Chapter 437 - She Smiled, Too Sweetly

"Are you sure that you're willing to do this, Ms. Chi?" Qing Chen asked as he looked over the contract. He took a peek and Qing Lok was also dumbfounded as he read. "You're giving it all up? To us?"

"I know that your company will act in the best interest of our invention. I would like to leave it all up to your expertise."

That was the thing, this was the first time that they would be investing in something that none of them knew about. Qing Chen smiled at her, very businessman-like. "What's the catch?"

"Oh, there are no catches."

His eyes fleeted to the other people in their group. Ms. Chi had always been the one speaking for the rest of them. Now they were all just quiet with their fingers clasped together as they looked aimlessly around the huge meeting room.

"Is this what you really want?" he asked them.

"Are we getting money?" asked one of them.

"Yes, a boatload," he said.

"Then I guess we're good with that."

Qing Chen sat back on his chair and finally voiced out his thoughts. "I can't do this. I can't buy this thing from you people. This is going to change the world. It will make a complete change in battling the plastic problem that we are facing. And you don't want credit from that?"

Ms. Chi beamed at him. "They only care about the money. We had a considerable discussion about this and we all agreed that we should do it this way."

Qing Chen shook his head. The contract was ironclad. This team would lose ALL their rights for a one time big time payment. He was not having any of that. They were basically letting go of the project. Almost like giving it away for free with no conditions. It was too good to be true. "Additional from buying the patents and everything else, I'm going to offer you 20% of annual income and credit you for creating this work. I'm not going to take away your names from it."

The lawyer of the other team quickly whispered to them but Ms. Chi raised her hand. "But, we're only selling the blueprint of the machine. Whatever you do with it is no concern of us."

"Even then," he said. He was not thinking that he was being too generous with it. 

"10% and that's it," said Ms. Chi. "And the credit, if you'll insist."

Qing Chen wrote the details himself on the contract and put his signature below it. It still needed to be finalized. "I heard that you're not going to name it as well?"

Ms. Chi shook her head. "We didn't plan that far ahead. Another thing is that I think people will gain more trust on it if it will be under your name." 

"But this is a great opportunity. You might invent something new and--"

"I don't think we'll be inventing anything any time soon."

The guy who spoke earlier snorted. "Yeah, because all we care about is the money."

Qing Chen turned to the guy. "Is there anything else you would like to add in the conversation? I would like to know if everyone is on board with this. We could not proceed if at least just one of you is not okay with everything."

But only silence met him.

He felt a poke on his shoulder and he leaned back. Qing Lok whispered, "There's something wrong with these people. I think they're regretting signing over their decision to Ms. Chi. Just saying."

Qing Chen only said, "Same."

If that was their issue, Qing Chen could not do anything about it. He was about to propose that they should postpone the final signing on another date when Ms. Chi grabbed the drafted contract and wrote her signature on it in angry but confident strokes.

"I think we're done here, Mr. Qing," she smiled, too sweetly.

Qing Chen tilted his head on the side. There was something different from this girl. She was not like when they first met. Was it the new clothes? Was it the privilege and the money that she would get once everything was set? Did she already adapt a new attitude?

That just put a huge red X-mark on her face in Qing Chen's book. He could not believe that she was the kind of person who would be like that just because of money. But hey, it was as they say, money changes people.

Ms. Chi's lawyer stood up and packed all the papers. He bowed and quietly exited the room followed by Ms. Chi's teammates after they said their farewell.

Qing Chen was cursing in his mind. That was not a good premonition. Disagreements on starts of business ventures were considered bad lucks.

"It's nice doing business with you, Ms. Chi," he said a little too forcefully when he extended his hand to her.

"Thank you so much again for this, Mr. Qing."

"I'll see you soon." He turned to Qing Lok. "You okay here?"

"Yeah," he remained seated with the lawyer. "I'll just look over everything again and text you when it's all good."

"Alright, thank you."

Then Qing Chen exited the room. He was already thinking about what they should have dinner when he heard the hurried footsteps running after him. He turned and why was he not surprised that it was Ms. Chi?

"Yes?" he asked her. He was almost to his office now.

"I was thinking," she said and fumbled with her hands. That's not a good sign, Qing Chen's mind thought. "Maybe we can have a celebratory coffee? In your office perhaps?"

Oh dear, he whispered to his head. "We can toast to the success on the day of the celebration. Good night, Ms. Chi."

"Wait."

Qing Chen's eyes stopped her hands from getting near him.

"Uhm, how about a tour then? Of your office?"

What on earth was on his office that she wanted to get inside? Still, he smiled at her. "I don't think that would be necessary, Ms. Chi. Not only that but my wife is also sleeping in there. Believe me, she does not like to be waken up by strangers."

"Oh!" she sounded shocked. "Y-your wife?"

Right, he had to remind himself that this woman was a foreigner who came to Chengshi to present their idea. "Yes, my wife," he said.

"But you're awfully young."

Qing Chen only raised an eyebrow at her bewildered face.

He was almost relieved when she backtracked. "I'm sorry. That was completely inappropriate on my part."

He nodded. "I'll see you on the party, Ms. Chi."

"Y-yeah, definitely," she said.

Qing Chen was just glad to get away from her.

======

Ms. Chi Mi looked at the back of Qing Chen's perfect head as he walked away from her. It took only a few steps before he opened a door on the side of the hallway and entered it.

"My, isn't he the most handsome thing on the planet?" she wondered out loud. Then remembered… "His wife, huh?"