Who's going to be the female lead's simp? Aren't the supporting female characters mor

The air in the conference room seemed to freeze.

The acquisition contract in Zhang Yi's hand, which was enough to bankrupt Zhao Hongtu, was now lying forlornly on the mahogany conference table.

Seven or eight lawyers in suits stood around him, like vultures waiting to devour carrion.

Zhao Hongtu slumped into a chair, his chest heaving violently.

But after all, he was a seasoned veteran who had been navigating the treacherous waters of the capital for decades. After a brief moment of losing his composure, a fierce glint, like that of a cornered beast, flashed in his cloudy old eyes.

"Heh...hehe."

A dry laugh escaped Zhao Hongtu's throat, breaking the deathly silence.

He slowly sat up straight, reached for the cup of tea in front of him that had gone cold, and drank it all in one gulp.

The cold tea flowed down his throat, extinguishing the fire in his heart and bringing him back to his senses.

"Mr. Zhang, this is quite a scheme." Zhao Hongtu toyed with the empty teacup in his hand, staring at Zhang Yi with a sinister look in his eyes. "Taking advantage of my tight cash flow, you want to swallow my land at rock-bottom prices? That kid from the Bai family is blocking the way in front, and you're raiding my property from behind. You're cooperating quite well."

Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and parted her red lips slightly: "Fourth Master, the business world is like a battlefield. I'm a businesswoman, I only care about results. In your current situation, what other choice do you have but to sign? The bank's demand letter is probably already on its way, and the penalty for breach of contract at the construction site is astronomical. If you sign, you can still keep some money for retirement; if you don't sign, then you really will have to go tell stories under the overpass."

"Retirement money?" Zhao Hongtu slammed his teacup on the table with a loud crack, causing several young lawyers to instinctively take a step back.

"When I was making my way in Beijing, you were still wearing open-crotch pants!" Zhao Hongtu stood up. Although his posture was somewhat hunched, his bandit-like aura was still intimidating. "Although I, Zhao Hongtu, haven't had much formal education, I know one thing: as long as I still have the land, I haven't lost!"

He pointed at Zhang Yi's nose, spitting as he spoke: "Go back and tell Bai Jingyou, trying to eat up his family's wealth? Be careful he doesn't break his teeth! Deep Blue Technology, cash on delivery, no delays, huh? That's burning money! I want to see how much cash flow the Bai family has to burn like that! A few million a day, can they last a month? Two months?"

"see a visitor out!"

Zhao Hongtu let out a loud shout.

Outside the door, a dozen or so burly security guards rushed in. Although the Zhao family was now in a weakened state, they still had a few loyal guards.

Zhang Yi's expression changed slightly.

She hadn't expected the old man to be so stubborn even at this point.

"Fine, Fourth Master has guts." Zhang Yi sneered, reached for the contract on the table, and slowly tore it in half. "Then I'll wait and see if you'll still be this loud when the court puts up the seal."

After saying that, she strode away in her high heels, leading her entourage.

After Zhang Yi left, the meeting room fell silent again.

Zhao Hongtu's forced composure collapsed instantly. He braced himself on the edge of the table, panting heavily. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead and into his eyes, stinging painfully.

"Fourth Master..." the third brother cautiously approached, "Are we... are we really not going to sell? The bank just called again, saying that if we don't pay the interest by tomorrow, they'll freeze the account."

"Sell it my ass!" Zhao Hongtu gritted his teeth, squeezing out the words. "Selling it would be the end of us! That's our capital to turn things around! As long as we have the land, we have leverage!"

With trembling hands, he pulled an old Nokia phone from the inner pocket of his Tang suit.

He had saved this number for five years but had never called it.

That was his last trump card, and also the favor he was least willing to use.

But now, I can't care about saving face.

"Everyone out," Zhao Hongtu waved his hand.

After everyone had left, he took a deep breath and dialed the number.

The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.

