Wang Ruixi, upon hearing the words, immediately looked up with concern, "Seeing your condition today, I thought you were recovering well. Does your head still hurt?"
"It’s much better now."
Zhou Wang, having subtly heard what he wanted to know, replied and then asked, "Continue with what you were saying, about giving Liao Jianli a chance. What exactly do you mean?"
"Qiangsheng Group is doing well now, and Liao Jianli has contributed a lot. Do you think we should leave him 1% of the shares and let him continue serving as the CEO of Qiangsheng Group, as a way to make amends and see how it goes..."
Wang Ruixi cautiously suggested.
"How many shares did he originally have?"
Zhou Wang paused before asking.
"Although it went through a round of financing, with our help, Liao Jianli successfully repurchased all the shares for himself, so currently, he is the full stakeholder of Qiangsheng Group..."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Wang’s expression turned peculiar.
So, the man originally had 100% equity, and your so-called ’opportunity’ is to leave him 1%? That’s what you call giving a chance?
Moreover, Liao Jianli, whose assets shrank a hundredfold in an instant, still has to work for you... Oh, no, work for me?
And to hold onto this hard-earned ’slim chance of survival,’ Liao Jianli might work even harder than before, perhaps even becoming a workhorse to express his gratitude...
Looking at Wang Ruixi, who seemed to see nothing wrong, Zhou Wang couldn’t help reflecting.
Was he too kind-hearted?
Perhaps this is the norm of brutal business competition?
As the head of Cloud Trust in Huaxia, Wang Ruixi might be used to such things...
"Go ahead with what you said."
Zhou Wang played with the business card in his hand, then calmly nodded.
...
More than half an hour later, when Zhou Wang heard the system’s prompt that the [Hidden Round] was complete, he finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Objectively speaking, it seemed Zhou Wang was still in control, but the conversation was not conducted easily.
Zhou Wang’s mind was constantly tense, to avoid accidentally saying anything that might confuse Wang Ruixi...
It wasn’t that he was worried about blowing his cover, as surely from Wang Ruixi’s perspective, there couldn’t be doubts of another Zhou Wang. He was just worried it might affect the acquisition of rewards.
Zhou Wang didn’t choose to completely play the role of ’himself in Wang Ruixi’s impression,’ as this approach was laborious and unrewarding because Zhou Wang actually didn’t know his earlier self well enough and could easily reveal various flaws.
Using the keyword "trauma," Zhou Wang planned from the start to overthrow Wang Ruixi’s fixed impression of him, letting him slowly accept who he was now.
It was slightly risky, but judging from Wang Ruixi’s later reaction, it seemed successful enough...
What bothered Zhou Wang was that he had originally wanted to inquire a little about that woman named Caroline from Wang Ruixi’s mouth but was warned by the system.
Apparently, the system didn’t think it wise to blindly dig for answers at that time.
This likely touched on contents related to the keyword "pact," or maybe, Zhou Wang indeed wasn’t yet qualified to control Cloud Trust at that time, and could only grow step by step...
The latter half of the conversation became more of a casual chat, discussing astronomy and geography, local customs, and occasionally some business cases. One cannot deny that Old Wang’s high vision and profound knowledge truly benefited Zhou Wang significantly.
Until the system’s prompt went off, Zhou Wang also timely spoke, "Old Wang, you probably have a lot of things on your plate, let’s leave it here for today."
Upon hearing this, Wang Ruixi too let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Given his status, he was naturally explosively busy. In fact, even in such a short time, several matters had accumulated on his silenced phone that required his approval... And this was after his secretary team had pre-filtered some.
"Let’s go together."
Zhou Wang, standing up, glanced at his phone. Jiang Qingkui, who had landed in Beidou only this afternoon, was already outside waiting along with Miao Ying.
...
When they exited the hotpot restaurant and saw the empty lobby, Zhou Wang realized that Wang Ruixi had cleared the place.
Not only that, besides the bodyguard Zhou Wang had seen earlier, from the entrance of the hotpot restaurant to the first floor of the mall and at all the exits, there were men in black suits at regular intervals.
