The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 190 Negotiations with Wang Hongfa

Chapter 190: Chapter 190 Negotiations with Wang Hongfa

Pei Yang didn’t go directly to Wang Hongcheng to demand the money his wife had been swindled out of.

As the Art of War says, "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat."

He first lurked around Fushun Cake Factory, striking up conversations and chatting idly with employees of various posts to gather the information he needed.

After three days, Pei Yang had not only figured out Wang Hongcheng’s background and character but also learned a piece of news that wasn’t much of a secret.

Hengxing Company intended to order Mid-Autumn Festival welfare mooncakes for its employees from Fushun Cake Factory for the next year.

Hengxing dealt in the import and export trade of daily chemical products, with over a dozen branches nationwide and ranked as an industry leader in the entire three eastern provinces.

Regarding what he was doing, Pei Yang didn’t conceal anything from Shen Mingzhu, reporting his progress and plans for the next steps to her every night.

Shen Mingzhu found it very interesting, feeling that she and Pei Yang were living a very new kind of married life.

While other young couples were snuggling and making love in bed, she and Pei Yang lay in bed talking about business battles each night.

Even during workdays, she was already looking forward to clocking out, like the feeling of being addicted to a TV series, eager to know what happens next.

However, Shen Mingzhu hadn’t forgotten about the wedding preparations either.

Pei Yang patted his chest and assured her that everything was under control, "The restaurant is already booked, tentatively set for ten tables. We’ll notify the restaurant to make adjustments once the guest list is finalized. I’ve asked Shuhuan to help with the wedding sweets, cigarettes, and liquor. The Pei family side’s guest list is being handled by my sister, while your side can be taken care of by your parents. On the wedding day, we’ll rent a coach to bring your relatives from the village into the city for the banquet and then take them back in the afternoon."

Shen Mingzhu was very satisfied with such arrangements.

After all, it was just a remedial wedding ceremony, with many tedious procedures omitted. It was enough for relatives and friends from both sides just to get together for a meal and have a lively time.

The next day after work, Shen Mingzhu went to the tailor’s shop to take her wedding dress home.

The altered wedding dress was to her liking, with the large ruffle around the neck removed and replaced with a simple V-neck, looking elegant and fresh.

Looking at herself in the mirror wearing the wedding dress, the corners of Shen Mingzhu’s mouth couldn’t stop turning upwards.

No wonder that scoundrel always applied the brakes halfway through. It turned out he wanted to grant her a perfect wedding night.

"A man is always a boy at heart," how true that statement was.

A man with a sense of ceremony truly could bring a lot of fun and mood to life, making the bland and dull days interesting.

...

After getting a clear picture of Wang Hongcheng’s situation, Pei Yang brought Pei Wenping to confront the man.

Wang Hongcheng was clearly prepared, showing no panic when faced with Pei Yang and Pei Wenping’s questions and accusations.

Pei Yang didn’t beat around the bush either and directly asked to see the sales report from the last quarter.

Wang Hongcheng made an excuse, "Ah, you’re not in luck. A few days ago, I went out for business and carelessly lost my bag, which just happened to contain the sales report from last quarter."

Pei Wenping smiled insincerely, her voice crisp and decisive, "Without the sales report, the financial report will do as well."

Wang Hongcheng stopped pretending, "I’m afraid that’s not convenient. The financial reports are internal secrets of the factory, not to be shown to outsiders."

Facing Wang Hongcheng’s shameless tactics, Pei Wenping wasted no more words and placed the settlement sheet in front of him.

"This signature on the settlement sheet, it belongs to Manager Wang, doesn’t it?"

Wang Hongcheng was uncertain of Pei Wenping’s intentions and hesitated without uttering a word.

Pei Wenping put away the settlement sheet, "Manager Wang, the eyes of the people are sharp. Whether Ronghua’s sales are good or not, anyone with eyes can see. If this settlement sheet were to be seen by someone from the tax bureau by accident, I’m guessing they would think that the accountant Manager Wang hired isn’t up to par, right? The accounts are a mess, it’s inevitable they’ll come knocking on your door to check for tax evasion."

Wang Hongcheng’s face slightly changed.

Pei Yang followed up decisively, "Sis, you would say that a big company like Hengxing wouldn’t collaborate with clients who have messy accounts and financial disputes with partners, right?"

Pei Wenping glared at Wang Hongcheng and answered Pei Yang, "Of course, the essence of doing business is integrity, first and foremost. We wouldn’t partner with someone who lacks honesty, no matter how good their quality is. Manager Wang, you surely feel the same way, don’t you?"

The siblings took turns, blatantly blackmailing. It would be strange if Wang Hongcheng’s face wasn’t sour.

However, he was a flexible and shrewd person as well, "Take it easy, both of you. Let’s talk it over. Is it just the financial statements you want to see? I’ll have Accountant Fan bring them right over."

Soon enough, Fan Wei brought over the financial report for the last quarter.

As a senior accountant with ten years of experience, Pei Wenping described the report in three words: swift, fierce, and accurate.

She finished the dozen-odd pages of the report in three minutes.

The report itself had no issues, but the accounts clearly didn’t match the settlement sheet.

Faced with Pei Wenping’s questioning, Wang Hongcheng feigned surprise, "Is that so? Accountant Fan, what’s going on here? Why do the actual accounts not tally with the settlement sheet?"

Fan Wei thought to himself that he knew perfectly well why the accounts didn’t match, but he quickly shifted the blame, "The settlement sheet was calculated by the new guy, Xu. Maybe he made a mistake. I’ll recheck the figures right away."

Perhaps to make the act more convincing, Wang Hongcheng put on a stern face and berated loudly, "What use is that Xu? Can’t even handle such a simple task. Settle his wages later and tell him to get lost!"

A worker who was on good terms with Xu Yang just happened to pass by and immediately relayed the news to him.

Xu Yang, just twenty this year and full of youthful vigor, learned that he was being made a scapegoat and immediately barged into Wang Hongcheng’s office to confront him.

"Manager Wang, it was clearly you who instructed Accountant Fan to alter the settlement sheet, what’s this got to do with me? Why fire me?"

Wang Hongcheng had mentioned firing Xu Yang just for show in front of Pei Wenping and Pei Yang; he hadn’t intended to really fire Xu Yang.

But, who could have expected Xu Yang, this hothead, to actually spill the beans on his and Accountant Fan’s dirty dealings and nearly cause Wang Hongcheng to explode with rage.

"I’m the boss; I’ll fire whoever I want, get lost now!"

This time, he was truly fired.

Xu Yang was furious, "Wang, I’ve put up with your crap for too long, a complete ignoramus that just babbles all day! I came here to work, not to take the blame for you, I quit! Fuck!"

After cursing out Wang Hongcheng, Xu Yang didn’t forget to spill the beans right then and there to the siblings about Wang Hongcheng framing Shen Mingzhu for the settlement charges.

...

Xu Yang’s revelation undoubtedly put Wang Hongcheng in an extremely embarrassing and passive situation.

Pei Yang took the opportunity to lay out his demands: first, the outstanding settlement money had to be paid in full; second, cease collaboration and take back the Ronghua brand, from now on Fushun Cake Factory must not use it; third, if Fushun Cake Factory wishes to continue using the Ronghua mooncake recipe, they must pay a one-time fee of five thousand yuan for its lifetime use.

Regarding the first demand, Wang Hongcheng didn’t care; a thousand yuan was nothing to him, he’d pay it since it was originally Shen Mingzhu’s anyway.

The second demand was exactly what he desired, but the third one really hurt him.

Five thousand yuan was no small amount, equivalent to a quarter’s profit from his factory.