Chapter 464
Chapter 464: Above the Clouds
Shanghai Tianhai City, Door to Heaven.
The representatives of the major consortia attending the conference had almost all arrived at the location where the Resource Chamber of Commerce Meeting was being held. On the surface, these people seemed friendly and willing to bare their hearts to each other, but in reality, they were all shamelessly seeking personal gain. It was common for them to badmouth others and collude with each other in order to gain the upper hand against an opponent.
It was inevitable. The Resource Chamber of Commerce Meeting represented too many associations and implications.
Everyone here was a subordinate of someone powerfully influential. They had business spanning all industries. Their dressing was usually immaculate, but they would not hesitate to slam the tables and curse the families of anyone who might seem like a threat to their family at this Resource Chamber of Commerce Meeting. These were all just normal occurrences.
Today, in a large meeting room on the 86th floor of the Door to Heaven.
This was a huge meeting room which was about six hundred square feet. There were huge full-length windows on one side of the room flanked by painted clouds on the walls. Standing there gazing at the ant-like pedestrians on the ground was like being among the clouds.
This was the meeting room dedicated to the use of the inner circle members of the Resource Chamber of Commerce. The room was called Above the Clouds, implying that the users of the room would stand here, deciding on the fate of the mortals below them.
At that moment, there were thirty over inner circle members of the Resource Chamber of Commerce seated in this room called Above the Clouds. Seated in front were three people, two men and a woman wearing inscrutable expressions. They were three of the top ten inner circle members of the Resource Chamber of Commerce and also the people who called the meeting.
The person seated to the left was of average build but leaning a little towards being overweight. He was dressed in a simple grey T-shirt with a string of sandalwood beads in his left hand. His right hand pounded the table fiercely and a loud “piak” sound was heard as he scolded vehemently. “Where has the bastard Qian Guangzhao gone? Why is he not here yet? So many of us are waiting for him! Is my time worthless?” This man had almond-shaped eyes and a black mole above the middle of his right eyebrow. His name was Cheng Qifu and, because he ranked fourth in his family, he was also known as Fourth Master Cheng. He was the Director of Heavenly State’s Jin Di Real Estate Company, with a total asset of thirty billion!
The second person to the left was a middle-aged man who was about thirty-eight or thirty-nine years old. He was handsome with sharply-angled eyebrows and bright eyes. His eyes slightly narrowed and would occasionally glimmer coldly. He said, smiling, “Fourth Master, no one here has anything urgent to attend to anyway. Since we are all gathered here, there is no harm in waiting for a while. What do you say?” As he spoke, he groomed his fingernails nonchalantly.
This man was named Gong Zhiwen. He was the head of the New World Jewelry in the Heavenly State. He took the helm of New World Jewelry after his father, Gong Yuanwu, died in a car accident. He looked like a distinguished young man, but his methods were cruel and vicious. Within half a year, he had everyone under him obedient to his every command. This man was not one to be taken lightly.
Sure enough, after listening to the words of Gong Zhiwen, Fourth Master Cheng snorted angrily and said, “It’s making me damn anxious!”
The woman sitting on the right said quietly, “As long as our goals are the same, a few minutes will not make a difference.” She was dressed in a professional-looking black suit and her expression was cold. Wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, she looked at everyone frostily. There were many people present, but none dared look directly into her gaze.
This woman, Wang Yingqiu, was the Director of Mei Haha Food and Beverage Company, the company with the largest gross asset in the country. There were not many people who knew her by this name. She was more widely known as the “Black Widow.”
This woman looked cold and unapproachable on the surface but was actually extremely debauched in private. That in itself was not something noteworthy, but none of the men she was involved with came to a good end.
The conference room fell suddenly silent after Black Widow Wang Yingqiu spoke.
Just then, the door opened and a middle-aged man of about forty years old entered the room. The man wore a white shirt with open buttons. He had thick eyebrows which were slightly raised and eyes which took in the surrounding cooly. He looked imposing without having to try. This was the Director of Tianguo Xinhong Energy Company, Qian Youjin’s father, Qian Guangzhao.
Once Qian Guangzhao entered, he immediately smiled at the crowd and said, “My apologies, I had to attend to some matters so I was late. Please forgive me.” He then sat down imposingly in the empty seat next to Wang Yingqiu.
There was not much anyone else could say in reply to his statement. Cheng Qifu sulked and said, “You have no concept of time at all.”
“You were the one who called the meeting,” said the Black Widow. “but you were seventeen minutes late.”
“All right, since everyone is here, let us start the meeting.” Gong Zhiwen tried to diffuse the situation. “Let’s get down to business, let’s get down to business.”
“Let’s get down to business, and make it succinct.” Qian Guangzhao said in a low voice, “I believe everyone has heard about Hong Dali, Hong Weiguo’s son? Has everyone looked at the documents I gave you?”
“Seen it.” Cheng Qifu nodded. “It took me a whole night. Hong Dali is very popular in Heavenly State now. It’s probable everyone from ten-year-old kids to sixty-year-old men know of him.”
