Chapter 99: Chapter 99: The Double Blow to Chang Mei_1
"Then just crush him!"
Sometimes, that’s how simple a conversation between powerful men can be. They can decide the life and death of others in jest. Here, life and death didn’t refer to a person’s actual life, but it was no different from it.
Liu Ming then said to Lu Hongliang, "It’s the Chang Mei Four-Star Hotel that’s trying to mess with our Lycar."
Lu Hongliang didn’t bother to ask how Chang Mei was going after Lycar; he couldn’t care less about the details. He just said to Liu Ming, "Mr. Liu, do you have any dirt on them, so we can hit them where it hurts?"
Liu Ming looked toward Su Xuan. Su Xuan was handling everything. If there was any dirt, Su Xuan would know.
Without a word, Su Xuan simply tapped his phone and played the recording of Qu Meilan.
"Gao Zhitong’s hotel has numerous problems. He doesn’t sanitize guest supplies on schedule as required, his fire safety equipment is mostly outdated and in dire need of replacement, his kitchen conditions are below standard, the chefs rarely wear masks, some staff members don’t even have health certificates, and he employs prostitutes to solicit guests. In every room of his hotel, on the bedside table, there are little cards with sexually suggestive advertising..."
"Damn it!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Hongliang’s lips moved as he cursed silently. Immediately, he focused his gaze on a senior executive from Meisi and said with a grim face, "Old Chang, you’re in charge of hotel inspections. How did you let a hotel like this onto our platform?"
"Mr. Lu, I..." The executive called Old Chang panicked.
"Do you have any damn idea what kind of penalties our platform would face if something happened with a hotel like this on it? Do you even know what your job is? Did you take dirty money from Chang Mei?" Lu Hongliang’s tone grew increasingly severe, making Old Chang tremble with fear.
Old Chang hurriedly explained, "Our platform adds new hotels every day. We don’t have time to conduct on-site inspections for each one. Generally, if there are no obvious issues, we let them go live. As for dirty money, I wouldn’t dare take a single cent. I swear on my family’s lives!"
"Old Chang, I don’t like the sound of that!" Lu Hongliang snapped. "What does Meisi pay you for? And you’re telling me you don’t have time for inspections? Not enough people? If you don’t have enough people, why don’t you hire more? Our Meisi site has a local recruitment feature, you know!"
Lu Hongliang rubbed his face and waved his hand dismissively at Old Chang. "Get out of my sight. You’re suspended. Go home and think about what you’ve done!"
Old Chang let out a deep sigh, glanced at the lavish meal on the table, then got up and walked out.
"Mr. Lu, isn’t that punishment a bit too harsh?" Liu Ming asked as he personally went over to pour tea for Lu Hongliang.
"It’s too light," Lu Hongliang said, patting Liu Ming’s hand. He watched the steam rise from the cup. "Let’s not even talk about Chang Mei’s fire safety and hygiene issues. The mere fact that he’s running that kind of illicit business—the kind strictly forbidden by the authorities—is a massive problem in itself! If this gets exposed, Meisi, as Chang Mei’s promotional platform, will not only be summoned for a ’talk’ with the authorities, but a suspension and rectification period would also be inevitable! The company’s losses would be unimaginable! Our competitors would seize the opportunity to kick us while we’re down and suppress Meisi! Customers would start avoiding booking hotels on our platform!"
Lu Hongliang looked up at Liu Ming. "Let me put it this way. If you knew your husband could book *that kind* of hotel on Meisi, would you still want him using our site?"
Liu Ming shook his head. "No."
Lu Hongliang spread his hands. "See! It’s that serious!"
He then turned to the female vice president who had previously been complaining. "You’ll take over Old Chang’s duties for now. I want you to assemble a team and conduct on-site inspections of every single hotel on our platform. Any hotel with problems is to be removed immediately!"
Lu Hongliang paused, then added slowly, "Delist Chang Mei Hotel. Now."
The vice president nodded, immediately picked up her phone, and made a call. "Take Chang Mei offline!"
Liu Ming returned to his seat, pulled out his phone, and opened the Meisi app. He searched for Chang Mei.
No such business found!
Efficiency. Incredibly efficient.
Having lost Meisi’s online promotion, Chang Mei’s losses would be huge. Coupled with Lycar’s limited-time seven-day discount, would anyone even bother staying at Chang Mei anymore?
Ha ha!
Lu Hongliang took no pleasure in helping Lycar take down Chang Mei. He stood before Su Xuan, holding a liquor bottle in one hand and a glass in the other, his face full of self-reproach. "Boss, I’m so sorry you had to witness that embarrassing display. I’ll punish myself with three drinks!"
GULP!
GULP!
GULP!
Lu Hongliang poured three glasses of liquor and downed them all.
After finishing the drinks, he also felt incredibly fortunate. Thankfully, Su Xuan had investigated and uncovered this beforehand, allowing them to take preventive measures. Otherwise, once the scandal broke, he, as the CEO, would have been in serious trouble. At the very least, he would have been the one summoned by the higher-ups to be reprimanded.
Gratefully, he said to Su Xuan, "Thank you, Boss. I promise this kind of thing will never happen again!"
Su Xuan didn’t say much. He simply clinked glasses with Lu Hongliang again and gestured for him to sit down.
Witnessing this, Liu Ming felt a pang of sympathy for Lu Hongliang. He had intended to show off his team’s strength to Su Xuan, but it had backfired into a display of managerial failure.
I must take this as a warning! I must do everything I can to help the boss manage Lycar well! Liu Ming silently admonished himself.
Lu Hongliang sat back down. Wanting to make amends, he thought for a moment and said, "Just delisting Chang Mei isn’t enough. How about we also..."
A devious idea was then slowly voiced by Lu Hongliang...
...
「Meanwhile, at the Chang Mei Hotel.」
"Boss, it’s bad! Our hotel has disappeared from the Meisi app!" The manager of Chang Mei’s marketing department burst into Gao Zhitong’s office with the terrible news.
"What?" Gao Zhitong was shocked. He quickly took out his own phone to search, but he couldn’t find it either. He tried not to panic. It’s probably just a server issue with Meisi. I’ll wait a bit.
After a moment, he searched again.
Still nothing.
Gao Zhitong could no longer remain calm. Could it be that Lycar had already started to retaliate? Their reach was impressive, and their methods were ruthless.
Losing Meisi’s online promotion was like losing an arm for Chang Mei.
Just then, both his and the marketing manager’s phones buzzed at the same time. The text messages were identical—a push notification from the Meisi network.
"Hello, do you wish to overcome your current difficulties, change your life, and achieve greater personal value? Meisi is now offering tens of thousands of job opportunities! Submit your resume to Meisi today! Good luck awaits you tomorrow!"
Gao Zhitong and the marketing manager stared at each other in disbelief.
Gao Zhitong said, "Ask the others if they received the same message."
The manager quickly made a few calls, then nodded at Gao Zhitong. "It seems like everyone in the entire company received it."
A muscle in Gao Zhitong’s cheek twitched.
Needless to say, this must be Lycar’s doing! They’re trying to destroy our morale!
Gao Zhitong felt another wave of bone-chilling dread. Chang Mei had been delisted by Meisi. His entire staff had received recruitment messages from the competition. His wife had taken all his cash. And payday was just a few days away...
Gao Zhitong broke out in a cold sweat. He took a deep breath, pulled out his phone, and dialed a number.
"Lan Lan!" he said into the phone. "It’s me..."