Chapter 230 The Start of the Bidding
Shane took out the bento from the oven and said, “She’s useful to me.”
“There are a lot of people who are useful to you. Well then, about Tiffany…”
“Have you eaten yet?”
“Huh?”
“You look like you have a lot of spare time.”
Cole scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said, “Well, Mr. Fuller, good night. I’m going to do my work now.”
Before Shane could respond, Cole ended the phone call without hesitation.
He didn’t want to be sent to Africa.
Recently, a person had released videos of him sending his staff to Africa on several online video platforms. After that, a few CEOs from the same industry started to imitate his practice.
Although businesses in Africa were not as lucrative as before, it was still easy to reap some extra money by setting up a small company.
He didn’t want to be thrown there to earn extra money. He wanted to retire in River City.
Shane glanced at his phone after Cole hung up. He then picked up the bento, sat down in the living room, and turned on the TV.
Two days left until the bidding.
He didn’t know what kind of surprise would Charlotte give him this time, or perhaps, she might need his help?
It was getting more and more interesting.
He looked down at the bento in his hands.
For some unknown reason, the rice had suddenly lost its aroma.
…
Charlotte had been working overtime for two consecutive days.
She set an alarm to remind herself to go to bed at 11 pm and wake up at 6 am the next day to wash up and put on makeup.
After confirming that all the data were correct, she left home and went to the company.
There were fewer representatives on her team. Except for Zoe, there was only another intern. He wore a pair of glasses and looked quite young and shy.
“Is everything ready?” Charlotte asked.
“Ready,” the intern answered.
“I’m all set too.” Zoe took out a USB and handed it to Charlotte. “This is what you mentioned last night. The backup information that you asked me to prepare is all inside the USB.”
Charlotte took it and nodded at her. “You’ve worked hard.”
Zoe smiled and shook her head. What kind of hard work was that?
It was nothing compared to the negotiation speech that Charlotte had been painstakingly preparing for the past few days. Zoe only had to copy and paste the information into a file.
The three of them departed to their destination.
It was only seven in the morning, but a huge crowd had already arrived at the hotel lobby.
When the three of them walked into the conference room, the first people they saw were two men in suits. They looked ordinary, but the suits they wore were quite expensive.
“Ms. Emerson, this is Morgan Greendale, a budding star in the industry.” The young intern took out his notebook and said, “All of the people from their company were born with a silver spoon, and they belong to the same social circle. But they don’t have much knowledge, so there is no need to be afraid of them.”
Charlotte nodded and led the two of them to their seats.
The intern gently nudged his glasses and spoke again, “Ms. Emerson, the person dressed in a wine red suit who’s sitting opposite to us is Nicholas Lyle. He is the person in charge of his company and has a certain status in the industry. I heard that he only took part in this bidding because of NC. It’s clear that he has an ulterior motive.”
“You know them all?” Charlotte was amazed.
It would be a coincidence if he knew a group of people. But it directly proved him competent for knowing two groups of people.
And he even knew why they were here.
Although she said that she wanted to know more about the other companies, her main attention was still fixed on Jane Corporation. After all, they were their biggest opponent this time.
The young intern smiled shyly and said, “I saw a lot of people studying Jane Corporation, so I did some research on the other companies with a few close colleagues of mine instead. It’s a pity to waste human resources.”
“You did a great job. When you go back, let Zoe know your name, as well as those who researched with you. I will let her hand your names over to the human resources department and the finance department to award you all bonuses.”
“Mr. Emerson, you’re such a kind-hearted and beautiful person.”
Charlotte was speechless.
At first, she thought that this young man did a pretty good job. But when he said that, she instantly felt queasy.
She enjoyed being flattered, but his words didn’t sound like a sincere compliment in today’s society. Instead, it made her feel a little awkward.
Of course, that was only her opinion. She was still happy to be praised by others.
Eventually, people from other companies started entering the conference room too.
Among them were people from Jane Corporation.
