Chapter 1507: Each Has His Own Agenda

The news that Zhuangyan and Biying had visited Future Group quickly reached Zhao Fusheng's ears through Wu Sijie.

"Chairman, would you like to see them?"

Wu Sijie bowed and asked, "I have the contact information they left."

Zhao Fusheng chuckled, put down the newspaper in his hand, rubbed Fan Beibei's head beside him, and told her to go upstairs to play with Zhao Ma. Then he said to Wu Sijie, "No rush. They'll find a way to contact us on their own."

Hearing this, Wu Sijie hesitated and whispered to Zhao Fusheng, "Chairman, are you planning to blow this up?"

Zhao Fusheng laughed: "Isn't it already big enough?"

"That's not what I meant," Wu Sijie said with a wry shake of his head.

Zhao Fusheng knew perfectly well that wasn't what he meant; he was just making a casual joke.

"Don't overthink it."

Looking at his assistant, Zhao Fusheng waved his hand: "I haven't figured out the specifics yet, but at the very least, we spent money—we shouldn't have to be treated arrogantly, right?"

"Of course not."

Wu Sijie nodded repeatedly. No kidding—what status did his boss have, and what status did Mr. Tan have? Even facing the top brass at Mercedes-Benz headquarters, they wouldn't be treated like this. A mere deputy general manager of an auto sales company dared to be so overbearing toward his boss!

A mouse serving as a cat's escort—risking death for money!

Other things could be tolerated, but this—Wu Sijie could not accept it.

Zhao Fusheng was his boss; if his boss was belittled, what did that make him?

In ancient times, this would be a case of 'the master disgraced, the minister dies.'

Of course, in today's society, it's not quite that extreme, but regardless, Wu Sijie knew that his boss would definitely have to vent this anger.

In fact, it wasn't just Zhao Fusheng who was angry; Tan Kaixuan was too.

Although he hadn't had much contact with Chairman Tan, from the few interactions they'd had, Wu Sijie could tell that he was no pushover either.

And his guess was spot on.

Tan Kaixuan simply refused to answer Biying's calls!

...

...

"Do you think they're going crazy right now?"

Sitting in Zhao Fusheng's home, Tan Kaixuan asked with a grin.

Not only did this guy not answer calls, he outright avoided meeting them, refusing to communicate at all.

"Crazy? Not quite," Zhao Fusheng said with a slight smile, shaking his head. "After all, they've been in business for over a decade."

He wasn't joking. Although he was very dissatisfied with Lixing's behavior, Zhao Fusheng still had Wu Sijie look up some information. The data showed that Lixing had been the domestic agent for Mercedes-Benz sales since 1993.

In other words, since Mercedes-Benz entered the domestic market, Lixing had been their sole agent.

That was impressive!

Therefore, despite the intense media hype in recent days, Zhao Fusheng remained highly vigilant toward Lixing.

He didn't want to capsize in a ditch and get outsmarted by them!

"Doing business for over a decade and ending up like this," Tan Kaixuan snorted. "If you ask me, it's because our domestic consumers are too forgiving. Abroad, they say the customer is king, but here, customers are treated like grandchildren!"

Zhao Fusheng nodded. Although Tan Kaixuan was usually unreliable, he was absolutely right on this point.

Why is there always a reversal in the status between Chinese merchants and consumers? The reason is that domestic consumers are too kind.

They say the customer is king, that the spender is the boss, but many of our domestic consumers don't have the awareness of being king.

The mindset that 'suffering a loss is a blessing' fills the minds of most consumers. As a result, even when wronged, they don't fight back; they just smooth things over and consider themselves unlucky.

This makes unscrupulous merchants even more reckless.

Because they know that no matter what they do, consumers won't resist.

That's how inexplicable financial service fees and sky-high lobster and hotpot prices came about.

In the end, it's because we, as consumers, are too weak.

Reasonable demands and rights must be fought for!

That was Zhao Fusheng's thinking.

"What do you plan to do?" Tan Kaixuan smiled and looked at Zhao Fusheng.

Regardless, this matter had to have an outcome. Even if he refused to see Lixing's people now, they would eventually have to meet.

There was no past grievance or recent enmity, and Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan had no intention of driving their company to ruin.

