Chapter 54 Tell Me, Where Is My Money

In the current bitter winter of the real estate market, Ocean Group is not the only company struggling with operational difficulties; other major conglomerates are facing equally harsh hardships.

Take Yida Group, for example.

To secure financing and lower its debt-to-equity ratio, Yida Group signed a valuation adjustment agreement (a "gang-up" or "valuation bet" agreement) with investors, stipulating that Yida Commercial Management must go public within three years.

If Yida Commercial Management successfully completed its IPO, the investors' funds would be converted into equity shares.

If the IPO failed, Yida Group would be obligated to buy back the shares from the investors using its own funds, while also paying a 11.5% interest rate.

Yida Commercial Management's IPO applications had been rejected three consecutive times. With only a little over three months remaining until the deadline of the agreement and no hope of going public in sight, Yida Group chose to sell off assets to raise cash for the impending share buyback.

To lower its debt ratio previously, Yida Group had already sold everything it possibly could, leaving only two core industries: Yida Film and Yida Commercial Management.

However, Yida Wang Xiaosen, the chairman of Yida Group, had repeatedly stated in public that Yida Commercial Management, which controlled all the Yida Plazas nationwide, was strictly not for sale. Consequently, he had no choice but to sell equity in Yida Film to raise money.

So far this year, Yida Group had already sold shares in Yida Film three consecutive times, offloading a total of 20.8% of its equity and raising six billion in funds.

Now, Yida Group had put another stake of Yida Film's shares on the market, this time offering a 20% share. Based on Yida Film's current market capitalization, these shares were valued at 5.5 billion.

Securing this 20% stake would immediately make the buyer Yida Film's second-largest shareholder, trailing Yida Group by only a tiny margin—meaning Yida Group would lose its controlling stake in Yida Film.

Anyone familiar with the film market knew that the single most crucial factor determining a movie's box office performance was the number of screenings allocated by the theaters.

Many garbage films outperformed significantly higher-quality contemporary releases simply because they secured vastly more screen time.

Even the finest wine needs a clear path through the alley; a great movie needed guaranteed screenings to achieve a strong box office.

Therefore, Yang Chen had his eyes set on this 20% equity stake in Yida Film.

Yang Chen's plan was to route the four billion provided by JD through Ocean Health to lend to Ocean Entertainment, and then secure another 1.5 billion in bank loans through Ocean Entertainment. This would allow him to acquire the 20% stake in Yida Film and become its second-largest shareholder.

With ownership in Yida Film, Ocean Entertainment would no longer have to worry about securing screen allocations for its future productions.

Yet, as the saying goes, plans rarely keep pace with sudden changes. Just as Yang Chen finished executing the transfer of four billion from Ocean Health to Ocean Entertainment, the finance department reported to him that the four billion had vanished.

As it happened, five bank presidents arrived at that exact moment, accompanied by Huang Wenbiao, chairman of Jiangte Pharmaceutical Factory.

"Hahaha... Chairman Yang, everything is sorted out. Take a look at the contract and just sign it," Li Jun, president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank branch, said with a smile.

Yang Chen wore a stern expression as he glared at Li Jun. "I'm glad you were so proactive in helping me. But I really dislike your two-faced behavior—acting one way to my face and doing something else behind my back."

The smiles instantly vanished from the faces of Li Jun and the others.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Li Jun asked in a panic.

Yang Chen slammed his hand angrily on the desk and demanded, "Why has the four billion from JD that entered the ICBC account of Ocean Health disappeared? Tell me, where is my money?"

Anxious, Li Jun hurried to explain, "I didn't touch it! Chairman Yang, you know me; I'm completely behind you. How could I possibly transfer the funds without notifying you?"

Chen Tao, president of the Commercial Bank, quickly chimed in, "Chairman Yang, calm down, please calm down. President Li, call the head office right now and check. It was probably transferred away by another branch."

Wang Baoguo of the Agricultural Bank echoed, "That's right, exactly. It's odds-on that some other branch swept the funds to cover a debt."

Li Jun nodded. "Possible, entirely possible. Don't worry, Chairman Yang, take it easy. I'll call the head office right now and have them sort this out. I guarantee that every single cent of that four billion will return to Ocean Health's account. If even a penny is missing, we'll make it up for you."

Yang Chen let out a soft breath and nodded, signaling for Li Jun to make the call.

Li Jun immediately called the head office, only to find out upon inquiry that the funds had been seized and transferred by the Beijing branch.

The liver-protection tablets and vitamin supplements previously produced by Ocean Health had all been handed over to Beijing Yunhai Trading for distribution. Yunhai Trading routed Ocean Health's products through online and offline channels to sell them to consumers.

In truth, anyone with a discerning eye could tell there was something fishy going on, and indeed there was: Guo Yunhai, the owner of Yunhai Trading, was a fellow townsman, classmate, and former coworker of Wang Ocean. A portion of the exorbitant channel fees Guo Yunhai collected was secretly kicked back to Wang Ocean, deposited directly into Wang Ocean's overseas account.

Ever since Ocean Group hit its debt crisis, Yunhai Trading stopped receiving payments. By the time Wang Ocean fled, Ocean Health had accumulated a staggering 4.68 billion in unpaid channel fees owed to Yunhai Trading.

Yunhai Trading had taken Ocean Health to court and applied for mandatory enforcement. Consequently, all of Ocean Health's accounts were placed under monitoring; any funds entering the accounts were immediately seized by the court and transferred to Yunhai Trading.

The four billion from JD had been swept away the moment it hit Ocean Health's account, and it was now sitting in Yunhai Trading's account.

After figuring out the reason, Yang Chen instantly felt completely drained, losing all passion and drive for work.

Bloody hell—he had finally managed to earn four billion and was just about to embark on something more important, only to have the money vanish. The crucial part was that they had acted strictly in accordance with the law, leaving him with no valid grounds to complain.

Yang Chen rubbed his temples and said, "I want some quiet time."

"Want Jingjing? Oh, little Zhao! Xiao Zhao, get in here right now! Chairman Yang wants you," Li Jun said loudly.

Zhao Jing, who was waiting outside the door, immediately rushed in and asked, "Chairman Yang, what are your instructions?"

Yang Chen raised his head, looked at Li Jun, and then looked at Zhao Jing, his face a mask of speechlessness.

Did this damn blockhead Li Jun think he was being humorous?

"Leave the contract. I'll read it when I have time. All of you, get out. I need quiet—absolute quiet," Yang Chen said, heavily emphasizing the word "quiet."

Li Jun and the others laid down the contract and walked out with grim expressions.

After taking a moment to calm his nerves, Yang Chen called Chang Sheng into his office.

"Call Guo Yunhai. I'll speak to him directly," Yang Chen instructed.

Chang Sheng hurriedly took out his phone, found Guo Yunhai's number, and dialed.

Once the call connected, Yang Chen took the receiver and said, "Director Guo, I am Yang Chen, the new chairman of Ocean Group."

"Oh, haha... Chairman Yang. Hello, hello. Chairman Yang is truly impressive, earning four billion the moment you took over Ocean Group. However, you still owe me another 680 million. I'm not charging you interest, but you need to pay me off cleanly and quickly," Guo Yunhai said with an air of smugness.

Although the channel fees totaling 4.68 billion sounded enormous, the actual expenses were less than one billion; the excess amount was entirely dirty money.

"I have no interest in wasting words with you. Transfer the money back to me immediately, or I will have you sent to prison! I have always treated people with kindness; as long as I am shown a cooperative attitude, I am willing to show mercy. You should know what I mean," Yang Chen warned.