Wang Qiqi finally finished helping Fatty move and sank into the second-hand sofa Fatty had bought, ready to order takeout and enjoy a well-earned rest, when her phone rang. Exhausted, Wang Qiqi didn't have the energy to move an inch. She wondered who would call so late; it must be work-related. But everyone in the company knew she was helping Fatty move today, so surely no one clueless enough would bother her, especially now that she was the Deputy Manager of HR. Major issues went to the Manager, and legwork was delegated to subordinates. Wang Qiqi thought, Surely they aren't that tactless.

Han Tao watched Wang Qiqi remain sprawled on the sofa, unwilling to budge. With a sigh of resignation, he stood up, retrieved her phone from her bag, and looked at it. If it were John calling, and Qiqi answered, Han Tao anticipated John would complain again tomorrow; John often griped about Qiqi being a high-maintenance subordinate.

When Han Tao pulled out the phone, he instinctively glanced at the screen and saw it was an international call from the mainland. He immediately assumed it was Beijing and worried his mother might be unwell. But upon checking the area code, he realized it was from his hometown. Han Tao began to understand who was calling—the caller must be desperate to make an international call. "It must be Song Ziwen," Han Tao said casually as he handed the phone to Wang Qiqi.

Song Ziwen calling? Xiao Rourou understood immediately; it meant someone had run out of options. In fact, Wang Qiqi had been waiting for this call for days. Based on what Zhu Lina had told her, the bidding for the new housing project should have been announced already. Yet, Song Ziwen hadn't called. Wang Qiqi had assumed Song Ziwen was too busy with larger deals to care about the profit margins of Lina’s family business and had let the matter drop. She hadn't expected him to call her now. Was it a request for help, or something else? Wang Qiqi felt uncertain.

Wang Qiqi answered the call, her mind clouded with doubt. The call ended just a few minutes later, and Wang Qiqi’s expression was unreadable.

Han Tao noticed Qiqi’s mood hadn’t improved. He asked cautiously, "Song Ziwen, or Yang Jing?"

"Song Ziwen. He said the Zhu family's real estate venture needs to switch suppliers and asked if I could help. Hmph. Now he remembers to call me. Where were the previous people he used?" Wang Qiqi was genuinely exasperated. "He’s finally remembering to flatter those managers now, thinking that since the tender is out, the quality of his products speaks for itself. He didn't realize the news would be bad for him."

Wang Qiqi thought it was decent of Song Ziwen to say he intended to enter the bid and win the contract fairly. Winning business through merit felt entirely different from winning it through connections. However, Song Ziwen seemed to rely on his past good relationships with those managers, assuming he could easily secure this deal, failing to anticipate how disadvantageous the situation actually was for him.

Fatty knew a bit about the falling out between Wang Qiqi and Song Ziwen regarding the IT company shares, so naturally, he sided with Wang Qiqi. "Is he useful to you now? Besides, hasn't your brother's company been running for several years? They've cooperated well with the Zhu family. If the quality and price are good, the chance of snatching this order is quite high." Zhu Lina wasn't unreasonable; if the quote and quality were excellent, she would definitely award them the contract.

"He also wants me to ask Nana to change the payment terms—to allow a deposit upfront, and then pay the remaining balance once all the goods arrive at the construction site." Ah, Wang Qiqi remembered. That was the payment term Zhu Lina had offered initially, considering the cabinet factory had just opened and faced significant capital pressure. Zhu Lina had offered that term purely out of goodwill to support them. Looking back, that very term seemed to have contributed to Song Ziwen's recent subpar service. "Song Ziwen still hasn't grasped the situation."

Wang Qiqi had always heard Song Ziwen boasting about how well his business was going. She had assumed the current tender wouldn't stress him much, but he sounded as if he hadn't faced any significant hurdles. As for Zhu Lina's new payment terms, Wang Qiqi truly didn't see an issue with them; it was just that Song Ziwen was accustomed to the old terms. "I no longer have shares in the cabinet factory; why should I put in a word for him? If I do, they won't appreciate my favor, and they might even suspect I’m actively sabotaging them through Nana." In that case, why should she engage in such foolishness?

"You should at least ask him," Han Tao said, seeing the schadenfreude in Wang Qiqi's expression. He sighed inwardly for Song Ziwen. People said one should marry a virtuous wife, but even if the wife wasn't perfectly virtuous, she should at least be grateful. Yang Jing seemed decent enough initially, but after a few years in business, she seemed to be regressing, caring far too much about money.

"Of course, I asked him. And I agreed to tell Song Ziwen," she confirmed. "I’ll email Nana and forward the reply to him." Even if Song Ziwen and Yang Jing thought she hadn't tried her best, they were only maintaining superficial civility anyway. "It seems Song Ziwen is quite tight on funds."

