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Lainey put down the phone, picked up a cigar that was placed next to the ashtray, and took a drag.
“He said we need to meet and talk.”
There were two other specialists in the office; they were both specialist representatives from the Liji Group’s headquarters, here to handle some work.
In fact, it wasn’t just the two of them, but an entire legal team.
Lance was just one of their clients. There were other similar, but not entirely identical, situations.
“So headquarters has decided to completely tear up the agreement?” Lainey looked at the two specialists and frowned, “Won’t this bring us some negative reviews?”
The two specialists were very professional managers. In fact, adding the word “professional” before the special noun “manager” could make one feel their impersonal attitude.
Lainey knew one of them, named Bridge, one of the company’s partners.
This guy’s position in the company was not low, but his reputation was very bad. Some said he was the board of directors’ executioner, specializing in doing things the board wanted to do but couldn’t bring themselves to do.
For example, laying off employees and the like, these would all be handled by the department led by Bridge.
He was a “cold and ruthless” person; this was everyone’s evaluation of him. The phrase he said most often was “The company’s regulations do not allow me to let you go,” like a robot.
He would not talk about human feelings with anyone. Even towards himself, he had very strict requirements, strictly following the company’s rules and regulations, and work manuals.
This trip to Golden Port was led by Bridge.
“Lainey, you can question the company’s decision, but until the company comes down with a new decision, what we need to do is obey.”
Lainey sneered. As the general manager of a branch, his status was definitely higher than this mad dog that bit everyone, but many people on the board of directors were very fond of this dog.
Useful, obedient, and hard on himself. To this day, he had not developed his own faction within the company, which was one of the reasons the directors felt at ease using him.
When they needed to, they could just find any reason to kick him out and shift all the blame onto him.
This stupid dog!
This time, the company sent specialists and the legal department over precisely to completely tear up some already signed sales contracts for fruits and crops.
The bombing at the Golden Port Bureau of Hazardous Materials led Congress to give this new department more power. The nationwide prohibition situation suddenly became more severe, no longer like a casual game.
Many regions began large-scale prohibition, and the Bureau of Hazardous Materials also started to get into the swing of things, having passed their “novice period.”
Not just in Golden Port, the Bureau of Hazardous Materials in many regions began to step up arrests for smuggling and selling alcoholic beverages. They would even arrest people for drinking in public, throwing them in prison for three or six months.
But strangely, the unprecedentedly severe situation did not make people lose their enthusiasm for drinking. Instead, the number of drinkers in many regions increased.
This not only caused the price of liquor to soar, but also the prices of some raw materials for brewing began to soar wildly.
If they couldn’t afford liquor, they would brew it themselves. Among the many brewing methods, grape wine was a relatively easy one.
In some areas with a tradition of home brewing, many family-run wineries had already appeared, and the agricultural products used for brewing began to increase in variety.
As a country with a free trade market, when demand increased significantly, it entered a seller’s market. They began to raise prices.
At the end of January and the beginning of February, the purchase price of ordinary grapes was still around seventy-seven or seventy-eight dollars per ton—this was the price on the purchase agreements they signed with farmers, but their selling price was over one hundred dollars.
But now, the selling price per ton had already risen to one hundred and seventy-five dollars. In just over a month, the profit margin had skyrocketed from over ten percent to around one hundred and fifty percent!
Such a high profit was already enough to make this group of capitalists shout “We want freedom” and trample on the law.
The company’s price trend analysts believed that as the power of the Prohibition began to spread and continue to ferment, the prices of grapes, corn, potatoes, wheat, and any agricultural products that could be used for brewing would continue to rise.
They believed that the market price for the first season of grapes this year could exceed three hundred dollars a ton!
You know, the selling price was rising, but the purchase price they had signed with the farmers before had not changed, basically less than ninety dollars.
Three to four times the profit, possibly even more!
In the face of such huge expected profits, the Liji Group was of course unwilling to honor these contracts that were sold at a price of just over one hundred dollars a ton.
After discussion by the board of directors, they unanimously decided to tear up this price and re-sign new sales contracts, or simply not sign them at all.
Doing so certainly carried business ethics risks and moral accusations, but this was a matter of tens of millions in profit. What’s wrong with being scolded a few times?
If the scolding wasn’t fierce, donate some money to a charity under their own name, do charity for themselves, and public opinion would subside.
If the scolding was harsh, just find a few people to be scapegoats and throw them out, then the board of directors would collectively apologize.
If taking a bow and saying sorry could get back tens of millions in profit, they could bow from morning till night.
This was also why they sent Bridge over. Golden Port had the most contracts; they needed the sharpest and most inflexible spear!
For those with small penalty fees, say only thirty percent or fifty percent, they would directly tear up the contract and then arrange for the legal team to sue those people.
