On the 49th floor of the Orlando Tower, the latest round of negotiations between the business delegation of the Orlando Group and the UNITEX Group of America had just begun.
Orlando and UNITEX had been in contact for a long time. In trying to facilitate timely communication with UNITEX Group's headquarters in the United States, their biological clocks for day and night had been turned topsy-turvy.
Despite this, they still couldn't get their joint venture contract finalized on the spot.
The reason was that UNITEX's requirements were too stringent. According to their proposal, Orlando not only needed to sign a bunch of somewhat unfair agreements but also could only be one of their OEMs in the future.
In other words, besides an increase in sales, Orlando simply wouldn't get any benefits.
And UNITEX required a long payment period, which not only meant huge financial pressure for them, but also meant that they were completely in a passive position getting screwed over.
This was not what Orlando wanted.
Orlando's representative said with a solemn expression, "You are assured that we'll ship our goods in accordance with the terms of the contract, except for the payment terms. Do you really think the method of payment is OK for both sides?"
The UNITEX spokesperson said, "If you can't agree, then we'll have to discuss the total contract price. Furthermore, we'd like to make clear some points connected with the technical part before signing the contract."
Isn't this a blatant threat!
After the representative of UNITEX Group made this speech, the ambiance of the place suddenly stiffened.
Orlando didn't lack orders or money, and the purpose of their cooperation with UNITEX was very clear: a mutually beneficial joint venture!
If this goal couldn't be achieved, they were willing to give up UNITEX and search for other, more suitable, business partners.
******
The large office looked empty and lonely. Bright light shone through the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The dark sky outside turned the glass into a natural mirror.
Qin Rongze stood in front of the windows overlooking the city of Hangzhou at night, and the traffic appeared like a bright galaxy in the night sky.
The consultation between Orlando and UNITEX in terms of the specifics of their joint venture didn't require Qin Rongze to personally participate. As the CEO, he had done everything he could have done, and all he needed to do now was to wait for the final result.
If everything went smoothly and there were no accidents, then their joint venture could be finalized as soon as tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. In short, victory was in sight.
It's just that the process of waiting was just as agonizing.
He rubbed his hands and turned on the phone he had been clutching.
Occasionally, the girl, Lin Yao, would pop up in his mind because Lin Yao and "she" looked so similar.
For the past few days, after Liang Kaiwen shared with him the posts Lin Yao had written, Qin Rongze would also go on the Hang City Forum with him every once in a while to browse around.
As soon as he logged on to the Hangcheng Forum, he discovered that today, all sections of the Hang City Forum were filled with news about Gu Jinxuan and Cheng Jiaoqian.
December 22: "Cheng Jiaoqian's saucy response to paparazzi shots: legal cohabitation, we have a certificate."
December 22: "Gu Jinxuan's high-profile confession Cheng Jiaoqian: During my lifelong journey, I'm thankful that you're in my life!"
December 21: "Gu Jinxuan and Cheng Jiaoqian are close to tying the knot?"
December 21: "After Gu Jinxuan and Cheng Jiaoqian appeared to publicize their love affair, some media outlets exposed pictures of Gu Jinxuan picking up his girlfriend at the gates of her neighborhood community yesterday evening. In the photo, Cheng Jiaoqian was wearing a black dress, a cap, and had a name-brand handbag. After Gu Jinxuan helped Cheng Jiaoqian carry bags of various sizes, they returned to their love nest together. It was reported that the two had been photographed by the media many times before while staying over at each other's places..."
December 19: "Recently, some netizens encountered Gu Jinxuan and Cheng Jiaoqian at the airport. The two acted intimately and were suspected to be openly in a relationship."
December 5: "Overnight stay in the lady's chamber, the pile of evidence concerning Gu Jinxuan and Cheng Jiaoqian's secret romance is mountain high."
Qin Rongze had been very busy during this time, he had been entirely preoccupied, so preoccupied that he couldn't even remember when was the last time he paid attention to the entertainment industry.
When he saw the news of Gu Jinxuan and Cheng Jiaoqian announcing their high-profile marriage, his mind went blank for a moment.
Qin Rongze and Cheng Jiaoqian could be called childhood sweethearts. The elders in both of their families had been trying to play matchmaker with them early on, but Cheng Jiaoqian always said that she didn't want to think about marriage-related matters so early, and the matter was never settled.
Cheng Jiaoqian started working in the entertainment industry before she even graduated from University. To become more photogenic, she also got plastic surgery, more than once.
In recent years, she appears to have gotten addicted to plastic surgery. She began getting more and more drastic plastic surgery, and pretty much her whole body had gotten a makeover.
