270: Mutual Suspicion

The Zhou Group’s contract with Eimer was carried out in secret. Since the company’s mole had not yet been found out, they did not plan to publicize this event, so as not to give them an opportunity. This time, even the Zhou Lin husband and wife did not know about it. Precisely because they didn't know about this, they were both shocked when they learned that Zhou Group was no longer signing a contract with aG Group.

Zhou Lin was not involved in the finance aspects of business, but Zhao Jiansheng was. So, at Zhou Lin's instigation, Zhao Jiansheng went to the 70th floor to find Feng Yifan.

"President Feng, I’ve heard that our company is no longer signing the contract with aG. Is this true?"

Zhao Jiansheng had the same aura as usual. His sentence was meant as a question, but his tone and expression were flat and dull. However, though he was such a person, his ambition was still very big.

After Feng Yifan read the contract in his hand, he signed it at the bottom and handed it to the nearby Xie Wenzhi. Xie Wenzhi left with the contract, closing the door on his way out.

"It's true, does Manager Zhao have a problem with it?"

"If this is because of what happened yesterday, then President Feng is being too hasty, I am also following up on this project, and I know very well that time is already tight. I am afraid that President Feng’s move is not the right one. If the chairman knows of this, I think he will probably not agree." Zhao Jiansheng seemed somewhat uncertain of his last sentence.

Feng Yifan smiled slightly, "Manager Zhao, there is no need for you to worry about this. If something goes wrong then I, Feng Yifan, will be held solely responsible for it."

Zhao Jiansheng frowned, "Since President Feng says so, then I will wait and see. However, I still hope that President Feng will think twice before taking action. The choice you’re making will influence the future development of the Zhou Group."

After Zhao Jiansheng left, Feng Yifan dialed Xie Wenzhi's work phone.

"Assistant Xie, are the contracts ready?"

"They’re ready."

"Good. This matter must be kept confidential, don't let anyone see it. I hope that we’ll have tied up all loose ends when the contract is officially signed tomorrow." Feng Yifan attached great importance to this cooperation with Eimer. Because they had a tie to Chu Yifeng, they only needed to wait for Eimer to verify all the data. Although they made some changes during the process, the response was still much faster than they had expected.

Chu Yifeng personally took responsibility for the cooperation with the Zhou Group. After their discussion that day, he asked the headquarters to start preparing the plan, which was quickly passed to Chu Yifeng in two days. After a meeting that lasted for over an hour, both parties signed their names on the contract.

Eimer didn't open their lion’s mouth [T/N: raise demands], but the Zhou Group was very grateful for the other party's help, so they took the initiative to sacrifice some personal profits. Others didn't know about this cooperation until the news was announced.

The representative of aG, Reed, was unwilling to have things not go his way. He stayed in China for the past few days, wanting to see the Zhou Group make fools of themselves. In the end, though he was waiting for negative news, he learned that the Zhou Group had hooked up with Eimer and quietly signed a contract with them. Finally, the last people from aG left China in a desperate manner.

At the same time, Zhou Lin also received a phone call.

"Zhou Lin, do you not want to cooperate with me anymore? You’ve really hidden your cards well." The man's unhappy voice came from the phone.

When Zhou Lin received his call, she knew that he was going to ask about the matter with Eimer. She was equally unhappy. “My husband and I were also kept in the dark about this matter, we only learned about it when the company announced it, after the contract was signed. Many senior executives had been excluded from knowing about this matter, and I think you know why."

"Why, is it maybe that Zhou Shichang suspects you, so he didn’t tell you? Or is it that Zhou Shichang had never trusted you guys to begin with?"

"It has nothing to do with you. Are you calling just to say this? If you have nothing else to say, I’m hanging up." Zhou Lin was so embarrassed by his words that she became angry.

"Angry? There’s no need to be. Both those reasons are true. Although you and I have different goals, we are still on the same boat. You can only get what you want by cooperating with me. It is impossible for you to quit now that we’re halfway there."

"To put it plainly, your plan not only failed to bring harm to the Zhou Group, but also prompted them to cooperate with Eimer. Can I still trust you? And I’ve also heard that Hengyu’s cooperation with Oubang collapsed. By the way, it turns out that Oubang was a subsidiary of Eimer."

Since Zhou Lin exposed his scars, the man's voice became cold, "This is not something you should care about if you still want to take over the Zhou Group."

