"Gurgle."
After drinking another cup of tea, Lin Zhiping rubbed his stomach, feeling like he didn't even need lunch anymore.
He was indeed full just from drinking water.
"Huff! This is killing me!"
Lin Zhiping stood up in the empty reception room, pacing agitatedly, feeling terrible.
Even when he had visited Jinyu Group a few days earlier and had been ignored all day, he hadn't felt this bad.
Back then, he considered Jinyu Group a colossus, one the Lin Family couldn't afford to offend, so even if they disregarded him, what could he do about it?
But now, his attitude had changed compared to the previous days; he was here as the only one in Jinling to have formed a partnership with Jinyu Group.
He even planned to have a post-meeting date with Lin Qiaoxia, potentially securing her in one go!
Yet, today's treatment was far worse than his previous visit.
Back then, at least he had managed to see Lin Qiaoxia in the morning.
But now, since entering Jinyu Group, he hadn't even seen Lin Qiaoxia or her secretary.
What's worse, he had drunk so much tea that he needed the restroom—and a few security guards closely followed him, their faces full of suspicion as if they worried he would cause trouble or steal something!
Damn it, is this how you treat your business partners?
After receiving such treatment, Lin Zhiping was naturally fuming.
Initially, he had convinced himself that Lin Qiaoxia was just busy and that she would come to see him as soon as she was free.
But it was already noon, and damn it, if Ms. Lin was busy outside, couldn't someone inform me? Could I go back and return on another day to talk?
What does it mean to keep me hanging like this?
The more Lin Zhiping thought about it, the angrier he got, and eventually, he walked out of the meeting room.
Immediately, a few burly security guards quickly came up and followed right beside him.
Their expressions almost blatantly showed they suspected him of wrongdoing.
Lin Zhiping inhaled deeply and said darkly, "I want to see your President Lin."
One of the guards replied gruffly, "I'm sorry, but President Lin is busy and doesn't have time to see you. If you can't wait, you might as well leave."
Lin Zhiping's eyes darted around as he asked, "Do you provide lunch here?"
"No!"
Lin Zhiping said, "Then I'll go out and buy some takeout. Do you guys want anything?"
"No need, we've just eaten," the guard replied calmly.
Lin Zhiping was almost ready to explode.
Damn it, they had time to eat outside while keeping watch over me, without even asking if I might want something? Just making me drink tea the whole time!
Lin Zhiping's forehead throbbed a few times, then after taking a deep breath, he also felt something was off with Jinyu Group's treatment of the Lin family, so he didn't dare make a scene.
Otherwise, if he were Lin Qiaoxia's boyfriend, and the guards dared treat him this way, he would have fired them all on the spot!
"Then I'll go buy it myself."
Lin Zhiping didn't say much and walked toward the exit.
Several security guards closely followed him for a while and then realized something was wrong.
Because the path he was taking led to the interior of the company, right up to Lin Qiaoxia's office as the general manager.
One of the guards' expressions changed slightly, not knowing whether Lin Zhiping had taken the wrong path or had come deliberately. He immediately stopped, reached out to stop Lin Zhiping, and said, "This isn't the way out…"
Lin Zhiping, having noticed the change in the guard's expression, took a long stride and started running toward the office, quickly reaching the door of Lin Qiaoxia's office.
He knew that if he obediently waited in the reception room for Lin Qiaoxia to receive him, he might wait a week with no hope. He could only resort to this offensive method to see if Lin Qiaoxia was indeed busy inside.
Or perhaps someone was deceiving him, and no one had informed Lin Qiaoxia of his arrival.
After being treated this way, Lin Zhiping still hoped, thinking the latter possibility was plausible.
If it was so, he definitely wanted Lin Qiaoxia to fire them all!
"Bang!"
Lin Zhiping stood at the door, panting, not daring to stop for fear of the guards dragging him away. Under the assistant's shocked expression at the doorway, he kicked open the general manager's office door.
The door was kicked open by Lin Zhiping.
Revealing the scene inside.
Lin Qiaoxia was having lunch and wasn't dealing with anything.
Upon hearing the noise, she looked up toward the door with a slightly surprised expression.
"Huff huff…" Lin Zhiping, gasping for breath, asked as the security guards approached to grab him, "President Lin, if you are here having lunch and not busy, why didn't you come to meet me? If it's about having a meal, I can go out to invite you…"
"President Lin, sorry, it was our negligence. We apologize for disturbing you…"
At that moment, several security guards also caught up and grabbed Lin Zhiping. While he struggled vigorously, they apologized to Lin Qiaoxia and tried to drag Lin Zhiping away.
"It's fine, you guys can go down."
Seeing that Lin Zhiping had come over, Lin Qiaoxia decided not to belittle him any further; it was meaningless. So she said this.
"Yes." The guards acknowledged and glared at Lin Zhiping menacingly, then left.
They knew that Lin Qiaoxia was protected by a skilled female bodyguard, so Lin Zhiping posed no threat to her.
Seeing Lin Qiaoxia let them leave, Lin Zhiping, initially desperate, suddenly felt a surge of intense excitement, and promptly said, "President Lin, I…"
Lin Qiaoxia gestured with her hand and said, "I have things to handle after lunch. Keep it brief. Why are you here today instead of Ms. Lin, who is responsible for our dealings?"
"Uh…" Lin Zhiping had not expected Lin Qiaoxia to open with such a question and immediately felt uneasy, wondering if all his assumptions were wrong.
Not daring to hesitate too long, Lin Zhiping steeled himself and said, "My cousin, she's sick and was afraid of infecting you, so she didn't come over. She sent me to discuss the forthcoming collaboration plans with you. Please have a look…"
Saying this, Lin Zhiping tried to hand over the documents he was holding to Lin Qiaoxia.
Lin Qiaoxia frowned directly, waved her hand without taking the documents from Lin Zhiping, and said impatiently, "Since Ms. Lin is ill, we'll wait until she's recovered. After all, it's her our Jinyu Group agreed to collaborate with, not with your Lin Group…"
"What?!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Zhiping was shocked, and the folder in his hands fell to the ground.
Lin Qiaoxia glanced at him and said flatly, "Don't you understand? Do you think your Lin Family is qualified to collaborate with our Jinyu Group? I agreed to the collaboration only because I had a good first impression of Qingxue. Did you think you could represent her in negotiations with me?"
Lin Qiaoxia's tone left no room for courtesy, shattering Lin Zhiping's heart.