Chapter 63

Everyone was busy for half a day. At noon, Guan Xiong hosted a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown and invited both families to a dinner, both to thank Judy and her son for their help in finding a house and to welcome Jiawei's arrival.

Hearing that they were going to have lunch, Professor Wilson rushed over from the teaching and research office.

Mike took the initiative to sit next to Guan Ying and enthusiastically picked up food for her, completely ignoring the opinions of his parents and elders.

"Sister, what do you want to eat?" He pointed at the turntable on the round table with one hand and held the chopsticks in the other hand, pretending to turn the plate of fresh shrimps to Guan Ying.

"I'll do it myself, you eat yours." Guan Ying declined modestly.

Mike took the initiative and put two prawns on the bone plate in front of her. He used the chopsticks very skillfully.

As everyone watched, Guan Ying's face flushed. She'd been in many relationships before, but this was her first time in front of both sets of parents... She couldn't refuse in front of her parents, nor could she accept in front of them. She felt uneasy sitting next to Mike.

Jiawei sat on her other side, looking down and laughing, then she picked up her bone plate and held it in front of Mike: "Sister, I want two too."

"Sure. There are some for the elder sisters, some for the younger sisters, and some for the mothers." Mike was happy to serve the ladies. After picking up some for Jiawei, he picked up two for each of the two mothers, just like the little male host of the place, without any hesitation.

Professor Wilson, standing nearby, whispered to his wife, Judy, "Did you hear Mike call her what...sister?" In the Wilson family, "sister" is a term of endearment reserved exclusively for Wilson and Judy. Even when their son Mike was dating, he'd only ever called girls "honey," "baby," and "sweetie," but never "sister."

Judy smiled and gave Professor Wilson a large shrimp: "Eat yours!"

The two parents chatted happily about international news and current affairs and policies in Seattle; the three children sat opposite each other, each forming their own group.

Fortunately, Jiawei was there to provide some humor, otherwise Guan Ying wouldn't have been able to handle Mike. This guy was always hitting straight balls, with a bright offensive, and she was too worried to handle a single one. Jiawei, on the other hand, had just experienced a huge emotional ups and downs, so her speech was no longer as shy and evasive as a young girl. She suddenly let go of her soul and handled Mike with ease.

With Jiawei's help, Guan Ying just stuffed her mouth full, pretending she couldn't spare a word. Finally, the dinner was over. When it was time to say goodbye, Mike was reluctant to leave: "Sister, are you free tonight?"

Ah, young people are so stubborn? Guan Ying smiled bitterly: "I still have a lot of books to read today... Sorry."

Mike didn't hesitate at all and immediately asked, "Okay, what about tomorrow?"

"Ah..." Guan Ying was embarrassed.

"Don't be so cruel to me, I only have three days left..." Mike looked at her pitifully.

"Well, I'll go to the library tomorrow morning. Maybe..." Guan Ying thought, the library is so quiet, he has to hold it in.

"Good! I'll pick you up tomorrow morning!" Mike waved the car keys and left happily.

Jiawei came up at this time, resting her chin on Guan Ying's shoulder, laughing crookedly: "Haha, Guan Guan, there are times when you can't hold it back. What are you going to do now?"

"What should I do? I see you two are having a good chat. If you like it, take it!" Guan Ying knew that she was making fun of her on purpose, and tapped her forehead in annoyance.

Guan Ying said it casually, but Jiawei suddenly left her shoulder, hurriedly got into the car, and hid away.

"Hey, I know you were just helping me out and I was teasing you! You should also know that I didn't mean anything else. Why are you so sensitive!... I say, Jiawei... Jiawei?" Guan Ying patted the car door. Jiawei glanced at her from inside, reluctantly opened the rear door, and went to the last row, not wanting to sit in the same row with her.

"Everything was fine just now. Why are you so mean to Jiawei again? Can't you just talk to her nicely?" Mom, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around and criticized Guan Ying.

