Translator: Abyssruler Editor: Lucas
At this moment, the meeting at the top floor had ended. Cole Ramsey had also achieved the results he wanted. TitaTitan Star had become one of the most important projects for the Ai Financial Group in the next five years.
It would receive full resources from all departments of the financial organisation. This was conditional on the fact that they must maintain the current momentum and constantly develop their advantage on TitaTitan planet and create a lasting competitive advantage.
As for his position in the financial organisation, it would be further consolidated. When one was in a large financial empire like Ai Financial Group, the resources one held in his hand would directly determine the right to speak.
He took the lift with some of his old friends and they were chatting about some casual topics. Over the entire year, there were only these two days when they could gather. The few of them intended to leave the hotel and head towards a private club to play some cards and enhanced their relationship.
Real control in the Ai Financial Group wasn’t only in the hands of the Ai Family. Many important positions were taken up by “external” people like Cole Ramsey. After all, the bigger the financial organisation, the more impossible It got to have only one’s own family members. A family business with only their own family members would only close down in the end.
The few external people in the upper management would naturally come together. Among them, the one that had the best development was the leader of this economic body, Cole.
The lift descended gradually. When it came to the fifth floor, it stopped suddenly as the bell sounded. The door opened and they saw the child of the Ai Family’s side family that they had seen previously. He was bringing a coquettish and pretty woman along and stood in front of the lift’s door.
Ai Hongming had just completed his business with his female partner and was about to step into the lift when he saw several heavyweight personnel of the company. He immediately perked up. Just when he wanted to take another step, his left leg seemed to be glued to the floor with super glue and he couldn’t take another step.
“Cough, what are you dreaming about? Come in.” Cole and the rest were all smiling. They all knew what had happened but just didn’t say it out.
“Yes, Uncle Cole.” Ai Hongming was sweating profusely and had not relaxed despite Cole’s easy-going attitude. This was one of the 5 core members of the financial organisation now and the leader of the external people. He could be considered as someone who held a lot of authority in the Ai Financial Group and was placed in charge of the most important overseas project of the Ai Financial Group.
“What’s the matter? Is there still a banquet in the hotel today?”
Cole smiled amiably. He took a look at Ai Hongming’s attire and it was clearly a suit for a banquet.
Ai Hongming nodded and answered with a smile, “Yeah. It’s the celebratory banquet for the Aisbotan incident. Xiaolu is fond of blowing up a small matter.”
Ai Hongming clearly couldn’t compete with Ai Xiaolu in competence. This was something that even a passerby could tell. However as the head of the family, one didn’t need to be too smart. The important thing was to have the support of others. Therefore, Ai Hongming had focused on forming relationships everywhere.
An old sly fox like Cole naturally knew what Ai Hongming was thinking. Frankly speaking, it would be a very unwise decision to be involved in the internal succession war of the Ai Group as an outsider. However as compared to Ai Xiaolu, he was more fond of Ai Hongming. After all, Ai Hongming shown him more respect and was more reliant on him. As for Ai Xiaolu, she was too smart.
Cole smiled faintly and said, “Practicality is more important when doing things.”
“That only seems like a merit. She should think try to recall that if it wasn’t for her going to that place, the Group would not have suffered such a great loss. The share price of our Group has fallen by a lot during this period!”
Ai Hongming immediately tried to carry on with the topic to get more benefits. The rest of the people around were all experienced people in business. They only maintained their smiled but did not comment. For them, it would be a good thing when there’s internal competition within the Ai Group.
Once he saw Cole showed approval, Ai Hongming got excited immediately. “Although she is my cousin, I still have to say that she is acting too close with that guy called Wang Zheng. It is as though she is willing to continue paying for him. Such casual attitude is not beneficial for the stability of a Group.”
Ai Hongming’s argument wasn’t wrong. For a woman, once she was married, she might disrupt the stability of Ai Group.
Wang Zheng? Cole’s eyes immediately changed. He was too sensitive to this name now.
After disrupting Ai Hongming’s narration, he asked, “Is he from Earth?”
“Yeah, he’s just someone from Earth…” said Ai Hongming while showing clear disdain. Ai Xiaolu really had no foresight and class.
“Where is he?” asked Cole anxiously immediately.
“He should be downstairs…” Ai Hongming was shocked by the loud tone of Cole.
“Hehe. It’s true that outstanding talents are usually teenagers. Hmm. I need to pay a visit to this guy named Wang Zheng.”
Some of his old friends were all stunned by the words “pay a visit” said by Cole. Who would he need to “pay a visit” to?
At this moment, the celebratory banquet had also reached the climax. The older folks had their showings and the underage people like Loli Ai had left the place. The only thing left was the party show for the teenagers.
The people from Elite Academy X all had a great time. Some of the girls had even started dancing at skin-tight distance. After experience an ordeal on Aisbotan, they would really have needed some stimulation to release the accumulated stress. The ordeal this time had given a lot of students a deep and vivid experience.
Not everyone in the Elite Academy was like Wang Zheng or Olivios who had such ample experience.
Ai Hongming’s gaze looked around the crowd, trying to find Wang Zheng. Although he didn’t know why Cole was looking for Wang Zheng, he felt that he should be proactive and leave a good impression. This was what he called plotting.
As he found Wang Zheng, his eyelid suddenly twitched. He saw several people walking towards Wang Zheng from the outside. Walking at the very front was Snow Li and another guy!
And the smile Snow Li had when looking at him…
Ai Hongming’s eyebrows twitched again. He’s feeling really unhappy because he had wooed Snow Li multiple times previously.
