Water and Fire~Chapter 42.1: A Divine Man

 

Chapter 42.1: A Divine Man

Hu Yuelong was unyielding, and after a combination of soothing and intimidating tactics from Yu Yue, he confessed everything. But before he did, he made one request: he wanted Yu Yue to turn off his phone and not record it.

Yu Yue complied, shutting down his phone right in front of Hu Yuelong.

Hu Yuelong then confessed everything.

As expected, he had been bribed by Di Chong. Indeed, after being fired from Hanhai, Di Chong immediately joined Gelaner Home Textiles.

At first, Di Chong simply invited him for drinks and chats, under the guise of being a close colleague.

Every time, Di Chong brought him plenty of local specialties from his hometown, such as delicious hazelnuts. Instead of alienating the two men because they were employees of competing companies, their relationship actually grew closer.

Hu Yuelong also confessed that it was he who had provided Di Chong with the information, telling him that Xu Junang, one of Hanhai's directors, was straightforward and easily deceived—the reward for his intelligence was a luxury watch. Having tasted the sweetness of the watch, he became even more vulnerable to temptation. So, when Di Chong later presented him with a bag of money and asked him to share Hanhai's upgraded patented technology, he didn't hesitate.

After explaining everything, Hu Yuelong requested leniency from the company, asking Yu Yue to spare him the lawsuit for stealing company secrets in recognition of his honesty.

Yu Yue suppressed his anger and said he would consider it. This was Ren Yan's specific advice to him before he came to defraud Hu Yuelong—don't make any hasty decisions just yet; everything needs to be carefully considered.

Seeing his request met with no clear response, Hu Yuelong, after confessing his actions, resorted to a well-placed threat.

He said that everything he had said so far was just his oral account, and Yu Yue hadn't recorded it. Therefore, if he contradicted his account, the company wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He chose to confess the truth because Yu Yue had just said, "With your income, how could your son transfer to a private school? Whether you admit it or not, once this matter enters the investigation, will there be rumors? Do you think your son will still be able to stay in his current school?"

He was genuinely worried that the adult matter would spread to his son's school. He had been so reckless lately, all for the sake of his son's future.

But if Yu Yue insisted on holding him accountable and brought the incident to his son's attention, he would accuse the company of framing him. After all, the company had no concrete evidence other than speculation regarding the things he had just confessed.

Hu Yuelong also said, "If there are legal disputes while the company is preparing for its IPO, wouldn't that be very troublesome?"

Yu Yue was nearly furious. It sounded like something he'd learned at Gelaner Home Textiles, teaching him how to control Hanhai.

Yu Yue suppressed his anger and, with a gentle expression, began to engage in palace intrigue. He told Hu Yuelong, "Let's put this matter behind us. Go back to work and pretend we never talked today. If Di Chong contacts you again, as long as you keep quiet, you can still work here. Understand?"

After Hu Yuelong left, Yu Yue rushed to Zhou Hanhai's office, furious. Ren Yan, Zhang Teng, Chu Qianmiao, and Qin Qianyu were all there.

Yu Yue recounted the entire incident in front of everyone, shouting, "Just letting that kid go back like that? How cowardly, how cowardly!"

"The situation is this," Yu Yue said angrily, "Although Hu Yuelong admitted it, I can't record it. As for the bribes Ge Lan'er and Di Chong offered him—he can claim they were gifts from relatives, but the money was all given in cash, with no transfer records. And as for the upgraded patented technology, as long as he denies it, we can't force him to tell Di Chong about it. So, we really don't have any real evidence to bring against Ge Lan'er! He knew he was framed, but he couldn't find any evidence to retaliate. How cowardly, how cowardly!"

Face to face his outburst, Zhou Hanhai remained composed and refrained from expressing any emotion.

Ren Yan thought for a moment and smiled.

Chu Qianmiao, watching the faint smile on Ren Yan's face, knew he had an idea in mind, and it was probably a well-thought-out one.

