“Xingyue, how did you know about this? I don’t mind telling you but I can’t believe I’m unaware of this at all! I feel so embarrassed as a local business manager!”

Li Mu was somewhat embarrassed when he said this.

Shen Xingyue was surprised. She was just faking it in order to get her ex-boyfriend’s attention. But she never thought that Li Mu wasn’t aware of it at all! “Oh my! This is such a great chance!” She thought.

“The users have already exchanged respectively for two rounds now. And you’re still totally unaware of it? Aren't gateways your company’s main business?”

“I really wasn’t informed about it at all!” Li Mu started to panic. If he lost such a huge opportunity that was right in front of his eyes, he’d be shameless to stay in Dongyang Group any longer even if He Xiaoyu and her father did not blame him.

That would be more than losing a huge order. It would be a humiliation, a disgrace, and a defeat he could never accept!

“Which companies were involved in the exchange?” Li Mu asked, frowning.

“The users contact their companies in private and are pretty secretive about it. I only know of two companies now. One is the company I’m in, which is Weihua Group. And the other is Zhenzhi Group. I’m sure there are other companies but I'm not sure which ones. I thought it would be you guys. I didn't expect it to…”

“Sh*t!” Li Mu couldn’t help but curse.

“Li Mu, don't panic. Maybe they’ve forgotten and will contact your company soon.” Shen Xingyue comforted him.

“That’s impossible. They’ve had exchanges for two rounds now. Do you think it's still possible? If they were interested, they would have contacted us already. When did this happen?”

“Just recently. Not more than two weeks. Both rounds were very intensive. The second round was just completed yesterday and the third round will take place tomorrow!”

Lin Wan did that! Li Mu clenched his fist and the veins on his head surfaced. This was really his sore spot. If his career was destroyed, then he would be ruined, too.

Li Mu didn't understand what Lin Wan wanted. Was there a need for her to prove herself by ruining him? Was this her proof of love or hate? Was she able to obtain happiness in exchange for his confidence?

“Li Mu!”

“Li Mu!”

Shen Xingyue repeatedly called out a few times before Li Mu came back to his senses. Taking a deep breath, he stared at Shen Xingyue and asked, “Xingyue, do you have something in mind?”

“Well, I am very optimistic about Dongyang Group's development and service capabilities. I’m on the search for a local business since it’s such a large order. I would like to work with you and participate in the bidding together. Are you interested?”

Without answering her directly, Li Mu said cautiously, “I need to think about it. Let's do it this way. Give me one day. I will give you a definite answer before tomorrow noon.”

“Sure. I'll wait to hear from you. We can both exchange our contacts now, right?”

He Xiaoyu who had returned sat by Li Mu's side without saying a word. She could only sit and stare as Li Mu and Shen Xingyue exchanged contact details.

At this point, Li Mu had lost all his appetite. The three of them chatted for a while before Shen Xingyue sensibly got up and bid farewell. Li Mu and Xiaoyu sent her all the way out of the hotel, whereby He Xiaoyu had already arranged for a business car and instructed the driver to send Shen Xingyue back to Weihua Group.

Back in the room, Li Mu cursed in anger. After throwing a tantrum, he asked He Xiaoyu, “Did you ask the sales department? What did they say?”

“Nobody knows anything!”

“Darn it. What's the use of having those losers? They know nothing about such a big project! Fire them. Fire everyone from the sales department!”

“Okay, I will. Li Mu, is Shen Xingyue really interested in a collaboration?”

Li Mu calmed down and pondered while holding his glass of wine.

After a long time, he said in a deep voice, “She has no reason to harm us. The users will definitely emphasize localized service for such a huge project. Raising a group of service staff locally in Shanyang City is both costly and laborious. She must have decided to work with us out of a win-win mindset.”

He Xiaoyu agreed with him before asking immediately, “Li Mu, why would the users do this? Is Lin Wan behind this?”

Li Mu gulped down all his wine and squinted as he said, “We're a local company and the supplier of every Shanyang City's gateway system. Hence, by right, they shouldn't have bypassed us. But they did.”

He Xiaoyu poured him another glass of wine. “Li Mu, are they trying to take this opportunity to replace all our gateway products?”

“That should be the reason. They’re trying to deliberately avoid us at the specification stage. Even if we are qualified to bid, what are our odds of winning?”

“Li Mu, can this matter possibly have anything to do with Lin Wan?”

Li Mu did not answer the question immediately. In fact, even if He Xiaoyu did not ask him, he did suspect that Lin Wan was behind this.

What he just couldn't understand was why Lin Wan was doing this. If it was to get back at him, then why was she still clinging onto him?

Could it be that she wanted to witness him being torn to the very last bit and to see him crumble in pain? If this was the reason, she was so malicious!

Neither did she want to get back together with Li Mu, nor was she planning on letting him go. She was trying to destroy everything he had with her own hands. How would it benefit her if she did so? Was she trying to bring him down to nothing?

