Chapter 97: Poaching

Zheng Qian stayed in Shanghai for about three days, but no one contacted him proactively.

Seeing that financing was hopeless, Zheng Qian returned to Yebai with Xiao Xinhao, bringing him along to complete the onboarding procedures and familiarize himself with the company.

"Qian, check your phone." Xiao Xinhao looked at Zheng Qian with a grin.

Zheng Qian opened his phone and saw that it was a contact card Xiao Xinhao had forwarded to him.

"Who is this?" Zheng Qian asked curiously, wondering if it was some female bar DJ.

Zheng Qian was already indifferent to bar staff; when he was in Shanghai, he had only had a few drinks with some socialites.

"Yao Qiuqiu, I got her WeChat before I left. Go ahead and add her."

Yao Qiuqiu?

Isn't that the female cruise ship captain?

After Jiang Yanran had taken her away, Zheng Qian hadn't seen Yao Qiuqiu again, and he hadn't even had the chance to get her contact information.

He didn't know how Xiao Xinhao had managed to get her WeChat.

Zheng Qian hesitated for a few minutes, but in the end, he added her.

"Alright, familiarize yourself with the company and get to work as soon as possible."

Following what Chen Weiqiang had said earlier, Zheng Qian placed Xiao Xinhao in the Sales Department, serving as a sales team leader.

Given Xiao Xinhao's abilities, he would certainly be able to handle this job.

He had work experience at Asia Shipping and might still have client resources on hand; it wouldn't be impossible for him to bring some business to Zhengxin Shipyard.

After Xiao Xinhao left, Xia Xixi walked in: "President Zheng, President Chen said there will be a meeting in the conference room in ten minutes and asked me to inform you."

"Got it."

A few minutes later, Zheng Qian arrived at the conference room, where Chen Weiqiang, Liu Shiqi, and Manager Li Tao were all present.

Looking at Chen Weiqiang's dejected expression, it was clear that the negotiation with the executive in Xiamen hadn't gone through either.

"President Zheng, today we are mainly discussing the Five Shipping Alliance."

Zheng Qian hadn't yet realized what the Five Shipping Alliance was, but after the reminder, he recalled it was an alliance organization Jiang Yanran had revealed during her speech.

"Once the Five Shipping Alliance is formed, it will be equivalent to slicing away half of the maritime transport cake."

"In this way, the situation facing us small and medium-sized shipyard companies will be quite severe."

The five shipping companies of the Five Shipping Alliance were the five most powerful ones in the JZH region. Once they formed a community of interests, it would truly be as Chen Weiqiang said: the industry would enter a semi-monopolistic state.

"Zhengxin currently doesn't have many ships. Between the Qilu clients, the Northern Russian clients, Jinxiu Group, Dafu Timber, Jiyuan Woodworking, and various other smaller clients, the shipping schedule for the second half of the year is basically already full."

"If we don't purchase new ships to expand the company's scale and volume, this golden half-year development period will be wasted."

When Chen Weiqiang said this, his eyebrows were already knitted together.

If the financing from Tianxia Shipping could be negotiated, that would be fine, but if not, they could only rely on the money from Zheng Qian and Liu Shiqi.

Manager Li Tao suggested at this time: "President Chen, is there a possibility that we could also join this alliance to form a Six Shipping Alliance?"

"Even if we get a smaller slice of the cake, we'd accept it."

Zheng Qian actually had the same thought.

"Impossible. We don't have the strength; why would they form an alliance with you?"

Liu Shiqi's words immediately shattered their ideas.

"I heard that Yamei Group offered fifty million to beg Jiang Yanran and still couldn't get in, let alone us."

"President Liu is absolutely right. We don't have the strength to negotiate an alliance or terms yet. Our volume is not as large as Yamei Group's, and we can't come up with fifty million to buy a spot in the alliance."

Why did Zheng Qian feel like Yamei Group was a bit like India, always wanting to join the alliance but just unable to get in?

Zhengxin Shipyard was a bit like a developing enterprise, not yet having reached the weight of a super-large corporation.

...

Zheng Qian's office.

"Hello, Secretary Xia. I'm President Zheng's fellow townsman and also his university classmate. We'll be colleagues from now on; please take care of me."

Xiao Xinhao reached out his hand, wanting to get to know Xia Xixi.

The moment Xiao Xinhao saw Xia Xixi, he was captivated by her.

In the bars of Shanghai, Xiao Xinhao had thought the quality of those socialites was already very high, but after seeing Xia Xixi, he realized what it meant to be transcendent—she was simply a noble lily.

Zheng Qian really was a winner in life now!

Damn, such a tasteful female secretary; he wondered if Zheng Qian had already taken her.

If not, Xiao Xinhao had a few ideas...

He couldn't ask Zheng Qian directly about this kind of thing; it all depended on his own probing.

"Hello, Team Leader Xiao. Do you have something to ask me?"

Xia Xixi didn't shake hands with Xiao Xinhao and asked him directly if he had any work-related matters.

"Nothing much, I'm just new here. If there's anything I don't understand, I hope Miss Xia can help me out."

"I added Miss Xia on WeChat; could you please accept it?"

Xiao Xinhao had found Xia Xixi through the company's main group and sent a friend request.

Xia Xixi felt disgusted.

She knew Xiao Xinhao was no good.

Zheng Qian was already so lecherous, and since he was Zheng Qian's fellow townsman and university classmate, they must have spent plenty of time picking up girls together.

Xia Xixi really didn't want to add him.

"Alright, I'll accept it in a while. I'm a bit busy right now." She said casually to put him off and sent Xiao Xinhao away.

After the meeting, Zheng Qian returned to his office.

They had just discussed it with Chen Weiqiang: both he and Liu Shiqi would give the company another fifty million, and Chen Weiqiang would dilute his own shares to distribute to Zheng Qian and Liu Shiqi.

"President Zheng, your fellow townsman is a bit unscrupulous."

Seeing Zheng Qian return, Xia Xixi immediately went up to him.

"What do you mean?" Zheng Qian didn't know why Xia Xixi said that.

"He just used the excuse of familiarizing himself with company business to try to add me on WeChat, but I didn't add him."

"Although there's nothing between us, his behavior seems a bit inappropriate." Xia Xixi said sarcastically.

Zheng Qian was a bit skeptical when he heard this, until Xia Xixi took out her phone and showed him Xiao Xinhao's friend request; only then did Zheng Qian believe what Xia Xixi had said.

As the company's Vice President, Xiao Xinhao adding his secretary the moment he joined the company—what was his intention?

Needless to say, he must have been trying to hit on Xia Xixi!

But as Zheng Qian's secretary, although she wasn't his woman, she was, to a certain extent, his person.

For Xiao Xinhao to be this bold, it meant he didn't really respect him.

Zheng Qian didn't expect Xiao Xinhao to pull something like this; he had trusted Xiao Xinhao so much, even putting his arm around Xiao Xinhao's shoulder to introduce him in front of so many employees.

To save face, Zheng Qian had to say: "Xixi, don't take it to heart. He doesn't have any other intentions; he just likes making friends."

"If you've added him, so be it. You can help him out with work."