Chapter 825: Li Ye, How Can You Be So Shameless?

Because of Guo Secretary’s fall from the building, the project acquisition could no longer proceed.

Section Chief Inoue urgently reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police, arranged for an ambulance, and Li Muhan had no choice but to report to the relevant authorities.

But to everyone’s surprise, Li Ye turned to Section Chief Inoue: “May I ask, Section Chief Inoue, since so many people in your country choose to end their lives on the rooftop, why don’t you station personnel to close off access to it?”

“Why don’t you assign guards to watch it closely? Why don’t you install taller railings? Do you truly disregard life so completely?”

Section Chief Inoue was momentarily stunned by Li Ye’s question, then bowed deeply in apology: “I am truly sorry, deeply sorry—I had no idea your people would go up to the rooftop.”

“Section Chief Inoue, do you not stop your own people from going up there? Our people came today with goodwill, seeking cooperation—yet now such a serious incident has occurred. Don’t you owe us a reasonable explanation?”

“.”

Ma Zhao and the others stared at Li Ye strangely, their eyes saying, “Li Ye, how can you be so shameless?”

After everyone returned to the hotel, Ma Zhao sent his trusted aide and Li Muhan’s colleague Xiao Hu to watch over Gu Jianqi, while the other key personnel gathered in Li Ye’s room for a meeting.

Ma Zhao frowned and said: “Although we still don’t know why Guo Secretary committed suicide, this incident is extremely serious—we must prepare for an investigation.”

Lu Zhizhang cursed: “What does this have to do with us? It’s clearly Gu Jianqi’s doing. They both went up to the rooftop together, yet the old man claims he knew nothing—how could he not know? If he didn’t know, then it’s a miracle!”

Earlier, after everyone rushed to the rooftop, Gu Jianqi claimed he had lost sight of Guo Secretary, followed him to the rooftop, and found him just as he jumped—by then, he was powerless to stop it.

As for why Guo Secretary jumped, Gu Jianqi insisted he had no idea.

Li Muhan sighed: “I can guess one possible reason for Guo Secretary’s death. Ever since he and Gu Jianqi arrived in Japan, he kept asking about stocks and futures.”

“That day at the stock exchange, the two of them watched Mitsubishi Heavy Industries surge over thirty percent—their expressions were strange.”

“Now that Guo Secretary has suddenly died, it’s almost certainly tied to today’s stock crash—but these are only my personal guesses; I have no concrete evidence.”

“We don’t need to look for evidence—it will reveal itself.”

Li Ye said coldly: “Let professionals handle professional matters. When investigators arrive, we’ll submit our suspicions—they’ll find the breakthrough.”

“Right now, we must focus on our own tasks—and do them even better than originally planned.”

Everyone froze. Then Li Muhan asked: “Li Ye, what do you mean? What exactly do you want to do better?”

Li Ye said calmly: “If I’m not mistaken, Section Chief Inoue will soon notify us to sign the contract. But the situation has changed—our demands must change too.”

“I want the chassis technology for that Mitsubishi minivan. Let this be our chance to make up for our mistakes.”

Li Muhan immediately said: “Impossible. The Japanese guard their technology tightly—they won’t transfer it to us so easily.”

Li Ye smiled: “How will you know it won’t work unless you try?”

That night, Li Ye called Old Song.

“Old Song, do me a few favors.”

“Your Excellency, command me—I’ll do anything.”

“Find a way to contact Section Chief Inoue of Mitsubishi. Give him some sweeteners—remember, use Japanese intermediaries.”

“Your Excellency, rest assured—I’m skilled at gift-giving. I can even find a little dirt on him if needed.”

“Don’t push him too far.”

After giving his instructions, Li Ye added to Old Song: “Something unexpected happened here—a death. Investigators will arrive soon. Arrange things as I said.”

“.”

Section Chief Inoue indeed quickly notified Li Muhan: the two sides could now sign the contract for the micro-truck technology transfer.

Then Li Muhan cautiously proposed requesting the chassis technology for the Mitsubishi minivan.

When they returned from the Okazaki factory, Li Muhan had once made the same request—but Section Chief Inoue had arrogantly refused.

But this time, Li Muhan noticed Inoue’s expression was strange—completely different from when he’d made the request before.

“I’ve submitted your request to higher-ups. It’s currently under discussion—we’ll respond soon.”

“.”

Li Muhan, Ma Zhao, and the others were stunned.

Was Guo Secretary’s life really worth that much? Was Section Chief Inoue so eager to distance himself from us that he was not only rushing the contract but also offering generous concessions?

There was no such thing as unearned kindness. Section Chief Inoue had suffered heavy losses in this stock crash—and now, with a chance to recover, he was using Guo Secretary’s death as an excuse to push the deal forward.

“Li Ye, someone’s here for you—it’s that Lighthouse engineer.”

“Alright, I’ll come down right away.”

Li Ye hurried downstairs and saw Ludwig looking around the hotel lobby, his face full of confusion.

Li Ye smiled and greeted him: “What’s wrong, Mr. Ludwig? What are you wondering about?”

Ludwig looked at Li Ye seriously: “Mr. Li, if you made that promise yesterday just to save my life, I don’t blame you.”

“So can you tell me the truth today? Can you really afford to pay me four thousand dollars a month?”

In 1987, four thousand dollars a month was unquestionably a high salary—so Ludwig, seeing Li Ye staying in such a shabby hotel, suspected he’d been deceived.

Li Ye smiled faintly: “I can pay you one month’s salary in advance tomorrow. How about that?”

Ludwig fell silent for several seconds, then bowed deeply to Li Ye: “I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have doubted you. You’re a man of compassion. I accept your offer. I’m willing to serve you.”

“.”

Li Ye chatted with Ludwig for a while, confirmed his duties wouldn’t involve sensitive matters, and only then did Ludwig leave satisfied.

This man had a family—he’d never be a spy.

After he left, Li Muhan came over and asked: “What did you talk about with that Lighthouse man? I need to record it.”

Li Ye chuckled: “Li Kezhang, you actually suspect me?”

Li Muhan sighed: “Don’t even say it—I might not even be a section chief much longer.”

Li Ye smiled and relented: “I’m hiring him to work on the mainland. Salary: four thousand dollars a month.”

Before he finished speaking, Li Muhan exclaimed: “Four thousand dollars? Li Ye, you’re going to pay him four thousand dollars a month?”

“Is four thousand dollars expensive?”

“Isn’t it?”

“.”

Seeing Li Muhan’s shock, Li Ye realized people on the mainland still had no concept of “valuing talent.”

Think of that White Brain guy—he went to Qiao’s gaming company, said he loved games, wanted to meet the company’s top tech genius, and discuss game design.

And Qiao foolishly agreed.

Then White Brain asked the tech genius: “Bro, what’s your phone number?”

Then White Brain poached the entire tech team and built “Zhengtu,” completely turning his fortunes around.

Think about who Qiao was—he got tricked. So can Li Muhan possibly understand how valuable an engineer once employed by Volkswagen or General Motors is to the mainland today?

And Lei Jun did the same—he raided an entire mainland car factory, wiped out their core team, and only then created the wildly successful SU7.

So someone once said: the fastest way to expand a business is to poach your rival’s talent.