The group stood rooted to the spot, watching her flee, and after a few seconds, erupted into hearty laughter.
"Look at us, we're already scary-looking, and now our faces are all flushed and red from drinking, like we could eat someone. We scared the little beauty away."
"What a shame, we finally saw someone we liked, and she just ran off."
"Fourth Brother, if you really like her, it's simple. She hasn't gotten far, go chase her. We'll all be your witnesses, you're definitely not a bad guy. If not, we can all show her our IDs!"
The man called Fourth Brother had a very short buzz cut, dark skin, and a sturdy build.
He heard the suggestion and laughed heartily again.
"That's a good idea, I think it's feasible. Then give me all your IDs, and I'll go chase her and try."
Without a word, everyone handed him their wallets.
Fourth Brother spotted the direction He Yao had fled and strode after her.
He Yao ran all the way to the corner of the entire floor. Seeing that no one was chasing her, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as she was about to find the elevator to go down, she saw a restroom.
It was truly a case of "searching high and low without success, only to find it when you least expect it." Might as well use it.
After finishing in the restroom, her sense of crisis was not as strong as before.
She walked out, patting the water off her dress, when suddenly, a rough male voice called out to her.
"Little beauty, why are you running?"
He Yao looked up and saw a man with red cheeks and red-rimmed eyes, leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for her. She immediately became vigilant again.
"Are you talking to me? I don't know you."
"I know you don't know me. That's why I've come to get acquainted. Don't worry, I'm not a bad person. It's rare for us brothers to get together, so we had a couple more drinks. I'm a bit flushed."
"I have a legitimate job. If you don't believe me, look at my ID. I've also brought my brothers' IDs, we're all decent people."
Saying this, he held out a stack of men's wallets to her with his large hand.
"I was in a hurry to chase you, so the IDs are all in the wallets. Do you want to take them out and look?"
He Yao didn't have the time to watch him take out his ID.
Was this some new kind of scam?
A group of men telling a woman they were good people and wanted to make friends.
What was the difference between that and a pack of wolves chasing a sheep and telling it they were good wolves?
"No need. I don't know you, and I don't want to make friends. Besides, I have a boyfriend. Please be respectful, thank you."
He Yao not only didn't take his wallet but also said something like that. The joy on the man's face instantly vanished.
"Is that so? You have a boyfriend, then I won't bother you. Sorry about that."
He turned and walked away.
He Yao only ran to press the elevator button after he was completely out of sight and hurried to escape the hotel.
On Monday, He Yao returned to work.
Xu Zheng held a meeting, stating the need to prepare for projects in advance to avoid delays in delivery. Starting from today, everyone was to do their part and get ready.
After the meeting, He Yao went to find Xu Zheng, saying she would go find a processing plant to finalize the cooperation matters first. Otherwise, if they waited until all the materials were ready and then encountered difficulties, it would be troublesome and delay the delivery.
It was not a big deal to outsource a portion to a processing plant.
Moreover, even if He Yao went to negotiate, from payment to drafting contracts and signing, everything would need Xu Zheng's review, so she couldn't do anything tricky.
Therefore, Xu Zheng was very relieved.
"Go ahead. Don't work as hard as you did before, take it easy. You're our company's second-in-command now, it wouldn't be good if you wore yourself out."
He Yao didn't bother to joke with him and took her bag to the factory.
After chatting with the master for a while, the master said.
When choosing a processing plant, the smaller the scale, the better.
"Small factories mean they've just started, or they're not doing very well, so they lack orders."
"If we go to them with orders, we're like the heavens sending down a benefactor, wouldn't they have to do whatever we say? Whatever you say goes."
"They're much more reliable than those so-called legitimate but troublesome factories."
And most importantly, the master made a gesture to her.
"Once this cooperation is settled, you can profit quite a bit from it."
He Yao understood the master's implication, which was to sign two contracts.
She and the processing plant would first sign one contract, settling the actual transaction price, meaning the kickback would be negotiated, and both parties would sign an agreement.
Then, a written contract, drafted at market prices, would be given to Xu Zheng.
The profit would be made from the price difference.
Many procurement officers were well aware of this principle, taking kickbacks and rebates.
No, it should be said that in all industries, including sales and marketing departments, this was an open secret.
He Yao had only known about such things before but had never experienced them.
Prompted by the master, she was quite upright.
"No need. I've never thought of earning money that goes against my conscience."
The master said to her, "Are you stupid? This is called going against your conscience?"
"You've been running around from start to finish, not missing a single step for the boss. Even if you don't take this kickback, where does the money go? Into whose pockets?"
"It's only natural for it to go into the bosses' pockets, but it's called going against your conscience when it goes into ours? Look at your ambition."
"People, if you don't have a bit more cunning, and you only rely on the meager salary you get each month, you'll only be a beast of burden your whole life."
"He Yao, think about it carefully. When you're 40, and you're still being bossed around by others like me, will you be content?"
He Yao thought about it carefully, and the master had a point.
Even if she didn't take the kickback, the other party still had to sign the contract at that price with Xu Zheng and pay him that much money.
Instead of letting someone like Xu Zheng, who didn't lack money, earn it all, it was better to get a share of it herself.
As the master said, she had worked tirelessly from beginning to end, without any shortage, earning her living by her skills. What was wrong with taking a little more?
He Yao figured it out and followed the master to look for suppliers that afternoon.
After negotiating with them one by one, it wasn't until they went to the third one that they met an acquaintance, and the matter was settled.
The reason for calling him an acquaintance was that she had seen him yesterday, but they were not familiar with each other at all.
It was the man who had been waiting for He Yao outside the restroom after drinking too much.
His factory was small, only a little over 300 square meters, with more than 20 workers.
As the boss, he was still personally working on the front lines.
When the master found him, he was emerging from behind a machine, covered in oil. The smile he showed when he saw He Yao was much more pleasant than the day before.
Yesterday he looked like a hooligan, today he looked like a simpleton.
"Little beauty, why are you here? I thought I'd never see you again. Heh heh."
The master was taken aback: "Do you two know each other?"
"We know each other."
"We don't know each other."
The two blurted out at the same time.
The master was surprised again: "So, do you know each other or not?"
"Alright, alright, whether you know each other or not, you will definitely know each other in the future. Come, let's go inside and talk."