Although they hadn't yet injected capital into Gao Kai’s real estate company, they must have settled the terms with the Gao family. Gao Kai was clearly gearing up for a major expansion. Even if Song Ziwen wanted out now, not only would Gao Kai and Wang Rui object, but Yang Jing probably wouldn't either. The profit margins in real estate were immense, and Yang Jing’s appetite for it was huge. Moreover, the villa they intended to use as a showpiece had just been acquired. Song Ziwen and Yang Jing wouldn't sell it immediately, as that would suggest trouble at the cabinet factory—why else sell a newly purchased villa? Wang Qiqi couldn't help but think Nana had found the perfect timing to exact revenge. "Greed. I just wonder if he'll give up the shares in the processing plant."

If they failed to win this bid, it would be a significant blow to the cabinet factory's business. With a new cabinet factory entering the fray, it was like tearing open an entrance, making future business much harder. While retail business could yield more profit, it required considerably more effort and wasn't as stable. No wonder Song Ziwen was anxious. If business declined, taking out bank loans—even with good banking relations—wouldn't yield much. Wang Qiqi felt that if she were in his shoes, she wouldn't partner with Gao Kai, but Song Ziwen lacked that kind of courage.

After hanging up, Song Ziwen sat back in his executive chair, looking utterly helpless. Yang Jing, sitting beside him, asked nervously, "What did Qiqi say?" Yang Jing hadn't expected the seemingly smooth road they were traveling on to suddenly hit a snag, and this one looked quite troublesome.

"She needs to ask Zhu Lina," Song Ziwen admitted. At that moment, he deeply regretted agreeing to let Wang Qiqi withdraw her shares, or, if he had to agree, why he had only taken such a small advantage. Or perhaps he shouldn't have been swayed by Yang Jing's instigation to demand what he did from Wang Qiqi. This was clearly Wang Qiqi retaliating. Song Ziwen regretted deeply that he had forgotten certain things. While his relationship with Zhu Lina had been decent these past two years, it was largely due to Qiqi’s connection. If they truly wanted to deal with him, a single word would suffice.

Ask Zhu Lina? Yang Jing snorted coldly. "I think this is all her stirring up trouble. What’s the big deal about asking for a few shares in the IT company? Does she have to be this petty?" If the cabinet factory missed out on these orders, where would she get the money to renovate the villa? Yang Jing planned a lavish renovation and intended to use the cabinet factory to secure bank loans, pouring money into real estate to earn a fortune. Now, everything was uncertain.

Song Ziwen sighed, looking at Yang Jing, who still hadn't recognized her own fault. "It’s not just about the IT company stock. I think Qiqi knows about our relationship with Wang Rui." Thinking about how angry Wang Qiqi was, Song Ziwen concluded there was no other reason.

Yang Jing didn't care. Who was she connected with normally? No matter how powerful Qiqi was, did she really manage all these relationships? "Isn't she also close with Sister?" When trouble arose, she first thought of Song Yao, never suspecting anyone else, including the connection between Niuniu and Taotao.

"But Wang Rui and Wang Qiqi’s relationship is completely broken. Alas, it’s my own greed. I thought she was overseas and didn't know what was happening here, completely forgetting the Zhu family’s standing here." Recalling his trip to the US, Song Ziwen finally realized that his relationship with Wang Qiqi had started to distance itself from New York onwards, but at that time, he was entirely focused on Yang Jing and hadn't noticed. "Sigh, what should we do?" This year's business had been heavily impacted.

"Can't we manage on our own?" Yang Jing wasn't completely oblivious. Seeing Song Ziwen relentlessly blaming himself, she wisely dared not shift the blame onto Wang Qiqi. She could only keep quiet, refusing to splash mud onto Wang Qiqi’s reputation.

"It's my fault for not maintaining good relationships with those people earlier. I assumed Qiqi and Nana were close, and our product quality was good—we were truly careless." Song Ziwen regretted the results of the relationship-building he'd done in the previous few days. Those connections he once dismissed as trivial had caused so much trouble for the Zhu family's real estate ventures. "It's all them stirring things up below, and then the share issue came up. Of course, Zhu Lina won't protect us anymore."

Song Ziwen regretted being greedy earlier, trying to save two-tenths of the price by absorbing all of Wang Qiqi’s shares. If Qiqi still held shares now, things wouldn't be like this.

Seeing Song Ziwen constantly sighing, Yang Jing felt uneasy. "Let's just wait then." Yang Jing secretly vowed that one day she would get revenge and make the Zhu family taste the feeling she was experiencing now. "If it really doesn't work out, we just won't do this kind of business. The profit isn't that high anyway." Yang Jing had often heard Song Ziwen claim that wholesale business didn't make much money, so perhaps they should just abandon it if it meant trouble for their family.

Looking at the indifferent Yang Jing, Song Ziwen thought that this business didn't just bring in cash flow; high volume often meant high profit, and more importantly, it offered a platform for free publicity. How could he agree to abandon it just because Yang Jing felt that way? (To be continued)