Chapter 601: Jiang Family Business |
Zhou Yuwen gave Lu Wanting a phone call. Before he could even ask about Jiang Xinyi, Lu Wanting gave him a general rundown of the situation. However, she told the story a bit out of order. According to her, he shouldn't blame her and Su Qing for making a move against the Jiang family. The main issue was that the Jiang family had been far too aggressive this time, buying into a futures contract that was highly likely to lose money. According to her and Su Qing's plan, even though they were currently operating at a loss, they would not only make it all back later, but also guarantee a twenty to thirty percent profit.
In other words, they were going to swallow up the majority of the Jiang family's overseas assets.
Lu Wanting also mentioned that the Jiang family's overseas assets had actually been targeted by certain people for a long time. Even if they didn't make a move, someone else would. Rather than letting others profit, it was better to strike first.
Zhou Yuwen certainly didn't buy this excuse from Lu Wanting. He simply asked her, "Let me ask you, was this your idea, or Su Qing's?"
"I..." Lu Wanting suddenly froze up. She could help Su Qing stall for time, but she didn't dare take the blame for her directly.
Hearing Lu Wanting's tone, Zhou Yuwen knew exactly what was going on. He asked if Su Qing was next to her and told her to put Su Qing on the phone.
Lu Wanting replied, "Su Qing is resting. She stayed up all night yesterday."
Zhou Yuwen said that was fine, and told her to have Su Qing return his call when she woke up.
After saying this, Zhou Yuwen hung up the phone.
After Zhou Yuwen hung up, Zheng Yanyan finally couldn't hold back and quickly asked, "Was that Jiang Xinyi calling you just now? What happened to her?"
Zhou Yuwen walked over to Zheng Yanyan's computer and turned it on, replying, "It's nothing."
"You're lying, I heard everything. Something happened to her family, right?"
How could Zheng Yanyan let Zhou Yuwen be so perfunctory? She pressed him directly.
Zhou Yuwen felt completely speechless hearing this. He retorted, "If you know, why are you asking?"
Zheng Yanyan whined, "Oh, just tell me! What happened to her family? I really want to know."
"Sigh, but honestly, something really ought to happen to them. Just look at her mother, always acting so condescending. We're all human, what right does she have to act so superior? She even tried to give Su Qing five hundred thousand to leave you back then. Don't you think someone like that deserves a little lesson?"
Zheng Yanyan fanned the flames in front of Zhou Yuwen, while he had already opened a webpage to check the current futures market trends.
To be honest, in his previous life, Zhou Yuwen didn't know much about futures. Although he had looked into it after his rebirth, he still only had a superficial understanding of this kind of investment where one could lose their entire fortune in an instant.
However, Zhou Yuwen seemed to have a vague impression of the Jiang family's futures trading.
Lu Wanting hadn't lied to him. Although this transaction would weaken in the early stages, the market would rebound later. While it wouldn't make a massive amount of money, it absolutely wouldn't result in a loss.
It seemed Su Qing wasn't just acting out of emotion either.
At this moment, Zheng Yanyan was sitting next to Zhou Yuwen, leaning on his shoulder and gossiping about the Jiang family. She told Zhou Yuwen not to blame Su Qing too much, reminding him that Jiang Xinyi's family background was entirely different from theirs to begin with.
"If you don't teach her family a little lesson, we'll definitely end up getting bullied. So Su Qing doing this is actually her looking out for us..."
Zhou Yuwen felt speechless listening to her. He asked, "When has Xinyi ever bullied you?"
Zheng Yanyan quickly replied, "Jiang Xinyi definitely hasn't, but you can't guarantee her mother won't bully us, right? Her mom has a track record."
Hearing this, Zhou Yuwen had to admit it made a bit of sense.
The current trend of this futures trade was indeed very poor. However, even with her capital advantage, Su Qing could only control it temporarily. Once the international trend went up in the future, even if Su Qing put all her assets on the line, it would be impossible to suppress this trade. In other words, the Jiang family would still end up making money; they were just taking a loss for the time being.
Rather than clearing things up right now, wouldn't it be better to wait a little?
At this moment, Zhou Yuwen's thoughts did become a bit more complicated, especially with Zheng Yanyan constantly acting spoiled beside him. She was even deploying her feminine charms, preparing to make Zhou Yuwen very comfortable right there in her home.
Zheng Yanyan obediently squatted in front of Zhou Yuwen, twisting her body affectionately as she pleaded with him not to blame Su Qing.
"Pretty please?"
Looking at Zheng Yanyan's demeanor, Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but chuckle. "I didn't expect you to plead for Su Qing," he remarked.
"Oh, come on, please?"
Zhou Yuwen replied, "I guess that depends on your performance."
"Hehe, I guarantee you'll be comfortable!"
Zheng Yanyan quickly promised.
