"That's...that's utterly shameless!"
He held it in for a long time before finally squeezing out the sentence through gritted teeth. He could still feel Qiu Fengxian's smug face flashing before his eyes, making him feel nauseous.
He looked utterly dejected, let out a long sigh, and glanced at Zhou Qiqi, who was also "fuming," before finally speaking:
"Qiqi, you...you're still...too young and impetuous..."
He shook his head, his tone full of regret.
"Why didn't you tell me beforehand that you had a backup design? Now look what's happened! A few words from that Qiu guy have spurred you to spill the beans! Knowing his nature, he'll definitely go all out to snatch up that backup material too! If that happens, we'll be completely out of business, and if he keeps raising prices, we'll suffer even greater losses!"
Zhang Guoqiang grew increasingly worried as he spoke, as if he could already see Qiu Fengxian hoarding goods and demanding exorbitant prices, leaving their First Garment Factory utterly exploited.
He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, but Zhou Qiqi didn't say anything, her face just turned bright red.
Zhang Guoqiang thought she was confused from anger and didn't have the heart to say anything more.
The two rode their bikes back to the First Garment Factory in silence.
Upon entering the office, Zhang Guoqiang noticed that Zhou Qiqi remained silent. He assumed she was overwhelmed by the pressure and didn't want to talk, so he quickly offered some words of comfort.
"Qiqi, I was wrong just now. I shouldn't have said that to you. You designed the backup plan yourself, and I shouldn't have discouraged you. It's okay, let's think of another way."
Zhou Qiqi didn't say anything. After entering the office, she turned around and went to the coat rack to hang up her coat. Then she turned back around.
“Director Zhang,” she said in a clear voice, “who told you that I actually have reserve funds?”
"What?! What did you say?"
Zhang Guoqiang suddenly jumped up from his chair, his eyes wide open, completely unable to keep up with Zhou Qiqi's change.
He thought the child had been so angry that he was talking nonsense.
Seeing Zhang Guoqiang scratching his head in frustration, his face contorted in a grimace, Zhou Qiqi couldn't help but laugh more and more.
Her shoulders began to shrug slightly. At first, it was a suppressed chuckle, but then she couldn't hold back any longer. A clear laugh rolled out of her throat, growing louder and louder until she finally clutched her stomach and bent over, laughing so hard she couldn't catch her breath.
"Ouch... Ouch, ouch..."
She rubbed her aching stomach from laughing, tears welling in her eyes. It took her a while to straighten up, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling with mischief, and her tone light and cheerful.
"Director Zhang, it seems my acting skills are not bad. You completely believed me, so these marks I made weren't for nothing."
She was panting, but she smiled and stretched out her left hand, which she had been clenching, and presented it to Zhang Guoqiang.
There were seven or eight deep, purplish-red nail marks on her slender, fair palms, clearly made by pinching with all her might.
Zhang Guoqiang stared at the shocking fingernail marks, then looked at Zhou Qiqi, who was grinning like a sly fox, and his mind went completely blank. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
"Master Zhou... what are you doing? What kind of act are you putting on? You're driving me crazy!"
"What's going on?"
Zhou Qiqi raised an eyebrow, her brows radiating confidence as if she had everything under control. "An empty city ploy, plus luring the enemy into a trap!"
She stopped being coy, a cold, mocking smile playing on her lips, and explained,
“What I just said to Qiu Fengxian—the backup designs, the British camel wool—it was all made on the spot! It was all improvised and conceived along the way from here to there; not a single word of it is true!”
"What?! Made up on the spot?!"
Zhang Guoqiang's eyes widened in disbelief, and his mouth gaped open wide enough to fit an egg.
"Why...why did you make this up to fool him?"
Zhou Qiqi walked to the window. The warm afternoon sun shone on her, making her radiant in her bright red double-faced wool coat. Her eyes shone with an air of unwavering confidence, tinged with a hint of cold mockery.
"Why? It's simple. I'll give him a ladder so he can climb higher. 'Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad.' Qiu Fengxian is determined to dig his own grave, so I might as well add fuel to the fire and make it burn even brighter!"
She analyzed with unwavering confidence, each statement radiating an air of masterful composure:
"I bet he's frantically calling on his confidants right now, figuring out how to raise the money, wishing he could swallow up all the British camel wool on the market! I'd prefer he's not greedy enough and buy up all the expensive and unnecessary accessories too, that would be suicide!"
She turned around and looked at Zhang Guoqiang.
"The third factory had a backlog of inventory and swallowed that batch of high-priced Australian wool, which had already emptied its coffers. Where did he get the money? Either he embezzled public funds or he took out another loan. Either way, he was pushing himself to the brink of ruin."
She paused, her tone resolute and unwavering.
"Because I've already made up my mind. No matter how bad things get, even if the production line really stops and I can't get the order cancellation fees to my doorstep, I will never set foot on the black market, and I will never buy any material that Qiu Fengxian has our blood on it! I won't let him earn a single penny!"
"He tried to strangle me? I just flipped his table!"
Zhang Guoqiang was completely confused, feeling as if his mind had been turned into mush. He seemed to understand that Zhou Qiqi was trying to trick Qiu Fengxian, but he still didn't quite grasp it.
"Then why... did you say you were going to 'give him money' before?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
