Chapter 26: The Zhang Family of Suzhou

  Zhang Min's seventh uncle stood by and nodded, smiling somewhat relieved: "The girl is not bad, let's call the old man first, with the old man's temper, Zhou Jie will probably be in trouble..."

  "Ring ring ring!" Seventh Uncle's mobile phone rang.

  "Hey, oh! Alright." Seventh Uncle said a few words and his face turned serious, he said to Zhang Min: "The old master is going to hold a family meeting in five minutes, you're attending too."

  "What? What's going on? Is Grandfather Zhang really going to make an appearance?" Zhang Mian took a deep breath upon hearing this, as Zhang Kechang, the old master of the Zhang family, rarely presided over family meetings. Whenever he did, it meant that something big was happening in the family.

  "I'm not clear either." Seventh Uncle shook his head, wryly smiled and said: "Go to the office quickly and turn on the computer. If you're late, you'll be scolded by the old man. Today is your first time attending an internal meeting, speak less and listen more." Seventh Uncle looked at Zhang Min with profound meaning in his eyes before turning around and leaving.

  "Go and report the losses at tonight's casino to my office, no need for specific numbers! Hurry up!" Zhang Min instructed another staff member with a few words, then turned around and went into her own office.

  The tycoon's efficiency was very fast, and a few minutes later, a secretary walked into Zhang Min's office and handed her a printed form.

  "What? Actually 2.2 billion!" Zhang Min was worried about how to explain today's loss, and when she saw the number on the form, her eyes almost popped out.

  The female secretary on the side also looked somewhat uneasy: "Director Zhang, this doesn't even include the compensation for the players. If we add that in, it's probably close to 300 million already."

  Zhang Min's finger joints had already turned white from gripping the schedule, no matter what the reason was, as long as there were such huge losses during her shift, she must take responsibility!

  "Alright, you can go now." Zhang Min crumpled the form into a ball and tossed it into the air. With that, her reputation as the "Jade-faced Fox" of Suzhou's business circle was completely ruined, and she might even lose her position as general manager of the wealthy tycoon. All of this was thanks to Zhou Jie and Lu Xiaoqian.

  Zhang Min had only attended a few external family meetings, and these external meetings were usually just announcements of personnel appointments that had been arranged in advance. But today, the old man unexpectedly allowed her to attend an internal meeting, which seemed to reveal some information - she was going to be reused, because only internal meetings involved discussions about the direction and decision-making of the family, and they all concerned the family's secrets. However, it just so happened that something had gone wrong with the wealthy client she was in charge of today, and Zhang Min rubbed her temples, feeling a mix of sadness and joy.

  "Zhōu Jié! Lù Xiǎo Qiān!" Zhang Mǐn gritted her silver teeth and angrily opened the family's exclusive video software.

  "Lao Qi, your uncle Su's favorite casino was actually shut down?" The video conference hadn't started yet, and several uncles from different families were chatting.

  "What kind of gambler am I, Second Brother, you're the strategist, think of a way to help me deal with Old Master's anger later." In the video, Seventh Uncle was complaining to a horse-faced man with long hair.

  "Huh? Minmin you're here? Quickly tell me, who exactly swept away the Zhang family's property?" A middle-aged man with a sinister appearance smiled at the video.

  Zhang Min first greeted a few of her uncles before beginning to recount the events of the evening...

  "What? That bastard Zhou Jie! I'll wipe him out tonight!" The ugly middle-aged man slammed his fist on the table.

  "Zhang Jun! Who do you want to destroy?" A majestic voice came from the computer, followed by an old man with white hair and a youthful face, who appeared at the top of Zhang Min's video. He was the helmsman of the Zhang family, Zhang Kechang.

  "Dad!"

  "Grandpa!"

  The dozen or so people in the video all waved at the elderly man.

  "Well, I suppose everyone who can make it is here." Old Master Zhang smiled and nodded, turning his head to look at Zhang Jun: "Old Five, what's going on with you?"

  "Old, old dad." At this time, Zhang Jun was timid and didn't know what to say, his facial expression looked like a mouse seeing a cat, the arrogant expression from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

  "Good for nothing! All day long, all you know is fighting and killing. You're already in your fifties and yet your cultivation hasn't made any progress!" Old Man Zhang's anger grew as he spoke.

  "Old man, Fifth Brother is not causing trouble this time." Zhang Wei, the second son of the Zhang family and their "military advisor", recounted what had happened with the wealthy old man.

  "Oh? Minmin, is this really true?" Old Master Zhang's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness.

  "Well, it just happened ten minutes ago. This time our big boss lost about 300 million." Zhang Mian replied somewhat nervously.

  "What do you think, Old Seven?" Zhang Lao Ye Zi turned his head around, the casino was in charge of Zhang Jia's Old Seven.

