“Manager, are you alright!” Hao Jianguo, as he was being thrown out of the Jiangnan Group headquarters, was in so much pain that he couldn't even shout. His body was covered in bruises from the beating, and his hand was the worst, his palm bones feeling like they had been completely fractured by a high-heeled shoe.
“Take me to the hospital! And you guys, call the police, call the police!” Hao Jianguo said with a contorted face. “These scoundrels, daring to beat me in broad daylight, I’ll let them know what a society governed by law is!”
“But Manager, it might not be appropriate for so many of us to go to the hospital or police station together. Why don’t you arrange for us to check into a hotel first, and then consider the police station and hospital issues!” said Jin Mao.
“I’m already this injured, and you still want me to arrange a hotel for you first?” Hao Jianguo stared at Jin Mao, his heart filled with pain and anger.
“Manager, if you look at me like that, there’s nothing we can do. Besides the two translators, none of us understand Chinese, and we are clueless about this strange country. We can’t help you with anything and can only cause you trouble. It’s better if you arrange for us to check into a hotel first, so you can easily go to the police and get treatment!” Jin Mao said.
“You…” Hao Jianguo’s gaze swept across the faces of all the delegation members, only to find that they were all looking at him with disdain. Some even had expressions of schadenfreude, as if they were very happy to see him beaten.
Indeed, apart from Jin Mao, all these people were from Pacific United Railway Company. Facing a manager who had suddenly been assigned to his company, and who wasn't even American but Chinese, and who had been beaten by his own countrymen in his own country, it was definitely amusing.
What's more, through the exchanges and communication on the plane, these people had almost learned everything about Hao Jianguo. They knew he was a traitor who had sold out the company and his country. In their eyes, Hao Jianguo was worse than a dog. How could they sympathize with him?
“Fine, I’ll take you to the hotel first!” Hao Jianguo felt immense pain, but he also knew that, as Jin Mao had said, these foreigners wouldn't be of any benefit to him if they stayed. It was better to send them to a hotel and deal with reporting to the police and getting medical treatment himself.
So Hao Jianguo first took these people to another nearby hotel. Generally, Jiangnan Group would arrange for guests to stay at the Jiangnan Hotel.
However, according to Boss Huang’s instructions, Jiangnan Hotel was only a four-star hotel. Therefore, it did have a few presidential suites, but these suites were only for the most distinguished guests, and most ordinary guests were not qualified to enjoy them.
But many guests couldn't bear this inconvenience, or felt they had to maintain appearances and save face.
So many guests would choose not to accept the accommodation arranged by Jiangnan Group and find a five-star hotel nearby with presidential suites that could reflect their status.
As a result, over time, a pattern formed near Jiangnan Group: one four-star Jiangnan Hotel and two five-star hotels.
Hao Jianguo originally didn't want to take these people to the two five-star hotels nearby. After getting into the taxi, he asked the driver to go to a slightly farther three-star hotel. The best room in this hotel was only 300 yuan per day, which Hao Jianguo could afford.
But unexpectedly, before he could even speak, Jin Mao next to him directly blurted out the name of the Hilton Hotel, and the driver stepped on the gas and sped off.
“Master, not the Hilton, go to…” Hao Jianguo said hastily. The driver immediately became displeased and said, “I say, little comrade, how can you let foreign friends stay in a three-star hotel when they’ve come to visit? How can this show the hospitality of our Chinese people? We should take them to a five-star Hilton!”
“What?” Hao Jianguo was anxious and argued for a while. Only then did the driver, with a cold face, drive them to the three-star hotel.
As a result, after waiting for a long time, he found that the taxis carrying the foreigners behind them had not arrived. When Hao Jianguo called to inquire, he found out that these foreigners had asked all the taxis to drive to the Hilton Hotel.
When the furious Hao Jianguo arrived at the Hilton Hotel, he found that these foreigners had completed their check-in procedures, and they had all gotten the best rooms at the Hilton Hotel, including several presidential suites, which were occupied by the higher-ranking members of the delegation.
What was even more infuriating was that after Hao Jianguo arrived, the front desk of the Hilton Hotel found him with a thick stack of bills and enthusiastically asked him if he would pay in cash or by card.
“Why should I pay? It’s not like I asked you to book rooms for them!” Hao Jianguo said angrily. The cheapest room in these hotels was 2500 yuan a day, and the most expensive presidential suite was as high as 8500 yuan a day.
These 32 people each opened a room, averaging nearly 100,000 yuan in expenses per day. If this negotiation lasted for a month, wouldn't he have to pay a huge fee of 3 million yuan?
What's more, the waiter was holding the invoice and asking him to pay a deposit, and it was a deposit of 300,000 yuan.