Many people were unwilling to go to court with large corporations. Large companies have strong legal systems and know many people in the judicial departments.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t win, but winning required paying a high price, possibly thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees.
This expense might be more than the amount mentioned in the penalty clause, so they would most likely choose an out-of-court settlement—the Liji Group would refund their deposit and give a symbolic compensation, a few thousand, or a few hundred dollars.
For those with larger penalty fees, for example, double, triple, or more, they would try to communicate.
If that didn’t work, they would still go to court. Anyway, for them to give up the profit they had pocketed was simply impossible!
Just drag it out, they had plenty of experience!
As for the farmers?
With the style of the three super agricultural trading groups like Liji Group, any farmer who dared to propose re-signing a contract with a price increase would have the legal department sue them until they couldn’t even afford pants.
Not only would their first season’s grapes be taken away, but their manors, farms, everything, would be lost to them due to losing the lawsuit!
The Federation’s capital syndicates have always been like this, not at all like what they promote to the outside world—
A capitalist did something wrong, and under the effect of the spirit of contract and fair and just laws, compensated a worker with tens of thousands of dollars.
Such stories could actually be heard a lot all over the world, like an old person falling in a mall and the mall compensating them with tens of thousands.
Perhaps such cases did exist, but they wouldn’t tell you that the old person might have only gotten a few dozen dollars in the end.
And the rest of the money basically went into the pockets of lawyers and certain other people.
In the face of big capital, ordinary people never get fairness and justice.
Lainey knew the reason they were doing this. In fact, this kind of thing had not only happened once or twice.
The reverse was also true. For example, when agricultural product prices plummeted, they would on one hand demand that customers must fulfill their contracts, and on the other hand, demand to re-sign contracts with the farmers, otherwise the three major agricultural traders would refuse to purchase their crops.
The capitalists’ pursuit of profit is shameless and fiery. No one can stop them from putting the most money into their own pockets.
Bridge looked at the thoughtful Lainey, his lips curling up slightly. His “backer” had told him that if he could perfectly handle this job.
Then his backer would nominate him for promotion to senior partner in the board of directors, with the qualification to hold no more than three ten-thousandths of the shares.
Of course, this part of the shares did not come with inheritance rights, nor the right to be freely sold or transferred. He could only choose to keep them for himself, and upon his death or voluntarily, return them to the board of directors.
It sounds very unfair, but for some high-level employees, this is their ultimate dream, to become one of the company’s shareholders!
So this time, no one could stop him.
“Keep making calls, Lainey. You don’t need to think about how we do things, that’s my job. What you need to do now is to do your job well.”
“Pick up the receiver, then dial the number, and tell them, the contract has a problem!”
Lainey looked at Bridge and shook his head. He really didn’t understand the situation!
But it had nothing to do with him. He would explain the situation to those partners.
The next morning, Lance arrived at the Liji Group’s branch office building, a sixteen-story building located in the center of Golden Port.
There were even taller buildings around it!
This was actually very incredible. At a time when even three- or five-story buildings were rare in some countries, the Federation had already begun to build skyscrapers over two hundred meters high.
Lance had someone park the car. Just as he entered the first-floor lobby, he saw several guys in flat-top hats swearing and waving the documents in their hands, shouting loudly, “I’m gonna f—king sue you.”
Several security guards were blocking them, trying to drive them out.
A man who should be in charge of the lobby took the initiative to approach. Of course, he also looked at Lance with some vigilance, standing between Lance and those people, for fear that Lance would suddenly take out a camera and take pictures of this.
“Sir, is there anything I can do for you?” he said with a smile on his face. Although he was not old, his hypocritical tricks were already very mature.
Lance nodded, “Manager Lainey called me yesterday and said he’d like me to come over today to talk about the contract.”
The young man maintained that hypocritical smile, but his waist bent a little.
Those who could be invited over to talk were basically rich people. He didn’t know Lance, but he knew Lance was a rich man. It was his instinct to be respectful to rich people.
“Sir, please come with me this way.” He led the way, walking towards the elevator.
Lance asked casually, “What’s wrong with those people?”
The young man’s expression did not change in the slightest, “I’m not sure, but they clearly don’t have a proper attitude, so we can only ask them to leave for now.”
“I’m sure you, sir, are different from them.”
Lance was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then couldn’t help but laugh. He looked the young man up and down, “You know what?”
“You’re threatening the wrong person.”
The corners of the young man’s mouth stretched even wider, “I don’t understand what you’re saying, sir!”
Lance reached out and helped straighten his collar, “You’d better pray that Lainey doesn’t make me angry!” Then he withdrew his hand and patted the young man’s arm, “Cherish your good health now.”
As he spoke, a “ding” sounded. The elevator doors opened, and Lance walked in.
The young man maintained that smile, but one could faintly see the arrogance in his bones through his eyes.
