After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future
Chapter 400 - 397: 7.2 Billion Project Budget

The next day, Xu Jiawei called with news.

Liang's Bombardier Global 6000 had departed from Pennsylvania and was expected to arrive in Modu tonight.

With a price tag of 370 million RMB, it had already been entrusted to Pu Xin Airport well in advance, with an annual management fee of 37 million.

"Full custody then, both the technical and cabin crew will temporarily be rented from Pu Xin Airport; we'll see how things go before making any further decisions."

When a private plane is entrusted to an airport, it's not simply a matter of nominal representation. Should Liang require, he could even personally go to a flight school to select his preferred flight attendants.

However, he didn't have the time and would have to miss this selection process.

Because today was the 9th and he had to leave for New York on the 16th, he needed to handle some domestic matters in the meantime.

Liang had to head to Su City today to secure the 15 billion loan offered by the city government and finalize the park's planning blueprints.

"Liang, did you buy a plane?" Li Manli's eyes were sparkling, almost betraying her desire to take a ride.

Liang forwarded the email he had received from Xu Jiawei to Li Manli: "If you're free, help me check it out and see how it should be fitted out."

What he'd bought was just the standard version, similar to a bare apartment, and how the cabin was to be decorated was entirely up to personal preference.

This task was also assigned to the entrusted party, Pu Xin Airport, who had sent over various configurations for Liang to decide upon.

"No problem, leave it to me."

Li Manli's eyes lit up, and she suddenly sat up straight, her chest making a snapping sound— DuangDuangDuang, very elastic.

Liang gave a strange look, suddenly reminded of Chen Jinchun; it seemed the different sizes produced different sounds.

The thumping indicated that it was close to the heart, causing the sound of an empty cavity, while the snapping meant there was a thick cushion.

Noticing Liang's gaze, Li Manli stood tall and proud, smugly boasting: "Has your little treasure grown?"

Through the layer of light-colored soft pajamas, the distinct half-circles were visible, firm, perky, with obvious points.

Liang nodded with a smile: "Indeed, it has grown."

Both wealth and fame nourished people, compared to two and a half years ago when they first met, at first glance, it seemed there had been no change.

On closer observation, however, the changes in stature, demeanor, and body contours were dramatic.

Back then, she was 19; now, 21.

Very young indeed, and certainly still growing.

"I'm heading to Su City soon and won't be back tonight."

Liang washed up and changed clothes, giving Li Manli's head a pat, asking her to finalize the configurations before tonight.

The private plane was going to be put to use next Thursday. If not for Li Manli's interest, he would have settled for a simple setup.

Taking the highway near She Mountain, passing through Kunshan, it took less than an hour to arrive at Lou Shui in Su City.

From a distance, Liang could see the eighteen main buildings of the Lou Shui New Energy Industrial Park rising from the ground.

Hundreds of construction vehicles moved in and out of the park, stirring up clouds of dust, covering the sparse vegetation in gray.

The 130 billion mega-project, the pride of Su City, the sooner it was completed, the sooner it was in use, no one dared to conduct environmental inspections.

Roads were crushed to pieces, and road managers didn't dare to speak up; they even rationalized it as out with the old, in with the new.

Construction began at the end of June, initially set for a 12-month timeframe, but with 50% of the funds prepaid, the period was compressed to seven months.

It was planned to be completed after the Spring Festival, but now, it might finish even sooner, possibly before the celebrations.

The Tianxing Production Base across the river was also fenced off, with the land completely leveled, the former desolation hidden from sight.

Fang Shiyu drove directly onto the construction site, stopping in front of a corrugated iron shack at the entrance.

"Mr. Lu, please be careful." Wang Xiaofeng handed him a white helmet, visibly lean and tanned.

"Xiaofeng, you've been working hard lately."

Liang said gravely, patting his shoulder.

He remembered Wang Xiaofeng's resume; a 1997 graduate, he had joined Procter & Gamble as a trainee, advancing to Marketing Director within eight years.

In 2006, he joined Google, almost single-handedly establishing Google's early search advertising channels in East China.

After departing Google in 2009, he joined Tencent as a Vice President, responsible for the expansion and growth of their advertising business.

In 2014, he became the General Manager at Uber, and following Uber's acquisition by DiDi, Li Bing recruited him to manage Mobike's operations.

Subsequently, Mobike was acquired by Meituan, and all the original management were kicked out, with Wang Xiaofeng also following Hu Weiwei into his ranks.

