope that someday, if possible, I could join Lianying Mining's parent company."
"Ambitious, aren't you?" Li Tang always appreciated such determination.
"I bought a car recently. Today, I'm supposed to show you around," Zhu Yanxi explained, given his assignment to guide Li Tang and the others.
"You have a car now?" Li Tang remembered Zhu Yanxi had come abroad for studies with a modest family background, needing to earn extra money during his internship.
"Well, you know… when I heard you were buying Lianying Mining, I invested early. My roommate and I bought 5,000 Australian dollars' worth of shares."
"You bought before the acquisition?" Li Tang laughed upon hearing that. "Then you must've made quite a lot!"
"It's increased hundreds of times," Zhu Yanxi admitted, both excited and slightly embarrassed. "Recently, I sold some shares, bought a used car for just a few thousand dollars, mainly for convenience commuting between school and the company."
Before Li Tang's acquisition, Zhu had already been interning at Lianying Mining. While others barely noticed the takeover news, Zhu was fully aware of Li Tang's impressive achievements back in China, especially in the mining industry. So, he had boldly invested all his savings into company shares. This gamble had truly made him rich.
Both Zhu and his roommate, Toby, became millionaires—measured in Australian dollars.
"We have quite a few people today. The company arranged cars, you just lead the way," Li Tang said, thinking Zhu's old second-hand car might break down halfway.
They spent the entire day casually exploring Perth, enjoying good food and sightseeing. Time flew by quickly.
Alice efficiently completed the investment deal with Lombur Resources. Five million Australian dollars wasn't a small amount, so she'd dispatched someone to investigate the company's background thoroughly and also arranged financial oversight. Alice chose to stay behind and did not return to China with Li Tang.
After landing in Hong Kong, Lu Chenyi, Long Fuyuan, and Li Tang each took connecting flights back to their respective headquarters.
As soon as Li Tang arrived at his office in Yunding Tower, Dai Yingchi hurriedly entered and handed him a bonus list. "This year's bonus baseline is set at twenty thousand. Senior employees have additional bonuses based on their tenure and involvement in projects. Employees who joined less than a year ago will receive a maximum of ten thousand. Here is the detailed list of bonuses for each employee in the headquarters, based on their assessments. Please review it."
Li Tang glanced casually at the sheet.
He Runqi had the highest bonus, 800,000 yuan.
Alice ranked second, receiving 700,000 yuan.
From there, amounts decreased according to position and seniority. Most of the early employees received around 50,000 yuan. Even newer staff mostly received between 20,000 and 30,000 yuan. Notably, Li Tang himself wasn't listed.
He had no objection, as he'd previously instructed to reward everyone generously. Given the high market value of their subsidiary, Lianying Mining, headquarters staff deserved matching recognition.
Without hesitation, he signed the document.
"Regarding Shazhai Molybdenum, some employees we originally sent there had transferred their employment to that company. Now that we've sold most of our shares, many wish to return to our holding company. It's quite a number of people, and I think we should welcome them back. Do you agree?" Dai Yingchi asked.
"Since they're originally our people, let them come back," Li Tang approved easily.
"Understood." Dai nodded. "Also, previously you asked me to assign Lin Feiming as a non-executive director at Shazhai Molybdenum. After evaluating, I realized he isn't particularly skilled for a director role. Perhaps we should temporarily assign someone else and provide him additional training before officially placing him there?"
Dai knew Lin was Li Tang's relative, so removing him directly was complicated. Lin truly struggled with even basic managerial tasks.
"Is it difficult for him to take minutes and vote?" Li Tang hadn't realized Lin's capabilities were this limited. He knew his cousin had never excelled academically, having spent his youth fighting or driving trucks for Li Tang's father, then later operating a mining truck.
Li Tang had thought the non-executive director role straightforward: just attending meetings, taking notes, and voting according to the holding company's stance. Could it really be so challenging?
Aware of their personal relationship, Dai Yingchi proceeded cautiously, "Lin Feiming himself has already called me multiple times, wanting to resign."
"Afraid of challenges," Li Tang sighed.
"He's flying in today, knowing you've returned home," Dai informed.
