After finishing negotiations with Herman Su, Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, there was no time to waste, so he headed back to the HT Group's headquarters to ask how their presales were going. When he arrived there, he saw that their sales were decent, but it was still not enough to compete with the KING Group. But since it had only been a few days since their promotions started, Jacob didn't know whether to feel satisfied or not with their progress.
Suddenly, Sam appeared behind Jacob and told him about his findings. His report clearly stated that their pre-sale had successfully split the consumers' attention evenly between the HT Group and KING Group. And when they asked the consumers about how the HT Group's products stack up against the KING Group's, their answers stated that they were even in quality as well.
With this in mind, Jacob worries disappeared. He was more than satisfied with the results compared to earlier, even if the plan was only half successful.
Shortly after, he walked to a quiet corridor, and then took out his phone to dial Darren's number.
Inside the CEO office of the KING Group, Darren had just finished speaking to Herman's subordinate through the phone. He was infuriated when he found out that the factory decided to work with the HT Group even though he had put so much effort into securing a deal with them. To make matters worse, he saw Jacob's name on his phone and instantly knew the latter was only calling him to rub salt on his wounds.
The only thing that Darren wanted to do was to smash his phone on the ground and stomp on it repeatedly. But doing so would be an admittance of defeat, and his inherent arrogance would never allow him to do that. There was no chance he could let Jacob savor this victory.
After taking multiple deep breaths, Darren answered his phone.
“Mr. Xu.“
The moment Darren heard Jacob's voice, he knew his assumptions were right. His rival was only calling to tease and make fun of him. Despite that, Darren tried his best to control his anger and respond casually.
“Jacob, what do you need? Get to the point because I still have a lot of things to do.“ Darren tried his best to come across as normal. That was why he even called Jacob by his first name.
“I'm sure you already know about my deal with Herman. I called because I feel a little bit guilty about taking him from you. I know business is business. But still, I hope you don't mind, Mr. Xu,“ Jacob answered in a slightly teasing tone. But he still wasn't done making fun of Darren, so he added, “By the way, Herman told me that when we're done with our deal, he'll still be willing to work with you. I hope there are no hard feelings between us, Mr. Xu. Okay?“
Darren's blood was at a boiling point but he still managed to keep his composure. “Don't worry about it, Jacob. And besides, I don't like working with people who change their minds even though we've already come to an agreement. I can assure you that I don't feel any ill will towards you, especially since Herman's factory doesn't deserve to be in business with the KING Group.“
This excuse to take the moral high ground was Darren's last attempt to save face.
That being said, it was no use since Jacob couldn't stop chuckling at him. Shortly after, he said, “That's good to hear, Mr. Xu. I'll talk to you later then.“ After that, Jacob didn't even wait for Darren's response and hung up the phone.
'What a show-off! I can't believe this bastard still has the audacity to rub his victory in my face!'
Darren thought while clenching his fists in rage. He was so infuriated that his nails dug deep in his palm. 'Jacob, just wait and see! I'll teach you a lesson someday!' Darren bitterly promised to himself.
After a couple of hours, Darren managed to calm himself down. But right after that, he felt extremely exhausted. He knew he needed to rest, so he walked to his desk and slumped down into a leather chair. With a frown, he rubbed his temples to find some sort of relief.
Although Darren said he didn't care about losing the factory, he knew how big of a blow it was to their success moving forward. The KING Groups' anti-aging skincare product, which was such a big success, was made in that particular factory. Darren couldn't figure out whether a spy had told Jacob about it or if it was just pure coincidence. The only thing that Darren could think of at that moment was how successful the KING Group would've been already if weren't for Jacob constantly throwing wrenches in his plans.
With that in mind, Darren knew he wouldn't be able to handle any more bad news for a while.
A few minutes later, Harlan finally got wind of the fact that the factory they were working with was being taken away. Filled with concern, he rushed over to the CEO's office to check on his boss.
As soon as Harlan opened the door, he asked, “What are we going to do now, Mr. Xu?“ Darren was still so upset at that point that he couldn't help but smash his fist on the table as a response. After that, he replied in a dejected voice, “The only thing we can do right now is to go to our second choice when we were looking for factories. It's better to go with our plan B than to just wait here and hope Herman changes his mind.“
The next morning, the Li Family was busy preparing breakfast.
Cherish was excited to prepare breakfast as soon as she got up from her bed. But since she had made such a huge mess in the kitchen last time, the Li Family didn't allow her to do it on her own. It wasn't that they didn't want her to make a mess again, they just didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
That being said, Cherish was very outspoken about learning how to cook after getting married. Leah couldn't bear to let her down, so she had no choice but to teach her daughter-in-law. On the bright side, Leah knew this was a good way to deepen her relationship with Cherish.
The menu for that day was shredded potatoes and minced meat porridge. Under Leah's keen gaze, Cherish carefully chopped up some potatoes, scallion, ginger, garlic, and a few other spices.
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