Jane Corporation had three representatives as well. They were Rick, Kendall, and another person that Charlotte had never seen before. He should be the newly-appointed CEO or something.
Charlotte didn’t keep her eyes on anyone of them. She already knew Jane Corporation better than anyone else.
Rick, on the other hand, was stunned when he saw her. He frowned and asked the person beside him, “Why is Charlotte here?”
“Her new company is a shipping company,” Kendall answered immediately as she linked his arms in a hurry. “Rick, do you not want to see her, or are you happy to see her?”
“A shipping company… You’ve already known about this a long time ago?”
“No, I only found out recently. I didn’t think it was a big deal, so I didn’t mention it to you. You seemed to be in a bad mood during that time.”
Rick looked at Kendall in disappointment. “How can you hide such an important detail from me?”
Kendall was startled and felt wronged at that moment. “Rick, I did it for your sake. During that period of time, you were…”
“I was wondering why Shane would start a shipping subsidiary company out of the blue and send the entire business industry into chaos. It turns out that it was because Charlotte founded a shipping company. I thought that NC has been our only opponent all this time.” Rick forced a smile and said, “If we can’t take over the project this time, it means that our company will have to temporarily withdraw from Asia-Pacific. Do you understand?”
“I…” Kendall was choked on her words.
How would she know all these?
Rick took his seat and stared straight at Charlotte.
Sensing his gaze on her, Charlotte didn’t know how to react. Discreetly, she shifted her gaze to him, and the moment her eyes reached his face, her long fingers trembled slightly.
He actually looked a little worn out.
He might have put on some makeup before he came here, but even so, it failed to conceal his tiredness.
Charlotte lowered her gaze and stopped looking at him. She turned to Zoe and asked, “How many companies are still not here yet?”
“Three. It’s less than an hour away from the starting time, but Shane is still not here yet.” Zoe said.
“There’s only an hour left…”
“I’m sure Mr. Fuller knows what he’s doing.”
“I’m not worried about Shane and NC. Up until now, a total of seven companies have arrived. We only have information regarding five of them but have never even heard of the remaining two. Judging from their behavior and circumstances, they seem to be here to watch the bidding, not to take part in the bidding. So, I’m worried that one of the remaining two companies might be here to compete with NC, and if we don’t have any information about them…” Charlotte shook her head.
If something like what she described happened, the plan she had with Shane would be considered a failure.
Zoe had never expected it to be so complicated. Now that she heard what Charlotte said, she couldn’t help but bite her lip. “We…”Text © by N0ve/lDrama.Org.
“Don’t worry, the next should be two other companies. They don’t have the capability to compete with NC. One of them even has a better relationship with NC. So our biggest enemy should be Jane Corporation,” the intern suddenly spoke.
Charlotte was stunned.
Both she and Avery didn’t even have any information about them but this boy did?
“Who… are you?”
The young intern smiled at her and said, “Ms. Emerson, I’m our company’s intern, Peter Brown.”
Peter Brown.
This was such an ordinary and unremarkable name.
Charlotte felt that things weren’t as simple as they seemed. She wanted to continue asking questions, but at that exact moment, Shane had arrived.
On his sides were Christopher and Braden, like always.
Even though they might disagree a lot in person, they would still stick together like glue when they were in public.
Zoe also didn’t expect Christopher to come today. Her hands immediately grabbed on her dress. The knuckles of her fingers turned white because of her nervousness. “Why is he here…”
Charlotte stretched out her hand and held her gently. Zoe looked up in surprise but only saw Charlotte’s unflinching side profile.
Even though she didn’t look at her, she had given her infinite courage.
Almost instantly, Zoe felt her rationality restored in her mind. She controlled her heartbeat and forced herself to calm down.
When Shane took his seat, he was seated right next to Charlotte.
“How’s your sleep?” He offered her a cup of coffee.
“Not bad.” She accepted the coffee and took a sip.
Hazelnut Vanilla.
It was a flavor that she loved a lot.