Chapter 126: You Must Have Never Been in Love

A beautiful woman sat across from Su Mu.

In an instant, Su Mu benefited from her presence and became one of the restaurant’s centers of attention. People gave him only a casual glance before looking away. He was too young and too inconspicuous-looking for anyone to imagine that he had much to do with such a stunning woman.

Some women were born to tempt men. Miss Blake was one of them. She had a dignified appearance, yet Su Mu found her both sensual and alluring. Her looks alone were enough to make a man overlook what lay beneath the surface.

Su Mu had not forgotten that the seductive beauty before him had actually dared to falsify a Yale School of Management diploma, then gone on to thrive at both Coca-Cola and Boeing. If she had been lucky enough to avoid discovery, she might even have climbed higher.

Blake studied him for several moments before finally laughing. “You’re the boss who wants to interview me? I’d heard you were very young, but I had no idea you were this young.”

“As long as the company is doing well, you’ll be paid the same. It has nothing to do with my age.” Su Mu shook his head. He felt helpless inside. Whenever he met someone new, they always asked about his age. Being young was hardly his fault.

People of East Asian descent tended to look young. Someone in their thirties could easily pass for someone in their twenties, and white people often found it difficult to judge an Asian person’s age, invariably guessing too low.

Blake continued, “But you can’t deny that being young also means having less experience managing a company. I need to make sure you won’t make reckless suggestions and interfere with my decisions.”

“What a coincidence. I need to see what you’re capable of first, too. Penguin’s sales target for next year is somewhere between fifty and eighty million dollars. If our next project goes smoothly, revenue might even reach one hundred million. Penguin isn’t Boeing, where you used to work. That kind of money matters a great deal to me.

“I have to be certain that you’re capable of managing the company properly. I’ll admit that your appearance is extremely tempting to a man my age. One of my partners was practically bewitched by a single photograph of you. But you still need to impress me.”

As Su Mu outlined the company’s prospects, he deliberately made it clear that he was not like other men and would not hire her merely because of her looks.

Now that he knew she had falsified her credentials, he naturally held some prejudice against her. He saw her as a woman fond of cutting corners, deceiving others, and fabricating things. The reason he had agreed to interview her was that Penguin currently needed someone like her. He disliked professional managers whose thinking was too rigid.

His actions over the past month, during which he had managed to secure orders from several training schools through one deception after another, showed that he was no stickler for convention himself. If driven into a corner, he might even falsify his own credentials in exchange for a chance to rise. For that reason, he felt that Miss Blake’s way of doing things suited him rather well.

Seeing this youngster lecture her with such solemn seriousness, Blake once again failed to suppress her laughter. She changed the subject. “You’re so mature. You’ve never been in love, have you? You remind me of my former boss. Still, I’ll take that as a compliment, so thank you.

“My cousin is about your age. When he was little, he even wanted to marry me when he grew up. His father had to beat the idea out of him. But you’re nowhere near as impressive as he is. He’s already a father to a little girl—and he’s been a womanizer since childhood. Girls won’t like someone as stiff and serious as you at your age.”

As she spoke, she took off her coat.

Beneath it, she wore only a white blouse, with the top two buttons undone. It was an entirely formal outfit, yet it looked incredibly sensual. Su Mu dared to glance only once before quickly shifting his eyes away.

Noticing the small movement, Blake laughed even more brightly. Perhaps she found teasing this serious young Chinese boss amusing.

She completely ignored the gazes of the other men nearby. The thoughts running through those men’s minds amounted to little more than the same old thing—hypocritical, filthy, and utterly boring.

Beautiful women seemed naturally suited to elegant restaurants of this sort. Su Mu, sitting across from Blake, wore a black sweater with simple jeans and sneakers. Nothing about him attracted anyone’s attention.

Having somehow been struck right in the feelings, he could no longer remain calm. In an aggrieved tone, he said, “That’s none of your business. I’m not interested in that sort of thing for the time being!”

“All right, my mistake.”

Blake suppressed a laugh and continued, “Business comes first, right? Then tell me—if I successfully obtain a position at your company, how much will you pay me?”

“Thirty-five thousand dollars a year. On top of that, you’ll receive a bonus equal to two percent of the company’s annual revenue. The more we earn, the more you’ll receive.”

“That’s… far too little. Selling a single airplane earned me enough to work at your company for ten years. But what can I do? I was thrown out, none of my contributions were acknowledged, and I even lost the lawsuit. They demanded two million dollars in compensation. These days, I can barely afford to eat.”

Blake spoke as though she were describing something that had happened to someone else. Two million dollars sounded almost insignificant in her mouth, while her resentment toward Boeing was unmistakable. She continued, “My credentials were fake, that’s true, but the airplanes really were sold. It’s hard to believe they refused to pay me. Forty thousand dollars a year. Besides the bonus, I also want options equivalent to ten percent of the company’s shares. Once sales exceed two hundred million dollars, I’ll be allowed to purchase them.”

“I…”

Only then did Su Mu realize that, without either of them noticing, Blake had taken control of the conversation. He had been answering her questions one after another, following wherever she led. That required an impressive degree of social skill.

It was clear that beauty had its advantages. It made people lower their guard with remarkable ease. After thinking it over carefully, Su Mu shook his head. “The initial annual salary can be raised to forty thousand, but the stock options are out of the question. Before my company goes public, I can offer you options equivalent to no more than three percent of its shares. If sales exceed two hundred million dollars in 1986, that can be increased to five percent.

“I’ve obtained the agency rights for IBM. Reaching two hundred million dollars in sales is entirely possible. Those options could be worth a great deal by then.”

An option, in this context, meant the right to purchase part of a company’s stock at a price specified in advance within a designated period.

If that purchase price was set low, Su Mu would effectively be selling Blake part of the company at a discount. If the shares turned out not to be worth that much, she would simply have the right not to buy them. The advantage was that Blake could wait, observe the situation, and decide for herself whether to exercise the option.

Such arrangements were primarily used to motivate company executives. If the company failed to develop, they would earn nothing. Their interests were therefore tied directly to the company’s growth.

“It seems you have great confidence in your little company. That’s a good thing. If even the largest shareholder lacks confidence, how could I possibly have any?”

Blake turned slightly and had the waiter arrange the appetizers. A bottle of moderately priced red wine was placed beside her. Teasingly, she said, “Won’t you have some wine? Oh, sorry—you’re not old enough to drink yet, are you?”

She was deliberately asking a question to which she already knew the answer.

Su Mu replied decisively, “Once Penguin is valued at forty million dollars, you’ll be able to purchase five percent of the company for one and a half million. If you exercise the option when the company is valued at twenty million, you can purchase three percent for seven hundred thousand.”

“Retribution comes quickly. I teased you just now, and the price has already gone up. Su, do you really think the market is only that big?”

“No, it’s definitely bigger! But that’s the highest valuation I can imagine. I don’t dare think any higher.”

Blake stared at him speechlessly for a moment, then murmured, “What a strange man…”