BF Chapter 48

Cai Lihao successfully joined Zhaoqi’s board of directors. On his very first day attending the company’s administrative meeting, Xu Ziren could no longer hold himself back from stirring up trouble, though the person he targeted was Zhan Shili.

While Zhan Shili was giving everyone a detailed update on the progress of consolidating and selling the European projects, Xu Ziren suddenly interrupted him: “All the buyers you found have financial ties to the Ryder Fund. I heard that you personally negotiated these deals during several trips to London, Assistant Zhan. Do you have a good relationship with them?”

Zhan Shili answered patiently, “The family behind Ryder Fund is a major European financial conglomerate with assets all over the world, so it’s perfectly normal for those investors to have financial ties with them. They were willing to make introductions for Zhaoqi because they also wanted a share of the profits. There’s no question of whether I have a good or bad relationship with them. They were willing to help because they believed doing so would be mutually beneficial, and I was only carrying out the acting chairman’s instructions.”

Xu Ziren disliked his formulaic tone very much and said disdainfully, “The person in charge of the Ryder Fund deliberately made things difficult for us during the Mong Kok project before, and now they’re suddenly showing us this much goodwill. Who knows what they’re really after?”

Xu Shen picked up the conversation: “The one who made things difficult for us was Gao Yongcheng, and he has already left the Ryder Fund. We previously sold our Southeast Asian wind power project to Ryder Fund’s headquarters, and that cooperation went quite smoothly. Taking a step back, even if there were some grievances between us before, Second Brother, you yourself said that there are no eternal enemies in business. Mr. Cai can join Zhaoqi’s board, so what’s wrong with us befriending the Ryder Fund and cooperating for mutual benefit?”

Cai Lihao spread his hands and shrugged, signaling that this had nothing to do with him and not to drag him into it.

Xu Ziren, however, refused to let the matter go: “Assistant Zhan, which senior executive at Ryder Fund did you get close to? That Mr. Lawrence on their headquarters’ board?”

Zhan Shili admitted, “He did help with the acquisition of the old industrial building in Mong Kok before.”

Xu Ziren sneered: “Then does Assistant Zhan know that the financial giant Silicon has run into serious trouble and is about to enter bankruptcy proceedings? The nearly one billion euros in bonds from Silicon’s banks and insurance companies that Zhaoqi gradually purchased before may very well turn into bad debt. There were already warning signs three months ago. That Mr. Lawrence is also a senior executive at Silicon. When you went to London before to discuss the project sales with him, did you really not hear so much as a whisper about it from him? Or did you hear something and deliberately keep it from us? Shouldn’t Assistant Zhan give everyone an explanation?”

The moment those words left his mouth, everyone was shocked.

“Silicon is going bankrupt?” someone asked in disbelief. The collapse of a financial giant like Silicon would trigger a chain reaction no less devastating than a magnitude-ten tsunami. Even if the bonds Zhaoqi had bought from them didn’t become worthless paper, the group’s stock price would inevitably be shaken and severely affected.

Xu Ziren said with certainty, “They’re still suppressing the news while trying to secure government bailout funds, but I heard they’ve already been rejected. The matter should come to light very soon. Once everyone finds out, there’ll inevitably be a run, and by then it’ll be too late for us to do anything. After that, we’ll probably only be able to resolve the matter through legal proceedings, which will take years, and no one can guarantee how much we’ll ultimately recover. If we had known about this two months earlier, at the very least we could’ve come up with a response plan sooner instead of being as passive as we are now.

As far as I’m concerned, Assistant Zhan clearly knew about this and failed to report it. Now that the company has been placed in such a passive position, he bears unavoidable responsibility.”

“Assistant Zhan, did you know about this before? Why didn’t you report it to the board?” Someone immediately joined in to question Zhan Shili.

Zhan Shili remained as calm as ever: “Sorry, I hadn’t heard about it. Mr. Lawrence and I aren’t close enough for him to discuss such things.”

The others didn’t believe him: “You’ve gone to Europe several times over the past few months. You really didn’t hear anything at all?”

Zhan Shili replied, “They were deliberately keeping the news under wraps. I truly hadn’t heard anything.”

Ever since Xu Ziren mentioned Silicon, Xu Shen’s brows had been faintly furrowed. For Xu Ziren to speak with such certainty, the matter was most likely true, but Zhan Shili…

His gaze swept over Zhan Shili several times, seeing him calm and unmoved, as though he genuinely knew nothing.

But only Xu Shen knew how deeply this man concealed himself, and exactly how good he was at acting.

Xu Ziren had no intention of letting Zhan Shili off so easily and pressed aggressively: “You say you aren’t that close to Mr. Lawrence, but why did I hear that while you were in London, you even attended one of his private dinners? With that kind of relationship, are you telling me he never once mentioned anything about Silicon to you?”

Zhan Shili gave the same answer: “No.”

Xu Shen’s voice cut in: “Nic, you really didn’t know?”

