Chapter 204 - Hinting to Li Zhaojun

It was just past half-past six in the evening when Ye Fan sat dining in the luxurious villa restaurant, facing the ever-arrogant Li Zhaojun, who even while eating maintained a poised and haughty posture.

Watching Li Zhaojun spoon soup delicately into her sensuous red lips, Ye Fan drifted off into a reverie, thinking to himself that her movements were indeed graceful, yet it was a shame she loved to look down on people so much—that wasn’t his style at all.

Li Zhaojun caught Ye Fan’s dazed gaze on her, swallowed the spoonful of Thai Tom Yum soup in her mouth, then lifted her stunningly beautiful face with a disdainful look at Ye Fan, and asked coolly, “What are you looking at?”

Ye Fan snapped back to reality, answering with a teasing smirk, “Looking at you.”

Li Zhaojun was momentarily taken aback, but the sight of Ye Fan’s cheeky grin immediately put her off—he wasn’t being serious enough.

“How boring!” she huffed arrogantly.

“Yeah, I find it pretty boring too, so let’s focus on something meaningful instead: eating,” Ye Fan said with a light chuckle, then buried his head in his meal.

Li Zhaojun naturally detected the underlying sarcasm in Ye Fan’s words, suggesting she was less meaningful than a bowl of rice, which irked her a little, then she chastised herself for engaging in such childish banter.

“Childish!” she scoffed dismissively, and then bent her head down to continue sipping her soup with elegance.

Ye Fan choked a bit but quickly recovered, accustomed as he was to Li Zhaojun’s haughty way of critiquing others, and thus continued eating nonchalantly.

The two ate without speaking for a while until Li Zhaojun finally finished her small helping of Thai Tom Yum soup in its limited-edition porcelain bowl.

As she moved on to the rice, Li Zhaojun casually lifted her head and said, “Ye Fan, you’ve joined the new company as the deputy manager of the HR department, but I hear you’re out and about all the time.

Why is that?”

“Haha, so you’ve heard,” Ye Fan replied with a playful grin.

“I’ve been rather tied up with personal matters lately, and Hu Jing is very capable at work, she doesn’t need my interference.”

“Ye Fan!” Li Zhaojun’s face grew stern as she said, “I’ll say it again, I don’t want to see the day when someone reports to me to have you removed.”

Unfazed, Ye Fan responded, “Don’t worry, Hu Jing is quite power-hungry.

She wouldn’t want to get rid of me, not at all.”

Upon hearing this, Li Zhaojun became even more displeased.

You’re being sidelined and you’re still gloating?

Truly a useless man, not even on par with a wealthy ne’er-do-well!

Ye Fan paid no mind to what Li Zhaojun was thinking and continued, “By the way, any progress on retrieving the ‘Gefei Qinghua Tablet’ patent?

What are your plans?”

Li Zhaojun, hearing that Ye Fan still cared about crucial matters and wasn’t entirely heartless, felt her anger dissipate somewhat, but then a wave of sadness rose within her—her expectations of Ye Fan were really that low.

Nevertheless, she perked up and went over her strategies in detail, taking care to explain the reasoning behind her choices.

Ye Fan hadn’t expected Li Zhaojun to delve into such detail, and he somewhat zoned out while listening.

Seeing this, Li Zhaojun glared, her phoenix eyes narrowing, and she snapped in a cold voice, “Ye Fan!

I won’t blame you for not understanding, but at the very least you should have a tad bit of ambition, a willingness to learn.”

“Heh,” Ye Fan responded with an innocent, wry smile, “I’ve been listening attentively.

I think your method is very good.

However, I believe it’s best if you prioritize the lawsuit with Hua Hai University’s Biomedical Research Institute, pushing Tongyi Group to abandon the ‘Gefei Qinghua Tablet’ patent through a hefty compensation claim.

As for networking and lobbying, I find it too illusory.”

He hinted to Li Zhaojun about the matter of reclaiming the “Ji Lung Purification Tablet” patent to prepare her for the impending lawsuit.

Before long, once he launched an attack on Tongyi Group’s stock on NASDAQ in the United States, Tongyi Group would inevitably be occupied with saving themselves, funds would be tight; this would be the best time for Emali Group to take back the “Ji Lung Purification Tablet” patent.

“You’re thinking too simply,” Li Zhaojun immediately responded.

“The ‘Ji Lung Purification Tablet’ patent is worth a lot; even if we were to raise the compensation to two hundred million, Tongyi Group’s financial strength can completely handle it.”

“Is that so?

Not necessarily,” Ye Fan said with a faint smile.

“Tongyi Group may seem to be ten times larger than Emali Group, but it also has many subsidiaries.

Each industry sector requires a significant amount of capital for its development.

Spread across, I don’t think they would be willing to spend an extra two hundred million to secure the ‘Ji Lung Purification Tablet’ patent.”

“Haven’t you told me before?

Although Tongyi Group snatched the ‘Ji Lung Purification Tablet’ patent, they are still willing to cooperate with Emali Group to establish a jointly-controlled biomedical manufacturing company.

This suggests their finances are not necessarily that ample.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be better to keep such a huge benefit to themselves?

Why would they want to share the cake with us?”

Upon hearing Ye Fan’s analysis, Li Zhaojun pondered a moment and felt that there seemed to be some truth to it.

Seeing Li Zhaojun deep in thought, Ye Fan paused for a few seconds before casually continuing with a light smile, “Besides, the sky has unpredictable weathers, and fortunes can change overnight.

Tongyi Group won’t necessarily always have smooth sailing; something might suddenly happen within their ranks.

Didn’t Emali Group’s stock also suddenly plummet a while ago?”

Li Zhaojun looked up, scoffing disdainfully, “Only someone like you would hope for the enemy’s misfortune!”

Ye Fan spread his hands wordlessly, returning to his meal without further comment.

After a while, Li Zhaojun said, “However, your suggestion is somewhat acceptable.”

“Ha ha, you’ve admitted it, haven’t you?” Ye Fan looked up with a triumphant expression, “If we successfully reclaim the patent following my plan, don’t you think you owe me a hefty bonus and a promotion to Vice President?”

“All you did was spout nonsense, and you fluked into being right; you think that qualifies you to be a Vice President?” Li Zhaojun snorted lightly, “Naive!

Superficial!”

“Uh?” Ye Fan looked dejected and fell silent for a while, then said, “Okay, okay, let’s pretend I never said anything.”

Then, the two ate in silence.

While eating, Li Zhaojun couldn’t help but think, “He’s not entirely useless; at least his analysis just now made some sense.”

She involuntarily began to harbor some hope for Ye Fan.

But, in the next instant, she extinguished that sliver of hope, “Li Zhaojun, Li Zhaojun, just from a few correct guesses, you’re already getting hopeful?

When did your standards become so low?

With him being like that, don’t even dream of relying on him for a million years.”

Thinking this, she suddenly remembered that old Mr.

Li’s health was declining.

Once old Mr.

Li passed away, she would be entirely marginalized by the Li family.

As a child, after her father died in the war and her mother, with her limited ability and meek nature, could not protect her, her cousins and siblings were jealous of her excellence and the affection she received from old Mr.

Li; they all wanted to bully her.

She always responded with unyielding strength, which led to extremely poor relations with her cousins and siblings, almost to the point of enmity.

Without the protection of the Li family, she would encounter who knows how many dangers, both overt and covert, and might even be kicked while down by those cousins and siblings.

And her “husband” was not someone she could rely on.

Contemplating the difficult path ahead, all she could do was clench her empty left hand tightly, then sit up straight with a stiff back, and eat her meal seriously.