A young, languid, and even somewhat arrogant voice came from the other side, accompanied by the roar of a sports car engine.

"Who is it?"

Zhao Hongtu tightened his grip on the phone, his facial muscles twitched, and he adopted an extremely humble tone: "Young Master Jiang, it's me, Old Zhao. Zhao Hongtu."

"Old Zhao?" The voice on the other end of the phone paused, as if recalling something, then chuckled softly, "Oh, Fourth Master. A rare guest. What brings you here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping with that little starlet?"

"Young Master Jiang is joking." Zhao Hongtu felt as if his old face was being rubbed on the ground, but he could only endure it. "I have a big business deal that I'd like to discuss with Young Master Jiang."

"Business?" The other party seemed intrigued. "I heard you've been getting into a lot of trouble lately because of that illegitimate son of the Bai family? What, you want me to stand up for you?"

"Not entirely." A glint of shrewdness flashed in Zhao Hongtu's eyes. "That brat Bai Jingyou is reckless, setting up some kind of supply chain platform and turning Beijing's building materials market into a mess. But he's overreaching, his cash flow must be strained. Young Master Jiang, haven't you always wanted to enter Beijing's logistics and real estate sectors? With my warehouse in Nancheng and your capital, let's join forces..."

"If you're willing to lend a hand, the logistics empire of Nancheng will belong to the Jiang family from now on!"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed only by the roar of a sports car shifting gears.

After a long silence, the arrogant voice rang out again: "Interesting. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Although you old dog are no longer of any use, this bone is quite tempting. Come see me in Lan Kwai Fong in half an hour, with your land deed."

"Beep beep beep..."

The phone hangs up.

Zhao Hongtu let out a long breath, looking as if he had been pulled out of the water.

He knew that once he made that call, the Zhao Group would have to be renamed the Jiang Group.

But he had no choice. Being a dog for the Jiang family was better than being completely taken advantage of by Bai Jingyou.

"Bai Jingyou..." Zhao Hongtu looked at the deep night outside the window, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "We'll see."

……

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the DeepBlue Technology Building.

Bai Jingyou was sitting on the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a tablet computer in his hand. The screen displayed Zhao Hongtu's call logs and location information.

Although the content of the call could not be monitored, big data showed that Zhao Hongtu dialed an encrypted number ten minutes earlier, and then his car drove towards Lan Kwai Fong.

"Boss, I've found it."

Chen Mo appeared silently behind him, holding a document in his hand. "The owner of that number is Jiang Han, the eldest grandson of the Jiang family. This person acts in a high-profile manner and controls a private equity fund of the Jiang family. He is currently looking for investment targets in Beijing."

"Jiang Han?" Bai Jingyou tapped the screen lightly with his fingers, and an arrogant image of a man with a slicked-back hairstyle, driving a Bugatti Veyron and making a ruckus all over the streets appeared in his mind.

In the original story, Jiang Han was a complete troublemaker. Relying on his family's power, he caused a lot of trouble for the main characters later on, and he was always eyeing Lin Ruyu covetously.

"Interesting." Bai Jingyou's lips curled up slightly. "After beating the young one, the old one came. After beating the old one, the ruthless one came."

Just then, the office door was pushed open, and Zhang Yi stormed in, throwing her Hermes bag onto the sofa.

"I'm so angry! That old bastard, he's so stubborn!" Zhang Yi plopped down opposite Bai Jingyou, grabbed a glass of soda from the table, and gulped down some water. "I've already lowered the price to 70% of the market price, but he still won't budge. I almost got kicked out just now!"

Bai Jingyou wasn't surprised. Instead, he handed Zhang Yi a tissue: "Don't rush. If Zhao Hongtu were to give up so easily, then he would have wasted his decades in Beijing."

"You knew he wouldn't sell?" Zhang Yi's eyes widened. "Then why did you send me?"