Zhan Shili looked toward him, his tone noticeably gentler than when he had been speaking to Xu Ziren: “Sorry, it was my oversight.”

Xu Shen tried to glean something from the look in his eyes, but to no avail.

He didn’t ask anything else and simply nodded.

“You expect us to believe you just because you say you didn’t know—”

Xu Ziren was about to continue, but Xu Shen cut him off unhappily: “Second Brother, if you suspect Nic, shouldn’t you at least produce some solid evidence? Baseless speculation will only make people think you’re prejudiced against Nic and deliberately targeting him.”

Xu Ziren gave him no face at all: “If the acting chairman hadn’t spoken up for him, I might’ve left it at that. But since you have, I’d actually like to ask whether you knew about this beforehand too.”

“I didn’t,” Xu Shen’s voice sank.

Xu Ziren looked at him contemptuously: “Good if you didn’t. I’m only thinking of the company and worried that someone might be betraying us from within. Assistant Zhan has a personal relationship with one of their senior executives, yet now he claims he knew nothing about such important information. Does anyone believe that? I certainly don’t. Until the truth is properly investigated, I think Assistant Zhan should be temporarily suspended.”

“How do you plan to investigate?” Xu Shen asked. “Nic says he didn’t know and you refuse to believe him. You’ve already decided that he knew beforehand, so no matter how he explains himself, it won’t matter.”

Xu Ziren ignored him and directly asked the others to voice their opinions.

For a while, some agreed while others tried to persuade him otherwise.

Xu Shen cast Cai Lihao a discreet glance. Left with no choice, Cai Lihao spoke up to help: “Second Young Master, why don’t you just let it go? There’s no need to make such a big deal out of this. It’s all just your speculation, and you don’t have any evidence.”

Xu Ziren hadn’t expected Cai Lihao to oppose him on his very first day on the board and glared at him in displeasure.

Cai Lihao wasn’t buying it at all. Slouching in his seat, he played with the pen in his hand: “If he gets suspended, who’s going to take over the asset sales? Can anyone else handle those Europeans? Why are you looking at me? I definitely don’t have that ability. Why don’t you just ask the others? Who can guarantee that after taking over, they’ll be able to keep this moving smoothly?”

His words reminded everyone that Zhan Shili had been handling the consolidation and sale of the European projects from the beginning. If someone else took over and the buyers suddenly backed out, they would have to find new buyers and renegotiate from scratch, and no one could guarantee that they would be able to negotiate a price satisfactory to the board.

After all, if the job was done well, it would only be considered what was expected of them; if it went badly, they would be held responsible. It was a thankless task.

“If the board truly believes I need to be temporarily suspended, I can accept a suspension and cooperate with the investigation.” Zhan Shili looked completely indifferent, as though he would simply go along with whatever the board decided, remarkably easy to talk to.

“That really isn’t necessary…” another director tried to smooth things over.

“Exactly. There isn’t even any evidence. Suspending him just like that wouldn’t be reasonable.”

Xu Ziren’s expression turned ugly as more and more people tried to persuade him to let it go and stop fixating on Zhan Shili.

Ultimately, Xu Shen made the final decision: “Nic, submit a statement to the board detailing the situation. We’ll leave it at that. As for the issue of redeeming the bonds with Silicon, I’ll immediately send people to negotiate with them and report back to everyone afterward.”

As the meeting ended, Zhan Shili suddenly looked up at Fiona behind Xu Ziren. The woman seemed to notice, but avoided his gaze.

The attendees left one after another. As Xu Ziren stood up, he said to Xu Shen: “Watch the dog by your side, lest you get bitten one day without even knowing it.”

Xu Shen acted as though he hadn’t heard him.

Xu Ziren smiled sarcastically. He had already achieved his goal. Even if Xu Shen claimed that he trusted Zhan Shili, he didn’t believe his dear Fourth Brother truly had no doubts at all. As long as he could drive a wedge between Xu Shen and Zhan Shili and make Zhan Shili come under suspicion, he was more than happy.

Fiona whispered something to him, and the two left together.

Zhan Shili watched them walk away coldly before withdrawing his gaze.

Xu Shen noticed and asked him: “Nic, what are you looking at?”

“Nothing,” Zhan Shili said, not wanting to explain.

Xu Shen also glanced at the backs of the two departing figures and didn’t ask again.

They returned to the office together, and Xu Shen immediately called people in to arrange for negotiations with Silicon.

Zhan Shili stood to the side and listened quietly. In such a short amount of time, Xu Shen had already thought through a countermeasure and arranged for a special task force to be formed, but without making a show of it, he had excluded Zhan Shili from the group.

Even though Xu Shen hadn’t said it outright.

Zhan Shili wisely refrained from interjecting or asking questions either.

After Xu Shen finished giving instructions and dismissed everyone, leaving only the two of them in the office, Zhan Shili took the initiative to suggest: “For the project sales, arrange one or two more people you trust to follow up on it with me.”

