Chapter 2626: Factory Manager Xiao, please take care of us!

Ono Taro soon learned that they had gained a competitor in their cooperation project with the Hujiang Machinery Factory, and this competitor's strength was extremely formidable—a powerful rival. This competitor was the Hong Kong Mi Group.

This news made Ono Taro furious. That night, in his own room, he beat a section chief of the company over a trivial matter. He slapped the section chief more than a dozen times, yet the section chief stood before him, not daring to move, nodding heavily to Ono Taro from time to time and shouting "Hai!"

Chinese people would surely find this scene very strange, but for Japanese companies, this is a very normal occurrence. They have strict hierarchical distinctions; subordinates show absolute obedience to superiors, and whatever unreasonable demands a superior makes, the subordinate must comply.

Ono Taro perhaps inherited his father's personality; his character was also extremely violent, only usually this violent nature was masked by his kind face and that pair of seemingly refined gold-rimmed glasses, making those unfamiliar with him think he was a kind, elderly man.

It is no wonder Ono Taro was furious; this matter was simply too great a blow to their Ono Company. The cooperation with Hujiang Machinery Factory concerned whether the Ono Company could rise, and for Ono Taro, it was something that could not be allowed to fail.

But now, the Mi Group had suddenly intervened, and it was on the eve of their cooperation agreement with Hujiang Machinery Factory being finalized. This meant that the work Ono Taro had done in the early stages had basically become futile, causing them to fall short at the final hurdle. Such a blow was simply devastating.

After all, he was a man over fifty. After slapping that section chief a dozen times, Ono Taro was panting with exhaustion. He plopped onto the sofa and said to the section chief, "Fujita, go call Mr. Wu here."

Fujita nodded heavily and said, "Hai!"

After Fujita went out, it wasn't long before he called the interpreter, Mr. Wu, in. As soon as Mr. Wu entered, he asked, "Mr. Ono, what business do you have with me?"

Mr. Wu had just seen the palm print on the section chief's face, which made him feel very uneasy.

Ono Taro said, "How much do you know about the Hong Kong Mi Group?"

Ono Taro was in a very bad mood now, so he didn't pay much attention to etiquette with Mr. Wu, not even calling him "Mr. Wu."

However, Mr. Wu didn't mind. He racked his brains, recalling some information about the Mi Group. In recent years, the Mi Group had been very popular in the mainland; they frequently launched attacks and made investments in the mainland, so Mr. Wu had a very deep impression of the Mi Group.

After thinking for a while, Mr. Wu said, "Mr. Ono, the Mi Group is now the largest family business in Hong Kong. It is said that the funds they can directly or indirectly control reach hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars. They have many investments in the Chinese mainland with large amounts; it seems they have no less than one billion in investments in Hujiang alone."

Ono Taro's complexion was very poor. He had, of course, heard of the Mi Group's name. He knew this was a giant Hong Kong enterprise, far stronger than their Ono Company, but he hadn't expected the Mi Group's strength to reach such a level.

Hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars—this was not hundreds of billions of yen. The gap between the Mi Group and the Ono Company was about the same as the gap between the Hong Kong dollar and the yen.

Facing such a powerful enemy, Ono Taro suddenly felt a sense of despair.

The current state of the Ono Company was definitely not as glorious as they appeared. In fact, the Asian financial crisis of the previous two years had dealt a very serious blow to the Ono Company. At that time, Ono Taro did not listen to his father's advice and put almost all of the company's liquid funds into the stock market.

When the Asian financial crisis hit, the entire wealth of the Ono family almost vanished into thin air. For the past two years, they had merely been struggling to survive; they didn't even have much capital to import raw materials now.

If they could cooperate with Hujiang Machinery Factory this time, those outdated chips and parts in their warehouse could all be dumped at a high price to the joint venture factory, and the Ono Company would instantly come back to life. But now, this hope had become slim.

Ono Taro said to Mr. Wu, "Mr. Wu, can you think of any countermeasures for me? If you can help me think of a countermeasure, I will not forget you!"

At this moment, Ono Taro gradually calmed down, and he resumed using the honorific for Mr. Wu.

Mr. Wu said, "Mr. Ono, I think we still need to start with the leaders of Hujiang Machinery Factory and Hujiang City. Only they can help you. You can increase the conditions for them, and additionally, you can also increase the conditions for the cooperation with Hujiang Machinery Factory."

Ono Taro's face twitched, and his heart bled. Increasing the conditions for those leaders didn't matter; that wouldn't cost much money. But increasing the conditions for the cooperation with Hujiang Machinery Factory was simply cutting his own flesh.

However, he also knew that he might only be able to do as Mr. Wu said now. Increasing the conditions just meant earning a little less. If this cooperation project couldn't be negotiated, then the end of the Ono Company would likely be coming.

The Ono Company was a family business founded by his father after returning to Japan from China, and it now had a history of over fifty years. Ono Taro could not let this enterprise be destroyed in his own hands; that would be a lifelong shame for him.

Ono Taro nodded and said, "Okay, Mr. Wu, then help me invite Factory Manager Xiao over. I want to talk to him."

Mr. Wu nodded, and he immediately called Factory Manager Xiao, saying that Mr. Ono wanted to see him and asked him to come to the hotel immediately.

Xiao Minggui agreed immediately. Only ten minutes later, he rushed over. He smiled and said, "Mr. Wu, what business does Mr. Ono have with me?"

Mr. Wu said, "Factory Manager Xiao, Mr. Ono wants to have a private chat with you, so I will step out first."

Watching Mr. Wu walk out of the room and close the door, Xiao Minggui was stunned. He only spoke Chinese, and Ono Taro only spoke Japanese. How could they chat privately? Wasn't this like a chicken talking to a duck?

But what stunned him even more was that as soon as Mr. Wu went out, Ono Taro bowed to him and said in fluent and standard Mandarin, "Factory Manager Xiao, please take care of us!"

Xiao Minggui was stunned for a long time and said, "Mr. Ono, you can speak Chinese?"

Xiao Minggui was indeed very shocked, because all these days here, Ono Taro had never shown that he could speak Chinese. Every time they negotiated, Mr. Wu was present. Ono Taro had never shown that he could understand what Xiao Minggui and the others said, always waiting for Mr. Wu to translate their words into Japanese before he started speaking.

Xiao Minggui couldn't help but mutter to himself, "This old Japanese guy is quite good at pretending. He pretended not to understand Chinese; what is his motive?"

Xiao Minggui felt a chill. He desperately tried to recall if he had said anything he shouldn't have in front of Ono Taro these past few days.

Ono Taro said, "Factory Manager Xiao, please forgive my concealment. I do indeed speak Chinese. I learned it from my father. My father came to China more than sixty years ago, came to Hujiang, and stayed in China for eight years, so his Chinese was very good."

Xiao Minggui was stunned again. More than sixty years ago? Came to Hujiang? Japanese? Stayed in China for eight years? Then wasn't his father an invading Japanese soldier? This was the first time Xiao Minggui had heard of this history regarding Ono Taro's father.

Xiao Minggui's father originally had five brothers and four sisters, but Xiao Minggui's two uncles and one aunt all died in that war of aggression against China sixty years ago. At that time, they were just ordinary commoners.