Chapter 17 Flattery That Can Melt Hearts

Jack had gone to the big city two days ago, and he had driven President Gao's special car.

This matter made Harold feel very uncomfortable. Logically speaking, as the office director, he should have been informed of such matters, big or small.

Jack had only been in the office for a few days, yet he had already become President Gao's confidant.

A strong sense of jealousy spread in Harold's heart.

Thinking that Tom and the others had been so enthusiastic about encouraging everyone in the sub-branch to buy stocks, and it was all because of this Jack behind it, Harold felt that it was necessary to have a talk with Jack.

The driver Tom left with the signed receipts. As he was about to go out, he casually said, "Director Harold, which stock did you buy? The stock I bought has reached the daily limit."

Harold waved his hand impatiently and sat there sulking.

But after all, he had been the office director for many years and was not so easily distracted by such things.

After thinking it over and over again, Harold thought that he really needed to have a chat with Jack.

As for what to talk about, it was naturally about stocks.

Towards the end of the workday, Harold made an internal call to Jack, saying that he had something to talk to him about.

When Jack put down the phone and walked out of the office, he saw that Harold was already standing in the corridor.

"Director Harold, you—"

"Come with me."

After saying that, Harold walked towards the elevator.

Harold led Jack directly out of the sub-branch and walked in the direction of the Yellow Building. Jack didn't know what he was going to do and followed behind with a puzzled look on his face.

Harold walked through the streets and alleys and finally stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary store.

"President Gao and I often come to this store. I'm treating you to dinner here today."

"Director Harold is treating me to dinner?"

Harold nodded and said with a smile on his face, "What's wrong? Is there a problem? I heard that people in the sub-branch are lining up to treat you to dinner."

Jack quickly shook his head and said, "No, no. They mainly invited Tom and the others to dinner and asked me along by the way."

"Hehe, asked you along by the way? Then today I'm especially inviting you, just you."

As he spoke, Harold took the lead and walked into the store.

Jack had indeed never been to this small hotel. After going in, Jack found that it was quite different inside. The unremarkable facade was just on the surface. The interior was decorated luxuriously, and each private room had its own unique features.

Harold was a regular customer here, and as soon as he entered, someone led the way.

Looking at the lively fish, shrimp, and other seafood in the aquarium, Jack thought that Harold really knew how to enjoy life.

After sitting down in the private room, Harold said to the waitress, "Just the usual."

The waitress responded and went out.

At this time, Harold picked up the teapot and wanted to pour tea for Jack.

Jack quickly stopped him and took the teapot to pour a cup for him first.

"Director Harold, why did you suddenly think of treating me to dinner? I was still thinking of finding an opportunity to treat you."

Harold smiled when he heard this and said, "It doesn't matter who treats whom. Although I'm the director, most of the time I'm just your big brother. We're all brothers and sisters, so there's no need to distinguish between you and me."

Jack smiled, looked at Harold's long face, and said, "Since Director Harold regards us as brothers, we will naturally treat you with sincerity."

"Really?"

"Really."

Harold smiled again and said, "Then let me ask you, when President Gao asked you to go to the big city, why didn't you tell me?"

Jack was taken aback and quickly pretended not to know and said, "I thought President Gao had told you. Otherwise, even if you gave me the courage, I wouldn't dare to drive President Gao's special car to the big city!"

Harold understood that Jack had indeed gone to the big city.

The old fox is still more cunning. With just one sentence, he made Jack admit that he had been there.

Harold was a bit proud and thought, You Jack are still a bit inexperienced after all!

Of course, although he was proud, Harold wasn't stupid enough to ask Jack what he had done in the big city. What he wanted to know was whether Lucy had also gone to the big city with him.

It was too coincidental. Harold found that Lucy hadn't been at work either those two days. However, Lucy's leave was requested by President Gao on her behalf.

The situation was a bit serious. The deputy director and the newly arrived office staff member had gone to the big city together, and it was arranged by President Gao. This meant—

Harold didn't dare to think further. But he must find out whether Lucy had gone to the big city with Jack.

Asking directly wouldn't show Harold's ability. So, Harold started chatting with Jack about stocks.

When he told Jack that he hadn't bought any stocks, Jack's reaction surprised Harold.

"What? Director Harold didn't buy any? Are you really not buying? Or did you buy some but are too embarrassed to tell me?"

Looking at Jack, who almost jumped up, at that moment, Harold felt that Jack really seemed to be worried about him.

He shook his head, quickly came to his senses, and then said, "Do you really think I should buy?"

"Don't you think so, Director Harold? Look at those people in the sub-branch today. Which one of them isn't beaming with joy? Even Old Qiao in the guard room, who usually smokes rolled tobacco leaves, bought a box of cigars today, which is really rare."

In fact, Old Qiao had bought the cigars to give to Jack, but Jack had refused after much persuasion.

Old Qiao bought cigars? Harold thought it was really incredible.

Old Qiao was Harold's distant relative. Because of Harold's relationship, he worked as a guard in the sub-branch.

"Alas! It's all my fault. I thought Tom and the others had done a good enough job, but I didn't expect to leave out the person who should never have been left out."

Jack said this with a look of regret on his face, which made Harold feel a bit confused again.

"It's also your fault, Director Harold. I'm right here in the office. Why didn't you ask me? If you had asked me, I would have dragged you to the securities hall even if I had to—"

These words almost moved Harold.

At this time, the waitress served the dishes. When Harold saw that she had brought a bottle of wine, he said with a straight face, "Did you get it wrong?"

The waitress looked at the bottle of wine in her hand and said with some confusion, "No, didn't you say you wanted , Director Harold?"

"You heard me wrong. I said whisky—"

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Harold seemed to have forgotten about Lucy. He just thought that Jack was really nice and cared about others.

Jack didn't hold back either. He took out a pen from his pocket, wrote a series of numbers on the napkin, and pushed it in front of Harold, saying, "Tomorrow, you go and buy this stock tomorrow."

Harold looked at the series of numbers and knew that it was the stock code. He also saw a few other numbers next to it and asked Jack what they meant.

"When it's the call auction, you fill in this price, or you won't be able to buy it."

"Won't be able to buy it?"

Harold was a bit surprised and thought that there were actually stocks that couldn't be bought. This was really incredible.

Jack nodded and said, "It will reach the daily limit as soon as the market opens tomorrow. How can you buy it? So, when it's the call auction, you directly fill in this price to have a chance of buying it."

In fact, when he said this, Jack felt quite regretful. Back then, because he didn't have enough money, he hadn't been able to hold a large position in this stock.

But Jack also knew that Harold couldn't buy it at the price he wrote.

Because this price was one cent different from the daily limit price.

Jack would always remember this stock, the stock that had helped him earn his first pot of gold.

However, this stock was later punished by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for false statements. Its stock price plummeted, and it was soon labeled as a special treatment (ST) stock.