Original subtitles

[English subtitles are available]

[Wild Bloom]

[Episode 33]

I'm fine.

Dong.

As long as you're happy,

I'm happy.

Do you know how many risks I took

and how much I suffered

for this little money?

Go.

Dong, listen to me. Take it.

As long as I don't take the money, it'll be fine.

You'll be fine too.

I don't want it.

Why are you so stubborn? Listen to me.

Just take it.

Let's go.

Miss Xu.

President Gao.

Why didn't you tell me you were coming?

I missed you. Can't I come?

I'm not President Gao today.

I'm just Aunt Gao.

I came to see you.

There's an anti-corruption operation in the province.

I'll have a meeting there.

I may not see you in a while.

President Gao.

Look.

This workshop was built

when Mr. Wu was here.

It's still the workshop

that has the most stable production of steel.

And that corner.

You told me to make use of it.

Do you remember?

Look at you.

As long as you're talking about steel in the steel mill,

there's light in your eyes.

Well,

it feels kind of similar

when you talk about the workshop

with when I talk about Gao Xinyi in front of others.

Look, this girl is wilful

and makes me angry.

I'm her mother.

I have to tolerate her, right?

Running a business

is like raising a child,

but not exactly the same.

President Gao,

since you want me to call you Aunt Gao,

I'll say something wilful.

I've been thinking

if the company really goes public,

I won't be in charge of the company anymore, right?

I feel sad

when I realise

the company might not belong to me in the future.

Xu,

now you're telling me this.

It means you've grown up.

The higher-ups have read

the materials you submitted.

They are satisfied.

But let me remind you.

All the data for the IPO

must be accurate.

Don't worry.

I'm not only keeping up appearances.

Look.

Normally,

no child will abandon his mother,

but an enterprise will.

There are many cases like this overseas.

After the IPO,

founders are kicked out

by the Board legally.

So what you just told me

is your worries about the future?

How should I put it?

Of course,

I hope my company will get better.

But I'm also worried

that it'll become too good.

I told you before.

IPO is a necessity

for a company to develop rapidly.

Metaphorically,

it's like an adult ceremony for a private enterprise

to transition from a wilful teenager

to a more mature

and responsible

adult.

As for you,

whether you can grow

from a mom-and-pop business owner

to a responsible entrepreneur

is determined by yourself.

Mr. Zheng,

all the financial reports of the truck team

are here.

I thought you asked me here today

because you had prepared all the money to invest.

Mr. Zheng,

we're old friends.

As for the money,

I don't have that much,

but I do want to enter the logistics industry.

So, can I invest my truck team?

Everyone has a truck team.

If it's just the truck team,

let's just stay in a contractual relationship.

It's not realistic

for you to invest only dozens of trucks.

If it's not money,

there's no discussion.

Mr. Zheng, calm down.

Have a seat.

Mr. Zheng,

we can invest money.

We have no problem with the amount you said before.

At the same time, the truck team can also be invested.

But we may need to

discuss the shares again.

Wait, Mr. Zheng.

Please wait a moment.

Come out.

We don't have money.

You can't lie.

We do have money.

Where did you get the money?

My sister gave it to me.

I wanted her to invest money from the steel factory

in our logistics company,

but she had invested in Su.

Of course,

I have no objections to my sister's decision.

Then she gave me her own money.

I was hesitating.

So I didn't tell you.

I want to roll the dice.

If Zheng agrees us to invest the truck team,

we can save the money.

But...

No buts.

Give her back the money.

We can't take the money.

Why?

She needs money now.

Tong Xiaoqi,

don't you understand?

This is my sister's own money

and her wedding gift of money.

She lent it to us.

It's not the company's money.

This is her personal investment.

Instead of wasting your time here

hesitating,

why don't we

think about how to make money for her?

Don't let her money go down the drain.

We've been with her for so long.

Has she ever made a loss?

Enough.

When you get in,

just continue the conversation I had.

