Escalating Tactics

Three days.

The lawyer's letter stated a three-day deadline.

Zheng Dong sat in his office, staring at the time in the lower right corner of his computer screen. It was 4:17 PM. Three days ago at this time, the lawyer's letter should have already been delivered to Zhou Wenyuan Law Firm.

And now, there has been no response.

There was no apology video, no private messages, not even a phone call to explain.

That legal assistant named Lin Feng was like a stone thrown into a deep pool; he didn't even make a splash.

Zheng Dong picked up the landline and dialed Wang Qian's internal line in the legal department.

Has the other party responded to the lawyer's letter?

On the other end of the phone, Wang Qian's voice sounded tense, "Chairman Zheng, no. We checked the courier record; the letter was signed for at 4:10 PM yesterday, by the receptionist. After that... there's been no further news."

What about Zhou Wenyuan?

"No. I tried calling once to ask if they had received the letter and if there was anything to discuss. An assistant answered and said that Lawyer Zhou was in court and couldn't answer. I left a message, but they haven't called back."

Zheng Dong remained silent for a few seconds.

"In other words," he said slowly, "They completely ignored us."

"... That's how it seems at the moment."

"Okay." Zheng Dong hung up the phone.

He placed the microphone back on the landline and tapped his fingers lightly on the smooth mahogany table. Once, twice, three times.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened, and the evening clouds piled up in the west, tinged with a dark red by the setting sun. The main lights in the office weren't on; only the desk lamp cast a small circle of warm yellow light from the corner of the desk.

Zheng Dong leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

He recalled the time twenty years ago when he opened his first small restaurant. It was thirty square meters with four tables, and he was both the owner and the chef. One construction worker who frequented the restaurant got drunk one time and started yelling that there was a fly in his food. In reality, he had brought it himself and was trying to extort a free meal.

What did Zheng Dong do back then?

He carried the dish to the other person, and in front of all the guests, picked up the fly with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.

Then he looked at the construction worker and said, "Brother, you're mistaken, this is burnt spices."

The shop was completely silent. The construction worker, his face flushed red, threw down fifty yuan, turned and left.

From then on, no one dared to cause trouble in his shop.

Zheng Dong opened his eyes and looked at the simple lines of the ceiling.

Now? Dongbei now has two hundred stores, a central kitchen, cold chain logistics, and a brand department, public relations department, and legal department. Yet, a mere twenty-something-year-old legal assistant can make them treat it like a major crisis with just a casual remark, sending lawyer's letters, pressuring bloggers, and deleting videos from the entire internet.

Then the other party completely ignored them.

He felt a kind of anger at being slighted, like tiny flames flickering in his stomach.

No, it wasn't disrespect. It was that they didn't take him seriously at all.

"It's normal for the quality to be a little lower."

That sentence echoed in his mind again, calmly and casually, as if commenting on something unrelated to him.

Zheng Dong picked up his phone and found a name in his contacts: "Lao Xing".

The phone rang five times before being answered. A rough, hoarse male voice came from the other end, and the background noise was very loud, as if it were coming from a construction site or factory.

"Mr. Zheng? What a rare guest! What brings you to call me?"

"Lao Xing, there's something I'd like to ask you for a favor."

"You say."

Zheng Dong briefly explained the situation: A legal assistant said some things that were detrimental to the company while eating at a service area. The company sent a lawyer's letter, but the assistant ignored it. Zheng Dong wanted to "teach him a lesson" and make him realize the seriousness of the matter.

Lao Xing laughed on the other end of the phone, a laugh like sandpaper grinding iron, "President Zheng, you're a big boss now, why are you still arguing with such a small fry?"

"It's not about being pedantic," Zheng Dong said, "It's about principles."

"Alright, principles it is," Lao Xing said. "How do you plan to educate them?"

"Annoy him," Zheng Dong said, "Until he comes to us to talk. But we can't leave any evidence against him; it has to be legal—or at least appear legal."

"I understand. It's harassment, but it can't be called harassment." Lao Xing was very knowledgeable. "Here's what I'll do: I'll arrange three things first, see if that's alright."

"You say."

"First, bombard him with phone calls. Use VoIP and virtual numbers to call his cell phone repeatedly. Don't swear or say anything, just hang up as soon as the call connects. Or play some recorded messages, such as 'Please handle the relevant matters of Dongbei Catering as soon as possible.' Dozens of calls a day, at irregular times, including a few in the middle of the night."

"Second, email bombardment. Use a temporary email address to send warning emails to his work email address. The content should be copied from your lawyer's letter, but the wording should be... stronger. Send dozens of emails every day, and set up automatic forwarding to overwhelm his inbox."

"Third, use human intimidation. Find two unfamiliar faces to loiter around his law firm, take photos, and let his colleagues see them. Without lifting a finger, let him know we can find him."

After listening, Zheng Dong remained silent for a while.

"Wouldn't that be... too much?"

