Chapter 414: A Little Too Disproportionate
"It’s really heartbreaking to see Leah and Jake like this," Rosa sighed and turned away from Leah and Jake to look at Wendy. She saw that Wendy’s eyes were red.
Rosa wanted to console her but was at a loss for words, so she gave that thought up.
Subsequently, Rosa changed the subject with a forced smile, "Todd’s affection for you is so genuine and sincere. He has stayed by your side for so many years. Back then, you actually didn’t believe it when your mentor and I said that Todd has feelings for you."
Wendy lowered her head slightly. With a faint smile on her face, she said, "That’s true. I was all focused on work back then, and didn’t think about getting into a relationship at all. Todd is indeed a good man. He didn’t even mind that I’m a mother of two."
"You wouldn’t mind a part of someone you love. You’d only want to be with each other and grow old together," Rosa replied.
"Really?" Wendy asked casually, "Do you feel this way towards Mr. Woods?"
"Of course, why else would I marry him." Rosa’s smile brightened as she recalled the story between Timothy and herself. "Timothy had nothing to his name, but I still fell in love with him at first sight. I felt that he was a man with great potential. I almost cut ties with my family just to marry him."
"Wow!" Wendy said.
"You should know that my father was a famous designer. Twenty years ago, Timothy came to the city alone and joined my dad’s company. We fell in love with each other after years of working together.
"But back then, because Timothy came from a poor background, my dad disapproved of our relationship. He only relented much later because of my strong insistence. He even took Timothy under his wing as an apprentice. Of course, it was also because Timothy showed good potential and had a talent in design.
"Then, I married him and gave birth to Jill. It’s a pity that Jill doesn’t show any interest in design. This has kept Timothy feeling disappointed for a long time."
Rosa smiled from the bottom of her heart as she spoke. Wendy knew that Rosa really loved Timothy. So, what about Timothy? Were his feelings for Rosa genuine?
In the past, Wendy would have believed that his feelings for his wife were sincere without a doubt. But now, Wendy knew how Timothy Woods was truly like.
So, how much of Timothy’s love for Rosa was true, and how much of his love was based on Rosa’s family background at that time? Wendy raised her head to look at Rosa and asked casually, "Mrs. Woods, what do you know about Mr. Woods before you met him, since he came from Rheinsville City alone? Do you know about his past?"
Originally, Wendy had wanted to find out if Rosa knew that Timothy had broken the law. But she was afraid that she would expose herself if Rosa already knew.
So, she added, "I mean, did you ever try to find out how Mr. Woods was like before you married him? Such as, if he was in a relationship before, or if he had children?"
There, now Rosa would not suspect anything.
"I did ask him once. He said that his focus was solely on design. Before he met me, the thought of getting married and having children had never even crossed his mind.
It was only after he got to know me that he wanted to get married and to start a family.
"He has always admired my father, so he came to Rheinsville and joined my father’s company, with the sole intention of learning from my father," Rosa replied with a gentle smile on her face. "My hunch proved to be right. Timothy did not disappoint me."
...
Turning to face Wendy, Rosa continued, "Todd is a good man too. Believe me, you guys will be happy together."
Wendy blinked and was deep in thought. Rosa did not seem to be putting on a front.
Did she not know the true colors of Timothy Woods? This was not entirely impossible. Maybe he did not let his family in on the illegal things that he had done.
"Mrs. Woods, do you believe everything Mr. Woods say?" Wendy bantered deliberately. "They say that men are full of lies. Maybe he was deceiving you."
Wendy’s aim was not to dig into Timothy’s relationship history, nor was she interested to do so. She wanted to sound Rosa out.
If Rosa did not know anything, it could serve as a reminder to her. That way, she would be mentally prepared in the future if she came to find out what kind of a person Timothy truly was.
Unfortunately, Rosa did not seem to understand the implications of Wendy’s words.
Rosa smiled and shook her head. "He wouldn’t. I believe in him. All these years, he has been giving his best to me and our family."
Since Rosa had already put it that way, Wendy could no longer continue dropping hints. Otherwise, it would seem like she was deliberately sowing discord between them.
