Chapter 48.2: You Keep It
After dinner, Chu Qianmiao asked
Tan Shen and Gu Miaoyu to wait outside while she went to pay.
The cashier at the counter handed
her the menu, and she gasped at the amount. She had never imagined that seafood
at a barbecue restaurant could be so outrageously expensive.
She gritted her teeth, pulled her
credit card from her wallet, and handed it to the cashier. The cashier smiled
and told her, "That handsome guy already paid!"
"???"
Chu Qianmiao hurriedly asked,
"When did he pay?"
The cashier replied, "He left
a wad of money here when he first arrived."
Chu Qianmiao carried the menu and
left. Only Gu Miaoyu was at the door.
She asked Gu Miaoyu, "Where's
Tan Shenren?"
"He's gone," Gu Miaoyu
said. "He said he was afraid you'd force him to pay for the meal, so he
ran off."
Chu Qianmiao looked down at the
menu, feeling a little strange.
Gu Miaoyu asked, "Are you
still going to work overtime?"
Chu Qianmiao chuckled,
"Extraneous! I have a stomachache and can't go."
A group of people followed behind
her: Qin Qianyu and his companions. Qin Qianyu said to Chu Qianmiao,
"Qianmiao, I just tried the stomach upset trick, but President Ren asked,
'How bad is it? Can you stand up?' If you can, come to the office yourself. If
you can't, I'll call 120 and send you to the office."
Chu Qianmiao: "..."
Qin Qianyu said, "Let's go. It
sounds like an emergency."
Chu Qianmiao had no choice but to
say goodbye to Gu Miaoyu and took a taxi with Qin Qianyu and the others to
Litong Securities.
On arrival at Litong Securities,
Chu Qianmiao realized that Ren Yan hadn't asked them to work overtime for no
reason.
When she and Qin Qianyu and the
others arrived at the Litong Securities conference room, they were surprised to
see Zhang Teng there.
Chu Qianmiao sat down next to Zhang
Teng and whispered, "Lawyer Zhang, what's going on today?"
Zhang Teng, a little confused,
replied, "I don't know the details. I got a sudden call from President Ren
this morning."
Confused, they waited for Ren Yan
to clarify.
When Ren Yan entered the conference
room, Chu Qianmiao was even more surprised. Someone followed him in—it was Dong
Lan.
Chu Qianmiao's heart skipped a beat
as he watched Dong Lan suddenly appear. Something might be wrong with the
project.
As expected, after Dong Lan took
her seat, Ren Yan began to preside over the meeting. "I apologize for
calling everyone here this weekend. We were originally scheduled to submit our
application for guidance and acceptance to the CSRC next week, but there's been
an unexpected situation on the project, so we might have to postpone it."
He paused, then said, "We need to resolve this emergency as soon as
possible, otherwise Jialeyuan's listing could be affected."
Qin Qianyu asked Ren Yan,
"Leader, what's the emergency?"
Ren Yan's answer wasn't just
directed at him; he was addressing everyone in the room.
"Do you remember that 70
million yuan contract for the engineering department? There's a problem with
that contract now."
Chu Qianmiao's heart skipped a beat
when he heard it was that contract that was at fault. Looking at it this way,
it seemed as if all the previous hiccups regarding this contract had become a
prelude and prelude to the major problems that would arise today.
Ren Yan and Dong Lan then
supplemented each other, laying out the unexpected issues arising from the
contract.
The story is a bit complicated from
the beginning, and it involves a company called Jingchang Department Store.
Jingchang Department Store is a
well-known domestic enterprise, with numerous supermarkets and shopping malls
under its umbrella.
Not long ago, Jingchang Department
Store opened a new mall in the west of the city and allocated 90 million yuan
for renovations. General Manager Tian Zhengcai was responsible for the
renovations. Tian Zhengcai approached Lixing Decoration, who then completed all
the renovations.
After the new mall was completed,
feedback was that the quality of the renovations was shoddy, and the shopping
mall experience was very poor. The Jingchang Department Store board of
directors launched an investigation and discovered a conspiracy between General
Manager Tian Zhengcai and Lixing Decoration. Tian Zhengcai and Lixing
Decoration had signed an 85 million yuan renovation contract, but an appraisal
of the project revealed that the entire renovation cost was only 50 million
yuan. The 35 million yuan difference was pocketed by Tian Zhengcai and Lixing
Decoration.
Because of the large sums involved,
the Jingchang Department Store board, enraged, filed a lawsuit against Tian
Zhengcai and Lixing Decoration for unfair trading and damage to the company's
interests, demanding the return of the 35 million yuan and compensation for the
losses incurred.
The court ultimately ruled in favor
of unfair trading and ordered Tian Zhengcai and Lixing Decoration to return the
embezzled 35 million yuan.
At this point, the matter had
nothing to do with Jia Leyuan. However, Jingchang Department Store's deputy
general manager, Shi Peng, had been perpetually oppressed by general manager
Tian Zhengcai, and he harbored deep resentment. Finally seizing an opportunity,
he refused to let Tian Zhengcai off. So he reported to the board, revealing
that Tian Zhengcai had previously been responsible for a 70 million yuan
renovation project for a shopping mall, which had been contracted by Jia Leyuan
Decoration. Shi Peng stated that, based on the previous lawsuit's claim that
the actual construction cost was only 50 million yuan, Tian Zhengcai and Jia
Leyuan must have collectively pocketed at least 20 million yuan from the
contract.
The Jingchang Department Store
board of directors authorized Shi Peng to investigate the matter.
Shi Peng then contacted Dong Lan
and offered her two solutions.
One, a private settlement where
Dong Lan would return 20 million yuan to Jingchang Department Store.
Two, Jingchang Department Store
Sue Jialeyuan and await the final
verdict.
Chu Qianmiao found this somewhat
incredulous.
"The project cost hasn't even
been judicially appraised, and he's already demanding 20 million yuan in
compensation. Isn't that ridiculous?"
Dong Lan looked at her and said,
"So, Lawyer Chu, think about what the other party is really asking
for."
Chu Qianmiao's mind raced, and she
understood.
This Shi Peng wasn't a good person
either. He was using his power for personal gain to force Dong Lan to
compromise. Since Jialeyuan couldn't afford a major lawsuit if it wanted to go
public, he was essentially pressuring Dong Lan to secretly bribe him. He was
probably scheming for Dong Lan to contact him and say, "Mr. Shi, isn't 20
million yuan a bit too much? How about I transfer 2 million yuan to your
personal account and we can settle this privately?"
After understanding this, Chu
Qianmiao felt a little apprehensive. She was both appalled by the calculations
and wickedness of business and by how quickly she had become able to see
through such ugliness.
She was truly afraid that if she
saw too much ugliness, she'd become indifferent to it.
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