"President Pei, can you take a look at this and see if it passes?" Meimei swiveled the computer screen toward him.
"Okay, next one."
With that, Pei Cizhou turned his head and looked down at the traffic flowing past the window below.
Tsk.
Next year, once he got his driver's license—should he borrow money from his brother to buy a car, or just borrow one outright to drive?
He escorted the young lady back to the estate.
Qiuyun told Yu Heng to head home first; she still had to accompany the young lady over to the main building.
A little over a month had passed since the birthday banquet, and the group's project, stalled for nearly a quarter, had finally started moving forward again—after losing nearly ten million.
Qiuyun followed the young lady into the main building and took her usual position in the corridor between the guest hall and the dining room. She said nothing, looked at nothing, keeping her presence so low that even Old Master Jiang had quite forgotten he'd once told her to brew tea for him.
"Dad, Mrs. Ge."
"Grandpa, Grandma Ge."
Everyone bowed in greeting. Old Master Jiang's steps were getting slower and slower, and only when he finally stood before the table did he slowly speak. "Sit, all of you sit."
"Yes."
Butler Lin waved his hand lightly, and the servants began serving the dishes as usual.
"How far along is the project for Vacation Bay?" Old Master Jiang asked about business as he always did.
Jiang Yihua and Jiang Yijie were the ones in charge, and each reported on their respective duties. But since Jiang Yihua had been personally trained by Old Master Jiang, the comparison made the difference obvious.
When the reports were done, Old Master Jiang offered no particular praise or compliment to his eldest son. Instead, he asked how the third son was doing at his branch company, and whether the youngest had gotten into any trouble lately.
Because his wife had moved out and they were sleeping in separate rooms, Jiang Yihua had been pouring all his energy into work lately. He was giving the Vacation Bay project two hundred percent of his effort.
He was working so hard, and seeing such decent results—yet he couldn't get so much as a word of praise from his own father. He couldn't deny it stung a little.
But then he thought: he was well into middle age, with three children of his own. Wasn't it childish to feel disappointed over missing his father's praise? He immediately adjusted his mindset and turned his attention back to the dinner table.
Old Master Jiang went down the line, asking each family member in turn. Even the youngest, Jiang Chuyun, got a word of praise from his grandfather, his cheeks flushing red with delight.
"At year's end, our group will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary." Old Master Jiang looked calmly around at everyone. "This will be my last time attending the annual group banquet."
A sharp intake of breath.
Everyone was utterly stunned, their minds a whirlpool of tangled thoughts.
—Does that mean... we're about to enter the final stretch?
The meal was finished with all sorts of thoughts swirling in each person's heart. Old Master Jiang heaved a sigh and waved everyone away.
The family all knew that Old Master Jiang was a proud, strong-willed man. Now that he was being forced to admit he was getting old, he must be feeling terrible inside. No one dared linger around and risk drawing his attention.
In the brightly lit grand dining room, Mrs. Ge sat with Old Master Jiang, sipping her soup, but her gaze drifted toward the long-wedded couple who were estranged in all but name. She couldn't help but curl her lips into a smile.
Back then, she'd advised Old Master Jiang to accept Yu Xiang into the family and not let his eldest son drift away in resentment. What a right decision that had turned out to be!
Tsk. People from small, humble families really had no sense of the bigger picture. At such a critical juncture, she was still sulking with her own husband. She should have known that harmony in the home brings prosperity. If Jiang Yihua couldn't even manage his own family disputes, how could Old Master Jiang possibly hand the company over to him?
They came out of the main building.
Yu Xiang boarded the golf cart with her daughter and left. Qiuyun had intended to take the next one with Sister Zhou, but Sun Assistant Manager came over. "Assistant Qiu, Mr. Jiang requests your presence."
She'd been assigned the task of overhauling the new regulations lately, and the results were clearly effective. She'd expected Mr. Jiang to call for her.
