The men Tian Dongqiang had summoned arrived at the store quickly; they were tattooed and looked menacing.
Seeing them arrive, Tian Dongqiang felt even more confident.
When the people around saw these gangsters approaching, they all stepped back.
Tian Dongqiang crossed his arms and sneered, "My gold is right here. Whoever has the guts can come and take it!"
Chen Zhe and the others looked at each other, none of them stepping forward. Even a fool could see that Tian Dongqiang was just trying to act like a rogue.
"You're too scared to take it now? Weren't you shouting so loudly just now? Did you really think I was as naive as you? Heh, this world is all about strength. I was just playing you!"
"Brother Qiang, the brothers have come all this way, we can't go back empty-handed, can we?"
The man next to him, who seemed to be in charge, said this.
Tian Dongqiang chuckled.
"Of course not! These people just angered me. As compensation, their gold-digging brothers can take their share!"
"Haha!! Thank you, Brother Qiang!!"
This kind of robbery-like behavior doesn't seem to be the first time they've done it.
Two men pounced on the pile of gold supporting them like hungry wolves.
Mo Xiaohong and Wang Qianqian were very anxious and stepped forward to protect them, but they were slapped to the ground by those people.
So Chen Zhe also stepped forward and started fighting with them.
As the only man among them, it would be unreasonable for him not to step in at this moment.
But Chen Zhe was no match for them. Those thugs were always fighting, and some of them had even practiced Sanda or boxing. They knocked Chen Zhe to the ground with just a few punches and kicks.
He was about to go up and deliver a follow-up punch.
The scene suddenly became chaotic.
"stop!!!"
Zhang Xin'ai came down from the second floor, looking at everything in front of her with an angry expression.
They heard someone dare to speak.
Tian Dongqiang looked over and saw a beautiful young woman with exceptional looks and temperament. His eyes lit up. This girl was even more beautiful than these women. Had he accidentally wandered into a peach blossom forest today?
The beautiful woman's scolding had no effect on him; instead, it aroused his hormones.
"Hehe, beautiful lady, I advise you not to get involved in this matter. My brothers all have bad tempers, and I'd be heartbroken if they accidentally hurt you."
This remark had a slightly flirtatious feel to it, and Zhang Xin'ai's brows furrowed even deeper.
The store manager walked over at that moment.
"Young Miss".
Tian Dongqiang was stunned for a moment.
"Young Miss?"
Tian Dongqiang immediately realized something was wrong. Zhang Dafu is a nationwide chain of gold shops with tens of thousands of stores across the country. The store manager called this beautiful woman "Miss," could she be...?
[not good!!]
He quickly told those people to stop.
Then, with a somewhat humble expression, he said, "I'm sorry, Miss Zhang, I didn't recognize you. I'll take them away now."
The founder of Zhang Dafu is Zhang Dafu.
He has three sons.
Judging from the girl's age, she is probably around 22 or 23 years old and should be the daughter of one of his sons.
He can't afford to offend either of them.
Therefore, leaving as soon as possible is the best course of action in this situation.
Zhang Xin'ai snorted coldly.
"Sister Zhou, go close the door!!!"
"yes!!"
The store manager closed all the sliding doors in the store.
Seeing this, Tian Dongqiang became even more nervous and quickly admitted his mistake: "Ms. Zhang, I'm really sorry. I really didn't know you were in the store. I was wrong to cause trouble in your store today. Don't worry, I'll have my brothers leave right now, and I'll come to apologize to you another day."
Zhang Xin'ai crossed her arms, still sneering.
She approached Chen Zhe and, seeing his bruised and swollen face on the ground, asked, "Hey! You're not dead, are you?"
Chen Zhe was helped up by the girls, and the girls also felt that Zhang Xin'ai looked somewhat familiar.
"Thank you!"
Chen Zhe was still very grateful to Zhang Xin'ai; the card he had just received was given to him by this little devil.
Now that she's come to his rescue again, he has completely forgiven the girl for what she did to him before.
Tian Dongqiang and Xu Weiwei felt a chill run down their spines.
They hadn't expected that Chen Zhe would know the young lady of this shop; this matter seemed quite serious.
