The people listened to Lin Zhiping and, upon further reflection, felt he made a lot of sense.
After all, Jinyu Group was no ordinary company. Being able to negotiate an exclusive contract with them in Jinling was of tremendous significance. Even if they suffered a loss now, they would be able to make it back in the future.
Instantly, the way people looked at Lin Qingxue shifted from mockery to envy and jealousy.
This girl must be incredibly lucky. Just recently, she had fortuitously saved Elder Lin's life, and now she had even secured a contract that everyone else had failed to obtain. Were they all destined to be outshone by this girl?!
While everyone envied Lin Qingxue, Lin Zhiping reviewed the contract several times and suddenly spoke up, "However, even with such a stringent, concessional contract, it still doesn't seem easy to obtain. Is this contract really from Jinyu Group? Or did you... forge it yourself?"
Lin Zhiping voiced his doubts, suspecting that Lin Qingxue had never obtained a contract from Jinyu Group at all but had forged one just to steal the credit and win their grandfather's favor.
Also, because of the contract's severity, she could use it as an opportunity to embezzle a considerable amount of money from the Lin Family. By the time they prepared to ride the coattails of Jinyu Group, she could then claim that the cooperation with Jinyu Group had fallen through...
Lin Zhiping harbored such suspicions because he himself had entertained similar thoughts before, but he felt Elder Lin was not so senile to be fooled so easily, fearing trouble, so he ultimately suppressed those ideas.
"Exactly, Brother Ping is right; even if this contract isn't very favourable to us, it's still an exclusive deal with Jinyu Group. Even big families like the Su Family probably couldn't get it, so how could Qingxue manage it?"
"Right, Lin Qingxue, just confess now. If you really forged it, it's still not too late to come clean. Otherwise, once you've embezzled the money, things will get much more complicated."
"..."
Upon hearing Lin Zhiping's doubts, everyone suddenly realized he was making sense and joined in pressuring Lin Qingxue with aggressive questions, their words filled with malice.
Lin Qingxue, hearing the doubts, turned pale, pressed her lips together, and said, "How could I possibly forge it? What would I gain by doing that? Do you all really think Grandfather is that senile? That I could fool him with a fake contract?"
Upon saying this, Elder Lin also nodded and added, "Yes, I just checked the official website of Jinyu Group. The contract is authentic. With this, we will have an involvement in all of Jinyu Group's herbal supply and sales in Jinling."
Boom!
The Elder's confirmation landed like a calm drop of water into hot oil, causing an immediate uproar in the meeting room.
"Did she really secure the cooperation with Jinyu Group?"
"My heavens! Does this mean that our Lin Family will flourish from now on?"
"..."
The bunch of Lin Family members, who had been merely getting by, suddenly became visibly excited, feeling extremely overjoyed.
If before they had feared Lin Qingxue gaining a larger share of the family fortune when she saved Elder Lin, and had thus grouped together to questionable ends, now, even though Lin Qingxue had once again accomplished a great feat, at least they would also benefit, and they naturally felt elated as well.
Although there was still envy and jealousy towards Lin Qingxue, joy and excitement prevailed.
Lin Zhiping had not expected the contract to be real, and his expression remained unchanged, but inwardly, he seethed with jealousy towards this annoying girl.
Damn it, why is this girl so lucky, able to save Grandfather and secure an exclusive partnership with Jinyu Group? Why can't I do it?!
"Quiet down!"
At this moment, Elder Lin frowned, displeased with the chaotic scene, and spoke up to make everyone quiet.
Once Elder Lin had spoken, no matter how agitated everyone was, they had to quickly suppress their emotions.
Seeing everyone quiet down, Elder Lin slightly nodded, pleased with their reaction, and then, looking meaningfully at Lin Zhiping, he turned his head towards Lin Qingxue, whose complexion wasn't too good, and said, "Qingxue, come and tell everyone about the process, so they remember how to handle matters in the future!"
"Yes!"
Lin Qingxue suppressed the annoyance of being groundlessly accused of falsification, took a deep breath to adjust her mood, and then began to recount her experience of securing the contract at Jinyu Group.
When Lin Zhiping heard Lin Qingxue mention that Lin Qiaoxia had apologized as soon as she came in for standing someone up before, he was intrigued, guessed something, but did not interrupt Lin Qingxue's narration.
Because he knew, Grandfather disliked it when someone interrupted others at times like these.
And when Lin Qingxue finished explaining, while others looked contemplative, murmuring about sincerety breaking through stone...
Lin Zhiping finally spoke, "Cousin just said, the moment you sat in the reception room, President Lin came in and first apologized to you for standing someone up the other day?"
"Huh?" Lin Qingxue turned her head to look at Lin Zhiping, calmly responded, "Yes, what about it?"
After receiving an affirmative answer from Lin Qingxue, Lin Zhiping's expression remained unchanged, but his tone turned colder as he said, "To be honest, the person who was stood up by President Lin of Jinyu Group some time ago was me..."
"Oh? Is that so?" Elder Lin's eyes lit up upon hearing Lin Zhiping's words, and he hurriedly asked.
Meanwhile, Lin Qingxue's face turned even paler.
"Yes, Grandfather," Lin Zhiping nodded and said, "You can ask Zhiyuan and Zhisheng, I told them about it at the time."
Speaking of which, as if worried Grandfather wouldn't believe him, Lin Zhiping took out his phone and showed the chat records to Elder Lin.
Elder Lin took the phone, looked through their chat history, where Lin Zhiping had indeed ranted that day about Lin Qiaoxia, saying she was arrogant, didn't consider him important, and looked down on people… among other things.
After viewing it, Elder Lin returned the phone to Lin Zhiping, looked at him meaningfully, and said, "What you're suggesting, Zhiping, is…"
Lin Zhiping glanced at Lin Qingxue, his eyes playful, and whispered, "What I mean is, securing this contract was actually related to me too, because a while ago President Lin left me hanging all day; she felt guilty about it, so initially, she didn't want to partner with our Lin Family. But feeling sorry for me, she hesitated for a while before agreeing to the collaboration."
The people who usually got along well with Lin Zhiping, hearing this, not wanting to be dominated by Lin Qingxue, chimed in, "Right, I think so too. Today's contract negotiation at Jinyu Group, if it were any of us, we could have negotiated it too."
"That's right, the initial hesitation by President Lin to decline the collaboration probably stemmed from wanting to work with Brother Ping, looking up to him, and then fearing to leave a bad impression, she reluctantly agreed, and signed the contract with Qingxue."
"I think so too, today if any of us from the Lin Family had gone, as long as they didn't leave dejectedly right from the start, they would have been able to secure the deal. If it had been Brother Ping going, perhaps from the beginning, President Lin would have wanted to sign the contract, and probably the terms wouldn't have been so stringent, but rather much more favorable to our Lin Family…"