75 Blinded by Greed (1/2)

The night was getting darker. The lights cast shadow across the whole city and made it look like a chessboard of reinforced concrete; the buildings arranged in crisscross patterns extended beyond the horizon.

Lin Qian and Li Zhicheng stood at the gloomy hallway of the Inpatient Department, looking at the dense crowd gathering downstairs.

They seemed restless, excited, and anxious. The journalists were walking around with cameras and video cameras. As soon as someone walked out from the Inpatient Department, all their attention would be focused on that person.

Behind the reporters were around ten to twenty men in blue worker uniforms. The sky was too dark so their faces couldn't be seen clearly. But the banners that they were holding were very striking:

”Boycott foreign corporate acquisition!”

”Aida's executives are colluding with foreign corporations and double-crossing national brands!”

After calming down for a little while, they started protesting loudly again.They had clearly practised ahead of their arrival at the hospital; their voices were loud and in unison.

”Protect domestic brands!”

”Reject foreign corporations as stakeholders of Old Aida!”

”Kick foreign spies out of Aida!”

Upon hearing the word ”foreign spy”, Lin Qian frowned slightly.

Obviously they were referring to her. Humph.

At that time, even though it was already night, there were still constant streams of cars and passers-by going to and fro from the hospital entrance. As such, this group of protesters quickly attracted many onlookers. The news reporters couldn't find the main players, so they were snapping even more shots of the demonstration. For the moment, the continuous flash and the ever-increasing onlookers culminated into a mighty, spectacular scene.

Lin Qian quietly let out a ”Hmmph”.

Li Zhicheng was supporting himself with one hand on the windowsill and the other was holding her shoulder. His face looked calm; his jet-black eyes peered at the chaos downstairs, asking her, ”Who do you think is behind this?”

Lin Qian put both her arms on the windowsill and answered in disdain, ”Who else could it be? Chen Zheng.” Who else would use such dirty tricks, if not him?

Evidently this was the answer in Li Zhicheng's mind too. Indifference flashed in his eyes. He didn't say anything.

But Lin Qian shook her head, saying, ”Actually Chen Zheng is not stupid. Before this when I was at SMQ, I thought that he had a lot of his own ideas and he managed his company quite well. But this guy is… too bigoted. He is too selfish and he doesn't know when to stop until he reaches his goal. He always does stupid things that need to be kept under the table and can't yield long term benefits. Now that I think about it, this fellow is actually quite pitiful, sad, and detestable.”

As she took a deep breath, she turned around and stared at Li Zhicheng.

The last few days, and especially that day, she had been feeling down. As she looked at this scene directed by Chen Zheng, which was both a farce and a vicious attack, she felt her heart let out an emotional sigh.

She was contemplating Chen Zheng's motives, but it seemed like she was contemplating other things too. Even she couldn't tell.

After Li Zhicheng listened to her, he merely stared at her with his calm and deep gaze. The lights from outside hazily slipped through the window, shining on his black hair and his face. His face seemed exceptionally calm, certain, and inscrutable.

He reached out to pinch her jaw, speaking under his breath, ”Well-said. This is his last struggle.”

There was a hint of unperturbed coldness in his cooling voice.

Lin Qian's heart quivered. She didn't say a word.

DG and MK Investment Management Corporation directed this acquisition, causing Xu Yong to be hospitalized, and now Chen Zheng was using her to attack Li Zhicheng and Aida…

How could Li Zhicheng let it slide just like that? He was so ruthless; Chen Zheng was probably praying no more once he was on shore.

The intricate plan that Li Zhicheng had arranged was almost ready; the counterattack was about to kickstart in a few months. At that time, he would trounce Chen Zheng mercilessly.

Lin Qian took a sideways glance at the crowd downstairs again. Who knew where Chen Zheng was hiding, gloating over this scene?

Perhaps when they next met, the stare she had for Chen Zheng would be only pity.

”Xue Mingtao is here,” Jiang Yuan came upstairs and nodded at Li Zhicheng.

Following their gazes, Lin Qian saw a few buses stop in front of the hospital entrance, then she saw a few familiar faces; Xue Mingtao and other personnel, leading some Aida's employees, rushing down from the bus. They tried to restore order, blocking the news reporters and protesters out of the perimeter at the same time.

The current situation truly was quite awkward.

They couldn't report to the police, because if the police were involved the incident would appear in the headlines. That would escalate the matter further.

They couldn't just leave it be, otherwise they would be cooped up in the hospital until God knows when. Xu Yong's rest would also be affected.

They could only use the same tactic in gathering a crowd, and use it against them to suppress them. Luckily Xue Mingtao has brought along many people. In an instant, they had set up their positions and surrounded the mob in the middle.

Xue Mingtao handled the situation carefully. Although Lin Qian could not hear what they were discussing, she could clearly see Xue Mingtao being followed by a few cadre to explain to the reporters that these protesters weren't even Aida staff. The people he brought along were interesting as well. A bunch of them were strong, young men, all standing in the outer perimeter. Inside the circle were a group of older workers, as well as female workers. If the protesters started trouble, tomorrow's headlines would show Aida's workers being beaten up by gangsters. Of course, the men in the outer perimeter would certainly not allow harm to come to the others.

One had to admit that Xue Mingtao was quite devious. He was more than capable of handling Chen Zheng.

His technique was quite effective. It seemed like no conflict occurred on the scene, some of the protesters even started to withdraw. The reporters had surrounded Xue Mingtao and snapped pictures of him, as he was evidently answering their questions.

Seeing that the attention of the crowd downstairs was all on Xue Mingtao, Jiang Yuan hung up the phone and looked towards Li Zhicheng and Lin Qian, ”The car is at the side door.”

Li Zhicheng nodded. Taking off his coat, he covered Lin Qian, then he hugged her shoulder, ”Let's go.”

Lin Qian was stunned for a moment.

To reduce major issues to minor ones,and then minor issues to naught, taking evasive action was the best solution to handle the current situation.

Just that…

She looked at the chaos downstairs, then she raised her gaze to look out into the borderless dark night.

Li Zhicheng didn't say it, but other than him, her, Jiang Yuan, Xue Mingtao, Chen Zheng… everyone else was well aware that her relationship with Lin Mochen would eventually affect the confrontation between Chinese and foreign corporations.

Lin Qian was one of the Aida executives and fiancee of Li Zhicheng. Her brother was the chief investment manager who led the foreign acquisition project. No matter who found out about it, they would still raise questions.

Had Aida been secretly colluding with DG? Was Lin Qian a spy? All these concerns couldn't be explained easily. To those without knowledge of Li Zhicheng's upcoming moves, on the surface it seemed like domestic corporations had been losing to DG, which threw even more doubt on the situation. There was still some time before Li Zhicheng could counterattack. During the upcoming days, he would sure to receive even more pressure from the public.