217: What Is Your Relationship

Li Min took Wang Cheng to Zhou Shichang's office and left. Wang Cheng was about to knock on the door, when the door opened by itself. Zhou Lin walked out and was stunned to see Wang Cheng.

"Why are you here?" When Zhou Lin finished speaking, she found that her tone was not right, and was about to remedy it in a few words. However, Wang Cheng didn't intend to pretend with her, and threw down the sentence, "I'm looking for my grandfather," before turning past her to walk into the room.

Zhou Lin turned her head to glance at his figure. Since Wang Cheng had returned to the Zhou family, he hadn't requested for a position in the Zhou Group, and her father did not reveal any intentions. She was still wondering. It was very likely that Wang Cheng returned to the Zhou family for the Zhou Group. It was impossible for him to give up the opportunity to enter the Zhou Group. Sure enough, she noticed that he could not seem to restrain himself. Zhou Lin left the doorway and hurried away.

"Chengcheng, come here to your grandpa."

Zhou Shichang seemed a bit more powerful than usual when doing business affairs, but when he saw Wang Cheng, he became kind and gentle. He seemed much better than when he saw him last time. It seemed that something had changed in this time that Wang Cheng didn’t know about.

"Grandpa." Wang Cheng sat beside Zhou Shichang, but his eyes fell on the man opposite him.

Zhou Shichang was not the only person in the office. There was also a man in a suit sitting opposite him. He looked to be in his thirties, with energetic eyes and slightly sharp features. He didn’t look like an ordinary person, but seemed somewhat familiar.

Zhou Shichang said, "Chengcheng, this is Feng Yifan, the president of the Zhou Group."

Although Zhou Shichang still held the power of the Zhou Group, he was not required to do many things himself. He only needed to take charge of some major issues, and it was General Manager Feng who handled other matters on his behalf. It was said that he was an overseas returnee who had been with the Zhou Group for five years.

[T/N: returnee = someone who studies abroad and returns to China with foreign education/degrees, oftentimes considered more valuable than domestic qualifications.]

Wang Cheng had an impression of him because General Manager Feng was mentioned in the information that Chu Yifeng had originally given him. He was his grandfather's close friend. As an outsider, Feng Yifan was more trusted by his grandfather than his aunt and uncle. In addition, he did not let down his grandfather, and created considerable profits for the group during his tenure.

"Hello, Mr. Feng. I'm glad to meet you." Wang Cheng took the initiative to reach out to Feng Yifan, his speech very formal and official.

Feng Yifan smiled slightly and shook his hand. "I’ve heard of Zhou Shao for some time, Zhou Dong has mentioned you to me several times. Meeting you today, I see you are indeed a talent."

"General Manager Feng is also extraordinary. My mother has mentioned you to me many times and asked me to learn more from you,” Wang Cheng said politely. He then turned to Zhou Shichang after greeting. "Grandpa, you are so anxious to call me back. You couldn’t wait to learn that boxing set? I was a bit busy the other day, but I am not so busy now, I can teach you whenever you’re free."

"This does not have to do with free time. Something indeed happened, for me to call you back." Zhou Shichang didn't intend to beat around the bush, and said straightforwardly: "I heard that you had a major event in Shanhai City during this time. Was it you who did the things of Dongwang Group?”

His words were doubtful, but Wang Cheng knew that his grandfather must know it. He never thought he could hide it from him, so he admitted generously, "It's me."

"So what's going on with Eimer Group?"

Wang Cheng organized his language. "I know a person who is from Eimer Group, and I borrowed money from him to purchase shares of the Dongwang Group."

Feng Yifan smiled and said: "I'm afraid that ordinary people probably wouldn’t have that weight, let alone to invite Fang He, the most difficult chief counsel of Eimer."

Wang Cheng laughed twice, and his eyes flickered towards Zhou Shichang. "Grandpa, I actually forgot to tell you something."

"You say it." Zhou Shichang said, his expression calm.

"I went to this person’s house to celebrate the Spring Festival, and made an appointment with his two elders to teach them health boxing. Those two elders were Old Man Chu and Old Lady Chu."

Zhou Shichang was finally not so calm, and for a moment, even thought that he had heard it wrong. "What did you just say?"

Wang Cheng glanced at Feng Yifan, who wore a similarly stunned expression. He knew that they would be surprised when he said this. The Chu family was said to be the hardest family to join in the Imperial Capital, let alone to meet for the new year. Old Man Chu and Old Lady Chu were not ordinary people. Even a person of Zhou Shichang’s status had rarely seen those two.

"Zhou Shao’s surprise is really big. The friend you mention should be Chu Li’s son, Chu Yifeng, right? He is the leader of the Eimer Group, and only he has such courage." Feng Yifan said. Only in this way, could everything be explained.

"General Manager Feng is right. I used to work at Huaying Real Estate, a subsidiary he opened. At that time, he was my neighbor. Because of this relationship, when something happened later, our relationship gradually improved." Wang Cheng said, with a slightly guilty conscience.

