267: Profiteer

Wang Cheng went to Yazhi in the afternoon and exchanged information with Pan Zhihai about work matters. He only drove to Zhou Group after finishing up arrangements.

Though the incident happened three days ago, the atmosphere inside the company was very strange until now. Moreover, they still hadn’t found the mole. During the morning conference, Zhou Shichang had lost his temper again. At this time, no one dared to be the first unfortunate soul to be fired.

Upon reaching the seventieth floor, Wang Cheng came across Zhou Lin and Zhao Jiansheng, who were preparing to head down.

After Zhao Chenlin was ordered by Zhou Shichang to reflect on himself because of his interference in the Yazhi matters, Zhou Lin stubbornly begged for mercy. However, after the Zhou Group’s incident, the couple never again dared to raise that old matter in front of Zhou Shichang.

When he saw Wang Cheng, Zhao Jiansheng didn't react much. However, Zhou Lin gave him a fake smile that seemed a bit smug.

Wang Cheng didn't think too much about it. Zhou Shichang was not in the office, so he waited for about half an hour. Finally, Zhou Shichang and Feng Yifan came in. The two had been conversing, and only stopped after seeing him.

"Grandpa." Wang Cheng stood up.

Zhou Shichang motioned for Wang Cheng to sit down, but did not immediately speak to him. After Feng Yifan and he were seated, the two continued the conversation they had been having just now.

Wang Cheng listened for a while, and learned that after yesterday’s meeting, the senior executives had re-selected their international partner and began to initiate negotiations this morning. They even received a short video from the other party. However, the process so far had not been smooth, and since the other party knew about the Zhou Group’s situation, their attitude was relatively high-and-mighty. Tomorrow, they would send people to negotiate in person with the Zhou Group. Unfortunately, from all aspects, the Zhou Group’s chances of profiting from this deal were not high.

Feng Yifan convened with several senior executives to discuss whether there was a solution, but obviously, he did not receive any effective solutions.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Cheng took out his mobile phone to search the name of the company they were discussing, aG Group. There was not a lot of information on the Internet about aG Group, but it was enough to give him a general idea of ​​why the Zhou Group chose this group. It was better than their previously selected partner.

This aG Group had been Zhou Group’s first choice, but because the other party’s demands were too high, the Zhou Group lost interest and finally didn’t choose them. Now, as a last resort, they contacted the other party again. In the short video they had sent, the aG Group raised their demands even higher than before.

Wang Cheng put away his phone. The two had just finished talking, and they still weren’t able to come up with a better solution. Zhou Shichang's brow was so wrinkled it looked like the character 川.

"Grandpa, since the aG Group took the opportunity to open their lion’s mouth*, they have made clear that they understand our situation. Now that we see that they are a tough nut to crack, why are we still asking them to cooperate?" Wang Cheng couldn't help but ask this. He didn't understand, in the Zhou Group, every second now counted, so looking to negotiate with the aG Group would only increase the burden on the Zhou Group.

[T/N: *raise the conditions]

Zhou Shichang explained: “You don’t understand, the relationships between companies are much more complicated than you think. The aG Group is indeed a tough nut to crack, but its influence in the international market is very large and can be maximized to make up for the Zhou Group’s losses. We can’t miss the opening for the Zhou Group’s entry into the international market, so no matter how tough it is, we must find a way to crack the nut.”

"So, any company is fine as long as it’s more influential than the aG Group is?"

Feng Yifan took over the topic: "That's right. However, I’m afraid that companies that are bigger than aG Group will be even tougher nuts to crack. Additionally, there is one big limitation: we wouldn’t have previously contacted the other company, so they would not be able to cooperate with us all of a sudden. It takes a lot of time to investigate and research partner companies, time which we can't afford. Unlike with aG Group, Zhou Group hadn't previously contacted other companies."

Wang Cheng only felt that things were quite complicated. Sure enough, he was really a newbie.

After Feng Yifan left, Wang Cheng said to Zhou Shichang: "Grandpa, I have something to do tonight, so I won't be coming back to the Zhou house."

"You didn't come back last night, either. What have you been doing?"

This was not the first time Wang Cheng had said this. The fact was, he said it too many times. Although Zhou Shichang knew that he wasn’t going out to play around, he still wanted to know what he was doing every night.

How could Wang Cheng say that he was going to accompany Chu Yifeng in Binhai Garden? In fact, he also knew that he was frequently visiting Chu YIfeng under the noses of a lot of people, and that it was dangerous for them to live together. He used to hesitate a bit more when it came to this matter, but now, he didn't think so much about it anymore. If others wanted to doubt the situation, they could go doubt it.

"I want to find my elder brother. A lot of things have been going on recently, and the matters of our hometown still haven't been resolved."

Zhou Shichang didn't doubt his words. "If you need help, just ask your grandpa."

