Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 266 - 261: Idle Vagabond

At first, Qi Yi’s mother understood what the problem was until no one was willing to set up blind dates for her son anymore, and then she realized what the issue was.

Mrs. Qi went back and advised Qi Yi that one should not be too pragmatic, should not judge solely by appearance, and definitely should not just consider family background.

In choosing a wife, one should look for a knowledgeable and gentle lady from a respectable family.

The girls she introduced were far better than that shameless and clueless Yan Yan.

In the past, such comments about Yan Yan by Qi Yi’s mother would definitely have triggered a "violent reaction" from Qi Yi.

But this time, Qi Yi did not argue with his mother and agreed with everything she said.

He humbly accepted her words.

Then, he resolutely refused to change.

Qi Yi stayed in Wenzhou for a month until his mother could no longer bear to watch.

After his mother expressed several times that she did not want a son like him, he packed his bags and prepared to return to the United States.

The strategy Qi Yi had previously used, which put him through severe hardships before he could possibly survive, did not ultimately lead to "victory."

In January 2015, after Yan Yan had completed her first Haute Couture fashion show following her receipt of the title.

She began to handle her assets in the United States.

Before Qi Yi became an unemployed vagrant and returned to his home country, he first went to France to find Yan Yan to discuss the redemption of funds and Yan Yan’s next steps.

Around the same time Qi Yi went to Paris to see Yan Yan, her cousin Yan Ling did as well.

Yan Ling thought it was time to discuss the future development of the Y.Y. brand with Yan Yan.

When Qi Yi boasted about his ex-girlfriend being the behind-the-scenes owner of the Y.Y. brand, the people of Wenzhou had never even heard of the brand.

The Yan siblings acquired the exclusive agency for the Y.Y. brand in Greater China, which broadly included all of Asia and Australia.

None of the six Y.Y. stores in Greater China were located in mainland China.

Four were in Australia, with one each in Singapore and Japan.

By early 2015, the Y.Y. brand was still somewhat distant for domestic consumers.

Y.Y. had neither opened stores on the mainland nor in Hong Kong.

.........

The reason Qi Yi had become an "unemployed vagrant" was not because his work at Ian’s private fund dissatisfied his boss, and he was fired after Qi Yi’s girlfriend withdrew her investment.

On the contrary, Qi Yi was one of Ian’s most outstanding employees.

At least he was in the top half.

Ian did not like managing a particularly large portfolio; he felt that his company should not have only one private fund.

He planned to create two more private funds named after the best investment managers under his banner.

In the private equity and insurance circles, it is very common to name funds or insurance teams after people with good performance.

One of the two new private funds about to be established under Ian’s name was named after Qi Yi.

Naming it after an investment manager was a form of personal branding as well as a responsibility.

The private fund where Qi Yi was the GP was a stock-type fund.

He did not know whether Yan Yan planned to become an LP in his fund after she retrieved her money from Ian’s fund.

Qi Yi was not particularly keen on seeing this happen.

If the fund bore Qi Yi’s name and the majority of the capital came from Yan Yan, he would truly feel somewhat hesitant.

High-return investments also come with corresponding risks.

Qi Yi couldn’t guarantee that his fund would always be profitable, something no one in the world could guarantee.

Wall Street Quants, who had once dominated the financial landscape, almost all fell during the subprime crisis.

Fortunately, after moving to the United States, Qi Yi found that Yan Yan, who had initially mentioned redeeming her investment, never actually reinvested the money into the private equity sector.

Yan Yan took her money back, including the principal and the interest, considering the development of the Y.Y brand.

The Y.Y "subsidiary brand" was now thriving unexpectedly well.

It was time for the behind-the-scenes owner to come into the limelight.

After redeeming her investment, Qi Yi left the private equity fund named after Ian and began looking for new LPs for his own fund.

Ian was Qi Yi’s first LP, and his involvement represented his confidence in Qi Yi.

Ian’s private equity was now a highly sought-after star on Wall Street.

After losing Yan Yan as an LP, Ian didn’t accept new LPs. If someone wanted to invest, Ian would recommend Qi Yi and another person’s private equity.

Searching for LPs was a process, but given the "track record" between Ian and Qi Yi, this process could be very brief.

So brief that Qi Yi didn’t even need to be unemployed.

Qi Yi’s unemployment was clearly a strong personal choice.

In France, Qi Yi encountered Yan Ling; Qi Yi, somewhat desperate in his fight with his mother, sought advice from a "negotiation expert" at Wharton Business School.

Yan Ling said that when facing tough negotiation opponents, like Qi Yi’s immensely stubborn mother, one could not use their own logic to persuade her.

In such cases, only the opponent’s logic could persuade them.

That is, one must use Qi Yi’s mother’s own logic to convince her.

This was also why Qi Yi returned to Wenzhou as an unemployed vagabond.

But Yan Ling was somewhat impatient in answering Qi Yi’s question.

After so many years, Qi Yi still hadn’t completely resolved the issue, which bothered Yan Ling.

Yan Yan was so busy that she scarcely had time to think about her own major life decisions, and she did not feel any urgency herself.

Yan Dabang and his wife feared that continually bringing up Qi Yi’s family matters would make Yan Yan, who already squeezed out time to sleep, cry into her pillow again.

But when Yan Dabang and his wife and Yan Yan’s uncle and aunt sat together, they felt a profound sense of regret.

Yan Dabang and his wife also considered explicitly stating their disapproval.

But the discord during Yan Ling’s marriage, which their elder brother and sister-in-law opposed, was the last thing Yan Dabang and his wife wanted to see.

During those years, Yan Dingbang had threatened to disown Yan Ling.

Yan Ling, between marriage and divorce, had always been reluctant to return to the country.

Communication between father and son was nearly nonexistent.

Taking a parental stance and strongly opposing who Yan Yan dated was not something Yan Dabang and his wife wanted to do.

When Yan Dabang and Lu Bingran expressed their opinions previously, they advised their daughter not to rush into marriage quietly in the United States.

Yan Yan kept her word and did not disregard their feelings, and she even seldom visited New York.

Every time Yan Dabang and his wife asked about Yan Yan’s relationship with Qi Yi.

Yan Yan would say it’s been good.

Further asked when the parents of both sides would meet, Yan Yan said they would talk about it after she was less busy.

Yan Dabang and his wife were becoming impatient. Yan Ling’s trip to the United States also carried the "family mission" of persuading Yan Yan.

However, Yan Ling was not the type to meddle in others’ relationships, following the principle of not imposing on others what one oneself does not desire.

This, however, didn’t stop Yan Ling from reducing her favorable impression of Qi Yi to a negative number.