As a result, Zhou Yuwen didn't rush to handle the matter, choosing instead to fool around with Zheng Yanyan for a while.
When Zheng Yanyan went out to take a shower, Zhou Yuwen figured it was best to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Just then, a call came in from an unknown number.
It was an international call.
This made Zhou Yuwen pause in surprise.
He answered the phone, "Hello?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Is this Zhou Yuwen?"
"Yes. Who is this?"
"I'm Jiang Xinyi's father."
"Oh, hello."
Hearing that it was Jiang Xinyi's father, Zhou Yuwen's attitude warmed up a bit. After all, this was his future father-in-law.
Zhou Yuwen initially planned to feign ignorance with Jiang's father, claiming he knew nothing about the situation in the futures market.
But Jiang's father stated bluntly, "I know you are the one sniping our family's assets in the futures market."
Zhou Yuwen said, "Uncle, you misunderstand."
"I really don't know anything about this matter."
"You don't need to hide it from me. I'm not calling to condemn you. I've looked into you. I know my daughter isn't your only girlfriend, but I also know that your feelings for Xinyi are genuine."
Jiang's father said directly.
Zhou Yuwen remained silent, unsure of what Jiang's father was getting at.
Jiang's father continued, "I don't blame you for what's happening in the futures market. But it was Liu Jing who offended you. Every wrong has its perpetrator. You should go after Liu Jing instead of hurting the innocent."
This statement completely bewildered Zhou Yuwen. 'Wait, aren't you two a family? Why are you drawing such a clear line?'
After a moment of silence, Zhou Yuwen said, "Uncle Jiang, you can't really say that, right? Aunt Jing is your wife. Is there really a distinction between you two?"
"Wife?"
Jiang's father sneered at those words. He retorted, "Then since you have my daughter, why do you still seek out other women?"
"..."
That single sentence left Zhou Yuwen completely speechless.
Jiang's father then told Zhou Yuwen quite directly that he and Liu Jing had been estranged in all but name for a long time.
"You can mess with Liu Jing however you want."
"But I haven't offended you, so you can't disrupt my life." Zhou Yuwen hadn't expected the Jiang family to be in such a state.
Just a moment ago, Jiang Xinyi had been tearfully complaining to Zhou Yuwen that her parents were going to divorce. Thinking about it now, no matter how hard Jiang Xinyi tried, she probably couldn't change the trajectory of their divorce.
Zhou Yuwen apologized to Jiang's father, stating that he hadn't anticipated this situation.
"I'm very sorry, Uncle Jiang."
And that apology was exactly what Jiang's father had been waiting for. He replied, "It's fine. I just wanted to see your attitude."
"Currently, my accounts have suffered a loss of nearly three hundred million. If I'm guessing correctly, you're going to continue dumping the market, right?"
Zhou Yuwen thought to himself, 'How would I know? Su Qing is the one doing all this.'
Seeing that Zhou Yuwen remained silent, Jiang's father assumed his guess was correct.
He continued, "Actually, you don't need to go through so much trouble."
"Your kamikaze-style attack will only result in mutual destruction where both sides suffer. Neither family will benefit."
"After all, you're Xinyi's boyfriend. We should technically be considered family. I have a solution..."
As it turned out, Jiang's father hadn't called with any intention of saving Liu Jing. His mindset was every man for himself in the face of disaster. His proposition was essentially: Since Zhou Yuwen was so wealthy, rather than crashing the market, he might as well directly take over their overseas assets. This way, Zhou Yuwen could spend less money, Jiang's father could cash out and leave, and he could even use this matter to blackmail Liu Jing. It was killing three birds with one stone. What did he think?
Zhou Yuwen fell completely silent upon hearing this. He hadn't expected Jiang's father to be so ruthless. That was his wife and child, yet all he cared about right now was making his own getaway.
According to Jiang's father, their family had 1.2 billion in paper assets on the overseas futures market, along with another 800 million in other investments.
Jiang's father proposed that if Zhou Yuwen paid him 1.2 billion, he would package all those assets and sell them entirely to Zhou Yuwen. Then, he would put on a show with Zhou Yuwen, claiming that both sides suffered heavily in the futures market and lost all their assets. He could even mortgage some of the Jiang family's domestic real estate and transfer it all to Zhou Yuwen.
When that time came, Liu Jing would be entirely at Zhou Yuwen's mercy.
The Jiang family would go bankrupt, but Jiang's father would escape unscathed. It was a flawless scheme.
"What do you think?" Jiang's father asked.
Zhou Yuwen asked Jiang's father how much he wanted if all the domestic assets were included.
"Hah!"
Hearing Zhou Yuwen's words, Jiang's father burst into laughter. "There are some real estate and factories that can't be taken away. 4.5 billion! I'll package everything and sell it to you!"
