Chapter 281: A Business Alliance
Chapter 281: A Business Alliance
"Oh! There she is."
Xiang Ling was pulled out of her surprised state when she heard Su LiangLin speaking the words before she dragged a very familiar woman toward her the moment she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"You?"
"Didn’t expect to see you here."
The two of them stared at each other in shock, both trying to process the fact that they were meeting again in such an unexpected way, not like their first meeting was in any way expected.
"You both know each other?" Wu Tian asked when he noticed the two women talking like they were not meeting for the first time.
While Xiang Ling shook her head in a negative response, the other woman nodded her head in positive. Their opposite answers made Wu Tian and Su LiangLin even more confused. But before either of the two could have questioned them about their contrasting answers, the woman was already speaking.
"Why are you denying it? Have you forgotten that we met before in the Azure Misty Mountains?"
"We did meet there." Xiang Ling admitted before adding, "But we don’t know each other."
Su LiangLin took in a deep breath at the unexpected, yet every much expected, response from Xiang Ling. On the other hand, the other woman opened her mouth to say something, but them closed it without speaking a single word.
"Well...?" Xiang Ling shifted her gaze between the three people standing in front of her - the woman, Su LiangLin, and Wu Tian, and waited for at least one of them to speak. "Well, if there’s nothing else then I will be taking my leave."
"Wait, Ah Xiang." Su LiangLin was quick to stop Xiang Ling. "She is Young Miss Jiang Li from the Capital City. She’s the first daughter of the Jiang Family, the richest merchant family in the entire empire."
Xiang Ling turned her attention toward the woman, who just got introduced as Jiang Li, and bowed politely to greet her. "Nice to meet you, Miss Jiang. I’m Chen Xiang Ling."
"I already know you. I have been hearing a lot about you since I arrived here the previous evening. I was so eager to meet the owner of this place and when I just bumped into Her Hi- I mean Lady Su, I got to know that she knows the owner of this inn. Little did I expect for you to turn out to be the owner of this place. It seems like we are indeed destined." Jiang Li seemed really excited as she spoke.
"Why were you looking for meeting me?" Xiang Ling asked in confusion, wondering why the daughter of a merchant family needed to meet her.
"I got to know about the three shops that you are opening during the coming Lantern Festival. I was wondering if we can have lunch together to talk about some business." Jiang Li proposed and Xiang Ling had to take a few moments to grasp exactly where all this was heading.
"You want to do business with me?" She asked directly without beating around the bush.
Jiang Li quickly nodded her head in a positive response as she replied, "After looking at this merely months old Inn’s business, I’m really interested to have a talk with you about your future business plans or ideas. My visit to Dongzhi City this time is related to business as well. My family wants to spread our business in Nanxia County and I’m wondering whether the two of us can form a business alliance."
Xiang Ling remained silent as she pondered on her options. Did she personally needed any business deals at the moment? Not really. However, was it a good idea to join hands with the most powerful and rich family in the business world? Absolutely yes!
The path of fame and money that Xiang Ling had chosen for the Chen family would require not only for them to become powerful to hold against any obstacles, but to also form powerful alliances that would prove helpful when time would arrive. The Jiang family was one such example of that powerful alliances. Not only these alliances were useful for Chen family’s businesses, but also for County Magistrate Chen and Chen Ming, who was planning to become an official.
"Lady Chen?"
When Xiang Ling stayed silent for way too long, Jiang Li softly called out to her, pulling the former out of her thoughts.
Shaking away her thoughts, Xiang Liang smiled softly at the woman as she responded, "Let’s have a lunch together then."
A smile bloomed on Jaing Li’s lips as she nodded her head and followed Xiang Ling upstairs toward a private dining room. While she entered the room, Xiang Ling stopped at the entrance and blocked it to prevent Su LiangLin and Wu Tian from entering.
"What are you doing?" Su LiangLin asked when she noticed Xiang Ling blocking the entrance.
"That’s a question I should be asking. Young Miss Jiang and I are going to discuss private business matters. Don’t you think you two should find some other place to entertain yourselves for the time being?" Xiang Ling kept a polite smile playing on her lips as she reminded them that they were uninvited in the discussion that was going to take place inside that private room.
"Young Lady Chen, are you treating us as outsiders? Su LiangLin is your best friend-"
"Young Master Wu, even though your wife is my best friend, she’s not my business partner. Some matters are required to be kept confidential, especially when they are related to business. Please understand." Xiang Ling politely replied as she cut off Wu Tian mid-sentence.
Wu Tian let out a small sigh before he nodded his head in understanding. "Alright. You can enjoy the lunch with Young Miss Jiang. But you should hurry home quickly after this so that you will be present there to welcome us for tonight’s dinner."
"What?"
Xiang Ling asked in confusion, but she got no response except for a smile from the duo who turned around and left the place without another word.