Financial freedom starts from graduation

Chapter 487 Slap and Lighter
"Sister, this...what does this Zhou Wang do?"

As they took the special elevator No. 5 left by Zhou Wang to the top floor of the IFC under the close protection of security personnel and the respectful guidance of surrounding staff, Li Xiaoya was obviously frightened by the scene and could not help but pull Li Xiaolei beside her and asked in a low voice.

"Didn't I tell you that I'm running my own business and it's pretty big..."

Li Xiaolei answered puzzledly.

"But...but you didn't say it was this big?"

Li Xiaoya smiled awkwardly, turned around and saw that her husband Xiang Ming looked calm and composed, not as reserved as when he first entered the elevator. Puzzled, she moved closer and glanced at the old couple Zhou Dajun who were muttering something in the corner on the other side of the elevator.

"Husband, didn't you just say you wanted to get closer to Lao Zhou and his wife? Why are you silent again?"

"Because I thought about it carefully, and it still didn't feel right."

"What's wrong?"

Li Xiaoya asked doubtfully.

"Did you see Zhou Wang's age?"

Xiang Ming analyzed in a low voice, "He looks like he's only in his early twenties, but he can afford a customized Phantom like that. He must be worth at least several hundred million. Looking at the way Old Zhou and his wife look, they're obviously just ordinary people. Do you think this is possible?"

"But that Rolls-Royce can't be fake, and those celebrities are having a banquet in a place like this..."

Xiang Ming sneered: "Rolls-Royce can be rented for tens of thousands of yuan a day, and celebrities can be invited. Some second- and third-tier celebrities only charge a few hundred thousand yuan for their performance fees. I have come across them before. As for setting up a banquet in an office building, that's even easier. You can do it with money..."

"Is that so?"

Li Xiaoya was surprised and said, "But this must be a lot of money, right? Then what is this... this Zhou Wangtu?"

“So you don’t understand.”

Xiang Ming, who seemed to have figured something out, whispered, "Didn't you hear what they said just now? It's a charity dinner... Let me ask you, what is the purpose of a charity dinner?"

"Donate?"

"That's it."

Xiang Ming said with disdain, "So this is actually a way to make money. Those who can be fooled into attending this kind of dinner party are not very high-level. I admit that this guy named Zhou Wang is quite smart, but if you want me, Xiang Ming, to curry favor with him, that's not the case..."

After listening to Xiang Ming's analysis, Li Xiaoya had a look of sudden enlightenment on her face. Before she could say anything, the elevator arrived at the top floor with a "ding dong" sound.

The elevator door opened, and Zhou Wang, with a typical smile on his face, was already waiting here.

"Dad, Mom, I missed you so much... Uncle Jiang, Aunt Li, are you doing well recently... These two must be Aunt Xiaoya and Uncle Xiang, hello, welcome, welcome, please come in!"

It was another standard greeting, and everyone's reactions varied.

For Zhou Dajun and Zhao Guihua, they hadn't seen their son for a long time, so they were naturally happy. Especially Zhao Guihua, she inexplicably felt that Zhou Wang in front of her looked a lot more unfamiliar (actually it was because his appearance had subtly improved). She couldn't help feeling a pang of sadness in her heart and almost burst into tears.

Jiang Jiaxing and Li Xiaolei must have been happy to see Zhou Wang, but because of what Xia Xiwei had just done, they both felt a little uncomfortable. However, our Director Jiang was more sensible and would definitely give Zhou Wang some face in such an occasion and would not show it.

But Li Xiaolei didn't care about that. She just nodded at Zhou Wang with a cold expression. Her unhappiness was written all over her face. She was just about to tell Zhou Wang directly to figure it out himself!

As for Xiang Ming and Li Xiaoya, they were completely reserved. Xiang Ming was actually okay. After he finished his analysis, he just stopped paying attention to Zhou Wang and didn't think about what to do next.

But Li Xiaoya's mentality at this time was a little subtle.

She originally wanted to show off her superiority in front of her sister, but just now downstairs, she "mistakenly thought" that Zhou Wang was very capable, which caused Li Xiaoya to look a little embarrassed. Now that she realized that she had misunderstood, her inner resentment began to surge up again.

So Li Xiaoya couldn't help but pinch her nose in disgust as soon as she got out of the elevator.

"Zhou Wang, the fragrance you use in this elevator is a bit pungent, you'd better change it..."

Listening to Li Xiaoya's frowning criticism and the tone of voice calling him by his full name, Zhou Wang looked puzzled.

No... He could guess why Li Xiaolei was unhappy, but who the hell are you?
Who are you showing this face to?

As it was their first meeting and the man was nominally his elder, Zhou Wang could not get angry so he just pretended he didn't hear anything and walked inside with his group.

At this time, Lin Ran happened to be leading a few guests who had just come out of the elevator over here. The two groups met at the door. When the guests saw Zhou Wang, they smiled at them.