"Mr. Yu, please be patient. You should know that our primary goal isn't to retaliate against anyone. We simply want peace. Since no one is suing us, and we don't intend to sue anyone else, we can quickly remove the suspension of listing. So, whether or not there's evidence isn't really important," Ren Yan said calmly.

He paused, then turned to Zhou Hanhai. "Next, I'll have to ask Mr. Zhou to prepare. You and the owner of Greenland may have to negotiate soon."

Everyone else was a little surprised. Yu Yue even exclaimed, "Negotiating with the owner of Greenland? I want to strangle that villain to death. And we're still negotiating?!"

Only Zhou Hanhai remained composed. "Okay, how and with what attitude will we discuss? I'll take your advice, Mr. Ren."

Ren Yan nodded.

Zhang Teng asked, "Then how should we contact Greenland's owner to initiate this negotiation? Will he be willing to negotiate with us?"

Chu Qianmiao shared the same question. He wasn't going to ask Di Chong for help, was he? If that happened, that bad guy, Di Chong, would be utterly pissed off.

Ren Yan had been leaning back on the sofa. Upon hearing Zhang Teng's question, he straightened up, leaned forward, shook the phone in his hand, and said, "The candidate is already in place. I'll contact him right away."

Chu Qianmiao hadn't expected Ren Yan to contact the reporter who had called earlier, the one who had so arrogantly referred to himself as "I, Tong."

But on reflection, it wasn't surprising that he was the right person to call. He was the perfect choice.

Ren Yan placed his phone on the coffee table and, in the absolute silence and attention of the people gathered around it, dialed the number and put it on speakerphone.

He then presented the ensuing exciting exchange with the reporter to everyone in real time.

As soon as the call connected, Ren Yan got straight to the point: "Reporter Tong, please contact Peng Yishen, Chairman of Gelaner Home Textiles. Mr. Zhou from Hanhai would like to discuss something with him face to face."

His tone and words were neither humble nor arrogant.

This time, it was the reporter named Tong's turn to play dumb: "Hey, Mr. Ren, I don't know what you're talking about. What Ge Lan'er? What Peng Yishen?"

Ren Yan calmly said, "Then I'll explain it to you more clearly."

He paused, his tone changing slightly, and Chu Qianmiao heard a greater calmness and solemnity in it.

"This isn't the first time you've threatened a listed company, Reporter Tong," Ren Yan said bluntly, not giving Tong any chance to interrupt. He continued, "I've sorted through news reports from recent years and found that you, Reporter Tong, have repeatedly reported on potential listed companies' IPOs before they went public. In some cases, you quickly clarified the situation for them, and these companies subsequently successfully went public." After a pause, Ren Yan said, "Reporter Tong, if you investigate carefully, it won't be difficult to uncover any shady dealings between you and these companies."

Chu Qianmiao understood. Reporter Tong must have threatened those potential listed companies in the same way he had threatened Hanhai Home Textiles. Some companies initially ignored him, but his revelations affected their IPOs. They were forced to privately approach him, offering him bribes to write a clarification. And those potential listed companies ultimately managed to successfully go public.

She suspected that it was these compromised potential listed companies that fed the insatiable and shameless scoundrel like Reporter Tong.

The reporter's laughter rang out from the receiver: "Mr. Ren has a truly remarkable imagination! He's even better at making up stories than we journalists!"

Ren Yan ignored his denial and continued on with his story. Chu Qianmiao felt this was one of Ren Yan's strengths: no matter what you said, he wouldn't interrupt his well-formed train of thought. He was truly an overly rational man.

"Then I'll continue with another true story for Reporter Tong. I believe that when Hanhai was preparing to go public, it must have been Peng Yishen, the owner of Gelaner Home Textiles, who recognized your expertise and contacted you. Then, Peng Yishen and you, you started early on with the Hanhai Home Textiles board of directors, laying down obstacles and traps. Actually, I've also considered that the directors' illegal share purchases shouldn't be that difficult to resolve, so why did you create such an obstacle? Later, I thought, maybe you had a backup plan."

