Chapter 3 How Many Horses

  The door to the chairman's office was knocked open, and Qiao An Tian immediately stood up with a smile to greet the guest. However, when he saw the two young men led in by Ning Lan, he was taken aback and wondered if his assistant had made a mistake.

  Lin Zixian didn't bother with formalities and walked straight to the spacious, luxurious office desk, sat down, and gazed at Qiao An Tian with a lazy expression, asking: "You're Qiao An Tian?"

  Seeing the chairman's gaze, Ning Lan also felt a sudden thump in her heart. Why did the chairman seem to not recognize this guy? Had she mistaken him for someone else?

  Although she was full of doubts in her heart, since they had already met, Qiao An Tian still understood the basic courtesy of being a person. She put on a smile again and walked around the office desk to extend her hand: "Is that Mr. Lin?"

  Others are being polite, but you can't be impolite. However, I didn't come here to exchange pleasantries with you either. Lin Zilei stretched out his hand and shook hands with the other party before letting go, and got straight to the point: "My master is Lin Bao, he said you've encountered some trouble, so I'm here to help."

  "It was actually a disciple of Master Lin, I apologize!" Qiao An Tian said with a sincere smile. After verifying the other's identity, a stone in his heart fell to the ground, after all, the name Lin Bao wasn't known to just anyone.

  Although he didn't know what kind of great master Lin Baolin was, in today's society, except for some special occupations that still maintain the title of master and apprentice, people generally call each other teachers and students. The rest are just some ancient traditional lineages that will retain this tradition. It seems that his father's last words before he passed away were indeed not simple.

  This is the difference between a knowledgeable person and an ordinary one. Often, from a few words in conversation, they can grasp the key to things.

  Ning's assistant let out a sigh of relief, quickly made two cups of tea and placed them on the table, then closed the door and tactfully left.

  Qiao An sat back behind his office desk, sitting across from the other person. He saw that the other person was drinking tea calmly and leisurely, without showing any unusual behavior just because he was a big boss. In his heart, Qiao An nodded secretly, this wasn't something that could be pretended, someone who didn't have any insight or confidence couldn't do this. To put it bluntly, the other person seemed to not even take him, this big boss, seriously at all.

  It's said that one can't judge a person by appearance, and now he doesn't dare to underestimate the young man in front of him who looks like a fool. He feels that what his father said before he passed away about Lin Boqi is somewhat mysterious, and he has actually sent a famous disciple to come, but he doesn't know which ancient sect's senior expert it is. Usually, this kind of hidden world sect has terrifying aspects that are unimaginable to the outside world... He had also heard similar rumors before.

  "Are you unaware of Mr. Lin's great name?" Qiao An Tian smiled, not getting angry at the other party's rudeness, this is what it means to be magnanimous.

  Lin Zixian blew gently at the tea leaves floating in his teacup and said calmly, "Lin Zixian, Lin of Double Wood Forest, son of Laozi, idle person's idleness."

  "What a great name, it has the elegant style of 'Yuyan seeing Nan Shan'! " Qiao An Tian casually flattered and continued to ask with a smile: "I wonder where Mr. Lin is currently working?" He was curious about Lin Bao and also wanted to inquire about his background indirectly.

  "An idle loafer, just a useless person." Lin Zilei took a sip of tea and put the cup on the table, looking at his opponent seriously: "My master said you've encountered some trouble, so he sent me to help. But I still don't know what kind of trouble you're in. Director Qiao, let's get down to business and not waste any more time, tell me about your situation!"

  "All right." Qiao An Tian sat up straight and began to recount what had happened.

  Earlier, Minghua Group and Shengqing Group had a fierce dispute over the development of a piece of land due to huge interests.

  The general manager of the Ming Hua Group, Qiao Yun, is actually the only daughter of Qiao An Tian. This daughter can be said to be fearless and has a great business talent, so the company's board of directors are very willing to hand over the operation rights to her.

  Qiao Yun did not disappoint, this time the dispute with Shengqing Group over the land was extended to the stock market, where she launched a fierce attack, causing Shengqing Group's capital chain to be in short supply, and Minghua Group successfully took down the land. However, Qiao Yun is not ready to stop here, but wants to take advantage of Shengqing Group's capital chain shortage to swallow the entire Shengqing Group, her move is indeed a bit too ruthless, completely pushing the other party to desperation.

  However, business competition is cruel like this. It's either you swallow me or I swallow you. There are no philanthropists in business operations. This is a bloody game of capital, where the weak are eaten by the strong.

  Shengqing Group would not just sit and wait for death, it's not a match for others in business, so it exposed the terrifying background behind. Actually, they didn't want to do this either, a large company had finally whitewashed itself after a long time, and with its past misdeeds, it was easy to attract special attention from relevant national departments, but there was no choice, or else the family would be ruined.

  As a result, all the directors on the board felt the pressure and asked Qiao Yun to stop, but victory was in sight. Qiao Yun held 15% of the company's shares in her hands, and her father, Qiao An Tian, held 40% of the shares. The father-daughter duo had absolute say in the board of directors.

