novelTo strike a rock with eggs
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"Also, I can't let my little girlfriend be worried and frightened again. I can imagine how she's cried these past few days, unable to sleep and study properly. She's only seventeen... to me, this is the most serious thing."
"Also, I really don't want to see my Dad angry. Many people were already afraid of this when he was still just a farmer... it's just that you people don't know."
Xu Tingsheng sat opposite Ling Xiao, telling her this.
Ling Xiao's handphone buzzed.
Looking at the message, she said, "Sorry, I feel a bit confused about what position I should take now... it's just, many people seem to have underestimated your father's capabilities and determination."
Just this morning, Zhongliang Corporation, fully owned by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, had announced that they had reached an important agreement in taking their first step into investment.
Zhongliang Corporation had officially acquired forty percent of the shares of Happy Shoppers that was owned by Libei's Xu family... they would thereon be involved in all aspects, be it funds, products or mediums.
Mr Xu, Xu Jiangliang. As compared to his virtually godlike son, people knew very little about him outside of Jiannan. Yet, just as Ling Xiao had said: Virtually everyone had underestimated the capabilities and determination of this farmer-turned-magnate.
More than two years ago, he had pointed at the mountain outside the village, telling his son, "Your Dad, currently at 45 years of age, still have it left in me... I want to uproot that mountain for you, lay the path ahead for you... then hand it over to you. You go to the outside world and make a killing. If you succeed, Dad will be proud of you. If you fail, just come back to Dad's place."
He had actually always been doing so.
Only when the partnership between Happy Shoppers and Zhongliang Corporation was officially achieved and the news was announced did some people suddenly discover that so, such a low-key massive entity had actually existed amongst the supermarket franchises in China.
The Xu family's Happy Shoppers was perhaps the supermarket franchise in China below the city level that encompassed the greatest area, holding the greatest influence. Unbeknownst to others, at some point in time, Xu Jianliang had successfully completed a 'village encircling city'.
Faced with such a grand accomplishment, it was no wonder that Zhongliang Corporation which was seeking to change their approach and make a breakthrough in their organisational structure had taken the initiative to seek their cooperation.
What did the cooperation between Happy Shoppers and Zhongliang Corporation entail?
"Who would have thought? In the space of a single night, your Xu family's status has changed, " Ling Xiao said, "Royal merchants, official merchants, red-peaked businessmen in ancient times too and then red capitalists afterwards. Now..."
"It actually isn't as complicated as that. To my Dad, all this means is that... in the future, no one will be able to just casually arrest his, Xu Jiangliang's son and imprison him for a few days, " Xu Tingsheng said, "Unless the Xu family completely collapses."
Ling Xiao froze.
"No one know how bullish, how vicious and stubborn my Dad is, " Xu Tingsheng smiled just like a little kid, "Actually daring to bully his son..."
As if corroborating Xu Tingsheng's words, Ling Xiao soon received a second piece of information.
The CEO of Libei's Happy Shoppers Corporation, Xu Jianliang, had just... officially sued the government of Yanzhou over his son, Xu Tingsheng, receiving unfair treatment in the handling of the conflict over Yanzhou's Ning Garden, that belonged to his son's company, Zhicheng Real Estate.
Truly, Ling Xiao seldom had a flabbergasted expression like this.
While the law did allow for citizens to sue the government and such cases did happen somewhat frequently... everyone was clear that this was just to demonstrate the spirit of the law and citizens' rights.
For instance, Shenghai City's government got sued several hundred times every year but had never suffered a single successful lawsuit thus far.
Still... it was different this time. This time, no one dared to claim that the Yanzhou government would be able to solidly remain secure in its position.
"Did your Dad reach an agreement with Zhongliang Corporation on this? The news came one after another. This is... a citizen enterprise dragging along a Central enterprise to resist a local government?" Ling Xiao asked somewhat blankly.
