A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 131

"Are you serious, Rufus?"

Cassandra asked, surprised. This was the first time she saw Rufus so impulsive. He was normally calm.

Rufus turned around to look at the worried woman and gave her a sly smile. She rarely saw him with such a soft expression.

"I knew it!"

Cassandra said sheepishly. A part of her worried that Rufus was really going to settle their rivalry with violence.

Surely, he was just joking. But Rufus wasn't the type who would kid about things like that.

Unknown to Cassandra, his eyes turned fierce.

Jasper Li called Arthur. The usual level-headed man now sounded angry through the phone.

"Mr. Zhuang, as one of your shareholders, I feel that it's my responsibility to remind you to watch your behavior! I heard you stole someone's project. That was not part of our deal,"

Jasper said, questioning Arthur's business ethics and doing his best to hold back his rage.

"Mr. Li, you misunderstand me. I did it exactly for our partnership. It's to make the most out of your investment. Besides, there was no contract yet. The project was still open for public bidding. I did not break any law,"

Arthur explained, trying to defend himself. Investors were important and he did not want to upset them. He did his best to convince Jasper that there was nothing unethical with what they did.

"Mr. Zhuang, even though what you did was not illegal, it's still not something we can be proud of. I worry that our peers will go against us if they find out what you did. Remember your position. As the Deputy Director of the Union, you can't compete with the Director. On top of that, what you did was very inappropriate,"

Jasper replied impatiently. He was on the verge of losing his patience. Then he began to wonder whether Arthur was truly a good steward of his money, seeing what he was capable of.

He began to feel as if the chairman had picked the wrong guy to work with.

"Mr. Li, the Dawn Star Group is going towards a very bright future. Road bumps are normal while we're expanding. The question is, will we let them stop us or will we push through them? Maybe you look down on the way I deal with it. But it can lead to the results we both want,"

Arthur reasoned. It seemed as though he came prepared with the possible comments of his investors.

"Then as your investor, your ethics are important to us. We need to know that you are really a good person to entrust with our money and that you know what you're doing, instead of just stealing projects from our competitors. If not, we will withdraw our support for your company,"

Jasper replied. He made it as clear as he could. He wanted Arthur to give up the project in exchange for his financial support.

"Mr. Li...I will take what you said into consideration!"

Arthur interrupted, sensing Jasper's disagreement with his explanation.

He clenched his fists in rage after hanging up the phone and almost wanted to overturn his table. Thankfully, his reason trumped his fury.

Jasper's reaction did not make sense to Arthur. He was their investor but why was he taking their competitor's side?

Was he connected with the Tang Group?

Arthur did do something dirty to win the amusement park project, but it was practically common practice within their circle. Why was it even important to stay decent?

The Dawn Star Group needed TY Group's financial support. They wouldn't survive without it.

Arthur had no intention of giving up a lucrative project that was already in his hands. It was also a doorway to many opportunities down the road. Giving it up meant not only giving up a tree, but also giving up a whole forest.

He started to feel furious. 'Everything would have ironed out if Rufus did not come back all of sudden.

How should I manage to foil this?'

"Mr. Zhuang, Miss Qin is here,"

his secretary, Nana, called him through the internal line.

"Let her in!"

Arthur's eyes brightened at the news. There was Cloris. She was a pawn he could still take advantage of.

His last plan failed but he would be more well-prepared this time.

"Arthur, you haven't texted me back for two days! What have you been busy with?"

Cloris pouted. Wearing a beige coat that showed off her fair skin, she looked pretty cute in her pink lipstick.

"I am in the middle of a project, baby,"