  Qiao Yun can be said to have a strong foundation, single-mindedly determined to take down the Shengqing Group. Young and vigorous, she believes that capital power is all-powerful, and doesn't even put those shady forces in her eyes.

  The anxious board members found Qiao An Tian to discuss, and after thinking about it, they also felt that it was not good to make an enemy of this kind. Sometimes, being gentle can also bring wealth, so the entire board made a decision to force Qiao Yun to go abroad for vacation, taking the opportunity to stop the attack on Sheng Qing Group.

  Although mercy was shown, the Shengqing Group refused to give in. The loss on the capital chain was tens of billions at once, which was a severe blow. So they took a shortcut and forced the Minghua Group to spit out the meat they had eaten, and also demanded 10% of the Minghua Group's shares. The deadline is ten days, if no satisfactory reply is received within ten days, revenge will be launched.

  This way, the shareholders of Ming Hua Group were unwilling to give in again. We have already given you enough face and stopped our hands. You actually turned around and wanted us to take money out of our pockets, isn't this cutting our flesh? So they strengthened their defense and found high-level mediators to resolve the issue.

  After listening to the whole story, Lin Zixian tapped his fingers slowly on the office desk and thought for a moment. He slightly tilted his head and shook it slightly, saying: "As for business matters, I am powerless, but in other aspects, I can consider."

  Qiao An nodded and said: "As for business matters, our Minghua Group has the ability and confidence to deal with them. What I'm worried about is that others might play dirty tricks, so I came to bother Master Lin."

  "What do you want me to do?" Lin Zixian frowned and asked.

  Qiao An Tian's eyes gleamed slightly as he asked: "I wonder how many men Lin sir has brought with him this time?"

  Lin Zile was taken aback, he had figured it out, the chairman opposite him wanted him to use evil to counter evil, to help them eliminate the black forces behind the Shengqing Group. This was a bit too much of an overestimation of his abilities. He paused for a moment before saying: "Alone, no one else, just me."

  "Are you alone?" Qiao An Tian's expression stiffened, and he cursed inwardly, what the hell is this!

  After a long silence, he couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Lin is joking, right?"

  "I'm not joking, I don't even understand what kind of relationship you and my master have. It's already a favor that I can come here." Lin Zixian's piercing gaze stared at him as he slowly said: "You may not have any great abilities, but with me by your side, ensuring your personal safety should be no problem."

  Qiao An seemed to have understood that the other party was not without other horses or forces, but rather how much favoritism would help with how much business, which is also a matter of course, and there's nothing more to say.

  He wanted to speak but stopped for a moment, the key is that he himself didn't know what kind of relationship his father and the mysterious Lin Bao had, but from the tone of the conversation, it seemed like their friendship wasn't very deep either, so it's indeed not good to ask for too much.

  "Mr. Lin, if you have the ability to settle the forces behind Shengqing Group, we can talk about the price." Qiao An Tian made a business-like gesture.

  Lin Zixin waved his hand and said, "Director Qiao, I think you've misunderstood me. For me, there are things that I am willing to do and things that I am not willing to do. It's not about the money. No matter how much money you offer me, it's useless if I don't want to do something."

  Qiao An Tian smiled wryly, knowing that there was no need to discuss this topic further. He had never expected anything from Lin Bao in the first place, and now it could be considered an unexpected gain. He just hoped that this young man wouldn't be too arrogant.

  He nodded and said: "Alright! Mr. Lin, it's like this, my own life or death doesn't matter much, but I only have this one daughter. If possible, please help me ensure her safety."

  "No problem." Lin Zixian nodded in response, thinking that this was also a way of giving the old man an explanation.

  "Wait a minute!" Qiao An Tian greeted, picked up the phone on his desk and dialed a number. After connecting, he smiled and said: "Xiao Yun, come to my place for a while!" After hanging up the phone, he saw Lin Zi idly holding a teacup and savoring it slowly, and couldn't help but smile bitterly again.

  Before long, there was a knock at the door and Qiao An Tian yelled out "come in".

  Lin Zixian heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, holding a cup of tea without turning around, and only listened to the clear and crisp female voice with a few serious tones: "Chairman, what can't be said on the phone?"

  Chairman? Lin Zixian listened and secretly smiled, this girl's attitude towards her father was also official.

  Qiao An stood up and pointed at Lin Zixuan with a smile: "Xiaoyun, this is Mr. Lin whom I've invited to protect your safety."

  The woman's voice was really pleasant to listen to, and it felt somewhat familiar. Lin Zixian leaned back in his swivel chair and turned around, but as soon as he saw the other person's face, he suddenly spat out the tea water in his mouth with a "pfft" sound, and his eyeballs almost popped out along with it.

  The person who came was not someone else, but the seatmate who returned from the United States with him on the same plane, and also the beautiful woman who beat him up at the airport. At this time, she was standing in front of him, dressed in a crisp white professional suit, her long hair tied back, looking elegant and refined, her icy expression unchanged from before, still breathtakingly beautiful...