Chapter 602 - Rumors about the Auction
The office for the Qihuang Charity Funds was in the same building as the Three Flavour International. They didn't have many employees, only a measly amount of about thirty. However, the style of the employees here wasn't the same as those from the Three Flavour International. Many of the employees here were those in the bottom of society, those that required help.
Compared to the Three Flavour International's office, the renovation here had a drastic difference. The wall was only simply painted white, and the decorations were plain. It's not because the Qihuang Charity Funds lacked money, but they're using all of their money to help those in need.
The Qihuang Charity Funds had been established for a few months now, and they've helped thousands of people. There were people from various cities who were seriously ill. To those people, the Qihuang Charity Funds provided free medical assistance and changed their living environments.
However, the speed wasn't sufficient. If the Qihuang Charity Funds wanted to help more people, they would need more money, and this was the reason why they're planning a charity auction.
From the entrance, Su Tao saw Lu Shimiao and Qin Meimei. Following the two of them to a spacious room, there were some items placed here that they're intending to auction off.
Pointing at a jadeite horse, Qin Meimei explained, "This was donated by Mr. Song Sichen to be auctioned. It's priced at roughly ¥500,000 in the market, and he has practically gone all-out for this auction."
Upon hearing those words, Su Tao sighed. He knew that Song Sichen wasn't an antique collector. Furthermore, Song Sichen didn't have much wealth accumulated despite his superb medical skills, so his life wasn't too well off. This jadeite horse could be considered as his treasure, so for him to donate it for the auction, Su Tao felt touched.
"I'll take something out for auction tomorrow!" Su Tao inwardly sighed.
However, Qin Meimei struck him with a blow without any hesitation, "The items to be auctioned off must have a high standard. Don't take random stuff to fool others, or they will be eliminated through the filter."
"Don't worry. I won't embarrass you." Su Tao bitterly smiled as he shrugged.
Standing by the entrance, Lu Shimiao smiled. All of a sudden, someone came over and whispered in her ears, which made her expression change.
"What's wrong?" Su Tao had been paying attention to Lu Shimiao all this while.
With a grave expression, Lu Shimiao sighed and answered, "Just a moment ago, we found an article that's meant to slander you and the Qihuang Charity Funds. It is currently swiftly circulating around."
"For such negative news to appear at this moment, someone must be doing this on purpose!" Qin Meimei swiftly reacted and frowned.
The three of them left the room to Qin Meimei's office. The decorations here were somewhat more elegant. But from details alone, anyone could tell that most of them were Qin Meimei's personal items. This way, she could save on expenses, which Su Tao could tell how much effort she had put into managing the Qihuang Charity Funds.
They swiftly found the article that's titled, "The shameless Qihuang Charity Funds, a blood-sucking organisation hiding in sheep's skin."
In that article, there were more than ten maliciously fabricated remarks.
For example, the CEO of Qihuang Charity Funds driving around in a BMW to flaunt her wealth; a single meal in the Qihuang Charity Funds cost ¥9898; ¥50,000 was handed to the Qihuang Charity Funds as a donation to save a little girl, but the money did not arrive even after the girl died from her illness…
Sweeping a glance at it, Qin Meimei sighed, "The culprit is truly despicable. He's pushing all the rumours from various charity funds onto the Qihuang Charity Funds without any substantial evidence."
"The Qihuang Charity Funds' auction is starting. If gossip appears at this moment, it will undoubtedly strike a blow to the event." Lu Shimiao bitterly smiled and continued, "The enterprises that we've invited are all pretty influential in the country. If they knew about this negative news, I'm afraid that they will give up on attending!"
Just when Lu Shimiao finished speaking, Qin Meimei's phone rang and her aunt, Jiang Mengou's voice resounded, "Meimei, what is this about? Just a moment ago, my company's public relations department reported that the Qihuang Charity Funds is currently in the middle of a controversy storm. You guys have to deal with it immediately, or I can only cancel my attendance out of pressure."
"Aunt, please be reassured. Those are just baseless rumours, and we will immediately deal with it. At the same time, we will also hold a press conference!" Qin Meimei helplessly explained.
"You guys have to deal with it immediately!" Jiang Mengou also got anxious for Qin Meimei and continued, "If you need it, I can get my company's public relations to help you guys to deal with this threat."
"No!" Qin Meimei was firm and continued, "We will deal with it ourselves!"
This was a significant setback to the Qihuang Charity Funds, but Qin Meimei was confident about dealing with it.
After hanging up the call with Jiang Mengou, Qin Meimei received a few more calls about this matter. Not only was Qin Meimei busy on her phone, even Su Tao noticed that the enterprises which he went to Russia with were also concerned about this matter.