Guan Xiong started the car. This MPV was temporarily lent to the Guan family by Judy after dinner. It was originally used to pick up and drop off customers who came to view the house.

In front of her parents, she always bullied Jiawei... Sigh, Guan Ying wanted to slap herself. Why did she say such harsh words just now? Didn't it hurt Jiawei so much? She immediately stopped talking and looked back at Jiawei. Actually, Jiawei's sincere reaction to her was a good thing. At least it showed that their friendship had not deteriorated. Thinking of this, Guan Ying chuckled and stopped trying to comfort Jiawei. She sat in the middle row and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she didn't have to deal with Mike!

"Mother Guan, I don't like Mike!" Jiawei suddenly said from the back row.

Mom was puzzled. "Oh? But I saw you guys were having a great time chatting at the dinner table just now."

"That's because Mike is trying to steal Guan Guan from me. When I'm talking to Guan Guan, he always interrupts..." Jiawei was taking her anger out on Mike.

Mom chuckled, waved her hands, and turned to Guan Xiong and muttered, "It's a good thing I didn't introduce Mike to Jiawei."

After a short silence, Guan Ying's cell phone began to vibrate in her bag.

Jiawei patted her shoulder from behind: "Falling asleep? Look, is your phone vibrating?"

"Hmm? Oh..." Guan Ying had only been sitting in her father's car for a few minutes when she was already dozing off. Lately, she'd been cramming through books all day and night, which was more tiring than being on a business trip. She fumbled around in her head, lost for a while, and couldn't find her phone.

Jiawei was worried about her and simply sat next to her, helping her pick up her bag and search for it. "You never left your phone behind before, no wonder you didn't reply to my message a while ago. Now that I saw it with my own eyes, I can forgive you... I'd like to see who called, you're really persistent..."

The phone was vibrating for too long.

"Here, it's Cui Shanshan..." Jiawei glanced at the caller ID on the screen, handed the phone to Guan Ying, and took over Guan Ying's bag. While helping her tidy it up, she wondered who Cui Shanshan was. It was not uncommon for Guan Ying to have a boyfriend, but it was rare for her to have a girlfriend.

Guan Ying hurriedly picked up the phone: "Hello, Shanshan."

"Sister Guanguan, it's me." Last time in Guangzhou, Cui Shanshan insisted on calling her Manager Guan, but this time she suddenly changed to a more intimate name, which showed that she wanted to turn the enemy into a friend.

Jiawei was right next to them, and even without the hands-free mode on, she could still hear it clearly. She felt secretly jealous because she had never asked Guan Ying to call her so affectionately before!

Guan Ying had heard from Zheng Juyong that Cui Shanshan was Manager Xu's niece. Without much thought, she guessed some of the intentions and said straight to the point, "Is your uncle here? He didn't answer my calls. I don't know what happened to you."

Cui Shanshan: "My uncle is asleep. He had a terrible temper tonight, and I couldn't persuade him, so I had to wait until he fell asleep and secretly call you. Sister Guanguan, you're the only one who can help us now. Can you please not be angry with my uncle? He's been upset by a lot of things and has become confused, but I know this has nothing to do with you. Mr. Zheng has always told us that he is fully responsible for the trade with Saudi Arabia, but my uncle has always misunderstood your relationship."

Back then at Fangxiang Pavilion, Guan Ying had explained to Cui Shanshan in person the relationship between herself and Zheng Juyong. At that time, she didn't know that Uncle Zheng would change his usual behavior for the sake of steel plant reform and even borrow 300 million yuan from the government and financial institutions. So she was opposed to purchasing Fenghua's fine desulfurization system. Later, she did leave as she said and never got involved again, so Cui Shanshan naturally believed her.