"That’s true. We all witnessed how well Mr. Woods treats you. I think Mr. Woods and you have such an enviable relationship, one that holds a hundred percent of trust and love," Wendy said, smiling.
Wendy’s words cheered Rosa up and brightened her smile.
"You two will be happy too," Rosa replied.
"Yeah," Wendy did not want to continue the conversation. She reclined in her seat and yawned. "Mrs. Woods, we both didn’t sleep last night. Let’s take this time to get some rest, or we might be too drained when we meet with the client later on."
"Okay." Rosa nodded.
Wendy shut her eyes without a word. Rosa took out a blanket and gently laid it over Wendy. Then, she laid back to get some rest too.
"Ms. Swift, Ms. Swift..." In a groggy state, Wendy heard someone calling her. She did not know how much time had passed.
Wendy did not actually fall into a deep sleep. She immediately sat up when she heard her name. Opening her eyes, she found that the car had stopped moving.
"We’ve arrived, Ms. Swift," her assistant reported.
Wendy let out a soft sound in acknowledgement and closed her eyes as she grew more awake. They headed straight to the hotel’s meeting lounge which they had reserved in advance.
The time was ten minutes past ten. The agreed meeting time was half past ten, and the client had yet to arrive. Wendy and Rosa took this time to put on some makeup.
They both looked pale as they had not been resting well the last two days. Out of courtesy, they should not meet the client in such an unkempt state.
Soon, it was time to meet the client, who arrived on time.
"Great to see you again, Mr. Adams!" Wendy immediately offered a handshake enthusiastically as he entered the lounge.
Bruce Adams was a long-time client of HG Enterprise and they had been collaborating for many years. Despite the turmoil that HG was in, he showed enough respect to turn up on time for his appointment with the HG Enterprise.
After a round of greetings and handshakes, Wendy gestured as she invited Bruce Adams to take a seat, "Please, Mr. Adams."
As he sat down, he saw Rosa standing by the side and was a little surprised. "Even Mrs. Woods is present? It seems that your company is sincere about handling this matter."
...
"We always put the interests of our clients and partners first at HG Enterprise," Rosa said as she nodded with a smile. "Don’t worry, we certainly wouldn’t evade our responsibilities."
"Of course I believe in HG, or I wouldn’t have shown up today," Bruce Adams replied with a nod and his expression gradually became solemn. "I trust you like an old friend, but my personal and professional lives are two separate matters.
"I know you guys must be very busy now, and I don’t want to take up too much of your time. After all, there are definitely many clients you have to meet with. So, let’s get straight to the point. How do you plan to handle this matter?
"I won’t take advantage of the situation. As long as the compensation you provide is adequate, I can come to an agreement with HG Enterprise on behalf of the company.
Otherwise, I won’t hold you back either. You can make your way to meet with your next client."
Wendy nodded in agreement. She replied, "Mr. Adams, thank you very much for your trust in us. You can rest assured that we are sincere about resolving this."
Rosa handed the compensation proposal to Bruce Adams. He lowered his head to scrutinize the terms and conditions carefully. It was obvious that he was not satisfied with the proposed compensation.
He shook his head and said, "Is this your definition of sincerity? If I insist on terminating our agreement, you must offer a compensation of at least three times the amount in accordance with the contract.
"Back then, HG had asked for a significant amount of advance payment from my end. You should know how much three folds of that sum is. Now, you are offering a mere 15% as compensation? Don’t you think this is a little too disproportionate to our losses?"
Wendy and Rosa glanced at each other. Rosa replied, "Please, believe us. We’re indeed sincere about resolving this. As you know, we are currently facing a bit of a crisis, and would have to compensate all the companies we work with.
"We also guarantee that you will receive a new batch of satisfactory products within fifteen days. This compensation of 15% is actually restitution for this 15-day delay.
"Of course, we did breach the terms of the contract. We just hope that you can help us this time since we have been working together for so many years."
"No, no, no," Bruce Adams shook his head. "My loss is definitely way more than just a mere 15-day delay. We are also suffering a hit to our reputation. Besides, this batch of products had such significant defects, how can I be sure that your second batch will pass the quality checks?
