He Zhao watched as the water deliveryman naturally placed the water on the ground. Without searching for a dispenser, he directly handed He Zhao a wallet and said, "Boss, this is your change!"
He hadn't spent a single cent, yet he had received a wallet. It was quite interesting.
He Zhao remained silent, watching the deliveryman leave. He then weighed the wallet and felt something heavy inside. Upon opening it, he discovered a compact mobile phone.
He Zhao unlocked the phone and fiddled with it for a while. He found that the phone was fully charged, even had a SIM card installed, and contained a pre-saved phone number with the words "Call this number" written on it.
After hesitating on the sofa for a good while, He Zhao finally gritted his teeth and dialed the number. After a few rings, he heard a slightly lazy voice say, "Mr. He, have you finally made your decision?"
"Who are you?" He Zhao asked directly.
"I am the person you wanted to see but couldn't, the one who caused your current predicament, and also the one who can save you from suffering and help you regain everything you deserve!" the other party said with a smile. He Zhao let out a wry smile; it was exactly as he had guessed.
"So it's Boss Huang. I didn't expect we'd be talking like this." That's right, the person He Zhao was speaking with was Huang He himself.
"Yes, Mr. He, what have you decided?" Huang He asked.
"What can I get, and what do you want?" He Zhao countered without hesitation.
"I want the identity of the mastermind. As for what you can get, it depends on the accuracy of the information and intelligence you provide," Huang He said calmly.
"I see..." He Zhao pondered for a moment. "I don't know much, but I have two pieces of crucial intelligence here. If Mr. Huang has sufficient resources, perhaps the truth of the matter can be pieced together!"
"But I don't know if you will keep your promise! Can you give me proof?"
"Besides me, do you have any other options?" Huang He smiled slightly. "Putting aside other things, you can look into my reputation in the industry. Although I've dealt with many opponents, I've always kept my word. For you, I wouldn't jeopardize the reputation I've built over many years."
"Understood!" He Zhao sighed. This was a case of being at the mercy of others. He truly had only Huang He as his last hope. He Zhao then said, "I have two pieces of intelligence. One is that the chairman has always had a lifelong ambition: to become the president of the World Bank."
"And next year happens to be the year of the World Bank's election cycle, with the president's position changing in April. The chairman has been actively pursuing this. The day the chairman gave me the assignment, he privately promised me that if this matter is successful, he can advance further and become the World Bank president!" He Zhao said.
"The second is that the chairman instructed me to find a way to retrieve all information related to Jiangnan Optoelectronics and Jiangnan Servers while searching for Jiangnan Group's data. Especially the addresses, company structures, employee lists, technology, and patent lists of these two companies. Most importantly, I need to find a way to get the technology related to storage chips!"
He Zhao stated frankly, his attitude extremely serious. He even revealed many details, including the chairman's various expressions, his usual preferences, habits, and so on.
Clearly, He Zhao was very angry about the chairman's decisive abandonment of him, feeling a sense of betrayal. That's why he didn't hesitate to completely sell out his chairman.
After all, the chairman himself would never have imagined that Huang He would cooperate with the person who had just betrayed him, falling into a mental trap.
"I see!" Huang He said after listening. He knew that this communication was correct. He now had a basic understanding of the situation and was waiting to dispatch his people to specifically investigate some intelligence to verify this information.
"Where is my compensation?" He Zhao asked impatiently.
"You've given me two pieces of intelligence, and I'll give you two choices!" Huang He said. "First, I'll give you a large sum of money, around one million. I won't ask what you do with it."
"Second, I plan to establish a financial consulting firm, which may also evolve into a financial institution in the future. You can anonymously join this firm first and receive a fixed monthly salary. After a few years, once the situation calms down, you can become one of the senior executives of this institution!"
"I want to return to the banking system, is that possible?" He Zhao asked.
"I can help you, but you know yourself that with the reputation you've now acquired, which state-owned bank in China would hire you? If you don't mind working for foreign banks, I can recommend a few," Huang He said.