"Mr. Zhou, nice to see you again. By the way, I told you on the phone that I would bring a few friends to help you. I hope I don't bother you."

The leading woman smiled sweetly, stretched out her fair hand and held Zhou Wang's hand, staring at Zhou Wang with eyes that seemed to contain some kind of hook.

"This is a charity dinner, so of course I welcome everyone. Mr. Xu brought his friends to give me money, and I'm so happy... Hahaha, CEOs, this is our first meeting, so I'm just joking, do you mind?"

"Mr. Zhou is really humorous, but he is also right. We are here to give Mr. Zhou money, hahahaha..."

"Mr. Zhou, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Pei, who is in the auto finance business. His company is also in the IFC. You two should visit each other more often in the future. This is Mr. Wang, he..."

The woman was Xu Qing, whom Zhou Wang had met last time at the Waldorf Club. She was the CEO of the famous Ginkgo Capital in Shanghai.

Although Xu Qing felt that she was just a small fry in front of Zhou Wang, in the eyes of outsiders, she was one of the real prominent figures in the financial world of Shanghai. She used her own appeal and spontaneously brought several powerful CEOs to support Zhou Wang. Of course, Zhou Wang had to give her this face and stood in the lobby and exchanged a few words with them.

Since Zhou Wang stopped, Zhou Dajun and others had to stop as well.

Of course, during such business social events, not to mention Zhou Dajun and Zhao Guihua, even Jiang Qingkui and Li Xiaolei could understand, so they would not urge Zhou Wang.

But Li Xiaoya was a little impatient.

One was that she was already a little unhappy, and the other was that Zhou Wang's attitude of ignoring her just now further irritated her.

So after waiting for a few sentences, seeing that Zhou Wang and the seductive woman were going on for a long time, Li Xiaoya couldn't help but speak out:

"You're really good at leaving your parents and elders aside and flirting with an old woman..."

At this moment, Li Xiaoya did not notice at all that her husband had already become dumbfounded when she spoke.

Li Xiaoya's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for people around her to hear.

In fact, Li Xiaoya felt a little regretful after she finished speaking, because what she said was indeed a bit "vicious", and she offended more than just Zhou Wang.

But then Li Xiaoya thought it was nothing. After all, Xiang Ming had said that most of the people who came to attend a cocktail party of this nature would not be people of high level. So what would it matter even if they heard it?

There is no way to verify whether Xu Qing heard it or not, but Zhou Wang heard it, and Zhou Dajun, Jiang Jiaxing and others naturally heard it as well.

Jiang Jiaxing and Li Xiaolei's faces changed, but before they could scold, Zhou Wang's cold eyes had already swept over them.

"what did you just say?"

Zhou Wang's tone was very bad, which made Li Xiaoya, who was originally thinking of retreating, become dissatisfied again.

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong? You're clearly leaving us hanging..."

She puffed out her chest and hadn't finished her sneer when Xiang Ming, who had come to his senses, raised his hand and slapped her in the face. Snap!
The sound was so loud that it knocked Li Xiaoya's head to the side and her tied hair became messy.

"Ah! Xiang Ming, you...you hit me?!"

Amid the astonished gazes of everyone, Li Xiaoya was stunned for a moment, then she covered her burning cheeks and screamed, looking up at her husband in disbelief.

"Shut up!"

Before Li Xiaoya was about to go crazy, Xiang Ming glared at her fiercely. The vicious look that Li Xiaoya had never seen before frightened her so much that her body trembled and she stammered and couldn't speak for a while.

After shocking Li Xiaoya, Xiang Ming turned around hurriedly and apologized to Zhou Wang, Xu Qing and others who were also somewhat surprised.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou, and Mr. Xu, please don't take it personally... And Mr. Zhou, Sister Zhao, Xiaoya is just a person who doesn't know how to control her words. She likes to complain, but she doesn't mean any harm. I apologize to you on her behalf..."

"Hey, President Xiang?"

At this time, a middle-aged man behind Xu Qing, Mr. Pei, whose company was also located in the IFC Center as mentioned earlier, looked at Xiang Ming in surprise.

“You’re here too…”

"Hey, it's me, Mr. Pei. Long time no see."

Xiang Ming quickly greeted the man with a flattering smile.

Zhou Wang's eyes moved between the two of them, as if he had understood something, and he couldn't help but shook his head.

However, since Xiang Ming was decisive and took the initiative to teach Li Xiaoya a lesson, Zhou Wang was too lazy to hold on to him any longer. He immediately called Xu Qing and his parents and others to go inside.

Li Xiaoya fell behind and took a look at her sister's embarrassed appearance. She wanted to say something, but was pulled away by Jiang Jiaxing.

After everyone else left, Li Xiaoya raised her head aggrievedly and said with tears in her eyes: "Xiang Ming, why...why did you hit me?"

