But before Wang An could finish, Zhang Shuya interrupted him, her face flushed with agitation
"So you'll just use force? You'll just use force? Why couldn't you just say you're the boss and fire him? Would that not settle it? Does it have to come to blows?"
Truth be told, Zhang Shuya's words made a great deal of sense.
If Wang An had simply revealed his identity, Peng Sinan might not have dared to be so aggressive.
Thus, after Zhang Shuya spoke, Wang An simply lowered his head and fell silent.
Seeing that Wang An wasn't making a sound, Zhang Shuya pointed at him and scolded
"Little Wang An, let me tell you, if you ever tell someone you'll use force just because you feel like it again, see if I don't give you a thrashing!"
Wang An stole a glance at Zhang Shuya and whispered
"Mm-hmm, I understand."
At this moment, Wang An truly looked like a primary school student being scolded by a teacher—exceptionally honest and obedient.
Mainly, he had no choice but to be obedient.
On one hand, it was because Zhang Shuya truly viewed Wang An as her own younger brother.
On the other hand, Zhang Shuya actually did beat him! She beat him soundly—so soundly that Wang An had developed psychological trauma.
After Wang An spoke, Zhang Shuya continued with a lingering anger
"Tell me, can you exercise some restraint in the future? Can you change that foul temper of yours for me?"
Wang An blinked his eyes and said very meekly
"Mm-hmm, I can."
Wang An's "good boy" image immediately drew bursts of laughter from the group of second-generation heirs, and Zhang Shuya naturally couldn't hide the smile on her face.
Wu Dong laughed and mocked Wang An
"Only your big sister can make you behave. Good grief, she's scared you half to death; you're like a little kitten, hahahaha!"
He Liang also teased him
"Indeed. I've never seen you this honest before. Why is it that when you see your big sister, you're like a mouse seeing a cat? Hahahaha..."
Wang An remained silent, letting the heirs laugh at him.
Because Wang An knew very well that whether someone was mocking you or attacking you verbally, as long as you ignored them—or didn't even give them a glance—they would naturally shut up once they found it boring.
After the laughter subsided, Wang Shuai spoke with a serious expression
"Xiao An, we called you here today to tell you some good news. After Liangzi and I spent two months working at it, our gold shop has opened and is now operating in Ice City. Aside from Huaxia Gold, we now have a total of two gold shops in Ice City."
As he spoke, Wang Shuai held up the index and middle fingers of his right hand in a "two" gesture.
The moment Wang Shuai finished, Wang An's spirits lifted instantly, and he said happily
"Oh my god, that's wonderful! Does that mean our gold can finally see the light of day and be sold for high prices? Hahahaha, great, just great."
Although gold was something that never lacked buyers, trading small amounts might go unnoticed, but if large volumes were traded and discovered, it would be a major problem. He wouldn't be able to explain the source of the gold.
Of course, explaining it wouldn't help anyway; in the end, it would all be confiscated by the state, leaving him with absolutely nothing.
The most frustrating part was that you'd have to spend a few years—or even a decade—inside.
Therefore, in Wang An's view, having a very secure sales channel was the most stable and safe approach.
After Wang An spoke, He Liang smiled with a look of difficulty on his face
"Xiao An, it's about the shareholder issue. A few of us wanted to discuss it with you to see if we should still include Old Great-Uncle, Xueli, and Old Fifth."
Wang An was stunned for a moment, instinctively feeling that something was up.
He scanned the six heirs, and he noticed that all of them, including Zhang Shuya, looked somewhat unnatural.
Wang An nodded, then with a face full of smiles, pretended to be confused
"Brother Liang, what do you mean? I don't understand. The ten of us went together, and we carried the gold back together. If they aren't included as shareholders, then... how am I supposed to explain that to them?"
He Liang blinked and hurriedly said
"Xiao An, don't misunderstand. It's not that we don't want to include the three of them. It's mainly that this involves the initial investment and some rather complex interpersonal relationships. Regarding the money you gave us last time to build the motorcycle factory—your share still had a good amount left that hadn't been returned to you; that was all poured into building the gold shop this time."
Once He Liang finished, Wang Shuai said with a solemn face
"Xiao An, for this gold shop, from buying the building to the renovations, then building the underground vault, the safes, installing the security doors, and connecting to the public security alarm system—we've already invested nearly 500,000 yuan."
He Liang added
"If it weren't for the profits from the pharmaceutical plant and the motorcycle business, work on the gold shop would have stopped long ago."
Wu Dong shook his head and added helplessly
"Our current situation is basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. All the foreign exchange earned by the pharmaceutical plant was poured into motorcycle parts and second-hand production lines, and then the money earned from the motorcycle business and the domestic earnings of the pharmaceutical plant were all poured into the gold shop."
Wang An understood this situation very well.
Whether it was the motorcycle factory or the gold shop, the investment was enormous. If not for the continuous blood transfusion from the pharmaceutical plant and the skyrocketing sales of motorcycles, the group might have had to delay the gold shop for several years.
To put it simply, they had overextended themselves.
Ma Guoqiang sighed and said
"If you say we're rich, our businesses are indeed not small. Good grief—pharmaceutical plant, motorcycle factory, motorcycle shop, and a gold shop; none of them are small in scale. But if you say we're poor, then aside from the money used to pay employees' wages, there's truly not a penny left in our accounts."
Just as Wang An was about to speak, Wang Shuai summarized
"Anyway, if it's just the accounts for the seven of us, it's manageable. But if we add Old Great-Uncle and the other two, the accounts will become a complete mess."
After a pause, Wang Shuai added
"Mainly, if the three of them get involved, they would have to put in money now as well. Look, Xiao An, given our current scale of investment, how much money would they even need to be able to afford to chip in?"
Wang Shuai's words hit the nail right on the head.
But after Wang Shuai finished, Wu Dong said seriously
"Xiao An, let me tell you, it's impossible for us to only open two gold shops. Eventually, in Qi City, Sui City, Yi City, Jia City—basically all the major cities in Heilongjiang Province—and once Heilongjiang is done, then Jilin and Liaoning. We'll definitely be opening branches there. Calculating it this way, we might not see a return on the gold shop for several years."
Wang An nodded heavily and said
"Mm-hmm, the investment is too large. We really can't bring the three of them along."