"I'm not interested in Lixing," Zhao Fusheng said with a light laugh, slowly speaking. "But I'd very much like to meet someone from Mercedes-Benz headquarters."

"Huh?"

Tan Kaixuan was startled, then frowned.

He wasn't stupid; Zhao Fusheng's words clearly had a deeper meaning.

"Are you eyeing the Mercedes-Benz dealership?" Tan Kaixuan thought for a moment and asked Zhao Fusheng.

After thinking it over, that was the only thing that could tempt him.

"What, is that not allowed?" Zhao Fusheng smiled. "Interested? Let's join forces and take over the dealership."

Rubbing his chin, Tan Kaixuan said, "As much as I want to refuse you, I can't control my desire to make money."

As he spoke, he laughed himself.

Zhao Fusheng also laughed: "Only a fool turns down money. With such a good market right in front of us, if you don't take it, someone else will."

That was the truth. Outsiders might not know how huge the profits from auto sales dealerships were, but a little investigation would reveal it was a pure goldmine.

Tan Kaixuan had also seen Lixing's information. Their rise was due to being the agent for Mercedes-Benz sales.

Nowadays, Lixing had diversified into multiple industries. Though not as massive as Future Group, its assets were no small sum.

"So, how do we do it?" Tan Kaixuan asked with a smile after hearing Zhao Fusheng's words.

Zhao Fusheng shrugged: "Keep waiting. Someone else is more anxious than we are."

Tan Kaixuan nodded: "Yeah, I bet someone is running around like a headless chicken right now."

With that, both of them laughed.

The 'headless chicken' they referred to was naturally Zhuangyan and Biying.

And Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan weren't wrong. At that very moment, Biying and Zhuangyan were frantic.

"What do we do? Tan Kaixuan isn't answering calls."

Biying looked helplessly at Zhuangyan.

She was truly scared now.

The media coverage was escalating. Whether online, in print, or on the news, it was all over the place. Even spending money couldn't suppress it.

Worse, the Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Germany had taken notice. Zhuangyan had already received a call from the head office; the big boss asked him how to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

As for specific accountability, that would come later.

For now, the priority was to handle the matter properly. Otherwise, not only he but even Zhuangyan, his big backer, would be implicated.

Biying was a smart woman. She knew that her position as deputy general manager wasn't that important; what truly mattered was Zhuangyan.

Zhuangyan's expression was as grim as his name suggested.

He knew he was facing the most severe challenge in over a decade.

If he mishandled it, he could lose everything he had worked so hard to achieve.

Just then, Zhuangyan's phone rang.

Glancing at the number, his face turned even uglier, but he gritted his teeth and answered, taking a deep breath to steady himself: "Boss, you're looking for me."

"Yes, Old Zhuang, what's going on?" A steady voice came from the other end. "Mercedes-Benz headquarters just called. Their stock dropped two percent because of this incident—no small loss. Tell me, who's going to take responsibility?"

Zhuangyan's head buzzed. He realized the boss was calling him to account.

"Boss, rest assured, I'll resolve this in the shortest time possible," Zhuangyan quickly said.

"Good. I trust you on this."

The person on the phone said flatly, "I have only one request: no matter what the other side says, resolve this as quickly as possible. Don't affect the bigger picture, understand?"

"Understood. Rest assured," Zhuangyan reiterated.

The other side grunted in acknowledgment and hung up.

Clutching his phone, Zhuangyan felt on the verge of collapse.

He wasn't stupid. The boss's words had already shown clear dissatisfaction. To put it bluntly, if he couldn't handle this properly, his boss might just tell him to pack his bags.

He knew that man's character all too well.

Simply put, the boss only valued subordinates who could create value for him. Anyone who couldn't, even a trusted confidant, would be ruthlessly discarded once they lost their usefulness.

Thinking this, he gritted his teeth and said to Biying, "When you bought the car, did they leave an address?"

"Address?"

Biying thought for a moment, her eyes lighting up. She fished a piece of paper from a pile of documents, glanced at it, and nodded: "Yes, there's an address."

"Good. We'll go there now," Zhuangyan said through gritted teeth. "Even if you have to kneel, beg them to forgive you. Otherwise, we might be in huge trouble this time!"

Biying nodded. She understood now: if they couldn't get those two big shots to relent, she and Zhuangyan might not survive this crisis.