Chapter 72: Trouble Encountered?
Tang Ran smiled sweetly at Song Zhixu, "I'm going to be late for work."
As she spoke, she reached out and touched the center console, unlocking the car again.
Just as she was about to withdraw her fingers, her wrist was grabbed by a slender hand.
Song Zhixu gently circled her thumb on the back of her hand, a smile in his eyes, "What's the rush?"
Tang Ran grabbed her hand, blinked her eyes, and instantly became obedient, "Sister, I was wrong~"
Song Zhixu's smile deepened, and he beckoned to Tang Ran with his finger, softly uttering two words, "Come here."
"Sister~"
Tang Ran called out sweetly, then obediently leaned closer and placed her chin in Song Zhixu's palm.
Song Zhixu raised an eyebrow slightly, "So well-behaved?"
Tang Ran rubbed against her palm, "I'm super well-behaved."
He lifted his fingers to pinch her delicate chin, his tone becoming even gentler, "Is that so?"
"Mmm, mmm." Tang Ran nodded obediently.
Song Zhixu chuckled softly, his fingertip gently tracing the corner of her lips. "She is very well-behaved."
Tang Ran's heart tightened; she had a bad feeling.
She instinctively tried to pull her head back, but Song Zhixu's hand had somehow pressed against her waist, preventing her from moving away.
"It's a bit late to be acting innocent now."
A deep voice, accompanied by a slightly warm breath, brushed past Tang Ran's ear, making her heart tremble with a ticklish sensation.
Immediately afterward, with a soft click, Song Zhixu had already unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned in to kiss him.
Unlike the gradual kisses of the past, Song Zhixu was a bit forceful today.
She parted her lips and took Tang Ran's lips into her mouth, her soft tongue quickly sweeping over Tang Ran's pearly teeth and sliding into Tang Ran's mouth.
Tang Ran tilted her head back to meet her kiss, her breath being rapidly taken away, and the oxygen in her chest being quickly consumed.
She tried to back away, but a hand that had somehow touched the back of her neck pressed against her, preventing her from pulling away.
Noticing Tang Ran's subtle movements, Song Zhixu gently stroked Tang Ran's earlobe and slowed down his actions.
Tang Ran's erratic breathing eased somewhat, and just when Tang Ran thought Song Zhixu was about to end the kiss, Song Zhixu deepened it.
Song Zhixu's kisses were sometimes light and sometimes heavy. Tang Ran was completely led by her rhythm and had no strength to resist. She was completely controlled by Song Zhixu and immersed in the moment.
When the oxygen in her chest cavity was completely exhausted, Song Zhixu let her go.
Tang Ran opened her eyes, breathing rapidly, and looked at Song Zhixu with a dazed expression, as if she didn't understand what was going on.
Song Zhixu kissed the tip of her nose and said with a slight smile, "You are indeed very well-behaved."
Tang Ran snapped out of her daze and glared reproachfully at Song Zhixu, but it was utterly harmless. The redness at the corners of her eyes only added to her charming and alluring appearance.
drop.
A car horn sounded outside.
Tang Ran tensed up for a moment before realizing that they were in the car, which had been parked in front of the Tang family's building for quite some time.
She turned her head to look out the window.
At 8:55, it is the peak time for employees to go to work.
When Tang Ran looked out, she saw two employees passing by in front of the car looking towards the car.
As luck would have it, there was another acquaintance there, Mr. Yu.
Tang Ran: ...
What kind of massive social death scene is this?
The heat rushed to Tang Ran's head, and her entire face quickly turned bright red.
She turned around and glared angrily at Song Zhixu.
It's all Song Zhixu's fault, why did he have to kiss her in the car!
Unlike Tang Ran's shyness, Song Zhixu remained calm.
This made Tang Ran even angrier.
Knock knock.
He is a security guard at the entrance of the Tang Building.
Their car had been parked for quite a while.
Tang Ran pulled Song Zhixu's hand and bit her wrist hard.
"hiss."
Her movements were so fast that Song Zhixu was caught completely off guard.
"snort."
Tang Ran tilted her chin up in satisfaction, grabbed her phone, opened the car door, and got out.
I had only taken two steps when my phone rang.
It was Song Zhixu who called.
Tang Ran swiped her phone and looked back at the car.
Song Zhixu rolled down the passenger window and looked at her with a faint smile on his lips.
"what?"
Tang Ran wrinkled her nose at her in annoyance.
"I wanted to tell my baby that the car window was on with the smart privacy feature, so it's hard to see from the outside," Song Zhixu said, pointing to the front window.
That affectionate address made Tang Ran's ears burn, followed by embarrassment and annoyance at being laughed at.
"Ugh!" Tang Ran said disdainfully into the phone, "You're so mean, I don't want to be your darling!"
She snorted and hung up the phone, made a face at Song Zhixu, and turned and went into the building without looking back.
As Tang Ran entered the lobby, she ran into President Yu again.
A hint of awkwardness flashed across her face as she greeted President Yu, "Good morning."