"If I don't beat you, we're completely finished, you know?"

Xiang Ming, who was slightly relieved at this time, said impatiently, waving his hand with a gloomy face, "Do you know who the Mr. Pei in the crowd just now is? He is the Mr. Pei whose company I told you about is located in this office building!"

"Ah, is that Mr. Pei that you want to establish a relationship with now?"

"Well... New energy is no longer viable. We are now living off our savings. We can only rely on Mr. Pei to see if we can make a transition..."

"Then, did I offend them to death?"

"Why can't you tell the difference between the big and small kings? Is Mr. Pei's attitude the key point now?"

Xiang Ming said angrily, "Didn't you see where Mr. Pei was standing just now? Do you know who the people next to him are? Do you know the identity of the person you called 'old woman'? Let me tell you this, Mr. Pei, whom I shamelessly tried to curry favor with, is nothing in front of her..."

"Ah, that woman is so powerful?"

Li Xiaoya's face turned pale. "What should I do? How about you take me to apologize..."

Seeing that Li Xiaoya was still in confusion, Xiang Ming was speechless and raised his hand weakly.

Damn, are you blind? Can’t you see what Xu Qing’s attitude towards Zhou Wang is?
But he knew that Li Xiaoya was an ordinary working-class woman, so her knowledge was limited. So Xiang Ming did not explain further, but just thought about how to make up for Zhou Wang's opinion of them...

It’s all my fault. I really made a mistake this time!
Xiang Ming fell into great remorse.

……

Zhou Wang was almost dying of exhaustion.

He had thought that the number of guests arriving today would exceed expectations, but he never expected that there would be so many more people.

Although Jiang Qingkui, Zhang Dashao and others helped to share the pressure of welcoming guests, there were still many people that Zhou Wang had to greet personally.

The head of the Guo Group, Guo Wangshan, who came with his two wives, He Jinglun, the president of the He Group, who came with his son, Luo Meiling's ex-husband, a powerful boss in Jiangnan, and Zhang Dashao's second uncle Zhang Shihao, his mother Zhang Shiling, etc...

These are just the well-known bosses in the Magic City of Hangzhou.

There are also those in Beidu.

Qiu Zeyu's mother, Mrs. Lin, Zhou Zihan, his father Zhou Tao, and even Brother Qiang from Jingbei Mall were present...

Although Brother Qiang only came to show his face and was about to take a plane to the United States, he had undoubtedly given Zhou Wang a lot of face, so Zhou Wang naturally had to put on the proper attitude.

After all this welcoming and seeing off, taking photos and greeting people, and occasionally running over to deal with Nie Xiaoyun and Yan Baiqiu, when there were finally no more guests entering, it was already almost eight o'clock in the evening.

Taking advantage of the little time left, Zhou Wang quickly ran to the corridor outside, intending to light a cigarette and take a breath.

Upon hearing the news, Young Master Zhang and others all ran over and scrambled to get cigarettes.

You know what, these bastards packed all the good cigarettes today, such as "Specially supplied Panda", "Internal tasting edition of Zhonghua", "Memorial edition of Da Chongjiu"... Even Tang Yiming got a pack of the legendary "Black Stone Forest".

But after everyone had distributed the cigarettes, they discovered an embarrassing problem: no one had a light!

"Xiao Qi, isn't my lighter with you?"

"Uh, Guo Bingshun left..."

"Bullshit, when we were lighting the cigarette earlier, it was Cheng Qing who took it in the end."

"It's none of my business. I remember my lighter was taken away by Yiming!"

Zhou Wang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. A group of people smoking expensive cigarettes were actually "lighter thieves". Who could he go to for justice?

Just as Zhou Wang shook his head helplessly and was about to ask Xu Wenxi to bring him a lighter, accompanied by a "click" sound, a lit metal lighter appeared in front of him.

Zhou Wang looked up in surprise, then felt relieved when he saw the person holding the lighter. He patted the other person's shoulder and then moved the cigarette forward.

The tall young man in work clothes holding a lighter helped everyone light the fire. He then nodded and smiled at Zhou Wang, put away the lighter, and pushed the food cart towards the kitchen.

"Who is this person? He doesn't look like an ordinary staff member..."

Young Master Zhang, who noticed something from Zhou Wang's performance, asked in confusion.

"I know him, Brother Gou, this is Guo Nansheng, right?"

Guo Bing's eyes were somewhat complicated.

"Yes, it's him... He's my college roommate. He came over to help me today because he had nothing to do."

Facing the inquiring eyes of Zhang Dashao and others, Zhou Wang did not explain too much, nor did he want to mention the other party's story. He just took two quick puffs of the cigarette in his mouth, then threw the cigarette butt to the ground and stomped it out.

"Hurry up, the dance is about to start. I'll go in first..."

(End of this chapter)