To Clarissa’s surprise, the Tysons didn’t visit them to ask if Damian was Matthew’s son.
Maybe they don’t care about Damian at all. Even if they learn that he is Matthew’s son, they won’t care about him because he is born out of wedlock.
That’s great! Clarissa thought that it was great that the Tysons didn’t care about Damian at all.
Bearing the thought in mind, she took Damian back to Zen Highlands happily. If she didn’t go back, Matthew would get angry.
After they arrived at Zen Highlands, everything was back to normal. Just then, Yael gave her a mission.
“Secure investment? I don’t know anything about this. How much investment do we need? How to allocate shares? What’s the minimum share?”
Clarissa asked many questions. Hence, Yael handed her a document.
“You just need to negotiate with them according to this. I think Tyson Corporation won’t mistreat you. If there is a better offer, just follow their instruction.”
After all, they were family. The negotiation was just a process.
Hearing that, Clarissa smiled awkwardly and read the document.
“All right, I’ve made an appointment with them. Go to the investment department with Mandy at 10 o’clock. I think it won’t take long.”
Yael made it sounded too easy, and her words carried a hint of teasing.
Taking a look at the time, Clarissa had a brief discussion with Mandy before they went upstairs.
That was the first time Clarissa had come to the investment department. She had initially thought Matthew would use work as an excuse to meet her, but she was wrong.
Instead, there were only two employees who looked very professional. The young woman was dressed in a formal suit and wore high heels, giving her the aura of a gold collar worker. The next staff was a young man. Judging by his look, his age was below thirty. Clarissa thought he might be a new employee, but he was smart and didn’t look like a rookie.
Upon seeing them, Clarissa was surprised, but she tried to conceal her emotions.
“Please take your seats.”
The young man broke the silence, “Please allow me to introduce myself. I am David Young from the investment department. This is Avery Alston.”
“Hi, I’m Clarissa Quigley. This is my assistant, Mandy Channing.”
After they finished with their self-introductions, Avery looked at Clarissa with a sharp gaze and said, “Ms. Quigley, I heard that you are a famous screenwriter and author. Although I don’t know much about your works, I’ve heard about that before.”
Upon hearing that, Clarissa was a little surprised, but she tried to suppress her emotion and continued to listen to the former with a smile on her face.
“I’ve done some research on your studio, and I found that your studio is actually quite small. Basically, as far as I know, you can only earn from the adaption of your works or some merchandise items. Can you show me that your studio is something worth our company to put hard-earned cash into?”
Luckily, Clarissa had taken the job that Yael assigned, so she wasn’t stumped by Avery’s questions.
At that time, she felt that the meeting was very formal. Therefore, she explained everything in detail to show them her sincerity.
“Ms. Alston, Mr. Young, for now, our studio…”
Clarissa explained it very well because Yael had planned everything for the future. The former was very excited when she described the plan to them because she was looking forward to expanding her studio one day.
After she finished speaking, Mandy passed her a glass of water to soothe her throat.
Clarissa let out a smile before taking a sip of water and said, “This is our plan for now. If Tyson Corporation invests in our studio, we will…”
“Interesting!”
Avery interrupted Clarissa, “No wonder you are a screenwriter. You have such an active imagination.”
Upon hearing that, Clarissa froze for a second before she said, “Ms. Alston, it’s not merely imagination. It will become a reality.”
“Of course, I hope that you will turn these into reality. But I think your studio can’t bring much profit to us. It is not worth investing in your studio. I’m sorry, Ms. Quigley.”
With that, Avery stood up and left the conference room while David nodded with a faint smile and followed behind her.
Clarissa and Mandy were completely dumbfounded upon seeing that.
“Clarissa, what does that mean?”
Clarissa shook her head in response. She didn’t know what they meant too.
After a while, they left the conference room. Just then, they ran into Avery, but her attitude was completely different now. She brushed past them with another female colleague.
The female colleague whispered in Avery’s ear, “Avery, is this the client that you entertained just now? She’s gorgeous!”
“Oh, really? I just care about profit. If a good look helps in securing investment, that’s not exactly an investment,” Avery implicitly criticized Clarissa.
“Hehe… Avery, you are so mean but cool! I really don’t understand why Mr. Walker assigned this small project to you. You still have a big project to do to show your ability…”
“Clarissa, isn’t this woman insulting you?”
Mandy belatedly realized that Avery was insulting Clarissa. At that time, a fresh swell of rage rose in her. Just as she was about to step forward to demand justice, Clarissa pulled on her arm to stop her.
“Nope, you heard wrongly. Don’t create trouble. Let’s go.”
