The Self-Cultivation of a Reborn Massage Therapist

Chapter 336 Wei Lan's Last Resort
Once Zhao Xiaochui made his voice heard, time had already lost all meaning.

U.S. Route 54 is an important north-south road that runs through New Mexico, Texas, and other states.

Zhao Xiaochui stood silently in the shadows by the roadside. A few minutes later, an unremarkable, dusty Ford F-150 pickup truck slowed down and finally came to a steady stop in front of him. The passenger window rolled down silently.

Without any further greetings or confirmations, Zhao Xiaochui opened the car door, nimbly climbed into the car, and tossed the waterproof backpack full of US dollars at his feet.

“You can make international calls in the car, and that smartphone bypasses all restrictions and can directly access the domestic network,” the man in the passenger seat said succinctly and calmly. “The information you need is initially summarized in the phone’s notes.”

The vehicle restarted, accelerated, and merged onto the national highway, quickly disappearing into the endless darkness and the scattered traffic in the distance.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhao Xiaochui picked up the smartphone, swiped to unlock it, and directly opened a domestic social media app. This time, there were no error messages or pop-ups; all the "easy and slow travel" messages and the tsunami of profanity flooded his eyes instantly.

"Damn it!"

……

CEO's office at Wangjing Lupeng Building

The atmosphere in the office was eerily tense. Leng Xiao stood alone in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the dazzling lights of Wangjing SOHO, his eyes filled with gloom.

He had just hung up the phone in an emergency communication with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, his voice still hoarse.

"Wei Lan..." he murmured the name, his tone devoid of the initial warmth of their cooperation, replaced only by the cold anger of being dragged into this mess.

"Okay, very good..."

After blaming all the mistakes on his fellow villager Wei Lan, he turned around abruptly, pressed the internal communicator, and spoke rapidly and authoritatively:

"Let's proceed according to the plan."

京城时间，2020年9月11日，18:00。

Faced with anger from global shareholders, downward revisions from analysts, and a certainty of a market crash the following day, UglyDonkey Group issued a voluntary announcement:
Ugly Donkey Group Limited hereby informs its shareholders and potential investors of the following matters, which are made in accordance with Rule 13.09 of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

1. Clarification Regarding the Cooperation with Jinling Capital… The actions of Ms. Wei Lan and any of her affiliates are independent actions by her personally and her company. Our company is completely unaware of and has not participated in any possible misconduct on her part. …The Board of Directors is urgently assessing the potential impact of the aforementioned events… and will issue further announcements as appropriate.

2. Business operations update... Sichuan and Chongqing...

3. The Board has also noted that a People's Court in a certain district of Beijing has accepted a criminal self-prosecution case filed by Easy Slow Travel (BJ) Health Management Co., Ltd. against the Company on grounds of malicious competition and defamation.

The Board of Directors believes that the private prosecution lacks factual and legal basis, and the Company will actively respond to the lawsuit and safeguard its legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.

The Board will continue to assess the situation and will issue further announcements as appropriate in accordance with the requirements of the Listing Rules.

…………

The CEO's office at Jinling Capital.

Wei Lan's luxurious office seemed to be shrouded in a low-pressure atmosphere.

She slammed her expensive phone onto the soft carpet. "Useless! All useless!" She jumped up and swept across the documents and files on her desk, scattering them all over the floor.

"Gu Tianyu, that idiot! He bragged all sorts of things when he was getting paid, but he can't even handle this little thing!"

Her voice became sharp and shrill due to extreme anger, completely losing its usual calmness and elegance.

She rushed to the liquor cabinet, poured herself a glass of whiskey, but her hand trembled so badly that the whiskey spilled out, staining the cuffs of her suit.

"Leng Xiao!" she gritted her teeth, her eyes so sinister they could drip water. "So eager to clear your name? Trying to push me out as a scapegoat? Dream on!"

She downed the drink in one gulp, but the alcohol did not calm her down; instead, it fueled her anger and a barely perceptible sense of panic.

She knew perfectly well that none of the things Lao Qin revealed in the live stream could withstand close scrutiny.

However, online, everything that those girls had gone through was beginning to spread to her!
She took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure, but her trembling fingers and violently heaving chest betrayed her inner panic.

The office door was pushed open silently.

A tall female assistant walked in. Ignoring the mess on the floor, she calmly looked at Wei Lan.

“Mr. Wei,” she began, “the gentleman (the major shareholder) is aware of the current situation. He asked me to ask you about the unexpected resistance you have encountered with this ‘brand new aggressive market strategy’ you designed for the group.”

She leaned forward slightly: "Sir, I'd like to know your assessment of the current situation? And what kind of support do you need from the group to deal with it?"

The female assistant stood still, quietly awaiting instructions.

Her arrival was not a trial, but rather a calm assessment by the major shareholder behind the scenes. He acknowledged Wei Lan's past methods that aligned with his intentions, but now he needed to evaluate whether she still had the ability to control the situation and whether she was worth investing more resources to salvage it.

Wei Lan took a deep breath, trying to calm her agitated mood.

“Anna…” she looked at her female assistant, her eyes full of doubt, “I want to know what happened that caused such a drastic change in the wind direction.”

Anna, the female assistant, nodded and told him frankly, "The information channels are very sensitive, but those who need to know already know—Mr. Zhao Xiaochui, who disappeared for a while, has spoken out. Now it is certain that his opinions are being taken seriously by many people."

Wei Lan: "..."

Wei Lan was speechless. She also realized why she hadn't been abandoned yet—while designing a trillion-dollar health industry, she repeatedly confirmed the risks of this matter with the shareholders of Jinling.

Back then, nobody cared about that little masseur!
So she can take the blame, but the shareholders behind her are more concerned about whether pushing her out as a scapegoat can really quell the other party's anger.

She gestured for Anna to sit down, then quickly tidied her messy desk and cleared her mind. Once she had calmed down a bit, she sat back down opposite Anna and reported in as calm a tone as possible:
"What can be confirmed at present is that the Jiang family has completely terminated all cooperation with Jinling."

“The wealthy clients who had previously been introduced to me by the board of directors have also begun to withdraw their investments from Jinling.”

"I just received news that some of Jinling's businesses in Beijing will be subject to multi-faceted retaliatory attacks tomorrow."

Anna leaned forward slightly and asked sharply, "Where is the attack coming from?"

(End of this chapter)