"Your next batch might not even be worth the price that we had previously agreed on. Moreover, now that the consumers have lost their trust in your brand, it’s hard to say if the second batch of goods will sell well."
"This happened because of an internal problem. It was an oversight on our part for not ensuring quality control," Wendy replied, "HG has been running for so many years, we definitely care about our brand and reputation as well.
"On the contrary, the quality of our second batch of goods will only be better than before. We want to redeem ourselves too. This crisis is only temporary, and I believe we will be able to emerge stronger. Please continue to place your trust in us."
"It is true that we have worked together for a long time. I too, am willing to give HG a chance because I believe you can overcome this difficulty," said Bruce.
"But if you were in my shoes, you’d understand that I have to be accountable to my company. I can’t justify my agreement to the board of directors if you’re offering such compensation terms," Bruce concluded.
With heavy hearts, Wendy and Rosa looked at each other.
...
Bargaining was an important part of the negotiation.
It was indeed difficult to agree to the first compensation proposal provided by Wendy. However, Bruce Adams did not leave as soon as he read the compensation proposal. It meant that he was open to negotiation. It also showed that he planned to continue collaborating with HG Enterprise.
To put it bluntly, long-time clients like Bruce Adams have made a significant amount of money through HG in the past. By doing HG a favor this time, HG would consider this during their future collaborations after they overcome this hurdle. Bruce would be using a one-time loss to exchange for long-term favors.
This was like placing a bet on Bruce. If he won the bet, his company would benefit from it after HG redeemed themselves. If he lost the bet, then the opportunity cost would be the compensation fee of three times the advance payment that they could have demanded.
Of course, Bruce had other considerations as well. At this point, many clients would want to terminate their contracts with HG Enterprise. HG would probably be unable to fork out such huge amounts of compensation fees.
Then, HG would be involved in several lawsuits, and they would not be able to pay them soon anyway. So doing them a favor was the best option for now.
"In that case, Mr. Adams, please tell us what you have in mind," Wendy said. "If it is feasible, we can continue with the discussion. If it exceeds my scope of authority, I can make a call to Mr. Woods on the spot and ask for his authorization. This time the fault lies with us and we are sorry for that."
Bruce looked at the solemn expressions of Wendy and Rosa. He lowered his head in contemplation and said, "Well, I don’t want to make things difficult for you. It’ll suffice if HG can remember that our company has done you favor this time.
"We had an internal discussion about the compensation terms before we came. Let me tell you straight out what’s the least we can accept, and we can cut to the chase."
Wendy nodded and waited for Bruce to continue speaking.
"We want a compensation of thirty-five percent, and we hope that when HG has new launches after tiding through this difficult time, our company can have exclusive agency rights to your products in Rheinsville City."
As soon as Bruce finished his sentence, Wendy shook her head and turned him down, "That’s not possible."
"I don’t think that’s too much to ask for," Bruce shrugged.
"Thirty-five percent of the advanced payment is beyond our budget. Of course, I can try fighting for this. But exclusive agency rights in the whole of Rheinsville City is impossible," Wendy shook her head.
"You should know that we have never signed exclusive agency agreements with any merchants. We are very confident that we can tide through this difficult situation, so we will not agree to such terms," she continued.
"Our company is one of the largest clothing distributors in Rheinsville City, accounting for twenty percent of the market across the entire country. If you agree to our terms, we are confident that we can further increase our market share," Bruce replied.
Wendy maintained her stand, "No matter what you say, we can’t agree to that."
The meeting lounge fell silent again.
Bruce did not need the exclusive agency rights, he was trying to find out how far he could push for this negotiation. Seeing that Wendy remained firm, Bruce sighed and said, "How about this, forty percent of the advance payment as compensation, and instead of exclusive agency rights, we will have rights to prioritized supplies. We will be the first to receive goods for your new launches in the future."
Bruce’s proposal was indeed reasonable. Across Rheinsville City, HG had long-term collaborations with four major clients. Among them, Bruce had worked with them the longest, and his company had a significant share of the market. Providing them with priority supply rights was not exactly a loss for HG.
