Chapter 46: Since Things Have Come to This, Let's Go Fishing First

Fu Lan frowned, unable to anticipate this kind of turn of events.

The twist he had foreseen was that Brother Chen would examine the technical demonstration, immediately renege on his word, and beat them into submission or even silence them permanently.

They were hardly short of countermeasures for such double-crossing, and Shi Ningyu possessed absolute confidence in her own strength.

Furthermore, Fu Lan had not been foolish enough to hand over the complete technology from the outset.

Until sufficient trust was established, he would only provide the pendulum hypnosis method, keeping the self-destruct emergency protocol as a backdoor.

It was fair to say they had made thorough preparations, yet they never imagined Brother Chen would resort to such a petty, self-sabotaging, and malicious trick.

"Why? This doesn't benefit him at all," Fu Lan asked, baffled.

Shi Ningyu cursed, "God knows what's wrong with his nerves! This isn't how a normal person thinks!

"Guess what he said when I called him? He said we never told him he wasn't allowed to mention it to others. Isn't this a good thing, he said? So many people are fighting over the technology, it's just the right time to sell it for a good price.

"I'd say he thinks his wooden zither was sold too cheap!"

In reality, they had only set two targets for this venture. If negotiations fell through with Brother Chen, they would drop the matter and turn to Old Tian.

The more people they negotiated with, the more people would know about the existence of the technology. In any other business, that might be an opportunity to raise prices, but in this line of work, it would only spell massive trouble.

The foundation of selling technology was that the other party would actively protect this shared interest. That was clearly an unwritten rule, requiring no explicit declaration. Once they tasted the sweet fruits of success, suppliers would naturally help keep the secret.

Only under the premise that the overall market remained stable could this technology bring profit to its holders.

Never did they expect Brother Chen to completely disregard the established rules, leaking the news before the technology was even in his hands.

So much for waiting for the highest bidder; at this rate, with a little more agitation, someone might directly break in by force to seize the technology.

Those who heard the rumors only knew how powerful the technology was, but remained ignorant of how simple it was to implement—or rather, to steal.

With multiple parties vying for it with malicious intent, it was bound to slip from anyone's monopoly.

Keeping quiet and making a fortune in secret was originally the best course of action. Now that the rumors had spread too widely, the inherent greed of people would only precipitate reckless actions.

Once the technology was completely leaked, it would only lead to a plague of beast-balls and the depreciation of raw materials, and none of these suppliers would reap any benefits.

Naturally, the same applied to Fu Lan and Shi Ningyu. It was safe to say this was currently the absolute worst-case scenario they could wish to see.

After much deliberation, Fu Lan could only attribute Brother Chen's motives to deliberate retaliation.

Yet Shi Ningyu insisted she had no past grievances with Brother Chen, and his backers did not share that fierce a competitive relationship with Boss Tian either.

Surely he wouldn't retaliate over those few provoking remarks she made last night, would he? To resort to such a vile and dirty trick over a trivial matter like that—was he planning to ruin his own reputation completely?

"He must have been put up to this by someone," Shi Ningyu said, her voice trembling with anger, her whole body ice-cold. "I have a strong feeling it's that scumbag, Crazy Ba! No one else could be this shameless!"

If that really was the case, it was simply too...

Fu Lan couldn't help but marvel at the speed with which conflicts escalated in this trade. Shi Ningyu and Crazy Ba had been at odds for quite a while, but previously it had mostly been a contest of purity.

This time, simply because she had squirted water in his face with a water gun and caused him to trip, it had provoked such vicious retaliation. It was truly terrifying.

"What should we do now?" Fu Lan asked.

"Head downstairs first. I've already arrived at the entrance. Old Tian has caught wind of this too and said he wants to see us immediately."

Fu Lan poked his head out of the fire exit to look at the office, knowing full well that uttering the words "I'm still at work" this time would only earn him one of Shi Ningyu's classic, furious scoldings.

Without even returning to his workstation, he took the stairs straight down.