Zhou Lin snorted unhappily. She actually knew that she had no way to retreat. However, the fact that she put so much at risk to get the confidential information, yet the other party’s plan still failed, caused her to be very unhappy. Not only did she not benefit from this incident, it also might cause her father to doubt her.

"I do want to take over the Zhou Group. However, if I receive no benefits in cooperating with you, why should I help you again?"

"Zhou Lin, don’t push your luck. You’ve long ago received whatever benefits I promised you. And don’t forget that you’ve left me an advantage over you. I have all the evidence for all the things you have done. So don’t piss me off, or else I don’t mind sending a copy of it all to your dad." The man didn't want to talk nonsense with her anymore. If Zhou Lin wasn’t so useful, he would have already kicked her away.

"Are you threatening me?" Zhou Lin grew angry.

"You’re welcome to take it that way." The man replied with direct words. Ever since the first time Zhou Lin had approached him, she should have expected this day to come.

Zhou Lin regretted this. She thought she had dealt with things perfectly back then, and hadn’t expected this man to keep evidence of the things she did behind her back. He had now become a threat to her.

"What the hell do you want?"

“Nothing much." The man said, "I just want you to steal me a copy of the cooperation plan between the Zhou Group and Eimer."

"They have already signed the contract, what can happen if you get your hands on it?"

"Eimer is not a common business after all. You know who the backer of it is. If you let them successfully hook up, it will be even more difficult for you to take over the Zhou Group. Now, the only other way is to make trouble. If something goes wrong with their cooperation, I am afraid that the Zhou Group will not be able to give Eimer a good explanation."

"It would be great if things were as easy as you say, but have you forgotten that the Zhou Group secretly hooked up with Eimer? If there is some relationship between them that we don't know about, can your plan still be implemented?"

"If there was such a relationship between them, then the Zhou Group should have originally chosen Eimer rather than aG. And I don’t think the Zhou Group has the ability to act the whole time, not to mention that it would’ve been completely unnecessary."

"Though what you say makes sense, even my husband was excluded from knowing about this contract. The company hasn’t found the mole from last time, so it won’t be easy to steal anything this time."

"Then you’ll have to find a way. I have already given you your task, the rest is up to you. I'll be waiting for the good news." The man hung up after saying these words.

After Zhou Lin went back, she told this to Zhao Jiansheng.

The couple had taken a big risk when Zhao Jiansheng helped her obtain the information last time. This time, when he heard that they would be stealing information again, Zhao Jiansheng denied it immediately.

"Absolutely not this time."

It was rare for her husband to resolutely deny her, but Zhou Lin was not angry. Although she was quite aggressive, she was always willing to listen to Zhao Jiansheng’s concise, effective words.

"Explain."

"The cooperation with Eimer is only handled by very few senior executives. This is quite unlike the previous cooperation, where almost all the higher levels knew about it. If we make a rash move, it will be hard for us to hide once the stolen information is discovered. As far as I know, Father is a lot more careful this time, and he won't make the same mistakes he did last time.”

Zhou Lin frowned: "What you say does make sense, but he holds evidence over us as a threat. I am worried that he will send that evidence to our father if we don’t do what he says."

"He’s holding evidence over us, but why don’t we have any evidence against him? Additionally, I don't think we need to steal the information, there will be plenty of other opportunities to disrupt the cooperation between the company and Eimer in the future. Just tell him this. He is a wise man, he wouldn’t do such a self-defeating thing." Zhao Jiansheng thought about this clearly.

"Okay, but I have a question. Why is he more eager than us to target the Zhou Group? Has our father done anything to Hengyu before?"

Zhao Jiansheng shook his head. "I am not sure. However, no matter what his reasons are, at least our goals are the same for now because we have no other choice."

Zhou Lin nodded.

"How is our son?" Zhao Jiansheng thought of their son, whom he hadn't seen for a while.

Since being exposed by Wang Cheng, Zhao Chenlin had not returned to the Zhou house. He was staying at an apartment that Zhou Lin had previously bought for him. Zhou Lin would also visit him from time to time to check on him.

"He has been staying at the apartment a lot lately, things are pretty peaceful."

"That's good. Many things have been going unfavorably recently, so having something peaceful is good."

The two thought that as long as they did not make a move, Zhou Shichang and Feng Yifan would not be able to find out who the mole was, and that they’d only take more precautions. However, they didn't know that the higher-ups had already guessed that there had been more than one mole.

One senior executive alone couldn’t do so many things: while being able to steal the information, the mole also monitored the company and erased the records of that period of time. The authority of one person could generally not be that high.

***

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