introduce

Two days later, the black van sped from Xuncheng to the north of the city, straddling the speed limit line, and with a beautiful drift, came to a stop in front of the Xingzilou landmark.

The sun had completely set, and only a few young people, all unfamiliar faces, remained on the path, not in a hurry to go home from get off work.

Gu Nan slammed the car door shut, leaned most of his body against the car body, and put a cigarette in his mouth, but didn't light it.

Within five minutes, footsteps approached. Gu Nan grinned, his expression playful: "No need to rush, I can wait until you finish your meeting."

The person's composed steps faltered slightly for a few seconds, her face flushed, and she waved her hands repeatedly at Gu Nan, saying, "No, Sister Nan, please don't tease me."

Outsiders say that Xingzilou, despite having no power or influence, managed to establish a foothold in Beicheng within just two years, despite the pressure from the five major families. They believe that his boss is unfathomable.

No one knew that the real power holder was the woman in front of them who had no integrity.

When the person in charge of Lu's came to apologize, he was on the phone with Gu Nan.

In the past, out of respect, he would wait for Gu Nan to hang up first after the call, and Gu Nan never hesitated to hang up immediately after giving her instructions. This time, he didn't think much of it, put down his phone, and invited her in.

Half an hour later, the meeting ended unhappily. Looking down, I saw that my phone was still connected to another call.

That moment felt longer than half his life.

My mind raced through a lot of thoughts.

Thirty minutes ago, he made sarcastic remarks, saying that even with the Lu family's current power and status, they had still been sabotaged.

Twenty minutes ago, he started a fight, vehemently denying the Lu family's sincerity and aggressively demanding an explanation.

Ten minutes ago, he shamelessly declared that he was "losing his temper" in his capacity as chairman of Xingzilou.

He rubbed his face haphazardly with both hands.

For the seventh time, I looked down, finally picked up my phone, hurriedly finished my closing remarks, and hung up. Then I faced the corner of the wall and dry-washed my face for two minutes.

Actually, it's nothing much. Apart from a few original shareholders, everyone else at Xingzi Building was promoted by him. When his subordinates were inefficient, he would get angry much more than he does today. When he was fighting with competitors for resources, he was even more ruthless than he is today.

He had only ever presented himself as an obedient and compliant person in front of Gu Nan, and now that his true self was exposed, he felt embarrassed.

He mumbled and grumbled for a long time without getting to the bottom of it.

Gu Nan, unaware of his chaotic thoughts, patted his shoulder, gestured for him to get in the car, and casually praised, "You have presence."

"...Sister Nan, stop talking."

"So what? The trial run is scheduled to be completed on the 20th, and the goods are still stuck in customs on the 19th. Do you think you can get rid of us with a 10% profit? Do you think we're beggars?"

"……no."

"I was afraid you wouldn't dare to speak up, but I didn't expect..."

"Ahem, Sister Nan," the man coughed dryly, pressing his fist to his lips. He was surprised to find himself covered in a light sweat from the slight movement, and quickly changed the subject, "Shen Ming contacted me."

Gu Nan popped a piece of chewing gum into her mouth and slowly looked up at the phone screen he was being handed to her.

[Chu Lin mentioned that Mr. Chen graduated from Stanford, so he's Mr. Chen's senior. I wonder if Mr. Chen is interested in the 2.1 series robot models.]

Her brow twitched, and the corners of her lips curved into a half-smile.

Chu Lin is the young master of the Chu family. The Shen and Chu families are old friends. They extended an olive branch to Xingzilou together, especially at a time when Xingzilou and the Lu family were having an unpleasant cooperation. She had no doubt about Shen Ming's determination to completely crush Lu Yushi.

Chen Li put away his phone and analyzed the situation in Beicheng: "By dragging the Wan family into this, you have actually prevented Lu Yushi from attacking the Wan family."

No sooner had Madam Wan been transferred to customs than something unexpected appeared in the Lu family's urgent shipment, resulting in a fine and an order to return the goods.

If Xingzilou were to cooperate with the Shen and Chu families at this point, even in order to balance the power in Beicheng, Lu Yushi would have to swallow his anger and win over the Wan family.

After all, the two young masters, Shen and Chu, are childhood friends, while Qiu Jingxun only met Lu Yushi through a third party. When it comes to a critical moment, if he chooses to protect himself, the Lu family will definitely be isolated and helpless in Beicheng.

"I think that the downfall of the Lu family would be detrimental to us."

Mutual checks and balances are always better than one party dominating.

The car remained silent for a long time. Chen Li glanced back and forth, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

Gu Nan started the engine and casually asked, "What do you want to say?"

“I believe the Lu family is far more sincere towards us than Shen Ming.” He paused, his voice lowering slightly, “Are we really going to cooperate with Shen Ming to scheme against… Lu Yushi?”

Gu Nan gave him a meaningful look, then looked away and focused on driving.

Chen Li shut up, thinking he wouldn't get a reply.

Not wanting to cross the street at the next red light, Gu Nan laughed nonchalantly and said, "When did I ever plan to cooperate with Shen Ming? Going to great lengths to help Lu Yushi win over the Wan family, is that what you call scheming?"

"Huh?" Chen Li scratched his ear, "Winning over the Wan family?"

The Lu family's foothold in Beicheng was built by Old Master Lu. Lu Yushi naturally had his own power, but it was simply a pipe dream for him to fight against the other four major families on his own. The gradually declining Wan family just happened to come into view.

Madam Wan had been transferred to the customs office for less than a month, and problems arose with the goods she handled. If she dared to suppress the issue, she would be breaking the law; if she submitted a report, she would be offending the Lu family.

