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Chapter 341: Disaster for the Innocents

Chapter 341: Chapter 341: Disaster for the Innocents

Zhu Haoming and Song Lu got engaged two years ago with the original plan to get married after the Mid-Autumn Festival next year. However, due to the expectancy of a child, the wedding plan was moved to after the Spring Festival.

During the years Zhu Qianying left L City, the power structure of the Mingxuan Group underwent a complete upheaval. Similarly, the Zhu Family also experienced some earth-shaking changes.

In the past, when Zhu Qianying and her mother were still living within the Zhu Family, three of her aunts and their children seemed to be united against Zhu Qianying and her mother, taking joy in bullying and suppressing them.

The other three aunts and their children, though not necessarily close in their relationships, at least appeared to be harmonious on the surface.

However, this harmony was completely shattered after Zhu Junwei unexpectedly returned from abroad, taking over as the Chairman and President of the Mingxuan Group.

Originally, out of Zhu Zhizhou’s ten children, aside from Zhu Qianying, her sister and Zhu Junwei; the remaining seven held various positions within the Mingxuan Group.

However, within the half year of Zhu Junwei’s return, aside from Zhu Junwei and his two sisters from the same parents, all the other four left the Mingxuan Group under different pretexts and went on their own paths.

People outside speculated that Zhu Junwei wanted to monopolize the Mingxuan Group, or at the very least, as the legitimate son of the main wife, drive out the four illegitimate children of Zhu Zhizhou.

Zhu Haoming, Fang Caiping’s son, not long after leaving Mingxuan, established his own institution with his mother Fang Caiping. Fang Caiping’s previous institution had been sold during Mingxuan Group’s financial struggles.

Her pair of children, with son Zhu Haoming three years older than Zhu Qianying and a daughter who married a rich second-generation from another place three years prior, was a year older than Zhu Qianying.

Two years ago, Zhu Haoming got engaged to Miss Song from the Song Family, Song Lu. After that, he basically handed over the full authority of the training institution to Fang Caiping and took up the position of General Manager in the Song Corporation, assisting his father-in-law and their business with his fiancée, Song Lu.

Half a year ago, he and Song Lu officially registered their marriage. Song Lu’s father then gradually started to transfer real power to them.

Zhu Haoming proved to be quite capable. During the past half year, together with Song Lu, they managed the Song Corporation very effectively.

However, early this morning, before they both could return to Song Corporation, they received a call from the secretary. The application for the project that they had submitted to the government got rejected.

This project was one where Song Corporation had invested heavily in terms of human and material resources. It had progressed smoothly through the approval process and they believed it to be a sure thing. However, at the last minute, they were informed that the government had temporarily reduced the number of approvals for such projects, and unluckily, the Song Corporation’s project was among those cut back.

Upon receiving this news, Song Lu and Zhu Haoming were left dumbfounded, trying to make a flurry of calls asking for help, only to be met with rejection.

Song Lu and Zhu Haoming, who were university classmates, had become lovers three years ago, got engaged two years ago, and obtained their marriage certificate half a year ago. In order to gain her father’s trust and acceptance of Zhu Haoming, Song Lu had also put in a lot of effort.

The current project, from concept to all the preliminary work, was largely overseen by her and Zhu Haoming. It was because of this project that her father began to trust Zhu Haoming and gradually transferred a lot of actual power to him.

If this project were to fail, not only would Song Corporation take a major hit, but Zhu Haoming’s position within the Song Family and the company would also be undermined.

"Let’s stop making calls for now! You go back to the company and take care of other matters first, I will personally visit the office, maybe I can find out something."

Zhu Haoming seemingly understood the implications of the situation. In the end, he decided not to make the call for help immediately, instead planning to investigate further before making a decision.

"Mr. Zhu, it’s not that we didn’t approve it, but your project just happens to be on the cutback list."

The head of the Approval Department was quite polite when he met Zhu Haoming, but his words left no room for negotiation.

Zhu Haoming tried every trick in the book for half a day without any signs of the man budging. Eventually, out of options, Zhu Haoming had no choice but to leave dispiritedly.

As he was leaving, he ran into the deputy head of the department. Zhu Haoming had dealt with him a few times before and they even had a few meals together, so they had some acquaintance. However, the deputy head was pretty close to Song Lu’s father.

"Mr. Zhu, it’s been a while, would you like to come in for some tea?"

Zhu Haoming, who was originally very disappointed, felt a glimmer of hope after hearing this.

As expected, after the deputy handed him the tea, he casually mentioned, "Actually, the overall approval volume for this project has not been reduced. It’s just that in addition to your Song Corporation, there’s another more powerful enterprise applying for the same project."

This answer took Zhu Haoming by surprise as he and Song Lu had made numerous assumptions but never considered this possibility.

"Deputy Guan, I’m not being arrogant but, as far as this project is concerned, in L City currently, there should be no enterprise with more advantage than our Song Corporation."

Deputy Guan nodded, "Right, that was the case until yesterday."

Since the other party had made it so clear, Zhu Haoming did not beat around the bush, "Deputy Guan, which enterprise are you referring to that has more power?"

Among the ten families on L City’s Rich List, each family focused on different industries. That is why Zhu Haoming had such confidence.

"Yanhuang Group!"

The answer given by Deputy Guan caused Zhu Haoming’s hand to tremble, spilling tea all over the floor.

"Yanhuang? How is that possible?"

To Zhu Haoming’s knowledge, Yanhuang Group had never been involved in related projects. There was no previous indication that Yanhuang wanted to dip its toes into this industry to take a share of the pie. Zhu Haoming was aware of his position. He knew very well that while this project was a matter of life and death for Song Corporation, it was insignificant to Yanhuang Group.>

"I’m not sure about the specifics!" After Deputy Guan gave him the most critical information, he refused to say anything more.

Zhu Haoming left Deputy Guan’s office and drove straight to Yanhuang Group.

If his guess was correct, Yanhuang was not interested in this project at all. The sudden involvement was clearly targeted at him, rather than Song Corporation.

The recent string of setbacks faced by the Zhu family and the Mingxuan Group were rumored to be the doing of the Young Master Yanhuang. Initially, Zhu Haoming dismissed these theories.

But at this moment, he believed them!

It seemed that Young Master Yanhuang indeed planned to take action against the Zhu family, and he, as a member of the Zhu family, was also affected.

"Mr. Zhu, Young Master Yan is in a meeting!" Upon receiving his business card, the front desk receptionist at Yanhuang Group responded.