Chapter 79
After keeping quiet for a long time, the secretary finally spoke,” You just said, that one time you felt really lucky. Are you referring to the time when you harmed Xu miserably but she was still with you ?”
Jiang Yu Nan just smiled but did not speak.
*** ***
Yan Liang did not wait for Jiang Yu Nan’s phone call.
The business world was like a battlefield, it wasn’t easy to see through people. Now Yan Liang was only glad that Jiang Yu Nan did not tell Jiang Shi Jun that she was already aware of a spy in her team.
Jiang Shi Jun was now complacent, thinking that she was in the dark.This was the best of opportunities. Yan Liang did not worry too much about Jiang Yu Nan, if he didn’t help her, the detective agency would find the truth for her.
Today, Yan Liang visited the country’s largest chain of duty free shops to talk about mutual co operation. When she came back to the company ,her secretary told her that the person in charge of the detective agency was waiting for her in her office.
Yan Liang had a meeting in fifteen minutes. Within that gap she met that person.
The head of the detective agency sat opposite Yan Liang, and switched on the recorder. Who was the spy ?
If the R & D manger had not found this out, she would be in the dark till now. She had spent so much money, finally the answers were in her grasp.
He pressed the play button and a familiar voice spoke out, “ Mr Jiang, I can’t carry on like this anymore.” .
Yan shivered and immediately pressed the pause button.
… This voice..
The director of the news agency pushed the information about the person in front of Yan Liang on the table. “ Yao Liwei, age 51 years. He has been working at the company since the beginning of Xu. He rose from an apprentice to Chief coordinator. He is probably a relative of Aunt Liang..”
Yan Liang glanced at the familiar picture. This was Mr Yao, who had been with the family for decades, a person who was least likely to be suspected.
It was ironic, Aunt Liang was unmarried, her sister was married to Mr Yao. A few years ago they had even come with their one year old grandson to the Xu mansion to visit Aunt Liang
Yan Liang found it difficult to overcome the shock, but she remained calm and continued to listen .
Mr Yao was clearly excited, “ And if.. if they found me.. then I am completely finished, I only have a few years to retire, I really don’t want to get caught.”
“ Oh really ?”
His words were followed by this sentence by …Jiang Shi Jun , that crafty voice..
“ When your son had such huge gambling debts, didn’t you kneel in front of me asking me to help your son?
When you helped me with Secret so well that ultimately they couldn’t enter the North American market, I was very satisfied and decided to continue to use you.” Jiang Shi Jun’s voice was low but the sarcasm was evident
“ Mr Jiang, Mr Jiang, you’ve always given me a raw deal, I will give you your money back. I will immediately resign, never again..”
Jiang Shi Jun interrupted him coldly, but referred to a third person, “ Yu Nan , what do you think ?”
Jiang Yu Nan ! She never thought he would be present..Yan Liang could not help but tighten her hands around the head phone.
“ You have proposed we use the earlier method again, and you were the one who decided we continue with Mr Yao. You have the most say in this.”
You proposed we use the earlier method…
Jiang Shi Jun’s words were like thin and sharp wire, casually wrapped around her heart, cutting through her flesh and blood.
Pain ? Yan Liang actually found herself surprisingly calm. She suddenly thought of how, not long ago, she was worried about his life and death and could not help but laugh at her naïveté .
“Should I take back the 5 million?Since I can’t bear the betrayal of others, should I tell your ex wife what he had been up to?” Although Jiang Shi Jun was apparently asking Jiang Yu Nan , in fact he was trying to intimidate Yao Liwei.
“Mr Yao”, hearing the voice of Jiang Yu Nan, Yan Liang’s nerves became taut, “”You are smart. You know that once some things are done, we cannot allow you to leave halfway.”
The recording was over.
Yan Liang asked herself – was she doing herself an injustice ? Not only did she never suspect Mr Yao, but with respect to Jiang, whether she wanted to maintain this animosity between them , or treat each other like total strangers, both strategies were wrong.
In this contest, the person who was more ruthless would inevitably win.
Yan Liang took off the headset. “There are certainly more than one spies. You continue to verify , let me know whenever something new comes up.”
In the next two weeks, the spies were identified one by one . Yan Liang was finally able to see the whole plan of Jiang Shi Jun. Not only the formula, but the packaging, the publicity plan, the distribution strategy – Jiang Yu Nan intended to do every step similarly , just one step faster so that he could block her in every manner leaving her no where to go.
Yan Liang now faced two options –
One, she could expose the evidence collected in front of Li when the new product was launched. This would be done in public, the true face of Jiang Shi Jun would be exposed. But if that happened, Mr Yao would inevitably end up in jail.
Or secretly they could modify their own products and use the spies who had been left in place to pass on the formula. With the help of Zhu Chengzi, they could ensure that the product passed all the tests. She would then let Li have their news conference, start mass production, invest money in publicity. At that time, if the flaw was revealed, Li would suffer the maximum losses.
She would only need to launch her product after a month and capture the market.
Unfortunately, since the last time they met at Chaoshan , Zhu Chengzi had not contacted her.
After another very busy day, when Yan Liang had still not received a phone call from Zhu Chengzi, with barely concealed disappointment , she carried her bag to the car parking lot when she suddenly heard a car horn.
