Chapter 545 - Rejection and New Proposal
Today, a new vein had been found in Boom Town, and a preliminary investigation report had come out.
The forecast was that every ton of ore would produce eleven grams of gold, but that wasn’t the main point.
The main point was that according to the report, this new vein could yield a profit of six hundred million to a billion dollars.
That meant that this mother lode was worth more than that.
Mining gold was very costly, but the costs involved in this new vein were relatively low, and could be further reduced because of the presence of other minerals. Given his 25% share in the mining company, Luke could reap a dividend of 150 to 250 million dollars.
Before he left the house earlier, Luke had told Selina that she might become a millionaire.
Luke and Jenny didn’t talk for very long.
Jenny would take the company car to Boom Town and make sure that the mining company was compliant. Luke didn’t have to do anything
Looking at an excited Jenny, Luke suddenly said with a smile, “You’re the company secretary, and you put in a lot of effort to set up this gold mine. You should also be rewarded.” Jenny looked back at him. “What kind of reward?”
“How about a 5% share in the company?” Luke asked.
Stunned for a moment, Jenny’s lips moved, but she didn’t say anything.
Luke saw her frown as if pondering some matter.
He didn’t interrupt her, and simply put his hands in the right places.
After thinking for almost a minute, Jenny finally shook her head. “No, I can’t accept the shares.”
Curious, Luke used a little more strength and pulled her closer. “Why not?”
Jenny put her hands on his shoulders to stop him and to put some distance between their faces, before she said, “Because I didn’t do much to deserve that. All I did was write up a few standard contracts for the mining company; any law firm could’ve done that for tens of thousands of dollars. Chris was willing to sign the contracts because you already did the work convincing him. I didn’t do anything.”
Luke shrugged. “But even Bobby has a 1% share as the PR manager.”
Jenny suddenly laughed. “Yes. That’s why he has to oversee the mine in Arizona while I continue my studies in L.A.. Also, he’s been with the company longer than I have. It’s understandable he would have a share in it.”
She paused for a moment, then took a deep breath. “You’ve already transferred the mining company stock. It’s not under your name anymore, right?”
Luke nodded. Clearly, he couldn’t keep this a secret from Jenny.
“The mining company is a subsidiary company that has broken away to become independent; it doesn’t matter if I’m there or not,” Jenny said unhurriedly. “I’m not interested in mining, even if it’s a gold mine. But I have a new idea. Wanna hear it?”
Luke nodded again.
“I’m very interested in the smart phone company you mentioned.” Jenny’s eyes lit up. “That’s more to my liking. You even have a finished sample; we only need to manufacture and market it. I want to do that.”
Luke immediately understood.
The main work of a gold mine was to reduce costs and increase yield. It was a simple production and administration process. That was what most factory managers did.
As a young woman who had inherited her father’s business acumen, Jenny didn’t want to be a factory manager. She preferred working with high tech and high added value, like smart phones.
Promoting and selling new cell phones that nobody else had to the whole world was clearly more interesting than digging and mining.
Luke patted his forehead. “Sorry. I did say at the beginning, you can become the CEO of the phone company.”
Jenny giggled and kissed him. “So, we’ll start a new phone company. Whether it’s company or personal shares, I want to invest in this phone company.”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Jenny said, “My mother left me some money. I’ve been investing in the stock market and certain funds, but I think it’s time to start a new venture.”
Luke found that odd. “You dad… doesn’t know?”
Jenny hit him angrily. “Don’t mention that man.”
But she sighed soon after. “He’s too busy keeping his new wife and son company to care about me.”
Luke asked oddly, “Really?”
Jenny lowered her head. “Fine, he knows about the money. But that’s my mother’s private assets which she left to me in her will. There’s nothing he can do.”
Luke stroked her back to comfort her. “Then why did he threaten to stop giving you an allowance back then?”
Jenny bit her lip and couldn’t help but press down on his shoulders with his hands. “Hmph, would we still be related at all if he didn’t give me an allowance? It’s been almost two years since we met.”
Luke got it.
Jenny had become an adult a long time ago, and had her mother’s inheritance.
The money that her father gave her was just a symbolic continuation of their father and daughter relationship.
Otherwise, after getting a younger wife and a new son, he would have already stopped giving Jenny an allowance. Luke thought for a moment and asked, “Alright, what do you want to do?” Jenny said, “I’ll shell out five million dollars for 10% of shares in the phone company.”
Luke was surprised. “You have that much?”
Jenny rolled her eyes. “The money from my mother is business capital which she accumulated over ten years from her father’s family. It has nothing to do with my father.”
Luke sweated. “Okay. So, you’re saying that your mother was already a magnate before she married your father.”
Jenny replied matter-of-factly, “That’s right. Why else do you think the man waited until she died before he… Forget it, let’s not talk about that.”
But she couldn’t help exerting strength in her hands again. Clearly, she had a lot of complaints about her father.
Luke was silent; it seemed it would be hard for the father and daughter to make peace.
But it was none of his business.
He couldn’t care less what Jenny’s father wanted to do. In any case, that financial bigshot was useless to him.His hands retaliated against Jenny’s rough behavior earlier. “I think we should discuss the new company somewhere else.”
Jenny cried out in surprise. “What do you want to discuss?”
Luke said earnestly, “The chairman of the board oversees the CEO, right?”.
Jenny glanced at him. “I’m still the secretary, chairman of the board!”
Luke realized that she was right. He nodded. “Then you should do the work of a secretary, and give it one last hurrah.”
Jenny: “Scram!”
Luke got home at half past eleven that night.
Selina had just taken a shower. She looked at him strangely. “You’re not spending the night with Miss Jenny?” He chuckled and said, “We finished talking about business, so I’m back. Jenny will go to Boom Town and inspect our gold mine tomorrow.” Luke specifically stressed “our.” Sure enough, he diverted Selina’s attention. “What you said before you left; is it true?”