Ask him to take the truck team

and ask 5% more shares.

[Yuzhou Steel]

Why did the Tax Authority come out of the blue?

No notice in advance?

No.

Okay, I got it.

What about Customs?

Why did they seal our port?

Surprise inspection.

It's said to be part of the anti-corruption operation.

They asked us to cooperate with the investigation.

Do some self-checks now.

Mr. Jia.

Mr. Gao.

Please.

Did you make the call?

Yes.

They should be on the way.

Miss Xu.

Miss Xu.

What did the Tax Authority say?

They suspect the steel mill conducted a tax evasion,

so they have frozen our account.

They're still investigating.

It's just a suspicion and they have frozen our account?

Not only Tax,

Customs has also

sealed our port.

They said it was a joint law enforcement.

Did they say when everything will go back to normal?

They have to investigate first.

Hey, President Gao.

Let me ask you.

Have you done anything illegal

since the new steel mill opened?

No.

You didn't,

but what about your men?

Please give me some time.

I'll investigate it.

Investigate carefully.

I'm warning you.

Don't have any evil thoughts.

Let alone the accounts

or the import and export list,

even our finance head

has been taken away by Tax officers

to cooperate with the investigation.

So we can't figure out

which department

or which process goes wrong.

Our port has been sealed by Customs.

The raw materials can't get in.

But

our steel mill must keep running.

It can't stop.

Otherwise,

we can't fulfil following orders.

Besides,

our warehouse has been sealed too.

The finished steel is now in the warehouse,

so all of our orders

can't be delivered on time.

If this keeps going,

we'll run out of money soon.

We also need to consider the compensation for the breach of contracts.

This is the current situation

and the problem we are about to face.

Our top priority

is to find another factory

to help us deliver some goods

to deal with the current situation.

Even if we have to buy it at a high price,

at least we won't breach the contracts.

I think we should speed up the internal investigation

and see where the loophole is

and which process goes wrong.

We need to be prepared.

We're investigating internally.

We haven't found anything wrong

through the production process,

whether it's raw materials, equipment maintenance,

or equipment replacement.

There's only one word difference between avoidance and evasion.

Qin Fangping, I trust you.

You can't set me up.

Don't worry.

We've been doing this for so many years.

The same goes for Zhao Lei’s company.

This is a legal tax evasion

to save cost.

I earned the money.

I saved it for you.

I don't want it.

And we are facing

the whole IPO process,

so the company has been very strict

about the account review.

I'm assured that

our financial transparency and clearance

is way ahead of other companies.

We have no problems in sales as well.

All the trades

between us and all the other steel mills

as well as steel trade companies

are very clear.

As for the export,

Qin Fangping's company

has been our agency.

It's a descent company.

Anyway,

if anything happens,

they will be responsible for it.

It has nothing to do with us.

We are also victims.

That's weird.

Based on our previous experience,

if the investigation team doesn't have evidence,

they won't act hastily.

Have you contacted President Gao

and found out something from her?

What happened?

President Gao called me.

She didn't tell me the details,

but I promised her

I would figure it out.

Starting from tomorrow,

all departments continue to conduct the self-investigation.

We must

check every employee of the company.

Qin Fangping.

Listen to me.

Tell me the truth.

Did anything go wrong

when you applied for an import tax refund

for the joining steel beam?

No. What's wrong, Mr. Qiu?

I'm telling you.

The tax officials are checking the accounts next door.

They've frozen all of my accounts.

You promised me.

We can't do anything illegal.

Are you trying to frame me?

Mr. Qiu, what are you talking about?

Don't scare yourself.

There are so many departments in your company.

Everyone could be in trouble.

Why do you always curse yourself?

Besides, Mr. Qiu,

everyone in our industry does this.

Otherwise, where does the profit come from?

Don't worry.

This is not my first time doing this.

If they found out so easily,

I would have been in jail.

Mr. Qin, Tax officers want to see you.

Mr. Qiu.

