Chapter 147: Utterly Bewildered

Part of it was also a way of making excuses to comfort himself; at the end of the day, Su Mu simply did not trust Boss Han.

Not only did he doubt that Han was wholeheartedly dedicated to him, but he also doubted Han's ability to manage GoBuy Supermarket properly, especially as the company grew more and more successful and Han began plotting for his own personal interests.

His mother managed the warehouse at the company and had long been full of complaints about Boss Han's relatives, who constantly took things, ate, and drank on the company's dime. After all, every item they took meant half the cost price lost to her son, and over time, it added up to a substantial sum of money.

Su Mu was well aware of these frustrating matters.

Not only had his mother told him about them, but Herberg had mentioned them as well. He still remembered when Herberg first joined the company, Boss Han had sternly warned him not to plant random relatives in the firm because it would ruin the company culture.

Yet now, it was Boss Han himself who, for the sake of saving face, arranged jobs for numerous relatives within the company, some of whom did nothing at all yet collected a paycheck while idling away their days.

From a small clue one could see the greater trend. If Boss Han didn't care about these minor issues that could drag the company down, how could Su Mu dare to believe he would care about major issues involving millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars? This was a matter that forced Su Mu to treat with the utmost seriousness.

Boss Han's attempt to trick him into selling his shares for two million dollars was merely the catalyst Su Mu needed to seize power. Even Su Mu believed that had Han agreed to the financing yesterday, he would still have tried to usurp Su Mu's management rights one day in the future.

The logic was simple—corporate management rights were ultimately only secure when held in one's own hands.

While Su Mu worried about GoBuy Supermarket, he never worried about Miss Blake plotting against Penguin Corporation, because absolute controlling power was in his hands. No matter how loudly Blake shouted, her word didn't count.

Lately, he had been reading quite a few biographies of world business tycoons and had witnessed far too many examples of founders being ousted and leaving their companies in disgrace. Even figures as formidable as John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan saw their descendants lose control of their companies.

Then there was the case of Steve Jobs, whom the media in Silicon Valley was already describing as a "loser." All his glory from the previous few years had vanished like a puff of smoke, leaving him with nothing except an Apple Company reeking of filthy lucre.

Having suddenly gone from poverty to wealth, Su Mu had begun to worry over gains and losses, placing immense value on corporate control. While he had once thought that earning a little money to support his family was enough, he was no longer satisfied with that. Since it was possible to go bigger, he naturally had to try. After all, he was young and full of soaring ambition...

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That same night.

When Boss Han learned a string of bad news from his brother-in-law, he didn't even have time to eat dinner before rushing back to the company. There were employees praising him as a good man, alongside suppliers with furious expressions demanding payment right to his face.

It wasn't just one supplier—there were more than a dozen of them!

The total sum of their overdue payments exceeded one million dollars, and the funds in GoBuy Supermarket's account were no longer enough!

The two supermarkets currently under renovation—one located near the Walk of Fame and the other in Huntington Park—were both situated in bustling prime locations and had cost a considerable amount of money.

The war without gunsmoke had already begun!

Boss Han was surrounded by his "enemies" for several hours, yet he was utterly clueless and bewildered as to who was plotting against him.

He had always looked down on Su Mu, viewing him as merely a clever child, and had never suspected Su Mu for a second.

When many people repeat a falsehood, it comes to be believed.

One supplier said GoBuy Supermarket was about to go bankrupt, and the other suppliers panicked and rushed to demand their payments. As for the critical questions of how much goods they usually purchased from these suppliers and how much they actually sold, those had long been forgotten by this mob; when a wall is about to collapse, everyone gives it a push.

Among the crowd were fruit wholesalers, vegetable wholesalers, and seafood wholesalers. Back then, they had begged Boss Han to leave them a spot to open their shops, but at this moment, their faces wore the most ferocious expressions. In front of money, everyone was a master of changing faces.

Boss Han was so nervous that spots danced before his eyes, and he shouted, "I don't know where you heard this rumor! It's all fake! There is money in our company account! You'll all be paid in full when the time comes!"

"Don't fool us! Pay us what you owe!"

"That's right! Right now!"

"Your accountant already said that your company is experiencing a cash crunch and could go bankrupt at any moment! Are you using our money to make investments?!"

"Accountant?"

Boss Han's first thought went to the accounting firm, and he wondered what he had done to provoke or offend them.

With great difficulty, he managed to appease the suppliers, telling them to come back tomorrow and promising that he needed to look into the situation first, but the money would definitely be paid.

Everything had happened so inexplicably. It was only from his brother-in-law that he learned about Qian Herberg's promises of wage increases and employee insurance.

Only then did Boss Han realize something was wrong. Discovering that Herberg was nowhere to be seen, he marched straight to his office, only to find a resignation letter. Once he roughly pieced together what had happened, he shifted all the blame onto Qian Herberg.

After venting his anger, he remembered that this mob of suppliers would be returning tomorrow and plunged into a state of helplessness. He might have been adept at managing a small convenience store, but when it came to managing a large-scale supermarket like this, Boss Han had a lot left to learn. Among the many relatives around him, aside from Herberg, not a single one could actually get things done...

Sneezing back-to-back, Herberg, who was currently the object of Boss Han's bitter resentment, was eating lobsters.

Lobster season had arrived, and Americans loved freshwater crayfish too. Many places even held annual lobster festivals, and in the past, whenever the crawfish season rolled around, the Su Family Bistro always did a brisk business.

Su Mu's hands were covered in grease, and the rich aroma of garlic paste hung in the air. He turned his head and asked Mr. Sener, who was sitting straight and proper: "You really aren't going to have any? Just try one, and if it doesn't taste good, leave it."

Mr. Sener detested the smell of garlic, but seeing the massive pile of shrimp shells heaped in front of Su Mu and Herberg, he decided it actually looked rather appetizing. Abandoning his stiff posture, he took off his suit jacket, rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, and muttered: "I'll just have one.

Why do people like eating lobsters anyway? Heavy metal pollution is severe, and the filthier the ditch, the more lobsters there are, plus it gets your hands all oily... Hmm... smells strange, but the taste is passable."

Soon, a pile of crawfish shells began to accumulate in front of him as well.

Still unsatisfied, Su Mu had the owner bring another five pounds. Herberg, sitting beside them, remarked, "By throwing the company into chaos, aren't you worried that it will be hard to clean up the mess later and ruin your reputation among consumers?"

"I can't worry about that for now. The company is still small, so the impact is limited. If these conflicts exploded later on, that would be a real disaster. I'm confident I can get it back on track very quickly."

Su Mu said between bites, "Recently, I found an investor whose father is a super-tycoon from Hong Kong. There's a strong chance he will invest in my supermarket."

Mr. Sener was a fast learner; he only ate the tail meat and peeled the shrimp with astonishing speed, abandoning all pretense of elegance as he reached into the basin and grabbed another handful. He asked with interest, "Who is his father?"
"It seems to be Li Ka-shing? I don't know his English name."

"Oh, I know him. A very formidable businessman.

I suggest you handle your relationship with his son well. Every billionaire is someone you don't want to mess with, trust me on that. But doing business with the rich is very easy to get the short end of the stick; they're much tougher than your current business partner—the difference is like that between an infant and a professional wrestler..."