Or provide evidence to prove that someone wanted to use the Wan family to provoke Lu Yushi.

With surveillance cameras everywhere, finding such evidence is too easy.

Gu Nan believed that Lu Yushi wouldn't be foolish enough to misunderstand Madam Wan, but she didn't expect that Madam Wan would never mention being framed.

He submitted a report as per procedure, without pretending to be ignorant or claiming ignorance, but instead shifted the blame onto Lu's younger uncle.

The country of origin for this shipment is the same as the location of the sanatorium where Lu's uncle works. Back then, Lu Yushi forcefully kept people abroad. Could it be that Lu's uncle harbored resentment and had something prohibited from being imported placed in the cargo containers?

As an outsider, it wouldn't be appropriate for her to interfere in the Lu family's affairs.

Thinking of something, Gu Nan asked, "Has Young Master Wan not said anything either?"

"Young Master Wan supports all of Madam Wan's decisions. As for Madam Wan, I heard she made quite a scene and even ended up in the hospital that night. However, it was the Wan family's private hospital, so I don't know the specifics."

After saying that, Chen Li suddenly understood what Gu Nan meant by "winning over the Wan family" and shook his head, saying, "It seems that the Wan family is unwilling to get involved with Lu Yushi."

If someone frames you, won't you be suspected of crying wolf if you don't prove your innocence? If you want to prove your innocence, shouldn't the two people who were framed work together to find the real culprit? In that case, whether the two admit it or not, in the eyes of outsiders, it would be considered cooperation.

Madam Wan denied being framed, thus easily avoiding the two options that Gu Nan had to choose from.

Gu Nan smiled and said she would like to meet this Madam Wan when she has the chance.

Chen Li's eyes flickered, his eyelashes concealing the probing look in his eyes; he couldn't immediately discern Gu Nan's purpose.

I originally thought that it would be easy for Xingzilou to develop and join the ranks of the five major families by taking advantage of the Lu family.

Gu Nan then hinted to Shen Ming to tamper with the goods and instructed him to test the Lu family's bottom line, seemingly preferring a long-term partnership with Shen Ming.

Now, all this trouble has been for the sake of pushing the Wan family toward Lu Yushi.

He rubbed his head; it was all mush.

Gu Nan glanced at it and chuckled, "What?"

Chen Li: "Where are we going?"

"Huai Shi, let me introduce you to a friend. He's quite experienced with the 2.1 series robot models."

Chen Li was stunned for a moment, then blurted out: "2.1 series?"

The 2.0 series was launched less than half a year ago, and the 2.1 series was probably just entering the early stages of development. Even if we only cooperated with the Shen family on this one series, the cycle would be at least three years.

Chen Li's head started to ache again, and he couldn't understand: "Three years of deep ties with the Shen family?"

Doesn't this still leave Lu Yushi in a helpless and isolated position?

"You insist on cooperating with him? The mining machines won't arrive anytime soon, and the cooperation can't be started or stopped in just a few days. During this time, Shen Ming will spare no effort to win you over. As for the technological barriers of Xingzi Tower, it depends on how you negotiate."

Chen Li strained his ears, and the more he listened, the more uneasy he felt. His face gradually contorted, and a curse stuck in his throat.

They're deceiving both sides!

By delaying the Lu family's response regarding whether to continue or terminate the cooperation, they created the illusion that Shen Mingyi intended to join forces.

He swallowed hard, hesitated for a long time, and still felt it was necessary to give Gu Nan a heads-up in advance.

"What if Lu Yushi and Shen Ming's relationship improves, and they realize we've been playing them for fools, and they join forces to deal with Xingzilou?"

"Get out of the car," Gu Nan said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "They'll only be enemies."

His tone was casual, and his expression was confident.

For a moment, Chen Li felt that these two group heirs were nothing more than puppets in Gu Nan's hands; whether they were friends or enemies depended entirely on how Gu Nan adjusted the strings in her hands.

This wasn't the first time Gu Nan had taken an unconventional approach, nor was it the first time he had disagreements with Gu Nan. Every time he tried his best to dissuade her, the final result made him look like a joke.

"All right."

Putting aside her wild thoughts, she got out of the car and looked at the burly man. She sighed inwardly. At 184 cm tall and with years of fitness training, he was already a very strong man in front of most people. Compared to the man in front of her, she suddenly seemed to become just another ordinary person.

"Hello." They clasped hands, looking slightly reserved.

The man's eyes slanted upwards when he smiled, which was quite incongruous with his muscular physique. He nudged Gu Nan with his elbow, his expression "lewd": "Boss, he looks much more like a pretty boy than Lu Yushi."

Gu Nan kicked him away and introduced, "Chen Li, chairman of Xingzilou... Jin Yan, has only been back in the country for a short time. He has more experience with the 2.1 series models, but he doesn't understand the domestic market." She gave him a look but didn't speak.

Chen Ke understood; naturally, the Shen family knew more about the domestic market.

Jin Yan chuckled and raised his chin at Chen Li, as if that was a greeting, and then continued to lean his arm on Gu Nan's shoulder as if he had no bones.

"Why are we bringing up Xingzilou again? Should I help him or your husband? I heard your husband had a batch of mining machines seized by customs. What happened? It's all over the place. People are saying that the Lu family and Xingzilou's first collaboration has been unsuccessful, and Old Man Lu even called your husband back for a lecture."

Gu Nan frowned and retorted, "Your husband!"

Chen Li paused for a moment, then glanced at him inquiringly.