Something has come up.

I'm hanging up.

Qin Fang...

Twelve yuan.

Tax officers came.

They are investigating in my company.

Did you blow the whistle

on Qin Fangping's tax avoidance in the name of declaration?

Do you believe me if I say it wasn't me?

I know you.

Do you think

I would make an issue of such a small thing?

But I only told you about this.

No one else knows.

How do you explain that?

Qiu Bizheng.

How come you suspect me?

You lied about the product name and tried to avoid taxes.

Didn't you break the law?

That's what everyone does.

Before,

but not now.

Don't believe whatever Qin Fangping says.

I suggest you

return the money to him

before they find out.

Since I came out,

you've been telling me

that the future is good.

I don't know what the future will be.

But there's one thing

I learned from inside.

Do you want to know what it is?

Be a person who obeys the law.

Ding.

The price you offered

is two percentage points higher.

You're too cruel.

I can't deliver the goods now.

Give me some steel

for the time being.

Please help.

My inventory is limited.

I'm telling you, if it isn't for you,

I won't be willing to share.

At this critical time,

who knows if they will trace to me

or seal my warehouse?

By the way,

how did you screw up?

We didn't.

Don't trust rumours.

We're just cooperating with the investigation.

Fine.

I believe with the production of your steel mill,

you can share some with me.

Thank you.

I'll ask Jia Chang'an to contact you about the details.

Okay, bye.

Hello.

Hello, Banxia.

I just arrived at the airport.

Something happened to my company.

I need to go back and check.

The situation is the same as yours.

This time,

the first step of this anti-corruption operation on the steel industry

is tax inspection.

What we found this time

is a company that works with us

exported goods in the name of another product

that has a higher tax refund

when they made the customs declaration.

We didn't get to the bottom of this before,

so we are also responsible.

You should go back and check.

See if there is any similar situation in your company.

International trade?

Yes.

Times have changed.

The rules are becoming clearer.

Although our company is a foreign company,

we've also hired

domestic professional legal consultants

to interpret

the latest laws for us

in case we unintentionally

break the law.

What are you going to do?

Just follow the rules.

We have to correct our mistakes.

We'll pay the fines or accept punishments.

I accept everything.

Banxia,

You also need to be prepared.

The development of the industry can't continue without close management.

I understand.

But there must be a difference between

intentional and unintentional breach of law.

Sorry.

The number you are calling is not available.

[Shenhai Highway]

[Shanghai]

Please redial later.

The number you are calling...

[Shanghai]

Where's Qin Fangping?

Mr. Qin is not here.

Sir, please wait.

You can't go in.

Let me ask you again.

Where is Qin Fangping?

He's not here.

Qin Fangping.

Sir, you can't go in.

-Qin Fangping. -You’re affecting our work, sir.

Sir, let me explain.

Where's Qin Fangping?

Can I have a word please?

Please come in.

Please.

Sir,

you must be Qin Fangping's client, right?

To be honest,

Qin Fangping has been working

in our company for many years.

I can't believe he took advantage of his position

to declare fake product names

to help some companies avoid taxes.

Currently, due to the large amount of money involved,

he has been detained by the Shanghai police.

Don't you have business with him?

Is it a large amount?

I think even if you don't look for him,

the Shanghai police will come to you.

[Yuzhou Steel Plant of Jiangdong Province]

Hello, Mr. Jia.

The situation this time is really...

Mr. Wu. Mr. Xu.

I've found solid evidence to prove

Mr. Qiu and Qin Fangping

did make double contracts.

Miss Xu, look.

Judging from the exported steel

in the last two quarters,

Mr. Qiu made a false export declaration

about high-strength steel section,

joining steel beam and so on.

He hid the truth

to avoid taxes.

Everyone used to do that.

But after the WTO,

the review of the customs declaration

and the scrutiny of international trade tax

has become stricter.

I've called Qin Fangping's company.

They said he had been arrested.

