Chapter 449: 451. Chapter 445: Bad News First Thing in the Morning

451. Chapter 445: Bad News First Thing in the Morning

At dawn, as the sky was just beginning to brighten, Luka suddenly opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling for a while, dazed.

It is hard to fall asleep when you have things on your mind. In fact, he had already woken up twice in the middle of the night and fallen back asleep, but he never felt truly rested.

He felt a bit panicked, but also a little excited.

Not everyone gets a chance in their life to screw over the Liji Group, and the Liji Group doesn't have a good reputation among the Lawrence family.

Back when they tried to use their distribution channels to blackmail the family, a conflict broke out between the two sides.

So, he felt no psychological burden doing this, other than a bit of fear.

After all, no matter how powerful a large farm-owning family is, they are still just large farm owners.

But the Liji Group is already a successful and mature capital entity; every capital entity is like a ship.

Some ships are smaller; not only can they not ram others, but they might even capsize themselves.

But there are also some ships—never mind people trying to block them, even an iceberg would be crushed by them!

He climbed out of bed. Strangely, even though he shouldn't have had enough rest, he didn't feel very tired, and his mind felt quite alert.

After a simple wash, he went to the dining room, made himself some chocolate-flavored cereal with milk, and picked up the newspaper he had just retrieved.

Before the Saint Agriculture Festival, the main topic discussed in the *Jingang Today* was the kidnapping case, but in just three or four days, before the festival even arrived, it seemed to have lost its heat.

People were still discussing it, and its influence was expanding outward, but for some reason, it just gave people the feeling that there was nothing left to discuss.

In fact, this feeling came from the rapid "investigation" work; the matter was settled, and the good guys, bad guys, good deeds, and bad deeds were all separated like a textbook, so naturally, there were no more hot topics to discuss.

People might care about where the missing teenagers went, but there was nothing to talk about regarding that.

It's not like everyone could sit together and ask each other, "Where do you think so-and-so was sold to?"

Compared to these topics, seeing those who should bear responsibility bear it, and seeing the bad guys punished, was more attractive to people.

On the contrary, the situation in the Dantela Republic had been deteriorating recently; the Secretary of State had already begun negotiations with the Dantela ambassador, and it was rumored that the progress of the negotiations was not very friendly.

Chewing on the hard cereal while enjoying the sweet milk, the unique texture and sweetness of the chocolate and cereal—this was one of the favorite breakfasts of the federal people.

He was like an office worker, eating breakfast while caring about national affairs, then tidied up these things and returned to the bedroom.

After changing into a neat outfit, he took a deep breath in front of the mirror, picked up his briefcase, and left home.

His target was the Liji Group office.

At eight o'clock, the Liji Group staff had already arrived at the wharf. They had a "work list" telling them what they were going to do there today.

Basically, it was opening warehouses to ship things out, or opening warehouses to load things in.

These staff members glanced briefly at the list and began to assign work.

This work also required the assistance of wharf workers. After they requested enough workers from the wharf management company, they began to work.

The moment the huge warehouse door was pulled open, the expression of the person standing by the door changed.

Because a wave of heat surged out of the warehouse, accompanied by an indescribable damp, grassy, fishy smell.

He stared intently at the changes inside the warehouse, and his mouth, like the warehouse door that kept opening, grew wider and wider, unable to close.

A small green mountain!

The moment the light entered the dim warehouse, the sprouted wheat mountain appeared before him. His mouth opened to the point of almost dislocating, and his thinking stopped at that moment!

He suddenly lowered his head to look at the delivery order in his hand; it said "wheat," not "malt."

Wheat refers to unpeeled wheat grains, while peeled ones are "wheat kernels." After confirming the items on the delivery order again and again, a rush of urine went straight to his head.

He ran like a madman to the outside of another huge warehouse, urging the workers to open the warehouse door, then the third, then the fourth.

Seven or eight minutes later, the door to the general manager's office inside the Liji Group building was knocked on.

The general manager was reading the newspaper, with a saucer and a coaster on the table; he held the newspaper in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.

Breakfast was solved in the office; the secretary would prepare these foods and coffee for him, which was much more convenient than preparing it at home.

He was also very clear about the secretary's little thoughts; the federal workplace was like this, filled with human sentiment and relationships.

If anyone thinks that these things won't happen in the federal workplace, it must be because they have no value and cannot create value.

"Come in."

The petite blonde secretary poked her upper body in; she was wearing black-rimmed glasses and looked a bit silly.

"A call from the wharf, saying there is something that must be told to you personally, it's on line one."

The general manager put down the coffee cup. "Thank you for the coffee, the coffee is delicious!" He smiled slightly, then signaled for the other party to go out, while picking up the phone and pressing the button for line one.

"What's the matter?"

