Thirsty Skin - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – I’m Not Familiar with Lin Wan

Zhu Chizhou has many advantages, the biggest of which is his good attitude.

After getting a little sunshine from Lin Wan, he immediately became brighter. He took a screenshot and sent it to Zhou Yuang to show off.

Before sending it, he still remembered to cut out the note he had given to Lin Wan.

Zhu Chizhou: 【Picture】

Zhu Chizhou: 【Today was the first time I met the founder alone, and I got the hang of it.】

Zhou Yuang was playing with his phone, so he replied immediately: 【Brother Zhou is awesome, come back and treat us.】

Zhu Chizhou: 【Please!】

After saying that, Zhu Chizhou remembered that the place they were on a business trip to was a food capital, and asked him: 【What delicious food did you eat in Chengdu?】

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yuang started complaining: 【Don’t mention it, our car was stuck in traffic today and we almost couldn’t get out.】

Zhu Chizhou: 【Why?】

Zhou Yuang sent a voice message directly: “The boss of that company owed money and ran away, and thousands of workers’ wages are still delayed. When we went there, I don’t know who spread the word that we brought money to their boss to pay off his debts. As a result, when we went out, the car was surrounded by workers. In the end, it was their boss’s sister who came to rescue us. I was speechless. This is the first time I have encountered such a thing!”

Zhu Chizhou typed the words “Lin Wan” on the screen, then deleted them and asked: 【Are you two okay?】

Zhou Yuang: 【It’s okay, we are in the hotel and will be back on the flight tomorrow morning.】

Zhu Chizhou: 【So will this project still be carried out?】

Zhou Yuang: 【What can we do? The financial indicators are a mess. The boss rejected it on the spot.】

Zhou Yuang sent the business report stored on his mobile phone to Zhu Chizhou.

Zhu Chizhou clicked on it and saw the name of the company “Qiuge Industry” written on the top of the table. The report was really ugly, and even Zhu Chizhou, an amateur player, could see the problem.

After chatting for a few more words, Zhu Chizhou opened the dialog box with Lin Wan.

His conversations with Lin Wan were very brief. Usually, Lin Wan would ask him to do something and he would receive it back, or he would tell Lin Wan something and Lin Wan would know it.

After knowing each other for half a year, the two of them have never spoken a word other than about work.

Except that night.

The quick breaths, the pounding heartbeat, the soft touch of lips on the side of his neck, the arms holding him tight, the legs wrapped around his waist, and the bodies pressed together underwater.

Red face, tears in the eyes, a bright red mark on the bridge of the nose, and brightly colored lips.

It’s as if all that had never happened.

The next day was the weekend, and it was a rare occasion that he didn’t have to work overtime, so Zhu Chizhou slept until noon.

Zheng Zexun called and asked him and Ji Xun to go out and play in the evening. Since there was nothing else to do, Zhu Chizhou agreed.

Zheng Zexun’s family used to have a big business, but then something went wrong and they were left with a lot of debts. Zheng Zexun’s father passed away, and many people told him to just run away, but he decided to stay and clean up the mess, and pay off the debts bit by bit.

Zhu Chizhou admired Zheng Zexun’s sense of responsibility. Although he didn’t like his overly social temperament, he was willing to play with him.

The place they met tonight was not a club, but a private restaurant with a very quiet environment. Zhu Chizhou had been there before, and the dishes were very special and very expensive.

When they arrived, Zheng Zexun was already waiting at the door, and he brought a friend with him.

“This is my older brother,” Zheng Zexun introduced them, “Chen Liming.”

When Zhu Chizhou knew that the dinner was scheduled at this place, he guessed that Zheng Zexun had something to do tonight. Sure enough, after drinking a round of wine, Chen Liming began to introduce himself. He said that he was the secretary of the chairman of Qiuge Industrial, and he came here today to meet Mr. Zhu.

Chen Liming is in his thirties, wearing a gray business jacket. He is not tall, but he habitually hunches his back.

He toasted to Zhu Chizhou and said that he admired his father, Mr. Zhu.

Zhu Chizhou: …

It seems that Zheng Zexun did not tell this person what his family does, so he came for Gengyan Capital.

Chen Liming first boasted about how influential his company was in the local area, how long it had been in history, and how it was the largest group custom clothing manufacturer in the southwest region. Then he got straight to the point and said, “The company is in trouble now and urgently needs an investment.”

When the glass was full, Zhu Chizhou didn’t touch it. Chen Liming drank the wine himself, and then filled his own glass. He raised it to Zhu Chizhou and said, “Brother Zheng said that you two are good brothers. Today, Big Brother won’t talk to you about those empty words. There’s no need. How about this, Mr. Zhu, with an investment of 80 million, we can get 5 points out.”

Zhu Chizhou frowned: “What do you mean?”

Chen Liming stretched out four fingers and pressed them on the table: “Four million will be transferred directly to you.” What the hell? A kickback to him?

‘What a fucking joke!’

‘You use four million to insult my personality. It’s just the price of a fucking car. Do I need that?’

The person was brought by Zheng Zexun. Zhu Chizhou didn’t want to offend Zheng Zexun, so he just pushed the wine glass in front of him away and said, “Sorry, I’m not in charge of the project, so I can’t help you.”

Chen Liming raised his head and exchanged glances with Zheng Zexun, who chimed in at the right moment: “Chizhou, it’s nothing, just helping to say hello, we’ll see if it works or not!”