Therefore,

this is

their personal behaviour.

There's no possibility that they were instigated.

As long as we cooperate with the investigation,

we won't be greatly affected.

At least you won't get involved personally

in this matter.

Don't tell anyone about this.

Don't hand over the information.

Did you get through to him?

No.

He wants us to die together.

He is...

Go and check

all the signed contracts

about domestic sales and international trades.

Has all the money

been transferred to the company's account

within the specified time?

Also,

was it transferred directly to his personal account

or other accounts?

Check it now.

Okay.

I can't get through.

Is he trying to run away?

Listen, honey.

I've deposited the cash in the bank account.

I applied for a new card

and took it with me.

There's a bankbook

in the drawer on the second floor.

The bedroom on the second floor.

The second floor.

It is for you.

Qiu Bizheng.

I've been sitting at your house for a while.

I've been waiting for your call.

Do you really want to run away?

Mr. Wu.

Why are you...

Let me tell you.

Mr. Wu,

I'm really sorry this time.

I don't want to see this either.

But I'm committing corruption this time.

I might go to jail.

I'm going to jail.

Do you think you can escape from it

if you run away like this?

If you do this, the consequences will be even worse.

Come back and turn yourself in.

How can I turn myself in now?

Now you want me to...

I have to go.

Can I go out for a while?

Put my wife on the phone.

Can you let me say goodbye?

Qiu, don't be silly.

Listen to me.

Come back quickly.

What do you know?

You...

Listen.

You know nothing.

You'll be fine.

After I settle down outside,

I'll bring you here.

If anyone asks anything about me,

just tell them you don't know, you hear me?

I'm hanging up.

I have to go.

Qiu Bizheng.

I've figured out everything.

It's not your own problem.

If you still trust me,

please come back.

I promise I'll face it with you.

Running away is not the solution.

See you at the port tomorrow morning.

Just the two of us.

I'm glad you came here.

You didn't run away overnight.

That means there's still hope for you.

There was a moment

I really wanted to run away last night.

I felt like if I had run out,

everything would be over

and I would be safe.

Now that I think about it,

luckily, I didn't run away.

If I had run away,

I would be doomed for the rest of my life.

So why did you do that?

Why did you take that money?

The money is for Guo Qidong.

I always felt that I owed him.

I wanted to make it up to him.

I didn't take a penny.

Believe it or not.

Does he have the money?

Dong didn't take it.

He thought

I was pitying him.

Where is the money now?

I rushed to Shanghai.

I wanted to give the money to Qin Fangping in person.

But when I arrived,

he had already been arrested.

I made a scene at the reception desk

and left the money there.

But who would believe that now?

I can't prove my innocence now.

But I reaffirm that

I didn't take the money.

By the way,

I really wanted to

increase profit for the company

through the customs declaration.

Qin Fangpng told me

that he used to do this.

There would be no problem.

I believed what he said,

but I didn't do it on purpose.

Mr. Qiu,

you lied about product names to gain a large tax refund.

This is the truth.

Like you said,

if you really had run away,

you would be doomed for the rest of your life.

So I advise you to turn yourself in.

Admit what you have done.

No one will wrong you.

I thought

it would be fine like before.

Everything would be fine when it was over.

Now it seems that I was wrong.

It's really different now.

We can't take advantage of

the loopholes of the policies anymore.

You don't spend decades tap dancing on hornets' nests

and not expect to be stung.

Not only I got stung this time,

but almost lost my life.

The old pattern

doesn't work anymore.

It's gone.

Sister.

The price of the goods you and Mr. Wu bought

are 3 percentage points higher than the cost price.

Besides, the company is running out of cash to pay for it now.

Every businessman is smart.

They're afraid that we'll go bankrupt,

so they won't give us credit.

They insist on cash on delivery.

We won't hold on long if this keeps going.

Besides,

the production line hasn't stopped.

There's no place to put the products.

They can't go into the warehouse as well.

Moreover, the emotions among workers...