"Something big has happened, the wheat in four warehouses involving millions has sprouted!"

The general manager didn't react at first. "Isn't it enough to just remove the sprouted wheat?"

"Do you have to call me to answer such a simple thing personally?"

He even felt it was a bit funny!

In fact, in the process of transporting and storing these crops, there are indeed some abnormal situations sometimes.

For example, if the site is poorly managed, there might be leaks or drips, leading to some crops sprouting, which is normal.

Removing this part of the crops, or simply mixing them in, others wouldn't notice.

He didn't think such a small thing needed him to solve it personally. He was about to hang up the phone, but the person on the other end hurriedly added, "I mean, it all sprouted."

"All... sprouted?" The general manager even laughed twice. "Are you telling me a joke?"

"Honestly, you made me laugh, but this joke isn't very funny."

The smile on his face had begun to gradually fade, because he knew that this call was highly unlikely to be a joke.

"You'd better come over and see for yourself!"

He hung up the phone and picked it up again. "Help me arrange a car, I'm going to the wharf warehouse, immediately!"

Five minutes later, a luxury sedan stopped at the company entrance, and the general manager came out of the elevator and sat in the car.

About ten minutes later, the car stopped outside the warehouse.

He got out of the car and found that quite a few people were already surrounding the warehouse.

Seeing this car, the staff member in charge of this case hurriedly walked over with a pale face.

He wanted to say something, but the general manager glared him back, then pushed through the crowd and stood outside the main gate of the warehouse.

A green mountain of wheat; his face turned even worse. He walked over with big strides, grabbed a handful of sprouted wheat, and couldn't pull it.

He pulled hard, and only then pulled out a small handful. He looked around, found a shovel, and shoveled the wheat mountain.

The air by the sea is very damp; it is possible that only the surface is damp, he was comforting himself, although he already had some judgment.

As the shoveled area became deeper, the situation inside was just as bad!

It was either sprouted or showed signs of mold; this wheat was completely ruined!

He threw away the shovel, looked at the staff member sweating constantly beside him, and took a deep breath. "What's going on with this wheat?"

The staff member immediately handed over the delivery order. "These are all to be delivered to the customer today. I came over early to check, and by the way, load the car early."

"But I didn't expect..."

Didn't expect it to be all green, damn it!

The general manager's temples were throbbing.

Even if his wife cheated, he wouldn't be this angry; it would just be changing a woman, and it wouldn't cost much money.

But this is two million worth of wheat, all sprouted and moldy!

How could the company be willing to accept such a huge loss?

His gaze was a bit blank; if things went wrong, he would be the one in trouble!

Previously, the head office was very dissatisfied with some of his work results, especially the grape transaction that caused the company to earn two million less—

It wasn't a loss of two million, it was earning two million less, and they had some discussions about whether the general manager had the ability to continue sitting in this position.

But fortunately, his connections in the head office suppressed some negative influences; after all, who could have thought that the price of grapes could rise so fast, so ridiculously?

If that problem could still be suppressed, then this problem, I'm afraid, could not be suppressed!

Moreover, it was not just the problem of two million worth of wheat sprouting and molding, but also the problem of liquidated damages.

Double the liquidated damages.

His expression became a bit subtle; this approach...

"First, let people deal with this wheat and see if there is anything that can be saved."

"I'm going to report to the superior; this kind of thing is not something I can decide."

After returning to the company, he immediately called the manager who signed this contract.

"Tell me about the process of you signing this contract, including the details."

The manager had received a lot of commission from this contract, which was clearly a happy thing.

But at this moment, the general manager said this, and suddenly her heart skipped a beat. She began to repeat the whole process of signing the contract with some unease.

"You said he took the initiative to talk about the liquidated damages?"

The manager nodded hurriedly. "Yes, he proposed that we need to increase the liquidated damages to constrain our transaction behavior."

"I told him that our Liji Group would not have any behavior that damages our commercial reputation, but this Mr. Lu Se believed that only liquidated damages could truly constrain us from breaching the contract."

"And he accepted our 25% deposit requirement, as well as a quote slightly higher than the market."

"Because the other party was in a hurry, the selling price rose by 7% compared to the normal price."

If it was normal scheduling, it might be November before it was this Mr. Lu Se's turn to pick up the goods.

But after he increased the price, the company was willing to prioritize scheduling for him; this is the charm of money!

Don't look at 7% as not much; this 7% is actually net profit. In products with relatively low profit like agricultural products, it is already very amazing!

Their own gross profit is only 20% to 30%, which is equivalent to increasing their net profit by 50% or more directly.

The female manager finally added, "The supervisor also knew about the entire signing process, and even asked the head office."

After listening, the general manager felt more and more that this case and the ordinary liquidated damages case had an inexplicable feeling of being the same.