It can be said that for the past twenty years, he had been working in upscale offices, and then he was sent by Lu Liang to eat dust here.

"It's not hard, this is a very good experience."

Wang Xiaofeng's face was full of smiles, revealing shiny white teeth.

Since 2006, he had been a professional manager, and had long ago mastered remaining calm and composed. No matter what situation the company faced, he could handle it with ease and make long-term plans.

This was a good thing, signifying he had become an excellent and qualified professional manager, but also a bad thing, as he hadn't felt the surging passion for many years, as if he wasn't truly alive.

If it hadn't been for Hu Weiwei inviting him to join Lu Liang's ranks, he might have gone to search for the meaning of life.

Fortunately, Hu Weiwei invited him, and fortunately, Lu Liang didn't treat him as a normal manager—he basically went wherever he was needed.

Like managing a company in Beijing today, recruiting in Modu tomorrow, and building a factory in Su City the day after; the tasks were always different.

Each day he faced unknown challenges and embraced new things, reviving his long-dormant heart.

Wang Xiaofeng didn't know how long he would stay with Tianxing, but at least for now, he couldn't bear to leave.

In the past, Google and Tencent had both tried to retain him with stock options, but none could evoke this special kind of affection.

"How's the planning for the industrial park coming along?"

Lu Liang chuckled, unable to tell whether the question was sincere or not, but such matters he tentatively took as truth.

If it was true, all the better.

If not, it could only be said that his many years as a professional manager were not in vain—the flattery was remarkably refreshing and refined.

Because of this, Lu Liang felt very comfortable inside.

It was like a girl saying he was strong and amazing, but those words spoken from her mouth were useless; they had to be cried out to be effective.

"Tongji, Southeast University, Zhejiang University and other research institutes have each put forward three proposals according to our requirements."

Wang Xiaofeng elaborated on the strengths of the nine proposals from the three institutes; the five million reward was just the basic fee for adopting their design for the park.

If they could secure them, the subsequent main design, factory design, and building design would all be entrusted to them.

The total design fee altogether would be approximately 30 million, and the three institutes' nine design teams were all working their hardest.

After two hours of careful selection with Wang Xiaofeng, Lu Liang finally chose the scheme of Team B from Southeast University.

If built, it would accommodate 1,600 cars coming off the assembly line and would be 1.6 times the size of a Tesla's super factory.

The total area of over 960,000 square meters wasn't fully utilized, preserving 260,000 square meters for future unexpected needs.

The preliminary budget for the project was 7.2 billion, including the plant, research buildings, office buildings, and various supporting living facilities.

"Let's go with this one, contact them and find a few reliable construction companies for the job, a 50% down payment, and if they pass inspection, we'll settle the remaining payment in three months."

Lu Liang informed that he would head to the city center in the afternoon to discuss with the Su City office about a 15 billion loan.

With an annual interest rate of only 3.8%, he thought it practically a giveaway, considering five years of total interest would only be 2.85 billion.

"The project budget already takes up nearly half, with equipment purchases and personnel recruitment to follow. Is the remaining 7.8 billion going to be enough?"

"Mr. Lu, as far as I know, the company's current account balance is also running low."

Wang Xiaofeng frowned, having set up the division in Modu himself; he knew the price of a production line.

Especially since they planned to adopt integrated die casting, a mature production line would cost at least 380 million US dollars or more.

The remaining 7.8 billion RMB would barely be enough to purchase two production lines, which would mean a monthly production capacity of merely 4,000 vehicles.

While Tesla's super factory in Modu, although in its first phase, could produce 4,000 vehicles in just one week.

They had only one quarter of Tesla's efficiency, and having investigated beforehand, Wang Xiaofeng had always tried to stop Lu Liang from spending lavishly.

Facilities like the research building and the headquarters tower, those vanity projects, could be postponed a bit and constructed in the third or fourth phase.

After all, Beijing was constantly developing autonomous driving, and Modu was innovating new cars; daily expenses were astronomical.

If they didn't manage their funds well and expanded too fast, they could easily face a rupture in their financial chain.

"Reserve ten production lines, if money's tight, I'll figure something out."

Lu Liang's face showed a confident smile as he said, "As long as it's about money, it's never really a big issue."

Wang Xiaofeng was momentarily at a loss for words. He had almost forgotten that Boss Lu also had the nickname Lu Caishen; he wasn't a typical entrepreneur.

As he said, having prepared for this project for two and a half years, if he still lacked funds, then those two and a half years would have been for nothing.

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