Break out of the courtyard

Chapter 766 Response
Tuesday morning, May 1989, 5.

Capital, multi-party joint meeting.

"According to the information collected so far, Hailukong Company has acquired shares in 15 foreign ports, with shareholding ratios ranging from 35% to 55%. Among them, only three ports located in Ri Island, Tai Island and Xin Island have shareholding ratios exceeding 3%."

"After Sudefa Yingri and 15 other countries gave up their port interests, they all signed agreements with Hong Kong Island Telecom to build joint venture smartphone production plants and 4G communication services."

"At the same time, the renewable energy company will also set up renewable resource recycling stations near these 15 ports, and plans to crush the collected renewable resources into slag and transport them back to the Hong Kong Island Seawater Refinery for processing."

"Isn't Tingmei Trading Company hoarding metal materials? I heard that they are also acquiring mines abroad. Why does the renewable energy company recycle garbage? Why is the Heping Group hoarding so many raw materials?"

……

Zhang Nan was sitting in the back row of the venue, looking at the men, women, young and old attending the meeting with boredom.

At the beginning of the month, my eldest aunt Zhang Zhaodi was transferred to the Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Finance Department under the Finance Department as deputy director. She is now sitting in the third row in the front with her new colleagues.

My cousin Chang Wen will study for a master's degree in economics at Renmin University next semester. Today, she was brought here by her graduate supervisor, Professor Lin. She and two classmates were also sitting in the back row of the venue, but they were a little far away from Zhang Nan.

Second aunt Zhang Pandi, as a representative of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, sat in the first row of the venue, closest to the person speaking on the podium.

Like Zhang Nan, his fellow brother Zhang Bei was deceived into coming here. After arriving at the venue, he found out that this was a meeting targeting their family.

Zhang Nan could understand why his cousin Zhang Yi, who studied computer science, and his cousin Zhou Xiaopeng, who studied communications, were brought to the meeting.

Zhang Nan's cousin Zhou Xiaochun, who studies journalism, was pulled in to be an intern reporter before she even reported to CCTV. This really made Zhang Nan feel uncomfortable, as he felt that this meeting was too targeted!
During the lunch break, Zhang Nan called his home in Hong Kong Island and learned that his father Zhang Heping was catching up on sleep, so he told his stepmother Chen Shuting about the content of the morning meeting.

Chen Shuting naturally knew why the Heping Group had been hoarding metal materials and expanding its business overseas recently.

However, when facing the question from her second daughter Zhang Nan, Chen Shuting did not rush to answer: "Xiao Nan, how long will it take for you and Xiao Bei to come back?"

"A Nian asked us to wait for her. She is expected to be back at the end of June for summer vacation." Zhang Nan responded, and then asked, "Little Mom, you haven't told me yet, why are we hoarding so many metal raw materials!"

Chen Shuting smiled and said, "The call you made to your family must have been monitored. Are you sure you want to know now?"

"Ah?" Zhang Nan glanced at the conference hall in the distance and the cafeteria more than 50 meters away, and asked uncertainly: "Little Mom, there are grass all around me, and the nearest building is 50 meters away. I won't be monitored, right?"

Chen Shuting said nonchalantly, "Those monitoring techniques were taught to the mainland by your father. Do you think you can do it?"

"Oh, okay! I'll call you later!" After Zhang Nan hung up the phone, he looked around again and didn't find anything suspicious, so he walked towards the cafeteria.

~
"I told you this trick won't work!" Outside the venue, a middle-aged man took off his headset and threw it on the table. He then stood up and left his seat, pushed open the back door of the van, got out, walked to the side of the road and lit a cigarette.

"Captain Ling!" A young woman in camouflage uniform got out of the car and frowned, "Our monitoring mission is not over yet, how can you say no? As the captain..."

"That's enough! Stop it!" The middle-aged man called Captain Ling waved his right hand hastily to stop the other party from speaking. "The mission is not over yet, return to your position and monitor nearby communications at any time."

The young woman was pulled by a young man who got off the bus behind her and motioned for her to get on.

