At this time, Su Ning saw a familiar name on the list, and her attitude became slightly more serious.
Antonio.
This typical Portuguese name was very unfamiliar. What made Su Ning pause was the name in the brackets behind it: Andre. That's right, this was a plot character. According to his screen time in the original work, he was the second male lead.
To be more precise.
He was the second male lead in the story arc involving Guan Jixing and Mu Wan. The author was quite fair in some aspects; since there was a second female lead, Chen Lingling, who connected with the male lead on a spiritual level.
Naturally, the female lead had to be paired with a second male lead too.
With a mysterious background, a romantic personality, and even a pair of emerald eyes, he looked incredibly charming when he gazed at the female lead and recited beautiful long poems.
When Mu Wan was wallowing in self-pity and doubting her own charm, he perfectly comforted her heart.
Even so.
In this war of love, he still lost to the male lead, Guan Jixing, and eventually made a gloomy exit.
But that didn't matter.
There was a saying: the male lead belongs to the female lead, while the second male lead belongs to the readers. Su Ning remembered that he was the most popular male character in this story arc.
The popularity of his fan creations remained stubbornly high.
Having said all that, the question was—how did he suddenly appear in Nanjing?
"How are Guan Jixing and the others doing?"
Over here, because of Su Ning's pause, Lin Sen also noticed that name. He quickly found the corresponding information and prepared a mental draft to answer Su Ning's question.
He didn't expect to hear this instead.
He froze for a second.
Recovering quickly, he answered Su Ning's question. To sum it up, they were fine, and they had even boarded their dream first-class carriage to comfortably return to Peiping. He also added the miserable encounter of Young Master Kong.
Su Ning fell silent.
Although she didn't want the two tier-one plot characters to head to the afterlife before being squeezed dry of their value.
Wasn't this luck a bit too much?
She felt quite indignant; it made her caution and trembling fear look like a total joke.
"They are the male and female leads, naturally they have their own aura of luck." At a time like this, the system naturally wouldn't miss the chance to stab her in the heart. "Before the host was chosen by this system, you were at best a minor villain. How could it be the same?"
"You're wrong."
"?"
Su Ning frowned. "When I was in the modern world, I was so kind and hardworking. Everyone around me praised me for being amiable and bearing burdens willingly. How could I be a villain?"
"Hahahahahaha."
"What are you laughing at?"
"Didn't you just tell a joke? I'm just being a supportive audience."
"..."
Lin Sen's mental draft was not prepared in vain, and it quickly came in handy—
"This Mr. Antonio is the fourth child of the person in power at Swire Shipping. Because of his mixed Chinese and Portuguese heritage, although he is deeply favored by his father, his status is not high, and the shares he holds are the least among his siblings."
Speaking of this, he paused and tactfully said:
"The chairman of Swire Shipping is in very poor health. I heard he has been resuscitated several times this year and is currently hospitalized for recuperation, leaving him no time to look after his most favored son."
"His other children want to take this opportunity to push Antonio out of the succession war."
"This time, we didn't send him an invitation. He asked someone to negotiate and request one."
Su Ning suddenly understood.
Was he treating her as a lifesaver?
Thinking a bit further, without her existence in the original novel, Antonio was successfully pushed out. As a loser, he went to Peiping and started a game of love.
But things were different now.
If he could get the support of a newly emerged shareholder like her, he would still have room to struggle. To him, wasn't she exactly a lifesaver!
Over here.
After some consideration, Lin Sen said that if the Miss didn't want to get involved in Swire Shipping's succession struggle, he could arrange a little accident to make Antonio exit as soon as he entered.
Then he heard—
"No need. A visitor is a guest. He traveled all the way here, how could we disappoint him?"
The female voice was light and cheerful.
"Swire Shipping, this behemoth is truly covetable. Do you think I should take the opportunity to raise the price and sell the shares for a good sum?"
Lin Sen raised his eyes.
He looked at Su Ning on the sofa. Those eyes, usually as cold as an icy abyss, seemed to have flames burning within them, making him unable to resist being infected by the warmth.