Guan Ying heard her attitude and knew that she was a discerning person, so he told her frankly, "Just trust me. It's no secret. Xicheng Steel just went through an internal restructuring a while ago. To optimize efficiency, the foreign trade company and the steel mill's marketing department merged their personnel, and now they are all under the management of General Manager Zheng. I will be studying in the United States for the next year, so I'm temporarily on unpaid leave. In fact, from the time Fenghua purchased the two fine desulfurization systems, I had no involvement in anything that happened afterwards. Therefore, I really didn't understand what Brother Xu was talking about on the phone earlier. I hope he didn't misunderstand me. Please explain it to him."

Cui Shanshan kept nodding, then listened carefully and said eagerly, "Sister Guanguan, I've dealt with you before, so of course I trust you! Xicheng Steel's drastic reforms have been reported in the news a long time ago... It's my uncle who's not in the mood tonight. By daybreak, he'll definitely regret it!"

After explaining the misunderstanding, Cui Shanshan hesitated and said, "So, Sister Guan Guan, you are in the United States now? Then you are busy with your studies, right? I... disturbed you..." She was not sure whether Guan Ying would help.

By then, the car had arrived at their new home. Guan Xiong and his wife, noticing the strangeness of the call, tiptoed out of the car and into the house, not wanting to disturb them. Jiawei, on the other hand, took care of Guan Ying's belongings, allowing her to concentrate on the call. As Guan Ying sat down on the sofa, the three of them gathered around her. Seeing their concern, Guan Ying simply turned on the speakerphone.

"Shanshan, it's lunch time in the United States now, so just tell me in detail. I know you called because you want me to help find a lawyer, but I have to know what you want the lawyer to do so that I can ask him to do it, right? Don't worry, I will do my best." Guan Yingxian gave a reassurance.

"Sister Guan Guan, thank you so much! We are also desperate. I remembered that you had many connections in Dubai before, and you never treated us as your rivals. You always wanted to cooperate with us for mutual benefit. You are very broad-minded. That's why we bother you again." Cui Shanshan was still trying to make amends, fearing that Guan Ying would be pushed away by her uncle's angry words. This was the last straw.

Guan Ying, tired of hearing so much formality, interrupted her: "Shanshan, let's start with why your Southern Steel is in Saudi Arabia!"

"Oh," Cui Shanshan paused, as if to gather her thoughts, and responded, "It's a long story. Actually, when we were bidding for Fenghua Technology's refined desulfurization system, Southern Steel wasn't a sure winner. After Fenghua's technical team came to Guangzhou for an on-site inspection, we still had to pass the final internal audit at Shenzhen headquarters, primarily to review our financial situation. After all, they didn't want to go through the trouble of setting up the system only to have the steel plant unable to operate. To be honest, our financial situation was very bad, with a serious deficit. Sigh... My uncle had thought he could expand into the Middle East market, but he didn't expect it to start off well and he was almost ripped off by Sabur. By then, we weren't focused on making a profit, just minimizing losses... Sister Guanguan, do you still remember that Fangxiang Restaurant?"

Guan Ying: "Of course."

Cui Shanshan continued, "You gave us Mr. Zhang's business card back then, which really helped us a lot. Dong Zhiqiao had been helping his father find funding channels. Southern Steel took too big a leap in the early years, and in recent years it hasn't been able to keep up with the market, but it can't turn back. Its finances have long been in tatters, unlike Xicheng Steel, which has been taking steady steps..."

The old manager listened, nodding frequently. For the past thirty years, under Zheng Dongfang's management, Xicheng Steel, though somewhat conservative and inflexible, had indeed maintained a steady course. He hadn't understood it at first, but now, looking back, he admired Zheng Dongfang. But thinking of Zheng, a lifelong prudent man, taking a risk in his old age, the old manager couldn't help but sigh.

Cui Shanshan: "So, in the short term, we couldn't get a loan through formal channels, so we had to look for private capital. Lido Group is very influential in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, has strong financial resources, and the interest rates are not exorbitant... Dong Zhiqiao has found countless intermediaries to introduce him, but he couldn't get in touch with Mr. Zhang. Unexpectedly, he hit the jackpot that night!"