Climbing into the car, he glanced at Shi Ningyu's expression; it was no better than his own.

"What's Old Tian's attitude?"

"Who knows? That old fox..."

Fu Lan leaned back against the passenger seat, his heart filled with anxiety.

They weren't Boss Tian's direct subordinates, and running off to the provincial capital behind his back to do business with Brother Chen didn't strictly constitute disloyalty.

Even so, getting caught playing both sides would inevitably damage their cooperative relationship, to say nothing of the fact that the situation had blown up.

The kind of "coincidence" they wanted Old Tian to discover was certainly not this kind of coincidence.

Shi Ningyu had already been cut off by two cars, yet she still drove with remarkable steadiness, completely out of character for her usual driving style. Knowing she was just as anxious inside, Fu Lan refrained from asking what precautions they needed to take next.

It seemed they would simply have to improvise this meeting.

The car arrived at a rural agritainment resort. Shi Ningyu glanced at her phone and sneered, "He actually dares to arrange a meeting by the lake? Hmph, fine."

The two of them spotted Boss Tian fishing by the lakeside. He was sitting under a parasol, waving at them with his back turned.

They had barely taken a few steps forward when several of Boss Tian's bodyguards strode over to search them.

As one moved to search Shi Ningyu, her hackles rose instantly. "Keep your hands and feet to yourselves!"

Boss Tian turned back with a smile and signaled the bodyguards to just go through the motions.

After confirming neither of them carried weapons nor concealed spell-casting materials, the bodyguards stepped aside, their vigilant gazes following them all the way to Old Tian's side.

"Please sit," Old Tian said, gesturing to the two chairs beside him.

Fu Lan and Shi Ningyu had no choice but to sit on either side of him.

The camping chair sank deeply the moment he sat down, and Fu Lan had to strain to straighten his spine, preventing himself from leaning back. The atmosphere was vastly different from last time, and he began to regret not doing more preparation before coming.

Boss Tian, by contrast, leaned back lazily against his chair and instructed his subordinates to bring over two fishing rods. "Care to try your hand?" he asked Fu Lan with a smile.

"No, thank you..."

"Do you feel that a man-made fishpond isn't thrilling enough and prefer wild fishing?"

Fu Lan looked at his unfathomable smile and offered an awkward, companionable laugh. "No, I just don't know how to fish."

Boss Tian turned to the other side. "And Ms. Shi?"

Shi Ningyu took the baited fishing rod and cast it into the lake perfunctorily.

Without wasting any breath, Old Tian stared at his fishing float and asked, "This raw material production technology is Teacher Fu's handiwork, isn't it? The moment you entered this industry, you brought quite a few surprises."

"I co-developed it with him."

Fu Lan secretly glanced at Shi Ningyu. To his surprise, she even looked a bit angry as she said this. In truth, she had contributed to the practical implementation phase, but...

He pulled back his gaze. Separated by Old Tian, not only was speaking impossible, but even exchanging glances was extremely difficult.

Yet he seemed to understand Shi Ningyu's intention: it was an act; she was helping him deflect Old Tian's attention.

Boss Tian shook his head and smiled. "What a blessing it is for the industry to have the two of you join! Good technology should benefit more people. It would be a terrible pity if someone monopolized it."

Both of them were left speechless.

Fu Lan squeezed his eyes, smarting from the glare of the lake, knowing how much Shi Ningyu loathed Old Tian's passive-aggressive remarks. He had no choice but to take the initiative and concede: "I'm sorry, Boss Tian. We certainly didn't act honorably in this matter. We were momentarily blinded by greed, which is why we went and sold the technology to others."

If the camping chair hadn't been so deep that standing up was a chore, he would have gladly bowed to Old Tian—something made entirely effortless by his years of experience surviving the corporate grind.

Yet Boss Tian said, "You thought I was blaming you? Wrong, Teacher Fu. To be honest, I don't care."

Disbelieving, Fu Lan echoed, "You don't care?"