Tian Dongqiang hesitated for a moment, then said with an awkward smile, "Ms. Zhang, I'm from Mr. Wei's company at Shengli Group..."
Tian Dongqiang wanted to find some connections.
Shengli Group is one of the ten listed companies in Donghai City. Although Zhang Dafu Gold Shop is powerful, it still has to give some face to local companies like them.
After all, they are major taxpayers; compared to them, Cheung Tai Fook Jewellery is more like an outsider.
“Ms. Zhang, if you were to step in today, I think we could sit down and talk things over. I was just joking with them earlier. Let's just let this go, okay?”
Zhang Xin'ai crossed her arms and looked at him; "Of course, it's no problem to talk, but this is between you and them, and I'm just an observer..."
Hearing her say that, Tian Dongqiang breathed a sigh of relief, while Chen Zhe and the others became tense again.
"Miss Zhang is indeed a reasonable person..."
Turning to Chen Zhe, he said, "Since Miss Zhang is here today, I won't make things difficult for you. Let's just forget about the bet. You take your gold, I'll take mine, and we'll go our separate ways, shall we?"
It sounds like a discussion, but it feels more like a threat.
Chen Zhe remained silent. He had been beaten and humiliated so many times for nothing. If it were just him, he might have swallowed his anger. But now, Mo Xiaohong and Wang Qianqian had also been beaten. These girls had taken out all their savings and exchanged them all for gold.
Even if you were to convert this gold into cash now, you still wouldn't get your previous money back.
That's not all. Just now, Zhang Xin'ai's card was swiped, and more than 10 million yuan has already been spent. More than 10 million yuan was spent on gold, but this gold cannot be directly sold for more than 10 million yuan.
But they don't feel that all this money belongs to them; they still want to return it to Zhang Xin'ai.
If they simply let Tian Dongqiang go back, they will definitely lose millions.
Who would do this?
"Impossible!! A bet is a bet, you can't renege on it, can you?"
"I……"
Tian Dongqiang's face was very ugly. With so many people watching, especially Zhang Xin'ai, it seemed a bit difficult to admit that he had acted like a scoundrel.
He couldn't possibly give that money away directly.
Gritting his teeth, he realized that money was more important than saving face.
"Haha, gambling is illegal. We're all law-abiding citizens. I was just joking. Why did you take it seriously?"
How shameless!!!
Those present, including Xu Weiwei and Huang Xiaoli, all thought that statement was extremely shameless.
Tian Dongqiang was so confident and serious just now, but now that he's lost, this is his attitude.
That's so embarrassing.
Tian Dongqiang could feel the burning gazes directed at him. He knew that by saying those words, he had completely lost face, but losing face was better than losing money, right?
He embezzled over 10 million yuan of public funds. Even if he sold all that gold, it would only barely cover the loss; he would still lose money.
He was already heartbroken.
"Miss Zhang, how about this? I'll give you all my gold back. I don't need much, just 10 million will do!"
Tian Dongqiang knew that all he needed to do now was to please Zhang Xin'ai. He figured that if he took his 13.5 million yuan worth of gold back to the secondhand market, he would only lose a little over 1 million yuan.
In better cases, the loss might only be a few hundred thousand.
He's doing Zhang Xin'ai a favor now. As long as Zhang Xin'ai doesn't back him up, Chen Zhe and his ilk won't be able to cause any trouble.
His suggestion also worried Chen Zhe and the others.
Everyone looked at Zhang Xin'ai.
Zhang Xin'ai touched her chin, seemingly hesitant.
"Yeah, it's definitely a good deal..."
Seeing that she seemed interested, Tian Dongqiang smiled, while Chen Zhe and the others sighed and lowered their heads.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Xin'ai suddenly gave a wicked smile and changed the subject.
"But as I said, this has nothing to do with me. I'm keeping you here because someone wants me to keep you here."
"Huh? Who is it?"
Tian Dongqiang was a little confused, and Chen Zhe and the others were also somewhat puzzled.
Just then, there was a loud knocking on the door.
Zhang Xin'ai smiled; "She should be here!"
...
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