Chapter 54: Advancing by Retreating

"Manager Zhong, Ren Datou and his few lackeys have already been taken away by the police. You have 30 minutes to send someone to the Yingfeng Flagship Store to collect Miss Ren, otherwise, you will bear the consequences yourself."

"You..."

Before Zhong Rongke could finish his sentence, the person on the other end hung up, leaving only a busy signal. He was somewhat stunned. He turned off the speakerphone and said to Fan Dazhi, who was sitting across from his desk, "This cheap nephew of yours is not someone to be trifled with."

Fan Dazhi smoked his cigarette and gave a bitter smile. "I told you long ago, Di Ye is not some piece of trash like Bi Wanxi. If Ren Yinglian goes to provoke him, she's only asking for trouble."

"When a scholar meets a soldier, reason doesn't prevail."

Zhong Rongke picked up the cigarette case on his desk, lit a cigarette for himself, and said, "I originally thought that as a college student, he would panic when encountering a shrew and a hooligan, and would ask you to come and save the day. Then you could take the opportunity to get your hands on the Public Seal and the Account Book. I didn't expect him to solve it himself."

"He even dared to catch the Yun University serial killer; a shrew and a hooligan are nothing!"

Because the case of Feng Shijie would severely damage the reputation of Yun University, under strong intervention from the school, the police handled it very discreetly. Di Ye, Xia Fangfei, Shi Yucheng, and other involved parties also refused to accept interviews from reporters. Therefore, although many media outlets reported on this case, they were vague and lacked details.

Zhong Rongke was a Yun University alumnus, so he naturally knew the details. He smiled disdainfully and said, "It was just a blind cat meeting a dead mouse; he didn't catch the serial killer with his own hands."

Fan Dazhi was just about to retort when the Big Brother in his briefcase rang. He opened the bag to retrieve it while saying, "It must be Di Ye calling."

"Put the Big Brother on the table; I want to hear what he has to say."

Fan Dazhi took a deep drag of his cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray, then pressed the answer button on the Big Brother and said in his usual tone, "Little Ye, what is it?"

"Uncle Fan, are you free tonight? Call Manager Zheng and Manager Zhong out. Let's hold a Shareholder meeting to clarify the recent events at the company, so as to avoid any misunderstandings."

Fan Dazhi looked at Zhong Rongke and, seeing him nod, said, "Sure, what time, and where?"

"7 o'clock, right here at the Flagship Store."

"Alright, I'll call them and let them know."

The office building of the Sanjiang Province Import and Export Company was less than 1,000 meters away from the Yingfeng Flagship Store. After Fan Dazhi hung up, Zhong Rongke walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looked out at the eye-catching sign at the store entrance, and asked, "Can you not transfer a single cent of Yingfeng's money right now?"

"That dead girl Huang Ya took the Public Seal and hasn't returned it to me yet. I don't even know which Bank the money is in now, so how can I transfer it?"

"Old Fan, oh Old Fan, you are too careless. How could you just give the Public Seal to someone like that?"

"If you had a subordinate who helped you earn millions or even tens of millions in just over ten days, you would trust them deeply too! Besides, I watched both of them grow up."

Zhong Rongke was speechless. After a moment of silence, he said, "I urgently need money next month. You think of another way to get the Public Seal and the Account Book."

"I'll try my best. How much money do you need?"

"At least 5 million."

Fan Dazhi was startled and asked, "What do you need so much money for?"

Zhong Rongke exhaled a ring of smoke and said with a gloomy face, "I embezzled company funds last year to speculate on non-glutinous rice futures and lost over 5 million. My superiors are coming to audit the accounts next month. I have to fill this deficit, otherwise, not only will I lose my position, but I will also face imprisonment."

When Fan Dazhi resigned and entered the business world in 1990, his first pot of gold was obtained with the help of Zhong Rongke using his position. The two often interacted and were involved in many interests, belonging to a relationship where they prospered or suffered together. Hearing this, he felt a massive headache. After thinking for a while, he said, "Di Ye is the type who eats soft but not hard. I'll go to the Flagship Store now to pick up Ren Yinglian and sound him out."

"Fine, go ahead."

Fan Dazhi drove the second-hand Santana that Zhong Rongke had given him to the Yingfeng Flagship Store. Upon arriving, he saw that the water dispenser at the entrance had been pushed over, water was flowing all over the floor, three of the eight televisions in the reception area had been smashed, there was broken glass everywhere, and the tables and chairs were overturned in a mess.

Di Ye didn't have anyone clean it up; instead, he stood on the steps outside the Flagship Store, holding a cigarette case in one hand and a beer bottle in the other, chatting away with a dozen idlers.

