Author: danny

At the end of October twenty-five, the office in Northwest Wang, Beijing has not turned on the heating yet. Lu Ming draped his coat over the chair back, and from early morning to noon, his shirt back was still wet.

The training task progress on the screen has been paused for thirteen days.

Initially, it was due to insufficient GPU memory. Engineers split the model and adjusted the training configuration, finally getting the task to run, but communication between nodes delayed the progress again. Equipment purchased in batches over the past two years came together; while single-machine tests passed, issues arose when put into the same cluster. Last week, the infrastructure head gave him a new timeline, and the expected completion date slipped from December to March next year, with four words written beside: ideal conditions.

Note: This article is a fictional business story. The characters, companies, transaction amounts, and specific plots are all creations and do not correspond to any real cases. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

The company has 1.2 billion yuan in its account. The photos from the financing press conference still hang at the front desk, with two rows of investors, each smiling beautifully, feeling like they are the next “wocao moment.” Whenever Lu Ming passes by, he always feels that photo is like a collection notice.

At the board meeting at two in the afternoon, he could not use equipment malfunction as an excuse again.

Purchasing Vice President Lao Chen walked in, placing a contract in front of him, saying that the test report for the Johor cluster had come back. Five hundred eight-card servers, the equipment list matched the test results, having run continuously for several days without showing the frequent node dropout issues of their current system.

“Can we resume training?” Lu Ming asked.

“We still need to migrate data and adjust the environment. The architecture team said it's worth doing.”

Lu Ming opened the contract. The other party is a technical service company from Shenzhen, with an annual amount of 360 million yuan, with 180 million yuan prepaid for six months, placed into a jointly managed account, releasing 30 million yuan monthly after the first phase goes live and is accepted. The costs for the second half of the year will be paid separately on a monthly basis.

He read through it once, then flipped back to the first page.

“The machines are in Malaysia, why sign in Shenzhen?”

Lao Chen said the company didn't have an existing overseas payment quota, and the approval would take too long. The other party handles domestic customers, and the Johor company is responsible for the equipment and operation and maintenance, so they don't need to handle overseas payments themselves. He laid out several other documents: service authorization, data center information, and attachments modified by the lawyer.

Lu Ming did not accept it.

“If something goes wrong, can this company afford it?”

Lao Chen pulled out a chair and sat down. He had followed Lu Ming for four years, knowing that at this amount, he could no longer pass with just “introduction from acquaintances.”

“They probably can’t afford the entire training loss. The contract can stipulate deductions for downtime and can also deduct the prepayment, but no one dares to cover the loss from model delays.”

The office fell silent for a moment, with only the slow flow of vehicles outside during lunch. Lu Ming picked up the test report and turned to the last page. It only contained the equipment count, failure records, engineer signatures, and a construction progress that had no developments.

Legal came in next, saying the scope of business in the contract must be clearly defined; they cannot package the rented cluster as another type of commissioned R&D deliverable; additionally, detailed information about the overseas service entity also needs to appear in the attachments. As for the funding for equipment procurement and the shareholders' background, the information submitted by the other party was still insufficient for her to make a definitive judgment.

“What do you suggest we do?” Lu Ming asked.

“List the missing information and then supplement it according to the requirements. I’ll sign off on the parts of the contract terms and authorization chain that can be confirmed, and I’ll put the parts that can’t be confirmed into a memo.”

Lu Ming looked at the time; there were forty minutes until the board meeting.

He ultimately agreed to initiate the migration, with payments based on the acceptance and release conditions stipulated in the contract. As for the list of supplementary documents, he told Lao Chen to continue following up.

After Lao Chen left, Lu Ming opened the board report, changing “training recovery time to be determined” to “expected to resume this month.”

The cursor blinked at that line for a long time. He did not change it again.

About the same time, the confirmation message sent by Lao Chen crossed the South China Sea, landing on a table in a tea restaurant in Phnom Penh.

A Tai was waiting for a call back from a domestic bank.

The coffee on the table had cooled, and the waiter came over to ask if he wanted a new cup; he waved his hand. On his phone screen was a form sent by the domestic finance department, detailing the interest on two logistics parks, a matured loan, and the project final payment delayed for three months, amounting to tens of millions again. A folded English brochure sat under the phone, sent by an international school in Singapore for spring enrollment information.

He enlarged the form, focusing on the bottom line, Total sum.

Over the years, he had arranged settlements for several cross-border gambling platforms, saving up quite a bit. The money was scattered on the chain, but he had no way to explain its origin to the bank. After peers' wallets encountered problems consecutively, the first thing he did every morning was check whether those addresses could still move.