"I sent you there to force him to go." Bai Jingyou stood up, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the city's dazzling lights. "Only by pushing him to the brink will he call for reinforcements. If he doesn't call for reinforcements, how can this situation be stirred up?"

"Reinforcements?" Zhang Yi was taken aback. "You mean... Jiang Han, whom Chen Mo found out about earlier?"

"Zhao Hongtu's land is a valuable asset, but he lacks cash flow. Jiang Han has plenty of spare cash, but he lacks land." Bai Jingyou turned around, his eyes deep and unfathomable. "It was inevitable that the two of them would come together."

Zhang Yi frowned, her expression turning serious: "If the Jiang family gets involved, things will be troublesome. The Jiang family's financial resources are far beyond Zhao Hongtu's. If Jiang Han invests in Zhao Hongtu, your supply chain blockade plan will fail. Then, all the money we invested initially..."

"Out of service?"

Bai Jingyou chuckled softly, his smile carrying a hint of the joy a hunter feels when his prey is caught.

"Mr. Zhang, have you ever seen whaling?"

"whaling?"

"Whalers never attack whales directly because they are too big and too powerful. They first shoot in barbs, letting the whale escape with a buoy. The faster the whale runs, the more it bleeds, until it finally runs out of strength."

"Zhao Hongtu is the wounded old whale, and Jiang Han is the silly shark who thought he got a bargain and came over to try and get a share of the pie."

Bai Jingyou pressed his finger heavily on the location of the South City Warehouse on the map.

"I was originally thinking about how to get my hands on the Jiang family's territory. Now, Jiang Han has offered his neck out himself."

He turned to look at Chen Mo, his tone so calm it was unsettling.

"Notify Lin Lanfeng."

"Since Young Master Jiang wants to play along, then we'll play along with him properly." Bai Jingyou paused, then added, "Repackage all the high-grade building materials we stockpiled before. Now that Master Zhao has a new sugar daddy, we need to keep up with the supply. As for the price... we can offer a discount."

A knowing glint flashed in Chen Mo's eyes: "Understood. Bad money drives out good."

Zhang Yi looked at the shrewd and calculating man in front of her and couldn't help but shiver.

She suddenly realized that from the very beginning, Bai Jingyou's target was not just Zhao Hongtu.

Zhao Hongtu was merely bait; what Bai Jingyou truly wanted to catch were the behemoths that had been lurking beneath the surface of the waters and entrenched in the capital for many years.

"You're a madwoman," Zhang Yi murmured, but then a flame of excitement ignited in her peach blossom eyes. "However... if we can get a piece of flesh from the Jiang family this time, it'll be worth it!"

Inside the private rooms of Lan Kwai Fong, the lights were bright and the atmosphere was lively.

Jiang Han crossed his legs, swirling a glass of whiskey in his hand, and looked at Zhao Hongtu, who was kneeling beside the coffee table pouring drinks, with a mocking expression on his face.

"Fourth Master, this wine is quite good, isn't it?"

"Good wine, good wine." Zhao Hongtu said with a fawning smile, his posture so humble it was almost groveling.

"Two hundred million in cash, to be credited to your account tomorrow." Jiang Han casually tossed out a check, as if dismissing a beggar. "But let's get this straight, this money is considered my investment. From now on, fifty-one percent of the Zhao Group's shares will belong to me. And, that Bai Jingyou..."

Jiang Han tilted his head back and drank the wine in his glass, a cruel glint flashing in his eyes.

"I'll let him know that there are some people in the capital he can't afford to mess with."

Zhao Hongtu looked at the check, his eyes filled with humiliation, but even more so with the satisfaction of revenge.

With the Jiang family's money and his connections in the logistics industry, DeepBlue Technology's fragile financial chain would shatter at the slightest touch!

However, neither the smug Jiang Han nor the patient Zhao Hongtu knew this.

The moment they reached a deal, an invisible giant net had already quietly tightened.