Li Yong and Xiang Li were not people that Xia Xiaolan took seriously. She barely had enough time for work and her boyfriend, let alone deal with two overseas students. Even if they wanted to scheme against her, the difference in capabilities was too vast. Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered – since Song Minglan couldn’t let it go, she could handle it.
Zhou Cheng had promised to help secure the production line. The next day, he went to negotiate alongside Deng Changxing and Song Zhicheng. Xia Xiaolan went along too, not for the negotiations but voluntarily serving as their driver. She simply wanted to spend more time with Zhou Cheng – it was the weekend anyway, and driving him alone versus driving Director Deng and Song Zhicheng made no difference.
Deng Changxing offered to pay Xia Xiaolan for gas, but she firmly refused. Deng sighed, “Manager Song, look at young Xia’s high level of consciousness. No wonder she and Comrade Zhou Cheng are dating – they’re truly like-minded comrades!”
Song Zhicheng didn’t want to hear it. Like-minded? Xia Xiaolan could date Zhou Cheng because she was Tang Hong’en’s stepdaughter!
While Xia Xiaolan didn’t mind serving as a translator, Deng Changxing wouldn’t entrust such an important negotiation to a student interpreter. The embassy had assigned its translator, so Xia Xiaolan, bringing her car and paying for gas, could only serve as a driver.
Upon arrival, Xia Xiaolan waved, “Zhou Cheng, you go up with Director Deng and the others. I’ll wait downstairs.”
It was daytime, and the building had security guards, so there was no danger. The other party’s representative was waiting, and Zhou Cheng couldn’t delay. With Deng and Song present, they couldn’t show affection, so Xia Xiaolan had to stay downstairs.
Importing a production line involved many details to discuss. The first serious negotiation between buyer and seller would take several hours, so Xia Xiaolan planned to walk around nearby.
After drinking two glasses of orange juice in the waiting area and feeling quite bored, she heard the elevator ding as people came down from upstairs. Xia Xiaolan glanced casually but saw familiar faces – wasn’t that Du Zhaoqi in front? If she could mistake someone seen once, she definitely wouldn’t mistake Ye Xiaoqiong who followed behind him.
Almost three months had passed, and Du Zhaoqi hadn’t changed much. However, Ye Xiaoqiong had changed dramatically.
She wore a high-end tailored business suit and walked confidently in high heels behind Du Zhaoqi. Her face bore subtle, appropriate makeup – the standard look of a big company’s office secretary. When Xia Xiaolan saw Ye Xiaoqiong in Hong Kong in February, she still resembled her appearance from when they met on the train. In just two or three short months, how had Ye Xiaoqiong evolved so quickly?
Looking at Ye Xiaoqiong now, who would believe she had almost been kidnapped by traffickers on a train? Human traffickers had their preferred targets – those who appeared inexperienced and unfamiliar with traveling were easiest to deceive. A sharp, capable office secretary wouldn’t even give traffickers the chance to approach!
“Strange, why are Second Young Master Du and Xiaoqiong here? Second Young Master Du should be busy setting up his factory… Factory! Right, he’s opening a factory in Southeast Asia!”
Hadn’t Zhou Cheng mentioned that the American side previously wouldn’t meet with Deng Changxing because an Asian buyer was in contact with the American company, also wanting to buy the production line? Could that Asian buyer be Du Zhaoqi?
Heh, that production line cost nearly ten million US dollars. Were Du Chengrong’s twenty million Hong Kong dollars to Du Zhaoqi so easily spent? Not to mention how much opening a factory would cost – even if the twenty million Hong Kong dollars were completely intact, it still wouldn’t be enough. Xia Xiaolan believed Du Chengrong hadn’t secretly given more money, but she didn’t believe for one second that Du Zhaoqi was honestly trying to start a business with just twenty million Hong Kong dollars.
She sat in the waiting area. Du Zhaoqi and Ye Xiaoqiong’s group hadn’t noticed her and walked straight out. After Xia Xiaolan inquired and confirmed that Du Zhaoqi was indeed the Asian client interested in buying the production line, Zhou Cheng and Deng Changxing’s group still hadn’t come down. The long negotiation suggested things were progressing.
Du Zhaoqi was quite unfortunate. Without Harold’s intervention, the American side had intended to sell the production line to Du Zhaoqi, which was why they wouldn’t even meet with Deng Changxing and Song Zhicheng days before. With Harold involved, things became uncertain, and the Chinese side at least had a chance to compete.
Seeing Zhou Cheng hadn’t come down yet, Xia Xiaolan went outside to make a phone call to Pengcheng. After waiting a full fifteen minutes for the connection, Du Zhaohui was both surprised and delighted to answer: “Hello? Xia Xiaolan?”
It wasn’t raining red from the sky, yet Xia Xiaolan had called him voluntarily. Though guessing it was probably about business, Du Zhaohui still held a slight shameless hope.
However, Xia Xiaolan’s first words dumped a bucket of cold water on his head: “I just saw Du Zhaoqi here in America. He’s here to buy a production line worth millions of US dollars. Guess what he’s planning?”
Planning what? To expand production scale, of course!
Du Zhaohui gritted his teeth in anger, accidentally biting his tongue, hissing in pain: “Did the old man secretly give him money behind my back? Looks like borrowing fifty million Hong Kong dollars was still too little!”
Hmph, how shameless. He could borrow money himself but wouldn’t allow Du Zhaoqi to find ways to get more. Only Du Zhaohui was so obsessed with their different mothers. To Du Chengrong, whether Du Zhaohui or Du Zhaoqi won, the meat was still in his pot – they were both his sons!
Xia Xiaolan could picture Du Zhaohui jumping in anger on the other end of the phone: “Calm down. The money might not be from Chairman Du. You know too, it’s the Du family’s third branch against you alone now. For Du Zhaoqi to expand production, the funds might be from loans, or possibly secretly provided by Du family members. Congratulations – your project in Pengcheng is clearly about to succeed, and not only does Chairman Du know this, but Second Young Master Du and others know too… It’s precisely because they feel threatened that Second Young Master Du wants to expand production!”
Why come to America to buy a production line out of the blue? The production line wasn’t free – it represented a huge cost investment.
Du Zhaoqi must be somewhat panicked. Having chosen the path of opening a factory and investing all of Du Chengrong’s twenty million Hong Kong dollars, plus money from others, he must feel the factory had better chances than Du Zhaohui’s electronics plaza. But they couldn’t withdraw investment now!
Withdrawing would mean not even recovering costs, let alone making a profit. Even if they barely recovered costs, three months had passed since February. Falling behind by three months, with Du Zhaohui’s side already setting up shop, how could Du Zhaoqi catch up?
Changing business direction midway wouldn’t work, so Du Zhaoqi could only stubbornly expand production. He had to build up the factory’s scale – he couldn’t lose to an electronics plaza that wasn’t even built yet!
Hearing Du Zhaohui’s hissing laughter, Xia Xiaolan could understand his smug mood.
“Second Young Master Du’s expansion shows he’s panicked, but that doesn’t mean he’ll fail. However, I can mess up his production line purchase this time, delay him a bit, and increase your chances of winning.”
Du Zhaohui’s heart leaped with joy – Xia Xiaolan was showing concern for him!