Chapter 307 You’re Old And Deaf

“Ms. White?” Mr. Stewart exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here? Are you here to see me?” Sophia’s lips twitched involuntarily as she replied, “Yes, I am, but I have been calling out to you from behind for a very long time now. You didn’t seem to notice.” Mr. Stewart looked even more surprised. “Is that so? My bad, I really didn’t hear anything.” “It’s alright, you’re not young after all. I completely understand,” Sophia replied. In other words, she just said, “You’re old and deaf.” Mr. Stewart, “...” “You probably already have an idea why I’m here to see you, so there’s no need for me to beat around the bush,” Sophia continued, “I’m sure you don’t want news of Jones Group delaying payments spreading to the public, do you? After all, Jones Group is considered quite a reputable company.” Upon hearing her words, Mr. Stewart heaved a heavy sigh. “Sigh, I know this isn’t good news to be spread to the public, but the company has been experiencing some issues with our liquid funds. We really can’t make the payment now.” “Regardless of my personal grievances with Ms. Jones, it’s inevitable for us both families to still work together on projects. Mr. Stewart, aren’t you worried that what you’re doing will ruin the cooperative relationship between both families?” Sophia’s tone hardened. “Just like you said, your two families are old partners now. There’s no need for me to ruin the relationship between your two families because of this matter. “But we’re currently experiencing some issues with the company’s liquid funds, so we really can’t pay you on time. However, you can rest assured that Jones Group will pay you back because after all, we’re not like the other small companies. “We just need to delay payment a few days. We guarantee to follow up with the payment of our breach of contract penalty as well as the interest rate applied. Frankly, White Industries isn’t losing much because of this. In fact, you’re earning still. I can’t help but be envious of you.” He had covered everything from right to wrong, and from the way he phrased his words, he was implying that White Industries had gained an extra advantage. Shawn knew that Sophia had a good relationship with Clara and Zachary too. “Mr. Stewart, you keep saying that Jones Group doesn’t have enough money, then how did the company get involved in this project in the first place? From what I know, this project requires a funding of almost over 162 million.” Sophia had no clue what was the project the two companies were fighting over, nor did she know the initial cost this project required. She only said so in an attempt to outwit Mr. Stewart. Mr. Stewart was slightly taken aback. He let out another deep sigh before saying, “Ms. White, you just started working, so I’m sure you’re not clear on how these things work. “To put it bluntly, even brothers have to keep clear accounts on one another. The accounts for every department chief and project manager, as well as who the money belongs to, everything is stated clearly in the financial budget in advance. We can’t just move money around whenever we like. “If an issue occurs within a project and we reallocate another project’s money over, wouldn’t it turn into a mess within the company?” Sure enough, Sophia was only on her first day at work, so she really was not sure about the workings of a business corporation. Right now, she could not tell whether Mr. Stewart was bluffing or not. It was inconvenient for her to discuss with Thomas, so she did not know how to respond to him right then. However, she could not just let Mr. Stewart off just like that. It would make it even harder to find him later on. Seeing that the two of them were still going on about work, Shawn got irritated. “Are you guys done? Can we have dinner already? You should have told me earlier if you don’t plan on having dinner. I can head on myself!” “I’m sorry for the delay, we can go now.” Mr. Stewart gave him a smile and turned to Sophia. With an apologetic tone, he continued, “I’m sorry, Ms. White. I still have things to attend to, so I’ll leave first.” With that, he left together with Shawn without giving Sophia the chance to interject. Before leaving, Shawn even snorted in satisfaction in Sophia’s direction. Sophia, “...” “Did something happen between you and Mr. Johnson in the past?” Thomas went up and asked her. Sophia shook her head. She had only met Shawn once and they did not even talk, so she really had no idea how she offended him. However, he was Sawyer’s cousin and she was Charles’ girlfriend. Was it possible that he disliked her because of the conflict between Sawyer and Charles? She pushed these distracting thoughts to the back of her mind and turned to Thomas. “Well, you heard everything Mr. Stewart said just now. What do you think? Do you have any ideas?” “Would you prefer the truth or a lie?” Thomas asked. “The truth,” Sophia replied. “I don’t have any ideas.” Thomas shrugged his shoulders. “I have only dealt with small companies in the past. If a phone call didn’t work, I would call the lawyers and have them bring it to court. To be honest, we don’t usually have such difficult cases.” Even if there were, he was usually a measly assistant. This time, the chief finance director had given him and Sophia such a difficult task. On top of that, they were only given just five days to accomplish it. She was clearly setting them up to fail. However, he knew that the chief had been on bad terms with Mr. White for a very long time now, so it was no surprise that she was troubling his daughter. Sophia nodded thoughtfully. There was no point for them to stay here at Jones Group anymore, so they left. When they left the building, they bumped into a delivery man who stopped his car and pulled out his phone. Coincidentally, Sophia’s phone began ringing. “Oh, it’s you!” It did not take long for the delivery man to notice that the person who ordered the food was just right beside him. “Here’s your order!” Sophia reached over for the food and thanked him. Then, her phone began ringing again. “Here, I’ll take them.” Thomas reached over for the takeaway food. Sophia nodded and picked up her phone. “Hello?” “Why aren’t you back? It’s getting late, where are you? I’ll come and pick you up.” Sophia immediately noticed how tired Charles sounded, but when she tried to listen more carefully, his tired voice faded. She dismissed it. Sophia did not want to develop the habit of relying on people. “It’s alright, I can get a taxi back.” “A cab won’t be able to get into Bamboo Virtues Village. Don’t you remember what Dr. Hemingway said? You shouldn’t be walking too much now that your leg is recovering, so no, I’ll come and pick you up. Just send me your location on WeChat,” Charles continued. Sophia turned around and looked at the huge characters printed on the building before replying, “I’m at the entrance of Jones Group.” Then, she hung up and apologized to Thomas. She said that she would wait here for someone to pick her up. Thomas had wanted to leave. After having a busy day, all he wanted was to go home and have a good rest. However, he suddenly changed his mind. “I have nothing to do anyway. I’ll wait with you and leave after you.” Worried that Sophia would turn down his offer, he waved the bags of food in his hand in her face and gave her a smile. “It’s our first time working together and you ordered food for me. It wouldn’t be right for me to leave you alone here as your senior.” “... Alright, then. Thank you, Thomas,” Sophia said. With that, the two of them stood outside the entrance of Jones Group and continued chatting. With Thomas here, there were no awkward silences, so the conversation went on just fine. “Since we’re just waiting, you should eat your porridge first.” Seeing that Sophia’s face was getting paler by the minute, Thomas took out her portion of porridge and passed it to her. He figured that she might be on her period or perhaps she had gastric issues, which meant she had to eat regularly. He did not press about it. They had just met each other for the first time today, after all. It would feel intruding to ask such questions.