"When it comes to profit, isn’t it up to the construction party to decide?" Smith chuckled darkly on the other end, "Mr. Leafcastle is an expert in this field, surely he understands that if costs are compressed, profits will naturally be high, right?"

"But that will affect the quality of the construction."

Smith spoke in a casual tone, "You should know that high profits always mean high risks, don’t they?"

Compressing costs means that the entire project’s quality will definitely be compromised. This is a national-level important engineering project, and Barker has always valued quality above all. Over the years, they’ve relied on reputation and credibility.

"I won’t do such a thing." Nathan Leafcastle spoke with determination.

"I see..." Smith sighed, "If Mr. Leafcastle insists, then I can only proceed according to our contract terms. If Barker and Ashton fail to secure this project, I can only use Mr. Leafcastle’s shares to compensate for my losses!"

"You... don’t forget, we previously agreed that you would help me deal with Ashton."

"I must remind Mr. Leafcastle, don’t forget, our premise is that you all secure the project. If you don’t secure it, what do you have to negotiate with me?" Smith’s tone carried an arrogant undertone, "I still hope Mr. Leafcastle seriously considers, after all, we had a prior agreement. I also don’t want to end up with that result with Mr. Leafcastle. I can only wish you good luck!"

Without giving Nathan Leafcastle a chance to speak, Smith directly hung up the phone.

"Damn it!"

Nathan Leafcastle slammed the phone heavily onto the table.

Smith’s offer was only 10.3 billion, six hundred million less than their bid.

At such a bid, profits won’t exceed 2%, let alone Smith will certainly take a portion of the profit.

Calculating this way, Barker almost has no profit at all.

If he wants to show profits to Bernardy Dalton, he has only one way—to compromise the materials used in the project to compress costs into profit.

If that happens, the quality of the project will be greatly discounted.

But if he doesn’t do this, all his shares would be transferred to Smith, and he would become a pauper.

What should he do?!

Nathan Leafcastle lifted his hand weakly to support his head, falling into deep thought.

...

... 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Jiuzhou Hotel.

The door was knocked on, Bernardy Dalton’s assistant went over and opened the door, seeing Kris Cooper standing outside, he hurriedly invited him in.

"Chairman, Mr. Cooper is here!"

"Mr. Cooper, please come in!" Bernardy Dalton smiled, inviting him into the room, offering him a seat, then spoke with a smile, "So urgently looking for me, is there something up?"

Kris Cooper glanced at his assistant, Bernardy Dalton understood and smiled immediately, "It’s fine, you can speak freely."

With a slight nod, Kris Cooper raised his hand to receive the documents from Tommy Taylor, placing them in front of Bernardy Dalton.

"There are some matters, I think... you have the right to know."

Bernardy Dalton took the documents handed over with suspicion, opened the bag, and took out the contents.

On top was a stack of photos.

The first was a photo of Nathan Leafcastle meeting with Smith, Bernardy Dalton frowned, quickly flipping through the photos.

"Mr. Cooper, what... does this mean?!"

"There are also some recordings inside, you’ll understand after you listen." Kris Cooper stood up from the sofa, "These materials will take you some time to go through, I have other matters, so I’ll excuse myself now!"

...

...

Good afternoon [Everyone, stay calm, don’t get agitated in this hot weather, let’s take a vacation in July and start anew in August~!~]