Car Accident

After finishing their discussion about Network Level, the two returned to Mingzhu Headquarters together.

Inside the President's Office.

Li Ruobing handed the organized documents to Su Rui. They contained the staffing appointments and infrastructure records for the Qiantang New Store. "Take a look. If the other departments don't run into any problems, the Qiantang New Store can officially open on the first of next month."

The opening date for the Qiantang New Store had long been set. Because the funding chain had previously broken, the construction crew had never withdrawn. But now that Su Rui's two hundred million had arrived, they had been paid and resolved all the remaining issues.

The decoration of the Qiantang New Store building was being rapidly completed.

It would be finished soon.

Su Rui reached out and accepted the documents, but he did not open them.

He did not need to look through them to know what they contained. He had read these documents more than once during the cycle.

"I'll decide the staffing for the new store." Su Rui sat down directly on the sofa, a detailed plan already taking shape in his mind. "I'll keep some of these people, but not all of them."

The new store's staffing had all been arranged by Li Ruobing, yet Su Rui openly stated that he would remove some of them.

"Some of these people have problems. They can't be used." Su Rui waved the documents with a smile. "Once I've screened them, I'll hand them back to you."

Li Ruobing fell silent for a moment.

Everyone listed in those documents had been strictly selected by her. They were either her confidants or her direct lineage.

Yet Su Rui was saying there were still problems among them?

"Qin Lan's methods won't be that easy for you to spot. She planted more than one person with real power in your company." Su Rui smiled. "Hu Guangyi is out in the open, firmly opposed to you. There's another one in the shadows, among your direct lineage. On the surface, he supports you, but in reality, he's watching you."

"This hidden person is far more useful than Hu Guangyi!"

Li Ruobing frowned as she considered whether Su Rui's words were true.

Just as Su Rui said, open attacks were easy to dodge, but hidden arrows were hard to guard against. Enemies in the shadows were always far more terrifying than those in plain sight.

Especially when that person was one of her own confidants.

"Who is it?" Li Ruobing asked.

Su Rui dipped a finger in water and wrote a name on the office desk.

"Him?" Li Ruobing was astonished. This person was truly beyond her expectations. "He's a founding elder who followed me when I established Mingzhu. He can't be Qin Lan's man!"

Li Ruobing shook her head firmly.

Before Mingzhu was founded, she had neither money, people, nor connections. This man had tirelessly applied for loans on her behalf, cultivated connections, and contributed greatly to Mingzhu's listing.

No matter how she looked at it, he should not have been a spy.

"What if everything he did from the very beginning was instructed by Qin Lan? The loans, approval documents, business permits..." Su Rui asked, "Have you ever considered that, given his former status, it would have been nearly impossible for him to gain access to connections capable of helping you, much less accomplish all those things? Qin Lan was directing all of it from behind the scenes."

"She has no reason to help me," Li Ruobing said.

"She was helping herself," Su Rui explained. "She helped Mingzhu gather connections and funding, allowing you to run it until its market value exceeded one billion. Now, with the development of the Qiantang New Store, Mingzhu could be transformed, its net worth multiplying several times over again and becoming a truly elite enterprise."

"But don't forget—without those two hundred million, Hu Guangyi would be Mingzhu's chief executive officer by now. The one truly in power would be Qin Lan herself."

Su Rui smiled brilliantly as he looked at Li Ruobing's shifting expression. "This move could make you lose the agreement while also giving her a highly valuable Mingzhu Company. Is that reason enough?"

Li Ruobing was not a foolish woman.

Su Rui's words reminded her that she had not used her family's influence when Mingzhu was first founded. She had expected the road to entrepreneurship to be incredibly difficult, yet things had gone remarkably smoothly. Li Ruobing had thought she was simply lucky, but upon reflection, it seemed that from the very beginning, an invisible hand had been behind her, quietly pushing Mingzhu Company forward.

Just as Su Rui said, the founding elder who had established Mingzhu alongside her had indeed been in no position at the time to accomplish those decisive tasks.

An ice-cold glint appeared in Li Ruobing's eyes.

Traitors were always more hateful than enemies.

"I need facts to prove it." Li Ruobing was silent for a moment. He was a founding elder who had followed her for years. Even if she wanted to touch him, she needed ironclad evidence and facts. Otherwise, acting against him for no reason would dishearten her subordinates.

Besides, the truth had yet to be confirmed. Su Rui's word alone was not enough to determine a founding elder's allegiance.

"I have no intention of moving against him for now. I have other arrangements for him." Su Rui unexpectedly shook his head. "Hu Guangyi has already been excluded from the core. If Qin Lan wants to continue her plan, she'll definitely have to use this person."

"You want him to be a double agent?" Li Ruobing quickly understood Su Rui's meaning.

"I told you that you're smart!" Su Rui snapped his fingers and stood up. "Transfer him to my side. I believe he'll be of great use before long."

Li Ruobing nodded.

Knock knock knock!

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The female secretary entered in professional attire, her expression somewhat grave.

"President Li, something happened."

"Miss Tao was originally supposed to come to the company this afternoon to sign the contract with you. Who would have thought something like this would happen on the way..." On the top floor of Jingnan Hospital, a worried-looking middle-aged man frowned deeply as he looked through the transparent glass at the girl lying on the hospital bed, covered in tubes connected to medical equipment. "The car accident happened so suddenly. I heard the other driver was drunk and has already been detained."

Li Ruobing said nothing, but the trace of anxiety and worry in her eyes revealed her current mood.

"How is she?"

"The doctor said that even if she pulls through, she'll have to stay in bed for several months before she can get up." The middle-aged man sighed, his tone apologetic. "President Li, it looks like Miss Tao won't be able to attend the new store's opening ceremony."

Li Ruobing pressed her lips together.

The girl lying in bed was named Tao Wanqing. She was an artist signed under Huayi Film and Television Company, and she had recently been gaining tremendous popularity, with an exceptionally high profile among young people.

Li Ruobing had originally arranged with Huayi for Tao Wanqing to promote and endorse the Qiantang New Store on its opening day, improving Mingzhu's image among younger consumers.

With Tao Wanqing's fame, Mingzhu's performance might have risen rapidly in a short period of time.

In this Era of Traffic, a suitable spokesperson could elevate a brand's influence to an entirely different level.

But now, it seemed that plan had fallen through.