“Snow Li, long time no see.” Ai Hongming walked ahead quickly, take a look at Ai Xiaolu and put on the airs of a brother.””Where have you been? You are the host of this banquet and not being around is a very rude thing.”
Ai Xiaolu felt angry and funny at the same time. She had been avoiding this cousin of hers because she was lazy to deal with him. Yet, she had not expected him to start feeling he was important. It’s a good thing to be ambitious but he should have understood his own abilities and intelligence.
“Hi.” Snow Li responded faintly. He was the cousin of Ai Xiaolu after all. She would still show the required manners even if Ai Xiaolu wasn’t fond of this cousin.
“This is?” Ai Hongming asked as he raised his head and pointed his finger at Wang Zheng.
Those who weren’t blind would be able to tell that the way Snow Li looked at Wang Zheng wasn’t the typical her.
Wang Zheng smiled, took the initiative to extend his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Wang Zheng.”
Ai Hongming squinted his eyes. So he was Wang Zheng.
“So you are Wang Zheng. I heard that you did well in Aisbotan this time. Rest assured, our Ai Group wouldn’t be stingy and will give you a handsome reward.”
Wang Zheng was stunned. Did this guy have some brain damage? With this intelligence, was he really a relative of Ai Xiaolu?
Ai Hongming clearly did it on purpose. If it wasn’t for Wang Zheng, Ai Xiaolu might have been… At least she wouldn’t be standing here healthy and unharmed. It’s really a shame as this was a great opportunity for him to climb the ladder.
However he was destined to accomplished something big and would naturally not lament about such matters. To continue forward and looking forward was the right way to go.
“Oh right, I heard that you are from Earth. What do you have in mind for the future? Are you really going to become a soldier?”
Ai Hongming take a sip of red wine and revealed a light smile. Such a pompous disposition could only be the result of heavy influence by a big family and wasn’t something that an ordinary rich second generation could imitate.
Wang Zheng was a little amazed. The Ai Family was indeed something else. Disregarding his capabilities, just this disposition was enough to scare a lot of people. In comparison, the self-proclaimed pretentious Tyrant Su had a lot more to learn from him.
However if Wang Zheng were to speak, he would be clearly seen as being provocative. Ai Hongming was clearly looking for troubles here. Ai Xiaolu was stunned initially but had frowned at this moment. “Ai Hongming, this is enough. It’s alright if I have to bear with you but this is my friend.”
Wang Zheng smiled. Wouldn’t being anxious to argue with this brat pull down his status? He replied faintly, “There’s nothing bad about being a soldier.”
“Xiaolu, that’s not right. I wanted to remind him exactly because he is your friend. Being a soldier is really not good. It’s terrible. It’s especially so if it was in the Solar System. Heehee. Can it actually be good? Let me see. You have really helped the Hail Cloud Alliance this time and your strength isn’t bad. I happen to have a security company under me. Why don’t you just come and be a supervisor. As for your monthly salary, just give me a number. If you perform well, you can even get a good bonus. This is a well-paying job.”
Ai Hongming was clearly immersed in his image of being a boss with good foresight. He was scrutinising Wang Zheng but his heart was actually cold. When he said these words, he was obviously not trying to recruit Wang Zheng and knew that Wang Zheng would not accept it. He just wanted to bully Wang Zheng in front of Snow Li. Oh woman. It’s easy to be superficial when you’re young. So what if he could fight? How many of those who were in control of the operations in the world could actually fight?
Snow Li and Ai Xiaolu were both smart people and knew Wang Zheng’s personality well. They were too lazy to quarrel with this superficial second generation. However, they weren’t willing to tolerate him. It was especially so for Ai Xiaolu. She wouldn’t allow anyone to tarnish the standing of the Ai Group in the mind of Wang Zheng.
“Mr Wang Zheng?!” a surprise voice sounded.
Wang Zheng turned around and immediately saw a half-balding middle aged guy walking quickly towards him with a face full of smiles.
Ai Xiaolu who was just beside blinked her eyes constantly. “Uncle Cole, why are you here? Wang Zheng, let me introduce you to him. Uncle Cole is one of the founding member of Ai Group and is primarily responsible for overseas projects. The project on Tita Star this time is also headed by him.”
Wang Zheng smiled faintly and continued, “Thank you Mr Cole for supporting the construction of Tita.”
“Mr Wang, you are too courteous. We will still need your help. Xiaolu, this friend of yours is really something. You have to entertain him well. Our project on Tita Star would still require his help in many aspects.” Cole expressed his stand without doubts. It was especially so after seeing Ai Xiaolu holding on to Wang Zheng’s arm.
Inside him, he hoped that Ai Hongming would be more capable. However no matter how he looked, Ai Hongming was just another dumb guy and could only play some small tricks.
“Tita Star has been weak for too long and is now on the rise. With the support of the Ai Group, I can finally feel assured. Xiaolu is a well-known Goddess of Wealth in our Elite Academy!”
Elite Academy… Several thoughts ran through Cole’s mind. He didn’t knew much about it but understood that there were several elites of the Milky Way Alliance in that place. Disregarding others, their alumni strategies had been very strong.
Foresight determined one’s standing. Ai Hongming was focused on the small field on Hail Cloud Alliance all day and was no longer in the same class as Ai Xiaolu anymore.
“Xiaolu symbolizes the Ai Financial Group. We will definitely execute the plans she formulated accurately. You can be sure of it.”
After seeing Wang Zheng, Cole decided who he wanted to side. The project on Tita was of utmost importance to him. He couldn’t afford any mishaps. Otherwise, there were also many people eyeing for his position.
AI Hongming’s face was black with dull green as though he was hit with a hundred Freezing Ice Palms. He didn’t say a word for some time and fled after seeing that no one was paying attention to him.