The domestic park was not cheap when purchased. He initially thought having land, warehouses, and tenants would allow him to steer clear of those old businesses. Unexpectedly, after the warehouse became vacant, he had to fill it with money every month. In the past, the gambling money funded the real estate, but now the real estate forced him to find a way to use that money.

When Shen Wei arrived, A Tai had just hung up the phone.

“Any pressure?” she asked.

A Tai placed his phone down on the table and casually shoved the school brochure into his bag: “When will your data center be funded?”

Shen Wei did not answer immediately. She took out a thin folder containing the budget, project progress, and newly negotiated customer contracts for the Johor project.

She previously worked in server channels, and after leaving, took on this project. The equipment could be found, the venue was rented, but the costs continued to escalate. Contractors refused to cover costs any longer, suppliers demanded timely payments, and potential customers insisted on seeing a functioning cluster before signing contracts.

A Tai’s funding had brought the project to this point.

The procurement budget for five hundred servers was 120 million dollars, with two million allocated for data center renovation, power distribution, and cooling, and another ten million set aside as startup working capital. The total came to 150 million dollars. The money had gone into the project via various funding entities, with contracts and payment receipts in the folder, but tracing back to the original wealth accumulation, the materials just wouldn’t connect.

Shen Wei knew about this gap. A Tai also knew that’s why the two rarely discussed it openly.

He first looked up the quote from the Beijing client, calculating it on his phone.

“Three hundred sixty million a year, one billion eight hundred million in three years. The electricity costs haven’t been deducted yet, and who knows what the machines will be worth in three years.” A Tai looked up, “Last time you told me, this is a good business.”

“There are clients willing to sign annual contracts; that’s better than letting the machines sit idle.”

“That’s two different things.”

Shen Wei pulled out the page with the project progress. A final payment was due next week; suppliers were waiting; the cooling system's debugging could not be paused, or the delivery date would be pushed back again. She didn’t argue with him about how much could be earned in three years, nor did she proactively flip to the page behind the calculation sheet detailing electromechanical losses and annual fees for cross-border dedicated lines.

A Tai looked at the progress report. The deposits for the servers, engineering funds, and responsibilities in the rental agreement all lay ahead. Stopping now would mean devaluing when looking for a new buyer, while delaying payments would incur penalties.

He flipped the contract to the payment arrangements.

“The first phase is 180 million; when will it enter the country?”

“It will be placed in a jointly managed account. After meeting the delivery standards, 30 million will be released monthly.”

A Tai frowned: “I thought it would all be available upon acceptance.”

“For a cluster worth over a hundred million dollars, clients won’t release it all at once.”

“So my money is out buying machines and building infrastructure, while his money is locked inside? I still have to wait month by month like receiving a salary?”

Shen Wei didn’t speak. The restaurant’s TV was broadcasting midday news, the volume low, with someone at the next table calling the waiter for more rice.

After a moment, A Tai asked, “Out of the 30 million received, how much can I take?”

“A portion needs to be reserved for data center operations,” Shen Wei said, “but you can use the first payment for emergencies.”

She paused, pushing the client contract a little closer: “More importantly, once this money comes in, both the domestic company and the Johor data center will have formal cash flow. When you negotiate with the Singapore bank later, you’ll at least have tech enterprises, major clients, and continuous income under your name.”

This statement made A Tai pick up the folder again.

In the past two years, he had asked several private banks in Singapore and had someone inquire about family offices. Each time discussions progressed, the other party would ask for the same things: sources of wealth, materials proving those sources, and the relationships that explained those materials. He had his secretary reprint business cards, changing his title to technology investor, but without transaction records, who would believe him?

“After a year, when the financial report comes out, the bank will at least be willing to look, right?”

“Willing to look and willing to accept are two different things,” Shen Wei said.

A Tai heard the first half of that and his face relaxed a little: “As long as they are willing to look, we can hire the Big Four for the audit.”

Shen Wei watched him close the folder, raise her cup to take a sip, and didn’t explain further.

On the fourth day after A Tai released the final payment, rain fell in Johor from the afternoon until dusk.

The park’s investment manager Hasan stepped through the construction site, getting red mud on his pant legs. He didn’t enter the meeting room but first went to inspect the power distribution room and then had the engineer walk him through the data center.

Before the equipment arrived, he had heard the same phrases countless times: funds will arrive next week, a client will sign next week, headquarters will approve next week. The park had reserved power capacity for several projects, but while construction was completed, the load would not come online for a long while. At last month’s quarterly business meeting, the developer spread out the contract for reserved capacity in front of him again.