Then, two men in camouflage uniforms who got off the car later squatted beside their captain, one on the left and one on the right.

The older man on the right unabashedly reached into Captain Ling's trouser pocket, pulled out half a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and lit one of his own.

"Lao Zhou, give me one!" The young man on the left reached out for it, but was slapped in the face by Captain Ling in the middle.

"Why are you smoking, little brat? Save your money to marry a wife and don't get addicted to smoking!" After Captain Ling said this, he looked blankly at the high wall and treetops in front of him, looking a little melancholy.

Just as the young man walked around Captain Ling from behind and squatted to the right of Lao Zhou, wanting to ask Lao Zhou for a cigarette to try, Captain Ling was burned by the cigarette butt that was about to burn out.

"Damn it!" Captain Ling slammed his cigarette butt into the ground, stood up and left, "I'll go get the water."

The young man didn't get the cigarette from Lao Zhou, but he quickly reached out, snatched the cigarette from Lao Zhou's mouth, and quickly put it into his own mouth.

"Cough cough..."

Because he smoked too quickly, the young man was choked by the smoke and tears came to his eyes.

Old Zhou took the opportunity to snatch the cigarette back and said jokingly: "If you don't listen to the old man, you will suffer the consequences, hehe!"

After the young man recovered, he looked in the direction where Captain Ling left, but he didn't see anyone. He couldn't help but wonder, "Old Zhou, what happened to Captain Ling? I've never seen him so resistant when carrying out missions."

"How can I not object?" Lao Zhou took a deep breath and exhaled, "The technology related to the equipment in the car was provided by the big boss behind the Peace Group."

"When Captain Ling went to learn monitoring technology, the big boss personally gave him guidance. If you were Captain Ling, how would you feel?"

~
The joint meeting in the afternoon was more pragmatic than the morning one, with fewer whys and more arguments.

"I don't recommend Shekou Port to give up its shares!" The representative from Dongshan Province said righteously: "Shekou Port, as a model of the special economic zone, must maintain your purity and not be blinded by interests."

"That's true!" The representative from Jiangsu and Zhejiang echoed, "Since Heping Group didn't build a smartphone production plant in Shenzhen, they must have their considerations."

"As one of the four major international deep-water transshipment ports in China, Ningbo Port has great negotiation advantages."

"If we were to negotiate, we would not only be able to negotiate for a smartphone manufacturing plant, but also one or two nuclear power plants."

"Ningbo Port has developed rapidly in recent years and has strong profitability." The representative of Nanhai Province nodded and agreed, then changed the subject, "If our Nanhai Province can also have another port like Ningbo Port and Shekou Port, it will not hinder economic development."

……

Zhang Nan originally thought that she would not be able to resist dozing off during the afternoon meeting.

As a result, I was aroused by the open and covert fighting between these representatives.

She never expected that the discussion meeting on their Peace Group in the morning would turn into a drama in the afternoon where coastal provinces were scrambling to give up their port shares.

What Zhang Nan didn't know was that the development of the Heping Group in the mainland over the years had been intentionally or unintentionally restricted to Shenzhen by Zhang Heping and Mr. Hua.

Those who are well-informed know that Shenzhen’s GDP has continued to grow, which has a lot to do with the Heping Group.

If the capital had not been suppressing the issue, representatives from other provinces would have already approached the Heping Group to attract investment.

The turning point came the year before last, when the Peace Group invested 700 billion yuan in the mainland and revitalized many mainland machinery factories.

But what made other provinces see hope for cooperation was not Tingmei Trade’s investment in Wucheng the year before last, but the Heping Automobile Branch established in Shencheng last year!

That is not just a factory, but a complete automotive industry chain!
From large items such as the engine, gearbox, motor, and body to small items such as batteries, wires, and sound insulation pads, the Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone has completed everything!
Such a large industry not only makes other provinces jealous, but also gives them hope for cooperation with Heping Group.

However, they never found an opportunity to cooperate.

Today, the opportunity has come!
By only giving up 35% of the port interests, one can get a smartphone production plant and the opportunity to deepen cooperation with the Heping Group. Which province would not want such political achievements?

