Three bodies lay tangled together under a thin summer quilt. It was late morning before Wu Yun and the two women finally stirred awake.
"Oh, you! It's all your fault!" Jiang Xinyi purred. "We were supposed to discuss our startup project, and it's almost ten o'clock. Though... you seem to have gotten much more formidable. Earning your investment is going to be hard work."
"Xinyi, let's get up and get ready. We can talk later," Wu Ying said, checking the time. "It's Friday, so even if we wanted to register the company, we'd have to wait until Monday anyway."
Wu Yun stretched and gave each of the sitting women a light slap on the rear. "Actually, I looked over your plan last night," he said. "It's a good start, just not very comprehensive. I'll show you a plan I had a professional draw up in a bit."
Wu Ying's voice was a mix of surprise and genuine emotion. "You really took this to heart, didn't you? You must have found someone right after we told you."
Jiang Xinyi lay back down and hugged Wu Yun. "I knew you'd take the best care of us!"
Wu Yun playfully pushed her away. "Go get ready! You've still got sleep in your eyes!"
"You're awful!" Jiang Xinyi rubbed her eyes, gave Wu Yun a light tap, and got out of bed.
Wu Yun activated his glasses, watching the two naked women walk into the bathroom.
Name: Wu Ying
87/90/82
Affinity: 89
Name: Jiang Xinyi
89/87/80
Affinity: 89
'Then again,' Wu Yun thought, looking at their Affinity scores with some surprise, 'we have had some... in-depth contact. And I'm willing to fund their business. A score this high isn't so strange.'
Wu Yun pulled on some pants, went to the living room to get his laptop from his bag, and brought it back to the bedroom.
Seeing that the two women hadn't come out yet, Wu Yun took out his phone to look over their startup plan from the previous night again.
'Wu Ying had studied photography in college, and Jiang Xinyi, computer science. Their backgrounds are tangentially related to media, I guess, but they don't have formal training in the field. This plan is more of a rough concept than a real business plan.'
The two women emerged from the bathroom wrapped in towels, their hair piled on top of their heads. Wu Yun went in to use the restroom, then took a quick shower himself before coming back out.
"Ahh! You exhibitionist!" Jiang Xinyi cried, covering her face with her hands but peeking through her spread fingers.
Wu Yun snatched the towel off Jiang Xinyi to wipe himself dry, then tossed it back to her as she scrambled to cover her chest. "What are you hiding?" he teased. "It's not like I haven't seen it all before."
As the two women finished getting dressed, Wu Yun said, "Your plan is quite good. The ideas for monetizing fan groups through personal shopping services and recruiting a diverse range of bloggers are both solid directions."
"However, it feels like the whole plan is completely dependent on Weibo. Think about it: what if Weibo's popularity fades, or what if your own fame doesn't grow? The company's development would be severely limited, right?"
Seeing their thoughtful expressions as they finished dressing, Wu Yun smiled. "I'm not shooting down your plan, it just needs some refinement. Here, take a look at mine."
Wu Yun opened his seldom-used laptop and clicked on a PowerPoint presentation he had ready on the desktop. He had modified the plan provided by the system, removing concepts that were too ahead of their time, like Douyin and live-streaming platforms, leaving only the parts that were suitable for the current era.
The two women took the laptop and sprawled on the bed to read through it. As they scrolled, the expressions on their faces shifted constantly.
After about ten minutes, Wu Ying let out a long breath. "You can really tell this was made by a professional. It's on a completely different level. It even has clear strategies for legal tax avoidance and future growth projections. This must have cost you a fortune, didn't it?"
Jiang Xinyi was still lost in thought and didn't say anything.
Wu Yun smiled. "It's fine. A friend helped me out, gave me a good price. You can follow your own plan for the initial phase, and then execute according to this one for future development. Last time we spoke, you mentioned you were planning to invest some of your own money?"
Jiang Xinyi replied, "That's right. Yingying and I were each planning to put in 250,000, for a total of 500,000. If we hadn't met you, we probably would've had to keep working and saving for a while longer before we could even think about starting our own business."
"Wow, I didn't realize I was dealing with a couple of rich ladies!" Wu Yun remarked. 'For someone to have 250,000 in savings at twenty-four or twenty-five is practically unheard of these days.'
"Oh, stop teasing us," Jiang Xinyi retorted, causing Wu Ying to cover her mouth and giggle. "Everyone knows that a single leg hair from Eldest Young Master Wu is thicker than our thighs."
"So, how much are you planning to invest?" Jiang Xinyi asked.
"How about two million?" Wu Yun said casually. "Actually, let's make it two and a half million. That way, with your five hundred thousand, it's a nice, round three million total. I'm very optimistic about this industry's future, I just don't have time to be involved in the day-to-day Management."
When Wu Ying heard Wu Yun wouldn't be involved in the Management, she grew anxious. "If you're not going to help manage it, what happens if we lose all the money? That's so much! How long would it take us to save that much?"
"She's right," Jiang Xinyi chimed in. "We're in way over our heads here! We don't have any experience running a business."
"I don't have any experience either! You learn as you go," Wu Yun said with a laugh. "Don't worry, I can afford to lose this much. And if it all goes down the drain, you can just sell yourselves to me to pay it back!"
Wu Ying Affinity +5, current Affinity: 94.
Jiang Xinyi Affinity +5, current Affinity: 94.
"Thank you for trusting us!" Jiang Xinyi said with a smile. "We'll buy some books on Management and study them in our spare time!"
Wu Ying nodded in agreement beside her. "Yes! And I think we should find a mentor for the specific industry knowledge! By the way, do you know anyone who could help?"
Wu Yun saw the hopeful looks in their eyes. "Focus on learning Management for now," he said. "As for future development, my plan lays it all out very clearly. We can discuss any other problems as they come up."
'When it comes to the future of this industry,' he thought with a surge of pride, 'who could possibly see further than me?'
.......
After a heated discussion, the two women finally accepted Wu Yun's proposal: he would take an 80% stake, and they would each take 10%. As Wu Yun put it, "I won't be involved in the daily Management, so it's only right that you get some equity for your work."
"Alright, ladies, any ideas for a good name? We are getting into the media industry, after all." Wu Yun hated coming up with names, but he threw out an idea anyway. "How about Heartbeat Media?"
"I don't like it. It's not unique," Jiang Xinyi said with a pout, shaking her head.
Just then, Wu Ying spoke up. "How about Nebula Media? It includes a part of all three of our names and sounds grand."
Jiang Xinyi was puzzled. "Okay, 'Yun' is from Wu Yun's name. But 'Xing'? And Yingying, where do you fit into that?"
Wu Yun was just as lost, looking at Wu Ying with a puzzled expression.
Wu Ying laughed. "This is what you get for not reading enough. The 'Ying' in my name means 'glimmer' or 'brilliance.' And what are stars if not brilliant, glimmering lights in the sky?"
"Alright! Xingyun Media it is!"