"I don't have that much cash on me. I can give you a futures contract worth 4.5 billion," Zhou Yuwen replied.
"No problem!"
Jiang's father had been dealing in overseas futures for a long time. He would be able to tell at a glance whether the contract Zhou Yuwen provided was actually worth 4.5 billion, so he wasn't afraid of Zhou Yuwen deceiving him in the slightest.
"There's one thing I'm worried about, though. Your domestic assets should be shared property between you as husband and wife. Will it even work if you mortgage them?" Zhou Yuwen asked.
"You don't need to worry about that. I'll handle it!"
Jiang's father assured him confidently. He explained that since Liu Jing was the one who caused this disaster, he was now demanding to replenish their margin to fight against him, so she wouldn't dare refuse to sign.
"When the time comes, I'll mortgage all the assets, and then I'll just lose it all to you!"
Zhou Yuwen's immediate agreement delighted Jiang's father. He even proceeded to lecture Zhou Yuwen, stating that a man should be ruthless when doing business. "If you were soft-hearted like a woman, I would have looked down on you!"
"Even though this is our first time talking on the phone, you really suit my appetite! Xinyi didn't choose the wrong person. Keep up the good work, young man. When you come to the United States, we'll have a good drink together!"
Jiang's father seemed very pleased.
Zhou Yuwen, however, put on an act of worrying about gains and losses, saying, "Uncle Jiang, is this really okay?"
"A grown man shouldn't be so wishy-washy! Anyway, you can totally afford to support Xinyi. Besides, Liu Jing is Xinyi's mother; are you really going to just abandon her? I only want to take back my share. As for the surplus, leaving it with you is the same thing. Don't give women too much money. Listen to me, I'm only teaching you this because I see you as my son-in-law!"
The two chatted for a little while longer. Afterward, Jiang's father clearly still had more to say, wanting to impart a bit more knowledge to Zhou Yuwen.
However, Su Qing called again soon after. Zhou Yuwen found an excuse, hung up the call, and answered Su Qing's phone call.
He wasn't nearly as polite when speaking with Su Qing.
Su Qing seemed to have already resigned herself to the fact that Zhou Yuwen was going to blame her.
The first thing she said was, "I did all of this."
"It has nothing to do with Sister Wanting."
Listening to Su Qing's unapologetic declaration, Zhou Yuwen simply asked, "Do you not have any impression of this futures transaction?"
Su Qing remained silent on her end.
Zhou Yuwen asked, "Can it make money?"
After a moment, a single word came through the phone from Su Qing, "Yes."
Zhou Yuwen sighed and simply relayed everything Jiang's father had just told him.
Su Qing genuinely hadn't expected to hear this.
She had always thought Liu Jing was an insufferable woman, but now she suddenly realized that this woman was also quite pitiful.
Her own husband was scheming against her behind her back like this?
Zhou Yuwen replied, "I never thought it would turn out like this either."
"Xinyi told me that if you keep this up, her parents might get a divorce. But thinking about it now, even if you stopped, they're going to divorce anyway."
Su Qing held the phone and pondered for a moment. "What do you want to do?"
"You shouldn't be asking me that; I should be asking you."
Zhou Yuwen said that Xinyi's parents were definitely getting a divorce. Under normal circumstances, if Jiang's father and Liu Jing divorced, their assets would surely be split evenly. However, since the Jiang family's assets were all domestic, Jiang's father probably wouldn't have the upper hand. But with this situation, he could instantly walk away with 4.5 billion. He had played his cards incredibly well.
Su Qing stated that this deal was actually worth making, but they needed to drive down the price.
All of the Jiang family's assets combined exceeded 6 billion. To be able to buy all of it for just 4.5 billion was a steal. More importantly, the Jiang family held a certain level of prestige in Jinling, and some of their businesses were even industry leaders. Zhou Yuwen had money now, but his foundation was still unstable. If he could replace the Jiang family, he would gain that prestige as well.
4.5 billion was a bit much.
They should naturally negotiate the price down.
"Around 3.8 billion should be doable."
Su Qing explained that since Jiang Xinyi's father already had this in mind, even if he didn't cooperate with Zhou Yuwen, he would find someone else. Rather than watching the Jiang family's massive enterprise be handed over to outsiders, it was better for Zhou Yuwen to just take it over directly.
"Besides, you have to take responsibility for her for the rest of your life anyway."
"So you might as well go with the flow and take it over. Worst comes to worst, you can just give it back to Jiang Xinyi later. It's much better than letting that scummy man have it," Su Qing analyzed for Zhou Yuwen.
Zhou Yuwen replied, "That's what I was thinking too."
"I just feel like we can't actually give him 4.5 billion."
Su Qing understood Zhou Yuwen's meaning and said, "Of course. If we really let him abscond with that much money, wouldn't we be letting him off too easy?"