Read Chapter 6: — THE EUROPEAN LETTER

The crisis arrived at five-thirty on a Friday.

Mei Hongfeng entered Mufeng's office, dropped a file on his desk, and said nothing.

That frightened him more than shouting would have.

A European client had found unsafe chemical levels in foam used in a major shipment of Huashi sofas. The batch would have to be destroyed. Huashi was liable for disposal costs, penalties and replacement obligations.

More damaging still, the client was Paris Vent, a century-old European retail brand responsible for a large share of Huashi's international sales.

Mufeng studied the procurement records.

The foam supplier had been changed the previous month.

His approval was missing.

Qin, meanwhile, had suffered a severe recurrence of his gastric illness and was preparing for treatment abroad. Procurement director Wang Yougang was in Japan with his wife.

Mei gave a bitter laugh. "Remarkable timing."

Mufeng refused to speculate publicly. He stopped the suspect material, ordered independent testing, notified the client, and flew to Paris with Mei.

The tests confirmed the problem.

At Paris Vent's warehouse, Mufeng stood among rows of furniture that had already become expensive waste. He authorised destruction and accepted the penalties.

The buyer, Steven Hall, was British, disciplined and unsentimental. He had worked with Mei for nearly a decade.

"We cannot continue with a supplier that delivered unsafe goods," he said.

Mufeng did not beg.

Instead, after the formal meetings ended, he asked Mei to invite Steven to dinner as a friend.

She threatened him before they entered the restaurant. "If you try to bribe him, I will kill you before compliance does."

"You have a touching faith in me."

Halfway through dinner, Steven asked, "You invited me because you want something. What is it?"

Mei went pale.

"Yes," Mufeng said. "I do."

She kicked him under the table.

Mufeng continued. "I want to thank you for the years you worked with Huashi. Our contract may end, but I would prefer not to pretend the relationship meant nothing."

At the end of the meal he gave Steven a small landscape he had painted of the Zhihe Canal.

"Before you refuse it," Mufeng said, "I am not famous enough for this to qualify as a bribe. If I become famous in a hundred years, your grandchildren may congratulate you."

Steven laughed.

The contract remained cancelled.

But when they parted, the door was no longer locked—only closed.

Back in Suzhou, Mufeng began investigating the supplier chain himself.

The farther he went, the more he saw that the bad foam had not entered Huashi by accident.