Xu Shen raised his eyes, puzzled, and asked, “Why? Don’t you have confidence in yourself? Why arrange other people too? If you just need people to help out, you already have enough staff, don’t you?”

Zhan Shili paused for a moment before saying, “I’m worried the Second Young Master will find another excuse to suspend me later, and there’ll be no one to take over.”

“Just because he wants to, you think he’ll succeed?” A fleeting trace of disgust crossed Xu Shen’s eyes. “Relax, I won’t let him have his way. Treat it like he’s putting on a farce and just focus on your work.”

Zhan Shili insisted, “Arrange a few more people anyway.”

Xu Shen said, “Nic, if I weren’t really too tied up to handle it myself right now, I would’ve taken over personally. I asked you to handle this because I trust you, so be a little more considerate of me.”

Zhan Shili looked at him: “You really trust me?”

Xu Shen said, “Why ask that? Aren’t you worthy of my trust?”

Zhan Shili reminded him, “I’m not a good person. You’ve said it before, I’m a liar.”

Xu Shen didn’t answer, turned to gaze out the window, and suddenly suggested, “I want to go upstairs and take a look.”

“Upstairs?” Zhan Shili was slightly surprised. “Now?”

“Now.” Xu Shen nodded and stood, gesturing to Zhan Shili: “Come on, go with me.”

One floor above the chairman’s office, there was actually a semi-open-air sky garden.

It was Xu Shen’s first time coming up here. He was instantly greeted by lush greenery and blooming flowers with a high, transparent curved dome overhead revealing the clear blue sky. Wind poured in from beyond the glass curtain walls, scattering the sunlight everywhere.

Xu Shen strolled leisurely among the greenery and flowers, casually snapping off a pink oleander blossom, shortened the stem, and played with it between his fingers.

Zhan Shili frowned: “That’s a poisonous flower. Don’t touch it, be careful.”

“I know, but it’s pretty.” As Xu Shen spoke, he turned around and tucked the flower into the breast pocket of Zhan Shili’s suit, smoothing it into place: “For you.”

Zhan Shili glanced down at it: “Why give me such a flower?”

“I wanted to give it, so I gave it. Why does everything need a reason?” Xu Shen turned away and walked toward the terrace ahead.

Zhan Shili followed.

Standing at the edge of the terrace and looking out, Xu Shen’s gaze stopped as he overlooked the city from the top floor of a skyscraper more than four hundred meters high.

After a long while, he asked softly, “Nic, do you like it here?” 

“The view is pretty good,” Zhan Shili said. “Other people can’t come up here.” Only one elevator on the chairman’s office’s floor could reach this place, and before this, it used to be Xu Shiji’s private garden.

Xu Shen took in the setting sun sinking into the distant horizon, the glow of the sunset shimmering in his eyes: “From the first day I entered the Xu Family, I made up my mind that I wanted everything. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy, but I had to try. But look, it actually hasn’t been that difficult after all. I can already stand here now.”

Zhan Shili said, “Mn, you’ve been pretty lucky.”

“Was it luck?” Xu Shen turned back to look at him. “Without your help, things might not have turned out the same way, right?”

Zhan Shili only said, “Helping you is also helping myself.”

“Nic,” Xu Shen murmured his name, raising a hand to fiddle with the oleander on his chest. “You’re just like this flower, beautiful but dangerous. I like this flower, and I like you too.”

He paused, then continued: “Even if you’re a liar, I still like you.”

After a moment of silence, Zhan Shili caught his hand and squeezed it tightly: “What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing.” His words were clearly laden with meaning, but Xu Shen didn’t want to say it, nor did he want to ask: “Nic, you promised you’d treat me a little better.”

“You remember that so clearly?”

“I do.” Xu Shen nodded. “I remember everything you say. I’ve said it before too, that you’re all I have, so you can’t break my heart.”

Zhan Shili looked straight into his eyes, still unable to see through him: “Do you mean it?”

Xu Shen smiled: “What do you think?”

Zhan Shili didn’t want to guess. After a moment of silence, he reached out and pulled Xu Shen into his arms, holding him tightly.

The oleander was crushed between their pressed chests. As they rubbed intimately against each other, Zhan Shili turned his head and spoke close to Xu Shen’s ear: “Keep the gun I gave you safe. If I really do break your heart one day, then do whatever you want to me.”

“What could I even do?” Xu Shen closed his eyes briefly, his voice stifled. “You’re counting on the fact that I wouldn’t have the heart to really do anything to you, aren’t you?”

Zhan Shili kissed his ear: “Do as you like. I’ll be waiting.”

⋆⋆⋆⋆

t/n: Advance chapters up to ch 63 are up on kofi shop~ ^^

⋆⋆⋆⋆

♡♡♡ if you like my translations, please consider buying me a kofi~! ♡♡♡

Continue Reading Ch. 49-63: click me <3