“What is happening?” Isaac immediately asked when Ron ended the call. “Did something happened to our shipments?” The old’s man’s voice was gruff, his brows were knitted into a frown. How could a problem like this occur at this time?
Ron nodded, his jaws clenched. “Someone… hijacked our shipments on the South China Sea. The worse is… we cannot ask help from the authorities as this was one of the illegal shipments of medicines and pieces of equipment that we ordered abroad.”
“Is there something else that we can do? Maybe pay some local gangs to trace the shipments?” Thomas asked.
“It’s Zhou Jingren.” Isaac’s said in a solemn tone. He rested his aged hands into the table and balled it into a fist. “That man — It must be him! No one else is capable of doing something like that!”
“I believe Zhou Jingren already took over the Arison’s empire in the black market. If that is true then — ” Thomas did not continue his words. He always knew that provoking Lily and Zhou Jingren is not a good idea. But who was he to stop Isaac? Or rather, why would he stop them from giving the old man a taste of his own medicine? After all, the old man was also targeting him by using Zhou Jingren and Zhou Dae Un to deal with him.
“Then… we are screwed,” Ron continued. This was one of the reasons why Isaac wanted to have Zhou Jingren by his side. Zhou Jingren’s presence could give me more benefits that anyone could ever think of.
It is not only Zhou Jingren’s name. It was also his influence on the black market.
“I think this is just a warning,” Thomas said. “If he was serious, he could easily burn the ships. If — I will go ahead and try to talk to him. Maybe… maybe he will give our supplies back.”
Isaac turned silent. Their words made the most sense. Zhou Jingren’s influence in the South China Sea was huge. He could easily sink a shipment and no one would even ask any questions about the matter. This incident could only mean that they had truly angered the man. “I want to know when are they leaving the country.” He uttered after a few minutes of silence. “Also… I am going to Shanghai to see Lingling… schedule a flight.”
Everyone thought that this was nothing but a warning from Zhou Jingren. What they failed to see is that Zhou Jingren was not alone and Lily’s goal is different from his. A few minutes after the call, both Thomas and Ron receive another call almost at the same time.
Both men turned silent while listening to the person speaking on the other line. Tightening the grip on their phones, both of their faces turned ugly.
“What is it this time?” the old wanted to curse. The only thing that would make his secretary and Thomas act like this was the Lee Group. “What? Answer me!” he demanded, his anger rippling through him. He watched as Thomas finished the call and looked at him, terror apparent in his eyes.
“Lily.”
One word.
He gave him the word that is enough to summarize what he just heard. He recalled what Lily mentioned in the restaurant. How she asked him to help her secure her company in Singapore. At that time, Thomas was hesitant. He knew that old man Lee was a very influential person in the country. How could he fight against someone who is close to the leaders of the county? But now… “I believe… I believe she wanted to buy Jun Liang’s shares in our company. This might be her true goal.”
Isaac swallowed hard. “You mean…” he didn’t have to continue his question. Lily must have made Demi confessed in front of her father! Lily created a rift between the two families! Because of this, it was easier for her to convince Jun to sell his shares. For a moment a flash of fear can be seen in Isaac’s eyes.
What a calculating woman! “She is using Jun against us!” he hissed before he looked at Ron. “Call your brother! Tell him I would like to talk in person!”
“I already did. It’s not going through.” Ron furrowed his brows. “He must be blaming me for what happened.” He said his lips thinned as he dialed his brother’s number again.
“The shareholders wanted you to approve the transfer of shares.” Thomas chimed in. His face was dark. He never thought that Lily would be this… manipulating! Thomas recalled the infuriating smirk that Lily had on her face. She was watching them as if… as if she already knew that this will happen!
The painful realization hit everyone in the room. No wonder Lily and Zhou Jingren would dare come in here and meet them. No wonder the woman was so brave, mocking them as if they were clowns in her eyes. “There was no trap.” The old man stated. “There has never been a schemed.” He added as he narrowed his eyes. “She led us to believe that we had it all under control. She led us to think that we can freely scheme against them because this is our country.”
“There was never a trap for them. It was a trap for us.” Isaac added.
Lily only waited for them to create some mistakes. She had set up everything. From the videos to the calculated answers provoking them, making them lose their tempers. She wanted them to fume in anger and focused on her and Zhou Jingren. On the outside, she acted nonchalantly. While she had been secretly talking to other shareholders.
This is the only explanation that he could come up with. This is the only reason the shareholders would easily approve of Jun Liang selling his shares to Lily.
“She only waited for us to show our cards,” Thomas added. “She must have known we are planning to try and break them up.”
“I disagree,” Ron said. “I believe Lily had no idea about this. She did not plan all this before leaving Hong Kong. However, the moment she knew about Demi and her father, she immediately acted. There is no way that she would have known about them in advance. But she assumed we are planning something against them. Like an eagle, she was only waiting for her prey to move so she could swoop in for the kill.”