As soon as they arrived at the studio, Mandy complained everything about Avery to Yael. She described Avery as an arrogant person who talked to them rudely and looked down on them.
“Clarissa, tell Mr. Tyson about that. I’m sure he will kick the woman out if he knows how she treated you! Ban her from D City forever!”
Hearing that, Clarissa rolled her eyes. “Mandy, you must’ve watched too many dramas. Ban her from D City?”
“That’s the truth. Isn’t she doing it on purpose? Is she biased against Clarissa? Did she purposely find trouble with you because she has a crush on Mr. Tyson?”
Mandy let her imagination run wild.
Clarissa shook her head upon hearing the former’s words. “I don’t think so. I think she rejected us because she thinks our studio lacks potential, and she doesn’t see it scaling to the point of massive return of investment.”
“What? Lack of potential? Our studio is great!”
“Let me check with them,” said Yael after listening to them.
With that, she made a call. After the phone call, she smiled thoughtfully and said, “That day, Mr. Sheldon asked me to contact Mr. Walker. But now it seems like Mr. Sheldon didn’t explain clearly to Mr. Walker, or maybe the latter had misunderstood. So this time, they really go through the standard protocol. Sigh! So, our company really isn’t up to their standards. To Tyson Corporation, our company size is too small.”
“What?”
Mandy was shocked upon hearing that, but Clarissa understood what Yael said. Hence, she let out a helpless smile.
How could I have the audacity to secure investment from Tyson Corporation again after knowing the truth?
Even if Tyson Corporation decides to invest in my studio now, it’s all because of my relationship with Matthew. If they stick to the company rules, they will never invest in our studio.
“Yael, I feel quite embarrassed now. I think I’ve overestimated myself.”
Upon hearing that, Yael smiled as she replied, “Our studio isn’t that bad. It has its own market value. But to a big company like Tyson Corporation, that bit of money mean nothing to them. It is perfectly reasonable for them to reject us. So, what’re you going to do about it then?”
After giving it some thought, Clarissa said, “Don’t tell anyone first. Yael, try to contact Mr. Walker again. If they reject us again, let’s look for other investors. Deal with the matter according to their company’s rules. Don’t get others involved in this.”
She didn’t intend to tell Matthew about this.
“Okay. Whatever you say, boss.”
Clarissa didn’t tell Matthew about this matter at all, and she strictly forbade her employees to tell Matthew about it.
After all, she had her pride too. Previously, she could play dumb as she did not know much about the studio’s status. But right then, Avery had clearly told her that her studio was not worth Tyson Corporation’s investment, so she decided to work hard for her studio. If she got rejected again, she would find other investors.
However, it didn’t mean that their studio had no market value. Maybe they failed to secure investment because the values of Tyson Corporation were not aligned to theirs and the sizes of both companies were different.
After a few days, Yael tried to contact Camden again, and the latter gave them another chance.
This time, Yael went there together with Clarissa. However, the staff who attended to them were still Avery and David.
After listening to Yael’s explanation, Avery didn’t say anything and just let out a faint smile.
However, her smile made people feel uneasy.
Then, she mentioned the same problem and asked them to show her that the studio was worth investing in again with a perfunctory attitude.
If she really wanted to give them another chance, why would she ask the same question? It seemed like she was just giving them a chance to repeat the same thing that Clarissa had explained and would leave once they finished their words.
At that time, Yael could tell that Avery was disinterested in the meeting, but she still followed the latter’s instructions and explained everything to her.
Basically, it was the same as what Clarissa had told Avery. However, Yael was a lawyer. She had a silver tongue and was more knowledgeable, so she explained everything clearly and made it sound more convincing.
Still, she failed to convince Avery. The latter didn’t even spare them a glance. She lowered her head to tidy the document, rejected them, and left.
Seeing that, Clarissa frowned in displeasure.
Even if their studio really was not up to Tyson Corporation’s standard, Avery shouldn’t brush them off just like that.
Yael arched her brows at Clarissa.
At that moment, the latter was trying to keep her frustration in check because she was irritated with Avery’s dismissive attitude.
Yael patted her back to comfort her, “Actually, put aside personal affairs, this is completely normal. It’s hard to find someone who is willing to help you. If you are an insignificant figure, no matter where you go, you would be treated this way.”
Hearing that, Clarissa’s anger subsided, and her expression changed from one of anger to gloom.
“Fine. Let’s go then. Hmph! I don’t believe I can’t get any investor for our studio.”
Actually, it was a normal occurrence in the corporate world. Clarissa was just lucky she had never experienced it before that.
