Being attacked by Jiang Kaiwei’s sudden heavy punches, Gu Nianbin indeed suffered serious losses. But he did not look like he was wretched at all. Instead, he was so calm that it made people feel terrible.

After being discharged from the hospital, he became even more unfathomable. No one could guess what he was thinking in his heart. Seemingly, nothing seemed to have changed. His face was still indifferent, and his words were considered gentle. However, everyone could feel his chilliness that kept people away. He appeared even more imposing even without being angered.

Everyone around him knew the reason. From then on, Du Xiaoxian became the most taboo name in the Gu Group. Everyone carefully avoided mentioning these words. Zhou Ting even examined more than once the list of persons who were going to have an appointment with Gu Nianbin to remove persons with the surname Du.

However, she was in a dilemma at the moment. There was a call from the United States. The person called himself Truman (having the surname Du in Chinese). Should she forward the call to the phone in Gu Nianbin’s office? After hesitating for a while, she was still unable to make a decision. Then she called Shao Boqing. General Manager Shao said seriously, “Let me answer the call. My English is more fluent than his.”

Zhou Ting knew that what Shao Boqing said was obviously an excuse. Her boss could speak Oxford English fluently, but since Shao Boqing was willing to take on this trouble, she was naturally happy to give it out.

Shao Boqing answered the call and listened to the person speaking for a long time. His face was serious at first, but slowly, he showed a cheerful expression as if the clouds were gone and the sun rose. His eyebrows even raised. In the end, he happily hung up the phone and ran to Gu Nianbin’s office.

Zhou Ting had not seen such a cheerful smile on Shao Boqing’s face for a long time. She asked curiously, “Mr. Shao, is there something good?”

Shao Boqing’s face darkened. “Don’t ask about things that have nothing to do with you.”

Zhou Ting stuck out her tongue and did not say a word. During this very period, even the nice guy Shao Boqing had turned spiky.

In the past few days, the company had been in a state of panic. Rumors spread like wildfire, and many people were already secretly looking for a way out. There were also hunter companies that came into contact with Zhou Ting. However, she refused them. She had been a secretary to Gu Nianbin for five years and was not willing to leave him. She looked coldly from the sidelines at others fishing in troubled waters. Every day, she would work with full attention. She was indeed aware of the current situation of the Gu Group. However, as long as the Gu Group did not collapse, she would stay here. Most importantly, she believed in Gu Nianbin and believed that he would never watch the Gu Group collapse without taking any action.

When she brewed two cups of tea and brought them to Gu Nianbin’s office, Gu Nianbin and Shao Boqing were talking about something. When they saw her coming in, the two of them stopped at the same time as if there was a secret that they could not let her know.

As the president’s head secretary, whenever the company had a major decision, she would be the first to know. But now, they even didn’t let her know what it was. This was abnormal. However, she thought that what Shao Boqing brought should not be bad news because both Shao Boqing and Gu Nianbin looked a little cheerful.

She tactfully came out. Then she turned around and leaned against the crack in the door to look. As expected, when she came out, Gu Nianbin and Shao Boqing began to talk again. However, they deliberately lowered their voices. She tried to listen to what they said with her left ear first, then with her right ear, but she still could not hear a word. She could not help but feel discouraged and returned to her seat.

What was it? Could it be related to Mr. Truman in the United States? Secretary Zhou felt that the only thing that could make the boss smile now was that either Du Xiaoxian had come back, or the company was about to bring about an upswing. Although the name of Truman sounded like it was surnamed Du in Chinese, Mr. Truman didn’t have any relations with Du Xiaoxian. So it must be related to the company. She thought happily that the company was going to bring about an upswing!

As Secretary Zhou sat at the table in her fantasy, Shen Li was also sitting in his office, meditating on something.

Ever since Jiang Kaiwei started the war against the Gu Group, he had been thinking about a question: what Jiang Kaiwei’s motive is.

Jiang Kaiwei gave reasons for it in an affirmative tone. For example, he said he didn’t like Gu Nianbin, he wanted to maximize the profit of the company, or the weak were prey to the strong. But Shen Li thought all those reasons were bullshit!

There were a lot of people that Jiang Kaiwei did not like. If he wanted to maximize the profit, then there was no need to take the Gu Group as its first target. Although he had made the Gu Group suffer heavy losses, he was not in a good situation. He was harming Gu Nianbin without benefiting himself.

If Jiang Kaiwei had defeated the Gu Group in one go at first, Shen Li would have believed that Jiang Kaiwei did it to maximize the profit. However, Jiang Kaiwei had been dragging it out. Previously, he had been staying put. Shen Li even thought that he was going to give up, but he suddenly took action. Moreover, his attack was fierce. It was his usual method. This time, Shen Li believed that Jiang Kaiwei was going to destroy the Gu Group and Gu Nianbin.

But why did Jiang Kaiwei choose to attack at this time after dragging it out for so long?

Shen Li tapped his finger lightly on the table, but his eyes were fixed on the newspaper. To be precise, he was staring at a piece of news: the announcement that Gu Nianbin and Xia Xiaowan were going to get married!

Perhaps this was the reason.

Although Jiang Kaiwei had never admitted it, Shen Li knew that Jiang Kaiwei had special feelings for Xia Xiaowan. Now that Xia Xiaowan was going to marry Gu Nianbin, considering his bad temper, no matter how he acted, it would not be considered excessive!

Shen Li went through all this and became more and more certain of his judgment. Jiang Kaiwei started this war for Xia Xiaowan.

In western history, the king of ancient Greece started the famous Troy war because of Helen, the beauty. Now, the president of the Jiang Group also started a financial war with the Gu Group because of a woman.