As representatives from coastal provinces spoke one after another, inland provinces gradually realized that they did not have ports, but they had airports!

However, what puzzled the representatives of the inland provinces was that the representatives of Southwest Province and Beihu Province, two provinces where the Peace Group had invested in and built airports, were sitting there in silence, as if it had nothing to do with them.

~
Zhang Heping slept until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, ate something simple, and then sat down at the desk in the study again.

This time, he was not idle, but was compiling a cytology textbook according to his understanding.

When Tang Xin and Chen Shuting saw Zhang Heping writing and drawing on his desk, they didn't think there was anything unusual.

It was not until Zhang Long curiously leaned over to take a look that he asked in confusion: "Dad, are you going to rewrite the cytology textbook? Why don't you just do it on the computer?"

Operating on a computer saves the subsequent data entry work.

In addition, in Zhang Long's memory, many of the teaching materials compiled by his father were operated on the computer and then directly uploaded to the world Internet forum.

Zhang Heping shook his head slightly. "If this set of teaching materials were to be spread out, there would be great risks!"

"Risk?" Zhang Long had just glanced at the papers on the table. Now he picked up the dozens of pages of written paper and started reading from the beginning.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it was dinner time.

"It's time to eat!" Zhang Heping took the half-read page of the book from his fifth son Zhang Long, put it on the stack of freshly written pages on the desk, and then was about to take Zhang Long away.

"Dad, I don't see any risk in this?" Zhang Long followed him out puzzled.

Zhang Heping casually said, "In ancient times, when fighting, weapons would be soaked in gold. Do you know why?"

Zhang Long said without thinking, "In order to infect the enemy's wounds and increase the lethality!"

"Cytology, virology, and genetics are actually very risky subjects!" Zhang Heping walked to the stairs and said in a deep voice: "You and Xiaohu just need to take a look at the data just now. Don't leak it out, otherwise it will be used in weapons."

Zhang Long said "oh" and followed him downstairs.

In the living room, Chen Shuting was talking to Mr. Hua and Director Wang. When they saw Zhang Heping calm down, they stopped talking.

After Zhang Heping invited them to the dining table, he didn't want to say much, but Mr. Hua and Director Wang still wanted to persuade Zhang Heping to return to Shenzhen, so Zhang Heping had no choice but to remain silent.

Fortunately, Director Wang did not have the same attitude as before to accuse the enemy. He simply mentioned the mainland's willingness to establish a joint venture to build a smartphone factory. "Heping, where do you think the smartphone factory should be located?"

Facing Director Wang's expectant gaze, Zhang Heping turned his head to his concubine Chen Shuting and asked, "Can the production capacity of mobile phone parts keep up?"

"The power supply can't keep up." Chen Shuting silenced Director Wang with just one simple sentence.

Peace Investment Shenzhen Company has invested tens of billions of yuan in the mainland to build nuclear power plants and power grids. As a result, several factories of Tingmei Trading in Shenzhen are facing power shortages.

Seeing that Director Wang didn't say anything, Zhang Heping didn't dwell on this issue or the power supply issue.

He invested in nuclear power plants and power grids in the mainland, firstly to facilitate production in his own factories, secondly to cope with the upcoming flourishing of a hundred schools of thought in the mainland, and finally he considered long-term investment.

After taking a sip of the soup, Mr. Hua said, "Heping, we just heard from Mr. Chen that you stayed up all night reading."

"You are a doctor and you have uploaded so many medical teaching videos. You should know that staying up late is bad for your health. Don't do this in the future, or we won't worry."

Zhang Heping nodded and explained casually: "There were a few technical issues that I hadn't figured out at the time. I will pay more attention to it in the future and try not to stay up all night."

After getting this guarantee, Chen Shuting and Tang Xin couldn't help but look at each other, feeling that Mr. Hua's visit this time was a great help to them.

You know, Zhang Heping stared at the thin book without sleep for two days and two nights. He didn't even move his seat or his eyes when eating, which made Tang Xin and Chen Shuting think that Zhang Heping was crazy.