“I really can’t help,” Zhu Chizhou said, “I’m just an assistant. The director has the final say on whether the project should be approved or not. What’s more, there will be an investment decision meeting later. The investment committee needs to give its approval before we can get the investment.”

“I understand the ins and outs here,” Chen Liming said. “The Investment Committee will not personally visit the projects. In the end, whether the project is good or not is up to you.”

‘Is this a hint that they can cheat the IFRC for kickbacks?’

Zhu Chizhou was really angry and said bluntly: “Our Director Lin went to your company yesterday and he has already rejected this project. It’s useless for you to find anyone else.”

Zheng Zexun exclaimed, blaming Chen Liming, “Their Director Lin has already gone to check it out? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Chen Liming thought to himself, ‘if their leader disagreed, why would I look for you? Didn’t you say that your friend has a strong background in Gengyan Capital?’

“I just found out about this, too,” Chen Liming said calmly, “Mr. Lin just said that the financial indicators are not good, not that the project itself is bad. The current situation is actually very simple. Once the workers’ wages are paid, production can be resumed. Once production is resumed, everything will get better. As an investor, we will also be able to share the money in the future. It’s a win-win situation!”

“Financial indicators are an important reference, but our Director Lin certainly doesn’t only look at this,” Zhu Chizhou didn’t like Chen Liming’s words, “Since he is at the scene, he must have made a decision based on all factors.”

Zheng Zexun heard from Zhu Chizhou that their Director Lin was a very difficult person to deal with. Even if Zhu Chizhou agreed to help, it would be difficult to do if Director Lin insisted on blocking the project.

Zheng Zexun bent his middle and index fingers and tapped the table, then asked Chen Liming in a pointed manner, “You didn’t tell anyone about this yesterday, did you?”

Chen Liming forgot to pretend: “There was someone beside him yesterday, how can I say anything?”

“Let’s go find him again,” Zheng Zexun suggested, “How about Chizhou help introduce him?”

Zhu Chizhou said coldly, “I’m not familiar with Lin Wan.”

‘It’s useless for you to look for Lin Wan anyway,’ Zhu Chizhou thought, ‘I am indeed not familiar with Lin Wan, but I just believe that Lin Wan would never do something that goes against professional ethics.’

At this time, Chen Liming’s phone rang, he got up and went out to answer the phone. Zheng Zexun said he was going to the bathroom and went out too.

Ji Xun could see that Zhu Chizhou was unhappy and squeezed his arm: “Forget it, you know what kind of life Lao Zheng has been through in the past year, don’t bother with him.”

Zhu Chizhou said: “I wanted to argue with him but he just walked away!”

“It really can’t be helped?” Ji Xun said, “It doesn’t matter whether it’s for money or not, the main thing is to help Old Zheng.”

This is an unspoken rule. Zheng Zexun acts as the go-between and can get a commission if things get done.

“I really can’t help it. If the project itself has good commercial value, I can simply help introduce it. But this company’s qualifications are really too poor. I have told you about Lin Wan’s temper. If he says no, then it really is no.”

Ji Xun hummed, picked up the food with chopsticks, ate a few bites and suddenly asked: “If they give the four million to Xiaowanzi, do you think Xiaowanzi will give them a backdoor?”

“Impossible.” Zhu Chizhou said.

Ji Xun shook his head and said meaningfully: “I heard that this kind of thing is quite normal in your industry.”

“I don’t know about others,” Zhu Chizhou insisted, “but Lin Wan won’t do that.”

Zheng Zexun and Chen Liming came back and continued drinking, while Zhu Chizhou left first on the pretext of having something to do.

After the weekend, Zhu Chizhou finally met Lin Wan again at the regular meeting on Monday.

The weather has warmed up in the past two days. Lin Wan wore a moon-white linen shirt without a tie, revealing his slender white neck at the collar.

He didn’t wear the half-frame gold-rimmed glasses today, but a pair of frameless ones, which made him look cooler and more handsome.

Zhu Chizhou exchanged glances with Lin Wan across a few people. Lin Wan was thinking about work. Zhu Chizhou listened to a few words and quickly looked away.

At the meeting, senior investment managers reported the progress of their projects one by one. Several who were slacking off, inefficient, or made mistakes were scolded by Lin Wan.

In order to avoid being scolded for inefficiency, Zhu Chizhou went to Li Yanli to sign a confidentiality agreement after the meeting. When he returned to the company, Lin Wan had gone somewhere and the director’s office was empty.

Zhou Yuang was writing something, the keyboard was clacking, Zhu Chizhou asked him: “Where is Director Lin?”

“I don’t know.” Zhou Yu’ang looked back at the director’s office. “He was still there just now. He must have left. Are you looking for him?”

“Oh, no,” Zhu Chizhou said casually, “I wanted to report to him about the Ri’an Xinke project.”

In the following week, Zhu Chizhou always missed Lin Wan for various reasons. Either he was out on business and Lin Wan was sitting in the office; or he was sitting at his workstation and Lin Wan was out on business.

In short, both of them were at work, and the chances of meeting each other are very few.

Sometimes, as soon as he sat down, Lin Wan would go out with his bag. For several days in a row, they didn’t even say a word to each other.

Another Monday, and after the regular meeting, Lin Wan disappeared. Zhu Chizhou didn’t know what he was busy with.

Zhu Chizhou wanted to compile and organize the projects that were going through the project approval process this month. He opened his email and looked at the project catalog that Lin Wan had sent him, and saw the name of Qiuge Industrial on the list.