Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Around 12 o’clock.
Fog covered the Ming Ting Building.
It was the chairman’s office.
For the next year, Lu Zheng and his father were discussing the largest investment projects, to determine which consortiums to join. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Lu Zheng raised his head to see his secretary standing at the door.
The secretary respectfully greeted them, “Mr Lu, Chairman.”
After greeting them, he moved to Lu Zheng’s side and whispered to him, “Ms Yan just called, she wants to meet you. I asked her to come here around half past one.”
Lu Xheng looked at his watch and nodded
He turned towards his father and saw that his father was looking solemnly at him,
His father quickly turned his eyes away and Lu Zheng did not pay too much attention. By 1:20, the meeting was over and Lu Zheng saw his father off.
Once he returned to the presidents office, he looked at the watch, and figured she would be arriving soon.
1:30
1:35..
1:40…
Lu Zheng sat in his office and frequently looked at his watch, .He had two other appointments and needed to leave the company.
Seeing that the the time was almost 2 pm, he picked up the handset and was just dialling her number when there as a knock on the door.
His secretary came in, and with some hesitation, said, “ Mr Lu..”
Lu Zheng frowned “ yes ?”
“Miss Yan … probably will not come.”
Lu Zheng was irritated, “ Must I ask you till you tell me? Why exactly ?”
The secretary handed his tab to Lu Zheng, “ The major news portals have just posted this news..”
Lu Zheng took the tab. As he read the ten lines , his face became stiffer and stiffer.
His fingers rapidly moved on the screen, every major news portal was talking about the same thing. “ Recently, an irrational trend had been noticed in the Xu shares. Our informed sources say that this is because of acquisition of Xu by Li Bo, and the resultant measures by Xu to prevent a hostile takeover. Today, just before the market closing, the Xu stock prices have crashed again. Our insider information says that this is because Xu Jin fu’s daughter has been defeated in her efforts to stop the hostile takeover. Her funds have been exhausted, it is estimated she has made a loss of over 1.5 billion US dollars..”
*** ***
He no longer browsed the news. Immediately he put on his jacket and strode towards the door. “ Get my car.”
The secretary quickly followed him while helping him put on his coat.
Just as they had reached the elevator, the secretary saw Lu Zheng suddenly stop.
It was unexpected that lu Zheng would suddenly be stunned in his place. In the elevator, there were two people – the chief secretary of Ming Ting and with him was standing..Jiang Shi Jun.
As he stood there dumbfounded, the chief secretary asked him,” Are you going out now ?”
Lu Zheng quickly disguised his astonishment and said, “ Yes, it’s a but urgent.”
Jiang Shi Jun and lu Zheng nodded to each other slightly in greeting, but did not talk. Lu Zheng moved side ways so they could exit the elevator and then stepped in. Just when the doors were closing, the chief secretary called him,” Mr Lu, the chairman has asked to see you.”
Before Lu Zheng could refuse, the chief Secretary continued, “ Please delay your trip for the meeting with the chairman.” There were a lot of people standing behind the secretary and Lu Zheng could not refuse.
Lu Zheng was forced to come to the chairman’s office. The chief secretary opened the door for him.
As soon as the door was opened , Jiang Shi Jun greeted Lu Mingting warmly ,” Old friend, we meet again!”
Lu Zheng’s face suddenly turned angry. He stared at his father to see his reaction.
Lu Mingting smiled at Jiang Shi Jun,” The last time you had recommended the Chengde restaurant for me and my wife. I know it was quite difficult to arrange, when do you get the time to eat out ?”
Lu Zheng had a bad premonition. He forced down the uneasy feeling in his heart as he quietly listened to Jiang Shi Jun’s answer ,” It’s a private club. Even high ranking officials need to make an appointment. I just happened to renew my membership a few months ago.”
He silently listened to the conversation..he could only sigh, Jiang Shi Jun was a cunning old fox..
While he was silent, Jiang Shi Jun continued, “ I thought that the young man told me your wife was also with you..so the private dining room would be the best option.”
