Shen's Group President's Office —
Assistant Xu Han bowed respectfully to Shen Baiyan, who was engrossed in his work: "President, Mayor Huang is already waiting for you in the meeting room!"
Shen Baiyan looked up at him, stunned for a few seconds, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes when he heard Huang Jianhan's name.
Huang Jianhan is the mayor of City A. This year marks his fifth year in office in City A. With the next mayoral election approaching, Huang Jianhan has not made any outstanding contributions to City A since his transfer. On the contrary, he has repeatedly made things difficult for entrepreneurs who come to City A to invest and start businesses. Therefore, Shen Baiyan dislikes this mayor very much, but since he is still the top leader of City A, he cannot afford to offend him.
"He's alone?"
"No, there's also County Chief Tan and a Japanese man."
Upon hearing this, Shen Baiyan's eyes revealed an undisguised coldness.
What was bound to happen has happened.
Six months ago, Tan Kui, the county magistrate of Yuanxie County, approached him, wanting to buy a piece of land in the center of Yuanxie County from the Shen Group at a low price to build a Huadao Friendship Park, located opposite the Martyrs' Park. Shen Baiyan decisively refused. Unexpectedly, Tan Kui had actually gotten involved with Huang Jianhan.
Not long ago, Huang Jianhan accompanied Tan Kui to Shen's company to negotiate with him. They also pressured Shen Baiyan in the name of the government to sell the land to them at a low price. Shen Baiyan was very angry, but he did not dare to confront Huang Jianhan directly. He politely refused the two of them.
Otherwise, given Shen Baiyan's hatred for the island nation, he would definitely slap those two traitors a few times.
Shen Baiyan knew that Huang Jianhan and Tan Kui would not give up that piece of land, so during this period, Shen Baiyan had people keep an eye on the two men's movements. It wasn't until the twelve sacrificial murders occurred that Shen Baiyan discovered Huang Jianhan's underhanded tactics.
Shen Baiyan learns that the exorcist who gave Li Shengping advice is an important retainer of Huang Jianhan, and their goal is to win the next mayoral election.
There are three candidates for the next mayoral election: Huang Jianhan, the incumbent mayor; Zhao Yongjun, the director of the municipal police bureau; and Chang Jianshu, the deputy mayor.
The twelve murders related to sacrificial rites were committed with cruel and heinous methods. If they are discovered and published online, they will surely cause panic in society. All the pressure will then fall on Zhao Yongjun. If the murderers are not caught, Zhao Yongjun will inevitably be affected by this incident and lose his election at the conference. In that case, Huang Jianhan will have one less competitor.
Huang Jianhan was surprised that the police station solved the case so quickly and caught the murderer. They were probably trying to figure out how to deal with the exorcist's apprentice.
Shen Baiyan guessed that Huang Jianhan's purpose in coming to him this time was to put pressure on him to sell the land to Yuanxie County as soon as possible.
Thinking of this, Shen Baiyan instructed his assistant: "Go and present Mayor Huang with the five-year-old green tea that Zhou Ze gave everyone for the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"Yes!" Xu Han turned and left respectfully.
As the leading conglomerate in City A, and with Shen Baiyan being the undisputed richest man on the rich list, the Shen Group holds a pivotal position in City A. While Shen's companies are located throughout the country, City A is the root of the Shen family. Therefore, Shen Baiyan has always been cautious in dealing with political figures, adhering to the principle of "better to offend a gentleman than a petty person."
A short while later, Shen Baiyan changed into a white suit in the office lounge before heading to the meeting room.
The moment he pushed open the door, the sinister look on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a seemingly warm smile. However, the smile was not as genuine or polite as he usually was; he relied entirely on his superb acting skills to make his smile neither too enthusiastic nor insincere.
Shen Baiyan entered the room, and the three of them stood up to greet him.
"Mr. Shen, I'm bothering you again. Please don't mind!" Huang Jianhan said politely.
Shen Baiyan was naturally annoyed. If he could, he would have loved to kick each of them out.
But with the situation unclear, he could only keep his anger to himself.
"Welcome, welcome! It's an honor for our company that Mayor Huang could come to visit us."
Shen Baiyan's smile was so genuine that it was impossible to tell if he was smiling or not; he had been carefully observing Huang Jianhan.
Seeing Huang Jianhan stand up to greet him, it was clear they were in a hurry. Otherwise, given Huang Jianhan's temperament, how could a mayor like him give Shen Baiyan such face? At least he wasn't so polite last time.
Huang Jianhan said with a smile, "President Shen, let me introduce you. This is Sakata Ichino, a businessman from Japan who is investing in our City A."
"Hello, Mr. Shen!" Sakata Ichino greeted Shen Baiyan in Japanese.
Tan Kui quickly translated: "President Shen, Mr. Sakata sends his greetings."
Shen Baiyan glanced coldly at Sakata Ichino, who wanted to shake his hand, and then coldly swept his gaze over Tan Kui.
Ignoring Sakata's overtures, he looked at Tan Kui and sneered, "A businessman from Japan? He's got quite the nerve, getting our County Magistrate Tan to be his translator."
Shen Baiyan's sarcastic words instantly froze the atmosphere.
Seeing that Shen Baiyan didn't seem to welcome him, Sakata Ichino awkwardly said in Chinese, "I know a little bit of Chinese."
Shen Baiyan glanced at Huang Jianhan's slightly embarrassed expression, then suddenly laughed, a laugh that left everyone wondering what it meant.
"Hahahaha... That's right, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. It wouldn't be fun if we couldn't even speak our language."
The group breathed a sigh of relief.
Tan Kui eagerly flattered him: "I've heard that President Shen is fluent in eight languages."
In reality, it's an insult; you understand eight languages, how could you not understand Japanese? You're just disrespecting us.
Having been in the business world for many years, Shen Baiyan was well aware of the deeper meaning behind these words. They were all cunning foxes; whoever treated the other like a fool was the real fool.
"It's not eight countries, it's twelve. There's no way around it, with more business, I have to learn more. But I usually only listen and rarely speak, especially in China."
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