Why that expression?
Was there something wrong with this contract?
There shouldn't be!
Xiao Xiang had been his assistant for two years and was quite capable. It wasn't like she couldn't handle a simple order contract without making mistakes.
"Take a look!" Zhang Liunian finished reading the contract with a focused gaze and handed it to Su Muqi for review.
"Alright, let me see." Seeing what had made him frown and harbor such doubts, Su Muqi began to examine the contract. However, after a long while, he found no issues. Where had the problem originated?
Zhang Liunian remained silent, allowing Su Muqi to search, but his gaze was fixed on Hu Xiang.
Upon receiving Zhang Liunian's meaningful look, Hu Xiang felt uneasy. However, she was confident that even the factory director wouldn't find the flaw.
As expected, after Su Muqi finished reading, he still looked puzzled. "Is there something wrong with this contract?"
He actually didn't find it!
Zhang Liunian sighed, took the contract back, flipped to the second to last page, and pointed to a section. "What do you mean by what you've written here?"
Su Muqi took it and read it, muttering softly, "If the goods cannot be completed due to any force majeure, the乙方 shall not be held responsible for returns or refunds, and must wait for the甲方 to produce and ship. Otherwise, penalties will apply, blank..."
After reading this long passage in extremely small print, Su Muqi seemed to realize something, his expression becoming extremely unpleasant.
"Director Su, is this the sincerity of your cooperation with me? You intentionally designed such a contract for me, trying to trick me, right? Not only is the font small, but what's the meaning of intentionally leaving a blank space?" Zhang Liunian, after he finished reading, pressed his aggressive stance directly towards Su Muqi.
Cold sweat trickled down Su Muqi's forehead. He hadn't really looked closely at this clause earlier, only skimmed it briefly, and hadn't found any issues.
But now, with Zhang Liunian pointing it out for detailed scrutiny, he realized the clause was problematic.
This shouldn't be. Su Muqi looked at Zhang Liunian with deep apology. "Comrade Zhang, rest assured, I will give you an explanation for this."
After saying this, he looked at Hu Xiang and questioned her, "Xiao Xiang, what are you doing? Did our factory have this clause before? And why is the font so small? If you can't give me a reasonable explanation, get out of my sight."
This contract clause, it didn't seem to be there before!
So why had it suddenly appeared this time? Was it Xiao Xiang's doing?
Why would she do this?
Seeing that the matter was exposed, Hu Xiang gritted her teeth and decided to drag Su Muqi down with her. "Director, didn't you instruct me to write it this way? I'm just an assistant, I followed your arrangements. How could I act on my own?"
Hu Xiang spoke with a sad expression, as if Su Muqi had bullied her.
Su Muqi, seeing her affected act, almost couldn't breathe. Then, his anger flared, and he suddenly stood up. "Nonsense! When did I ever tell you to do this? You ungrateful wretch! Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have the Tang family as your backing.
You drafted this contract to disrupt our cooperation, to benefit the Tang family's private cement factory, right?"
If he had known she would betray him, he shouldn't have kept her on account of her connection with the Tang family back then.
He had truly been blinded.
"Director, whatever you say is what it is. It's all my fault, it has nothing to do with you.
I only beg that Comrade Zhang Liunian doesn't blame our director and must reach this cooperation with the director."
Hu Xiang used a strategy of retreating to advance, attempting to lure out Zhang Liunian's rebellious nature.
If it were an ordinary young man hearing these words, he would truly believe that Hu Xiang was acting on Su Muqi's instructions and would surely get angry and turn to leave.
However, Zhang Liunian was no ordinary person. He had met countless people and had seen innumerable deceptive tactics like this intentional framing and misdirection.
But Su Muqi didn't know that he had seen through Hu Xiang's deliberate words. He was anxious and angry. "You..."
Su Muqi had intended to curse her out, but only managed to utter one word before it got stuck in his throat. In the end, he trembled with anger.
"Comrade Zhang Liunian, this matter truly has nothing to do with our director. I just don't like you, so please don't take your anger out on our director. He is a good person..." Hu Xiang, seeing Zhang Liunian's stern face and cold observation, felt triumphant. Even if you see that the contract has problems, so what?
With this move I've made, how can you still cooperate?
As long as their cooperation is ruined, I can go to my brother-in-law's private factory to be the director. That's a hundred times better than being an assistant here.
"Hu Xiang, I poured my heart into you all these years, only to receive a stab in the back in return. I was truly blind to keep you on account of the Tang family's face.
This is the biggest mistake I've made in my life. Now I finally see your true colors. Get out immediately, or don't blame me for calling people to throw you out." Su Muqi was enraged by her words, pointing towards the door with his long arm and starting to expel Hu Xiang.
Seeing that the time was right, Hu Xiang felt that this cooperation was definitely off. On the surface, she maintained her guise as the victim and walked out.
Seeing her leave, Su Muqi slumped into his seat. "I'm sorry, Comrade Zhang. It's my poor management that led to this incident. Please don't listen to her nonsense. I really didn't intend to scheme against you like this, because I had no idea you would come to order from me today. I don't have the ability to foresee the future."
"Director Su, please don't worry. I can see clearly what happened. This is all Hu Xiang's doing, and it has nothing to do with you." Zhang Liunian saw very clearly that Hu Xiang wanted to forcefully drag Su Muqi down with her, precisely to prevent their cooperation.
However, Zhang Liunian would not let her have her way. The more she didn't want him to cooperate with Su Muqi, the more he would.
Besides, now that Hu Xiang and the Tang family behind her had angered Su Muqi with this incident, they were considered to be on the same side.
Why wouldn't he want a partner like this? Wouldn't that make Hu Xiang's efforts in vain?
"Comrade Liunian, you... you can see that she was acting. That's wonderful." Su Muqi smiled in surprise, then excitedly clasped Zhang Liunian's hand, expressing his joy.
It was too good, too good that Zhang Liunian wasn't deceived by Hu Xiang.
He had thought this major cooperation was going to fall through, and he was filled with grief and indignation. Unexpectedly, Zhang Liunian had keen insight and saw through Hu Xiang's scheme at a glance.
Just as he had seen the problem in the contract, this Zhang Liunian was truly extraordinary. If this happened to Su Muqi himself, he might have also fallen for it.
But Zhang Liunian hadn't. Truly, heroes emerge from youth, and talent is passed down through generations.
"I heard just now that the assistant named Hu Xiang has connections with the Tang family. What's going on with that?" Zhang Liunian asked with a smile about Hu Xiang's background.
"She is the sister-in-law of Tang Shikang, the factory director of the South City Brick Factory. This incident was definitely orchestrated by members of the Tang family.
Fortunately, no substantial errors occurred, otherwise I would truly be letting you down.
However, to apologize to you, I've decided to offer an additional discount of five fen per bag of cement, and I will prioritize supply to you in the future, ensuring no delays to your project progress."
Su Muqi made a solemn promise to Zhang Liunian to preserve their cooperation. After speaking, he thought of something and was a bit puzzled. Why would the Tang family do this?
"Then thank you very much, Director Su." Zhang Liunian hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise.
Although it was only five fen less per bag, it was a large quantity. This way, it would save tens of thousands of yuan.