Chapter 675 - 677: Experience is the Spice of Life
"Oh? Was indemnity clearly stated in the contract when you first agreed to it?" Kuai Minglang asked.
"Yes, sir, you can check it from the Commerce Association files," said Mr. Du.
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but sneer, "I was the one who signed the contract with Du Zhongshu, and I had no idea about this indemnity. Seems like Mr. Du is quite clear about it, isn’t he?"
"Naturally, you wouldn’t readily admit to it. There’s no point in arguing; you’ll know once the Commerce Association’s Beiyu City branch retrieves the files." Mr. Du was as cocksure as ever, or rather, he was behaving like he’d already won.
Kuai Minglang immediately sent someone to the Commerce Association, and summoned the partners’ contract files. Bai Ruozhu originally signed the contract with Du Zhongshu in Anyuan Town, but the Commerce Association has a rule that each month a copy of the latest contracts will be sent to the branches everywhere for storage, and Beiyu City constituted the Northwest branch.
Soon, the contract was extracted, and with it appeared a manager from the Commerce Association in his forties.
"In the event of the Bai Family unilaterally dissolving the contract, an indemnity of ten times the received dividends shall be paid." Kuai Minglang took a look at the files of the contract and read the last sentence out loud.
Bai Ruozhu laughed out of anger, "Ten times? The Du Family really does have the guts. So, only if I call off the contract I have to pay indemnity, but when the Du family does it they get off scot-free? I wonder how could I have been so foolish to sign such a ridiculous contract!"
But Du’s son remained calm, and said, "Originally, you were nothing more than a country woman. It was hard enough for you to even get the Du Family’s attention, so naturally, you couldn’t object to anything. Now, thanks to the dividends granted by us, you have gathered some wealth, and are becoming ungrateful."
What a shameless liar Mr. Du was, playing the victim while being the perpetrator!
"I think you’ve misunderstood. I have the secret recipe, even without the Du family, I could still work with the Zhang family, the Li family, or the Wang family. I could get dividends just by signing contracts with them too. I chose the Du family out of pity. Isn’t it because of the sale of toothpaste, that your family has a standing today?" Bai Ruozhu coldly remarked.
Seeing Mr. Du wanting to retort, she cut in, "This saying of being ungrateful, I have to return it to Mr. Du. You people made a fortune from my formula, and I continuously helped you develop better formulas, but you have been hiding false accounts behind my back, embezzling my dividends. Is this your so-called kindness?"
"Watch your words, we paid all of your dividends without holding back a single cent!" exclaimed Mr. Du.
"Is that so? I had to chase the money for three months before it was given to me, I guess that counts too. Besides, compensating the missing amount can solve the problem, but when you threatened me with a certain lady’s identity and demanded other secret recipes, now isn’t that kindness? Insatiable as a snake devouring elephants, the toothpaste business is enough for you to do for many years. I despise being threatened by others, so the collaboration ends here. As for this so-called indemnity, are you sure you can lay your hands on it?" Bai Ruozhu addressed Mr. Du.
Mr. Du responded with a cold laugh, he had no intention of claiming the indemnity. He wanted Bai Ruozhu to not dissolve the partnership, then no one would threaten the Du family’s toothpaste business.
"Whether I can get it or not, the final decision rests with the officer, not with a woman like you." Mr. Du addressed Kuai Minglang after finishing his sentence, "Sir, now that we have both testimonials and material evidence, Bai cannot deny this anymore."
Bai Ruozhu paid her respects to Kuai Minglang, saying, "Sir, the day I signed the contract with the third son of the Du family, we didn’t make any written agreement regarding anyone’s need for compensation. We had initially thought of keeping the faith at the core of our contract, that there would be no need for any indemnity. But now that last sentence is clearly unreasonable, it’s been appended later."
Kuai Minglang turned to the commerce manager in the hall, asking, "Could the Commerce Association tamper with the contract in such a way?"
"Responding to your question, sir, the Commerce Association was established since the beginning of this dynasty, and always maintains the principles of fairness and justice. It continues to thrive after all these years, there has never been such a backstage manipulation. You can rest assured," the manager responded.
Bai Ruozhu looked at him, he wasn’t the old man who warned her yesterday. His face seemed honest enough, only his eyes seemed a bit restless, darting quickly about.
Her intuition told her that this man was definitely problematic!
"No fish can survive in crystalline water. Would the Commerce Association never have miscalculated, overlooked, or altered any content in all these years?" She asked the manager.
"You... You dare talk about the Commerce Association like that, do you still plan on continuing your trade?" the man admonished angrily.
Bai Ruozhu burst into laughter, "Is that a threat I hear? Of course, I daren’t badmouth the Commerce Association, I mean no harm either, only worried that there might be a single black sheep among you." She stopped talking to him and turned to Kuai Minglang, "Sir, please send men to the Anyuan Town Commerce Association to fetch the contract signed by us, the original one. The paper of the original contract is different; if the content is appended later, as long as a month has passed, it will be different from the original ink marks. I plead with you to verify this."
Mr. Du’s eyes narrowed, he sneered inwardly. He had already sent people to Anyuan Town the previous day, Bai Ruozhu, thinking she could outsmart him, was still too naive!
After noticing Mr. Du’s calmness, Bai Ruozhu could somewhat guess his thought. However, she wasn’t flustered at all, if he had a stratagem, she had a counter plan, he was not threatening.
Kuai Minglang immediately dispatched officials to the Anyuan Town Commerce Association to get the original contract, but going to and fro took two days, prompting the case to be temporarily suspended. The two parties were to appear in court two days later for the officer’s interrogation.
Upon the court adjournment, Bai Ruozhu didn’t rush to leave, she asked Officer Kuai about the woman who had been framed the last time. Kuai Minglang sighed and informed, "We caught a manager, and put him in prison, but couldn’t find the true mastermind behind the scenes. The case is still under investigation."
"Then, can I meet this manager? Perhaps, I might recognise him." She hoped Kuai Minglang would agree, hastily adding, "If you are concerned, sir, you can assign someone to observe me. I promise not to threaten or bribe the prisoner."
"Alright, I will let you meet him," Kuai Minglang agreed after a moment’s silence.
Soon enough, Bai Ruozhu was led into the prison where she saw the captured manager. Honestly, she had never paid much attention to the managers of other families, so how could she recognize him? However, she leaned over the barred cell and coldly questioned, "Why would you tarnish the reputation of Hua Xiangrong?"
The sight of her startled the manager, but he quickly regained his composure. He gave a cold laugh and said, "Just couldn’t stand the arrogance of you Hua Xiangrong people, thinking you can own the whole of Beiyu City by selling some woven goods?"
"Is that so? You must be quite well-off and idle then." As Bai Ruozhu spoke, she moved her hand hidden in her sleeve slightly. She then turned to Kuai Minglang, "Sir, I apologize, but I’ve never seen this man before."
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A few words off-topic, recently, a minority of book friends have been repeatedly abusing me, crossing the line of personal attacks. I understand the emotions attached to following the story, and I apologize here to everyone, the updates have been a bit late these few days. But I’ve always persisted in providing four Chapters a day, five on certain days, without breaking the frequency. So, I hope the friends who were abusing me can bear with me a little, such fights make neither of us feel good, it’s unnecessary. Everyone’s is welcomed to share their comments on my shortcomings, but comments involving personal attacks and derogatory language will only be deleted. After all, respect is mutual, and I hope everyone can understand.