Reborn in 72, I hunt to support my family and spoil my younger sister rotten.

Chapter 547 Bullying the weak and fearing the strong

The atmosphere in the private room immediately became tense.

Watching from the side, Boss Chen admired Li Xiangyang's courage. Most people would be polite to a businessman with connections like Zhao Jianhua; no one would dare to be so direct.

Zhao Jianhua was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "Mr. Li, are you doubting me?"

“I don’t suspect anyone, I just want to know the truth.” Li Xiangyang remained calm.

"The truth?" Zhao Jianhua's smile turned cold. "Boss Li, you're just a country bumpkin, coming to my turf to question me? Who do you think you are?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the door to the private room was pushed open, and Brother Liu walked in with two of his brothers.

"What's wrong?" Brother Liu looked around the room.

When Zhao Jianhua saw people enter, his face darkened even further: "What do you want? This is the provincial capital, not your rural backyard!"

Li Xiangyang waved his hand, signaling Brother Liu and the others to leave first, and then looked at Zhao Jianhua again.

"Mr. Zhao, it seems you admit it."

"Admit what?" Zhao Jianhua asked, forcing himself to speak.

"Admit that you were behind all that lately." Li Xiangyang stood up. "The fake quality inspector, the fake reporter, the fake law enforcement officer—it was all your doing, wasn't it?"

Zhao Jianhua was stunned by Li Xiangyang's imposing manner and subconsciously shrank back: "You... what evidence do you have?"

"Evidence?" Li Xiangyang sneered. "Those people already confessed yesterday, saying you ordered them to do it. Boss Zhao, I know you have power and connections, which I don't have. But I, Li Xiangyang, have been hunting in the mountains since I was a child. Tigers and bears don't care about power or connections. If you encounter one, the only way to survive is to fight to the death."

Zhao Jianhua's expression completely changed. He hadn't expected those people to be so incompetent, and he certainly hadn't expected Li Xiangyang to dare to come to his door so brazenly. He was truly panicked for a moment.

“Mr. Li, we’re all in business, why make things so tense?” Zhao Jianhua’s tone softened. “We can discuss anything.”

"Discuss?" Li Xiangyang sat down again. "Then tell me, how do you want to discuss it?"

Zhao Jianhua organized his thoughts: "Mr. Li, to be honest, I am indeed very interested in your business. But I never intended to ruin you; I just wanted to...see if we could cooperate."

"What kind of cooperation are you going to use? Are you going to follow the rules of the city or the rules of the mountains?" Li Xiangyang's tone was sarcastic.

“Of course it’s from the city. Before, well… that was due to my men’s poor performance; I didn’t expect it to escalate like this.” Sweat began to bead on Zhao Jianhua’s forehead. “Mr. Li, how about this, how about we truly cooperate? I can guarantee you the best terms.”

Li Xiangyang looked at the arrogant man in front of him and sneered inwardly. Sure enough, this kind of person bullies the weak and fears the strong.

"Mr. Zhao, do you think I'll still trust you?"

“Mr. Li, I genuinely want to cooperate,” Zhao Jianhua said hastily. “Besides, my family does have some connections. If we cooperate, it will definitely benefit your development. Ultimately, we're all after money. What we did before was just small-scale sparring; as the saying goes, you don't know someone until you've had a fight, right?”

"Oh?" Li Xiangyang's interest was piqued. "So, how does President Zhao plan to collaborate?"

Seeing that Li Xiangyang's tone had softened, Zhao Jianhua quickly said, "I can open up our company's entire procurement network to you, and we can also negotiate the price. As for where I sell to, you don't need to worry about that."

“Sounds good,” Li Xiangyang nodded, “but I have one condition.”

"What conditions?"

"From now on, you are not allowed to cause us any more trouble, including your subordinates. If anything like this happens again, we are not as valuable as you."

Zhao Jianhua's expression was somewhat grim, but he still nodded: "No problem."

“Furthermore,” Li Xiangyang continued, “I need you to pay those people their wages in front of Boss Chen.”

"Wages?" Zhao Jianhua was taken aback.

"Yes, lost wages. Five hundred yuan per person, eight people in total, four thousand yuan."

Zhao Jianhua gasped. Four thousand yuan was no small sum back then.

"Mr. Li, isn't this...isn't this too much?"

"Is that a lot?" Li Xiangyang looked at him coldly. "You're having them impersonate law enforcement officers; if they get arrested, they'll be sentenced. Four thousand yuan for their freedom, do you think that's expensive?"

Zhao Jianhua gritted his teeth: "Okay, I agree."

"That's settled then." Li Xiangyang stood up. "Mr. Chen, you and General Manager Zhao discuss the details of the cooperation. I'm going out for some fresh air."

Stepping out of the private room, Li Xiangyang let out a long sigh of relief.

Wang Ergou leaned over and asked, "Brother Xiangyang, how's it going?"

"All done." Li Xiangyang patted Wang Ergou on the shoulder. "These kinds of people are bullies who prey on the weak; they're weak when you're strong."

Brother Liu walked over: "Boss Li, that's a brilliant move. You solved the problem and closed the deal at the same time—a win-win situation."

“But Zhao Jianhua won’t give up.” Li Xiangyang glanced towards the door of the private room. “We still need to be wary of him.”

An hour later, Mr. Chen came out of the private room with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Li, the contract is signed. Zhao Jianhua has agreed to purchase our goods at a price 5% higher than the market price, with no limit on the quantity."

"What about the four thousand yuan?"

"He gave it to me too." Boss Chen pulled out a wad of cash. "He also said he would never cause any more trouble."

Li Xiangyang nodded. Although the crisis was temporarily averted, he knew very well that this was just the beginning. As the factory grew larger, similar challenges would only increase.

But he wasn't afraid. He had already weathered too many storms in his previous life; this little difficulty was nothing to him.

"Let's go home." Li Xiangyang checked the time. "Let's go home early so our families don't worry."

On the way back, Wang Ergou was very excited: "Brother Xiangyang, we really won this battle! Not only did we solve the problem, but we also closed a big deal."

"This is just the first step," Li Xiangyang said, gazing out the window. "The real test is yet to come."

"What's the meaning?"

"Think about it," Li Xiangyang said thoughtfully, "a small factory like ours in the countryside suddenly partnering with a big company in the provincial capital—how much attention will that attract?" "The bigger the tree, the more the wind will blow against it," Xiaoyun said, "you're right."

Mr. Chen glanced at Li Xiangyang in the rearview mirror: "Mr. Li, are you worried that someone else will come looking for trouble?"

“There definitely will be,” Li Xiangyang said confidently. “But it’s okay, we’ll deal with one if one comes, and two if two come.”

Brother Liu laughed: "Boss Li certainly has guts. But don't worry, feel free to contact us if you need anything in the future."

"Thank you very much, Brother Liu."