Even though Hao Jianguo had saved up quite a bit, he couldn't withstand such a hassle!
So Hao Jianguo immediately questioned.
“Sir, they all said you would pay. Aren’t you the head of this delegation?” the waiter asked Hao Jianguo with a look of a stingy person. Hao Jianguo’s face turned red.
“I said I’m not staying, so cancel all the rooms. I don’t have money for the deposit anyway,” Hao Jianguo said very bluntly.
“Sir, these are distinguished foreign guests. It’s not appropriate for you to do this, is it? How can this show the hospitality of our Chinese people?” the waiter said.
“Go to hell with your hospitality! I’m not Chinese either, I’m American, do you understand? I’m an American who has to pay for these Americans!” Hao Jianguo roared furiously.
“Yes, you are American. Then have the ability to dye your skin white! Stop pretending!” The waiter, perhaps seeing a big deal slipping away, was filled with dissatisfaction. It was no wonder they couldn’t maintain professional etiquette with a smile for the guests.
More than ten minutes later, the delegation members who had originally checked into their rooms one after another came downstairs, but these people showed no intention of checking out. Instead, they all glared at Hao Jianguo with anger. Several of them even gestured at Hao Jianguo with their fists.
Fortunately, the higher-ranking members of the delegation who had occupied the presidential suites calmed them down and pulled Hao Jianguo aside, saying, “Manager Hao, we are noble people and cannot stay in such shabby rooms. The Hilton Hotel is our minimum standard. If you are unwilling to pay, then we can check out, and we will all book flights to leave today. I’ll see how you explain this to the board of directors!”
“You… but… but this money shouldn’t be paid by me, should it? Shouldn’t it be reimbursed by the company?” Hao Jianguo said helplessly.
“Yes, I also think it should be reimbursed by the company, but the company can’t reimburse the money right now. So please pay the money first, and then find the company for reimbursement after returning to the country with the invoices!” the higher-ranking member said with a smile. Hao Jianguo’s expression did not improve.
If he took invoices for millions of yuan in accommodation expenses to Pacific United Railway Company for reimbursement, would they really reimburse him?
Hao Jianguo was skeptical.
Seeing Hao Jianguo still hesitating, Jin Mao said indifferently, “Alright, Manager Hao, stop making trouble. Although the boss said the entire delegation would listen to you, it’s because the boss trusts you and believes you can complete the task and this negotiation.
“As long as you complete the negotiation, everything else will be fine, and money will not be a problem. But if the delegation falls apart first, leading to the entire negotiation being unable to proceed, can you bear the responsibility for the failure?”
“…” Hao Jianguo opened his mouth, speechless, and could only nod. Painfully, he took out his credit card and swiped it at the smiling front desk staff, paying a deposit of 300,000 yuan.
“Alright, I’m tired too. I’m going to my room to rest!” Seeing that the accommodation issue was finally resolved, Jin Mao yawned and went upstairs with his room card. These people left a presidential suite for Jin Mao, which made Jin Mao very happy.
The others also went upstairs one after another. In a blink of an eye, only Hao Jianguo was left in the lobby. Even the two translators had disappeared.
“Where are they… the ones who were supposed to accompany me to the police station and the hospital?” Hao Jianguo looked sadly at the empty lobby, then gritted his teeth and left the hotel, finding the nearby police station and reporting the crime.
The police acted quickly, accepting the case immediately, dispatching personnel to investigate, and asking Hao Jianguo to go to the hospital for treatment and to get a medical assessment of his injuries.
Hao Jianguo considered himself seriously injured, but after completing the injury assessment at the hospital, he found that the report only indicated a minor injury.
“Shouldn’t I be seriously injured?” Hao Jianguo said to the doctor.
“Comrade, it seems you don’t understand the law very well. The standard for serious injury is the disability of limbs or spirit. Although your body has multiple abrasions and bruises, and soft tissues have been severely damaged, and there is also a fracture in your metacarpal bones.
“But all these can be healed, and there is no risk of disability after healing. Therefore, it meets the standard for a minor injury. If you don’t believe me, you can check the criminal law. The standards are clearly stated!” the doctor explained with a smile, and what else could Hao Jianguo say?
When he returned to the police station with the assessment report, the police told him that the entire case had been investigated very smoothly, and all those who beat him, including Leng Zhimeng, had pleaded guilty and accepted their punishment.
They were all currently detained in the detention center. However, because he had only sustained minor injuries and the other party’s attitude towards compensation was very good, they should be detained for about 15 days, which was completely in accordance with the law.
Oh, and according to the injury assessment and medical cost estimate, the compensation would be around 18,000 yuan, which was barely the cost of two presidential suites for one day.
Hao Jianguo laughed, his eyes full of tears.