Chapter 238: Come on, Grandpa will turn the tide

In Lin Dongfan's memory, the founder of Strong Prosper Petrochemical (Nanzhou) Co., Ltd., Li Chunyan, can be said to be one of the most tragic figures in Nanzhou in recent years.

Strong Prosper Petrochemical is an upstream enterprise in the petroleum industry chain.

Converting crude oil into liquefied petroleum gas for daily use is one of Strong Prosper Petrochemical's main businesses.

2004

The province began increasing investment in long-distance pipeline equipment, and pipeline natural gas gradually replaced manufactured gas and liquefied petroleum gas.

Li Chunyan had keen vision.

He precisely seized this opportunity, upgrading his liquefied gas business to natural gas.

At the end of that year.

The province again issued a document requiring that the coverage rate of urban pipeline natural gas in all counties and cities reach over 90%.

Riding this wave, Li Chunyan easily obtained massive unsecured, unguaranteed loans from the Four Major Merchant Houses, orderly expanding his business scope and seeking to go public.

Under Li Chunyan's leadership, Strong Prosper Petrochemical at that time could be said to be in its heyday.

To say it was leading the trend is not an exaggeration.

However…

A big tree attracts wind.

At the time, someone muttered sarcastically: "The government invested so much money to lay pipelines, but a private company snatched the development dividends—what's going on?!"

Not long after, Gao Lu began to move into the natural gas sector.

In order to take down Li Chunyan and seize control of Strong Prosper Petrochemical, Gao Lu summoned the heads of the Four Major Merchant Houses for drinks, speaking freely without distinction among themselves.

2006

Just as Li Chunyan was leading Strong Prosper Petrochemical toward an IPO, the Four Major Merchant Houses suddenly turned against him, refusing to acknowledge their adopted son, and simultaneously moved to demand repayment of debts from Strong Prosper Petrochemical.

This directly caused Strong Prosper Petrochemical's capital chain to break, and the IPO plan died in the womb.

At this point, Gao Lu stepped forward, enthusiastically throwing Li Chunyan a lifeline by investing one hundred million into Strong Prosper Petrochemical in exchange for 51% equity.

To show sincerity, Gao Lu even emphasized that he only held shares, not control.

That is to say, even if I, Gao Lu, hold 51% of the company's shares, the company's control still belongs to you; I will not participate in the company's management.

But is it, is there really such a selfless fat older sister in this world?

No!

Impossible!

Gao Lu also put forward a condition: to sign a performance agreement.

The agreement roughly states:

«Over the next three years, the company's performance must maintain growth of over 50%. »

«If you, Li Chunyan, can achieve this, you will have the right to reduce my shareholding and regain your position as majority shareholder; otherwise, you must surrender control. »

At that time, Li Chunyan was also full of confidence.

According to Strong Prosper Petrochemical's development momentum at the time, Li Chunyan felt there was no chance of losing—let alone maintaining 50% growth, even 60% growth would be no problem.

He never realized it was a trap.

In order to achieve the IPO goal as soon as possible, Li Chunyan unhesitatingly accepted Gao Lu's condition and signed that performance agreement.

Not even half a year later, Li Chunyan was caught off guard by disaster.

A company named "Jianglan Natural" suddenly appeared; shortly after, Nanzhou City, under the strong leadership of Gao Peng, reopened bidding for the city's natural gas supply.

The result was no surprise: Jianglan Natural won, Strong Prosper Petrochemical lost.

This isn't the end of it.

Other counties and cities in the province followed Nanzhou's pace, successively launching bidding rounds and re-selecting the "high-quality, low-cost" Jianglan Natural as the gas supplier.

It was as if overnight, Strong Prosper Petrochemical lost all its business within the province, leaving only out-of-province operations.

Even the over-50% performance growth rate became a joke.

When the financial report for 2007 came out.

Li Chunyan had no choice but, according to the performance agreement, surrender control and hand over the Strong Prosper Petrochemical he had built himself.

Gao Lu became the actual controller of Strong Prosper Petrochemical.

But Li Chunyan is also a stubborn sort who won't give up until he sees the coffin; he hasn't abandoned the idea of regaining control of Strong Prosper Petrochemical.

In the following years, he has been lobbying domestic and foreign investment magnates for capital, trying to dilute Gao Lu's shares and regain the position of head.

Gao Lu watched, merely smiling faintly.

In early 2008, Gao Lu mobilized his power resources, using the pretext of illegal fundraising to have Li Chunyan arrested; the arresting officer was Qian Muye of the High-Tech District Public Security Bureau.

He was detained for over a year.

Released in 2009, the unwilling Li Chunyan went abroad again, seeking investment magnates overseas, and kept at it until this July, finally persuading an investment tycoon.

This thoroughly enraged Gao Lu.

On the day before that investment tycoon came to Strong Prosper Petrochemical for an on-site inspection, an ethylene warehouse at the company exploded, and Li Chunyan was arrested again.

This is the whole story.

As for Li Chunyan, this tragic human stubbornness, Lin Dongfan only wants to play him the song "Too Stupid"; he's old, has been in jail, yet still hasn't realized the truth that one's arm cannot twist over one's thigh.

If everything proceeds along the normal track.

This ethylene warehouse explosion will be interpreted as Li Chunyan's malicious retaliatory act, which fits the logic of "If I can't have it, I'll destroy it."

That is to say, a big black hat has already been placed on Li Chunyan's head.

Next, Li Chunyan's father will run around for him, then commit suicide in despair; moreover, his daughter who just graduated from university will become disabled and then lose her mind.

Many years later.

By the time Li Chunyan is released from prison, the grass on his father's grave has already grown two meters tall.

The daughter would also become a raving beggar, her belly swollen by someone unknown, and at the sight of people she'd shrink like a frightened mouse, curling up under the bridge.

"What are you thinking about? Why haven't you said anything?"

As Lin Dongfan lamentably recalled the fate of Li Chunyan's whole family, the voice of his father-in-law, Chu Jinsong, sounded in his ear.

Lin Dongfan put aside this epic tragedy and unleashed a willpower capable of turning the tide: "I'm thinking about how to save Li Chunyan's whole family."

"I heard that when he was last in jail, his wife had already divorced him." Chu Jinsong looked regretful: "I also bear responsibility for this; back when I worked in Nanzhou, I couldn't protect him either."

"Dad, it's not your fault; with your position back then, there was no way to oppose the Gaojia Group," Lin Dongfan said.

Leng Chuan nodded in deep agreement: "Dongfan's right, Secretary Chu—you don't need to blame yourself."

Chu Jinsong chuckled sheepishly: "A higher official crushes people to death. Dongfan, although you're now an Imperial Envoy, you know how deep the waters of Nanzhou run. This operation must be handled with utmost caution."

"Dad, rest assured, I have a plan."

On this matter, Lin Dongfan remains quite confident.

After all, having lived two lives with the advantage of foreknowledge, if I can't even save Li Chunyan's family, I might as well kill myself by smashing into a block of tofu—what face would I have to live in this world?

Lin Dongfan shifted his gaze to Leng Chuan: "Chief Leng, I'm heading to Nanzhou tomorrow morning. I need to borrow three people from your unit—please arrange it."

"Those three old comrades?" Leng Chuan frowned slightly.

Lin Dongfan smiled: "We must use old comrades—we know their backgrounds. Others, I really can't trust. If one of them stabs me in the back, I'll have nowhere to cry."