Chapter 365

Master Jones gave her a side glance. “Why don’t we just buy over 55 percent of their shares and gain absolute control of the company, then?”

“That’s a great idea!” Madam Jones clearly did not get the sarcasm in his words and continued happily. “Then, White Industries will...”

Mr. Jones put a piece of ribs in her bowl and interrupted her. “Try this, their ribs taste really good today.”

Madam Jones took a bit and furrowed her brows. “They taste just the same as usual.” She complained. Then, she looked at Master Jones. “Father, what do you think about my suggestion?”

Mr. Jones merely sighed.

Master Jones sneered. “What do I think? Let’s not even talk about whether White Industries is willing to sell 55 percent of their shares, where are you going to get that much money in the first place?”

“Jones Group is a bigger company than White Industries, right? Why don’t we first buy...”

Madam Jones was only halfway through her sentence when Master Jones stopped her. “Nobody will treat you like a mute if you don’t talk that much.”

Madam Jones was upset at his reaction and glanced at her husband who merely gave her a warning look to stop talking. Seeing she was no match against the two men, she put down her bowl and chopsticks and left the table. She claimed that she was already full.

“She’s a middle-aged woman but is still as immature as a teenager. How did Jean Lewis raise a daughter like her?” Old Madam Jones never liked this daughter-in-law of hers.

She claimed she came from a literary family or whatnot, but she was barely capable of completing a simple task. In fact, she was not even comparable to someone from an average family!

“She has always had this attitude, please don’t be offended,” Mr. Jones said.

“She has already been entangled with Alan Harris for so many years now. I really don’t know what you’re thinking, a big man like you pampering a worthless woman like her.” Old Madam Jones felt unfairly for her son.

Seeing that the conversation was straying further and further away, Leah put down her chopsticks and said gently, “Grandfather, what do you think?”

“You said it yourself, White Industries hasn’t been doing well in the market recently, so why should we buy their shares? Do you want to do charity work for the White family?” Master Jones raised his voice.

Old Madam Jones continued eating quietly. Knowing that she knew nothing about the workings of the company business, she did not want to interfere.

“White Industries has been tangled up with a lot of negative press for this period of time, so their situation isn’t exactly ideal, but if you think long-term wise, their development actually has quite a lot of potential,” Leah answered.

Master Jones wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Since you’re clear about these things, why are you still talking about buying shares? Do you think we have a lot of extra cash lying around that’s sufficient for you to buy a quarter of White Industries’ shares?”

“Grandfather, just listen to me before you have a final say.

“The majority of White Industries’ clientele overlap with ours, and they have always been our main competitor when it comes to getting hold of projects.

“If we seize this opportunity and purchase 25 percent of shares from Mr. Long, then get together with a few of their other shareholders, we’ll have greater authority than Uncle James.

“When that happens, we can arrange for White Industries to slip a few of their better projects to us. Wouldn’t that benefit us?” Leah asked.

Master Jones took a sip of his soup. “Dream on! The dividends of their shareholders are closely related to the company’s profits... Slip some of their good projects to Jones Group? Do you think they’re a bunch of idiots?”

“The company isn’t theirs anyway. As long as they get their due, I don’t think they really care about what happens to White Industries.” Leah continued. “For example, we can take 20 percent of the profits earned from our projects to satisfy them, and we would still be profitable. It’s only a win-win situation here whereas the White family suffers the loss.”

Master Jones pondered her idea for a moment. He had to admit that he was slightly moved. After all, he has had his eyes on several of the White family’s projects for a while now.

However, something bugged him. “White Industries’ stock value has been plummeting for a while now and even halted twice. If we purchase Mr.

Long’s part of the shares now, do you know how much we’ll lose? Perhaps the profits we make from the projects won’t even be enough for us to recover!”

“I’ve considered this as well. White Industries has a few biopharmaceutical companies under their name that are performing very well now. They have recently developed two new drug treatments—one for leukemia and one for breast cancer,” Leah said confidently.

“As long as we release this news out to the public, many people will be fighting to get our shares.

“Meanwhile, White Industries will have their shareholders replaced continuously and this will trigger panic among the public. Then, all we need is to ask the media outlets for a simple favor and White Industries will have a full-blown disaster on their plate. When that happens, how will they still have the energy and resources to fight with us in the market?”

Upon hearing her explanation, Master Jones felt giddy. However, he glanced at Mr. Jones before responding straight away.

“I heard this piece of news as well. If nothing changes, the White family should be announcing this soon to try to salvage White Industries’ current situation,” Mr. Jones said solemnly.

Leah quickly added on to his sentence. “But if we take over the shares from Mr. Long now, we can talk to the other major shareholders and try to keep this from the media for now.

“Then, when we’re ready to withdraw, we can alert the media and sell the shares at a higher rate to earn a higher profit.”

With all these benefits pieced together, even Master Jones who had lived for a very long time now found the deal tempting.

However, he had to be cautious. “If you already know about this, there’s no way Mr. Long has no knowledge about this too. So why is he still willing to withdraw?” he asked.

Compared to the beginning of the conversation, his tone had softened up now.

Leah’s heart leaped with joy, but she forced herself to remain calm with a respectful smile plastered on her face. “I did a little digging around, and it turns out that Mr. Long is experiencing some trouble with his company’s funds. He urgently needs a huge sum of money.

“But he doesn’t want people to know about his company’s difficulties because it would be unfavorable to his company, so he’s using the White family as an excuse to sell his part of the shares.”

It was like a poor man who refused to admit his financial situation, so when his friends invited him for dinner, he would say that he could not make it because he was on a strict diet to lose weight.

Master Jones’ eyes were so close to shooting sparks, and even his fingers began to tremble with excitement.

However, he was still a very cautious man, so he continued asking, “Are you sure the companies listed under White Industries have developed the two new drug treatments? Are you sure that the White family isn’t just throwing rumors around?”

“Sterling isn’t smart enough to think of that,” Mr. Jones said.

Master Jones completely ignored him as he kept his eyes on Leah.

Atrophy of Love: Mr. Harris, Stop Fooling Around!

Chapter 364 What’s Wrong About It “Yes, I’m sure,” she answered with a confident smile. “I had a few confirmations from several parties, so there’s no way they’re fake news.”

Although Master Jones had been unhappy about Leah’s recent behavior, he still had faith in her capabilities. If not, he would not have appointed her as the chief financial director before either.

With that, he slapped the table and said joyously, “Alright then, go see Mr. Long and talk to him about it! Don’t worry about the money, I’ll take care of it!”

-

Back at the Bamboo Virtues Village.

In the bedroom.

Sophia had just showered and was lying in bed.

Charles’ phone suddenly began ringing, so she shouted out to the bathroom, “Your phone’s ringing!”

“Just answer the call,” he replied from the bathroom.

Sophia was a little surprised at his response. He had always been a private man and never allowed anyone to ask anything about his personal life.

Yet, now here he was. Not only did he not bother to ask who the caller was, but he asked her to answer it as well?