"What, you want a divorce?"
When Zhang Xue saw Qi Shaobin, she had intended to ask him for help in solving Qingcheng's crisis, but she didn't expect that the very first thing he said upon meeting was a request for a divorce.
"Qi Shaobin, are you even human?" Zhang Xue bit her lip and glared at him. They had just completed their wedding, returned from their honeymoon, and the crisis at Qingcheng had just begun, and now he wanted to ditch her—how could Zhang Xue accept this?
"Calm down, Zhang Xue, this is for your own good."
"For my good, you say divorce is for my good, you scumbag." Zhang Xue grabbed the water cup and splashed Qi Shaobin in the face.
"You married me just for the money, didn't you? Now that Qingcheng is in trouble, you want to withdraw and leave, Qi Shaobin, what do you take me for?"
Grinding her teeth, Zhang Xue slammed her hands on the desk: "I'm telling you, getting a divorce won't be that easy."
Qi Shaobin also grew angry, suddenly standing up: "Zhang Xue, not only is your Qingcheng in crisis, Sihai is already unable to maintain its operations as well. The core industry of Sihai is real estate, which has always been operated with high debt. Earlier this year, Sihai spent a huge sum to acquire a piece of land. Developing this land was supposed to bring in huge profits, but now, after the money has been poured in, problems have arisen, and Sihai's liquid funds have been drained."
"Do you know what the consequences would be if this news gets out? Sihai would be insolvent. If I get a divorce from you now, I can still give you something. Otherwise, when the thunder strikes, it would really mean having nothing at all."
"Ah, how could this happen?"
Zhang Xue stared at Qi Shaobin in disbelief.
Qi Shaobin took a deep breath: "Someone is targeting us this time. The divorce is only temporary. If we can get through this crisis, we can remarry anytime, can't we? And if it really comes to the worst scenario, it also leaves us an escape route."
Zhang Xue left the café in a daze. Sihai Group is a prominent real estate conglomerate in Huacheng, owning hundreds of billions in assets and inherently powerful. The Qi Family had deep connections in Huacheng, otherwise they wouldn't have been so successful over the years.
Who exactly was plotting behind the scenes?
"President, where did you go? You weren't answering your phone. You have to hurry and see, they want to remove you as the president."
As soon as Zhang Xue walked into Qingcheng, her secretary rushed over anxiously: "They're holding a board meeting to dismiss me?"
Zhang Xue, clenching her teeth and her face as cold as frost, asked, "Where is it?"
"Upstairs in the meeting room."
With a cold face, Zhang Xue went straight to the meeting room upstairs. She pushed the door open and saw Wei Lan: "Wei Lan, so it was you causing trouble."
"If you want to be the president, you should ask if I agree. Don't forget that my Zhang Family is the largest shareholder of Qingcheng. If you want to remove me to take the position, you're dreaming."
Wei Lan breathed out, looking at Zhang Xue with a touch of sympathy, then glanced at the man sitting in the chair.
Li Feng suddenly turned his chair around, lifting his eyes to look at the incensed Zhang Xue.
"Li Feng, what are you doing here?"
Zhang Xue looked at Li Feng, who was sitting there, her face showing some surprise, and then looked at Wei Lan with a sharp tone: "Wei Lan, what is the meaning of this? It's not enough for you to try to take my position as president, but you even want to pick up the man that I threw away. I never realized you had a penchant for collecting trash."
Listening to Zhang Xue's indiscriminate attack, Wei Lan couldn't be bothered to explain, knowing fully well that anyone could see the Zhang Family was being ousted.
"Zhang Xue, let me introduce him to you, this is Li Feng, the new chairman of Qingcheng Fashion," Wei Lan introduced Li Feng directly to Zhang Xue.
"The new chairman, him?"
Wei Lan looked at Zhang Xue indifferently: "I just transferred all 17 percent of the Wei Family's shares to him, and excluding some floating shares, he already has more than fifty-one percent."
"The fate of Qingcheng Fashion is no longer in doubt."
Zhang Xue turned to look at Li Feng seated there, her eyes filled with contempt as she gazed at Wei Lan, "Wei Lan, that joke of yours isn't funny at all."
"Zhang Xue, do you think I'm still in the mood to joke with you? Qingcheng is his now." Wei Lan's emotions were a complex mix. Just days before, she had thought he was bluffing, but reality had slapped her in the face.
A week ago, he had offered to double his bid to purchase, and now she found herself pleading with him to buy her shares, even at double the price, it was only half of the previous market value. This made her understand what it means to go from heaven to hell in the blink of an eye.
Besides that, she had also lost her grandfather's trust.
"That's impossible, where would he get the money to buy your shares? Even if Qingcheng's stock price dropped to nothing, he'd still have to afford it!"
Zhang Xue's disdain for Li Feng ran deep within her bones; in her eyes, he was nothing but a spineless sycophant, who would immediately admit his mistakes with just a glance from her or cheer her up whenever she showed the slightest bit of annoyance.
After all, she knew all there was to know about Li Feng. In the past two years, he had been living off the money she gave him. Even if he had been secretly saving some cash, it couldn't possibly amount to a few billion.
"Wei Lan, it's obvious that the Wei Family wants to swallow up our Zhang Family's assets. Why bother finding such an unreliable excuse? What's the point of trotting out such a pathetic loser? If your intention was to deliberately disgust me, congratulations, you've succeeded."
Wei Lan was speechless.
How little Zhang Xue thought of her ex-husband, even now, she'd rather believe the Wei Family had taken over Qingcheng than accept that her ex-husband had swallowed it.
Wei Lan turned to look at the silent Li Feng, this quiet man was not as harmless as he appeared.
"I have nothing to do with what's between you two." Wei Lan turned to leave.
"Stop right there, have I given you permission to leave?"
Li Feng watched Wei Lan's back, and Wei Lan, biting her lip, stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Li Feng, "Do you need something else?"
"You seem very eager to become the president of Qingcheng."
Li Feng looked at Wei Lan.
"Is it something I can just become if I want to? Besides, I no longer have anything to do with Qingcheng."
"You'll be the president of Qingcheng." Ye Feng said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, mentioning it casually.
Zhang Xue burst into laughter watching Li Feng appoint Wei Lan as the president.
"Li Feng, when did I ever fail to notice your talent for playing the part?"
"Name your price for your shares."
Li Feng turned to look at Zhang Xue, who was sneering, and spoke indifferently, causing Zhang Xue to see a somewhat unfamiliar Li Feng.
"You want to buy them, sure, fifty billion, I'll sell them to you."
Zhang Xue watched Li Feng with a mocking laugh, I'll let you put on an act, good luck keeping it up. The shares held by the Zhang Family might have been worth fifty billion before trouble befell Qingcheng.
Now, they'd be lucky to find a buyer at even five billion.
"Heh, think you can buy them? Can you even afford it? Even if you sold your kidneys, could you scrape together a million by selling both?"
Zhang Xue prodded Li Feng's chest with her hand, her contempt as evident as it had always been.