Chapter 36 1 Year Buffer
Chapter 36: One Year Buffer
Dajing City, New Century Yingkong Hotel.
Shang Chaotian still has no rest today - a group of more than ten people led by Qian Sitao, chairman of Zhicheng Group, came to visit and exchange ideas, which is undoubtedly a big event for the Chess Association.
As one of the most important long-term sponsors of the Association, Zhicheng Group has given great support to the Chinese Chess Association in campus Go, Go promotion, amateur competitions and daily operations.
Therefore, Shang Chaotian did not dare to neglect Qian Sitao's visit this time. In addition to the decent lunch, he also held a small cocktail party in the hotel in the afternoon and invited some professional chess players to attend, as a joint social gathering.
However, not long after the cocktail party started, Shang Chaotian noticed something was wrong.
strangeness……
Why have everyone been secretly discussing something since just now and looking at me from time to time?
What's going on...?
Shang Chaotian couldn't help but frown slightly, but he had an important mission at this party and had no time to think about other things.
He secretly glanced at Qian Sitao on one side of the venue, and seeing that his conversation with a chess player was about to end, he decisively withdrew, picked up the wine, and slowly walked towards Qian Sitao.
After the chess player finished chatting and left, Shang Chaotian walked over to Qian Sitao quite naturally and said to him:
"Director Qian! You just had a very happy chat with Sun Yi! The young chess players you awarded the dan tournament to have won the titles now. Don't you feel special?"
"That is that is!"
Qian Sitao was in his early sixties, short and fat, with a bald head, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and looked quite kind. When he saw Shang Chaotian coming to greet him, he immediately responded with a smile, and it was obvious that he was in a good mood.
"I have known Sun Yi, the ninth dan, for a long time. His family was poor at first, and he came to Dongjiang from another province to work. When he was a child, he studied in a poor school and no one cared about him. But he played chess very well.
"Later, seeing that he had great talent, Yu Jiudan waived his tuition and took him to practice chess, but he couldn't afford the food and accommodation. I happened to know about this, so I helped a little. I thought it was just a good deed, but I didn't expect that it would actually help our country produce a top chess player!"
"Oh! You have made so many contributions to the development of Go in our country!" Shang Chaotian complimented.
"No, no! Chairman Shang is the one who is working hard for the development of Go in our country!"
Qian Sitao smiled meaningfully at Shang Chaotian.
"Hey, Chairman Shang, do you know? Before I came here this morning, our group's vice president Rui Guoquan specifically asked me to help bring it to you! You know... he didn't know anything about Go originally! Is this some kind of communication recently?"
"Ah? Ah, yes!" Shang Chaotian didn't know why Qian Sitao mentioned this for a moment: "Recently... there have been some exchanges, some exchanges!"
"Haha, Chairman Shang has changed a lot! You used to be reluctant to contact people outside the Go circle!" Qian Sitao's expression was still full of aftertaste.
"Well, it's just a coincidence!" Shang Chaotian still didn't quite understand what he meant, so he had to continue to be polite.
Seeing that he was still confused, Qian Sitao couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "Still pretending! It's as if you don't know that Xiao Rui is in charge of the finance and operations of our group!"
"Ah? Really?"
Shang Chaotian showed a look of surprise on his face: because he really didn't know Rui Guoquan's specific area of responsibility before.
"Hey! Chairman Shang! You have really become more and more slippery since you became chairman!"
Qian Sitao raised his index finger and nodded slightly towards Shang Chaotian.
"With your acting skills, most people would really think you don't know!"
"Uh...haha, I can't hide it from you anyway!" Shang Chaotian had no choice but to answer accordingly.
"Okay, let's stop playing tricks on each other! Since you've learned to go find Xiao Rui, it means you're really anxious!"
Qian Sitao put away five points of smile and replaced them with five points of seriousness.
"The sponsorship of the second half of the Weiqi League... is there really nothing the Qiqi Association can do?"
Shang Chaotian's face changed when he saw that the other party had suddenly made clear what he wanted to mention, but he also knew that since the other party had taken the initiative to speak, it meant that he was willing to have a frank talk.
He immediately threw aside all the polite words he had prepared and answered truthfully:
"Mr. Qian, it is true that the sponsorship situation is poor this year. We have contacted many companies, but they all declined..."
"There's nothing we can do. The economic situation is not ideal."
Qian Sitao sighed and shook his head helplessly.
"It's hard to do business these days. The Internet and virtual economy are all the rage... but people who do those things probably aren't interested in Go, right?"