"I will." That said, Wang Cheng wouldn't really ask him for help. There was the incident with the Zhou Group that his grandpa was worrying about every day. He didn’t dare bother him, not to mention that the problem in his hometown was under control.

By the time he went back to the apartment, it was a bit past five o'clock. Chu Yifeng and Charlie had long resolved their problem. A pile of materials was scattered on the coffee table. Since they had a printer at home, Chu Yifeng was able to print out all the data, which looked like a lot.

Wang Cheng walked over and kneeled on the rug. He asked, "Need help?"

Chu Yifeng handed him a binding machine and pointed to the groups of paper on the coffee table. "Just bind these two documents separately."

"Alright!" Wang Cheng had done this when he was at Huaying Real Estate and recently, as the assistant to Xie Wenzhi. He was very swift with his work, and finished it with a few clicks. However, when he was about to put it away, he glanced at it and happened to notice the name of a familiar company.

As seen in the information, their partner was a company called Hengyu Group. If it had been before, Wang Cheng would have not known of it. However, he now recognized it because it was the company that intercepted the Zhou Group’s original partner. It could be concluded that this company had colluded with a certain senior executive from the Zhou Group.

"What's wrong?" Chu Yifeng noticed he was staring at the information in his hand with a strange expression.

Wang Cheng pointed to the name of their partner. "Eimer intends to cooperate with this Hengyu Group?"

"It's not Eimer," Chu Yifeng explained, "It is a subsidiary of Eimer that is located in Singapore. The other party does not know that it is a subsidiary of Eimer because we have never announced it.” Because he had happened to be in the country, Charlie brought this matter to Chu Yifeng, the old veteran in business.

"So that’s the case. Then you should be careful." Wang Cheng put the information back on the coffee table as he gave meaningful words.

Chu Yifeng smiled. "Tell it to me straight if you have something to say."

"Then I'll say it." Wang Cheng pursed his lips and smiled: "An incident happened in the Zhou Group a few days ago, and important information was stolen by an insider who colluded with the Hengyu Group. In the end, the company the Zhou Group had been planning to cooperate with was robbed by them. Now, my grandfather and President Feng are dealing with this matter and have to take the short end of a deal with the aG Group."

Chu Yifeng had heard Wang Cheng mention some of the internal affairs of the Zhou Group before, and he had also researched some of their matters himself for Wang Cheng. Since he knew the current development direction of the Zhou Group, he also knew it was indeed a major event for that development to be interrupted by the Hengyu Group.

"I remember that this aG group is notoriously tricky. If you cooperate with them, your grandfather will probably receive a detrimental deal."

"I already know what you’re saying, it's just that the aG Group is the Zhou Group’s only choice, otherwise they wouldn’t choose them either." Wang Cheng wanted to share the burden with his grandfather, but he knew he was incapable of it.

Chu Yifeng smiled: "Actually, you don’t necessarily only have the aG group to choose from."

Wang Cheng raised his head for a moment, and stared at him with bright eyes: "Really, do you really know a way? Oh, I almost forgot that you were the president of Eimer. However, isn’t Eimer’s current industry a little unrelated to the Zhou Group’s?" He vaguely remembered hearing Chu Yifeng mention that Eimer was in the energy mining field.

"Not necessarily, Eimer has other subsidiaries. However, none of that is important." Chu Yifeng smiled, dumbfounding Wang Cheng.

"Then what is important?"

Chu Yifeng wrapped his arm around his waist and whispered in his ear: "Eimer is actually a surname of nobility. Do you get what I mean?"

Wang Cheng was silent for a second. "...I understand."

He had always thought that Chu Yifeng was a pure businessman, but it turned out he was born half-aristocrat.

Chu Yifeng’s grandfather, Locke, was rarely involved in company affairs. He had long given Chu Yifeng full authority over all matters. Therefore, the highest decision-maker of Eimer was Chu Yifeng. Any decision he made, even shareholders of the company couldn’t refute.

Wang Cheng clarified once more, because he didn't want Chu Yifeng to harm his own company’s interests just to help him. "If the Zhou Group conflicts with Eimer’s interests, you don't need to agree."

Chu Yifeng supported Wang Cheng’s head and let their foreheads touch. He smiled and said, "I'm glad that you’re thinking for me like this, but you should also know my character. I won't do things that won’t benefit me. The Zhou Group has a profound background and is indeed a good partner for cooperation. Eimer has also been intending to develop in that direction of business in recent years."

Wang Cheng pounced on him, pressed him down, and said, "How could I forget that you were such a profiteer*."

[T/N: *businessmen who try to maximize profits and minimize costs by all means, moral or immoral]

If Chu Yifeng wasn’t a profiteer, he wouldn't have jumped into the pit of Wang Cheng in the first place.

"It’s specifically when it comes to you." Chu Yifeng pressed him back down under him, lowered his head, and kissed him.

Wang Cheng wrapped his arms around his neck before being entangled with him.

***

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