Chapter 398: 394. A Chance Encounter with Zhuo Fan (Seeking subscriptions, monthly tickets!)

Matters in Russia have come to a temporary end.

It was indeed Zhang Ran who did what happened to Valery; the reason Zhang Ran had not made a move before was because he was worried that Lotnikov might take overly drastic actions out of anger.

Zhang Ran himself was not afraid; if Lotnikov really dared to do so, he had ways to deal with it, and he was willing to stake his own life as a gamble.

But Zhang Ran did not dare to stake his family's lives as a gamble, especially since the two children were still here.

That was why, at the time, Zhang Ran appeared to be merely talking big and did not take any action himself.

But when he was about to leave, Zhang Ran was no longer polite; Valery was just a side note, as the time was too short, and Zhang Ran simply hadn't found an opportunity to strike at Lotnikov.

At the same time, Zhang Ran had Zhang Sicheng and the others fly back, while he himself continued to travel by car.

By the time Lotnikov received the news, Zhang Ran was still within the borders of Russia.

Inside a private hospital, Lotnikov looked at Valery on the hospital bed, his eyes full of anger.

"Didn't I warn you not to go out during this period?" Lotnikov said angrily.

He had guessed earlier that Zhang Ran would certainly not let it go just like that, and he could also guess why Zhang Ran had not taken any retaliatory action.

Zhang Ran's entire family was here; even if Zhang Ran had a ninety-nine percent chance of success, he would not dare to gamble on that one percent.

Therefore, Lotnikov had also been on guard during the period when Zhang Ran was leaving, but his nephew still could not restrain himself.

"Uncle, I just went to hang out with some friends." Valery looked at his uncle's gloomy expression, feeling a bit afraid.

However, feeling the pain in his leg, he still gritted his teeth and said, "Uncle, you must avenge me; I am not reconciled to this."

Hearing this, Lotnikov narrowed his eyes and said, "Avenge you? How?"

"I know Zhang Ran hasn't left Russia yet; Uncle, it would be easy to deal with him now," Valery said hurriedly.

"Heh, easy? Where did you come to that conclusion from?" Lotnikov's eyes could not hide his disappointment.

Looking at his nephew, Lotnikov said softly, "Do you know how your father died back then?"

Valery was stunned, then said, "I know, he was killed by Zhang Ran."

Lotnikov shook his head and said, "No, you don't know. Back then, Zhang Ran and his people were already surrounded by us, but he deliberately exposed a flaw; I was greedy for merit and made a wrong decision, and your father blocked the bullet for me!"

"Now, do you think Zhang Ran didn't take the plane on purpose, or did he really not want to take the plane?" Lotnikov asked.

Valery stopped talking.

Lotnikov did not say anything more either; he was, of course, angry in his heart, but this scene was so similar.

Back then, Zhang Ran had used his own life as a gamble, won that time, and completely turned the Nikolayev Family around.

Now it was the same again; Zhang Ran's family had already left by plane, and now he was alone.

Did Lotnikov dare to go and hunt down Zhang Ran?

"Take this as a lesson this time; remember for next time, don't underestimate anyone, especially someone I am extremely wary of. I don't want to be the one collecting your corpse one day," Lotnikov warned, looking at Valery's unwilling eyes.

"I know," Valery said in a low voice.

Zhang Ran had waited until he left the borders of Russia without encountering any of Lotnikov's men; sitting in the car now, he felt a bit disappointed, yet also found it a matter of course.

"Sure enough, this guy has really grown quite a bit," Zhang Ran said with a smile to He Yong, who was driving in front.

He Yong said, "He should have learned his lesson."

Zhang Ran was only fishing tentatively this time; if it succeeded, that was good, and if it didn't, it didn't matter.

The vehicle he was in this time was a bulletproof RV provided by the Nikolayev side; besides He Yong, there were two Russian men sitting in the front, who, in addition to protecting Zhang Ran, also served as drivers.

Driving was much faster than taking a train, especially with three shifts; in two days, Zhang Ran returned to the country.

However, Zhang Ran did not return to Shanghai to reunite with his family, but instead parked the car in Tianjin.

The headquarters of the Maikai Supermarket China Branch was in Tianjin; of course, it could now be considered the true headquarters, not just a branch.

It was already very late when Zhang Ran arrived in Tianjin, so he booked a hotel online, planning to rest for the night before heading over.

Zhang Ran already understood the situation of the Maikai Supermarket China Branch quite well; he knew that housing prices in Huaxia would definitely skyrocket, so when Maikai Supermarket was founded in Huaxia, Zhang Ran had set the tone for the Nikolayev side: the proportion of self-owned properties must be increased.

Although this caused the expansion speed of Maikai Supermarket to be a bit slower, its competitiveness was very strong.

The supermarket rent saved each year alone was an astronomical figure.

There had been a situation before where Maokao Supermarket was poorly managed in some cities, suffering continuous losses, which eventually led to them having to withdraw from those cities.

But when they settled the accounts at the end, they discovered that not only had they not lost money, but they had actually made a profit; it was simply because housing prices had risen too ridiculously.

Zhang Ran was crystal clear about these basic conditions, and as for some of the management of Maikai Supermarket, the Nikolayev side had also provided detailed introductions.

However, since he hadn't seen them in person after all, Zhang Ran couldn't be sure of anything; he would wait until he met them tomorrow to decide.

If there were no major problems, Zhang Ran did not intend to make drastic changes to Maikai Supermarket.

After all, time was tight now, and Zhang Ran didn't have that much effort to waste.

Replacing people was easy, but finding suitable people and having them integrate quickly was not easy.

But if someone was truly stubborn, then Zhang Ran wouldn't mind killing the chicken to warn the monkey!

Just as Zhang Ran arrived at the hotel and walked to the elevator entrance, he was stopped by someone: "Excuse me, sir, please take the other elevator; there is already someone inside."

Zhang Ran looked inside and discovered that it was actually an old acquaintance.

"Tsk tsk, President Zhuo really has a big ego; do you want to have someone drive everyone else out of the hotel?" Zhang Ran said with a mocking tone.

The person inside was none other than Zhuo Fan.

Zhuo Fan also hadn't expected to meet Zhang Ran here, but thinking about it, it made sense; Zhang Ran must have returned from Russia and was stopping by to rest.

As for Zhang Ran going to Russia, these people all knew about it; this could be considered a benefit of them exposing Zhang Ran—at the very least, some of Zhang Ran's slightly larger movements could no longer be hidden from them.

"What are you doing? Why are you stopping Mr. Zhang? You have no eye for people at all." Zhuo Fan reprimanded the secretary who had stopped Zhang Ran with a smile, then moved aside to make some space.

Zhang Ran did not stand on ceremony with him and walked straight in.

Looking at Zhang Ran, Zhuo Fan's heart stirred; he had originally planned to go find Zhang Ran, but he hadn't expected to meet him now—it was quite a coincidence.