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"But didn't you have a good partner before, Zhou Ran? Why don't you go find him now? Maybe he's still willing to cooperate with you. In the current situation, as long as someone is willing to cooperate with you, I think Qiangsheng Group has a chance to rise from the ashes."

Just when Gao Qilin was about to give up on finding a solution from Elder Zhong, Elder Zhong unexpectedly offered his own plan.

"Yes, how come I didn't think of that?"

Upon hearing what Elder Zhong said, Gao Qilin suddenly realized what was going on and immediately took out his phone to contact Zhou Ran.

China Gas has been a long-time partner of Qiangsheng Group. Zhou Ran has been involved in all kinds of cooperation in the past, so he should be able to lend a helping hand in this situation as well.

However, Gao Qilin knew that this kind of thing was not easy to explain over the phone, so in order to ensure that everything went smoothly, he immediately asked after the call was connected:

Do you have some time lately? I'd like to visit you.

Hearing Gao Qilin say that, Zhou Ran had a bad feeling, but after hesitating for a moment, he still spoke:

"I have some free time recently, so if you want to come, feel free to come. But remember to let me know before you come so I can make preparations."

"No need to prepare anything, as long as you're here, that's fine. If that's the case, then it's settled. I'll come visit you tomorrow morning."

When Zhou Ran agreed to meet with him, Gao Qilin appeared very excited, because he knew that as long as the other party was willing to meet and talk, the matter was already half successful.

"How's the situation? Did Zhou Ran agree?"

Although Gao Qilin appeared to be very happy, Gao Qilan and the others did not hear the contents of the phone call, so they immediately asked him about it after seeing him hang up.

“He has already agreed, and we’ve arranged to meet tomorrow morning. Let’s go out now to prepare and buy some things to visit him.”

After saying that, Gao Qilin got up and went to the market to buy some high-quality health products. In order to ensure the smooth progress of this negotiation, after buying all of these, he also specially bought some of Zhou Ran's favorite cigarettes.

After getting everything ready, Gao Qilin went to rest early to prepare for tomorrow's meeting.

"I feel that the changes are too great. Before, when we were discussing cooperation, Zhou Ran would take the initiative to come to us and visit us. Now, I have to take the initiative to visit him. I'm not used to it for a while."

On the way there, Gao Qilan couldn't help but sigh. She never imagined that after so much development, things would turn out like this.

"When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Given the current situation, it's already quite generous of Zhou Ran to even see us; there's no need to complain."

Chapter 500 Agreeing to Meet

Faced with Gao Qilan's complaints, Gao Qilin began to comfort her, fearing that she would bring a bad mood when they met, making the negotiation very difficult.

"You don't need to tell me that; I know perfectly well. What I told you earlier was just a casual remark, nothing more. Don't worry."

Upon hearing Gao Qilin's words, Gao Qilan realized that he had misunderstood her, so she quickly explained.

"Since you don't mean anything else, then don't say anything more. Just adjust your state so that you can leave a good impression when you meet them later."

After hearing what Gao Qilin said, Gao Qilan didn't say anything more and leaned back in her chair to rest.

Because they were quite far apart before, it would take a long time to reach Zhou Ran, which gave Gao Qilin and his group ample time to prepare on the way.

However, due to the long journey, Gao Qilan accidentally fell asleep on the way.

Gao Qilin didn't care about this situation because he knew that Gao Qilan had been running around for the sake of Qiangsheng Group for a long time and hadn't had a proper rest. Now that she finally had a chance to rest, she naturally wanted to cherish it.

"Wake up and get off the bus. We've arrived at our destination. If you continue to sleep, we might miss our meeting time."

Just as Gao Qilan was falling asleep, Gao Qilin immediately woke her up.

"What? We've already arrived? How did we get here so quickly?"

Upon hearing Gao Qilin's words, Gao Qilan appeared bewildered and quickly got out of the car to check the situation.

Since this was her first visit to Zhou Ran, she didn't realize that she was in his house, and her expression remained confused.

"Based on the address he gave, this should be the place. If you're worried, stay here for now, and I'll go up and ask."

Although Zhou Ran had given them the address before, Gao Qilin was still a little worried. To avoid unnecessary embarrassment, he went up to observe.

As luck would have it, Zhou Ran was also looking out the window at that moment and saw Gao Qilin's furtive behavior.

Upon seeing him like this, he immediately said:

“Just come in when you arrive. There’s no need to call me from outside. I left the door open because I heard you were coming.”

As they were talking, Zhou Ran stepped forward and opened the door, making a welcoming gesture.

Upon seeing this, Gao Qilin quickly looked behind him.

Upon seeing the situation, Gao Qilan immediately brought up all the gifts she had bought and rushed over as quickly as possible.

"Isn't this President Lan? I didn't expect you to have time to come today. You really are something, not telling me you were coming beforehand. I didn't even have time to prepare properly at home. If you see anything that's not in order when you go in, please don't be shy."

"What are you saying? We just came to see you and we won't care about anything else. Don't worry about it."

Upon hearing Zhou Ran's words, Gao Qilin immediately spoke up and handed the item from Gao Qilan's hand to him.

"These are some health supplements we saw on the road. We thought you might need them, so we bought some. We hope you don't think it's too little."

"Look at you all, you've already come all this way, and you even brought things with you. Do you think I'm an outsider?"