Guan Ying recalled: Master Liu's lawsuit that night was not a big deal, and Zhang Rong came forward to settle it very appropriately, but Dong Zhiqiao insisted on calling the person in charge afterwards, which showed that there was some hidden secret. She left Zhang Rong's business card to him at the time because she saw his intention, but she did not expect that there was such an important matter behind it.

Cui Shanshan: "Haha, Dong Zhiqiao and I were terrible at acting. We only realized later that Mr. Zheng had been keeping an eye on things from that moment on. I don't know how Mr. Zheng managed it, but Mr. Zhang somehow managed to leak the news of our private lending to someone inside Fenghua, and ultimately, our review failed. Fenghua sent another technical team north to conduct an on-site inspection of your Xicheng Steel. The news of your government partnership later played a significant role, and the review went smoothly... The refined desulfurization system is a true test for Xicheng Steel, but it's the final step for us at Nanfang Steel. We owe Mr. Zhang the money, and we don't know where to find it... Just when we were feeling down, Mr. Zheng suddenly approached us. He's quite daring. We were angry, but we couldn't blame him. That's how business works: it's a fight to the death, and everyone relies on their own abilities..."

Guan Ying frowned. No wonder Zheng Juyong invited Zhang Rong to Jingxi for the engagement party! Zhang Rong had simply done Zheng Juyong a favor by facilitating his engagement with Qiao Qi. Naturally, this "matchmaker" had to be a witness. But on the day of the engagement party, she had let slip that Qiao Qi was pregnant, thus inadvertently helping Zhang Rong to deliver a favor to that "guest"... Haha, Zhang Rong was really good at business!

However, Guan Ying had originally thought that the "guest" was targeting Qian Shaowei by targeting his close associate, Qiao Qi, a blackmailer. Zheng Juyong had stood in the way. Zhang Rong had reminded her of this very thing when she finished her cigarette, which was why she'd been so anxious for Zheng Juyong to break up with Qiao Qi. To get Qiao Qi to relent, she'd even gone so far as to get him to admit she was pregnant with his child—such ridiculous talk... But from what Cui Shanshan had just said, it seemed as if the "guest" was actually pleased to see Qiao Qi and Zheng Juyong together. Otherwise, Zhang Rong wouldn't have helped facilitate that engagement party...

Guan Ying's frown grew deeper and deeper. She never expected that the things she thought were settled would be overturned and come back again!

Cui Shanshan sighed deeply over the phone. "Hey! At first, we thought Mr. Zheng was just showing off. After all, when he was in Guangzhou, he always pretended to be a dandy. Dong Zhiqiao even secretly gathered a group of thugs, hoping to find an opportunity to beat him up... But he said he was here to give us business. He wanted to give up the Saudi business!"

He resorted to trickery in secret, most likely because he felt his victory was unfair and wanted to compensate him! He had done it but couldn't bring himself to do it. Zheng Juyong was truly soft-hearted and indecisive... Guan Ying snorted and laughed: "Haha, this is indeed something he can do."

Cui Shanshan: "We owe so much money, we must pay it back. Although the business that Mr. Zheng introduced is not big, it is indeed an opportunity. The fence pipes are not high-end products...To put it bluntly, we have no choice now."

Guan Ying interjected, "So that's how it is. So, after the order was transferred, you went to Saudi Arabia to deliver this shipment? Kassim has already bought your steel from Hassan, so he shouldn't have made things difficult for you... But I remember this shipment was supposed to be delivered a long time ago. Why did you stay in Saudi Arabia for so long?"

Cui Shanshan said anxiously, "Sister Guanguan, this is exactly what I want to talk about! Mr. Zheng really wanted to help us. He was worried that we wouldn't be familiar with the place and that something might go wrong with our first deal, so he came to Saudi Arabia with us. He asked a worker he knew to help him, and he personally oversaw the loading and unloading and transshipment. He ate and slept in the freight yard every day, and at night he set up a simple tent on the top of his pickup truck. He was more responsible for that shipment than my uncle and Dong Zhiqiao. If he hadn't been watching over that $300,000 worth of goods, we wouldn't have been able to complete it so smoothly. Thanks to him, we've changed our minds about him and now consider him a friend!"

