Chapter 76 — The Main Task Is to Get in Sync (Please Recommend, Please Bookmark, Please Give All Kinds of Support)

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"Still, this was my first time talking cooperation with their company, so they should not have been able to learn my background in such detail, so although I am suspicious, I have no convincing evidence." Gu Pengzhan shook his head again, as if denying his own guess.

"Uncle Chu, when I went to the restroom just now, I heard a man inside talking on the phone." Wei Zhao told him the contents of the call he had overheard in the restroom.

As Gu Pengzhan listened to Wei Zhao, his brows knitted tightly together. He had already suspected something was wrong with the company he had gone to discuss cooperation with. They had nearly finished negotiations and lacked only the signing, yet after he arrived, the other side kept stalling the signing with one excuse after another, and seemed to be waiting for something the whole time, glancing constantly at the time. In the end, having waited in vain, they found a pretext, saying the cooperation was not yet mature and they would need to hold a meeting to discuss it.

Although Gu Pengzhan was furious at the company's about-face, since nothing had been signed, they had every right to back out, and he could only offer a few polite words about cooperating another time before hurrying away.

Their behavior had, however, aroused his suspicion. At first he thought nothing of it, but once he learned that Gu Mengyao had been seized by the bank robbers, he began to wonder whether some connection existed between the two events.

Judged on the surface, after all, the two matters had no necessary link, and though the other side's attitude had been odd, Gu Pengzhan could find no connection, and it remained mere suspicion.

But now, hearing Wei Zhao's words, Gu Pengzhan understood everything at once. In this cooperation, the other side had never intended to act in good faith from the start, but had planned to kidnap his daughter to force him to serve their ends.

Indeed, if his daughter had not been rescued by Wei Zhao at the time, but had fallen into their hands, the other company would only have needed to drop the slightest hint at the negotiating table, and for his daughter's safety he would have had no choice but to submit and grant them concessions.

And afterward, the other side could deny the whole thing outright, for the affair had begun as a bank robbery, with his daughter taken merely as a hostage. With that cover, the criminal fact of a staged kidnapping could be concealed perfectly.

No wonder the other side kept checking the time as if waiting for something. They had been waiting for just this. And judging by Wei Zhao's account, since the man making the call in the restroom could appear on the top floor of the Group, his identity must certainly be that of a senior figure in the Group.

With such a man working with them from the inside, the other side's plan could be called flawless, except that they had never reckoned on the unpredictable factor of Wei Zhao. It seemed bringing him here to place beside his daughter had indeed been a wise move.

At first Gu Pengzhan had only placed Wei Zhao beside Gu Mengyao in accordance with the old master's wishes at home, without thinking much else of it, but by a twist of fate, Wei Zhao had played a critical role.

"I will have this matter investigated." A stern glint crossed Gu Pengzhan's eyes. Though he had his conflicts with certain senior executives in the company, for anyone to use his daughter to make trouble was something Gu Pengzhan would never allow.

Wei Zhao nodded. He had no wish to get involved in such matters. As chairman of the Group, Gu Pengzhan naturally had his own means. Wei Zhao was only telling him what he had heard, and how to proceed was for Gu Pengzhan to decide.

"Xiao Yi, you did not alert them, did you?" Gu Pengzhan suddenly thought of an important question, namely whether Wei Zhao had aroused the other party's vigilance while eavesdropping in the restroom. If the man had grown wary, catching him by the tail would become far more difficult.

"Do not worry, Uncle Chu," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "Just then Uncle Qing's call came in and startled me too, but I pretended to be someone here on business for the Group who had taken the wrong floor..."

Wei Zhao repeated to Gu Pengzhan the monologue he had put on earlier.

"Ha, well done. You are quick-witted." Gu Pengzhan praised him. The more he looked at Wei Zhao now, the more satisfied he felt. At first it had only been his old father's wish, and he had acted merely in obedience to the old man. Now, however, he truly felt Wei Zhao was a rare talent.

Gu Pengzhan's father, Chu Sanwa, was a man whose word was law at home. Starting out as a humble bricklayer, he had built the Gu Group from nothing over decades. Though he had now handed the Gu Group to Gu Pengzhan, Chu Sanwa remained the unquestioned authority in the family.

When Gu Pengzhan was young the family was still poor. Only when he was seven or eight did Chu Sanwa found Pengzhan Construction Company, which grew step by step into what it is today. That history had kept him from picking up the bad habits of rich second-generation heirs, and in his conduct he carried himself with considerable dignity, showing his father great respect.

Many of the company's present shareholders are old comrades who fought alongside his father to build the business in those days. Although their shares have now passed to their children, grandchildren, and relatives, and some among them have begun to grow restless, Gu Pengzhan has left them alone out of regard for his father's face.

Today's affair, however, had touched Gu Pengzhan's bottom line. Gu Mengyao is his only daughter, and for these people to use her to make trouble has made him truly angry for the first time.

"By the way, Uncle Chu, can you tell me what task you actually have for me?" Wei Zhao hesitated a moment, then decided to take this chance to ask properly.

He had already been in Songshan for several days without seeing any important assignment. Every day, apart from accompanying Gu Mengyao to and from school and making her breakfast, he had only dealt with a few petty clowns... The life was easy beyond compare, but Wei Zhao felt uneasy. He had come to carry out a great mission, one said to keep him fed and clothed for life, yet he could not believe that merely keeping the young lady company at school would earn a reward that freed him from want forever.

"Ah? Oh, the task..." Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Gu Pengzhan gave him a strange look, then said, "There is indeed a very important task, but the urgent matter now is for you and Yaoyao to get used to each other. Only then can the mission proceed smoothly."

"Huh?" Wei Zhao froze. Get along well with Gu Mengyao? Only then could he carry out the mission? What kind of mission was this? Could it have something to do with Gu Mengyao? Could some hidden figure mean her harm, and Gu Pengzhan want to use Gu Mengyao as bait while he ferreted out the person behind it?

That was all Wei Zhao could think of. Gu Pengzhan spoke so vaguely that he was still lost in fog, but from his past experience on missions, many employers kept the task confidential and revealed no details until the very moment of execution.

Although Wei Zhao knew he could never leak secrets, thinking from an employer's perspective, caution was best, and it never hurt to be careful. He understood that.

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