The Self-Cultivation of a Reborn Massage Therapist

Chapter 266 Gradual Progress
At this moment, the courtyard had returned to its usual hustle and bustle, filled with laughter.

In such a top-tier, closed-door banquet, these seemingly casual fifteen minutes are not for guests to rush to eat, but rather a carefully designed part of the event.

These fifteen minutes of casual conversation, food, and drinks can effectively ease the atmosphere and create a psychological suggestion that "we are one of us."

In these fifteen minutes, guests can confirm their social circles, demonstrate their strength, and complete mutual probing and initial information exchange.

If you have other purposes in mind, you can also make the most of these fifteen minutes.

Before I knew it, Jiang Ying had already abandoned the circle of wealthy women and was walking briskly toward the Podocarpus macrophyllus.

Near Zhao Xiaochui's dining table, several small circles have begun to form, with some girls who attract the attention of young men becoming the center of these circles.

Zhao Xiaochui's gaze was involuntarily drawn to one of them.

She was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, wearing a well-tailored white suit. Her long, black hair was neatly tied up in a bun at the back of her head, adorned only with pearl earrings, revealing a graceful swan neck.

Her beauty is strikingly aggressive, yet her temperament is gentle and refined.

She held a glass of champagne and was chatting with a blue-eyed foreign visitor, speaking with a perfect London accent. Then she turned around and smiled as she greeted a Shanghainese man who spoke Wu dialect; a few words in her soft, familiar accent instantly bridged the gap between them.

She can talk about art galleries and express her opinions on new technologies; her every move exudes a confidence and composure that comes from being immersed in money and top-notch education.

She wasn't the only one. There were several other girls like her in the courtyard. They were all graduates of Ivy League or G5 universities, fluent in two or three foreign languages, and impeccable in figure, appearance, knowledge, and speech.

Most importantly, these girls...

That's fucking gorgeous!

No wonder netizens often say that the most beautiful women in China are not in the entertainment industry!
"Be careful, they're deliberately getting close here. Those foreigners and old-timers from Shanghai could all be 'extras.' Their target might be your table."

Ling Rui's reminder came to my ears.

Zhao Xiaochui looked away and asked Ling Rui, "What kind of benefits are there if I want to take out a loan?"

Before Director Ling could answer, Qian Mankun frowned and said in a wealthy tone, "Brother, if you need money, give me an hour, and it'll be in your account within ten days!"

Zhao Xiaochui nodded to Qian Mankun in thanks and then looked at Ling Rui.

"Up to ten, interest-free, but you need to mortgage the property you manage."

"For up to one hundred, I can help you get the lowest benchmark interest rate in the entire market!"

Ling Rui's words were firm and resolute.

Hearing such favorable terms, Zhao Xiaochui became even more wary: "With such low interest rates, or even interest-free periods, how can your bank not lose money? What kind of performance is this?"

“With the economy downturn, the rich’s money is all sitting idle,” Ling Rui said with a wry smile. “We need it to circulate, not just in the financial system, but in the real economy, into factories, into research and development, and into the pockets of ordinary people. Let the money do what it should do.”

"This benefits the country, the people, and naturally the banks. This is the kind of performance the higher-ups want to see most, more important than any profit report!"

"Tch~" Qian Mankun said dismissively, "Easier said than done. You just said it yourself, the economy is down, and ordinary people are unwilling to spend..."

“Brother Qian~” Ling Rui interrupted Qian Mankun’s grumbling helplessly, “Your words are meaningless to Mr. Zhao in person. His clients are not ordinary people at all, but he can influence countless ordinary people!”

Qian Mankun fell silent.

Zhao Xiaochui was also free of problems at this point.

Seeing that Jiang Ying had already walked over, he took out his phone and sent a message to Zhou Yaqin before standing up.

"Let's go. We're the only ones sitting here. Isn't that a bit impolite?"

"Brother, you've finally come to your senses!" Qian Mankun felt like he had been granted a pardon and stood up with a grin. "If we hadn't left, those people's eyes would have pierced through my old skin."

Zhao Xiaochui scratched his head and said no more.

He stepped around the Podocarpus macrophyllus, and instantly felt as if he had stepped into a spotlight.

Countless gazes, some curious, some scrutinizing, converged from all directions. Especially those meticulously dressed socialites, their eyes practically piercing through the young masseur.

He walked straight up to Jiang Ying.

The powerful female CEO naturally reached out and took Zhao Xiaochui's right arm again.