Guan Ying wondered, it sounded like everything was going smoothly, didn't it?

Cui Shanshan continued, "Boss Kassim also likes Mr. Zheng. He says he's diligent, hardworking, and trustworthy, and he wants to renew his contract with him for a larger one. Mr. Zheng is truly remarkable. He gave us such a large order without blinking an eye. Kassim always thought we were partners, and knowing Mr. Zheng would be responsible, he agreed. Our goods kept coming in, but Mr. Zheng suddenly said he had to go back to China for family matters. He said he'd be back in a week, but he hasn't returned yet!"

"He hasn't gone back yet?" Guan Ying was anxious.

Cui Shanshan: "Yes! The phone was always accessible a few days ago. He even told Dong Zhiqiao his flight number and agreed to pick him up the next day. But the next day, the phone was no longer accessible. He later contacted us only by email, and the messages were always sent around 8 pm. At the beginning, loading and unloading the goods was fine, and we at Southern Steel could handle it ourselves. But later, when it came time to deliver the goods, he had to help coordinate many things. Customers only do business with us because they recognize his face!"

Hearing this, Guan Ying already felt that something was wrong and her heart began to beat with uneasiness.

Cui Shanshan grew increasingly anxious as she spoke. "It's slow, so what? Even if the port had to pay a site fee, we'd accept it. But our luck is truly terrible! Saudi Arabia has suddenly leaked word that they're raising steel tariffs! We were wondering why Mr. Zheng's emails were so slow, and why isn't Mr. Kassim worried at all? It turns out he already knew the news and is regretting signing the contract with us so early. He's desperately hoping we'll delay delivery so he can force us to lower the price."

Once rumors of a tariff increase spread, suppliers' inventories piled up quickly, market risk aversion intensified, and steel prices experienced a strange, rapid decline before rebounding. This period was too short, so only insiders with inside information would dare to make moves. While Mr. Kassim liked Zheng Juyong, their friendship wasn't close, and as a business matter, he deserved this benefit. Alas, what bad luck indeed...

Guan Ying hadn't paid attention to the Middle East trade situation in a while, so she asked anxiously, "Is the tariff information accurate?"

Cui Shanshan: "Once we got wind of it, we asked people around to find out. Dong Zhiqiao's father also did some research back home, and that's when we finally figured it out. It turns out the Saudi Arabian Foreign Trade Bureau is planning to launch an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese steel companies at the end of the month. Once the investigation starts, you should know, Sister Guanguan, whether it's the deposit or the temporary anti-dumping tax, our only price advantage will be gone, and we won't be able to move our goods!"

Cui Shanshan and her team are already in a risk-averse market mood, so it's no wonder that Manager Xu is losing his patience.

Guan Ying finally understood everything and asked, "So you hope to find a lawyer to urge Kassim to fulfill his contract as soon as possible?"

Cui Shanshan paused, her tone ashamed. "It's not just that... We've been trying to figure out the situation these past two days, and we're really anxious. Something went wrong when Dong Zhiqiao was supervising the loading and unloading... Boss Kassim said he wanted to have a third-party agency come over to inspect the quality. This wasn't even a step in the last transaction. They're clearly trying to drag things out! Alas, to my shame, Dong Zhiqiao did give him some leverage... We're new here, and we don't know any reliable bigwigs here. We don't know who to talk to for a lawyer, so my uncle thought of you, Sister Guanguan... Even if Mr. Zheng came back for a bit, it would be helpful, ah!"

How could Dong Zhiqiao, a rookie lawyer, be any better than Zheng Juyong was back then? This was much more complicated. The other party had a legitimate case and was confident of victory. What lawyer, knowing they were going to lose, would want to ruin their reputation?

It’s difficult...Guan Ying just wishes he was a lawyer!