Qin Rongze didn't say anything, but he was actually quite disappointed.
He wasn't the type of person who paid too much attention to physical appearances, and he never felt that there was anything wrong with Cheng Jiaoqian's original appearance. Not only wasn't there anything wrong but she appeared rather endearing, so he couldn't understand why she had to make herself look like that? But what's done is done, so he had to let it go.
What he truly found unbearable was that ever since Cheng Jiaoqian stepped foot in the entertainment industry, the gossip around her had never stopped.
Qin Rongze believed that he knew Cheng Jiaoqian's character, that she just liked to have fun, and there was no way anything would happen between her and those young idols.
Cheng Jiaoqian was pretty well known in the entertainment industry, and the media loved to play on hearsay, so such news couldn't be avoided, and these false rumors would usually die down after some time, and he had gradually gotten used to it.
Qin Rongze sometimes took the initiative to intervene and get rid of some trouble for her.
Three years ago, during the winter, after Qin Rongze helped Cheng Jiaoqian solve some of her troubles, Cheng Jiaoqian was greatly touched and said to him, "Brother Ah-Ze, you are so kind to me, I want to marry you... Brother Ah-Ze, if I'm not married by the time I'm 30, promise me you'll marry me, alright?"
Qin Rongze could never resist any of her demands, and he was only two years older than Cheng Jiaoqian. He felt that it would be appropriate for him to marry at the age of thirty-two, so he readily agreed.
Cheng Jiaoqian begged him not to disclose their affairs to outsiders at first, lest he be squandered, and Qin Rongze readily agreed.
At present, Liang Kaiwen didn't know about any of these things. Even his family thought that he and Cheng Jiaoqian had been estranged for the past few years, and they had no idea that there was such an agreement between them!
To give his childhood sweetheart a better future, he devoted himself to work...
But she married someone else!
How could she marry someone else?
Besides, she's so haughty so how could she fancy... No, he didn't believe it!
Qin Rongze felt more and more incredulous, so he dialed the phone number that had been buried deep in his memory for a long time.
After a few long beeps, an aloof and coquettish female voice sounded over the phone, "Hello? Who is it?"
Qin Rongze's face suddenly turned pale. He had been waiting for her wholeheartedly, trying to pave the way for her bright future, clearing obstacles for her at any cost, and wished he could give her everything he could.
But to Cheng Jiaoqian, he was simply a passerby whose name wasn't even worth knowing?!
On the phone, Cheng Jiaoqian sounded a little displeased as she said, "Who is it, I'll hang up if you don't speak up."
Her fiery temper was just the same as before, and Qin Rongze's heart softened immediately.
When he calmed down and thought about it, the Qin family and the Cheng family were old family friends. Cheng Jiaoqian would definitely inform the Qin family when she gets married, and he would definitely get the news. If there was no notice, it meant that there was no such thing. It was too rash of him to call to interrogate her just because of some rumors on the Internet.
Just as Qin Rongze fretted over how he should start the conversation, he heard a clear male voice faintly from the other end of the phone, "Qian Qian, who's calling?"
Cheng Jiaoqian coquettishly murmured to the other person, "I don't know. After I dropped my phone many of my contacts have disappeared... If it wasn't for the fact that few people knew my number, I would have hung up already."
Although Cheng Jiaoqian moved the phone away slightly, Qin Rongze could still hear her clearly over the phone. His heart sank again. It turns out that he was only one of the "many contacts" that had disappeared.
The man chuckled, "Maybe it's just someone prank calling you? The children from your cousin's family, don't they love to call at midnight and call people to go to the bathroom...that night didn't they…"
"Hahaha...stop talking about it." Cheng Jiaoqian seemed to have thought out something particularly hilarious, and she couldn't stop laughing. "Whenever I think about those two hooligans I can't stop laughing. Ah oh no, my stomach is hurting again."
"Ah~, I remember you said that Xiao Han also wanted to enter the entertainment industry. There's a drama…"
Upon hearing the intimate conversation between the two people over the phone, Qin Rongze felt that there was no need to ask anything, everything was true.
A short while later, he hung up the phone, and only the dial tone was left.
Qin Rongze feebly slumped in his chair.
Unrequited love was something extremely pathetic for someone of his age anyway.
Now that he knew that the woman he had been in love with for many years was getting married, he wanted to make a phone call to verify it, with this as the result.
There was nothing more ridiculous in this world!
"Clank!!!"
He flung his phone to the ground, and, like his broken heart, the poor phone shattered into a million pieces.