Even though Zhang Heping was distracted and talking to them at that time, they were still worried.

Seeing that the atmosphere had become much more harmonious, Mr. Hua stopped talking.

Zhang Heping obviously doesn't want to take care of things other than research recently, and Chen Shuting is willing to communicate with Mr. Hua and Director Wang about business and production matters, so there is no need to bother Zhang Heping with the affairs of the Heping Group.

The only thing that Mr. Hua couldn't let go of was the increasing number of technical consultation letters.

Without Zhang Heping's technical support, many research projects in the mainland have reached a bottleneck.

Fortunately, many technologies in the mainland have caught up with the international first-tier, and there are still a lot of technical information provided by Zhang Heping that need to be digested.

Apart from Zhang Heping himself, the only one who can surpass the mainland's technology now is whether other countries have hidden technologies.

After dinner, Mr. Hua and Director Wang did not leave in a hurry. Instead, they followed the Zhang family to take a walk on the Peak to digest the food and chatted about the changes in Hong Kong Island.

Because Zhang Heping has to do morning exercises in the morning and take his family out for a walk after dinner. In addition, the families of the Umbrella Company will also come out for a walk, as well as those tourists who go to the top of the mountain for sightseeing.

The Umbrella Company paid for the replanning and renovation of the roads in Taipingshan, under the pretext of reducing safety hazards, but in fact it was to please Zhang Heping's family.

Look, the pavilion on the top of the mountain where Zhang Heping and Mr. Hua are standing at this moment is not the Lion Pavilion open to the public below the Renheyi Community.

Mr. Hua looked at the villas at the foot of the mountain and asked casually, "I heard that three years ago, the lawsuit in which the five major investment banks in Magnesium reneged on the loan to my stepmother for investment has been appealed to the Supreme Court of Magnesium by the Heping Law Firm?"

"I don't know whether they will accept it." Zhang Heping replied casually.

Since Mr. Hua asked about this matter, Zhang Heping believed that Mr. Hua had already had a deep understanding of the case. Asking this question at this time was probably a test for him.

"You signed an agreement in Hong Kong Island, why do you want to go to Magnesium to sue?" Mr. Hua looked sideways at Zhang Heping, "Magnesium doesn't have jurisdiction over it!"

Zhang Heping turned around and smiled, "I just want to see how much the laws of the Magnesium Country are worth. At the moment, they are very cheap!"

After he finished speaking, Zhang Heping asked everyone to go home.

Mr. Hua was thinking about the hidden meaning of Zhang Heping's words all the way until he and Director Wang were driving down the mountain, when he finally realized it.

Director Wang saw that Mr. Hua suddenly clapped his hands together and his face had a complicated expression. He couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Hua, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm fine!" After Mr. Hua figured out the reason, he felt much more relieved, but after looking at the driver sent by China Resources in the front row, he did not rush to explain.

When they returned to the Peace Hotel next to China Resources Company, Mr. Hua explained to Director Wang the possibility he had just thought of in the corridor outside the guest room door.

"In the case of Stepmother Investment Company suing the five major investment banks in Magnesium for breach of contract, Heping must have been sure of losing, so he sent Heping Law Firm to Magnesium to sue." After saying this, Mr. Hua said with certainty:

"He not only wants to undermine the credibility of the five largest investment banks in the country, but also wants to undermine the credibility of the laws of the country through this defeat!"

~
"Stepmother, I'm by the lake at school now. No one here should be able to monitor my phone call!" Zhang Nan's voice came from the other end of the line.

Chen Shuting stood up with her phone in hand, and walked towards Zhang Heping across from her, saying, "Wait a minute, I'll ask your dad."

Zhang Heping, who was writing furiously, asked his concubine Chen Shuting to turn on the speakerphone when he learned that his second daughter Zhang Nan was attending a meeting today.

"Xiao Nan, open the phone settings, scroll to the second to last item 'About', click on it, and then click the ellipsis at the bottom." Zhang Heping didn't stop writing, but asked distractedly: "Did you see the content inside?"