He said:
"As you wish, anything is possible."
"According to my wishes," Su Ning's lips curled into a smile, "I think becoming the master of Swire Shipping sounds nice. Let's start with this Antonio then. I hope he knows what's good for him."
If operated properly.
Su Ning thought leisurely, a second male lead is at least a tier-two plot character. Maybe she could even fleece the sheep... She was looking forward to this banquet even more now.
............
There were quite a few people looking forward to it just like her.
For the speculators wanting to push their own nephews and sons into higher positions, the business of tailor shops in Nanjing had skyrocketed recently, and good tailors skilled in men's clothing were in short supply.
This was the majority of people.
Also, in a luxuriously equipped mansion, an elegant and noble madam casually tossed the invitation aside. Su Ning's actions were quite generous; making that bastard lose face, get hurt, and become a laughingstock suited her desires just fine.
Her impression of her was not bad.
But, yes, there was a but. She married into the Kong family, and the children she bore were also surnamed Kong. They shared in both glory and disgrace.
No matter what, Su Ning had still trampled on the face of the Kong family.
If she didn't teach her a lesson.
She feared outsiders would look down on her. For the sake of money, she would go to this banquet. She would make Su Ning apologize and lose some face in front of everyone. If her attitude was acceptable, she would just let it go at that, she thought leniently.
At the same time.
There were quite a few with similar thoughts, either simply because they couldn't stand Su Ning's flamboyance, or because they wanted to show the newcomer who was boss.
There were also those who didn't get along with Chen Huaiqian's faction and took their anger out on Su Ning. They all eyed the highly anticipated opportunity of the banquet, each harboring their own schemes to make her suffer and lose face.
There was no need to communicate with each other.
Most tacitly chose to either stand her up at the last minute or leave the event early.
The handsome, green-eyed young man learned of the news.
His heart stirred slightly.
No matter how strong and calm a lady was, her heart would be fragile when facing a setback. That was exactly the time for a gentleman to step in, speaking softly and comforting her carefully.
Wasn't it?
Inside the American Ambassador's residence.
The ambassador had also received an invitation. Knowing more, he acutely sensed the difference, his eyes bright. Beside him, Charles, who had delivered the invitation, was trembling from exhaustion because of this banquet. That Assistant Lin was truly a devil.
He would grab someone and work them to death.
Because of his special status, he was more valuable than other subordinates. This didn't bring Charles any benefits; on the contrary, the work he had to do was more plentiful and complex.
He was exhausted to the point of collapse.
And he couldn't say anything, because this devil was so ruthless that he didn't even treat himself as human, doing even more work...
"Go, hurry up and get to work. With so many competitors, how can you bear to slack off!"
"How am I slacking off?"
Charles cried foul. He had slept for less than four hours yesterday and had only eaten two biscuits all day.
"Hmph, once the news gets out, there will be people dreaming of being as tired as you. Good heavens, why did such a good thing fall into your lap?"
"Uncle, do you mean..."
Charles widened his eyes.
"Hmph."
The ambassador gave a reserved harrumph. Only after being begged over and over did he finally show some mercy and share his analysis. Miss Su was a clever woman. Rashly throwing such a massive banquet was incredibly risky and could easily backfire.
There was no way she did not know that.
So why did she go through with it anyway?
The reason was self-evident. She was certain she could control the situation at the banquet. That meant she held a massive bargaining chip, an interest large enough to draw everyone in, make them accept her, and even fawn over her.
What else could it be?
It had to be oil!
Of course, it would not matter even if his guess was wrong. The ambassador watched his newly energized nephew rush off to work, then lowered his head to leisurely enjoy his dessert. It tasted wonderfully sweet.
After all, he was not the one who had to suffer and toil.
Countless hearts were captivated by this upcoming banquet. No matter what they were thinking or what their ultimate goals were, everything now revolved around Su Ning.
Even though, just a short while ago, that name had been entirely foreign to them.
Time slowly ticked by.
The highly anticipated moment had finally arrived. The unprecedentedly grand housewarming banquet was about to begin.