-Now everyone thinks... -Mr. Jia.

Come in.

Miss Xu, Mr. Su is here.

Miss Xu.

Mr. Jia.

Wildcat.

You’re back.

I'm back.

How's the jet lag treating you?

I'm good.

You even have dark circles under your eyes.

It's okay.

Have a seat.

Sister.

We're gonna head out.

You guys talk.

Okay.

You guys figure something out.

Okay.

Bye.

Bye.

Tell me about your progress.

I feel relieved

when I see you.

Why? Are you worried about me?

Did you hear any bad news?

Our company is going public.

Some companies

will spread rumours about us

during this time.

Don't take it seriously.

We are fine.

Don't lie to me.

I just came back from the factory.

Many people are talking about it.

Enjoy.

Thank you.

Every business

has ups-and-downs.

It's normal.

Look at this.

This is the contract I signed with a German medical company.

They'll transfer the money

within a week.

I'll bring all the money here then.

I've discussed with Jack.

Our Internet project

can be suspended temporarily.

I will bring back all the money

that you've invested in.

When the problem of the steel factory is solved,

we can resume then.

It won't be too late.

Actually, I've been thinking about it for a long time.

I was wondering who would be the first one to send me money.

I thought about many people,

but I didn't expect that it would be you.

I'm a science student.

You know I'm straightforward.

I only know

you trusted me

in the most difficult time for me.

So no matter how difficult the situation

you are facing now,

I will do my best to help you.

Even if it's not enough,

it must be all I have.

Don't worry.

I won't let you down.

In sleep?

Yes.

What are you looking at?

The contract with Zheng.

I've reviewed almost all the terms.

We just need to sign it.

Do you want to sign it?

Boss is having a hard time now.

Let's pay her back

no matter it's the company's or her own money.

President Gao,

it's my fault not managing it well.

Qiu Bizheng will turn himself in

for the mistake he made.

I'll try my best

to compensate the nation for the loss as much as I can.

Theoretically,

I shouldn't have called you according to the rules.

The special team will talk to you tomorrow.

How did you get the raw materials for your steel mill?

Is there any problem?

Raw materials?

What raw materials?

The accounting review is the first step of this anti-corruption operation.

Next, it will be a thorough investigation

about the smuggling of raw materials and imported steel scrap.

I'll be responsible for whatever problem you have.

Do you have the quota?

Yes.

Doesn't every company have this?

Do you know how much

a company can apply for?

15,000 tons of steel.

How many companies do you want to register?

15.

You can handle it?

Why can't I?

If Mr. Wu dares to give it to me,

I'll open as much as I want.

You and Tong

find more people

to register more companies.

I need more quotas.

I plan to get 50,000 tons back.

What do you think?

I've brought back 50,000 tons.

Hello.

Hello, Banxia.

How's the investigation of tax evasion going?

I persuaded Qiu Bizheng to turn himself in.

We'll pay the fine

and see if the punishment can be reduced.

President Gao told me that

this is the first step of the anti-corruption operation.

Next, they'll investigate the smuggling of raw materials

and imported steel scrap thoroughly.

I wonder if it's coming out of

this tax evasion investigation.

Do you remember what you said to me

when the company started preparing for the IPO?

Let me ask you.

Are you ready to be fully transparent?

Is that it?

Zhao Lei,

I’m scared now.

Hello?

Hello.

Banxia.

Banxia.

What happened?

Hello, Banxia.

Can you hear me?

Boss!

Tong.

Get Mr. Feng to the company.

Do whatever you can.

Okay.

Miss Xu.

Miss Xu.

Miss Xu.

According to your order,

I’ve asked procurement colleagues

to extract all the transaction records

for the import of steel scrap all these years

and have given them to the lawyer and the legal department.

They are checking.

This is the Customs Law you asked for.

Remember to inform me when Mr. Qiu and Mr. Wu come.

Got it, Miss Xu.