Although he had no evidence, he just felt that behind this, it might be the same group of people.

And the reason is simple: revenge.

Although they delivered the grapes and didn't recover much loss, that was because the other party was a bank!

He learned through some channels that the bank earned about 1.2 million in profit on the grape case; in other words, this was what the other party lost.

If they delivered these grapes according to the contract, whether it was spot goods or direct settlement contracts, this money should have been that buyer's.

Could it be them?

Using this method to make up for the loss?

He was not sure.

At this time, the female manager watched him fall into thought for a while, and couldn't help but ask softly, "What's wrong with this contract?"

This relates to her commission problem; a two-million order, she could at least get 5,000 in commission from it, which is a large sum of money!

The general manager came back to his senses, he looked at her. "The wheat sprouted."

The female manager breathed a sigh of relief, but before she had time to say the things she said to the general manager on the phone before, the general manager added, "All of it!"

Just when the female manager was shocked by this news and couldn't speak, the phone rang suddenly again.

The general manager picked up the phone; it was from the wharf.

"There is a Mr. Lu Se with a delivery note and contract, demanding to pick up the goods now..."

The feeling that the whole thing was a conspiracy became stronger. The general manager asked the female manager to go to the wharf to talk to this customer first, while he himself had to report this matter to the head office.

The Liji Group headquarters, like most industry monopoly companies, is rude, barbaric, and arrogant!

In the company lobby, you can see a scene that other companies can't see, a spectacular scene!

A large number of staff members are on the phone, talking in an impolite tone; most of the people on the other end of these calls are farmers complaining about them, or farmers calling to curse them.

The Liji Group uses channel advantages to force farmers to sign unequal mediation with them, but even so, when major price fluctuations occur, they will still tear up the originally unfair contracts without hesitation, and then demand more profit!

When a group company is large to a certain extent, and they need to face many lawsuits.

The cost of litigation will be the same as the cost of industrial production; as the volume continues to increase, the cost continues to decrease!

They directly hired a large group of lawyers to fight lawsuits for them; whether there is a lawsuit or not, it is this money, and they don't care about winning or losing; anyway, just drag it out!

For the farmers, don't sign those unequal terms with them.

Agricultural products will rot in the ground.

Sign those unequal terms with them, then they can only earn meager profits.

Except for cursing them and complaining about them, there is almost no other good way!

They are like those insurance companies, all earning money without conscience.

But this also fits the sentence: after putting down the conscience, they earned more!

The vice president is checking the latest yacht quotes; his previous one is a bit old, and he plans to change to a bigger, newer one.

He picked up the phone casually. "What's the matter?"

The general manager said what happened, and his expression gradually became serious.

Sprouted wheat is easy to solve; there are ways to squeeze out their value through industrial means.

Whether it is making maltose and trying to disguise it as honey, or reprocessing it into wheat products such as cereal to sell, they have channels.

As one of the largest agricultural product channel merchants, the Liji Group has very close cooperation with many agricultural product processors; this is an entire industry and industrial chain, and there have long been corresponding emergency means.

What really makes trouble is the double liquidated damages, four million.

"Try to appease the customer and tell him that we will transfer another batch of wheat from elsewhere."

The general manager's voice came from the receiver. "If, I mean if the other party disagrees and sues us for liquidated damages, what should we do?"

The vice president frowned. Who the hell has nothing to do and goes against them?

But it is also possible, no, there is a great possibility that such a thing will happen.

Because forcing the other party to breach the contract and then fighting a lawsuit to get liquidated damages is also a way for capital to make money, and it is faster, more, and simpler!

A 100-yuan product is sold for 200 yuan by yourself, which looks like 100% profit, but it also includes various transportation costs, warehousing costs, sales costs, etc.

But you fight a lawsuit to sue the other party for breach of contract, and let the other party pay you 200 yuan directly; this is the damn net profit!

"If the other party insists on solving it through litigation with us, then fight with them and drag it out."

The vice president let out a cold laugh. "I don't believe it; in the Federation, there is still someone who can confront us!"

Of course, this is a big talk; in fact, there are many capital groups and political groups that can confront them, but in his view, this little trouble in front of him cannot confront them.

The general manager poured cold water on him again. "If, I mean if, if this person solves it through the bank?"

"They transfer the debt to the bank; as long as they give the bank enough benefits, I believe any bank is willing to accept this transaction."

"Even some capital groups, they are willing; after all, this money is something that capable people or organizations can take away anytime, anywhere!"

Whether it is a bank or those large capital groups, it is not difficult for them to take this money back from the Liji Group.

Just like the last case, when they learned that the creditor had become a bank, they gave up resistance directly and paid the money to settle it.

But this also reminded the vice president of that case. "You mean, they are the same group of people?"