Chapter 564: Is this how you play it?

Jiang Yanran's words were, well, a bit ambiguous.

In fact, even she didn't know why, but her tone had a hint of... resentment? This wasn't her style, but the things Zheng Qian was stirring up in Shanghu had, more or less, reached her ears.

She hadn't ruled out joining a club, and in the past, she certainly had the qualifications.

But because of her proud nature, unwilling to submit to others and preferring to establish her own Five Shipping Alliance to be the boss, she had temporarily shelved the idea. As the boss of Asia Shipping, she could thrive even without joining a club.

Previously, she had maintained fairly friendly cooperative relationships with members of several major clubs.

But ever since Zheng Qian intervened, the situation began to change instantly.

She had originally thought that after he bought those ships in Jiangnan, everything was starting to move in a positive direction. But... things suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse; the Shanghai Americas Club had actually made a massive move to buy up many of the other shipping companies.

If Zheng Qian hadn't unified Zhang Lekang's Kangming Shipping and Fan Minxue's Changsong Shipping before leaving Jiangnan, she wouldn't have been able to hold on for this long. Now, she was truly numb; business was almost impossible to conduct.

Losing money every day, she was on the verge of a breakdown.

Zheng Qian, on the other hand, as the biggest financier of this alliance, was actually enjoying himself in Shanghu every day, completely unwilling to care. This gave Jiang Yanran a lot of grievances against Zheng Qian. "With such a massive shipping business, do you not want it anymore?"

Actually... Zheng Qian really did intend to abandon it.

He had way too many ways to make money now. Not to mention anything else, investing heavily in the Chunshen Club, pouring money into research institutes, and bankrolling banks... this kind of money was incomparable to any shipping business.

But, it was different now. The reason he agreed to this meeting was that he needed ships, a lot of ships.

He needed to purchase a batch of cutting-edge Western equipment under the name of Oman.

He had to use his own fleet. What if word leaked out and they were intercepted by the US side halfway there? That would be a disaster.

"If I don't come to find you, you will never come to find me, right?"

Seeing Zheng Qian didn't answer, Jiang Yanran repeated it, her tone rising a bit higher. She gritted her teeth and said, "Do you really not intend to manage this anymore? I talked to President Chen before, and he said you have your own arrangements and it's not convenient to ask. I really am... If you don't want it anymore, you can transfer the shares to me. I won't watch Asia Shipping decline!"

Zheng Qian actually didn't want to answer, but rather... it felt too good.

Wei Rusi, that little enchantress, learned things so quickly. It seems she hadn't learned less from Yao Qiuqiu on how to "get the scriptures," knowing how to please him without biting. The most crucial part was that her tongue was much more flexible than before, and she had even learned to use her throat...

Folks, do you know what a "vacuum sensation" is?

The physical explanation refers to a gas state with pressure lower than one atmosphere within a given space.

So, what is the experience when the [weapon] is in such a state?

"Hmm? What sound is that?"

Jiang Yanran suddenly pricked up her ears, looking around.

"Ahem... ah, nothing. I just had some phlegm in my throat."

Zheng Qian took a deep drag of his cigarette, then stubbed it out, waving his hand to quickly change the subject. "Of course I haven't given up on the shipping business. Hmm... if you really want these shares, I have no objection. Even if I were to transfer them to you for free... ah no, for a fee, it doesn't matter."

Jiang Yanran's brows furrowed even deeper.

She looked at Zheng Qian with suspicion, not knowing what scheme he was plotting again.

"What do you mean? Zheng Qian, if we don't do something, our shipping business will come to a complete standstill. There are only our two groups on the market now, but their scale far exceeds ours. They are currently waging a price war and have contacted me several times, wanting to acquire us. If you don't think of a way, we really can't hold out." Jiang Yanran asked the question that had been weighing on her mind.

"I know you are anxious, but don't be anxious yet."

Zheng Qian had already adapted to the state of the [weapon] by now, and his intelligence had reclaimed the high ground.

No matter what Wei Rusi did, he was still able to maintain a clear mind.

After pondering for a long while, he said slowly, "Let's do this. Let's make contact with them first. Hearing that you were coming today, I specifically had someone arrange a meeting with them. Xingtu Group has already joined the Shanghai Americas Club, and they are the ones operating this matter on the surface. Let's see what they say. Although it is highly probable they won't agree, we have to talk."

"It's called courtesy before force. If they don't seize the opportunity we give them, we might as well just unify the national shipping industry while we're at it."

Hmm? Hearing Zheng Qian speak such imposing words so casually made Jiang Yanran feel a bit dazed. She furrowed her brows and couldn't help but say, "They definitely won't agree. Then how do you plan to solve it? Even if you, Zheng Qian, are rich, if the other party doesn't want to sell, you have no way."

"Of course I have a way." Zheng Qian laughed.

"Alright, let's go."

Jiang Yanran was a woman of action who followed through on her words. Since Zheng Qian had finalized the course of action, it had to be executed immediately. But just as she stood up and walked to the door, Zheng Qian remained sitting in his chair, looking profound, as if he were contemplating something.

At this moment, Jiang Yanran admitted to feeling a little bit moved.

It couldn't help but make her curious: what life-altering event was Zheng Qian actually thinking about?

How could he be so focused? Watching his furrowed brows made some strange emotions linger in Jiang Yanran's heart for no reason. Suddenly... she really wanted to walk over and use her hand to smooth out his tightly knitted brows.

To smooth out those brows, gathered like mountain peaks.

"Oh, that... Yanran, could you please go to the lounge next door and wait for me for a moment? I need to make a private call. Don't worry, it will be over very soon," Zheng Qian said with a profound expression.

"Alright." Jiang Yanran nodded, not suspecting anything.

The moment she stepped out, Zheng Qian couldn't wait to pull Wei Rusi up, slapped her bottom hard, and said viciously, "You little classmate Wei, playing like this, huh? If I hadn't been guarding..."

Wei Rusi exclaimed...

In this battle, Rusi lost her focus.

When Zheng Qian left, her state was exactly the same as Song Yaxian's.

That was, numb.

It was just a little better than hers; Zheng Qian had been in a hurry to go handle business with Jiang Yanran, so he made it quick. Otherwise, he probably would have had to call Su Yuanshuang to come and help take care of Wei Rusi.

"He definitely took medicine! This is cheating!!!"