261: Internal Leak

Today was Sunday, so the Zhou Lin husband and wife didn’t have to go to work. Though resting at home should be an enjoyable thing, they all had slightly tired appearances. Zhao Chenlin sat on the sidelines in a disciplined manner, not daring to speak a word due to the current atmosphere

Wang Cheng noticed that his grandfather did not greet him with a smile as he usually did. He was no longer able to see a trace of a smile on his serious face. Instead, he wore a stern expression. Low pressure permeated the atmosphere, as if something major had happened. Wang Cheng subconsciously thought that the three in Zhao Chenlin's family had spoken ill of him in front of his grandfather again, but set that feeling aside. He gently arrived in front of his grandfather.

"Grandpa, I'm back."

Zhou Shichang responded indifferently. He rubbed the corners of his eyes and said, "It's good that you’re back. You haven't eaten yet, have you, let the Zhou steward ask the chef to make something for you."

When Wang Cheng heard his fairly mild voice, he knew that his grandpa’s attitude was not caused by himself. He immediately said: "There’s no hurry, Grandpa. Did something happen during my absence? Everyone looks strange. Why don’t you tell me about it, maybe I can help share Grandpa’s burden."

After he finished his words, Zhao Chenlin sneered and gave a laugh.

Zhou Chenlin seemed to be mocking him for being too self-confident, in thinking he could possibly help bear his Grandpa’s troubles.

Wang Cheng treated his behavior as air. Some people would just be like that; they didn’t have the ability to think that everyone else was a person like them, and couldn’t look upon others in a positive light. He knew that the matter upsetting his grandpa must have something to do with the company, and he could still be regarded as a layman despite the fact that he joined the company. He was only trying his best to help, and even if he wasn’t of any use, at least he wouldn’t be causing trouble for his grandpa.

"It's good that you care." Zhou Shichang patted his hand.

When Wang Cheng heard this, he didn't continue the topic.

Although there was a problem in the company, Zhou Shichang’s stern face was not entirely due to that incident. When they ate, Wang Cheng comforted him to not let work matters affect his appetite. No matter how big the problem was, there would be a solution. However, with those words, Zhou Shichang's expression only eased a little.

"Let’s not talk about company affairs, let's talk about you. Has everything been resolved now that you visited Shanhai City for the past few days?" Zhou Shichang asked while sipping soup, which was passed over to him by Wang Cheng.

Wang Cheng nodded and smiled: "A little incident occured in my hometown, so I went back to deal with it. On the way, I also dealt with the company affairs. I’ve kept in mind what Grandpa told me before so that no more troubles arise."

Zhou Shichang only knew that he had gone back to his hometown of Shanhai City to solve some problems, and wasn’t clear on the specific situation. He didn’t expect that Wang Cheng would coincidentally resolve lingering problems in the Dongwang Group. He couldn’t help but feel proud, and the haze in his head created by the company’s problems cleared.

"Good. You are worthy of being my, Zhou Shichang's, grandson. You were entirely correct in that matter, you can't be merciful to the enemy. To give them a chance to breathe is to give yourself a chance to be murdered."

"I’ll always remember this, Grandpa."

The Zhou Lin husband and wife, along with Zhao Chenlin, had no idea what they were talking about. They didn’t even know that Wang Cheng was the largest shareholder of the Dongwang Group. After all, Shanhai City was only a medium-sized city that they didn’t place in their eyes. If they knew that Wang Cheng Cheng had conquered the Dongwang Group, they would definitely not act as leisurely as they were now.

The Dongwang Group was a large company that dominated a medium-sized city. Wang Cheng's ability to conquer it showed that he had the necessary ability.

The family of three thought that Wang Cheng was talking about Yazhi’s matters. Yazhi had indeed been developing smoothly recently. Since it had been able to climb onto a giant like Fashion Pioneer, it would only be a matter of time before it grew.

After dinner, Wang Cheng accompanied Zhou Shichang to walk a few laps around the courtyard.

Now that spring was in full swing, the flowers and trees in the yard were green and lush. They went on their walk with full stomachs, and inhaled the refreshing scent of nature. After the walk, Wang Cheng saw his grandpa off to his study before returning to his own room to chat with his family. He checked in with Mama Wang to inform her he was safe, then called Mother Zheng, who he hadn’t seen in a few days. She would usually call him every day, but since he was on a flight earlier today, his cell phone was still turned off.

"Chengcheng, have you eaten yet? Are you at the Zhou house now?" Mother Zheng's voice quickly came from the other end.