Lu Mingting praised the young man,” You mean Mr Jiang. I have to talk about his chess skills. How nice of him to come and play chess with an old man. Nowadays the young people rarely play,and his skills are so good..”
*** ***
Jiang .. Yu .. Nan..
It was in these words perhaps that Lu Zheng finally smelled the plot.. some of the true story..
The two friends were gossiping together. Lu Zheng looked at the clock, his mind has long been on the time. But at this time, Jiang Shi Jun’s voice ruthlessly pulled him back.”But this time I have come to talk about business. “
“……” “…”
“ Presumably you have heard the news about Xu stock.”
Lu Zheng’s heart suddenly had a bad feeling. He pretended to be interested in the conversation and turned his attention from the clock to Jiang Shi Jun. Jiang Shi Jun thoughtfully continued . “ It’s a foregone conclusion that we will acquire Xu. There will be a big change in the domestic cosmetics industry. I hope that when you withdraw Xu products, we can replace them in your portfolio.”
At this moment, Lu Zheng could no longer sit still. He got up from his chair and said, “ I have to hurry, you both talk, I will take your leave.”
He turned towards the door,
Lu Mingting’s eyes followed him, but he did not call out to him. His footsteps were deliberately slow but became faster as he approached the door. Just when he opened the door..
Lu Mingting called out with a disappointed voice, “ Lu Zheng, you have always separated your public and private lives. Why now is a woman causing such chaos ?”
Lu Zheng stopped.
Behind him, Jiang Shi Jun crossed his legs and added leisurely,” That too.. for a married woman..”
His voice was not low, just enough for father and son to hear. Lu Zheng sighed and turned back. Ignoring Jiang Shi Jun’s mocking smile, he faintly said, “ Dad, please don’t try to control this.”
His calm and assertive manner angered his father.
Lu Mingting’s voice became louder so that almost the entire office could hear him,” If you dare take another step,I will remove you from the CEO position, then I want to see how you can help her.”
*** ***
Overnight , the whole world knew that Xu was facing certain ruin. In business, the weak was never sympathised with, but was trampled on, survival was for the fittest..
Yan Liang could not go to the company, or the Xu house or to her own apartment. Everywhere there were reporters guarding the place, desperate for photos.
Her assistant had booked a hotel suite for her tonight.
It was almost the middle of the night. Her assistant was really angry as she browsed the different news sites. She mercilessly closed the pages as she vented her anger, “ What insider ? Jiang Shi Jun must have fed all this news to push us to the wall. And now the whole world was avoiding us, no banks would loan us money, no friends would help us, Jiang Shi Jun will take the opportunity to make a clean sweep.”
Yan Liang listened to her and actually laughed. Was everything really Jiang Shi Jun’s fault?
Yan Liang had the feeling that in her heart she had the clear answer. The real master was hidden in the dark, he manipulated everyone yet did not get the slightest infamy.
This was destined to be a sleepless night.
Xu’s financial advisor had already sent bet the results, she had a debt of 1.5 billion dollars. This was similar to the number reported in the press.
He even knew exactly how much she lost..
Yan Liang was sitting on the bed in a daze. In her laptop was that data that was sent by the financial advisor and in her hand was the cell phone. She kept on writing, deleting, again writing and finally organised a message ,” Mom, if I told you that I want to sell the real estate in my names and use the cash out to deal with Li Bo, you will not…”
In the end, she closed her eyes and deleted the text.
She suddenly opened her eyes after a second, took out the phone and without giving herself time to think about it too much, she dialled a string of numbers she had yet to forget.
It was 3:30 in the morning. The phone rang twice and then was connected, as if the the other side had been expecting this call for the whole night.
Yan Liang looked at her assistant sleeping on the bed and said, “ Jiang Yu Nan ..”
“……” “…”
The entire suite echoed her despair, “ Can we meet ?”
Miumiu : This novel has the author commenting often at the end of the chapter. Mostly she says how long she had worked and how many words etc so I haven’t translated so far, but this one’s interesting. The author says that she showed this chapter to her girlfriends in advance. Apparently the girlfriends said that if they met this man, they would take a knife and stab him to death ????