"Good morning," Mr. Yu greeted her, then glanced at her and asked, "Did Mr. Song bring you here?"
"Huh?" Tang Ran was a little dumbfounded.
Didn't Song Zhixu say he was taking precautions against peeping?
Could it be that Song Zhixu was deliberately teasing her?
Thinking about this possibility, Tang Ran felt like she was really going to die right now.
"Was that her car just outside the door?" Mr. Yu asked, looking puzzled.
She glanced outside, but Song Zhixu's car had already driven away.
Tang Ran: ...
It turns out they only recognized the car.
It gave her a false alarm.
Tang Ran nodded and changed the subject, "You came back yesterday?"
Mr. Yu is currently on a business trip in Yancheng to develop new clients.
"Yes, we signed two new deals."
The two walked toward the elevator while talking.
Mr. Yu glanced at the colleagues walking by, exchanged a look with Tang Ran, and lowered his voice, "We'll talk about it when we go upstairs."
When she arrived at Mr. Yu's office, she made sure to lock the door.
The two sat down on the sofa, and Mr. Yu took out a voice recorder from his briefcase.
She lightly touched the play button, and the recorder immediately played the voices of two men.
"you mean?"
"Raise the price by 20%, and split the extra profit 30/70, understand?"
'20%? That's too high. What if we don't get selected?'
'You think you can get selected if you just apply?'
'Will it work?'
"With President Zhong around, what can't we do? Who gets selected is all up to him."
...
The Tang family is currently selecting new suppliers, and the recording pen contains a conversation between Zhong Weide's assistant and a representative of one of the suppliers.
His voice was slurred, suggesting he had drunk quite a bit.
The rest of the conversation had nothing to do with Tang's procurement. President Yu turned off the recorder and took out his phone to send Tang Ran a photo.
The image shows a string of bank account numbers and names.
“It’s not Mr. Zhong’s wife’s or daughter’s account,” Mr. Yu said.
"I'll have someone investigate," Tang Ran said, glancing at the photo.
If we can find out that the cardholder is related to Zhong Weide, that would be irrefutable evidence. If not, then we should use this recording to launch an internal investigation.
Tang's financial records are problematic, and they can always find something to use against President Zhong.
The Song family.
The CEO's office conference room.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the blinds, casting dappled shadows into the room.
"The news is correct. Mr. Qi from Chip+ is already in contact with them and is more inclined to cooperate with them," said Mr. Wang from the Enterprise Development Department with a serious expression.
As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The only sound in the air was the low-frequency exhaust noise of the central air conditioning.
The atmosphere grew tense.
After taking over the Song Group, Song Zhixu led the group to transform from traditional supermarket and real estate businesses to smart technology and integrated energy as its pillar industries.
Smart healthcare is an important part of Song's Intelligent Technology.
Song Zhixu leveraged the advantages of Song's Real Estate to plan ahead and create a smart home health management platform. Eight years ago, he acquired SMD, a smart wearable device company that was already quite large at the time.
After several years of rapid development, SMD has become the largest smart wearable device company in China.
In order to enhance the market competitiveness of its SMD products, Song intends to acquire Chip+, a startup company that focuses on the research and development of wearable smart device chips.
Song's corporate development department negotiated with the founding team of Xin+ for nearly half a year before they finally relented. However, just before the signing was about to take place, Xin+ wanted to switch to another company.
Seeing the boss's furrowed brows, President Wang immediately tried to salvage the situation, "I've already arranged a time to meet with President Qi. I'll fly to Beijing this afternoon to try and get it done."
The Corporate Development Department has been working on a project for more than half a year, which is also related to the group's strategic layout. It is impossible to give up just because a strong competitor has emerged.
Song Zhixu's expression darkened slightly. "Have you found out which company it is?"
The latest DCH chip developed by Chip+ is superior to most products on the market in terms of stability and accuracy. In addition to Song's, many wearable device and medical device companies are also interested in it.
During the negotiations with Song alone, no fewer than ten companies wanted to contact Chip+.
Therefore, Mr. Wang was extra careful, just in case someone stole the peaches along the way.
As it turned out, what I feared most came to pass.
Mr. Wang's expression was serious. "It seems to be Blue Whale Medical."
The other party did a good job of keeping it confidential, and it took Mr. Wang a lot of effort to find out a little bit of information.
Blue Whale is the world's largest integrated medical device manufacturer, with a market value of over 400 billion RMB. Its business covers more than 160 countries and accounts for 37% of the global high-end medical device market.
If Blue Whale and Song's are indeed vying for the chip, then the chances of them salvaging the partnership are very slim.
Needless to say, Blue Whale Medical belongs to Jiachuang Group, which is financially powerful and has no shortage of money.
That's why Mr. Wang reported the news to the big boss immediately after hearing it.
Now, if we want to discuss the chip+ again, the amount we originally negotiated is definitely not enough.
After a moment's thought, Song Zhixu said hesitantly, "Let's try again."
"good."