At least Shen Wei’s project had machines.

The racks were filled with servers, engineers squatted by the aisles checking serial numbers. Temporary protection boards were laid on the ground, and notices for equipment installation and electrical operations were posted at the entrance. Hasan stood for a moment and asked when the grid connection test would be completed.

“At the current pace, next week,” the engineering head replied.

Back in the office, Lawyer Lin handed him the project materials. Hasan flipped to the shareholder structure and then to the equipment procurement and usage instructions, asking two questions: Who controls this company, and who is the service sold to.

Shen Wei explained everything.

“Client information must be complete,” Hasan said. “Don’t show me one sheet, and show the bank another.”

He was willing to help coordinate road construction, project acceptance, and departmental meetings for the project. The park needed this investment, and he also needed a delivery date he could report upwards. However, regarding tax incentives, equipment permits, and fund audits, he had no way to sign off for other departments.

Lawyer Lin nodded, taking notes.

Shen Wei said once the data center enters stable operation, it would bring about an electricity load nearing ten megawatts, with actual numbers depending on task and equipment operation. Hasan glanced at the engineering head, who confirmed the scope.

This eased Hasan somewhat. In the past, those who came for investments often liked to perfectly round every number.

When signing off the site inspection record, he crossed out the phrase “Project fully compliant” in the original text and changed it to “The listed equipment has arrived, and some systems are in debugging.”

Shen Wei looked at that strike, saying nothing.

Upon leaving the office, Lawyer Lin reminded her that the documents submitted to Kuala Lumpur still lacked two pieces of upstream materials. One vendor promised to supplement; the other involved the funding history, and A Tai had not yet given a clear reply.

“Just urge them first,” she said.

The car arrived at the park entrance when A Tai’s phone came in. He asked Hasan if he had signed.

“I signed the site record.”

“That’s good; we have the government endorsement.”

Shen Wei wanted to explain the difference between the two signatures, but on the other end, someone called A Tai. He said to talk later and then hung up.

At the beginning of November, the State Grid completed the electrical acceptance, and the data center officially connected to the grid. Lu Ming’s engineers started taking shifts monitoring the Johor cluster.

The migration was not as smooth as anticipated. Data transfer took time, and the software environment was adjusted several times. One evening, a checkpoint failed to load; the working group fell silent for over ten minutes, after which more than twenty messages popped up. Lao Chen called Shen Wei, and Shen Wei roused the data center manager from bed.

By the time the problem was solved, dawn was nearing.

Lu Ming sat in the office, watching new training steps appear line by line. He did not cheer but instructed his colleagues to save the logs and run for a few more hours.

The next afternoon, the engineers confirmed the task was entering stable operation. All the acceptance criteria for the first phase agreed upon in the contract had been met, and two long-cycle operation indicators would fall under subsequent monthly assessments. Lao Chen forwarded the report to legal and finance, notifying them to release the first month's payment as per the contract.

That evening, Lu Ming finally returned home for dinner. His wife asked if the model was ready; he said it was still early, but they could continue the work.

On the day of the first payment release of 30 million yuan, A Tai kept refreshing his bank account every so often.

The domestic finance sent over the bank receipt; he looked it over and called the head of the Shenzhen company: “First transfer 28 million to repay the loan due next week for the logistics park, and for the data center’s electricity bill, wait until next month to supplement after receiving the payments.”

The other party did not agree immediately.

“Tai Ge, General Shen locked up 8 million for the electricity bill and dedicated line prepayment today, plus the remaining payment for the data center needs to settle. Also, the Shenzhen company’s transfer to the logistics park, finance said without a business contract, directly borrowing that much, the bank’s risk control would definitely ask.”

A Tai’s face fell.

“Is leaving two million on the account not enough to deal with? The money is in my company, isn’t it up to me where to use it first?”

“It’s not that it’s not up to you; if the data center locks the prepayment, the release conditions for next month cannot be maintained.”

He hung up the phone and went directly to find Shen Wei. When the call connected, there were sounds of unloading in the background; she was checking the last batch of project funds with the contractor in the data center's unloading area.

“You had Shenzhen lock the money?” A Tai asked, “I need to pay back the bank loan this week; what does it matter if you delay the electricity payment for half a month?”

Shen Wei walked to the corridor, waiting for the forklift to pass before speaking: “The electricity grid’s prepayment and the cross-border dedicated line are deducted at the beginning of the month; miss a penny, and the line speed drops, which Beijing can immediately see. If there’s a breach during the first month of operation, that 150 million in the jointly managed account would be completely frozen.”