When Zhou Ran saw Gao Qilin come in carrying a bunch of things, she looked disgusted.

· ·······Request flowers·· ········

However, after saying that, he still took the things from Gao Qilin's hands.

"Since you've already sent it over, I'd feel a little bad if I didn't accept it. So I'll take it. But remember, don't ever give me anything like that again. Even if you do, I won't take it."

After saying that, he put the things in the room and only came out to meet Gao Qilin and the others after he had dealt with the gifts.

........ ........ ...

At this point, Gao Qilin began making small talk to build rapport with the other party. Once he felt the relationship was sufficiently established, he got straight to the point and began asking:

Have you collaborated with any other groups recently?

"Look at what you're saying, Mr. Lin. The only group I've ever cooperated with is your Qiangsheng Group. I've never cooperated with anyone else. Do you think I'm the kind of person who's fickle?"

After hearing Gao Qilin say that, Zhou Ran pretended to be very unhappy.

"Of course not, I was just asking casually. You should know the situation where we are right now. Zhao Ruilong doesn't allow anyone else to cooperate with us, and you haven't had any contact with us recently, so I'm just curious."

Although Gao Qilin only said it was a simple meeting, he knew that things were definitely not as simple as he put it.

When he saw Gao Qilin visiting him with gifts, he had already anticipated that Gao Qilin would say that, so he had prepared his words in advance.

As soon as Gao Qilin finished speaking, he immediately echoed Gao Qilin's words:

"I knew about this before; Zhao Ruilong is utterly inhuman." (Worker)

Chapter 501 Negotiations Failed

Seeing that Zhou Ran had empathized with him, Gao Qilin felt the time was right and directly explained his purpose.

"Since that's how you feel, then I'll get straight to the point. We want to continue our cooperation with you. We've been working together for so long before without any problems, and I think it should be the same this time."

After saying that, Gao Qilin looked at Zhou Ran with expectant eyes, waiting for his reply.

Zhou Ran, however, appeared bewildered and began to hesitate, no longer daring to look them in the eye.

After a short while, Gao Qilin knew that continuing to waste time here would only be a waste of the world of both sides of "883," so he spoke again:

If you have any concerns, please just say so, and we will take them into consideration.

"Yes, this isn't the first time we've worked together. You should know what kind of work ethic we have, so just tell us what you're worried about directly. There's no need to beat around the bush."

At this moment, Gao Qilin and his group looked very expectant, hoping that the other party would continue to cooperate with them.

Seeing how expectant Gao Qilin and the others were, Zhou Ran looked troubled and hesitated for a moment before revealing his concerns.

“My son recently found a more respectable job, but that job is related to Zhao Ruilong. A couple of days ago, he came to me personally and said that if we continue to cooperate with you, your son can forget about working well at that company.”

"What? He actually threatened your side? That Zhao Ruilong is such a scoundrel."

After hearing what Zhou Ran said, Gao Qilin couldn't help but complain. He never expected that Zhao Ruilong would also target other innocent people.

“Actually, if he were targeting me, it wouldn't matter to me, since we've been in the same boat for a long time. No matter what he does, I won't leave you. But now that he's trying to harm my child, I really…”

Zhou Ran stopped there, paused for a moment, then returned to his room, retrieved all the gifts Gao Qilin had taken, and said apologetically:

"I'm really sorry, it's not that I don't want to help, but the situation over there really doesn't allow it. I know this has been a big blow to you, so it's not appropriate for me to accept your things. Please take these back; you might be able to use them in the future."

Just after he finished speaking, he seemed to remember something, quickly went back to his room to search, and came out again with an envelope in a short while.

“I know you are going through a difficult time right now. This money may not be much, but it should be able to help you out of your immediate crisis. So please accept it. It is a token of my goodwill.”

"We don't need the money. Although Qiangsheng Group is currently being targeted, we haven't encountered any financial difficulties yet. We appreciate your kindness, but after thinking about it carefully, it really is our business. It would be unfair if our child were to be implicated because of us."

Gao Qilin knew that continuing the conversation would yield no results, and that there was no point in staying any longer. After exchanging a few words with the other party, he prepared to leave.

"Zhao Ruilong might come looking for trouble again in the coming days. If he does, let us know immediately, and we'll come to help."

"This whole thing started because of us; you're just someone who got caught up in it. So we'll never let you take the blame for what Zhao Ruilong caused. So you'll definitely tell us in the future."

Gao Qilan was afraid that Zhou Ran would be too embarrassed to tell them, so she repeated what Gao Qilin had just said.

"I've kept everything you said in mind. Don't worry, I'll definitely come to you if I need anything in the future. And of course, you can do the same for your side. If you need any help from me, just let me know and I'll provide assistance as soon as possible."

After exchanging pleasantries, Gao Qilin and his group left. Once back in his car, Gao Qilin was completely relieved and collapsed into the vehicle.

"How could Zhao Ruilong do this? He actually dragged other people into our mess. That's just inhuman."

After returning to the car, Gao Qilan couldn't help but complain. She felt that too many innocent people were involved in this matter, and if things continued like this, it would not be a good thing for anyone.

"There's nothing we can do. That's just Zhao Ruilong's personality. He'll stop at nothing to deal with others. All we can do is get him under control as soon as possible to prevent this from happening again."

"But so much time has passed, and we still haven't been able to control him. Do you really think we can do that with our current capabilities?"