6 Dry Creek Fields

After settling a lot of matters at the office that day, Jing Lihua returned home late at night. She was totally exhausted.

Mo Liang: "Woah! Our Xiao Hua is making quite a headlines today?" 

Zhao Liying: "Xiao Hua1, I'm jealous. I'm a model. I'm supposed to appear in headlines more than you. Why is it you and not me?"

Mo Liang: "Just come with me to dinner. I'm sure you'll make the headlines tonight."

Zhao Liying: "I'm not interested in scandalous fu*kboys."

Mo Liang: "Too direct."

Mo Liang: "But still, you'll appear in the news."

Zhao Liying: "Don't want to end my career."

Jing Lihua wanted to say something but she didn't have the energy to type. After taking a brisk shower, she changed into her comfy clothes. She went straight for her bed. Falling over it, she fell asleep immediately.

The next day, everything had returned to normal.

The company was back at its foot again.

Arriving at her office, Jing Lihua grabbed out the isolated profiles of shareholders and glanced at the names she had encircled the other day.

One down, four more to go.

She put a big cross over Heng HuiZhong's name.

.

.

.

For the last few days, she had been studying the summary of those five projects that had been declining.

She had been trying to come up with ways to save them.

Jing Lihua leaned back against her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Those three projects had started off well. But right at their peak, Su Liwei had started created small hurdles. The collective effect of those hurdles declined them.

The small mall we had opened on the outskirts of the city... He had used his connections to stop the famous brands from marketing their products to her malls. Only the local brands agreed to host their products. We were unable to attract people and the project failed.

Similarly, in the theme park project, the construction team had some dealing with Su enterprise. After that, the construction team started to create problems. The construction was completed six months after the deadline. All the exotic plants we had bought, died before being planted. We suffered losses.

And the boutique; the fashion designers we had signed... At the point when everything was ready, all of them were offered exclusive contracted and spots by big international conglomerates. What more? Those exclusive contracts even covered the amount they had to pay for breaching the contract wit the Tang enterprise. All those big conglomerates had connections with Su Empire"

"But these projects, all had started at least three years ago. Su Liwei had been planning against us since then? I wonder if he was ever sincere to me... No, forget it. It doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter to me at all."

Jing sighed and put back the documents. 

"These three projects... they are unredeemable. It's only wise if I close them sooner than later. I need to invest my funds in a better place. However, I am worried my funds are insufficient at this time... To redeem the shares from Heng Huizhong, I still had to use half of my funds. But it was necessary. After getting 15 percent shares from him, my total shares are already 71%. No one can threaten my position easily again."

"But the issue of the funds still remains..."

A slight knock came.

Jing Lihua said 'Come in'

Mei Xiu walked inside.

"President, Zhang Min insisted on keeping his own assistant. He denied the assistant assigned by the company. I fear it is going to be difficult to feed him with wrong information if his assistant is not our confidant." Mei Xiu cold eyes gleamed with anger when she talked about him.

After she had learned his intentions, every time she had to deal with him with professional courtesy, she wanted to strangle him. 

It was true for Mei Xiu. She despised unscrupulous people who lacked integrity.

"He is testing us, Mei Xiu." Jing Lihua sighed. Her eyes regained their gleam. "Didn't you yourself said he was smart and difficult to fool? He must have conjectured that I must be at least a bit suspicious of him. Now if I do not allow him his own personal assistant, his conjecture would be strengthened. He would become more restrained and stealthy in his activities."

"President, what should we do?" Mei Xiu was at a loss. Originally, Chairman had entrusted her to guiding Lihua for a couple of months till she learned things. 

But listening to her deep analyses, Mei Xiu felt like a child in front of her.

A child looking up for guidance...

The same way she felt when Chairman Tang Liuwei used to be the President.

In just four days, Jing Lihua had shown remarkable progress.

"Of course, let him have his own assistant. Use some company rules excuse to get the profile of that assistant. Since Zhang Min is so, his assistant would be the same. He would go for a side with greater profit. We would try to convince his assistant to join our side and be our confidant."

Mei Xiu lips pressed into a thin line. "President, when are we going to expose that Zhang Min? I can't really stand him. He thinks everyone around bim is a fool. I can't wait to have him exposed and see the look on his face when he realizes that he was the one being fooled all along."

Jing Lihua paused and glanced up at Mei Xiu.

'This is the first time Mei Xiu talked about something so openly to me. It seems like she is starting to up to me. In my last life, I had ruined the chance for us and spoiled our relationship. In this life, maybe we will end up into strong ties...' Jing Lihua felt a surge of joy. 'Our relationship is going in the right direction.'

"You are aware of Su empire chairman Su Donghai bad temper. Once Zhang Min relays a couple of wrong info and causes them damage, Su Donghai won't tolerate him. Su Donghai would personally torture him till he is ruined. You can get rid of the resentment in your heart at that time by watching him suffer." Jing Lihua laughed lightly. "Forget about it. Update me on the status of employees. New and old ones. How are they behaving?"

Thinking about the new employees, Mei Xiu's eyes brightened.

"President, the list of names you had given me, all of them came for interviews... I have arranged them in their new offices. All the new employees are settled. There are no issues. While going through the interviews for formality, I learned the list President gave me indeed comprised of competitive people. They are all... exceptional talents."

Mei Xiu couldn't understand how her President could find such a large number of talented people. Not a single one of those who had come for the interview was beyond excellent. She could only conclude the President must have worked hard.

Humble respect rose within her heart

"All those old employees who had taken an active part in the revolt, have stated that they feel guilt and they were misguided by Wang Jianglin." Mei Xiu further reported.

"To show their remorse, the employees' affairs department proposed a scheme. Those who participated in the revolt agreed to give up half of their income for the next six months and work overtime without extra benefits."

Jing Lihua's eyes gleamed. Suddenly her worries vanished. "More than five hundred people had participated in the revolt. And most of them were senior officials with high salaries. For six months, it might add up to a huge sum. The issue of funds is... resolved."

By dawn, Jing Lihua had gone completely through the details of all the present five projects of the company. After much contemplation, she worked out a plan to save two projects.

Her eyes darkened.

"If they can use unscrupulous methods, why can't I?"

"Diamond Ridge Construction company and Skyline contractors; you both have bullied Tang enterprise. If I want a solution for those two projects, I must get a construction company of my own."

She went through a list of construction companies that had their stocks on sale names. The name of a specific construction company passed across her eyes. From her memories she recalled, the company's stock prices had skyrocketed. 

After noting down the company's name, and mapping out her steps, she placed down the papers.

From another side, she picked up a pamphlet.

"Dry Creek Fields."

Glancing at the advertisement, Jing Lihua learned that the owner was still struggling to get customers for those lands.

"These are not sold yet. But if my memory is right, they will be sold in a couple of months... bought by Su Enterprise.

These fields are away from cities. The government has paid no heed in expanding the city in that direction for the past twenty years. So no real estate agency had shown interest in them. Since there is no basic facility available, no want wants to buy those lands even after the temptingly small prize.

Because if they want to bring out profits, they would have to invest gigantic amounts on those lands.

However, the real worth of those lands has not been discovered by anyone yet.

They contain them tons of... valuable minerals.

Now that I have enough funds, Dry Creek Fields are going to be my redemption."