Chapter 464 — The Last Chance

"Exactly," Jing Yu said with a graceful smile. "Hua Mei and I are close on a personal level, but personal ties are personal ties—they can't be lumped in with company business!"

"So you turned her down?" Yang Ce looked at Jing Yu with a touch of approval. It seemed she had matured; she would no longer let impulse drive her into doing things that went against the company's interests. That way, Yang Shuoxuan could leave with peace of mind, and under Jing Yu's hand, Mingyang Group would not decline.

"You could hardly call it a refusal." Jing Yu smiled. "What Liu Huamei's secretary described was this: our involvement would merely be the icing on the cake. Liu Huamei is perfectly capable of controlling the situation on her own. Our stepping in at this point would only be to ensure an even closer partnership between Jiangyan Group and our Mingyang Group going forward..."

"Heh..." Yang Duoran could tell Jing Yu did not believe it. "Naturally Liu Huamei doesn't want outsiders meddling in the Liu family's internal affairs. If she agreed to certain terms with us, it would inevitably mean letting us take a seat in Jiangyan Group. And then—barely having settled things with her two brothers—a colossus like Mingyang Group would arrive as a shareholder. It would be strange if Liu Huamei weren't worried! So unless she has absolutely no other choice, she won't cede any of the Liu family's interests. Liu Huamei is actually quite clear on this herself: personal friendship is personal friendship, but in the face of company interests, personal friendship naturally counts for nothing."

"Let her be." Yang Wenru frowned. He had rather admired Liu Huamei before, but he found this way of doing things somewhat distasteful. If you need help, just ask for help—even without any profit in it for him, if she had come to Yang Ce and said a few soft words, Yang Yongjin might well have stood by and done nothing! But instead she played mind games with him, and Yang Ce found that thoroughly repellent. "If she won't come to you of her own accord, then you don't need to go looking for her either!"

"Understood!" Jing Yu could tell Yang Juehuan was displeased. She stuck out her tongue and said with a grin, "Hua Mei really is a fool. If she'd just come beg you, hubby, and act a little coy, worked a bit of her feminine wiles, then hubby's heart would soften and he'd help her. But no, she has to show off her cleverness—so if her family fortune gets taken from her, she deserves it!"

Though her personal friendship with Liu Huamei was good, Jing Yu always stood unwaveringly on Yang Cenbin's side.

"Go on with you—what nonsense are you spouting?" Yang Ce shot her a glare. How did everything Jing Yu said come out sounding so off? As if he were doling out favors for a reward? As if helping Liu Huamei meant he was coveting her beauty?

"Hehe, I'll stop talking nonsense..." Jing Yu laughed, though she was quite unrepentant. By now she had thoroughly figured out Yang Juehuan's temper—so long as she went along with Yang Ce and didn't play mind games with Yan, she could joke with Yan however she liked, and Yang Shuoxuan wouldn't mind.

Yang Ce glared at Jing Yu and was about to give her another lecture when the intercom on Jing Yu's desk rang. Jing Yu blinked, then hurriedly picked up the phone.

"Hello, this is Jing Yu." When she answered the phone, Jing Yu had regained her usual brisk competence, nothing at all like the playful manner she had shown Yan a moment before.

"Chairman Jing, Miss Liu Huamei of Jiangyan Group is here to see you. Shall I..." It was Jing Yu's secretary. Liu Huamei had arrived, and she dared not make a decision on her own.

"Oh? Liu Huamei is here?" Jing Yu was taken aback. She hadn't expected Liu Huamei to come so quickly. Hadn't there been word that she was being held under house arrest by her two cousins? How had she gotten to Songjiang City?

Yang Shuoxuan raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected that they had only just been discussing Liu Huamei, and here she was at the group headquarters so soon.

Jing Yu looked toward Yang Ce, wanting to seek Yang Juehuan's opinion. Although Jing Yu was the one in charge of the group, with Yang Ce here, she naturally became one of Yang Juehuan's subordinates.

"See her. I'd like to see what's on her mind, as it happens," Yang Linyue said mildly.

"All right." Jing Yu nodded and said into the phone, "Bring her to my office."

"Yes, Chairman Jing," Jing Yu's secretary said.

After hanging up, Jing Yu was rather puzzled. "Yang Ce, why do you think Liu Huamei has come here? Wasn't she under house arrest by her cousins?"

"The information we get is a mix of true and false. None of us knows the actual situation, so we might as well hear what Liu Huamei has to say," Yang Hengye said with a smile.

"You're right. Let's see whether she's sincere this time. If she still isn't, then we'll just have to let it go." Jing Yu nodded. "To get involved in the Liu family's affairs under these circumstances is bound to be no simple matter!"

After a while, a knock came at the office door. Jing Yu cleared her throat and said, "Come in!"

The secretary pushed open the office door and stepped in first. "Chairman Jing, Miss Liu Huamei of Jiangyan Group is here!"

Jing Yu rose to her feet and went to greet her warmly. "Hua Mei, what brings you here so suddenly?"

"Heh, the house has been in complete chaos, and it's given me a bit of a headache, so I came out for a walk to clear my mind." As she spoke, Liu Huamei cast an unobtrusive glance at Yang Ce, who was sitting on the sofa, and gave a slight start.

She hadn't expected Yang Ce to be in Jing Yu's office as well. But Yang Ce had not risen to greet her, which showed he clearly did not regard her as worth much—and she could not help but feel a surge of annoyance!

Of all her many prospective partners, Mingyang Group was the first she had approached, yet Yang Ce looked utterly indifferent, making Liu Huamei feel she had been slighted.

"It seems I've interrupted something between you and Sister Xiaolu. Shall I come back later?" Though Liu Huamei was irritated, her words were flawless—retreating in order to advance!

That way she would indeed offend no one, and it would also show that she was in no hurry, which could win her greater advantage in future partnership negotiations! Of course, this tactic of hers might work on others, but against Yang Ce she had clearly picked the wrong target!

Yang Ce did not really care about companies or business. What he cared about now was feeling—and that was precisely why he had been able to help Guan Xiaoxiang! If only Jing Yu had been present, Liu Huamei's move would have been the right one. But with Yang Shuoxuan there, and she still playing by the same playbook, it was a bad move indeed!

Jing Yu was about to speak when she heard Yang Linyue say mildly, "In that case, come back later."

"Ah?" Now it was Liu Huamei's turn to be stunned. She hadn't expected Yang Ce to take her polite words seriously! Ordinarily, when one said something like that—retreating in order to advance—the other party would say it was nothing and invite her to sit down and talk. But Yang Ce refused to play by the usual rules and simply told her to come back later. Was that not a direct slap in the face?

"It seems Miss Liu doesn't want to leave after all. If you have something to say, let's talk it out openly," Yang Linyue said mildly—giving Liu Huamei one last chance: Tell me the truth, and if I'm pleased, I might just give you a hand. But if you keep going in circles with me, then I'm sorry—I have no time to waste on idle talk with you.