“Right.” Gong Zhiwen agreed. “This fellow is extremely popular now. The thing is, his luck is extraordinarily good. Otherwise, we would not be seated here now.”
The Black Widow Wang Yingqiu quipped. “As long as he is around, I cannot sleep well.”
“Right, it’s hard to sleep well.” Qian Guangzhao took in a sharp breath and swept his gaze over everyone in the room before slowly saying, “As long as Hong Dali exists, none of us can sleep in peace. His luck is just too good. So much so that everything he dabbles in becomes super profitable. Some time ago, ‘Spiritual Sword’ had a good chance of entering the inner circle, but it was completely destroyed by Hong Dali in just a short while. Everyone present has businesses that overlap the industries Hong Dali is involved in.”
Gong Zhiwen nodded in agreement. “That’s right. Property, film and television, Internet services, automobile, food and beverage, etc. There is a lot which matches up.
“Everyone present can imagine.” Qian Guangzhao continued, “If Hong Dali is allowed to continue his nonsense, our core business could very well be accidentally taken over by him. I think no one present would want to become the next ‘Spiritual Sword’?”
Spiritual Sword!
There was no one present who did not know about the Spiritual Sword incident.
It was once known as the best and most popular game in the Heavenly State, with one point eight million users online at one time! They had imagined that the figure would continue rising exponentially if it were not for Hong Dali.
It would not have been impossible to get two, three million users.
But now? Because of Hong Dali, just because of him, Spiritual Sword had less than fifty thousand users online! Fifty thousand! More than one hundred and eighty servers, and only fifty thousand users online.
What kind of a concept was that? One hundred and eighty servers, that would work out to an average of just over two hundred people per server. Two hundred!
As expected, once this topic was brought up, everyone fell silent.
They were all part of the richest and most powerful families in the country. Even the lowest of them seated here had a personal value of more than 10 billion. However, no one present had any confidence in being able to conquer Hong Dali’s incredible luck.
At almost exactly the same time, everyone thought of the legend regarding Hong Dali, the one that was making its rounds around the upper echelon—
“All kinds of strengths and abilities are unable to deal with Hong Dali’s unbeatable luck!”
The people present started to feel afraid. They were terrified. After all, they were not like Huiteng Films and Television and could not merge with Hong Dali’s Caiwei Entertainment.
The total assets of Huiteng Films and Television were not that substantial? It made sense for them to merge.
What about them? The total assets of each one of them were not below that of Hong Weiguo. How would they be willing to bow down to Hong Weiguo and Hong Dali?!
Soon, someone shouted, “No way, we must cooperate and fight against Hong Dali. If we allow him to continue his nonsense, we will have no peace!”
If there was one, there would be two. If there were two, there would be three…
In just a short time, the voices of those present melted into one. “That’s right, that’s right! We cannot wait to die. Heaven knows who will be the next unlucky one targeted by Hong Dali. Not even he is able to list out what companies he has under him.””That’s right. Anyway, I don’t care. We definitely cannot sit and wait. We must think of something!”
Right then, a smart person shouted, “Director Qian, what plans do you have?”
“Since everyone is united to fight against a common enemy, I shall elaborate on what comes next.” Qian Guangzhao looked at the crowd whose temper he had managed to incite and said slowly, “According to the latest news, Hong Dali’s attention is focused mainly on two projects at the moment.
“First is the sci-fi town on the outer edge of Tianjing Mountain. This sci-fi town is taking up a good chunk of his energy. What we can confirm now is that he has stuck up some kind of a secret deal with the government.” Qian Guangzhao paused for a moment, before continuing, “It’s inconvenient for us to meddle in politics. It’s also beyond our influence. I’m sure everyone is not stupid. If Hong Dali has really made a deal with the government, it would not end well for us if we were to go head-to-head with him.”
At this, everyone inhaled sharply.
If Hong Dali really did manage to get the protection of the government, it would really be foolhardy to go heads-on with him.
“Right now, Hong Dali intends to invest two billion in the New Lanxiang Vocational School.” Qian Guangzhao said quietly. “Although he doesn’t need to cough up the funds all at one shot, we can at least be sure that New Lanxiang Vocational School, as well as the lands around it, would become one of Hong Dali’s main development projects. Education does not clash with any of us.”
“Secondly, we need to look at the two aircraft carriers he bought.” Qian Guangzhao switched the projector in the meeting room on and it soon displayed information on the two aircraft carriers. Qian Guangzhao pointed at the aircraft carriers and said, “I have asked the relevant people regarding these two aircraft carriers and found out that they do not have any military equipment installed. The two are just empty shells of aircraft carriers. If they were re-purposed and used for fishing, they would just barely serve their purpose.”
He might have a point, but no one present dared to laugh.
After all, the super prodigal Hong Dali had another nickname—Maker of Miracles!
Therefore, everyone was waiting to hear what else Qian Guangzhao had to say!