“Cooperation?”
Zhai Yadong was slightly stunned and smiled, “Mr. He, I’m a bit confused, we run different businesses and are located in different geographical areas, I don’t know where we can cooperate!”
This was an outright refusal, not leaving the door open at all!
Although Zhai Yadong said it in a more polite way, the meaning of the refusal in his words was too obvious – we do not have any intersection in our business and we are located in different regions.
However, even though Zhai Yadong was refusing, he still put the two sides on a more equal footing, sort of an equal dialogue, and strictly speaking, in doing so, he was somewhat underestimating He Hongwei.
He should be on the same level as Wu Zhiyong, and they could talk to each other on an equal footing, but Zhai Yadong was only one of Wu Zhiyong’s men, or rather, a cadre of the Wu family, but he deliberately ignored this fact, and only treated He Hongwei as the boss of the Tianyao Group.
He Hongwei was the boss and Zhai Yadong was also the boss, so the latter then simply spoke to He Hongwei in a reciprocal tone, which was undoubtedly a deliberate attempt to belittle He Hongwei.
If it was between ordinary people in normal times, it might not be that obvious, but the more it was between such people of a certain status, the more obvious this difference in rank and qualification became.
This was the reason why only a few people could actually be called ‘so-and-so young man’, or so-and-so gongzi, while the vast majority of dudes were the ones who could only be called so-and-so brother.
Although the difference in name calling is very subtle, for many people, it is something that they are very aware of in this regard.
To take a step back, Zhai Yadong was only the general manager of the Brilliant Group, while He Hongwei was the hand of the Tianyao Group, and on this point alone, they simply could not communicate on an equal footing!
However, when Zhai Yadong was speaking, his face was calm, as if He Hongwei was just a person who came to seek cooperation, just the head of a group, that’s all.
Ji Feng could not help but give Zhai Yadong a thoughtful look.
Although Ji Feng and He Hongwei had expected that they would not be welcomed and might even be treated with a cold face before coming here, they did not expect that Zhai Yadong’s attitude would be more than just a cold face, he was clearly full of hostility.
Ji Feng frowned slightly and secretly said, “Does this Zhai Yadong still want to challenge He Hongwei directly? Or does he think that with his qualifications, he’s good enough to compete with He Hongwei?”
He Hongwei’s face was calm, still with that gentle and elegant demeanour, and he said indifferently, “Mr Zhai, I think your words are biased.”
Zhai Yadong leaned back on the backrest of the sofa, then took out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and handed them to He Hongwei and Ji Feng. After the two of them waved their hands and refused, he then lit up himself and took two puffs, exhaling two smoke rings, with an attitude of enjoyment.
Ji Feng and He Hongwei looked calm, just sitting there looking at Zhai Yadong, neither showing any sign of displeasure nor any sign of urging, as if they did not notice anything wrong with Zhai Yadong’s posing and complacent behavior.
As for the other figure sitting next to him – the man with the gold-rimmed gla*ses – he was even sipping his own tea, as if he didn’t see Ji Feng and He Hongwei at all, not even glancing over here.
He waited until Zhai Yadong had taken a few puffs of his cigarette before he slowly opened his mouth and asked, “I wonder what Mr. He means by that? Where are my words biased, how come I don’t know?”
He Hongwei smiled and said, “First of all, the scope of business operations of our two groups, is not without any intersection, in fact, Tianyao Group is now joining hands with Tengfei Group and is preparing to enter some industries that it has never set foot in before, and for a few projects in your hands, we are very interested …… ”
He Hongwei directly nailed what he wanted, going over those few important projects under the Brilliant Group.
Zhai Yadong could not help but frown, shaking his head: “Mr. He, I am very sorry, about these projects, now we have entered into substantive negotiations with other companies, and basically the negotiations have been about to be completed, the next will enter the real cooperation stage …… so, can only say to you I’m sorry, I just hope we’ll have the opportunity to cooperate in the future!”
“Cooperate with other companies?”
He Hongwei glanced at him and opened the door and asked, “It’s with the Kepong people, right? KAI Peng’s Lingxia Group?”
Zhai Yadong, however, shook his head and said, “Sorry, this is our company’s business secret, I think Mr. He shouldn’t be ignorant of this, right?”
Ji Feng’s eyes narrowed slightly, this Zhai Yadong’s words were a bit too much.
As the boss of Tianyao Group, how could He Hongwei not understand what a trade secret was? Did he still need someone to teach him?
By saying this, Zhai Yadong was obviously deliberately belittling He Hongwei.
He Hongwei shook his head and said, “Mr. Zhai, I really don’t know much about business secrets, but there is one thing I do understand, there are some projects that it is better to give to someone from abroad than to a company from your own country, this is beneficial to everyone, don’t you think?”