"Forget it, I understand!" He Zhao said with a wry smile. He knew that returning to the system was basically impossible, but he couldn't accept it. He had worked hard for most of his life and reached this position, only to be back to square one overnight.
Fortunately, he still had two options. He Zhao definitely wouldn't choose the million in cash because he had his own money; he needed an opportunity to make a comeback.
"I'll work with you!" He Zhao said.
"Very good. Then find an opportunity to come to Wenzhou, and I'll send someone to pick you up!" Huang He said.
"Do you really trust me that much?" He Zhao asked, somewhat surprised. "Aren't you afraid I'll betray you or scheme against you?"
"I am your only chance. Would you destroy your last remaining opportunity?" Huang He's words made He Zhao smile wryly. That's right, he wouldn't mess up this opportunity again.
"And once you follow me, you'll know that although my methods can be ruthless, I have always been just and righteous to my own people. I, Huang He, never do things like giving subordinates tasks and then throwing them out to take the blame!" Huang He said righteously, completely forgetting that he had just sacrificed a dozen operators to apologize and save face not long ago.
After all, capitalists' mouths are for lying; whoever believes them is a fool.
Setting aside He Zhao's affairs, upon receiving the intelligence from him, Huang He immediately issued a series of instructions and began targeted intelligence investigations, focusing on several individuals and entities.
Indeed, with accurate targets, everything became clearer. These people probably never imagined that Huang He could so quickly uncover the truth, clear away the fog, and find their whereabouts. Therefore, Huang He only put in a little effort to make the truth gradually become clearer.
"Boss, we found a way to get the nomination list for the new World Bank president nominated by the US President. We indeed found this president's name. However, this is just a nomination list, not an actual nomination. So, it's estimated that the chairman will only have a chance to get this nomination after successfully completing the matter!"
"In addition, we discovered that the chairman's name was added to the nomination list ten days ago. This was precisely seven days after the establishment of our China Technology Industry Alliance. One day earlier, the presidents of HSBC Bank USA, Citibank, Hewlett-Packard Compaq, Kingston, and the president of Samsung Electronics' US region met with the President at a White House banquet and held a private meeting for an hour. Although what they discussed is unclear, the very next day, the chairman appeared on the nomination list."
"So, the mastermind this time is not us Chinese, but four American companies working together to deal with me!" Huang He's expression changed. No wonder he had been struggling domestically, even doubting the integrity of some prominent figures, yet found nothing.
Who could have imagined that this challenge originating from GH was actually the work of foreign powers?
No wonder it was so difficult for Huang He to uncover the truth of the matter. After all, ordinary people would never think in that direction.
However, now that the intelligence was laid out, the facts would not be wrong. Huang He had even roughly outlined the entire sequence of events.
The cause of the entire incident should be attributed to a few months ago when Huang He led Jiangnan Servers to aggressively compete in the American market, especially by snatching several hundred million dollars in orders, which greatly angered Hewlett-Packard Compaq, the king of the American server industry.
From that time on, it was likely that this company had set its sights on him, wanting to secretly cause trouble for him.
The reason for the four companies joining forces was probably the founding conference of the China Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance held more than half a month ago. After all, at the end of the conference, Huang He arrogantly showcased his company's storage chip technology to the public. This technology was undoubtedly the most advanced and top-tier technology in the world.
It was likely that once this technology fell into foreign eyes, they were all stunned. Whether this technology was real or not, they only needed to find a way to obtain a Jiangnan Group storage server and conduct an experiment to clarify everything.
Thus, these four mutually interested parties came together.
Hewlett-Packard Compaq is a server manufacturing company and has storage server business.
Kingston is the king of the memory module industry.
Samsung Electronics also has significant interests in memory.
Although HSBC Bank may not have direct conflicts of interest, banks naturally eye all profitable opportunities worldwide. Now that there was an opportunity to take a big bite out of Jiangnan Group, they naturally wouldn't miss it.
Moreover, the two products that HSBC Bank and Boss Ma had jointly developed had Jiangnan Group as their biggest competitor. If they could take down Jiangnan Mall with this opportunity, then everything would be smooth sailing, and their development would have no obstacles.