Wang Cheng answered each question, one by one, before saying, "Mother, you seem to be doing better lately, has something good happened?" He had heard from his elder brother that Mother Zheng went out more often recently to meet with a group of noblewomen, and every time she came back, she would be in a good mood.

"Something good did happen, but let’s not talk about that right now. Your mother heard that there was an incident in the Zhou Group. Have you heard about it?" Mother Zheng was just about to tell the good news, but thinking of the events this morning, lost interest in the smaller matters.

Wang Cheng didn’t expect even Mother Zheng to hear about it. He immediately asked: “Not yet. I saw Grandpa and my auntie when I came home, but Grandpa wouldn’t tell me what happened, even when I asked about it. Mother, what happened? It’s the first time I’ve seen Grandpa so angry."

"Your mother only just heard about this. It seems that the company’s secrets have been leaked, and they were discovered by the Zhou Group’s opponent, Hengyu Group. They’ve now diverted our originally scheduled customer. This matter also has to do with the company’s plans to open up into the international market. The international customer was only settled on by the company after repeated consideration, and they were already almost complete with the negotiating stage, about to make their final kick. Why did Hengyu have to learn about this now?"

Hengyu Group and the Zhou Group had always been competitors, but because the former party feared the Zheng family that stood behind the Zhou Group, they did not dare to make any big moves.

"This should be a company secret, how could Hengyu find out about it?" Wang Cheng asked.

"Obviously, there must be an internal leak in the company."

The Zhou Group had just sifted through their internal staff some time ago, and finally managed to calm down - before a mole appeared again. This person had not been dug out in the last layoff fiasco, so it could be seen that they were hiding deeper than usual. Since they could access confidential documents, this person's position must be very high.

After the news spread in the company, insiders grew panicked. Though low-level staff were not aware of the situation, high-level executives grew frightened. There were not many things that could make the chairman angry over the years, so every time he got angry, it meant that someone would receive bad luck. Everyone could only hope that the unlucky person would not be themselves.

Wang Cheng arrived at the company, where the atmosphere was even more depressing than it had been during the last layoff incident.

He met Zhao Chenlin, who was unusually disciplined, on the elevator. He quietly exited on the sixty-ninth floor, presumably to look for his mother again.

The entire office was busy now due to the leak of confidential information. Xie Wenzhi was so busy that he didn't even notice Wang Cheng’s presence until he spoke.

"Xie Dage, I have heard about the company’s matters. How is the situation now?"

When Xie Wenzhi saw that it was him, he did not hide the incident. "This matter is a bit troublesome. The foreign company was decided on after a few meetings between President Feng and other senior executives, and they’d been discussing it for some time now. Because the process had gone smoothly, everyone had already begun planning for our next step. Unexpectedly, things changed dramatically near the end. Now, the plan is completely disrupted and time is tight. If we can’t find a different partner company soon, this event will leave a great impact on the company. This is not just a loss of money, it may seriously affect the development of the Zhou Group, internationally."

Although Wang Cheng was not involved in this development, he had carefully studied the Zhou Group’s entrance to the international market when writing his report. They had been preparing for this for several years, and everything was finally ready, with all the work arranged. However, there were suddenly rumors of an internal leak, which definitely impacted the Zhou Group.

"Since that foreign company has been snatched by Hengyu, the Zhou Group can only find another one. Although time is tight, we should still have a chance to make up for it now."

"This matter is not that simple." Xie Wenzhi replied, "It won’t be difficult to find our next partner company, the difficult part is the process. Everything had been arranged in advance for the last company, even the advertising and publicity was already prepared. Time is too tight right now. We also still have to negotiate and compromise. No company will give in at the beginning when it comes to group interests. Negotiations are bound to be conducted many times, and right now, the Zhou Group does not have the time for repetition."

Wang Cheng more or less understood how this could cause a headache. And there were still more problems.

Though the Zhou Group was in a hurry, the other party was definitely not in a hurry. Thus, the other would be able to fully grasp the Zhou Group's weakness and take advantage of it. The final result would be that the Zhou Group had to compromise. The longer the negotiations spanned, the less time they would have to arrange for details. Any little oversight was fatal for a high-end company with a big brand name like theirs.

"At this point, our ideal plan is to find a new partner company in a few days. Then we will still have to get the other party to sign the agreement within a week. Only in this way can we ensure that everything goes smoothly according to the schedule." That said, Xie Wenzhi also knew that this was impossible, unless they were willing to give up their superior position over the other company from the beginning. However, the Zhou Group had planned this for so many years. They were really not reconciled with this unexpected situation changing the plans and goals that they had set in the past.

Wang Cheng was also helpless. It seemed that he really couldn't help much in such a situation.

***

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