If he didn’t manage to catch Charles Foster’s attention, or didn’t let Charles Foster misunderstand him, then the other party would just think he made a lucky guess in passing. Although he’d be thanked, there definitely wouldn’t be this 100,000 yuan thank-you fee.

100,000 yuan was quite a temptation for William Brooks, but the reason he agreed to come to the The Foster Family at Mary Foster’s invitation was definitely not for this money.

“Uncle Foster, I have a money-making project. I wonder if Uncle Foster would be interested.” Instead of taking the 100,000 yuan, William Brooks smiled and looked at Charles Foster as he spoke.

Chapter 11 Agreement Reached

In later years, William Brooks greatly admired a man known as the king of internet PPTs, LeEco’s Boss Jia, also called the King of Dreams.

From investing in film and television to selling TVs and phones, and even later starting to make cars, this Boss Jia could be said to be the best storyteller with a PPT.

As long as the PPT was good enough, there was no venture capital he couldn’t get.

This was a kind of irony, and William Brooks had heard this line from a friend in the investment business.

In the capital market, sometimes those venture capital institutions don’t really care whether you can actually make money—they care whether your story can move people, whether your PPT is perfect enough.

Because as long as your story is good enough to attract venture capital, then in the eyes of these VCs, they can use this story to fool other investors and shareholders.

Angel round, B round, C round, and even IPO—these VCs get their returns and walk away, and in the end, it’s the retail investors in the stock market and the ordinary people who buy funds who are left holding the bag.

At this moment, William Brooks just wanted to paint a pie for Charles Foster, and this pie was related to Majia pomelos.

Charles Foster lit a cigarette for himself, his fingers rhythmically tapping the table—a habitual gesture when he was thinking.

To be honest, at first when William Brooks said he wanted to discuss a money-making business, he scoffed at it. Someone who hadn’t even set foot in society, talking business with someone like him who had fought in the business world for decades—wasn’t that like showing off a broadsword in front of Guan Yu?

However, after listening to William Brooks, he fell into deep thought, because the business William Brooks talked about moved him.

As the richest man in the county, Charles Foster was naturally sensitive to government news. He also knew that the newly appointed leader was a young top official who had come to Guangfeng to make a big impact.

Right now, the higher-ups were placing great emphasis on agriculture, and Majia pomelos were a local specialty. If there was a suitable plan in this area, that young leader would definitely be interested.

“Uncle Foster, the prospects for Majia pomelos are huge, and it also fits the current push for modernized agriculture from above. This is a great opportunity to kill several birds with one stone.”

After saying this, William Brooks looked at Charles Foster. He had said all he needed to say; now it was up to the other party to decide.

“Since you know Majia pomelos have such great prospects, why don’t you do it yourself? There’s not much technical content to this, is there?”

Charles Foster voiced his doubt. Unless this was resolved, he wouldn’t make a decision lightly.

“Of course I could do it myself, but I just can’t do it on a large scale.” William Brooks had long expected Charles Foster to ask this and answered honestly, “Majia pomelos are easy to grow. Once the whole county starts promoting them, in three to five years, every household will be growing them. So if you can’t achieve scale within three to five years, the project will be a failure.”

Having lived through it, William Brooks was well aware of the development trend of Majia pomelos. At first, because they were rare and hyped by the government, a single pomelo could sell for twenty or thirty yuan per jin. Many county residents, seeing how expensive they were, rushed to plant them. But once every household was growing them, the supply of Majia pomelos increased, but the sales channels weren’t established, and the price plummeted.

It was just like when some vegetable farmers plant a certain vegetable—one year the price goes up, so everyone plants it the next year, but then supply exceeds demand and the price crashes, sometimes leaving the vegetables to rot in the fields.

Having lived another life, although William Brooks planned to use Majia pomelos to earn his first pot of gold, he didn’t want to just make a quick buck and leave, ultimately harming all the county’s pomelo farmers.

If Charles Foster took the lead on this project, there would be no worries about funding. Although William Brooks knew about the development of Majia pomelos in later years, he only knew the general idea—for example, he knew Majia pomelos could be made into juice and wine, and that they tasted great.

But knowing is one thing; actually developing these products would require technicians to keep experimenting, and that takes capital. It’s not something that can be done just with government subsidies.

By the time it took to smoke a cigarette, Charles Foster had finished thinking. In fact, he had already made up his mind: the Majia pomelo project was doable.

Charles Foster was not an ordinary businessman—he was the richest man in the county. That meant he had to consider things more comprehensively. The Majia pomelo project might not bring him much profit, but the most important thing was that it could help him build a good relationship with the new leader.