Ding Qing ended the call, then looked at Huo Jinyao and Yang Wenchang.
“Qiao Hong said that he’ll meet us at Charm of Night tonight, at nine pm.”
Because of what had happened yesterday, Qiao Hong now trusted Huo Jinyao less. Currently, he was talking only to Ding Qing.
Huo Jinyao knitted his brows. Why did Qiao Hong always choose to meet with them at night clubs?
“President Huo.” Ding Qing glanced at Huo Jinyao with anxiety, looking as if she so eagerly wanted to solve the problem. “Maybe I should go alone tonight.”
“No, I’ll go with you,” said Huo Jinyao. He looked at Ding Qing. “Is your foot okay?” Yesterday, Ding Qing had stepped on a stone and twisted her ankle. Later in Blue Night, a few rich kids had fought with each other and thrown bottles to the ground. Ding Qing had tripped on one of those bottles, nearly falling again.
Huo Jinyao had reached out to hold her in time, but her foot still instantly swelled.
That could be counted as an occupational injury. As the boss, Huo Jinyao must surely be concerned about his employee’s injury.
“Thank you, President Huo, for asking. My foot is fine. Don’t worry, I’m wearing flats today. I won’t be hindering your operation again.”
Ding Qing said that with a guilty look.
“What happened yesterday had nothing to do with you.” Huo Jinyao believed that it was an accident.
“Your foot is injured. You shouldn’t go tonight. I’ll go with Wenchang.”
“But I’m the one who talked to Qiao Hong,” said Ding Qing. Then she hurriedly continued saying, “President Huo, Qiao Hong talked to me and agreed to meet with me. If he finds out that I’m not there, he might think that we’ve lied to him again. That can cause problems.”
“President Huo, Miss. Ding is right.” Yang Wenchang believed that it was already impossible for Ding Qing to stay out of the matter. “Also, she’s a girl. Facing her, Qiao Hong will easily relax his vigilance.”
“That’s right. I can get in by myself first, then text you when he shows up.”
Ding Qing’s suggestion was a good one. Huo Jinyao thought for a moment and decided to take it. “Alright, you’ll go with us. Don’t rush to ask him for the data. Just comfort him and calm him down first.”
“I get it. I know what to do. President Huo, as long as he shows up, I have the confidence that I can make him talk to us willingly.”
“Good.”
It was a weekend, so no one else was in the office. After making the decision, the three of them started preparing themselves separately.
Huo Jinyao thought about all that had happened recently. He felt that he was missing something crucial.
Charm of Night was a night club. It wasn’t as large as Blue Night.
Charm of Night was in a more remote place than Blue Night. Huo Jinyao understood that Qiao Hong chose that place because he didn’t want to run into the police again.
Similar to yesterday, Ding Qing made contact with Qiao Hong, then entered the club. Huo Jinyao followed behind her.
Ding Qing’s foot was injured, so Huo Jinyao had to hold her again when she was walking upstairs.
“Thank you, President Huo,” said Ding Qing in a low voice. “But you don’t have to do that. I’m worried that Qiao Hong might see us and think we’re in some kind of special relationship.”
“You’ve been overthinking.” Huo Jinyao didn’t even blink his eyes or look at Ding Qing. “Qiao Hong knows that I’m married. He won’t think that way.”
“Good.”
Ding Qing seemed to sigh with relief. Because of that, Huo Jinyao glanced at her and asked, “what? Are you so worried that Qiao Hong might misunderstand you?”
“Not Qiao Hong. I’m worried that someone else might misunderstand me,” replied Ding Qing. “I just met a guy recently and he’s quite nice. I’m thinking about getting together with him. I don’t want him to misunderstand me even before our relationship has started.”
Huo Jinyao nodded. After hearing Ding Qing’s words, he relaxed slightly and said, “it’s okay. If he does misunderstand you, I’ll explain to him for you.”
“Thank you, President Huo.”
Ding Qing sounded delighted. Her happy voice of relaxed the tense atmosphere.
Tianyu Group provided its employees with great welfare. In addition to that, Huo Jinyao always treated his employees well.
Zhang Yang had worked for him for a long time he always did a great job. Therefore, when Zhang Yang had asked for leave because of his wife’s pregnancy, Huo Jinyao said yes without hesitation.
As for Ding Qing, the way she worked so hard and with great concentration made Huo Jinyao think of her as a great employee. That was all Huo Jinyao felt about her.
The two of them walked into Charm of Night together. They chose a corner to sit down at, so what had happened yesterday wouldn’t happen again.
Huo Jinyao looked around after sitting down. The place was noisier and more crowded than Blue Night.
In a place like that, Qiao Hong could get away quite easily if he wanted to.
Once again, Huo Jinyao had a weird feeling. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
“President Huo, do you think Qiao Hong will show up today?”
Upon hearing Ding Qing’s question, Huo Jinyao glanced at her, shook his head, and said, “I’m not sure, but I have a feeling that he will show up.”
Today was Sunday, and tomorrow would be Monday. Tomorrow, he was going to have a meeting with the managers to hear them reporting the progress of their projects.