"Um……"
Shang Chaotian nodded slowly, speechless.
As the chairman of the Chinese Chess Association, he knows that with the current attention and broadcasting model of the Weiqi League, it is impossible to achieve a publicity effect worth the sponsorship fee by sponsoring the Weiqi League. In the past few years, the sponsorship of the Weiqi League can almost be said to be purely based on the sentiments of some entrepreneurs and CEOs.
It’s a pity that feelings can’t be eaten…
Five years ago, after the original long-term sponsor of the Weiqi League fell into crisis for an extremely inexplicable reason, the sponsor of the Weiqi League fell into an extremely unstable state, changing four times in five years.
In the first three years, there were sponsors willing to give it a try, but after discovering that the publicity effect was dismal, they were no longer willing to invest money in the second year.
The sponsorship in the past two years was finally obtained by the chess masters of the previous generation using various connections, but this year there is no other way.
Shang Chaotian had no choice but to ask Qian Sitao, the old sponsor, for help again to see if Zhicheng Group was willing to support the Go League while sponsoring other Go projects.
...
Seeing Shang Chaotian like this, Qian Sitao also sighed and said:
"Chairman Shang, I am an old Go fan, and I have always regarded Chinese Go as my second career.
"But for a small private group like ours that mainly does heavy industry, the profit margin is low and there is really no need for public publicity. If we were to take out another 10 million in pure cash flow to sponsor the Weiqi League on top of the original 5 million yuan per year, the pressure I would have to bear in the group would be too great..."
Shang Chaotian felt depressed when he heard this statement, but he still said shamelessly: "Director Qian, we understand your difficulties very well, and I also know that our request is indeed excessive, but..."
"Hey, I haven't finished talking yet!" Qian Sitao suddenly showed a naughty smile: "...But if it's just this year, I'll reluctantly help you this time!"
"Ah? Are you serious?" Shang Chaotian was stunned.
"Why would I lie to you!" Qian Sitao laughed even more happily.
"T-thank you so much!"
Shang Chaotian never expected that happiness would come so suddenly. Excited, he immediately took an uncorked bottle of wine from a nearby table and prepared to fill his glass to toast.
"Um... Mr. Qian, you really helped me a lot in this matter! I must toast you!"
"Hey hey hey! Chairman Shang, please don't mess around!"
Seeing this, Qian Sitao hurried over and held Shang Chaotian's hand.
"How come you forgot about your retirement? And you dare to drink so much!"
"It's okay, I have to toast you with this glass of wine no matter what I say..."
"Don't be silly!" Qian Sitao's face darkened slightly: "Chairman Shang, don't think that you are not important to Chinese Go just because you don't play in the game! If you do this again, I will take back my words!"
As soon as these words came out, Shang Chaotian immediately put down his wine: "Ah! I'll listen to you! I'll listen to you!"
"This is right!"
Qian Sitao smiled again, patted Shang Chaotian on the shoulder and said:
"Hey, actually this matter also depends on you! I don't know how you managed to convince Xiao Rui. I actually hinted last month whether we should sponsor this year's Weiqi League, but he, the deputy general manager in charge, took the lead in strongly opposing it, and I couldn't force it.
"But this morning he actually asked me to say hello to you on his behalf! He also hinted that it would not be a problem to sponsor the Weiqi League for one year..."
"Oh, I will definitely visit Mr. Rui in person someday to express my gratitude to him!"
"Haha! Sure, sure!" Qian Sitao clapped his hands and laughed, then gave a small reminder: "But... it's really only for this year, I can only help you this time, you'd better start looking for sponsorship for next year now!"
Hearing this, Shang Chaotian's joy faded slightly: "Understood, understood!"
Just then, a voice suddenly came from behind the two of them.
"…Hey, did Chairman Shang encounter any good things today? You don't look so bitter anymore?"
Hearing this voice, Shang Chaotian frowned subconsciously.
Looking back, I saw that the man was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a smile on his lips, slightly raised eyebrows, and a sense of cool and handsomeness.
Shang Chaotian calmly smoothed his eyebrows and greeted with a smile:
"Rui Xin, why did you come here suddenly?"
Thanks to [People in the Void] and [Book Friend 20220324012834913] for voting~
I have also been working very hard at work today to save up drafts, in preparation for the release of the new chapters at an unknown time~
Although the data has not been very good, I am still confident and waiting for the first round of recommendations this weekend (there should be one, right? I was not included last week, so I should be given one this week, right?)
(End of this chapter)