Xu Tingsheng lowered his head and took a puff of the cigarette before smiling wryly and shaking his head, "No, my Dad did it intentionally. He... tied down Zhongliang Corporation with him. I already told you! I really don't want to see my Dad angry. Old Xu's more vicious than me. Besides that, he's also stubborn as a mule, has a bad temper, audacious in his actions..."
Xu Tingsheng did not mind being upfront with Ling Xiao. The result of this matter would not change because of it. Even if Zhongliang Corporation was caught unawares, was actually very unwilling... it would still be impossible for it not to let its power be borrowed.
Having just announced the news, Zhongliang had to accept this as fact and also consider its face and interests. Others had to be mindful of the shift in status of Happy Shoppers, who was now a partner of Zhongliang's.
At this moment, Xu Tingsheng and Ling Xiao still did not know of another matter. The despairing Ye Qing had threatened her family with the consequence of potentially losing the inheritance rights of her family's corporations and obtained their full support. Under her own name as well as that of Zhicheng Real Estate, she was officially suing the government of Yanzhou City along with the eight officials who had perished along with Tan Yao.
True, they were dead... still, Ye Qing felt that this wasn't enough. She could not see Tan Yao die with his name tarnished even as those people had grand, proper funerals. She did not want the instigators behind this matter to be able to remain smug and comfortable.
It was just as she would say at Tan Yao's funeral. If Fang Chen had dared to take another step forward at the time, had she dared to walk before Tan Yao's grave... she would not have let her off, even if it was her.
As others saw it, she who had once been Yanzhou's most intelligent, cold-blooded and unattainable woman... was already mad. What she had cared about most before, she did not care about even in the slightest now.
She was also helping Xu Tingsheng, Tan Yao's best bro in this lifetime.
For Yanzhou's bureaucracy, the pressure brought about by the Ye family was actually greater than that by the Xu family. As everyone knew, the Ye family was the richest in Yanzhou. Still, it was far from limited to just that.
This was a family with an extremely substantial background. As far back as 1900, the ancestors of the Ye family had already purchased land in Yanzhou, establishing the first local Western school there. The school had hired a principal from America, teaching all their lessons in English. Afterwards, they had given it all to the government and it had become Yanzhou's first specialised university. During the revolution and drive for liberation, the ancestors of the Ye family had all given them a lot of support as a patriotic corporation. After the country was established, a daughter of the Ye family had been married to one of their founding generals...
Even if the Ye family was already not in as glorious and prominent a state as back then... facing a family that had stood tall for over a century, no one would be foolish enough to underestimate it and take it lightly.
In this country, a concept that had always been indoctrinated in the people was that for corporations to fight with the bureaucracy was no different from striking a rock with an egg. However, they might really be going to witness two rocks that could break eggs at this juncture.
As those of Yanzhou City's government who knew the ramifications were striking their tables in their offices, howling 'what exactly are they thinking to achieve'.
Ling Xiao too was asking Xu Tingsheng, "Your family, what exactly are you and your father thinking to achieve?"
Xu Tingsheng looked up and glanced at her, not saying anything.
"If it's only to get you out, it seems like it needn't be so public. If it's to suppress the matter with Yanzhou's Ding family, the move is too vague and unspecific..." Ling Xiao said, "Actually... if things can be settled over at the Ding family, it's true that you'll have a way to get out now."
"Why?"
"Our Ling and Xiao families spent over twenty years building a net. You weren't enough to shake it originally. I admit that the current you can already smash through one or two points. After smashing through a hole in it, you should have sufficient space to extricate yourself then."
"Why can't I just rip the entire net apart?" Looking at Ling Xiao, Xu Tingsheng asked her.
"Have you seen the net? Breaking just a few points can't pierce its surface, " Ling Xiao said, meeting his gaze.
"I've seen it. If sufficient points are broken through, its surface can be pierced. Your net's too dense. The benefit of this is that it's stable. The detriment is that when it's ripped, a whole patch falls apart, " Xu Tingsheng said.
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