“Mr. He!”
Zhai Yadong suddenly raised his voice, a pair of eyes looked at He Hongwei, and swept over Ji Feng’s body, and the original trace of smile on his face, if any, disappeared.
“I think, words, just now I have said it all too clearly, what Mr. He wants, I can’t give you! So, please also ask Mr. He to be able to understand more, if there is a suitable project in the future, I might consider your …… Sorry, I have things to do next, that’s all.”
Zhai Yadong stood up, “You two take care, I won’t see you off.”
Ji Feng and He Hongwei both stood up, they glanced at each other, and then, He Hongwei slightly straightened his clothes, stared at Zhai Yadong, and said in a deep voice: “Mr. Zhai, we don’t say dark things in front of the plain people, for those several projects, I will definitely keep an eye on them, and I think you are also clear, those several projects are at least considered strategic projects, if you give those projects to the people of Kailong Is it appropriate I think you should understand without me saying ……”
He paused before saying, “I won’t say any more redundant words, Mr. Zhai, this is the first time I come to visit today, I am in a bit of a hurry, please forgive me, however, I will come back often in the future, I hope I won’t disturb Mr. Zhai ……”
After saying that, He Hongwei didn’t even wait for Zhai Yadong to say anything, then turned around and left.
Ji Feng, however, looked at Zhai Yadong with interest and smiled meaningfully, then only then turned around and prepared to leave.
“What a big mouth!”
Suddenly, a cold laugh rang out behind Ji Feng and He Hongwei.
Ji Feng and He Hongwei both turned around at the same time and saw the man with gold-rimmed gla*ses, who had been drinking tea with a cup, put down his cup with a sneer on his face and said, “I’ve grown up, it’s really the first time I’ve heard someone talk to others about cooperation like this, it’s really comical …… Does he think that he is the state enterprise’s boss, so you can threaten others at will?”
He Hongwei laughed and said, “Are you talking to me?”
The man with gold-rimmed gla*ses snorted, “What else do you think?”
He Hongwei shook his head and smiled, asking, “So …… which one are you again?”
“What, you still want to check your account?”
The man with the gold-rimmed gla*ses asked derisively, “Or do you want to ask what my status is and whether I’m qualified enough to talk to you?”
He Hongwei said, “If that’s your attitude, I don’t think there’s any need for us to continue the conversation ……”
“Of course there’s no need to continue the conversation!” The man with the gold-rimmed gla*ses said, “With your Excellency’s domineering personality, it really takes a good deal of cultivation to talk to you!”
“Boring!”
He Hongwei shook his head, turned around and left.
“Mr. He, before you leave, I have a message for you!” The man said in a loud voice behind him.
“If you have something to say, say it!” He Hongwei said in a deep voice.
“For many people, your status is indeed intimidating, but I have to tell you, status doesn’t mean everything, sometimes many people don’t care too much about your status, if you want to play, you have to follow the rules, otherwise, you will end up with a big loss!” The man said with a wry smile.
He Hongwei turned around haughtily and stared at him for a long time before suddenly smiling, “I’ll remember that!”
At this moment, Ji Feng’s gaze was all the time on that man’s body, and then he looked at Zhai Yadong, but found that while the man with gold-rimmed gla*ses was speaking, Zhai Yadong was not even the least bit upset, and even listened with a smile on his face.
Ji Feng couldn’t help but have an illusion, how come it looked like this man with gold-rimmed gla*ses was more like the dominant one here, and Zhai Yadong was like a sidekick instead?
“Heh~!”
He Hongwei shook his head and smiled, saying, “Mr. Zhai, please also remember what I just said, I will come back again!”
Ji Feng laughed, “Mr. He, hurry up and leave, are you going to stay here and let people taunt you?”
He Hongwei also couldn’t help but bask, then walked out with Ji Feng in big strides.
Before walking out of Zhai Yadong’s office, Ji Feng suddenly stopped in his tracks and jerked back, colliding with the gaze of the man with the gold-rimmed gla*ses, who also did not expect Ji Feng to suddenly turn back and subconsciously shifted his gaze.
But then, the man with the gold-rimmed gla*ses sensed that something was wrong, so he immediately turned his head around and stared at Ji Feng.
However, Ji Feng just looked at him calmly, nor did he have any intention to fight with him, nor did he show any weakness, he just asked indifferently, “I seem to feel that your Excellency has a kind of hostility towards me?”
He Hongwei also couldn’t help but look back at the man with the gold-rimmed gla*ses.
“Humph!”
The man sneered, “Joke, doesn’t your Excellency also take himself too seriously, me hating you? Ha ……”
