"This..." Secretary Yang couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Stop beating around the bush..." Mr. Lu Zhenhai sounded a little annoyed. "Just say what you want to say! We've been working together for so many years. Do you think I would fire you just because you said something wrong?"
"Mr. Lu, of course you wouldn't! It's just that... what they said was rather unpleasant... I was afraid it would upset you," Secretary Yang hesitated, feeling embarrassed about conveying the message.
The more he remained silent, the more Mr. Lu Zhenhai wanted to know what was going on.
Secretary Yang followed him into the elevator and entered the office. Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, he spoke the truth. "They called you a dumbass and said they've had enough of your stupidity. They don't want to cooperate with you anymore! In short, they said a lot of strange things."
"Which company said that?"
Do they have no manners?!
Mr. Lu Zhenhai suddenly became angry. If they don't want to cooperate, then fine. Why would they insult him with all these senseless words?
"There are three companies in total, and the largest one was the most ruthless..." Secretary Yang reluctantly replied.
As soon as Mr. Lu Zhenhai heard that, he had a bad feeling. "Is it European Swallow Capital?"
"Yes..."
European Swallow Capital was a well-known venture capital company in China. Its founder, European Swallow, was hailed as the "God of Venture Capital." As long as she identified a project, once they invested in it, it would undoubtedly become a huge success.
Many small companies could grow and thrive only because they received investments from European Swallow Capital.
Previously, no matter what plans Mr. Lu Zhenhai had, as long as he mentioned it to European Swallow, he could easily obtain funds. Even if the project ultimately failed and the money was lost, European Swallow never blamed him.
Other companies saw how highly European Swallow regarded him and assumed he had some background, so they treated him respectfully.
But what happened now?
Why did they suddenly refuse to cooperate with him?
"What was the last project we sought funding from European Swallow for?" Mr. Lu Zhenhai truly couldn't recall.
"Mr. Lu, two months ago, you received five hundred million from European Swallow to acquire IU," Secretary Yang explained.
IU was a high-tech fitting mirror company. With just a person standing in front of the mirror, without any physical clothes, they could try on all the clothes in the store effortlessly using the electronic system on the mirror's surface.
The Lu family made their fortune in the clothing business, owning their own clothing production company and physical stores. Lu Zhenhai wanted to install IU mirrors in all the stores, allowing customers to easily try on more clothes and buy more.
"But it turns out that trying clothes with the IU mirror is completely different from trying them on physically. The difference in results is too significant," Secretary Zhang expressed his regret.
Moreover, the maintenance cost of the IU mirrors was high, and they were sensitive to environmental conditions. Prolonged exposure to sunlight could cause them to burst into flames, and in damp places, they would malfunction over time. Sometimes, the mirrored images would become distorted...
In short, Lu Zhenhai went through great lengths to install over ten thousand IU mirrors, only to have them removed later... It cost him over 700 million in total, with a loss of 500 million and an additional investment of 200 million from himself.
Lu Zhenhai pondered, "Could it be because of this?" Is that why Ou Yan no longer wants to cooperate with him?
"It's not necessarily the case," Secretary Yang hurriedly said, "Previously, you asked for a billion from Ou Yan to invest in a clothing city. Despite the loss of funds, with an additional investment of 300 million, Ou Yan continued to cooperate with us."
Lu Zhenhai also thought about it. If they didn't want to cooperate, they would have cut their losses earlier. Why wait until now?
"Did Ou Yan say anything else besides scolding me?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
The founder of Ou Yan never showed his face, and all the work was delegated to Wu You, the CEO of Ou Yan in China, and Wu was in charge of everything.
"The person who called and taunted me on the phone was Wu You's assistant, Liu," Secretary Yang said but hesitated.
"Why are you being evasive again? If there's something else, speak up." Lu Zhenhai lost his patience, tugging at his tie with an irritated expression.
"Well... Ou Yan seemed relieved and in a great mood after deciding not to cooperate with us. At the end of the call, I even heard them laughing!"
"... " Lu Zhenhai contemplated, what did this mean? "No, I have to personally call Liu and find out what's going on."
Secretary Yang quickly brought the office phone.
Lu Zhenhai first called Liu, who usually answered calls faster than anyone else, but now it only gave him a cold reminder: "I'm sorry, the number you dialed is switched off!"
Lu Zhenhai refused to believe it. He made several consecutive calls, becoming even more agitated. This was most likely a case of being blocked!
He undid the top button of his shirt, then called Wu You, the person above Liu and in charge of Ou Yan's investment in the Chinese region. Unexpectedly, Wu You had also blocked him...
Listening to the system's icy reminders, Lu Zhenhai reached the peak of frustration. Suppressing his anger, he dialed the numbers of two other companies...
The other two companies didn't answer his calls...
After an hour of frantic dialing, no one paid him any attention.
Secretary Yang stood trembling on the side when suddenly she received a message.
"Lu, Mr. Lu..."
"Don't you see I'm in a bad mood? Shut up! Let me be alone!" Lu Zhenhai seethed with anger and extreme irritability.
Secretary Yang couldn't speak and could only hold a small notebook from the desktop, writing a line of words with a pen: The board of directors is looking for you.
Liu Zhenhai glanced at the notebook he handed over and his anger flared even more. "The board of directors is looking for me, and you can't use your mouth to say it? Why write it down!"
"Mr. Liu, you told me to shut up just now..."
"These old guys, they're always happy when it comes to dividends, but the moment something happens, they come to hold someone accountable!" Liu Zhenhai stood up in annoyance, picked up his suit jacket. "Leave them hanging for now, prepare the car for me! I'm going to Ouyan Group."
"Mr. Liu, what are you..."
"I'm going to find Wu You and get some answers!"
On the other side.
Following the location sent by her mother, Qingyan arrived at a company's entrance.
The facade of this company was a curtain wall made of hollow glass, about eighteen or nineteen stories high, and roughly the width of five storefronts.
On a large stone in front of the door, it was engraved: Dawn Pharmaceutical Research and Development Co., Ltd.
Wasn't it supposed to be a very small subsidiary?
Once inside, Qingyan saw the receptionist dozing off. She spoke softly, "Hello."
"Y-Yes??" The receptionist, upon seeing a high school girl, rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Little girl, did you come to the wrong place? This is a pharmaceutical research and development company..."
"My name is Qingyan, and I'm here to work."
The receptionist, startled, immediately stood up. "Miss Qing? Please come this way!"
Yesterday, Li Yuanfu had already instructed that someone would come to take over the company today. Since his daughter's identity hadn't been announced yet, he only informed the staff that Qingyan was sent by the headquarters.
The receptionist led Qingyan into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor - 20th floor. "I'll take you to the office first."