[Customs Law of the People's Republic of China]

Boss.

I've discussed it with Miss Xu.

I'll pay the taxes.

I accept the fine.

But

I may go to jail and stay inside

for some time because of corruption.

You didn't

take the money.

Instead, you returned it voluntarily.

I can explain it

and testify for you.

You didn't corrupt.

But the top priority now

is to solve this as soon as possible

and unseal the warehouse and the port.

That way, the steel mill and the company

can go back to normal.

I'm sorry.

I made a mistake.

I'm sorry.

Stop it.

It'll be better

if this can be over soon.

Xu,

what time is it?

If you need anything,

Qiu and I are here. Go ahead.

Don't wait.

Mr. Wu.

Let's wait for Feng.

Feng is always slow.

It will take...

You're finally here. Hurry up.

I knew it.

You are the only ones

who will ask me to come at this hour.

What's the rush?

Are we going to discuss

the division of the shares?

I didn't ask you to come here

to talk about the division of shares

for the IPO.

Lawyer Hua,

everyone is here.

Tell us about it.

You calculated it wrong.

[Multi-media Conference Room]

Recalculate it.

Mr. Jia.

Why are you here so late?

Suspend the IPO.

Let me tell you.

I took a lot of effort

on your annual financial statement

and financial analysis report.

What did you say?

I said

let's suspend the IPO.

Mr. Jia,

we can't joke about this.

I'm not kidding.

On January 1 2001,

the Customs Law was announced.

The country set up a smuggling criminal investigation bureau

to fight against smuggling activities.

In 2002,

the Amendment to Criminal Law was published.

The Offence of Smuggling was added.

My team has reviewed

all the trade records of the company.

We found a problem.

We are suspected of smuggling.

We are suspected of smuggling?

When did we ever smuggle?

Right.

Have you forgotten

that we imported steel scrap from the North and the Black Sea back then?

Well.

What we did was allowed

by the national rules

and legal regulations.

The quotas of you and Mr. Wu

were gathered from many small companies.

I got the quota

for importing raw materials from overseas

because I set up a lot of subsidiaries.

I even paid

other companies for their quota.

From the perspective of Customs,

depending on the scale of an enterprise like ours,

we may use the loopholes of the country's support policies

to trade raw materials

through fake companies

and disturb the market.

According to the new Customs Law

and the Amendment to Criminal Law,

this is illegal.

Lawyer Hua, I see.

Here is the thing.

According to the new Customs Law

and the Amendment to Criminal Law,

it is illegal.

In other words,

we did that in the past,

so it was not illegal.

Right?

No.

But our company

has been doing international business

in the original way.

It never stopped.

I see.

So our behaviour

is smuggling now.

The special team has talked to me.

It's only a matter of time before they talk to you.

Xu,

since you called us out this late,

have you made up your mind?

Tell me what you think.

Of course I need to

explain everything

to the special team

about how we imported steel scrap

from the North and the Black Sea.

Besides,

I hope you can explain it as well.

No way.

You're turning ourselves in.

Right.

Xu.

You...

You should think it over.

It's like if anyone admits, they're turning themselves in.

We tell the truth

is only to make it clear

that we didn't know it was illegal at that time.

If we deliberately hide it,

it'll be hard to explain then.

We can't volunteer to admit we unintentionally smuggled

even if we won't be able to explain it later.

Besides, our business in the past years

was totally legitimate.

There was no smuggling either.

We must admit and explain

that we did it unintentionally.

It was our negligence.

We didn't do it on purpose.

So,

to be safe,

I've decided not to go public for now.

Miss Xu.

Mr. Wu.

Here's the thing.

Lou Zheng handed our documents for IPO

to CSRC.

We've already passed the preliminary review by the CSRC.

Now the CSRC has handed the documents and preliminary review report

to the Issuance Examination Committee of CSRC.

The Issuance Examination Committee is reviewing it.

It can't be withdrawn,

so we can't admit the smuggling.