As my arm sank into that warm and amazing softness once again, the melodious music in the courtyard stopped abruptly, and the surrounding landscape lights dimmed all at once.

Only a bright spotlight shone on the makeshift stage not far away.

The noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

The main event is about to begin.

…………

In the utter silence, a figure emerged from the shadows deep within the courtyard and slowly stepped into the sole spotlight.

The visitor was a woman.

She wore a well-tailored dark green velvet dress and no extravagant jewelry, except for a seemingly antique jade bracelet on her wrist.

Her face wasn't particularly beautiful, but her eyes were calm yet sharp. She was Wei Lan, the head of Yuanshan Capital.

Wei Lan walked to the center of the stage, picked up the microphone, and calmly surveyed the entire room. When her gaze swept over Zhao Xiaochui and Jiang Ying, it didn't linger at all, as if they were no different from the other guests.

However, Zhao Xiaochui felt that with that one glance, everything about him was clearly seen.

"Good evening, friends and fellow travelers of the new era."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it traveled clearly through the microphone to everyone's ears, carrying an undeniable penetrating power.

"I am Wei Lan from the distant mountains."

A simple self-introduction made the atmosphere even more enthusiastic.

"Tonight, the wind is gentle and the moon is bright. We gather here not only for this beautiful time, but also for an impending transformation, a brand new future that belongs to all of us."

She raised the champagne glass she had prepared beforehand, a confident smile playing on her lips.

"Please raise your glasses, everyone, to 'vision,' and to the era we are about to embark on together. Cheers."

Hundreds of goblets filled with golden liquid were raised simultaneously, forming a sea of ​​light under the lamplight.

The crisp clinking of crystals echoed throughout the room. People would simply exchange subtle glances with the one or two most important guests beside them, their eyes meeting, and everything was understood without words.

Jiang Ying's movements were as elegant as a textbook. She raised her glass to Wei Lan on the stage, looking at her directly with a sense of equal respect.

Qian Mankun and Ling Rui also nodded naturally to the several acquaintances around them, their movements practiced and natural.

All of this was completely unfamiliar to Zhao Xiaochui.

He was almost a beat slow before stiffly raising the cup in his hand.

Looking at the composed faces around him, he subconsciously wanted to say "Cheers," but he swallowed the words back because he realized that no one else was saying it.

Jiang Ying seemed to sense his embarrassment and tilted the cup in her hand slightly toward him.

Zhao Xiaochui then realized what was happening and quickly offered his cup to Zhao.

Because the force wasn't controlled properly, the two cups didn't make a pleasant "ding" sound when they collided; instead, they produced a slightly dull sound.

Amidst a few soft laughs, Zhao Xiaochui stared blankly at the crack in the wine glass.

How did he, a massage therapist, end up here?

He appeared in the leader's office, sat in a Rolls-Royce, drank Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and 78 Moutai, and then shouted "Cheers" with all sorts of high-class people?
He was just a masseur with a massage parlor that had twelve girls and eight blind masseuses.

Besides, although he owns a lot of properties, they are insignificant in the eyes of these people.

and so……

Why is he here?
Everything hinges on what the woman on stage will say.

…………

Wei Lan gently placed the champagne glass back on the podium, rested her hands on the edge of the podium, and leaned forward slightly.

"I know that everyone here has felt the chill in the past year."

Her voice remained calm, yet it stirred ripples in everyone's heart.

"The winter in the capital market is longer and colder than we imagined. Many people are asking, where has the money gone? Where is the growth?"

She didn't wait for an answer, because she herself was the answer.

"The distant mountains are here, handing in a small answer sheet."

She paused, her gaze sweeping precisely across the room, before clearly uttering each word.

"As of June 30th this year, the Yuanshan Phase III Fund—"

"Distributed earnings multiple, DPI: 1.2"

Upon hearing this, the room fell into a deathly silence.

"The internal rate of return, IRR, is expected to exceed fifty percent."

If the previous number was shocking, this number is a miracle.

As Wei Lan watched the expressions of the top elites below the stage instantly lose control—shock, greed, fanaticism, disbelief—a genuine smile, one that exuded absolute control, finally appeared on her usually calm face.

"You must all be very curious about how we found spring in such a winter."

She glanced around the room, her gaze finally settling almost imperceptibly on Zhao Xiaochui's direction.

"The answer is actually very simple."

"We simply put the money where it was supposed to go."

(End of this chapter)