"It was Uncle Gui who was quick-witted, pushing over the water dispenser and shouting that there was electricity, which scared those little punks half to death."

"Brother Wang, if you hadn't played the hero to save the beauty just now and protected Xiaoyue, she definitely would have been hurt. Tomorrow I'll have her make you a coffee herself; don't be shy when the time comes, ask her out for a stroll."

"Zhou Jian, you kid, watch fewer martial arts movies in the future. You really thought you could fly? You actually dared to jump up and kick someone; it's your good luck you didn't break your waist..."

Fan Dazhi saw that among the idlers were white-collar workers in suits as well as migrant workers in cotton-padded jackets, some old men in their fifties and some teenagers. They clearly weren't from the same circles, yet Di Ye could handle everyone and chat happily with each of them. He couldn't help but feel puzzled and muttered to himself, "This kid is clearly an introvert, how did he suddenly become so talkative?"

Di Ye also saw Fan Dazhi, handed the cigarette case in his hand to Huang Zongshan, and walked over, saying, "Uncle Fan, did Manager Zhong send you to pick up Miss Ren?"

"That's right. I was playing mahjong at home just now when Manager Zhong urgently told me to come and pick her up, so I rushed over. Where is Ren Yinglian?"

"Inside."

Fan Dazhi walked toward the store while asking feignedly, "What exactly is going on here?"

Di Ye sighed and said, "This Miss Ren has something wrong with her brain. Without any legitimate reason, she inexplicably ran over to ask Huang Ya for 100,000 yuan. Huang Ya didn't give it to her, so she called her big brother to bring a few little punks over to rob it by force. Fortunately, the customers in the store at the time were righteous and helped guard the cash box, and the police arrived in time to arrest them all."

"This Ren Yinglian has been spoiled rotten and is too willful. I'll have Manager Zhong discipline her properly later."

Ren Yinglian had been locked in the cashier area by Di Ye. Her hair was disheveled, and both sides of her face had been slapped, leaving them bright red. Seeing Fan Dazhi enter, she seemed to have grabbed a lifeline and immediately shouted, "Old Fan, hurry up and call Manager Zhong! Tell him to bring people over to teach these two reckless things a lesson!"

"You shut up!"

Fan Dazhi scolded her unceremoniously, then turned his head to Di Ye and said, "A good man doesn't fight with women; why did you beat her like this?"

"I didn't hit her, Huang Ya did, because Miss Ren slapped Huang Zongshan first."

Fan Dazhi refreshed his understanding of Huang Ya again and frowned, saying, "This mess has reached a point where it can't be cleaned up. As for Manager Zhong..."

Di Ye interrupted Fan Dazhi's words and said, "Uncle Fan, it's getting late. You should take Miss Ren to Manager Zhong first. We can explain everything in detail when we hold the Shareholder meeting tonight."

Fan Dazhi gave an 'okay' but didn't move. He probed, "Little Ye, if it's just for this farce, there's no need for a Shareholder meeting. After all, this has nothing to do with Manager Zheng; it could be solved just by having a meal with Manager Zhong."

"This farce is just something to chat about in passing. The main thing is that I want to report the company's recent business situation to you all. Besides, Yun University is about to start the new semester. Huang Ya and I are planning to withdraw from Yingfeng, so we need to prepare for the handover."

Fan Dazhi was stunned upon hearing this. It took him a long while to react, and he said somewhat stammeringly, "You... you and that Huang girl are withdrawing from Yingfeng?"

"That's right. I need to prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam re-examination, and Huang Ya needs to write her graduation thesis. Plus, we both have to participate in graduation internships. We really can't spare the time and have to withdraw from Yingfeng. Otherwise, if we delay our studies and can't get our diplomas, it will be troublesome."

Fan Dazhi couldn't hide his joy. He didn't even say any polite words to try and keep them, but instead pressed, "When do you plan to withdraw?"

"The few activities that Yingfeng is currently promoting are all limited to the first lunar month. If Huang Ya and I withdraw now, these activities will be abandoned halfway, which would be a pity. So we plan to withdraw after the first lunar month ends. By the solar calendar, that happens to be February 28th. So the theme of tonight's Shareholder meeting will be how to handle the handover at that time."

Upon hearing that he would withdraw on February 28th, Fan Dazhi was even more delighted. He completely forgot about Ren Yinglian's existence, took the Big Brother out of his briefcase, and said, "I'll notify Manager Zhong and Manager Zheng right now. We'll hold the meeting at 7 o'clock sharp tonight, right?"

"Right, let's hold it there. After all, it's the Flagship Store and has commemorative significance."