Chapter 399 The Call of Zhou Keqiang
Zhao Yougen had called the TV station in the hopes of making trouble for Li Yundong, but he hadn"t expected it to turn out that the girl was Li Yundong"s admirer. Now Zhao Yougen felt really sick, as if he had swallowed a fly.
"Fortunately, it seems that Li Yundong hasn"t figured out that those people who were kneeling before the door of Disanxian were actually hired by me to make trouble for him."
Thinking of this, Zhao Yougen couldn"t help wiping at the sheen of sweat on his brow. Early in the morning, when he had seen those gangsters kneeling before the door of Disanxian, he had been so scared that he"d almost ran away. Actually he would have run away if there had not been so many onlookers standing outside his store.
Zhao Yougen ground his teeth in anger and thought, ""Li Yundong! You b*stard! Why do you have to be so hard on me every time!"." He hadn"t realized that he himself was the major villain in all of this, and he didn"t feel guilty at all. His heart was filled with nothing but a strong sense of failure and frustration.
But after these two lessons, Zhao Yougen had completely given up on the idea of hiring more gangsters to make trouble for Li Yundong. He began to think about how to ruin Li Yundong"s opening celebration. If he succeeded and Li Yundong failed to open his business, he would go wild with joy.
Besides, what Zhao Yougen had been expecting was that he would open his store earlier than Li Yundong could open his. In that case, Zhao Yougen"s opening celebration would be the highlight. Meanwhile, Li Yundong, as the loser, would open his store bleakly and only be able to cast envious glances at him. Then he would be able to laugh at this b*stard for years to come!
But now, it seemed that this kind of wish was nothing more than an extravagant hope.
It was supposed to be a joke that Li Yundong was decorating his store with a group of beautiful girls, but Zhao Yougen couldn"t laugh at all now. The decoration speed of Li Yundong"s girls was triple that of Zhao Yougen"s professionals! They could finish three days of a professional"s work in just one day!
It was the most incredible thing in the world!
Zhao You was so angry that he almost ground his teeth to stubs, but he didn"t know what to do next. He didn"t want to see the opening celebration of Disanxian being carried out while he was still busy with his decoration work.
"I"m a famous entrepreneur in this city, but I even can"t beat this group of novices!" Zhao Yougen raged around angrily in his store like a trapped beast.
Just as he was about to lose his temper, a woman quickly walked in. She stood at the door and asked in a low voice, "Is Zhao Yougen here?"
Ever since Zhao Yougen had become well-known, no one had called him by his name. Even the mayor would politely call him President Zhao. But this woman had just called his name directly, only intensifying his rage. "Who are you?" he roared.
He turned around and found a graceful woman standing at the door of the shop. She was very attractive with stellar looks and a level of n.o.bility that outshone his. She looked at him as if she was the only dominant creature on the planet.
Zhao Yougen had seen many beautiful women in his life, but when he had first seen Su Chan and Zi Yuan, he had been totally surprised by their beauty. After that, he had started to look down upon ordinary women who were always smeared with heavy makeup and had tacky temperaments.
But looking at this woman, he could tell that she was very similar to Zi Yuan. Both of them looked at others with pity and indifference, as if they were G.o.ddesses, while he, just a so-called entrepreneur, was nothing to them at all.
Faced with Zhao Yougen"s question, the woman just gave a cold snort and didn"t say anything.
Zhao Yougen didn"t like this feeling very much, but he knew that this woman was not an ordinary person. Her temperament must have been built up over time, and only the truly strong could have one like it. The pride she showed made Zhao Yougen feel that he was intruding into her territory, like it was an act of charity for her to even say a word to him.
Zhao Yougen tried to suppress his temper and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you, madam?"
Only then did the woman stare at Zhao Yougen directly. She didn"t hide her disdain for him at all and just coldly said two words: "Zou Ping." She must think it would be a waste of her breath to say more.
Zhao You frowned and asked coldly, "What business do you have with me?"
Zou Ping casually looked around the shop that was being decorated. She snorted and said arrogantly, "You got a problem with Li Yundong?"
Zhao Yougen suddenly became more alert. "What do you mean? He is just a college student. Why would I have any problems with him?"
Zou Ping sneered. "You"re a famous entrepreneur, yet you choose to just open a little teahouse here that happens to be on the same street as Li Yundong"s. Do you think I"m a fool?"
Zhao Yougen"s heart was beating fast. He murmured, "Is this Zou Ping a friend of Li Yundong? That b*stard!"
Zhao Yougen braced himself and asked, "What do you want from me, huh? Hey, let me tell you, you can"t hurt me here!"
Seeing Zhao Yougen"s fierce look, Zou Ping sneered disdainfully. "Don"t be afraid. I"m just here to ask you about it because I also have a grudge against Li Yundong. I want to see if you can be my ally."
Zhao Yougen let out a long breath and began to feel at ease, but the indifference and disdain showed by the woman had greatly damaged his self-esteem. He frowned and refused her by saying, "I don"t need your help. You can go now."
Zou Ping snorted and laughed ironically. "Your decoration speed is so slow, I"m afraid you won"t be able to finish this place even by next year!"
These words. .h.i.t Zhao Yougen"s weak point. He snorted and straightened his neck, not saying a word.
