This is not a good sign. If they came to dislike him, how would his cooperation proceed?
Would he have to find businesses again, or meet them one by one? How long would he have to stay here? A month? The provincial department store had already been sealed, and he couldn't wait that long.
So, he still wanted to strive for their cooperation and return to handle the department store matters as soon as possible.
The most pressing matter now was to prove he had no connection with the Hong Kong businessman. This was urgent.
But how could he prove it in a way that would make everyone believe him?
As Zhang Liunian pondered, he scanned the entire room. His gaze suddenly fell on a new model of a corded telephone nearby, the speakerphone type. His heart skipped a beat. Then, he noticed the Sun family, who had sat down and remained silent. Something flashed through his mind. Next, he saw Gu Fu, who was watching the unfolding drama. His mind involuntarily recalled this man's appearance and disappearance.
He remembered that in his previous life, he had come here the following year. However, at that time, the person in charge of the Gu family was Gu Sanqing. Neither Gu Fu nor his son had ever mentioned this matter, and whenever someone was about to talk about Gu Sanqing's father, they would all become very guarded.
Why was that?
And what about their earlier mention of the Hong Kong businessman easily conning the state businessman, implying there was a mole?
Although they had been implying that Zhang Liunian was the mole, he knew himself that it was impossible.
Could the mole be from Gu Fu's faction? Or Gu Fu himself? If that were the case, it would explain why no one was willing to mention Gu Sanqing's father.
He could try to provoke Gu Fu later, perhaps he could get an answer.
With a plan in mind, Zhang Liunian turned to Gu Fu and asked, "Boss Gu, are you sure you personally saw me in the crowd of Hong Kong businessmen at the time?"
Gu Fu didn't understand the meaning behind his words, but he smiled and nodded, "Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up."
Since the lie had already been told, Gu Fu naturally wouldn't say no.
Zhang Liunian wanted exactly this statement from him. Then he continued, "Since Boss Gu said he saw me and was so sure, I believe Boss Gu must have seen clearly.
Then I'd like to ask, what was the date, was it morning or afternoon, and what clothes was I wearing?"
Gu Fu hadn't expected Zhang Liunian to care about such details. He sneered inwardly, thinking Zhang Liunian's methods were too naive; he could answer such questions with his eyes closed. He then smiled and said, "You were also wearing a suit at the time. I remember the date was October 1st last year."
Zhang Liunian smiled, "That's really impossible, because at this time last year, I was still lying at home and hadn't gone out at all. If you don't believe me, I can call our village chief right now and ask him if that's true."
Having said this, he didn't wait for Gu Fu to reply. He stood up and went to find a waiter to borrow a phone, stating he was willing to pay.
The waiter naturally agreed readily and said it would be free.
Zhang Liunian had booked the entire second floor of the hotel, and that included the use of the phone. Their Pengcheng Hotel was the largest hotel in Pengcheng, and they wouldn't charge guests for using the phone.
Seeing this, the people from Gu Fu's faction immediately started talking one after another, "Anyone can find someone to put on a show!"
"Exactly, you said it was your village chief, so whatever you want him to say is up to you."
"Don't think that by pretending to find someone to speak for you, you can dispel our doubts. That's impossible."
"..."
Gu Fu listened to what his subordinates were saying to Zhang Liunian and felt that Zhang Liunian was acting like a clown. He let him be.
Zhang Liunian ignored their attitude and directly picked up the phone, dialed the number of the village's preserved vegetable factory, pressed the speakerphone, and waited for the village chief to come.
"Hello, Liunian? What do you need, Uncle?" Zhang Laoshi, at home, heard Zhang Liunian calling for him and hurried over as quickly as possible. Zhang Liunian and the others on the phone could hear his panting voice.
"Village Chief Uncle, I wanted to ask if you remember if anyone from our village went out of province last year before October 1st, or in the year before that?" Zhang Liunian deliberately didn't ask about himself, so as to prevent Gu Fu's faction from accusing them of passing secret messages.
His approach was undoubtedly correct. Even if the people from Gu Fu's faction wanted to say something else, it would be a bit difficult to speak up.
"Out of province? Last year? Except for your second brother going to university, no one from our village has gone out of province for ten years. Not even us. I remember this very clearly, because we only started going out this year without needing a letter of introduction. Last year, we still needed one. What's wrong?" Zhang Laoshi was confused, not quite understanding why Zhang Liunian asked him to take the call for such a small matter.
Zhang Liunian didn't answer immediately after hearing this. Instead, he scanned the people present who had heard the conversation.
But seeing that he remained silent, Zhang Laoshi became a little anxious. Why would the good Liunian ask such a trivial question?
"Liunian, did you encounter something outside? Why are you suddenly asking about such a small matter? Are you in some kind of trouble?"
"It's nothing, Village Chief Uncle. Thank you for going to such trouble. I think I just saw someone who looked a bit familiar, and I couldn't recall who it was, so I wanted to ask you."
"Someone familiar? It's absolutely impossible for it to be someone from our village. The only people from our village who have gone out recently are the few people you recently asked to help you manage your shop. Before that, no one had left the village, let alone gone out of province."
"..."
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Liunian looked at everyone with their varied expressions.
"Everyone heard it just now. Before last year, no one from our village had ever gone out of province." Zhang Liunian scanned the entire room, his gaze lingering on the Sun family, who had been watching the show, before settling on Gu Fu's faction.
"Who knows if you arranged for this village chief to speak for you in advance?"
"Exactly, he's your village chief, not ours."
"..."
Although Zhang Liunian knew they wouldn't easily admit his innocence, their blatant lies still opened his eyes.
"Could it be that I'm a divine predictor? I knew you would accuse me of being a Hong Kong businessman today. If so, I'd truly be a divine predictor, to be able to predict such a thing."
Zhang Liunian's words were laced with coldness, and others also found it unlikely.
They had just heard the village chief not knowing about the matter at all, and he was worried about Zhang Liunian encountering something. His tone seemed genuine. Moreover, Zhang Liunian hadn't directly asked about himself but about the village's situation.
It was impossible for Zhang Liunian to have predicted in advance that the Gu family would cause trouble and suspect him of being a mole for the Hong Kong businessmen.
So, they might have truly misunderstood him.
"Who do you think is telling the truth?"
"Have we misunderstood Boss Zhang? I think I heard the first person who answered the phone call him boss. He might also have a factory."
"I heard it too. He probably has a factory, and that phone call didn't sound staged. His Mandarin was quite rough."
"I also think it wasn't fake. Maybe Boss Gu and the others saw him incorrectly."
"One person seeing incorrectly can be understood, but a whole group seeing incorrectly, that shouldn't happen!"
"What do you know? A group of people can also call a deer a horse."
"They look like they're in cahoots. Isn't it easy for them to make trouble for a private business owner from out of province?"
"..."
Hearing the hushed conversations around him, Zhang Liunian's lips finally curved into a smile.
Although Gu Fu's faction would still try to smear him, at least others were beginning to doubt the truthfulness of the Gu family's words. Next, he just needed to find people and use magic to fight magic.
And his helpers would be the Sun family, who had been observing the situation the entire time.