novelraw Chapter 53: Unreliable
Chapter 53: Unreliable
"By the way, what’s the situation with that relative of yours? I don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman..."
Outside the Wenxin Press building.At a nearby café, just across the street from the company.
Tang Yao casually ordered a drink, then suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Li Xue.
Only now did it hit her... she knew absolutely nothing about Miss Li’s relative. All she had was a single piece of info: the person worked as a venture capital fund manager.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to ask.
But back then, nothing was set in stone. Tang Yao figured it’d take more time and effort to persuade Li Xue to make the introduction. Who would’ve guessed... Ou Congquan’s impulsiveness had thrown a wrench in the manga award, which led to Tang Yao finding a shortcut and quickly completing all the preliminary steps.
"Female."
Li Xue turned her head at the question and replied briefly, "Technically, I should call her my cousin… but we’re not close. We don’t really interact much, so I can’t say I know what kind of person she is. All I can tell you is my general impression… she’s someone who gets things done fast and decisively."
"I see..."
Tang Yao nodded slightly. Honestly, gender didn’t matter much to her. What she really cared about was which industries this person focused on, and how open she was to new ideas. If it was TMT, that’d be fine. If not… things might get tricky.
Venture capital was long-term investment by nature. Liquidity tended to be poor. Significant returns took time, which meant VC firms based their project selections on thorough analysis — and compared to angel investors, they were much more cautious.
After all, most angel rounds relied entirely on personal connections and street cred. A few like-minded folks might come up with a good idea and go pitch it to some rich contacts. If the big shot liked the idea — more importantly, liked you — they’d just throw money at you with a “if it works, we both win; if it doesn’t, I’ll take the loss” attitude... like a philanthropic angel.
But institutional funds? No way could they just say “I'll eat the loss.” Their job was to pursue investment returns.
So yeah, getting money from them wasn’t easy.
That said...
Could she really get funding from a legit VC firm with just a proposal?
It felt like, if all she had was an idea and a project plan, her only shot would be waiting for a literal angel.
If she really wanted money from a fund that does due diligence and analyzes prospects seriously, it’d either take her own charisma, or a VC who just happened to believe in the project and held an optimistic view of its future...
But that sounded incredibly difficult.
“……”
Tang Yao furrowed her brows. The more she thought about it, the more she realized… she hadn’t prepared enough.
She was starting to get nervous.
"Nervous?"
Li Xue had been watching her the whole time, and when she noticed the frown, she asked.
"Yeah, a little."Tang Yao looked at the steaming coffee in front of her. "I suddenly feel like I haven’t done enough. I should’ve pushed harder — at the very least, fleshed out the future development path. I made a mistake. Venture capital and angel investment are two totally different things. I was overconfident..."
"Then how about running away?"
Li Xue glanced at Tang Yao’s pretty profile and teased, "You can still make a break for it."
"No way I’m running."
Tang Yao shot her a look. "Yeah, I’m nervous, and yeah, getting the money will be tough. But this is a rare opportunity."
Li Xue reached out and gently patted Tang Yao’s slim back, speaking softly, "Don’t worry. No matter how this goes, I’ll be right here with you."
"Mm… thank you."
Even though Tang Yao was still tense and hadn’t relaxed because of Li Xue’s comfort... she still sincerely said thanks.
After all, where would she even meet a kind, understanding, and generous angel investor in real life…?
The fact that Miss Li could introduce her to someone from a venture capital fund was already a huge deal.
She really was grateful for that.
Time to give it her all...
Ding-ling—
The café’s doorbell rang.
Their conversation abruptly stopped.
The door to the café opened.
Then, with the crisp click of high heels against the floor, a stylish young woman walked in. She looked to be around Li Xue’s age, but her vibe was completely different.
Elegant, poised, and intellectually graceful.
She was stunning.
But it was a very different kind of stunning from Li Xue.
She had full-on queen energy.
The moment she stepped in, she scanned the room — and quickly spotted Tang Yao and Li Xue.
Not surprising, since they stood out quite a bit.
One was a poised, beautiful career woman with calm maturity. The other, a lively, bright-eyed girl radiating youthful energy.
Together, they gave off serious CP (couple pairing) vibes.
"Over here."
Li Xue stood up when she saw her.
Tang Yao followed suit, subtly checking out the newcomer.
And found... she actually looked kind of like Li Xue.
"Long time no see, Li Xue."
Lin Shuang walked over to the table and greeted Li Xue, then turned her attention to Tang Yao — fresh-faced and beautiful without a touch of makeup — and looked surprised.
A few days ago, Li Xue had formally invited her to meet someone.
She’d assumed it was a boyfriend or something...
Turned out to be a girl.
And such a young one too... still in school?
"Long time no see."
Li Xue smiled back, then turned and said naturally, "This is Tang Yao, my colleague from the magazine."
"Hello."
Graduated already?
Lin Shuang was even more surprised, but didn’t show it. She just nodded politely and extended a hand to Tang Yao. "Lin Shuang."
Tang Yao reached out to shake it. "Nice to meet you."
"Sorry for making you come all the way out."
After introducing them, Li Xue didn’t bother with small talk and got straight to the point: "The reason I reached out is because I want you to take a look at a project..."
"Oh?"
Lin Shuang raised her eyebrows, but they quickly relaxed again. "That’s unusual… let’s sit and talk."
With that…
She calmly sat down across from them, crossed her long legs, and rested one over the other. Her sky-high heels made the posture extra eye-catching.
Tang Yao and Li Xue sat down as well.
Lin Shuang took the opportunity to give Tang Yao a once-over.
She had to admit...
Tang Yao had a naturally likable aura — clean, pretty, and harmless.
But that was from a personal point of view.
From a VC perspective… this was exactly the kind of founder that was the hardest to trust.
Lin Shuang wasn’t biased against female entrepreneurs — it’s just that she’d seen far too many different types of founders… the truly capable ones, the ones who rode trends to the top — none of them were this young.
This girl was just too young. And too pretty.
How to put it...
She gave off serious “still dreaming” vibes.
And that wasn’t a compliment.
If it weren’t for Li Xue, Lin Shuang wouldn’t have agreed to meet someone like this.
Because this kind of founder? A hundred percent unreliable.
She glanced at Li Xue again, puzzled why her normally level-headed cousin would ask for this.
Paying back a favor?
But what kind of favor was worth helping a random young girl like this?