“Last time you told me in Phnom Penh, the first payment could be used for emergencies first.”

“I meant after deducting necessary expenses,” Shen Wei said, “and the Shenzhen company is accounting for technology services; it cannot directly transfer to the real estate project; the finance department also fears sealing the account.”

On the other end of the phone, there was silence for a few seconds.

“How much can I move now?” A Tai asked.

“Twenty million. The finance department is already processing the paperwork.”

A Tai was silent for a while. Twenty million was even less than half of the loan due for the logistics park. In the end, he let finance withdraw this amount first, and for the remaining gap, he would negotiate extensions with creditors himself.

Before hanging up, he asked again about the Singapore account opening.

Shen Wei replied that the materials had been submitted and they were still waiting.

On November 9, at eleven in the evening, the on-duty engineer at the data center brought Shen Wei a cup of coffee.

On the big screen, the power distribution curve gently fluctuated with the task changes. The training by the Beijing team continued, the operation and maintenance staff had just finished handling an equipment alarm, and the handover record listed the items needing inspection for the next day. The data center was no longer bustling with people as it was during installation; those entering the aisles had clear work orders.

Shen Wei opened the last email of the day.

The Singapore bank did not say anything unpleasant nor made accusations about A Tai’s past. The email listed a supplementary document requirement, requesting an explanation of the wealth accumulation process of the initial investors, the relationship between funding entities and actual controllers, and the connections between several payments.

The project’s equipment contract, operating budget, and client income information had all been received by the bank. At this stage, they would not continue pushing the account opening.

Shen Wei read the email twice, then opened several folders on her computer.

The procurement contract was complete, the equipment acceptance records were complete, and the client contracts were also complete. However, regarding how A Tai earned that sum of money in the past, there was very little that could be presented. Every single expense had become increasingly specific after the project started; before the project began, explanations always stopped at “trade income” and “years of accumulation.”

She leaned back in her chair, thought for a while, and called A Tai.

He answered quickly, asking if there was any news from Singapore.

“The bank requires supplementary materials; we won’t proceed for now.”

A Tai listened to the list and asked, “The data center is all operational now, why do they still care what was done before?”

Shen Wei did not answer immediately.

Through the glass, she saw engineers pushing a cart down the aisle. The cart carried tools, spare parts, and a laptop. Those five hundred servers downstairs would not care who bought them; once tasks arrived, they would operate, and if they malfunctioned, they would need repairs. The suppliers were even simpler; maintenance services expired, and they sent renewal invoices.

“You said back then, having business and financial reports would allow for negotiation,” A Tai said.

“Now we are negotiating. However, the things they need, we cannot provide for now.”

“So what do you suggest?”

Shen Wei looked at the supplementary document list on the screen, for the first time not giving him a further push-back date.

That night, Lu Ming sent the latest progress to the board. Training resumed, but phase results were still pending. He attached two images without mentioning the still incomplete shareholder information in the contract annex.

Before clocking out, Hasan received the park’s operational brief, filling the newly added load into the monthly report. That column finally had specific numbers. He could justify it upwards.

The upstream supplier confirmed receipt of the final payment, and the sales personnel removed this order from the receivables list, starting to urge the next client.

A Tai sat in his office in Phnom Penh, facing the newly updated cash flow sheet from the domestic finance department. The first incoming payment only filled a small part of the hole, and next month’s bills had already lined up. He took out last year’s brochure from the Singapore international school, looked at it for a few seconds, then put it back, and called to reconnect with the logistics park buyers he had talked to last year—he previously thought their offer was too low and had not budged, but now he wanted to set up a meeting to hear them out again.

After Shen Wei hung up the phone, she did not contact anyone else.

She opened the payment arrangements for the next day, first verifying the electricity bill and then checking the final project payment. The next monthly assessment from the Beijing client was at the end of the month, and several equipment spare parts had yet to arrive; she could not afford any delays. The bank's supplementary document email rested beside her; she didn’t close it.

At one in the morning, A Tai sent a message asking when the next 30 million could be released.

Shen Wei replied with the date, adding, “It must meet the contractual requirements for this month’s computing power delivery.”

The other side displayed “typing” for a long time, finally responding only with “Okay.”

The rain outside began to fall again. The on-duty engineer walked over to ask her to confirm a repair procurement order. She picked up the pen, glanced over the parts amount listed, and signed in the responsible person column.

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