The understated, quietly elegant sub-level office felt colder and more desolate without his wife around—lacking a certain warmth.
"Mr. Jiang."
Qiuyun knocked on the doorframe of the study.
"Come in."
"Yes."
He'd just come back from dinner at the main building and was still working. Jiang Yihua capped his pen. "As you said, I've let my wife take full part in the running of the household, but our relationship hasn't improved."
At the weekly family dinners, she maintained only a surface-level peace with him. The moment things ended, she'd leave without hesitation, taking their daughter with her—She showed no sign at all of wanting to break the ice.
With the whole family around, how could Jiang Yihua possibly lower himself and beg in front of everyone? But Xiang'er wouldn't even give him a chance in private, and so the two of them stayed locked in this standoff.
"Years of pent-up resentment aren't so easily dissolved," Qiuyun reassured him. "But don't worry, Mr. Jiang. The madam has been doing quite well lately. Not long ago, she was even cooking meals for the young lady and the fourth young master."
"..."
He was not well.
Jiang Yihua rubbed his forehead in irritation. Qiuyun seized the opportunity to suggest, "Perhaps, Mr. Jiang, you could buy some groceries and meat, come over to the Brightmoon Residence this weekend, help the madam in the kitchen—or better yet, cook a meal for her yourself. It could be a good chance to rekindle things?"
"No rush."
He refused. "The group has been busy lately, and I can't spare the time. Once I get through this busy stretch, I'll go talk to her."
Tsk.
Qiuyun shot the man a strange look, then frowned, as if she had something to say but had decided it wasn't worth the breath.
"What is it?" Jiang Yihua said coldly. "If you have something to say, say it."
"Ahem."
Qiuyun cleared her throat. "Then I'll speak plainly. Don't hold it against me, Mr. Jiang."
"Go on."
"Mr. Jiang... do you have anyone around you who's like a strategist?"
"A strategist?" Jiang Yihua found it amusing. "I work at a corporation, not on a battlefield. Though, I suppose my assistants and secretaries count—we have hearings with the Securities Commission, the banking regulator, and..."
"Mr. Jiang." Qiuyun boldly cut him off. "When I say strategist, I don't mean in your work. Those people are more like lieutenants. A strategist is someone who sees the whole board, sets the formation, anchors the objective, and lays the groundwork layer by layer for the final victory."
Interesting.
Jiang Yihua sat up a little straighter. "Go on."
"Let me tell you something, Mr. Jiang." Qiuyun recounted how she'd found a bargain at the antique street and gone into business with Jiang Yifeng selling silver bracelets.
When the deal was struck, Jiang Yifeng hadn't explicitly asked her to keep it from the Jiang family. She guessed it was because she was only the young lady's assistant, and most people's mindset was: since the fourth branch's interests potentially stood in opposition to the eldest branch's, anyone smart would know to keep it under wraps and make good money quietly.
After all, life was life, work was work, and who would turn down money?
Qiuyun figured that in Jiang Yifeng's eyes, she counted as smart—otherwise, he wouldn't keep trying to poach her. So this was one of those unspoken agreements, something he saw no need to remind her about.
But for Qiuyun, her goal went far beyond just making money.
"...After only two meetings, I was able to confirm that Mr. Jiang has a chain of jewelry companies, large private clubs, internet technology companies, and media & entertainment companies under him. On paper, he also has a huge amount of liquid capital." She added in a low voice, "And that's not all."
"Mr. Jiang Yifeng might be a very good businessman, but the startup capital needed for such a massive interconnected business network—he couldn't have gotten that from just his share of the family dividends alone."
Jiang Yihua's face turned serious.
His youngest brother had always played the part of a carefree playboy, flitting from one woman to the next. He remembered that his father had even set up an entertainment company for him back then, hoping to get him to settle down. But all the older brothers believed his real motive was simply to get closer to beautiful women.
Also, the Jiang family had built its fortune on traditional industries. They had no respect for that whole internet business model, and they rarely paid it any attention.