She was getting ready to pull the door of her car, when with renewed hope she looked at a car that stopped near her. From the window, Lu Zheng waved at her.
Yan Liang walked over, “Why are you here?”
“ Weren’t we supposed to meet tonight ?”
The expression on her face clearly said, “ I forgot.”
Lu Zheng smiled helplessly, “ Get in the car, I have booked us in a restaurant.”
Yan Liang was still a bit hesitant. Lu Zheng took the car keys from her hand, and pressed the remote to lock her car.
Yan Liang sat in the car. She could not help but look at him. The man seemed to be in a particularly good mood.
“ What happened?”
“ You’ll find out soon.”
Yan Liang was a bit curious after hearing him say this. As she went with Lu Zheng all the way to his favourite restaurant, from the elevator to the restaurant door, she couldn’t find anything special.
Just as they reached the door, her phone rang. Yan Liang took the phone out of her bag while walking , saw the strange string of numbers and suddenly paused.
In fact it wasn’t an unknown number – it was Zhu Chengzi
Although Yan Liang had never called him, the detective agency had given her this number. She knew this by heart.
She hurriedly answered.
“Miss Yan,” it was indeed the voice of Zhu Chengzhi, “are you busy now?”
“No not busy,” she herself didn’t know how she could speak so calmly when she was so excited. “ Tell me.”
” I have been thinking about the offer you made last time.”
“Okay, where are you now, I’ll be right there.”
Lu Zheng had been waiting patiently by her side,
seeing her hang up the phone, a big smile on her face, he could not help but ask, “ What happened?”
Yan looked up at him, then suddenly opened her arms and gave him a big hug
This was so unusual, even Lu Zheng was taken aback “Why are you suddenly so warm to me?”
Unable to conceal the inner excitement, Yan Liang grinned and then laughed out loud, “ I need to go somewhere now, we can eat together later.”
With that statement, she turned around and left
Lu Zheng watched her till her figure disappeared behind the closed doors of the elevator, looked down, thought for a bit and then walked into the restaurant alone.
As soon as he walked in, the manager made a gesture and the violinist started playing. Melodious music filled the air.
Lu Zheng smiled faintly, and waved his hand , indicating the violinist to stop.
The violinist was unsure, he looked at the manager, who looked at Lu Zheng in return and asked, “ Mr Lu, why are you alone?”
Lu Zheng swept a glance over the vacant tables and chairs, as if he could find the answer there.
He sat at the main table , beside that there was a cart of flowers.
And on the table was a beautiful bouquet of flowers, in which there was a birthday card.
The lonely man looked at the card in a daze for a long time. The waiter arrived at his side, hesitated for a long time then finally came forward and asked, “ Mr Lu, this is the ’82 vintage Lafayette you booked.”
Lu Zheng looked at the waiter, sighed, and put forward his own glass indicating to the waiter that he should fill it up. One sixth of the glass was filled up and in one flash he downed it all, the wine bitter in his mouth.
*** ***
Yan Liang and Zhu Chengzi’s meeting went surprisingly well. Could it be that God was finally looking after her ?
Yan Liang went back to her long term private room in the hotel, washed up and prepared to sleep.
The night was deep and the sense of victory quietly filed up her heart
Just when she was using a towel to dry her hair, the doorbell rang.
“ Who is it?”
“Room service.”
Yan Liang opened the door and saw the waiter push a dining cart inside.” Ms Yan?”
She looked at the cart, today…
She suddenly recalled and patted her head, she had clearly forgotten. “ I haven’t ordered any room service.”
“ A gentleman ordered for you.”
Yan Liang looked at the cake and the wine, which gentleman was so generous ?
This was problematic. Suddenly she remembered the words she had heard earlier in the evening..you will find out..
She shook her heard silently.
She closed the door and silently looked at the cart.
A cake, wine, a bunch of flowers..very simply arranged. She pulled off the towel and ran to the bed to take her phone.
She dialled lu Zheng’s number
The first words he said when they connected were strange , “Our hearts seem to be in alignment.”
“ What ?”
To answer her, the door bell rang.
No way !
This was the second time this evening that inexplicable things were happening. Yan Liang smiled and opened the door. It was really Lu Zheng.
She looked at him, her eyes fell on what he had brought and she laughed, “ What ? There is already a bottle of Pramel , why do you have a bottle of Lafayette?”
“Huh?” This time it was lu Zheng’s turn to be surprised.
After entering the room he saw the cart. Yan Liang said , “ Thank you.”
Lu Zheng stared at the cart for a second, then frowned and reluctantly flashed a smile.
At the door of the suite, Jiang Yu Nan stubbed his cigarette and quietly left.
His cell phone began vibrating and he picked it up while walking back.
“ Mr Jiang, I have spoken to her as instructed.”
“ Okay. Thank you.”
“ I want to ask you something.”
“ Please go ahead.”
“ Why are you bending over backwards to help a woman, that too your ex- wife?”
Jiang Yu Nan stopped.
He looked at the closed door of the suite.
He lowered his eyes, his emotions were no longer visible.
“ As long as I am alive, she is my wife, my only family.”
Yes..saying “ my love” seemed too superficial, she was his family…