Jiang Manyue's phone call, though seemingly out of jealousy and a desire to check up on him, was more of a reminder to Lu Fan to be wary of Gu Jia's various little schemes.

Lu Fan had no temper with Jiang Manyue anymore; he was very happy that his wife was so magnanimous.

After thinking for a moment, he still said to Jiang Manyue:

"It seems that if the other side is really targeting me, then you're in danger."

"I'll call Brother Li later and ask him to send more people over."

Jiang Manyue knew what Lu Fan was worried about, and didn't say anything vague or pretentious like she would be careful.

After the couple poured out their hearts to each other, they didn't go to sleep until late at night. But they did sleep.

There are far too many people who can't sleep on this sleepless night.

After Gu Ruan finished talking with Lu Fan, she informed Chairman Huo Linshan of the negotiation results before even returning to Harbour City.

"Nonsense, how can you agree to something like this? Gu Ruan, I was the one who chose you to succeed as president of Shengjing Company and manage the company's business."

"But your current decisions are leading the company into an abyss of no return. I am truly disappointed in you."

Gu Ru'an was drenched in cold sweat after being rebuked by Huo Linshan's few words. But she still couldn't help but want to defend herself:

"Chairman, it's not that I didn't talk to him properly, but Mr. Lu of Jiang Group, despite his young age, is really stubborn and unyielding."

"He insisted that he only wanted the store and its employees, nothing else."

"But this part is not Guangyuan's core assets, so we can actually resell it again."

Huo Linshan wouldn't listen; he only thought Gu Ruan was making excuses.

"If you can take it all together, why sell it separately?"

"If Guangyuan is really easy to sell, why does it have to bite us off so hard?"

“Now, with each transaction going back and forth, the losses are billions. Gu Ruan, you’re telling me that your family’s salary is 100 million? You dare to agree to something that harms the company’s fundamental interests? Who gave you that right?”

Gu Ru'an inwardly groaned, but could only bite the bullet and say:

"Chairman, this is just a verbal agreement; there is no written record of it."

"If you really feel it's not suitable and don't want to sell it, we can just tell the Jiang Group."

"That Mr. Lu is not an unreasonable person."

Huo Linshan felt that doing so would offend the Jiang Group to the extreme, but he didn't want to really drive away this potential customer.

He simply wanted to use the Jiang Group as a bottom line; above that line, he would sell to anyone who offered a higher price than Lu Fan.

Such a shameless idea was not formed in a day.

Huo Linshan didn't see anything wrong with it at all.

This is simply the cultural legacy of Shengjing Company. From top to bottom, they're all bandits.

Gu Ruan was very good at understanding these workplace jargon and at figuring out what his boss was thinking.

After some deliberation, Gu Ru'an, as if struck by a sudden inspiration, came up with a truly brilliant idea:

"Chairman, the negotiations with the Jiang Group are just one part of the plan."

"If you're not satisfied here, we can do other things." "That doesn't stop us from buying Guangyuan back and then reselling it for a huge profit."

Huo Linshan was indeed tempted. He suppressed his temper and still snorted at Gu Ruan in a rather unfriendly tone:

"Oh? What other plans do you have? Tell me about them."

Huo Linshan actually understood Guangyuan's internal problems even better than Gu Ruan. In his view, Guangyuan's current predicament was entirely its own fault.

Those who entered the company through nepotism turned a perfectly good enterprise into a mess; it's truly because their top leaders lacked courage.

If someone like him fires anyone who doesn't perform well, why would he worry about having no one to do the work and engaging in office politics?

Even Gu Ru'an, whom he personally promoted, would be thrown out of the company without hesitation if Huo Linshan failed to resolve the Guangyuan issue this time.

They are so cold-blooded and ruthless, showing no mercy whatsoever.

Gu Ruan was also aware of her situation.

That's why he's jumping around so energetically, trying to put out the mess he's made. 253

When Huo Linshan pressed Gu Ruan for answers, a brilliant idea suddenly struck her:

"Chairman, Baiyue is a rising star, while Guangyuan is declining, but both of them still have the strength to make a final push."

"If neither of these two companies can even compete with the top ten national chain supermarket brands, what if they were to merge? Wouldn't that make those businesses that already compete with Baiyue and Guangyuan uneasy, fearing that they would be squeezed out by the combined forces of the two?"

It's easy to squeeze down, but it's hard to get back up.

Huo Linshan thought about it and realized something was wrong:

"But the two companies are not cooperating or merging; Baiyue is going to take over Guangyuan's stores."

"Even if word gets out, it won't have much of an impact. At most, it'll just mean Baiyue has a few more stores..."

Upon hearing Huo Linshan's words, Gu Ruan, still not quite understanding, quickly explained:

"Chairman, this isn't about what the truth is, but rather what we want the truth to be!"