"What is it?" Jiang Su continued to pretend not to understand.
The smile on Jiang Catherine’s face disappeared completely.
She stared at Jiang Su, disbelief and icy scrutiny surging in her eyes. "Jiang Su, what do you mean by this?" Her voice was very low but carried sharp spikes, "We didn’t agree on this before. You replaced the people in that segment cleanly. According to convention, where’s the corresponding resource exchange? Did you swallow it?"
The Third Elder Jiang Su remained sitting straight like a silent iceberg in the hall. Her face was cold and hard, without any expression, her deep eyes moved away from the holographic report in her hand, calmly landing on Jiang Catherine. "Convention is convention." Her voice was calm, as if stating the weather, "But this time, the segment was personally ordered by the Young Master to be transferred to me. The procedure is different, the nature is also different."
"Nature?" Jiang Catherine nearly laughed in anger. She leaned forward, trying to find a crack in Jiang Su’s machine-like precise face, "Jiang Su, don’t play word games with me! That segment was previously in my hands, the operational method of the covert line beneath it, the docking channels, only I am most aware! You took over the people, which means you’ve taken over partial control of that line. According to the understanding we’ve had for many years, you should use your Northern Europe patent agency to exchange for it! This is balance, the tacit understanding among the elders! You want to monopolize it now?"
Jiang Su’s fingers tapping the table stopped. She raised her eyes, her gaze deep and seemed to penetrate Jiang Catherine’s anger, focusing on a farther place. "Catherine, you’re right; you know the operational method of that covert line best." She paused, her tone still flat and unruffled, "So the Young Master entrusted it to me instead of dismantling it directly or giving it to the Great Elder; haven’t you wondered why?"
Jiang Catherine was startled, then sneered: "Why? Isn’t it just to sow discord! That kind of small segment is trivial to me, perfect for establishing her authority. You took it; naturally, you should return something else to me. This is how we maintain balance between us, what does a little girl who hasn’t been back long know?"
"Does she not understand?" Jiang Su countered, her voice carrying a faint, almost imperceptible mockery for the first time, "If she doesn’t understand, how could she precisely choose this segment? And how could she happen to transfer it to me just when you were preoccupied by the batch of herbs seized at the airport?"
Jiang Catherine’s expression subtly changed: "You... you know about the batch of herbs?"
"I don’t know the details." Jiang Su returned her gaze to the report, her fingers sliding over a string of data, "But I’ve checked the monitoring system of Yuheng Finance’s undercurrent, showing that in the past week, you have three unconventional large amounts of funds trying to transfer into ES Bank through offshore companies but were frozen at the last moment. The source of funds points to several shell companies in Japan. And that small segment happens to manage part of the ’special logistics’ docking with the Far East Region."
She looked up, looking into Jiang Catherine’s slightly contracting pupils: "That segment, seemingly inconspicuous, is an important outlet and laundering channel for your ’herb’ industrial chain towards Hua Country. The Young Master took it, effectively grasping the throat of your line in Hua Country. And you, because the herbs were seized, are urgently in need of this channel to divert attention and pressure, even to balance the accounts."
Jiang Catherine’s fingers unconsciously clenched the lace edge of her skirt.
Jiang Su was right.
That small segment itself did not have a significant yield, but it connected to a crucial link in her grey industrial chain—transferring and laundering overseas "processed" herbs and funds through several seemingly legitimate trade companies at the Hua Country border.
Yan Yueqing’s move, seemingly offhanded, actually hit her where it hurt the most.
What alarmed her more was that Jiang Su saw it so clearly!
"So what?" Jiang Catherine feigned calmness, a flash of fierceness crossing her blue eyes, "Since you see it, you should be helping me! We’ve been working together for many years; don’t we have enough on each other? If I go down, you think you can keep yourself unscathed? Don’t forget, the ’accidental’ leakage incident on your Northern Europe new energy line last year, how was it suppressed?"
Faced with the threat, Jiang Su’s face still showed no emotional fluctuations, as if what Jiang Catherine was saying was irrelevant.
"Precisely because I remember, I can’t exchange with you at this moment." She said calmly, "The Young Master gave me the segment as a command and a test. She wants to know if within the five elders, anyone still distinguishes between family interests and personal interests. Or rather, she wants to see what we choose when personal interests conflict with family interests."
These were all perfunctory lies to Catherine.
The real reason is that this segment, along with the channels behind it, if utilized properly, can fully revitalize Jiang Su’s precision instrument production line that’s about to be obsoleted due to technological barriers.
In recent years, Hua Country’s demand for high-end medical and scientific instruments has surged, but her production line is too outdated, lacking a compliant access channel to the market.
This segment happens to offer a ready, seemingly clean access route.
No matter the reason the Young Master gave it to her, Jiang Su was ecstatic!
So she intensified her tone: "She isn’t sowing discord, Catherine. She’s redefining the chessboard."
Jiang Catherine heard this and felt chilled all over.
She always thought Jiang Su was just a command-executing, inflexible machine, yet didn’t expect her to see this clearly, calculating so soberly! "You... you trust her so much? How long has she been back? This is buying off! This is division!"
"Whether it’s buying off, time will tell." Jiang Su stood up, looking down at Jiang Catherine, her gaze devoid of any warmth, "But at least, she offers a way to keep the industry alive and beneficial for the family. And what you offer me is only the risk of sinking together. Catherine, if you still want to regain control of that segment or seek the corresponding ’compensation’, the person you should find is not me."
She articulated each word, "It is the Young Master."
After speaking, Jiang Su no longer looked at Jiang Catherine’s livid face, turned around, and left the council hall, her back straight and determined.
Jiang Catherine stood there, her chest heaving violently, her carefully painted makeup unable to hide the pallor and anger on her face.
Jiang Su, that fool! That rigid machine! Did she really get bought off by Jiang Xiaoxing’s meager favors?! Saying something like "beneficial for the family"?
Ridiculous! In the Jiang Family, interest is the only real thing! What does a young girl like the Young Master understand about true interest games!
No, she can’t just concede like this.
With Jiang Su’s defection, she must find a new ally.