  "Today we're done for! We found out too late! A few days ago, I asked someone to go to Jay Chou's casino to sweep the floor, but unexpectedly this kid actually cracked the jackpot rule of the Big Rich Tiger machine, and suddenly made us lose so much. This is all my fault, it has nothing to do with Minmin." Seventh Uncle looked ashamed.

  Old Zhang furrowed his brow: "What's the origin of that Zhou Jie? I've never heard of him, how do you see this matter, Minmin?"

  "Zhou Jie is a local gang leader in Gusu, who has made a lot of black money over the years through various means and has also started a casino business like us. He doesn't have any powerful backing, but..." Zhang Min said, furrowing her eyebrows at the end.

  "What's wrong?" Old Zhang's eyes lit up, he valued this granddaughter very much.

  "I think Zhou Jie is a clever person to have mixed it up to this point, how could he make such a big deal out of things? Provoking us Zhang family, for a small-time hoodlum like him, there's no benefit at all. Moreover, he chose to find an incompetent rich second-generation to stir up trouble and even let his bodyguard protect that rich second-generation, such provocation is very unreasonable. He could have secretly operated these things in the dark, making us suffer more losses. There seems to be something fishy going on here." Zhang Min expressed her doubts.

  "I also feel that there is a problem. I have had contact with Jay Chou, he shouldn't be so stupid." Zhang Jia's second son, Zhang Wei, is an intelligent and insightful person.

  Several other uncles also nodded hastily, apparently not believing that Zhou Jie would bring fire upon himself.

  Mr. Zhang looked at Zhang Min with a relieved expression, then fell silent for a moment before smiling and saying: "This matter is not the fault of Minmin or Old Seventh. And these are all trivial matters. Let's talk about today's family meeting first. Second Brother, you speak."

  "Did everyone watch tonight's evening news?"

  The Zhang family shook their heads upon hearing this, each one busy to death with no time to watch TV.

  "Today's evening news broke out a shocking message." Zhang Wei paused for dramatic effect, looking at the expressions of everyone: "Gusu Sun's refreshing air conditioner has invented a new product, this product is far more energy-efficient than our Sea God Son's product..."

  "Ah!" Just as Zhang Wei finished speaking, the core members of the Zhang family were all shocked.

  "How is this possible? I remember Qing Xiang was a small company!"

  "Ah! I remember it was a refreshing technician who pulled me into the Ocean's Son!"

  "This is going to be a problem, we've invested over 10 billion in this new project!"

  "Our Zhang family's main income comes from electronics, and we have a monopoly on the air conditioner market. Our Zhang family's Hai Shen Zhi Zi..."

  The Zhang family is in a mess, although they come from a big family, but their birth doesn't represent their IQ.

  "Second Uncle! Is the news really reliable?" Zhang Min was the first to start rational thinking.

  "It's absolutely reliable, now the State Council has begun to attach importance to the development of this new product, and even started negotiating with them to help them quickly open up the domestic market, and there will be many preferential policies." Zhang Wei said solemnly.

  Old Master Zhang, who had been silent on the side, took a deep look at Zhang Min, first nodding his head in secret, and then sighing. A family doesn't fear difficulties, but fears having no talent; Zhang Min is indeed talented, unfortunately she's a woman. Old Master Zhang looked at his descendants on the computer screen, shaking his head in disappointment, perhaps they're excellent, but still not enough.

  The people of the Zhang family weren't all just freeloaders, and soon someone started researching countermeasures, exchanging opinions with each other. This was a rule set by Old Man Zhang, where anyone could speak freely during family meetings, but in the end, he would make the final decision.

  "Alright, does anyone have a good solution?" Old Man Zhang had been listening for half the day and still hadn't figured out what was going on. He felt even more disappointed in his heart, and now he was asking this question, which made him feel a bit childish even to himself.

  This sentence made everyone present speechless, and all eyes were fixed on the old man at the top of the video. This kind of thing is a matter of family fate, and no one dares to speak rashly. If something goes wrong with Haiyang's son, the Zhang family will be finished.

  "Alas!" This time Old Man Zhang let out a deep sigh, although he clearly knew what the outcome would be after asking, it was hard for him to avoid feeling disappointed.

  "I feel like we can now strike at the Sun family and force..." Zhang Wei, as the strategist of the Zhang family, still had some skills.

  Someone expressed their opinion, and several other capable members of the Zhang family began to take turns expressing their own opinions. Unfortunately, now that things have come to this pass, the Zhang family's children can't think of a very good countermeasure for the time being.

  "Alright!" Old Man Zhang slapped the table, his expression disappointed to the extreme: "Second Son, you and Minmin decide! If it can't be settled, call your Second Grandfather on the phone!" After that, Old Man Zhang left the screen.