"Passed?" Lao Xing laughed again. "Mr. Zheng, you're still too soft-hearted. Do you know how those professional counterfeiters and malicious negative reviewers deal with merchants online these days? They're much more ruthless than this. Your methods are just scratching the surface at best."

Zheng Dong looked out the window at the completely dark sky. The city lights were coming on one by one, and the traffic on the overpass in the distance was like a river of light.

"Do as you say," he said, "But be thorough, don't leave any loose ends."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Lao Xing said. "As for the fees..."

"As usual, I'll have the finance department transfer it to you."

"Okay. I guarantee I'll make him restless within three days."

The call ended.

Zheng Dong put down his phone, feeling his fingers getting cold. He rubbed his hands together, stood up, and walked to the window.

Downstairs, pedestrians hurried along the street, and vehicles shuttled back and forth. Everyone was rushing towards their own destination, unaware of the decision that had just been made in this office on the seventeenth floor.

He remembered the construction worker's flushed face and the fifty dollars he had thrown on the table.

Sometimes, reasoning doesn't work, so you have to use other methods.

It was 11:27 PM on the first night.

Lin Feng's phone rang. It was an unknown number, and the location was Shanghai. He was leaning against the headboard reading a book, glanced at the screen, and didn't answer.

The ringing stopped. Thirty seconds later, another unknown number called, originating from Guangzhou.

He continued reading.

The third is Hangzhou. The fourth is Shenzhen. The fifth is Chengdu.

Each call rings only three times before being disconnected, with intervals of half a minute to a minute.

Lin Feng put down his book, picked up his phone, opened the settings, found "Call Blocking," and turned on "Block All Unknown Numbers." Then he silenced his phone and put it back on the bedside table.

The world fell silent.

He turned off the lamp and lay down to sleep.

The next morning, at 9:10.

Lin Feng opened his work email. Unread emails: 247.

Most of them were spam, but more than twenty of them had very similar subject lines:

[WARNING: False statements about your business at Dongbei Catering]

[Ultimatum: Issue an immediate public apology]

[Supplementary Explanation to the Lawyer's Letter]

[Dongbei Catering Legal Department's Third Reminder]

The senders are all random temporary email addresses.

Lin Feng opened one of the letters. The content was a copy and paste of a lawyer's letter, but with a few threatening sentences added, "If you do not cooperate, we will take all legal measures, including but not limited to litigation, reporting, and public condemnation."

He closed the email, opened his email settings, and added the keywords "Dongbei," "warning," "lawyer's letter," and "apology" to the filtering rules. He set the system to automatically move all emails containing these keywords to the "spam" folder.

Then he emptied his inbox.

The next day, at 2:30 PM.

The coffee shop across the street from Zhou Wenyuan Law Firm.

Two men were sitting by the window, one in his thirties wearing a gray jacket, and the other in his early twenties wearing a baseball cap. Each of them had a glass of Americano in front of them, but neither of them had drunk much.

The man in the jacket pointed his phone towards the law firm's entrance, pretending to take a selfie, but actually photographing people coming in and out. The man in the baseball cap kept his head down, scrolling through his phone, occasionally glancing up at the screen.

"Did you see the target?" the man in the baseball cap asked quietly.

"No. I've been squatting here for over an hour, and everyone coming and going is an office worker. I can't tell who's who," the man in the jacket said. "Lao Xing only gave me a blurry screenshot of a profile view. How am I supposed to recognize anyone?"

"Wasn't she supposed to be a paralegal? She should be dressed quite formally, right?"

"He has to come out, though. What if he's not going out today?"

As the two were talking, the glass door of the law firm opened. A man in his thirties, wearing Glasses and carrying a file folder, walked out.

"Is that it?" the man in the baseball cap asked.

"No. The one in the photo is younger; this one looks like the boss."

The man in the suit walked to the roadside, hailed a taxi, got in, and drove away.

The man in the jacket sighed and put away his phone. "Fine, take a few photos of the storefront and get back to the report. Just say the target didn't show up, but the location is confirmed."

He took a few pictures of the law firm's entrance and sign, then winked at the man in the baseball cap. The two got up and left the café, merging into the crowd on the street.

Unbeknownst to them, a middle-aged man in a sanitation worker's uniform was cleaning a trash can in front of the convenience store on the street corner. After the two walked away, the sanitation worker took out his phone and sent a message.

At the law firm, Zhou Wenyuan received a call from the property manager.

"Lawyer Zhou, there were two people loitering downstairs just now, taking pictures of the main entrance. They acted suspiciously. Our security guards went over to ask them, and they said they were just passing by, but they didn't seem like they knew what they were doing. Should we call the police?"

Zhou Wenyuan stood by the office window, looking down at the street. The two people were gone.

"No need to call the police," he said. "Please increase patrols in this building. If you see any suspicious individuals, remove them immediately. If they become harassing, then contact me."

"Okay, Lawyer Zhou."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Wenyuan sent Lin Feng a WeChat: "A stranger was taking pictures downstairs; the property management has dealt with it. It was someone from Dongbei."

