The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

A few days later, one morning.

The top floor of the Sinian Group building, in the president's office.

On the desk, a steaming cup of coffee is emitting wisps of white mist.

A slender, fair hand landed beside the coffee cup, its fingertips gently tapping the desk.

The computer screen displays the interface of a meeting software.

"Director Dai, how is the third round of negotiations for the acquisition of the Armerson Group progressing?"

"Reporting to Mr. Xu, there has been no substantial breakthrough yet."

The man on the other end of the video conference spoke respectfully, his tone tinged with nervousness.

Xu Xi rubbed her temples.

"Is it a matter of money? After all, Armaison is the leading cross-border e-commerce company in North America, so it's normal for them to ask for a higher price. I'll allow you to increase the acquisition budget by 10%."

"It's not a budget issue, Mr. Xu."

The man hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"In the last fiscal year, after our group deepened its presence in the North American market, Armaison's market value shrank to one-tenth of its peak, which is far below the acquisition price we are currently offering."

"But Armaison Group still insists on acquiring the company for three trillion dollars, which even exceeds their peak market value."

"Furthermore, their board members have been lobbying North American governments to legislate against our further expansion in the North American market."

"I suspect that Armaison Group has no intention of being acquired at all, but is just using this opportunity to negotiate with us to buy time, hoping to drive us out of the North American market through the enactment of the new bill."

"Mr. Xu, as the business president for North America, I have been operating in North America for many years and have unique insights into the local market environment. I dare to suggest that we stop the acquisition plan and instead expand in all directions to drive Armerson Group out of the market."

"I have already instructed them to accept the acquisition and have collected records of the other party's tax evasion in multiple countries, as well as evidence of crimes committed by the board members. Even without the acquisition, I am confident that I can bankrupt the Peter Amassen Group completely before the end of the second quarter of this year."

Xu Xi picked up her coffee and took a small sip.

"No need, Director Dai. The acquisition plan remains unchanged. We can allow the other party to hold 20% of the shares in our North American branch."

"But Mr. Xu, we can clearly bring down Amassen completely, so why keep giving them concessions?"

Director Dai's voice was filled with confusion.

Xu Xi tapped the table lightly with her fingertips and spoke slowly.

"Leave a way out for others. Armaison Group has tens of thousands of employees in North America. If we ruin them, it means tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs."

"I don't want our progress to be built on the displacement of others."

Director Dai remained silent for a while.

"Okay, I understand, Mr. Xu."

Just then, the office door was suddenly pushed open with a "bang".

"Xi Bao, something terrible has happened!"

Wen Yao barged in, looking flustered.

Xu Xi frowned, made a shushing gesture, and pointed to her computer screen, indicating that she was still in a meeting.

Wen Yao ignored her actions, walked straight to her, and placed a tablet with a lit screen on the desk.

Upon seeing the above content, Xu Xi's pretty face turned deathly pale.

She composed herself, forcing herself to remain calm, and spoke to Director Dai on the other end of the conference room.

"Director Dai, let's stop here for today. Please report back to me if there are any new developments."

"Okay, Mr. Xu."

After hanging up the meeting, Xu Xi frowned and looked at Wen Yao.

"Who did this?"

Wen Yao shook her head.

"We don't know yet. Shuchang has already led the people from the information department to investigate."

"Have the public relations department contact the relevant video platforms to immediately block the spread of related information."

"The public relations department has done its best. The other party's actions are clearly organized, premeditated, and planned. It has been confirmed that there are more than 10,000 self-media accounts spreading this information, and their IP addresses are all different. The speed of manual review and banning is simply not keeping up with the speed of new account creation."

Xu Xi's expression turned serious as she pondered for a moment.

"Help me find Director Li of the Cyber ​​Security Bureau and ask him to contact these content platforms and block the information upload channels based on keywords."

"it is good."

......

Meanwhile, inside the villa.

Xu Nian was lying on the tatami in the cat room, waving a cat toy and playing with Mai Mai.

Meow~

Mai Mai suddenly sprang up and jumped from the cat tree onto the man's chest with a dull thud.

"Thump!"

"Oh my god!"

Xu Nian gasped, her brows furrowing in pain, and flicked the little guy's head.

"Take it easy, you little devil. Don't you know your own limitations?"

Meow~

Mai Mai let out a soft cry, lowered her head, and stuck out her pink little tongue to lick the man's cheek.

Eating the most expensive and best cat food every day, and with Xu Nian feeding it cat treats and snacks whenever she has free time, Mai Mai's weight is increasing rapidly and its size is getting bigger and bigger.

If Xu Nian's physical condition were even slightly weaker, that blow would have resulted in bruises at best, and fractures at worst.

Mai Mai seemed to realize this, and it meowed softly, as if expressing its apology to the man.

Xu Nian helplessly reached out and rubbed its cat's head.

"Alright, alright, get up. Your sister is about to get off work, I need to go pick her up and take her home."

Meow~

Mai Mai wagged her tail, jumped off the man, walked to the cat bed on the windowsill, yawned, and curled up to bask in the sun.

Aren't you going to see me off?

Xu Nian's lips twitched.

It's worth noting that every time Xu Xi leaves the house, this orange cat follows her to the door, watching her leave with reluctance.

Meow~

Mai Mai licked the pink paw pads on her cat paws and let out a lazy meow.

"You silly cat, I've spoiled you for nothing!"

Xu Nian flicked its little head in annoyance.

Just then, his phone rang suddenly.

I picked it up and saw that it was a call from Xu Xi.

"Brother, where are you now?"

There was a hint of tension and fatigue in her voice.

"I'm at home."

Xu Nian glanced at the time.

"You're almost off work, right? I'm coming out to pick you up now."

Xu Xi remained silent for a while.

"No need, brother, you rest at home. I'll take Yao Yao's car back."

"Okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Xu Nian and Mai Mai played for a while before going downstairs to the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

Since we don't need to go out to pick up Xiaoxi today, we can use the saved time to make her something delicious.

He took a whole chicken out of the refrigerator, rubbed it with seasoning, and planned to make a spicy chicken dish.

More than an hour later, a rich aroma of food wafted out of the kitchen.

The electronic lock on the downstairs door made a turning sound.

"You're back, Little Creek."

Xu Nian went downstairs, took off the girl's coat, and hung it on the clothes rack by the door.

Instead of rushing into the man's arms for a loving hug as usual, Xu Xi frowned and reached out her small hands to search the man's body.

"Brother, did you go online today?"

"no."

Xu Nian scratched her head: "After I washed the blankets today, I played with Mai Mai and didn't have time to watch videos."

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl pulled out the phone from the man's pocket.

Immediately afterwards, her fingers flew across the screen, uninstalling all video apps on her phone and blocking all news media.

After doing all this, Xu Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brother, don't go online for the next few days."

"What's wrong?"

Xu Nian asked in confusion.

"Recently, a hacker created a virus that is spreading online. If you are not careful, you may be infected and have money stolen from your mobile phone account."

"My secret stash of money is all here with you, so you'd better keep a close eye on it and make sure it's not lost."

Xu Xi forced a smile.

"Okay, I understand."

Xu Nian had no doubts and nodded in agreement.