Recently, Huo Yifan had been making a lot of tricky moves on the company. Huo Jinyao had to solve the current problem if he didn’t want Huo Yifan to grow even perkier.
“Don’t call him again,” Huo Jinyao said with a slightly cold look. “If he’s not showing up, calling him wouldn’t change his mind. If he is showing up, calling him over and over again would make him feel like we’re begging him.”
No matter how bad the situation was, Huo Jinyao didn’t want to lose the initiative.
He got lucky today. Qiao Hong finally showed up.
He came into the club, spent a long while wandering around, then finally walked toward Huo Jinyao and Ding Qing.
Huo Jinyao was sitting in the corner and Ding Qing was sitting beside him. Therefore, Qiao Hong couldn’t see Huo Jinyao at first. As he had his eyes on Huo Jinyao, he instantly turned to leave, but then found Yang Wenchang right behind him.
Yang Wenchang was blocking his road, so Qiao Hong had no choice but to sit down in front of Huo Jinyao and Ding Qing.
“This isn’t a good place to talk. I’ve booked a VIP room upstairs. Let’s talk there,” said Yang Wenchang.
Huo Jinyao nodded. Qiao Hong followed them upstairs. He knew that he couldn’t possibly leave the place anymore.
“Miss. Ding, you lied to me.” Qiao Hong gave Ding Qing a glare after entering the room.
“Qiao Hong, I never told you that I’d come alone.”
Despite what she said, Ding Qing did feel slightly guilty. Qiao Hong stayed silent. He stood there, looking frustrated.
“Qiao Hong, I assume you are aware that you’ve broken the law.”
The project was very important for Tianyu Group. Huo Jinyao had been in charge of it since the very beginning. Only he knew how valuable that project was.
Every employee who was a part of that project had signed a confidentiality agreement. Qiao Hong had already broken the agreement and the law when he stole the data.
Both Huo Jinyao and Qiao Hong were aware of that.
As Huo Jinyao expected, Qiao Hong dropped his head after hearing that. “President Huo, I know that I have done something wrong. I didn’t have a choice. I, I…” his voice was trembling.
“Where’s the data?”
Huo Jinyao didn’t want to hear his reason. Many people in the world lived difficult lives, but not every one of them chose to break the law.
“I, I don’t have it with me,” said Qiao Hong. He clearly sounded very unconfident. “How can I be carrying around something so important?”
Huo Jinyao curved the corners of his lips in a frosty smile. He glared at Qiao Hong coldly.
He asked in a cold, low voice, “what do you want?”
“I-I want money.” Qiao Hong was shocked and threatened by the strong vibe that Huo Jinyao was exuding at the moment. His voice instantly went soft.
“How much.”
“A-a million.”
Qiao Hong wasn’t a greedy person. He needed hundreds of thousands to get his girlfriend a new kidney. Before that, money for all kinds of other treatments was required.
In fact, a million might not even solve his problem.
“I’ll give you two million.” Huo Jinyao was a very generous person. “I can transfer the money to your account right now, but before that, you need to take us to get the data.”
Qiao Hong rubbed his hands, looked at Huo Jinyao, and said, “I have another request.”
“What?”
“I want to come back to work in Tianyu.”
“That’s impossible,” said Huo Jinyao coldly. That was beyond negotiation. “You should have read the employee handbook of our company. I can’t possibly let you work in the company again.”
“I, I…” Thinking about the great welfare provided by Tianyu Group, Qiao Hong struggled. “I just want to come back to the company.”
“I said, it’s impossible.” Huo Jinyao was projecting a high-wattage aura. He sat there and stared at Qiao Hong, like a cheetah looking at its prey.
“Qiao Hong, I think you don’t need me to remind you about the consequences of what you’ve done right? We don’t know where it’s all going to lead to. If I call the police now and have you arrested, your entire life will be over.”
Qiao Hong was, of course, aware of that. He felt sweat rolling down his back. “You won’t do that. If you call the police, I’ll tell my friend to give the data to Anxun. You’ll suffer a huge loss if that happens.”
“Would I?” Huo Jinyao grinned. He took out his phone, and entered the number 110, but didn’t dial it immediately. Instead, he looked at Qiao Hong with full confidence.
“You can give it a try. Let’s see what’ll happen to you if I call the police now.”
Qiao Hong stayed silent. Huo Jinyao held the phone, stood up, and walked up to him in two steps.
“You think I didn’t do any preparations before I came here to meet with you?”
Huo Jinyao was over six-foot-tall, much taller than Qiao Hong. He stood before the man and stared at him with a pair of dagger eyes. Huo Jinyao was giving out a very strong and sharp aura.
“Indeed, you can sell it to Anxun. I assure you that they’ll be willing to take it. But, I’ll call the police once you do that. You have signed a confidentiality agreement. You’ll end up in prison.”
“And, what do you think will happen to Anxun if they dare to purchase the confidential data of Tianyu?”
Upon hearing the series of questions, Qiao Hong made a step backward and bumped into the wall. His face was ghastly pale, and his body was almost soaked in a cold sweat.