After all, it was one of the three major agricultural traders. Even if he was just a lobby manager or something, to many ordinary people, he was a proper middle-class person, even considered a minor figure of some importance.
The elevator doors finally cut off their line of sight. The young man’s smile disappeared. He looked at the few people still making trouble at the front desk with a cold face and frowned, “Haven’t you eaten?”
“They are already affecting our work. Get them out!”
“Immediately!”
The security guards, who were already pushing and shoving, heard this. One of them pulled out a rubber baton. Reasoning can’t fill one’s stomach, but a salary can.
Lainey’s office was on the top floor. The elevator was not fast, but it was very stable. When it stopped, there was almost no feeling of weightlessness or added weight.
One could only feel a slight pause, a “ding,” and the doors opened.
Right outside the elevator door was a large room. There was a separate reception desk here, with several sets of sofas next to it.
Today’s newspapers and recent magazines were on the bookshelf. The blonde girl at the reception desk stood up, “Hello sir, what can I do for you?”
Lance walked to the counter on the soft carpet, “Mr. Lainey asked me to come over to discuss the contract.”
“May I have your name?” the girl asked.
“Lance.”
The girl was lost in thought for a moment, her expression seemed to freeze, but she quickly put on a smile again, lowered her head, and began to flip through a notebook.
Then she picked up the phone, “Mr. Lance is here, right here with me… Okay.”
She said, hung up the phone, and walked out from behind the counter.
She was wearing a white top with red dots, which looked very light and should be of good material, and then a bright red pencil skirt. This was a very fashionable outfit.
“Please come with me, Mr. Lance.” She led Lance to the innermost part, knocked on the door, and only after getting Lainey’s permission did she push the door open.
“Please come in.”
As soon as Lance entered, Lainey came out from behind his desk.
The reason he did this was not only because Lance’s order totaled over eight hundred thousand, but more importantly, Lance’s reputation here.
“I’m so sorry to have disturbed you, Mr. Lance. For this, I am extremely sorry!” He held Lance’s hand with both of his and apologized as soon as he came up.
Then he looked at the secretary, “Bring a cup of the best coffee, immediately!”
The secretary trotted away.
Lainey welcomed him to the sofa and sat down, “I don’t know how to start, Mr. Lance. The company’s decision makes me feel ashamed!”
Lance watched his performance quietly. Lainey was also a professional manager; what he showed you was never the real him.
Seeing that Lance didn’t respond, he could only continue, “The company hopes to re-sign the agreement with you because of our internal technical problems, we used the wrong base number in terms of price.”
“Actually, the price of the first season’s grapes this year will exceed three hundred dollars per ton, but we only gave you a price of just over one hundred.”
“We can’t afford such a huge loss, so the company hopes to re-sign on the price, or sign a supplementary contract.”
“We can give you a discounted price of two hundred and seventy dollars. This is the lowest price I’ve offered today.”
After hearing him say all this, Lance showed a faint smile, “I’ve already paid the deposit, and the contract is all signed. You’re telling me now that you want to raise the price?”
He shook his head, “Mr. Lainey, I am shocked by the low level of your company’s morality, but I refuse.”
“Everything will be according to the contract. Either give me the grapes, or give me…” he recalled, but the number had odd parts, “it should be a penalty of over four million dollars.”
“The goods, or the money. You have to choose one.”
Lainey also had a headache, “I actually really want to respect our contract, but the head office…”
As he was speaking, someone suddenly pushed the door open and walked in. Lance glanced back; it wasn’t the secretary.
It was two young men.
One of them had obvious arrogance on his face. He looked back at Lainey. Lainey could only smile awkwardly and even said “sorry” in a low voice.
Lance didn’t move, just watched the two who came in.
“Mr. Lance, hello, I’m Bridge from the Liji Group’s second legal department. Because a company employee used the wrong numbers when calculating the price, it caused us to make an error in our price forecast.”
“Now we have come specially from the capital just to correct these errors.”
The two walked to the other side of the sofa and sat down.
“Manager Lainey should have already told you, we can give you a discounted price…”
Lance interrupted him directly, “I refuse.”
Bridge didn’t care at all, and even showed a smile, “Mr. Lance, this is not a negotiation with you.”
“And I have read your contract with the company. The penalty for breach of contract is clearly unreasonable. I have reason to suspect that you may have conspired with the employee involved to use an illegal contract to obtain benefits from the company.”
Lance stood up as he spoke. He looked down at Bridge from above, then looked at Lainey. There was no joy or anger on his face, just calmness.
“Is this the purpose you called me here for today?” He shook his head, “This might be the stupidest thing you have ever done. Mr. Lainey, have a good talk with your idiot friend.”
“I hope the next time you call me, it’s to tell me you plan to fulfill the contract, not to display your greed like a clown!”