Zhou Shichang suddenly said to Feng Yifan, "Yifan, go out first."

Feng Yifan stood up very crisply: "Yes, Chairman." And then he politely retired.

The atmosphere in the office suddenly became strange. Wang Cheng had a feeling of restlessness. Should his grandfather have found anything from his words? He felt that he should not have said something so fascinating.

"Grandpa, do you have anything to say to me?"

Zhou Shichang stared deeply at him, "Be honest, what is your relationship with the Chu family’s boy?"

Wang Cheng felt a bit of emotion in his heart, alas, he was still suspected. "Grandpa, didn't I say it? I'm friends with him. However, there’s a reason he helped me this time. I did him a big favor last year, and he said that since he owed me a favor, if there was anything I needed in the future, I could find him."

A simple friendship would not allow one to take the step of borrowing money and people. It was not exaggerating too much to call them brothers. His grandfather must have heard about Chu Yifeng. Obviously, he did not think that he and Chu Yifeng could call each other brothers within six months. This would deepen his grandpa's suspicion, so he deliberately talked about more serious matters.

[T/N: instead of ‘more serious matters’, it was literally ‘adulthood’?]

"What's the matter with you going to his house for the New Year?" Zhou Shichang's expression was unfathomable, and Wang Cheng couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Wang Cheng touched his head. "In fact, I am not very clear on this. It was Chu Yifeng who said that his grandparents wanted to invite me to his house. It seemed as if it was because I had become friends with Chu Yifeng. He said that his grandson has a bad temper and doesn’t make many friends. Alas, I think he has a very good character and is very stable, the type I admire. By the way, my brother also knows that I have such a relationship with Chu Yifeng."

Zhou Shichang fell silent. After a while, his tone suddenly relaxed a lot. He smiled lightly: "Okay, grandpa doesn't care about your friendship. How much money did you borrow from him, do you want grandpa to pay it back for you? You have done a good job with the Dongwang Group, but it is still not ready. If you want to have complete control over a company and prevent future troubles, you must own more than 50% of the company's shares."

This was the same as what Chu Yifeng had said.

Don't see that he had the support of other shareholders of Dongwang Group and had become a decision-maker of Dongwang Group now, because people's positions would change with their interests. One day, Sun Degang's conditions would move them, and they would certainly not hesitate to support Sun Degang.

"I have also thought about what Grandpa said, but there is no good way at present. I don’t need to pay back the money I owe for the time being. There’s no added interest anyway." Apart from buying scattered stocks on the market, the only method was to find a way to get some shares from the Sun Jian father and son.

Zhou Shichang nodded, "How much did you borrow from the Chu family?"

"I borrowed 350 million back and forth."

"Your courage is great," Zhou Shichang laughed.

Wang Cheng also laughed, "I have evaluated the value of the Dongwang Group. At present, the prospects are very broad, especially in the hotel industry, where it already has a certain foundation. Although the amount of investment is large, as long as there are no major mistakes, I can earn it back sooner or later."

Zhou Shichang knocked on his head. "It was a good scheme."

"I wouldn’t dare to make a move if the scheme was not perfect." Wang Cheng's strike against the Dongwang Group was a stepping stone he created to enter the Zhou Group. If something went wrong, then 350 million would be gone. He would not be so stupid.

"To be honest, Grandpa didn't expect that you could make it to this step." Zhou Shichang had expectations for him, but also knew that he would have a harder time getting started than ordinary people with only a high school diploma. If he really let him deal with the company's affairs, it was likely that he would be in the dark about matters He thought he wouldn’t understand anything yet, and originally meant to let Wang Cheng start from the grassroots level and take time to let him rise step by step. However, he was also helpless in this matter, Wang Cheng had given him a surprise.

Wang Cheng touched his nose and said humbly, "In fact, it's not all to my own credit. I couldn’t do it without the help of others."

"Grandpa also knows of your hard work. If you have no other plans next, you might as well intern in the company. Your grandpa will arrange a position for you. It may not be a high one, but it will give you the opportunity to learn. Are you interested?" Zhou Shichang finally brought this up.

"Of course I am, I have the least fear of hardship. I have left the Dongwang Group to a trustworthy person to deal with. I only need to look at the reports in the future. I have my parents and cousin to help with my own business’ matters," Wang Cheng said dismissively. Hardships were nothing, and no matter how hard it was, it could not be the same as the previous hardships. He had no financial burden, and this was purely for learning, so the level of his position did not matter.

"A trustworthy person?"

When Wang Cheng heard this, he answered, "It's grandpa’s employee, Zhang Wu. He is the son of Zhang Zhongming, who is in charge of managing Jinding Hotel in Shanhai City. He is a rare talent."

Zhou Shichang nodded. He didn’t know if his grandfather listened to him, but Wang Cheng tried his best.

***

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