My Multiple Identities Revealed After Marrying the Bigshot
Chapter 296: Bad Reputation in Chengzhou

Chapter 296: Chapter 296: Bad Reputation in Chengzhou

While watching, I noticed Cao Zhijie helping a limping Zhou Xueyi and quickly got out of the car.

"Chairman Zhou, what happened to you..." I knew it was about investment discussions, but anyone who didn’t know would think it was a fight.

It was an internet cafe, not a battlefield.

How could someone go in fine and come out limping?

Zhou Xueyi was now able to speak normally but was too lazy to talk and sat silently in the car.

The driver then hurriedly got back in too.

Once Cao Zhijie was in the car as well, the driver started the vehicle and prepared to leave, but then he heard Zhou Xueyi say, "Go to the hospital."

He had fallen so severely that he needed to check it with an X-ray at the hospital.

"Yes," the driver didn’t ask further and quickly set off for the hospital.

Cao Zhijie asked Zhou Xueyi, "Chairman Zhou, why did you decide not to invest in them after all?"

Zhou Xueyi snorted coldly, "Just look at that company, does it seem serious to you?"

Cao Zhijie: "..."

"Do you mean... their office?" Cao Zhijie guessed.

Zhou Xueyi immediately said, "Look at their office location, is that a joke? Which reputable company has their office in a private internet room above a cafe?"

"Lu Youxi just said they didn’t have money to move to a proper office, but they’ve already partnered with Chengzhou and made quite a bit, so why do they still have no money? And they’re waiting for my investment to move offices?" Zhou Xueyi was fuming, the little tricks up Lu Youxi’s sleeves couldn’t possibly escape his notice.

"I think she just wants to deceive me into investing first, get the money and then see. They won’t move offices. She’s about to shut down the business and run away, what office to move?" Zhou Xueyi scoffed coldly, "You see how messy their office is? Not to mention it’s inside an internet cafe, but as soon as you step into their office, it’s all food smells. Is that a place for serious office work?"

"I had tested them before by asking if the noisy internet cafe downstairs disturbed their work," Zhou Xueyi said coldly, "And they said it didn’t. How could it not?"

"So, I suspect Little Pink Book wasn’t really developed by them. It’s not certain whether they stole it from someone or used some other means, or maybe someone else helped them make it," Zhou Xueyi commented.

Cao Zhijie had an epiphany, "No wonder you were asking them for some of the development process."

Zhou Xueyi nodded, "I just wanted to see if they could produce it. If it was stolen or someone else helped make it, there’s no way they could produce it."

"Even when I only wanted a part of it, they couldn’t produce it," Zhou Xueyi said coldly. "This proves that Little Pink Book isn’t something they could have developed on their own."

"If that’s the case, why should I invest? Wait to be duped?" Zhou Xueyi laughed coldly, "If Chengzhou wants to invest, let them go ahead."

Zhou Xueyi narrowed his eyes, a fledgling plan forming in his brain.

He told Cao Zhijie, "Go and check who Ji Deyi and Pei Jingyuan met with during the development of Little Pink Book, especially those related to technology."

"Yes," Cao Zhijie complied.

That evening, when Lu Youxi met with Zhou Shuyan, she told him about Zhou Xueyi’s unusual behavior in the afternoon.

Zhou Shuyan, having heard it, really couldn’t figure out what Zhou Xueyi had concocted in his head, and could only say, "Let him be, who knows what he’s fantasized again."

Lu Youxi couldn’t help but ask, "Does Zhou Xueyi have a bad reputation at Chengzhou?"

"Indeed, not a good one," Zhou Shuyan nodded, "He’s known for having grand ambitions but little talent, and for being overly clever and self-righteous. He often does things that he thinks are excellent but actually leave people speechless."

Lu Youxi: "...From what you’re saying, it sounds like you know him quite well?"

Zhou Shuyan paused for a moment, and explained, "He’s kind of a celebrity in our company, ask any ordinary staff member, they all know about him."

"It seems he really is particularly incompetent, if the whole company knows," Lu Youxi couldn’t help but say.

Zhou Shuyan: "..."

As Zhou Shuyan had said, three days later, Chengzhou Technology contacted Lu Youxi to discuss a deeper collaboration.

So, a meeting time was agreed upon, and Lu Youxi, along with Pei Jingyuan and Ji Deyi, went to Chengzhou Technology.

To talk with Xiang Shihong and others.

This meeting progressed very well, Chengzhou offered good terms, and didn’t ask for a large share in ownership.

As Zhou Shuyan said, it was indeed just a simple investment, granting Little Pink Book complete independence and autonomy.

The two sides discussed the specific content of their deep cooperation moving forward.

These details were definitely not something that could be completed in one day.

Once everything was negotiated, and every detail had to be reflected in the contract, in black and white.

Only after Chengzhou prepared the contract could they officially sign it.

That day, Cao Zhijie came to Zhou Xueyi’s office.

"Chairman Zhou, I’ve looked into that matter about Little Pink Book that you asked me to," Cao Zhijie stood in front of Zhou Xueyi’s desk and handed him a folder.

"You were right," Cao Zhijie said somewhat excitedly, his face lit up with the joy of someone else’s misfortune, "It seems that Little Pink Book might not really have been developed by Lu Youxi’s team. The real person behind Little Pink Book is a professor from Jing University named Zhang Xucheng. Zhang Xucheng also happens to be Ji Deyi’s teacher."

"Oh? So Zhang Xucheng made it and then gave it to Ji Deyi? Unlikely, right? He’s a professor, not a fool." Zhou Xueyi frowned, "Or did Ji Deyi steal it? But if Little Pink Book was released, Zhang Xucheng should have seen it."

Cao Zhijie shook his head, saying, "During the development of Little Pink Book, Ji Deyi almost visited Zhang Xucheng daily with questions. So, it’s my suspicion that Zhang Xucheng doesn’t know it was his own work, he may not even realize what he has created, believing he is simply answering the questions of a keen and studious student, and was very pleased to do so."

"Ji Deyi and Pei Jingyuan actually only have a bit of basic knowledge. As for more advanced aspects, they can’t handle them. So, they treated those issues like a problem set and asked Zhang Xucheng about them, and once Zhang Xucheng solved them, they applied his solutions directly in Little Pink Book," Cao Zhijie explained.

"They are indeed a bit clever," Zhou Xueyi laughed coldly, "to have developed it in such a way."

"You say, if Zhang Xucheng found out..."

Cao Zhijie interjected, "He would probably be very angry, being exploited by a student who trusted him, creating a tool to make money. In reality, it was his own work."

"I’ve inquired about Zhang Xucheng, Jing University students all say he is a model teacher, he enjoys students who are eager to learn, he always likes when students come to him with problems, and he answers their questions patiently. As for money, he doesn’t care much about it."

"Such a person, even if he regards money as dirt, would be angered by students deceiving him, right?" Cao Zhijie said with a smug smile.