He could not help but sigh. Throughout history, beautiful women were the root of trouble!

Now that the Gu Group was in danger, Jiang Kaiwei would only stop when Gu Nianbin broke off the engagement with Xia Xiaowan. Shen Li believed it was better to save one life than building a seven-storied pagoda. Moreover, what he would save was the entire Gu family, and even tens of thousands of employees of the Gu Group and the small suppliers who relied on the Gu Group to survive.

Although Jiang Kaiwei had made it clear beforehand that Shen Li would not be allowed to interfere in this matter, Shen Li would not pay attention to it now. He made up his mind and called Shao Boqing.

Shao Boqing’s cell phone was available. It only rang three times before being hung up. He called again and Shao Boqing hung up again. Shen Li held his cell phone and was stunned. What was going on? Why would Shao Boqing not answer his call?

There was actually a reason why Shao Boqing didn’t answer the call. He was talking about very, very important matters at Gu Nianbin’s office. He didn’t even pick up Nina’s call, let alone Shen Li’s. Moreover, to avoid arousing suspicion, he couldn’t pick up Shen Li’s call in front of Gu Nianbin, so he could only hang up the call.

It wasn’t until they finished talking and Shao Boqing returned to his office that he called Shen Li to ask what the matter was.

Shen Li told Shao Boqing what he speculated. Shao Boqing was so shocked that he could not close his mouth. Such a dangerous war had been fought for several months. The Gu Group had suffered great losses and even Du Xiaoxian had to leave Gu Nianbin due to it. Was it only because of Xia Xiaowan? He really did not know whether to scold Jiang Kaiwei for being brainless or to scold Xia Xiaowan for being the root of the trouble.

It was surely best to stop the war now. However… Shen Li was just guessing. What if the guess was wrong? At this point, any wrong step would result in a situation where Gu Nianbin would lose everything. He could not afford to gamble.

Thinking about it carefully, Shao Boqing thought this matter was quite funny. Jiang Kaiwei started a war with Gu Nianbin for Xia Xiaowan. But Gu Nianbin had no choice but to marry Xia Xiaowan to save the Gu Group. Therefore, it could be said that Jiang Kaiwei was an idiot, forcing Gu Nianbin to marry Xia Xiaowan. Now, that idiot didn’t know what he was doing. In the future, when he realized what he had done, would he regret it?

“How accurate do you think your speculation is?” After pondering for a while, he asked Shen Li.

“80 percent.” Shen Li was very confident.

Shao Boqing was dissatisfied. “It has to be 100. With the company’s current situation, we can’t take a wrong step.”

Shen Li was silent for a while on the other end of the phone and said, “Then 100 percent. You should believe in my analysis ability and intuition.”

Shao Boqing thought for a moment and said, “Alright, if there’s a chance, I’ll mention it to Gu Nianbin. Whether he believes it or not is not something I can control.”

“It concerns the safety of the Gu Group. I think Gu Nianbin should give it a try.” Shen Li smiled bitterly and said, “These two guys have such a stubborn temper, and they are both affectionate. For a woman, they even dare to gamble with all their fortune!”

Shao Boqing was not as optimistic as Shen Li. Shao Boqing knew Gu Nianbin too well. At this point, even if what Shen Li said was true, Gu Nianbin would probably not compromise since he was a stubborn person. Right now, all his energy was focused on the war with the Jiang Group. How could it be easy for Shao Boqing to persuade Gu Nianbin to eat dirt?

It was surely as he expected. When he drank with Gu Nianbin at the bar at night, he mentioned the speculation deliberately. Hearing Shao Boqing’s words, Gu Nianbin was indifferent, and no emotions could be seen on his face. In the end, Gu Nianbin even curved the corners of his mouth and concluded, “If Jiang Kaiwei knows the truth, he might hit the wall with his head.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Shao Boqing hurriedly agreed. “He’s just a fool. There’s no need for us to lower ourselves to his level. Anyway, you don’t really like Xia Xiaowan. Why don’t you give her back to him? Both of you take a step back and pretend that this never happened.”

Gu Nianbin shook his wine glass, and a strange expression suddenly appeared on his face as if he was mocking someone or feeling miserable. After a long while, he said, “It’s too late.”

“Not too late, not too late.” Shao Boqing hurriedly said, “As long as you and Xia Xiaowan are not married, this matter is not too late. Shen Li says that he can guarantee it. He served as a special forces soldier, so his analysis and intuition are top-notch. Let’s give it a try and get out of the current predicament first. After we recuperate and build up strength, we can make a comeback and catch Jiang Kaiwei off guard. How about it?”

Gu Nianbin slammed his wine glass on the table and laughed strangely. “If Jiang Kaiwei wants Xia Xiaowan, I won’t let him get her. I will make him unhappy for the rest of his life. Since he wants to fight, then we can fight to the end!”

“But you can’t act on the spur of the moment and put the safety of the company aside. The current situation of the company…”

“Who says I put it aside? Isn’t there good news today?”

“But the Americans’ conditions are demanding. They want us to be bait. If it doesn’t work, they can retreat safely, but we will really have no way out.”

“So there is no ‘if’. It must work!”

“Even if we succeed, we will suffer heavy losses. Why can’t we avoid it?”

“If you want to do something big, you can’t care about trifles.”

Shao Boqing rolled his eyes helplessly. He knew that he would not be able to persuade Gu Nianbin, but he did not expect Gu Nianbin to be so eager to fight. At this moment, he vaguely saw a hint of craziness in Gu Nianbin’s eyes. He could not help but worry. Perhaps in Gu Nianbin’s heart, this was no longer just a business battle.