If Liu Nian hadn't mentioned it, Lu Fan wouldn't have known that such a situation had occurred at the former soy sauce factory.

Lu Fan nodded and said solemnly:

"Okay, I'll leave the security of this factory area entirely to you."

Such trust deeply moved Liu Nian:

"Don't worry, Mr. Lu, my team of brothers and I will definitely not let you down!"

Lu Fan nodded and saw off the proud and arrogant Liu Nian. Now, they just had to wait for Shengjing Company to make its move.

After Howard and his team returned to Shengjing Company, they informed the upper management and board members about the negotiation situation in Nanshan City.

Zhao Jinshui attributed the failure of the negotiations entirely to Howard's lack of effort.

They completely forgot that he was in charge this whole time, and that he had used every means of coercion and inducement.

Howard explained that the other party had absolutely no intention of being acquired by a large company, and that saying anything more would be futile.

"Whether it's four hundred million or seven hundred million, the other party remains unmoved." The board members shared Zhao Jinshui's view, believing that Howard wasn't putting in any effort.

"Otherwise, it's just a small factory that's just starting out. How could it dare to compete with us?"

Howard failed miserably, and that's it. The higher-ups are complaining.

He didn't explain much, and after handing over all his work, he submitted his resignation to the company.

And this time, the higher-ups showed absolutely no intention of trying to retain Howard:

"Hmph, they all don't know what's good for them. Jinshui, you're in charge of this matter from now on."

Zhao Jinfang, who was speaking, was one of the directors and also the mistress of the legal representative of Shengjing Company.

Zhao Jinshui is her younger brother, who was promoted directly to marketing director, so it's no exaggeration to say that Zhao Jinfang practiced nepotism.

Not content with promoting her younger brother Zhao Jinshui, Zhao Jinfang continued to give instructions:

"You should represent the company to meet with distributors in various regions and the heads of supermarkets and shopping malls, and talk to them about this matter."

"We must make sure they stop that small company's distribution process in the coming period."

The heads of the business department and other departments exchanged bewildered glances; they were already dissatisfied with Zhao Jinshui's undeserved promotion.

Now, bypassing them and the board of directors, they're privately contacting various downstream entities. Isn't that a bit inappropriate?

"Mr. Zhao, isn't it a bit inappropriate to just take action like this without notifying the other senior executives?"

As the boss's close partner, Zhao Jinfang always had the final say in the company, and she walked sideways like a crab.

Now, seeing someone object, he immediately raised his eyebrows and glared, shouting:

"What do you know? Is it necessary to notify the higher-ups about such a trivial matter?"

“We, the board members, are not like you bunch of lowly employees; we’re very busy every day.”

But Zhao Jinfang could act with impunity in the company, and if anything went wrong, the boss would bail her out.

These "worthless laborers" don't have that much backing; if something really goes wrong, they probably won't be the first ones pushed out to take the blame.

So they all started offering suggestions:

“Doing this will definitely give people something to talk about. If any of the distributors or channel partners in various places are not careful and make a scene, we will definitely be the ones who suffer.”

"After all, those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose. Our company is big and powerful."

"Although our legal department can resolve legal crises, there are also public relations crises."

“When we visited Nanshan City, we also visited their factory. One of their important marketing strategies is live streaming.”

"If this matter gets blown up online and widely publicized, even the boss will have a hard time dealing with it."

The head of public relations stopped and explained why this matter was difficult to handle.

Finally, they convinced Zhao Jinfang to stop her from acting rashly. Zhao Jinfang pondered this and asked the others:

"Go on, you can't just stop saying this and that, and then just let them off so easily, can you?"

"I'm telling you, I can't swallow this."

Seeing that her older sister was clearly going to teach the other party a lesson, Zhao Jinshui knew that this matter couldn't be brought to the forefront.

He immediately had an idea, but to prevent people from other departments from taking credit, Zhao Jinshui didn't give anyone a chance to listen in:

"Alright, I'll talk to my sister about this properly. You can go out now."

Several managers cursed their bad luck under their breath and whispered among themselves after leaving the office: "If I were Howard, I wouldn't work here either. Look at the faces of these despicable people."

"Hmph, maybe the director was squeezed out by these two Zhaos, otherwise why would he quit so decisively?"

"This Zhao Jinshui is definitely up to no good. Let's hope this fire doesn't spread to us, or we'll end up like Howard!"

"By the way, where did Howard go? Does anyone know anything about him?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure."

As the voices and footsteps of the crowd faded into the distance, Zhao Jinshui continued to give Zhao Jinfang bad advice.

After a long while, Zhao Jinfang nodded in satisfaction:

"Alright, I know you're dedicated to your work. Once you're settled in the director's position, I'll whisper some sweet nothings in President Gu's ear, and I guarantee he'll get you on the board of directors to help me get recognized."

Zhao Jinshui immediately beamed and showered him with flattery.