Chu Qianmiao listened intently, listening to Ren Yan unravel the story bit by bit. She didn't want to miss a single word.

"First, your original intention in setting up this obstacle to directors illegally increasing their holdings was actually a sting operation. When you first contacted me, you thought I'd be worried about the impact on the listing, so you proactively said to me: 'How much money do you want? We're willing to pay you as long as we can resolve this issue.' I believe you must have recorded the conversation. Once we pay you hush money, you'll use the recording and the hush money to report us to the regulatory authorities. By then, this kind of money-for-hire scheme will be much more serious, and it's unclear when Hanhai Home Textiles will be able to go public. While Hanhai can't go public due to the sting operation, Ge Lan'er will definitely reimburse you for the hush money you paid, leaving you with no losses."

Chu Qianmiao was horrified by what she heard. She hadn't considered this. She wondered how Ren Yan had managed it. The moment he answered the phone, he'd already mapped out every possible scenario, then immediately responded to each one with impeccable offense and defense. She thought he was truly amazing!

"Secondly, if Hanhai doesn't take your warning and refuses to pay you hush money, you can also say that this bomb was a diversion. After the bombing, you still have a backup plan: to fabricate a patent infringement lawsuit. It just so happens that there's a guy named Di Chong in Gelaner, formerly from Hanhai Home Textiles. He and you came up with the idea of ​​technology infringement. Di Chong will then be in charge of implementing it. He bribes a former Hanhai R&D colleague to reveal Hanhai's upgraded technology to him. Then, he can create the illusion that Gelaner already had this technology, and then falsely accuse Hanhai of plagiarizing Gelaner's upgraded technology."

Reporter Tong continued to smile, seemingly nonchalant, but the tension and hoarseness in his voice betrayed him.

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" Tong said with a smile, his voice already a little weak.

Chu Qianmiao thought, of course you know. If you didn't know, why would you have patiently listened for so long? Feeling guilty, you wanted to hear how much Ren Yan truly understood the whole process.

Ren Yan, however, grew more and more composed: "It's okay. Just know you have to contact Peng Yishen for me."

Reporter Tong continued to play dumb, chuckling: "I don't even know what you're talking about. Why would you ask me to do this or that for you?"

Ren Yan said, "Reporter Tong, in that case, please listen to the following two recordings."

Ren Yan pulled a recorder from his jacket pocket and pressed play.

Chu Qianmiao felt that Ren Yan at this moment was like a luminous magician, performing dazzling magic that no one could imagine.

The recorder played a recording of his first conversation with the reporter at Shenzhen Airport.

In the recording, reporter Tong initially led the conversation, trying to get Ren Yan to express his desire to resolve the issue with money. But Ren Yan played dumb and beat around the bush. Chu Qianmiao remembered that even she could tell at the time that the reporter was asking for a bribe, a hush money. But Ren Yan simply played around with him, acting as if he genuinely didn't understand, refusing to get to the point of "how much do you want?"

He even pretended to be unable to hear the call several times, either tapping on the phone to make noise or asking Qin Qianyu to stamp his feet. This gradually wore down the reporter's patience, causing him to become careless and forget his original intention of stinging him, which was to get Ren Yan to talk about solving the problem with money. Instead, he impatiently half-snarled, "How about we first talk about how much this bomb is worth!"

And upon hearing what he wanted to hear, Ren Yan decisively ended the call.

Chu Qianmiao quickly recalled that when Ren Yan first received the call at the airport, he had immediately pulled the phone away from his ear when the caller introduced himself as a journalist. At the time, Chu Qianmiao had thought Ren Yan was observing the phone number, trying to see if he could spot any clues. But now she understood: he was actually opening the recording software.

She thought he was incredibly clever.