Mr. Wang breathed a sigh of relief.
The boss saying he'd try to win means he's willing to increase his leverage.
Song Zhixu tapped his finger lightly on the table twice, then said, "We still need to make contingency plans."
It's not her style to bet on just one thing, especially since this time she's facing a company under Jiachuang.
"I will have someone contact Gonghua Technology and Fanglitong again."
Mr. Wang had already thought of an emergency response plan before meeting with the boss.
These two companies were shortlisted by their team before negotiating with Xin+, but they were not as ideal as Xin+.
After the meeting, Song Zhixu immediately instructed his secretaries to compile all the relevant information about Jiachuang and Blue Whale.
Jiachuang was involved in the failed acquisition of Daning Supermarket, and this time Blue Whale snatched up Xin+.
When Tang Ran returned to Shengming Mansion that evening, it was already past ten o'clock.
I opened the door and went inside. The living room lights were on, but I didn't see anyone.
She changed into slippers and went inside.
The study lights were off, and only a bedside lamp was on in the bedroom.
Song Zhixu, wearing glasses, was leaning against the headboard, already asleep, with a tablet computer in front of him.
Tang Ran tiptoed over, took the tablet, and then went to remove her glasses.
Song Zhixu wasn't sleeping deeply, and woke up when she felt her movement.
"You're back?"
"Your voice sounds a little hoarse."
When the two parted ways in the morning, they didn't feel anything was wrong. However, Song Zhixu has been quite busy lately. Is he sick from overwork?
Tang Ran touched her forehead as she spoke, "Is there anything else that's bothering you?"
Song Zhixu held her hand, "There's nothing else wrong."
Her throat has been a chronic problem; she was injured when she was a child, and it would flare up when her immune system was a bit weak.
"If you're tired, take a good rest." Tang Ran put her tablet on the bedside table and said sternly, "You're not allowed to bring your tablet to bed these next few days."
Song Zhixu explained with a smile, "I happen to have a tricky matter to deal with."
"Have you run into trouble?"
This was the first time Tang Ran had heard Song Zhixu mention work-related troubles.
Song Zhixu felt that it was troublesome and she definitely couldn't solve it, but she still wanted to know what had happened to Song Zhixu.
"A very important acquisition plan of the company has run into problems."
Song Zhixu told Tang Ran about how the Song family wanted to acquire Chip+, but Blue Whale Medical interfered.
"Blue Whale Medical? Is that the Blue Whale Medical from Jiachuang Group?" Tang Ran asked in surprise.
Song Zhixu nodded, then frowned. "The last time Da Ning and Golbol Supermarket collaborated, it was Jiachuang who spearheaded the project."
"This is the second time Jiachuang has interfered with Song's project. I can't guess what their intentions are."
After its transformation, Song's focuses on smart technology and clean energy as its pillar industries, while Jiachuang is mainly focused on investment, with its main industries in finance and healthcare. The two companies' main businesses do not overlap.
Even if there is occasional overlap between its subsidiaries and businesses, it is by no means at the point of fierce competition.
Upon hearing her words, Tang Ran almost lost her composure.
At the time, Jiachuang spearheaded the collaboration between Daning and Golbol supermarket in Gangcheng, and it was through her connections that she found someone to help.
However, she did it only to get revenge on Song Wuqi, not to target the Song family.
However, the failed acquisition prevented Song's Supermarket from expanding into the southern market for a time, which did cause considerable losses to Song's.
Tang Ran felt a little guilty and didn't dare to tell the truth.
If Tang Ran had known she would end up with Song Zhixu, she would have definitely tried a different approach instead of simply ruining the acquisition.
She was genuinely unaware of the acquisition of the chip company.
Despite feeling guilty, Tang Ran remained calm on the surface.
She asked, "So what are your plans now? Do you have any alternative companies?"
For such an important project, Song Zhixu should have alternative plans.
"Yes, but none of them are ideal."
Hearing her say that, Tang Ran frowned.
She tried to recall carefully, but in her previous life she didn't pay much attention to news about the Song family and couldn't remember whether the Song family eventually acquired Chip+.
Moreover, she did not believe that Jiachuang's desire to acquire Xin+ was a deliberate attempt to target the Song family.
But how can we clear up this misunderstanding with Song Zhixu?
Song Zhixu's brows relaxed slightly. He patted Tang Ran's hand and didn't continue the topic. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Go wash up first."
Tang Ran squeezed Song Zhixu's hand in return, comforting her: "Don't worry too much, there will always be a way to solve it."
"Mmm," Song Zhixu responded softly.
"I'm going to take a shower. If you're tired, go to sleep first."
Seeing that Song Zhixu didn't seem to be in a good mood, Tang Ran helped her get a cushion behind her so she could lie down comfortably.
After taking a change of clothes to the bathroom, Tang Ran sent a message to the loquat tree's profile picture: 【Have you arrived in Jiangcheng yet?】
About twenty minutes later, a message came back from the other end: "[Arriving in Jiangcheng the day after tomorrow.]"
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