Zou Ping chuckled. "How about I decorate it for you? I"m sure I can get it done faster than Li Yundong!"
Zhao Yougen froze for a moment. He looked Zou Ping up and down in surprise and asked doubtfully, "You?"
When the taskmaster and workers in the store heard Zou Ping"s words, they immediately flew into a rage and gathered around her, yelling, "You b*tch! What are you talking about? Can"t you see that we"re in charge of this project? Where the h.e.l.l did you come from? How dare you steal our work directly in front of us! Shame on you! Watch out or we"ll teach you a lesson!"
Zou Ping ignored them and stared at Zhao Yougen coldly. "You don"t believe me?"
Zhao Yougen shook his head. "How could I believe such a thing!"
Zou Ping snorted. She used her tiptoes to pick up a hammer from the ground, then clenched her fingers around its head and threw it to Zhao Yougen.
Zhao Yougen caught it in a fl.u.s.ter, and when he took a proper look at it, he gasped!
He could see that Zou Ping had forcefully pressed a deep hand-print into this big iron hammer, and all of her fingerprints could be seen very clearly!
The nearby decorators gathered around to get a better look and their faces all suddenly turned pale due to their terror. Some of the workers who didn"t believe what they were seeing took the iron hammer over and touched it with their hands over and over again until they were sure that they really were holding hard steel. They finally believed Zou Ping"s words and all looked at her in shock, as if they were seeing a demon.
Zhao Yougen stammered fearfully, "Who, who are you?"
Zou Ping snorted. "None of your business! You just need to answer my question. Will you be my ally or not?"
In order to keep his job, although the taskmaster was afraid, he still braced himself to take a stand. However, he didn"t dare to speak to Zou Ping anymore. Instead, he turned to Zhao Yougen and begged, "Mr. Zhao, we"ve already signed the contract. I think..."
Zhao Yougen thought for a moment before saying firmly, "I"ll pay all your wages!" Then he said to Zou Ping, "And how much do you want?"
Zou Ping burst out laughing. "Money? Do I look like I need it? I just want to make trouble for Li Yundong. Otherwise, do you think I"d be wasting my time talking to you like this?"
Zhao Yougen was furious, but he suppressed his anger and asked, "Then how can you promise that you"ll finish the decoration before they do?"
Zou Ping snorted and said in a sarcastic tone, "I don"t have to guarantee anything to anyone. If you don"t believe me, just forget it!" With that, she started walking straight towards the door.
Uncertainty was written over Zhao Yougen"s face. Just as Zou Ping was about to leave, he suddenly shouted, "Okay, I believe you! When will we start?"
Without looking back, Zou Ping said, "This afternoon! And you"d better prepare a lively opening celebration that"ll defeat Li Yundong, or I"ll tear down your store first!"
After saying that, she swaggered away.
Zhao Yougen looked at her departing figure and gritted his teeth hatefully. He even suddenly felt that Li Yundong was not so abominable. This woman was much more annoying and arrogant than him!
While Zhao Yougen and Zou Ping were secretly colluding with each other in the store, Zhou Qin, who was cultivating at home, suddenly heard her phone ringing.
She exhaled a long breath, and a clear white pillar of Qi came out of her mouth. Her Aura was not as condensed as Li Yundong"s. When Li Yundong exhaled, it was like a sharp arrow that could shoot more than ten meters away without scattering; when she exhaled, it could only travel about two or three meters.
Zhou Qin stood up, picked up her phone and looked at it. She frowned at the familiar name flashing on the screen: Zhou Keqiang, her father!
Zhou Qin hesitated for a while, wondering if she should answer this call. While she was still thinking, the ringing suddenly stopped. After a while, she received a text message.
It read: "Qinqin, I have something important to tell you. Return home as soon as possible! Zhou Keqiang."
Zhou Qin frowned more deeply. She knew that her father would never cheat her. If he said the thing was very important, it had to be a true emergency. Moreover, she had been away from home for so many days and had not had any contact with her family. However, her father wasn"t forcing her. He obviously showed great tolerance and understanding towards his daughter.
Zhou Qin bit her lip gently and hesitated for a while. Eventually, she turned around, found a dress and rushed out of the door to head home.
Although the relationship between her and her father had always been poor and even weird, he was still her father. Especially when it came to dealing with Li Yundong, she was capricious to the extreme. She had risked the entire political destiny of her family, but her father still did not blame her too harshly.
Thinking of this, Zhou Qin felt a sense of guilt in her heart.
With a trace of worry and doubt welling up within her, Zhou Qin soon arrived home. As soon as she got through the door, she saw two gray-haired elders sitting in the s.p.a.cious living room. One was her father, and the other was Li Yuanbo, the secretary of the provincial party committee who had once helped to resolve the conflict between the Zhou family and the He family.
When the two elders saw Zhou Qin, they looked at each other and stubbed out the cigarettes they"d been holding at the same time. Zhou Keqiang said seriously, "Qinqin, come here. I have a very important thing to ask you. You must answer me honestly!"
Although Zhou Keqiang had stepped back from the political world, he still had the air of a high-ranking official. When he spoke, he naturally had a kind of inherent dignity and the bearing of a superior. Zhou Qin"s heart beat faster for a moment and she thought confusedly, "What the heck has happened? What is so serious?"