"Hmm!" Zhang Nan responded simply, obviously reading the content.

Zhang Heping did not urge him. After waiting for a while, he heard the busy tone of his phone.

"Xiaonan hung up the phone." Chen Shuting said, and then according to what Zhang Heping had just said, she clicked on About in Settings, and then the six-dot ellipsis at the bottom.

When Chen Shuting saw the anti-surveillance operation guide, she couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Honey, can our smartphones also be used to prevent surveillance?"

"This...if this is put in an advertisement, it will be another product highlight."

Zhang Heping responded casually: "Other smartphones don't have this function, only our phone has it."

Before Chen Shuting could figure out how to counter the wiretapping, her phone rang again.

"Dad, there's a suspicious white van in the northwest direction across the lake. I've never seen this kind of car in the capital before." Zhang Nan didn't tell him the result of the anti-monitoring of his cell phone, but his meaning was clear.

"Well, you should go back and rest early. We can talk about anything when you get home." Zhang Heping's voice seemed calm, but his brows were furrowed.

Although he had taken precautions against this kind of eavesdropping in advance, his main target was foreigners. He had only hypothesized about this situation in the mainland and never expected it would come true one day.

What’s funny is that he was the one who drew the design of the white van, and he also provided the manufacturing drawings of the monitoring equipment inside. He also personally trained a group of people to do the monitoring.

Is this considered self-inflicted?

The phone was on speakerphone, so Chen Shuting next to her could hear it clearly.

As soon as the call was hung up, Chen Shuting said angrily, "Husband, I want to ask Mr. Hua for an explanation about the wiretapping of Xiaonan."

"If they don't give me a reasonable explanation, I will pick up Xiaobei, Xiaonan, Xiaonian and others tomorrow."

"Call Aunt Wang and tell her that there is a monitoring car following Xiaonan." Zhang Heping said calmly, "You know the identities of Xiaobei, Xiaonan, Xiaonian and their roommates."

Xiaobei, Xiaonan and Xiaonian's roommate is a young security guard who was recruited by Mr. Hua to accompany him in his studies. Director Wang had mentioned it before, and Zhang Heping, Tang Xin and Chen Shuting all knew about it but kept it a secret from Xiaobei and the others.

Chen Shuting pursed her lips and thought for a while before she called Director Wang and told him about Zhang Nan being followed to the school by a wiretap car today. Then she hung up the phone without revealing her attitude.

This phone call, which seemed to be accusing but did not express the client's attitude, made Director Wang feel uneasy.

She thought about it for a brief moment, then left her room and knocked on the door of Mr. Hua's guest room next door.

While having dinner at Zhang's house, Mr. Hua was still advising Zhang Heping to take care of his health and not stay up late.

As a result, when it was his turn tonight, he forgot what he had said before.

In fact, monitoring Zhang Nan at this critical juncture is undoubtedly pushing Zhang Heping and his family out!

That night, Mr. Hua only did two things: make a phone call and wait for the other party to call back.

The next morning, Mr. Hua flew back to the capital from Kai Tak Airport.

Director Wang went to Zhang's home on the Peak, trying to find out Chen Shuting's attitude and Zhang Heping's thoughts on the matter.

~
"The superior only gave the order to me, the captain. The three of them didn't know who the target of this monitoring mission was. They just followed my instructions, so this matter has nothing to do with them."

"No! We know that the target of surveillance is Advisor Zhang's second daughter. Our leader personally gave us the four tasks and asked us to..."

"Shut up! Lao Zhou, take these two away!"

"No! I won't leave! Our team Ling originally refused this monitoring mission yesterday, but the leader disagreed and threatened to expel the four of us to force us to go."

"That's right. If the leaders didn't force us, we wouldn't monitor Consultant Zhang's family. Our monitoring equipment and related techniques were all taught by Consultant Zhang!"

"Alright, there's no need to say anything. Someone has already gone to your leader's place. All four of you come with us."

"By the way, where is the white van from yesterday? Let's drive away together!"

……

(End of this chapter)