They wore sunglasses, had earpieces, and were on standby at different positions, making it look like a scene straight out of an action movie.
"Because of tonight’s events, precautions were necessary against desperate attacks..."
Facing Zhou Wang’s curious gaze, Wang Ruixi explained in a single sentence.
But Zhou Wang was not really concerned about why Wang Ruixi had mobilized so many people...
It wasn’t until they reached the parking lot, where three Mercedes S-Class vehicles pulled up in front of them, flanked by about a dozen alert men in black, and a driver swiftly approached to open the car door for Wang Ruixi. In contrast, a battered Audi awaited at a distance, with Jiang Qingkui standing there alone, that Zhou Wang couldn’t hold back.
"Um... Old Wang."
"Mr. Zhou?"
Wang Ruixi looked up, puzzled.
"My old bodyguards..."
Recalling the bustling scene in [No.006], Zhou Wang tentatively asked.
Wang Ruixi was momentarily stunned, then, thinking he understood Zhou Wang’s meaning, quickly responded, "Rest assured, Mr. Zhou. Their compensation has been double transferred to the designated accounts of their relatives at your request, and specialized personnel will continue to monitor their family situations..."
Zhou Wang: ?
Compensation?
Does that mean all my bodyguards are dead?
But recalling the last scene he saw in [Memory Gear], Zhou Wang was quietly silent. Well, considering the situation back then, being a bodyguard for him was indeed quite dangerous.
However, that was clearly not the question Zhou Wang intended to ask, this Old Wang, why didn’t he notice things at crucial moments?
Couldn’t he see Zhou Wang was jealous...?
Clearly, he should have been the boss, so why did Wang Ruixi have ten times as many subordinates?
Seeing Wang Ruixi hadn’t gotten his point, Zhou Wang had to cough and say, "I meant, your bodyguards look very professional. Their treatment must be pretty good?"
Wang Ruixi’s expression turned bewildered as he confusedly remarked:
"Mr. Zhou, they come from the security company you personally founded, so naturally, their professionalism is indisputable. As for their treatment... that seems to be provided by you, I also don’t quite know."
"Huh?"
Now it was Zhou Wang’s turn to be bewildered.
I actually created a security company?
How come I didn’t know...
However, just as Zhou Wang intended to further explore this with Wang Ruixi, a system warning interrupted again... Fine, this evidently exceeded his current reach.
Frustrated, he bid farewell to Wang Ruixi... and his professional security team, before examining the [Advanced Resume] card he had already used up.
The card, costing him ten thousand Reputation Value points, still showed the progress bar labeled "in interaction reality," with his powerful bodyguard still nowhere in sight...
Since he hadn’t used this level of resume before, Zhou Wang wasn’t sure if this extended interaction time was normal, but he could only be patient and wait.
Holding hands with the senior, Zhou Wang approached the Audi A6L driven by Miao Ying.
The car was borrowed from Ding Yi’s driver. Although not the top luxury car, in Beidou, this Audi with numerous clearance placards on the window was obviously more convenient to use.
In the night breeze, dressed in a long windbreaker, Jiang Qingkui had been waiting here for quite a while, arms crossed.
Upon seeing Zhou Wang and Jiang Mo approaching, Jiang Qingkui first glanced at Jiang Mo with complex eyes and nodded toward her:
"Jiang Mo junior, we meet again..."
Both Jiang Qingkui and Jiang Mo had studied under Professor Wang Hongying at Cai University, so this address of "junior" wasn’t inappropriate.
Originally, Jiang Qingkui, whose orientation had been off, had taken an interest in Jiang Mo.
But now, seeing the other party evoked no waves in her...
And the certain scoundrel who had caused this subtle change stood right beside Jiang Mo, using a detestable gaze to check out the long legs slightly revealed in the wind beneath Qingkui’s beige stockings...
"Hello, Yang Senior."
Once Jiang Mo politely greeted her, Jiang Qingkui took a deep breath, collecting those disorganized thoughts, and only then looked at Zhou Wang, her expression turning slightly serious.
"Boss, there’s something... I’d like to report to you privately."