1482 Failed Attempt to Invest
“Big Brother Deng, don’t worry. I’ve already given your salary to Elder Sister,” Qiao Mei said.

“Director Qiao is giving you a payment of 10,000 dollars and she has already deducted the cost of the house from it. I still have 2,000 dollars with me and I have left it at Qiao Mei’s house for the time being. We’ll go and get the money when you get off work,” Xia He said.

Deng Fan seemed to have been turned into stone as he stood there in a daze. No matter how Xia He and Qiao Mei called out to him, he did not react. It was only when Xia He could not take it anymore and gave him a kick that he grabbed his ankle in pain and finally came back to his senses.

“10,000… 10,000 dollars… I’ve never even seen so much money in my life… Did you get the sum wrong? It should be 1,000 dollars, how can it be 10,000 dollars? If I accept this money, will the police come and arrest me!” Deng Fan muttered to himself.

“Why would they arrest you? You earned the money through your own hard work. Why would the police arrest you?” Qiao Mei said.

Deng Fan still found it hard to believe and Qiao Mei and Xia He also did not continue to explain. When Xia He first heard what Qiao Mei said, her expression was no different from the one on Deng Fan’s face now. It was better to let Deng Fan digest the news himself.

Qiao Mei brought Xia He to the factory’s office building. The office building had six floors and Qiao Mei had not thought of what to do with the first floor, but there was a big room that was perfect to be a meeting room.

The second floor was her office and she occupied the entire floor. She was the one who decided where each office was located. In other factories, the factory director’s office would be located on the topmost floor, which was meant to signify reaching the top. However, Qiao Mei did not do it the same way.

As for the reason… it was because she was too lazy. In this era without lifts, she really did not want to climb the stairs to work on the sixth floor every day. It was already a very painful thing to have to go to work and having to climb the stairs would only make it worse.

The third floor was the office for the production of seeds, the fourth floor was the office for the production of popcorn, and the fifth floor was the office for the production of braised meat. Qiao Mei planned to use the sixth floor as a database warehouse to store the ledgers and contracts.

“How is it? Isn’t it very grand!” Qiao Mei said happily.

“It’s indeed not bad, and there’s even such a big lounge. Don’t tell me you plan to live here?” Xia He asked suspiciously.

“Not necessarily. When it’s busy at the factory, I’ll have to work overtime here. In the near future, I’ll come over to stay for a while after I tidy up my office. There’s still a lot of work to do given that it’s early days at the factory. I have to keep an eye on the workers as I’m worried that my mother and Qian’e won’t be able to do it well,” Qiao Mei said.

“Is Qian’e a shareholder now?” Xia He said with a hint of jealousy.

When Qiao Mei first asked Qian’e to help her with her business, she never intended to let Qian’e work as an employee. As for the shares, Qiao Mei planned to give Qian’e 10% as well as making her the decision maker for the popcorn production line.

After all, they had three production lines running at the same time. If each production line was equivalent to 30% of the business, it was already a lot for Qian’e to have 10% of the shares!

As for Li Gui… she would get 35%! Qiao Mei alone held 45% of the shares and the last 10% belonged to the country.

“It’s fine. This is something I have already decided from the beginning,” Qiao Mei said nonchalantly.

“How much does it cost to invest in this place?” Xia He asked curiously.

“Do you want to be a shareholder too?” Qiao Mei asked with a smile.

“I can try. Who doesn’t want to do nothing and just wait for the dividends at the end of the year!” Xia He said.

The amount of 200,000 dollars which Qiao Mei received was only the down payments. If Xia He owned 1% of the shares, even if Qiao Mei only earned 200,000 dollars a year, she would still be able to get 2,000 dollars at the end of the year!

2,000 dollars was already equivalent to her annual salary!

“Say… 10,000 dollars! How about I give you 1%? I’ll sell you my own shares,” Qiao Mei said.

“Then you have to wait for me to save up,” Xia He said dejectedly.

After hanging around Qiao Mei for so long, she had also started to dream big. How could she save 10,000 dollars on her salary of slightly more than 100 dollars a month? It was simply wishful thinking.

Even if she and Deng Fan saved up together, it would still take them a year. By then, the market value of Qiao Mei’s factory would have increased and 1% of the shares would cost more than 10,000 dollars.