Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"This is the formal copy of the contract sent by the Huaxia Jewelry Association. President Hou and I didn't dare decide on our own, so we wanted to consult you," Bao Lin said, handing a contract to Yang Ce.

"Has our lawyer looked at it?" Yang Ce asked as he took the contract.

"The lawyer has already gone over it." Hou Lin nodded. "The contract itself has no problems, no traps or loopholes, but the liability we're taking on is rather large."

"Oh?" Yang Ce picked up the contract and began flipping through it. As long as the contract itself was sound, everything else could be worked out.

The contract was quite detailed, but it also granted Mingyang Security Company considerable authority, including over booth arrangements—apart from a few fixed major merchants, everything was to be handled by Mingyang Entertainment, Mingyang's sister company.

But with greater authority came greater responsibility. Many of the pieces in this exhibition were individually worth over a hundred million, and a few were even treasures from fifteenth-century European royal houses. There was one piece in particular, the Biluo City, which had never been auctioned but was already appraised at over five billion US dollars.

If anything went wrong and the jewelry was lost, Mingyang Security would bear the full loss.

"This expensive?" Yang Mo clicked his tongue as he looked at the appraisal table for the main exhibition pieces in the contract copy.

"Exactly. That's why President Hou and I didn't dare decide on our own—this is no small matter," Bao Lin said with a grave nod. "If anything really does go wrong, we couldn't possibly bear that kind of loss."

Yang Ce frowned as he looked over the contract. "Isn't there insurance? Hasn't it been insured with an insurance company?"

"The sum is simply too enormous. No insurance company will underwrite this batch of jewelry," Bao Lin said with a helpless shake of his head.

"I see." Yang Shuoxuan fell into thought. "How were the jewelry exhibitions held in the past?"

"In the past, the exhibitions weren't held in Songjiang, but then again, they never featured jewelry this valuable. The most expensive piece was only about a hundred million US dollars, and the insurance companies would underwrite that." Hou Lin shook his head. "But this is the first time jewelry this valuable has been exhibited."

Yang Xu thought over Hou Lin's words and felt something was off, though he could not put his finger on exactly what. At this moment, Yang Ce was genuinely in a quandary.

Past jewelry exhibitions had all gone smoothly, which was why Mingyang Security Company had taken on this task without hesitation. But now that the detailed list of exhibition pieces had arrived, they found themselves riding a tiger and unable to get off.

Although no formal contract had been signed, and backing out now would cost only a few tens of thousands in breach fees, Mingyang Security Company's reputation would take a serious hit.

To accept a task and then shrink back midway would make them a laughingstock. That was the last thing Yang Ce wanted to see. Though Mingyang Security Company was not the focus of Yang Ce's business, it was nonetheless an indispensable part of it.

Yang Yongjin was not about to let Mingyang Security Company, which had only just begun to show promise, lose its good name. But if they took this order, the risk they would be assuming was a little too great.

Yang Ce had some money in hand, but he couldn't go throwing it around like this. So for a moment, Yang Ce was truly stuck, unsure of what to do.

"Brother Yang, maybe we should just forget it and not take this order," Hou Lin said, speaking up for Yang Ce when he saw him in difficulty.

Bao Lin nodded silently from the side. Though he too was unwilling to let it go, if nothing went wrong, fine—but if something did, the loss to the company would be enormous. It would not just ruin them; they would be left drowning in debt.

Yang Yuting lit a cigarette and stuck it between his lips. Yang Ce rarely smoked these days; he only did so when he was truly worried.

Bao Lin and Hou Lin did not dare disturb Yang Ce, and sat quietly to one side waiting for him to make a decision.

There had been something fishy about this from the very start. Yang Ce was no longer the naive man he once had been; his insight and judgment had improved greatly.

First, the organizers had delegated far too much authority to Mingyang—it seemed everything had been handed over to Mingyang to handle. The organizers were managers in name only; in reality, the entire operation of the exhibition was in Mingyang's hands.

That in itself was unusual. How could the Jewelry Association possibly hand such important matters to a company it barely knew? Was it not afraid Mingyang would make a mess of the exhibition?

Second, even if the Jewelry Association had taken it into its head to delegate authority, why hold the exhibition in Songjiang? Songjiang was not a municipality directly under the central government, nor was it a provincial capital—it was only a second-tier city with no particular commercial or strategic significance.

If there was anything special about Songjiang, it was only that it was where the superstar Shu Ya had held the first stop of her concert tour. Surely the Jewelry Association wasn't trying to imitate Shu Ya?

Then there was the most important point of all: every previous jewelry exhibition had been without those Biluo City pieces, yet this time there were several of them. What was that all about?

Could it be that the Jewelry Association, fearing something might go wrong at the exhibition, had handed full authority to Mingyang Jewelry Company and put it entirely in charge?

That was the most likely scenario of all—and for now, it was the only one Yang Ce could think of. He knew nothing about these trade expos to begin with; this was his first time dealing with one.

Still, no matter what, if Mingyang Company turned down this contract, its reputation would certainly take a heavy hit.

Yang Ce hesitated again and again, then gritted his teeth and said, "Fine. We'll take it. Just be careful. I'll have Li Qiang and his men come over as well—no accidents are permitted."

When Bao Lin and Hou Lin heard that Li Qiang's people would be coming too, they relaxed considerably. Li Qiang, after all, had professional training and was far superior to the men from the security company.

Since Yang Ce had made the call, Bao Lin and Hou Lin said no more. All that remained was to keep their spirits up and focus entirely on handling the job.

After Yang Ce left, Bao Lin and Hou Lin threw themselves into urgent preparations—installing surveillance cameras around the venue, assigning personnel, and so on.

The reason Yang Ce ultimately agreed to take the contract was that, should something truly go wrong, the money in his hands would be enough to cover compensation, without bankrupting Mingyang Company.

He believed that if an accident really did happen, being able to compensate the full value of the goods would itself affirm Mingyang Security's credibility, showing the outside world that even in failure, Mingyang Security would never welch on its debts.

But the risk involved in this matter was simply too great. After leaving Mingyang Security, Yang Ce called Li Qiang and told him to coordinate with Bao Lin and Hou Lin to make this jewelry expo a success.

As for the things he could not figure out, Yang Ce suddenly thought of someone—Sun Jie. For matters of business, this little fox saw more clearly than he did, and she played intrigue better than he did. So Yang Ce decided to go consult Sun Jie and see whether she had any good insights.

At that thought, Yang Ce wasted no time and drove straight to Sun Jie's company.

To be continued

1071. Are You Qualified to Be My Man?