“Uh…”
The female executive was dumbfounded.
Is this for real?
And not just her.
The other executives in the room were equally stunned.
Director Zhou doesn’t seem to care about money at all.
Even at the original price, let alone double the price,
if they could sell off their holdings, they would definitely come out ahead.
In an instant, the conference room buzzed with whispered conversations.
No one could figure out what Zhou Qiaoqiao was up to.
The female executive nodded at Zhou Qiaoqiao, her attitude humble, her tone full of apology.
“I’m sorry, Director Zhou. I was out of line earlier. Please forgive me.”
Zhou Qiaoqiao waved her hand dismissively.
“It’s fine. Sit down.”
After a pause, she looked at the hesitant executives and added,
“My time is limited. If you don’t sell your crude oil futures by this afternoon, you’ll have to find someone else to buy them.”
“If anyone wants to sell, I’ll call my secretary later, and you can verify the details with her.”
“Also, without my permission, no one is allowed to sell any of the crude oil futures held by the group, no matter how low the price.”
“I’ll personally inform the general manager. That’s all for today’s meeting. Dismissed!”
The executives, who had been hesitating, were now in a bind.
Zhou Qiaoqiao didn’t strike them as the type of businesswoman who would take a loss lying down.
Her offer to buy their crude oil futures
suggested that there might still be a twist in the oil market.
But she wasn’t giving them any time to think it over.
If they didn’t sell now,
they were sure to lose money.
Regardless of Zhou Qiaoqiao’s plans,
they should be grateful for the chance to offload their futures.
Zhou Qiaoqiao returned to her private manager’s office,
instructed her secretary to handle the crude oil futures acquisition in the conference room,
and then plopped down in her chair.
She turned her phone back on,
and was greeted by over twenty missed calls.
Zhou Qiaoqiao, as if she had expected this, remained calm.
She quickly scanned the call log.
There were calls from her parents, her grandfather, and other uncles.
Her parents had only called twice,
while the rest were from other relatives of the Zhou family.
“They’re panicking.”
A sly smile crept onto Zhou Qiaoqiao’s lips.
She could already imagine the pained expressions on her uncles’ faces.
After all, this move
would either leave them with a huge loss or a significant financial hit.
She leaned forward, opened a drawer,
and looked at the neatly stacked guarantee contracts inside.
She couldn’t help but chuckle.
“My little wolfdog was right. It seems I’m naturally suited to play the villain.”
“Huh… why isn’t it here?”
Zhou Qiaoqiao’s delicate brows furrowed as her slender finger paused on the phone screen.
She blinked,
then checked several times more.
Still, she couldn’t find the missed call from Su Ting that she had expected.
This unexpected turn of events
left the “queen of mischief” stunned for a moment.
Then she burst out laughing.
Her smile was radiant,
but unfortunately, there was no one in the office to appreciate it.
“The trust my mother-in-law has in me is even greater than I imagined.”
After all, Su Ting had provided 350 billion in liquid funds!
With her capabilities,
it was impossible for her not to know what was going on by now.
Moreover, Zhou Qiaoqiao deduced that the “old Buddha” must have gotten the news much earlier than others!
Yet, despite this,
Su Ting hadn’t called her even once.
What did that mean?
Trust!
Unconditional trust!
Zhou Qiaoqiao thought about it and decided it was necessary to send a message to the “old Buddha.”
Su Ting might not ask,
but she couldn’t not explain.
Besides, they were about to reap the rewards.
However, revealing everything now wasn’t an option.
Considering her engagement to Xu Mo,
Zhou Qiaoqiao decided to play it safe for the time being.
After all, the big reveal would happen in the next few days.
She wanted to give Xu Mo a huge surprise.
Before Xu Mo and his parents could react,
she would prepare the dowry
and announce it.
She was confident that the dowry would be an amount Su Ting couldn’t refuse.
The more Zhou Qiaoqiao thought about it, the more excited she became. Her thumbs flew across the phone screen.
WeChat chat.
Zhou Qiaoqiao: Mom, everything is under control.
The message was sent.
Not long after,
Su Ting replied with a single character:
‘!’
No further questions.
No additional comments.
Zhou Qiaoqiao felt a sense of unreality.
She had expected Su Ting to ask more questions.
She had even prepared her explanations.
If Su Ting had pressed further,
she wouldn’t have minded letting her in on the plan early.
But Su Ting didn’t ask anything else.
Zhou Qiaoqiao’s resolve grew stronger. Xu Mo was hers!
With such a wonderful mother-in-law
and a boy she truly liked,
losing him to another girl
would be the worst outcome.
As for the Zhou family,
Zhou Qiaoqiao didn’t respond immediately.
Whether it was her parents, her grandfather, or other relatives,
her silence
didn’t mean she was doing nothing.
Because someone had already responded on her behalf.
Zhou Corporation.
A manager’s office.
“What? Zhou Qiaoqiao is buying the executives’ crude oil futures at double the price? And it’s her own money?”
“She’s gone mad! She must be out of her mind!”
“The Xu family’s crude oil futures haven’t been sold either? She’s holding them back?”
“Alright, alright, I got it. If anything else happens, let me know immediately!”
“Okay, that’s all for now!”
Zhou Rongkang, who had been fuming in his office and was on the verge of becoming a “desk-clearing master,” suddenly calmed down.
Instead, he was filled with deep confusion and bewilderment.
He was increasingly unable to understand what his niece was trying to pull.
But after calming down and analyzing the situation,
he realized that the Zhou family had invested over a hundred billion in liquid funds,
and the Xu family’s investment was likely even larger.
Zhou Rongkang refused to believe
that Zhou Qiaoqiao would let both the Xu family’s and the Zhou family’s money go down the drain.
“Let’s wait a bit longer, just a bit longer!”
Zhou Rongkang rubbed his temples. Not long ago, he had scraped together a hundred million, trusting Zhou Qiaoqiao’s words,
and invested it all in crude oil futures.
If it weren’t for this phone call,
he would have sold off those futures immediately.
Selling now would mean a huge loss.
Whether he could even recover fifty million was uncertain.
Zhou Rongkang couldn’t accept that!!!
This was a gambler’s mindset.
If he sold now,
he might still get half back.
But if he waited a few more days,
and the third major oil field was discovered,
the value of his crude oil futures might not even be worth ten million.
Similar scenarios were playing out
across Zhou Corporation and various other places within the Zhou family.
Zhou Qiaoqiao hadn’t intended to keep things hidden.
Moreover, some executives from the Xu and Zhou families knew each other,
so it was no surprise that the news spread quickly.