Chapter 8: Financial Advisor

Dr. Yu took a sip of tea and said, “Our research team at Yu Garden has developed a drone similar to the American V-22 Osprey transport aircraft. It’s a tilt-rotor design with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. The maximum takeoff weight is four tons, with a payload capacity of two tons. It has a maximum range of 4,000 kilometers and can stay airborne for up to seven hours. Its performance metrics are already comparable to, if not surpassing, the Osprey—but ours is an unmanned aircraft, while the Osprey is manned. Now, we need to industrialize this aircraft. The first step is to produce a prototype for certification. Some investors have already approached us, but we have no experience in this area, so we want to ask for your help.”

“That’s an impressive set of specs,” Old Jia immediately perked up and asked, “How about orders?”

“There are some tentative overseas orders. The domestic Navy has also shown interest. The Provincial Military Integration Office has included our project in their list,” Yu Ying recited like a scholar presenting his treasured texts.

“Not bad!” Old Jia nodded. “There’s still a long road ahead to get this project industrialized. This is just the beginning. First, you need to secure some angel investment. Then find a government partner to lease a factory space. Get the prototype built, obtain certification, conduct test flights, and then market and sell the aircraft. As for overseas orders, they’re not very reliable. The government has suspended drone exports. If your Osprey is really that impressive, you wouldn’t be allowed to export it anyway. For now, focusing on military contracts is more realistic, and military products don’t require certification. But the payment cycles for military contracts are unpredictable, so you need sufficient upfront capital to sustain operations until payments come in.”

“Oh, we’ve really found the right person,” Dr. Yu exclaimed with delight. “Mr. Jia, your thoughts are so clear and precise. Just a few words have helped us straighten out our entire approach. We were at a loss about where to start!”

“Haha, Dr. Yu, you flatter me! This is our business—financial services for the real economy. We live off this work. What seems difficult to you is second nature to us; what seems hard to us—like building aircraft—might seem like tinkering to you. Well, every profession has its own mountains to climb. That’s why we need to form a team to push this project forward together.”

“Yes, exactly,” Dr. Yu agreed eagerly. “I want to hire you as the chief consultant for this project. We can sign a contract right away.”

“I’m honored, but you guys build planes, so you have chief designers. We don’t call it ‘chief consultant’; we call it ‘financial advisor,’” Old Jia replied. “You don’t sign a contract with me personally, but with our company for financial advisory services. This is a standard investment consulting service offered by our securities firm, especially suited for financing real economy projects. The problem is many securities firms don’t do this business, and few want to. But the actual contact and service provider will be me, so don’t worry about that.”

“Why don’t many securities firms want to do this business?” Long Wuyang asked.

“It’s slow money!” Old Jia laughed helplessly. “You’re working hard to earn money like selling vegetables, but with the mindset of a drug dealer. Sometimes the project fails and you don’t even get paid. Compared to that, stock trading is fast money. One livestream sales shout, and trillions of naïve investors rush in. No reason, just chaos, all stocks grabbed up.”

“Hahaha, Uncle, where did you come up with that rhyme?” Little Long laughed until he could barely close his mouth.

“We learned it from big-character posters back in the day! Our big-character posters were like your current Little Red Book. In any era, no matter the media form, information is a mixture of truth and falsehood, like flowers seen through mist,” Old Jia said slowly. “So, in any age, you must learn to think independently. If you build your own system of values, you’ll never be led astray by false information.”

“Well said. I’ve learned so much,” Dr. Yu took up the conversation. “Mr. Jia, our startup desperately needs a veteran like you to safeguard and guide us. I officially invite you to join our team. Draft a contract and we’ll sign it immediately! But...,” Dr. Yu hesitated slightly, “I might trouble you right now. A few investors are coming over shortly. Could you join our business negotiations for the project?”

“No problem! Let’s get to work!” Old Jia drained his tea. “Come on, let’s meet these investors!”