Li Mu knew that now was not the time for him to be impatient. The more anxious he was, the more vulnerable he would be. What he needed to do now was to stay calm, and to seek a silver lining in this sticky situation.

“Xiaoyu, let's not make early assumptions. We’ll need to investigate as soon as possible to determine whether Lin Wan is behind all this or not. We can then proceed to discuss our countermeasures.”

“Okay, Li Mu. I'll do as you say. What do you think?”

“Here. There are two things that need to be settled immediately. Firstly, go find Dr. He immediately and ask your father to use his connections. We need to find out how Lin Wan got into Shanyang Group and who is backing her up.”

He Xiaoyu immediately agreed, “No problem. I'll go to my father in a while and ask for his help to inquire about it.”

“Good. The other thing is to find Mr. Yan and Mr. Tang. They both have connections in Shanyang Group. Ask them to snoop around secretly to find out who excluded us from the project and what was their aim of doing so? We'll split up for this. I'll go to Mr. Yan and you’ll go to Mr. Tang.”

“Sure, let’s do it. Let’s head back to the office right now!”

The two of them left the hotel in a hurry and returned to the office to do their tasks respectively. After some investigation, they got some feedback from their respective connections.

He Yang was, of course, inevitably alerted because of this issue. Li Mu did so intentionally, as he had no means of hiding it from Dr. He.

This was a large order that exceeded hundreds of millions of dollars and was related to the company's core products. He wouldn’t dare to deceive anyone about this. If he chose to keep quiet about it, he could never afford to bear the consequences if anything happened.

He Yang also felt that this was a concerning matter. Hence he purposely held a meeting with everyone who was involved before it was time to get off work that night. The few of them gathered in the president's office together to discuss the countermeasures.

“Xiaoyu, tell us the situation first!” He Yang instructed.

“Sure. We were informed by the company that Lin Wan was recruited and hired as the deputy general manager of Shanyang Group. You can say she’s one of the typical big leaders who appears out of nowhere and holds a lot of power in her hands. Her position is almost equal to a general manager.”

Speaking of this, He Xiaoyu subconsciously looked at Li Mu, who nodded with a bitter smile.

He Xiaoyu continued, “The former general manager of Shanyang Group has been transferred to the headquarters, which means that there is no one else who can restrain Lin Wan now. In fact, Shanyang Group is now at her disposal!”

“This is a sudden situation. This is a huge change in terms of human resources for Shanyang Group!” He Yang suddenly chimed in.

“We need to reflect on this. It's been over a month since it happened. Why are we only getting the news now? We are now in such a passive situation mostly due to our hindsight!”

He Yang then glanced at Li Mu, “Li Mu, as the general manager of the Mobile Internet department, you are to hold responsibility for this matter!”

Li Mu replied solemnly, “Yes, this is my responsibility. I have failed my leaders’ trust and have done a bad job. I’d like to sincerely apologize to everyone!”

Upon saying that, he stood up and bowed to everyone else.

He Xiaoyu who stood right next to her father immediately punched her father lightly.

He glanced at her and sighed to himself. Daughters. “You can’t take it even if it was just a slight reprimand? He is the one at fault, do you want me to compliment him instead?” He thought.

“Alright! Take a seat first. This is not the time to hold someone accountable for this. Xiaoyu, go on.”

He Xiaoyu glared at him and continued, “It has been confirmed that the interconnection gateway project has had two rounds of technology exchanges. It is estimated to enter the specification preparation process soon. Right after that will be the bidding process. And it was Lin Wan's idea to leave us out of this.”

“What was her reason?” Puzzled, Mr. Yan asked.

“Our service is not up to standard. Hence, they question our ability to deliver products and our after-sales support. This flaw alone is a strong reason for her to go against us!”

Li Mu couldn’t help but lament to himself. As expected, it seemed like what happened at the service wrap-up meeting was planned beforehand to put this against Dongyang Group. How calculative and ruthless was she to do so!

“That's pretty much the situation. Let's talk about it. Are there any suggestions to get ourselves out of this mess?” He Yang asked the crowd.

Mr. Yan couldn't help but ask, “Mr. Li, is this Lin Wan…”

Li Mu nodded in embarrassment. Mr. Yan froze. He thought it was a coincidence that they had the same name and did not expect her to be Li Mu’s wife. Then what were her reasons to do so? Could it be...

Mr. Yan glanced at He Xiaoyu and chose to keep his mouth shut as if he understood something.

Mr. Tang who was even more aware of the reason did not find the need to talk about it. Hence he played dumb together with Mr. Yan.

The two other vice presidents who were unclear about the situation stayed silent too.

Seeing that no one said anything, He Yang looked at Li Mu and said, “Li Mu, I won't go in depth with you in this. But I want you to understand this. Never ever let your family matters interfere with your work. And never let your family matters affect the company. Do you hear me clearly?”