"Fine, do as you suggested. Remove him from the non-executive director role," Li Tang decided, trusting Dai's judgment. He then asked, "The Shazhai Molybdenum equity sale is completed. When will the payment arrive?"
"The total transaction is 600 million yuan, and 200 million should be transferred to us within one month of the contract's effectiveness," Dai replied. "There are still ten days until the deadline; I'll remind them again."
"We can't distribute bonuses without that money!" Li Tang joked.
"Exactly," Dai acknowledged but didn't leave immediately, adding, "Teacher Zhang Zhongyu has been trying to reach you but couldn't, so he's called me several times."
"We've been so busy, despite living in the same city we haven't visited our teacher in ages," Li Tang reflected warmly. Dai had reminded him of his deep gratitude toward Zhang. "Thank you for mentioning this. Let's visit the university before the holiday break."
"Great idea," Dai agreed. "I haven't returned to campus in years myself. Recently, after Teacher Zhang called, I went once. He's still as generous as ever—treated me to a meal."
"Did Teacher Zhang mention anything urgent?" Li Tang asked curiously.
"Actually, he contacted me on behalf of our school," Dai explained.
"The school?" Li Tang was puzzled.
"Teacher Zhang mentioned the old library is deteriorating badly—leaky ceilings and cracked walls, so for safety reasons, the school plans to build a new library."
"I see," Li Tang understood the implication immediately.
"You know how it is. It's difficult to secure substantial funding from above, often taking years," Dai elaborated.
"They want us to help out," Li Tang summarized.
"Our school has produced many successful alumni who've donated academic buildings or dormitories before," Dai continued. "They reached out specifically because your recent fame is enormous."
"My fame?" Li Tang asked, surprised.
"You've topped our national Rich List!" Dai informed him. "You didn't know?"
"Who put me there?" Li Tang exclaimed, visibly upset. "Didn't I instruct you to tell those media outlets not to list me?"
"I contacted them, but they ignored me," Dai said helplessly. "The stock price of Lianying Mining is public knowledge. Even without interviews, media can easily calculate your wealth. Lianying's valuation is in Australian dollars, so converted domestically, it's incredibly high!"
"Ridiculous!" Li Tang knew being listed wasn't good. Sure enough, upon seeing him at number one, the school immediately requested a new library.
"Not your fault," Li Tang quickly reassured Dai, who had lowered his head guiltily.
"There are two major Rich Lists," Dai explained carefully. "On one domestic list excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan, you're number one—wealth exceeding 30 billion yuan, double the second place! People are astonished because last year your name wasn't even on the list."
Li Tang sighed heavily, realizing he was now prime target material for criminals. Anyone kidnapping him could earn a fortune.
"On the international list, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, you rank eighth with around four billion USD, mostly from Lianying Mining shares," Dai added.
"They really give me credit," Li Tang sighed again, resigned to his fate. Fred's Lianying Mining had similarly skyrocketed in valuation when backed by contracts with major Chinese steel companies, making Fred Australia's richest. Wealth truly was just a balloon—the more people inflated it, the larger it grew.
Domestically, owning billions was remarkable, whereas internationally, many had hundreds of billions in USD. Li Tang's foreign-valued shares stood out awkwardly at home, but globally, he ranked beyond two hundredth—merely average.
"About the school's request… Should I decline them?" Dai asked cautiously.
"No," Li Tang decided quickly. "It's just a library, after all. Helping our alma mater is the least we can do."
"When should we visit?" Dai needed a date. "They plan to organize a big welcome—faculty, students, speeches to inspire the next generation."
"You speak," Li Tang immediately deflected. He didn't want public attention, preferring to stay low-key.
"Me?" Dai was stunned. "They invited me but didn't ask me to speak."
"You'll represent the company. Handle donations, speeches—everything," Li Tang instructed.
"Wouldn't He Runqi be better?" Dai tried shifting responsibility.
"If you can convince him, fine," Li Tang smirked, knowing He was even shyer in public. "It's either you or him. We're all alumni; any of us can go."
Dai desperately wanted Li Tang himself to go, yet dared not say it aloud. Resigned, he figured persuading He Runqi to deliver the speech was his only remaining option.
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