Chapter 207 - 179: Xingchuan International Respects Every Girl with a Dream

Chapter 207: Chapter 179: Xingchuan International Respects Every Girl with a Dream

"Chairman Chu, I’ve long heard of Xingchuan International’s hospitality."

"Seeing it for myself today, I can say it truly lives up to its reputation."

Gu Heng wore a faint smile as he drew his right hand from his cashmere overcoat and firmly shook Chu Zhengxiong’s hand. He appeared casual and frank, but anyone could detect the sardonic undertone in his words.

’Hospitable?’

Clearly, that word should have been in quotation marks.

Chu Zhengxiong caught the implication in Gu Heng’s words, and a flicker of embarrassment crossed his face.

Although that hadn’t been his intention—he never meant to try and intimidate Gu Heng at their first meeting—Chu Zhengnan had unfortunately taken matters into his own hands, leading to this current state of affairs.

Now, for Chu Zhengxiong, it was a case of having mud smeared on his pants—even if it wasn’t shit, it was being treated as such.

The problem was, Chu Zhengxiong couldn’t explain. If he shifted all the blame to Chu Zhengnan, never mind whether Gu Heng would believe him—even if he did, Gu Heng would just look down on him even more.

’A great chairman who can’t even keep his own subordinates in line?’

Voicing it would only lead to further ridicule.

"Chairman Gu, it’s freezing out here."

Since an explanation was impossible, he decided against it. "Shall we head inside?" Chu Zhengxiong said warmly to Gu Heng.

"Alright."

Gu Heng nodded slightly and returned a polite "after you" gesture to Chu Zhengxiong. The two men walked side-by-side into the Xingchuan International Headquarters, with Jiang Ruan, Yang Wenjie, Xu Ke, Zhong Hua, and the rest of their group following close behind.

At this, the Xingchuan International employees who had followed Chu Zhengnan down to "welcome" Gu Heng all subconsciously retreated to the sides, clearing a wide path down the middle.

At the elevator bank, the four elevators on the right had long been held empty. A Xingchuan International employee was stationed at each one, ensuring Gu Heng’s party could board immediately upon arrival.

Surrounded by their entourage, Gu Heng, Chu Zhengxiong, and the others took an elevator to the 12th floor—the top floor of the Xingchuan International Headquarters.

"Chairman Gu, please..."

Chu Zhengxiong led Gu Heng into a conference hall. Judging by its size, it was the one Xingchuan International normally used for large-scale company meetings, easily capable of holding several hundred people.

Chu Zhengxiong’s original plan had been for Chu Zhengnan and the others to wait here. He never imagined Chu Zhengnan would take it upon himself to lead everyone downstairs, leaving the conference hall looking cold and empty.

"President Xu, Lawyer Yang, let’s have our team sit on the right."

Gu Heng instructed casually as he walked forward, "We’ll leave the left side for Chairman Chu and his team."

"Understood."

Yang Wenjie and Xu Ke replied in unison.

"Oh..."

"I forgot to make the introductions."

Gu Heng introduced them to Chu Zhengxiong. "These two are Xu Ke, a senior partner at Deloitte China, and Yang Wenjie, a senior partner at Jun Cheng Law Firm. They will be in charge of Xingchuan International’s legal review and financial audit for the time being."

"President Xu, Lawyer Yang, a pleasure to meet you both."

"If you need anything at all for your work going forward, please don’t hesitate to contact me."

Chu Zhengxiong had built his empire through unorthodox means, stumbling and fighting his way to the present day. Raising capital was already a new experience for him; he had never witnessed such a professional team or this kind of formal arrangement.

Before he left Beichun, Gu Heng had arguably been less formidable than Chu Zhengxiong. However, after his trip to Zhonghai, Gu Heng had undergone a major version upgrade.

The Gu Heng of today was, without a doubt, an advanced 3.0 version of his former self.

Compared to Junyao Group, Xingchuan International was simply insignificant.

There was no comparison between Chu Zhengxiong and Wang Junjin. Whether in terms of wealth or social standing, the two were worlds apart.

If the difficulty of acquiring Ruyi Airlines’ equity was set to ’Hard’, then acquiring Xingchuan International’s was, at most, ’Beginner’.

Given the circumstances, Gu Heng, who now had the full experience of acquiring Ruyi Airlines’ equity under his belt, was naturally more than comfortable handling the takeover of Xingchuan International.

Everyone filed into the conference hall. Once all the lawyers from Jun Cheng and the accountants from Deloitte were inside, Chu Zhengnan and the rest of the Xingchuan International team entered as well.

Once both sides were seated, they quickly got down to business.

Faced with the highly professional teams from Jun Cheng and Deloitte, even a conglomerate like Junyao Group—with a market cap in the tens of billions—would have found its legal and financial departments struggling to keep pace, let alone those of Xingchuan International.

After just a few exchanges, the discussion became completely one-sided, with Gu Heng’s team dictating the terms.

Their eyes were glazed over, their minds completely blank.

Of course...

Gu Heng’s side wasn’t using its professional superiority to deliberately bully Xingchuan International. They fought to secure the rights and interests they deserved, but they didn’t overreach for those they didn’t.

At the negotiation table, Chu Zhengxiong was strangely silent.

’How could one describe the feeling?’

It was like a squad of guerrilla fighters encountering a regular army.

The two sides were simply not in the same league.

"Chairman Chu, how about we leave them to discuss the legal details? Why don’t we find another spot to chat about the future of Xingchuan International?"

Seeing Chu Zhengxiong’s silence, Gu Heng knew his preemptive strike had temporarily cowed this ’Wolf King.’ However, this alone was far from enough to completely tame Chu Zhengxiong and ensure he wouldn’t dare to harbor any disloyal thoughts in the future.

’If you want to make a creature like a wolf truly respect you, bluffing with borrowed power is useless. You have to make it feel real pain.’

"An excellent idea."

"I was hoping you’d suggest it."

Chu Zhengxiong’s spirits lifted. Gu Heng’s proposal was exactly what he had been hoping for.