Chapter 904: Absconding with the Funds

Lingyin Tea Garden.

Mark and Xiao Qiao stood swaggeringly in front of those dozen or so old tea trees with a group of people.

Mark lifted his chin and ordered the few tea farmers: "Pick every leaf that can be picked for me!"

After hearing the translation, an old tea farmer was stunned and couldn't help but say: "Sir, you can't pick tea like this. You can only pick the tender buds; you can't strip all the leaves..."

After hearing the translation, Mark glared and interrupted directly: "This tea garden is mine! You pick it however I tell you to! Xiao Qiao, translate that for them."

Xiao Qiao thought that if she translated those words, these tea farmers would definitely refuse. She frowned and changed the phrasing: "Folks, we aren't picking tea to drink, but for another purpose. Just do as the Boss says, and we won't treat you unfairly."

The old tea farmer curled his lip after hearing this and said nothing more.

The group of people scrambled, frantically stripping the trees according to Mark's instructions.

The dozen or so old tea trees were left almost bare, with hardly any leaves remaining.

The tea leaves crossed the ocean and were shipped directly to the United States Laboratory.

The people at the pharmaceutical factory used professional equipment to quickly extract the essence from the tea leaves.

Immediately after, they compared these substances with the special ingredients in the medicine previously bought from Lin Wanning.

Upon comparison—everyone was dumbfounded.

There wasn't a single trace of any of the ingredients from the medicine inside!

This news hit Connally, the Chairman of the Johnson Group, like a bolt from the blue.

Connally was furious; he grabbed the phone and dialed Douglas: "You son of a bitch! What the hell have you done? The tea we bought has nothing to do with the ingredients in those reagents! Tell me, did you use my money to keep a woman?"

Upon hearing this, Douglas felt as if a ladle of cold water had been poured over his head, and his whole body shuddered.

He hurriedly explained: "Mr. Connally, please listen to me, I really tried my best! I sent my men to infiltrate the Lin Group and obtained top-secret information—the medicine contains essential oil extracted from the leaves of old tea trees! We bought some tea from that garden last time, and after testing, the components basically matched. This... how could this happen? Did something go wrong somewhere?"

Connally cursed loudly: "Nonsense! We shipped over dozens of kilograms of tea leaves and extracted all the essence, and there isn't a single trace of the medicine's ingredients in it."

Douglas hurriedly said: "Mr. Connally, I will go to the United States immediately and bring the tea leaves over. Can you test them again?"

Connally suppressed his anger slightly, his voice cold enough to drop ice shards: "Get your ass over here immediately. If I don't see you within twenty-four hours, I'll kill you."

No sooner had Douglas sent the tea leaves to the laboratory than the report was slapped onto Connally's desk—

"You've been played, you idiot!" Connally slammed the test report onto his face. "Your tea leaves have it, but the ones we picked ourselves don't; it's a damn setup! Five hundred million US dollars, all gone down the drain! From start to finish, they dug a pit for us!"

Douglas shrank his neck and tentatively spoke: "Mr. Connally, could it be that your method of processing the tea leaves is different? How about... I go to that tea garden again, pick it myself, and extract the tea essential oil using ancient methods?"

"Pick your head!" Connally's eyes widened like copper bells. "Go catch that woman who gave us the intelligence! I want to interrogate her myself!"

Douglas's legs went soft, and his head almost retracted into his neck: "B-Boss... that woman... she... ran away..."

Before he could finish, Connally kicked him, landing squarely on the base of Douglas's thigh: "You're a damn idiot! Being played by a woman! Tell me the truth—did you sleep with her?!"

Douglas pursed his lips and said nothing, his face turning the color of a pig's liver.

"Bastard! Useless!" Connally pointed at the door and roared. "Get every cent of that five hundred million US dollars back! If you can't get it back, I'll skin you alive!"

Douglas nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "I'll return to Hong Kong immediately! I'll go solve it right now!"

Hong Kong, Liu Trading Branch Company.

This time, He Yuzhu stepped forward personally, sitting upright in the boss's chair, smiling as he watched the frantic Douglas opposite him.

"Sir! I demand that you return the five hundred million US dollars immediately! Otherwise—expect a transnational lawsuit! Don't you sell your goods to many countries? I'll report this to our Department of Commerce, pull in a few friendly nations, and slap all sorts of labels on you—do you believe I can make it so you can't sell a single thing?"

After hearing this, He Yuzhu wasn't panicked at all; instead, he laughed. "Sir, go back and flip through your contract. If we really breached the contract, we'll return every cent of the five hundred million. If we didn't—you won't get a single coin."

Douglas held his nose high: "Contract? Where we come from, that's just toilet paper! How it's interpreted is up to me!"

The smile on He Yuzhu's face vanished instantly, his gaze turning cold: "If that's how you're going to talk—then get the hell out!"

He stood up abruptly, his 1.8-meter frame looming over him: "Do you think I was scared into growing up?"

Douglas's face turned livid; he pointed at He Yuzhu's nose and made a threat: "Since that's the case, there's nothing left to talk about! Just wait—see if you can withstand the Baofeng Zouyu of our retaliation!"

After speaking, he turned and left.

He Yuzhu watched his furious retreating figure, the corners of his mouth curling slightly: "You want to deal with us? Then I'll deal with you first!"

As soon as Douglas walked out the door, He Yuzhu followed him.

He followed unhurriedly. Douglas went to a restaurant for a meal, and He Yuzhu found an opportunity to enter the trunk and followed Douglas into the villa.

Just as the car stopped in the villa's garage and the three men were about to get out, they were taken into the space by He Yuzhu.

The reason he did this was because there were too many cameras in the villa area; he wanted to create the illusion that Douglas had absconded with the money.

He Yuzhu entered the villa, collected all the valuables into the space, then turned on the gas and lit a Candle.

He quietly transformed into the appearance of a driver, released another knocked-out Bodyguard from the space, and drove away from the villa quickly.

Half a month later, a Hong Kong newspaper published a piece of news: The bodies of Johnson Trading Company representative Douglas and his two bodyguards were found on the beach; the cause of death was drowning. There were no obvious signs of beating on the bodies.

"Police preliminary investigation suggests that during the typhoon, the three were suspected of encountering a storm at sea, causing their boat to capsize, and they unfortunately drowned..." He Yuzhu read the newspaper aloud while eating roast duck rice at a restaurant.

New York, United States, conference room, a group of Johnson Pharmaceutical executives were holding a meeting.

Asia Manager Park Yeon-jin said: "After our in-depth investigation, Douglas intended to abscond with the money, but encountered a typhoon and the boat capsized, so..."

Connally frowned and said: "How did you reach this conclusion?"

"This conclusion was actually given to me by the Hong Kong police," Park Yeon-jin said.

"The Hong Kong police are becoming less and less credible. Daniel, you coordinate with Park Yeon-jin and continue the investigation," Connally said.