Lin Feng quickly replied, "Understood."

What do you need me to do?

"No need. They won't get any footage."

Zhou Wenyuan looked at the conversation on the screen, thought for a moment, and then sent another message: "I looked into Zheng Dong. He started from scratch, has a strong personality, and values the brand's reputation more than his own life. His strong reaction this time might not just be because of that one sentence."

Lin Feng replied after a while, "Why?"

"Perhaps because you're right."

Zhou Wenyuan put down his phone and sat back down at his desk. A due diligence report on a merger and acquisition deal was spread out on the table, but he didn't immediately focus on it.

He recalled a case he took on many years ago when he first started practicing medicine. The restaurant also used pre-cooked food, but advertised it as "freshly cooked." Later, customers discovered this, it made headlines, and the restaurant quickly went out of business.

The boss, with tears in his eyes, said in court, "Everyone does it this way, why am I the only one who's unlucky?"

The judge replied, "Because you lied."

Zhou Wenyuan picked up a pen and drew a line on the report.

What lies fear most is not questioning, but the truth.

Especially the kind of truths that are spoken casually and lightly.

On the evening of the third day, Zheng Dong waited in his office for Lao Xing's call.

At 5:30, the phone rang.

"Mr. Zheng, all three things have been taken care of. We've been making phone calls for three days, sending emails for three days, and even staking out the location. But... there's been no response."

What does "no response" mean?

"It means exactly what it says." Lao Xing's voice sounded a bit helpless. "He blocked the phone calls. The emails probably went into the spam folder. The people staking out the location said they couldn't recognize the target at all, and the property management is keeping a close watch, so they can't stake out for long."

Zheng Dong gripped his phone tightly. "He didn't react at all?"

"At least on the surface, no." Lao Xing paused. "Mr. Zheng, to be honest, your trick might work on ordinary people, but it won't work on those with strong mental fortitude or who are prepared. He's clearly on guard."

"What should we do then?"

"Either escalate the situation or stop," Lao Xing said bluntly. "If you escalate, there are plenty of ways. Check his address and wait outside his house. Investigate his social circle and find his friends and family. Or... find some dirt on him at work. But that would cross the line and could easily lead to trouble."

Zheng Dong remained silent.

Outside the window, night had completely fallen. The city lights were bright, but his office lights were off, only the dim light from the computer screen reflected on his face, flickering on and off.

"President Zheng?" Lao Xing asked on the other end of the phone.

"Let's stop for now," Zheng Dong said. "Let me think about it."

Okay. Contact me again if needed.

The call ended.

The office fell completely silent. Zheng Dong leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

He suddenly felt very tired.

Twenty years ago, he could command respect by eating a fly.

Twenty years later, he sent lawyer's letters, pressured bloggers, harassed them with phone calls, bombarded them with emails, and even staked out their location... but he couldn't even get the other party to utter a sound.

What is that young man named Lin Feng doing now? Eating? Sleeping? Working? Does he know that a company with two hundred stores, and its fifty-year-old chairman, spent three days and three nights working on something just because of a single sentence he said?

Zheng Dong picked up his phone, opened Douyin), and searched for "Dongbei Service Area".

The original video has been deleted, but people are still discussing it. He clicked on a food blogger's live stream, where the host was talking about recent hot topics:

"... I find the Dongbei incident quite interesting. The blogger apologized, but the person involved hasn't shown up. Some say Dongbei is a bully who only dares to mess with the blogger and not the person in question. Others say the person in question might have powerful connections that Dongbei can't afford to offend. What do you think?"

The comments were scrolling by incredibly fast:

"Dongbei overreacted this time; the more she tries to explain, the worse it gets."

So, is it pre-made or not? Give me a straight answer!

"The person in question is a legal assistant; Dongbei probably wouldn't dare to actually sue."

"Waiting for a reversal."

Zheng Dong turned off the live stream.

He walked to the window and looked at the traffic flowing down the street below.

The headlights formed a flowing ribbon of light, speeding forward without stopping.

He recalled the day Dongbei's first store opened. Amidst the sound of firecrackers, he and his wife stood at the door, handing out candy to every customer who entered. At that time, he thought that he would make this store successful, build a reputation, and turn it into a brand.

Now that the brand is established, what about its reputation?

My phone vibrated; it was a message from my secretary. "Chairman Zheng, the monthly board meeting is tomorrow at 10:00 AM. The agenda has been sent to your email."

Zheng Dong replied, "Received."

He turned and walked back to his desk, opened his email, and downloaded the meeting materials.

The first page shows last month's revenue data: a 3.2% decrease compared to the previous month.

The accompanying smaller print analysis stated. "Due to recent public opinion events, customer traffic at some stores has declined."

Zheng Dong stared at that line of text for a long time.

Then he closed the document, picked up his coat, and walked out of the office.

The corridor was deserted, with only motion-sensor lights turning on and off one by one in sync with his footsteps.