The Qihuang charity Funds swiftly utilised their public relation methods. Firstly, they declared their intention to pursue legal responsibility for the person who was spreading false rumours on the internet. Secondly, they used their advertisement resources to remove those negative news from the internet before holding a press conference to explain this matter.
On the other hand, Su Tao was also doing his best. He gave a call to Ni Jingqiu, hoping that she could help him with her media resources, which Ni Jingqiu happily agreed. But half an hour later, she called back and told him that the person behind this incident was formidable and that even she couldn't get rid of the negative news with her connections.
Instantly, the Qihuang Charity Funds became a hot topic. It was also mainly because of the poor reputation of TCM for the past few years, not to mention that several famous charity funds had their scandals exposed. Hence, the outside world felt that Qihuang Charity Funds was a scamming organisation under the banner of using medical assistance for charity.
Under these circumstances, the enterprises who were intending to attend the charity auction all cancelled their attendance.
For the entire day, Su Tao stayed in the Qihuang Charity Funds. He also tried several methods to deal with this situation, but they weren't as effective since the other party was well-prepared. Truth be told, he could find Mr. Xue to resolve this matter, but he held the urge. After all, he did not have a deep relationship with Mr. Xue, and this sort of favour could only be used once.
As night fell, it was almost time for people to get off work. However, the Qihuang Charity Funds' office was still brightly lit.
Su Tao wanted to call Qin Meimei and Lu Shimiao for dinner since they have been busy for an entire day. But just when he tried to call them, his phone suddenly rang; it was a call from an unknown number. Picking it up, a man's hoarse voice resounded, "Is this Divine Physician Su?"
"Who are you?" Su Tao cautiously asked with his brows furrowed.
"Who I am isn't important, but I know that your Qihuang Charity Funds is in deep trouble." The man lowered his voice and continued, "If you want the Qihuang Charity Funds to get out of this situation, then come and meet me!"
Letting out a sigh, Su Tao knew that the mastermind would appear. However, he never expected that the other party would invite him for a meeting, which he knew that it would be dangerous.
"Alright, send me your address!" Su Tao replied.
"I'll send you my address in a bit!" The man spoke as he warned, "Remember, come alone."
After he waited for a few minutes, his phone suddenly vibrated with an address sent to him. They'd meet at Hanzhou City's Brocade Lake Hotel. Su Tao knew that the other party must have waited for him to return from Russia before starting this storm.
He didn't want Lu Shimiao and Qin Meimei to be worried about him, to which he found an excuse that the Three Flavour Hall had something important to handle and drove out with his Volkswagen CC to the hotel. As he drove, lightning rumbled and flashed through the nightscape before a downpour came shortly after.
As the downpour collided against his windshield, Su Tao felt somewhat uneasy in his heart…
In Brocade Lake Hotel's room 8032, a man in a green shirt sat in a chair with a bottle of white wine and a bag of peanuts beside him. He had already drunk half of the white wine, but there were still a lot of peanuts left. He subconsciously touched his chest, to feel the existence of the USB drive.
All of a sudden, the doorbell rang, to which the man suddenly felt nervous. That's because, according to the time that he called Su Tao, it didn't make sense for Su Tao to come so quickly. As he cautiously walked over to the door and peeked through the peephole, he saw a woman pressing on the doorbell.
If this was an ordinary situation, he would definitely consider if this was a romantic encounter. However, he wasn't in the mood right now.
The woman was still pressing on the doorbell, to which he sighed and opened the door. "Stop pressing on the doorbell!"
"Mister, do you need any service?" The woman had a tall stature with long legs and an oval face. Her smile seemed like it could charm souls.
"I don't need any!" Even if the man was tempted, he still rejected her approach.
"Don't be so ruthless. Let me come in and have a seat. I'll dance for you, and if you're not satisfied with my dance, I'll leave!" The woman spun around as she gave a few dances poses.
Since the man was under the influence of alcohol, his mind was a little muddled. He opened the door and swept his lustful gaze at the woman's body.
Seeing that she had successfully convinced the man, the woman smiled and entered the room before throwing herself on the man's body.
But just when the man was about to ask her to quicken up, he suddenly felt a surge of pain coming from his chest. Taking two steps back in disbelief, he lowered his head and saw a dagger stabbed into his chest, with blood flowing out from it.
The charming smile disappeared from the woman's face and a cold-blooded expression replaced it. After she squatted down and searched the man, she finally found a USB drive on his chest. After taking the man's pulse and confirming that he was dead, she left the room, feeling assured.