YM778.TV Chapter 532: A Feast of Fame (2)
“You do have a point,” Wang Jianlin said meaningfully as he glanced at Si Cong.
Si Cong’s heart was now racing with uncertainty. Was he also unable to escape the fate of blind dates?
“Alright, let’s think about these things slowly when we get back. Let’s all take a seat.” Zhang Liang gestured for his exclusive butler to arrange the dishes.
The group sat down and started chatting, discussing various trivial matters. Occasionally, they burst into laughter. Even Si Cong was dragged into the conversation by Lao Wang, who recounted some of Si Cong’s childhood anecdotes. Si Cong felt so embarrassed that he wanted to dig a hole and hide himself.
The private room where Zhou Chao and the others were seated was also luxuriously decorated, with large platinum chandeliers and floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a panoramic view of Huaihai Road.
As the conversation heated up, Huasheng gently pushed open the door, and a group of attractive female waitresses entered, each carrying exquisite dishes. Huasheng stood by, introducing the preparation methods, ingredient grades, and sources of each dish.
“Young Master Zhou, the Chinese cuisine here is also considered top-notch. It includes the eight major culinary traditions of China, and the head chefs are all five-star executive chefs. Please taste them to see if they suit your taste buds,” Zhang Liang said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Si Cong’s face revealed a strange smile. In his heart, he couldn’t help but feel pleased. “You haven’t tasted the dishes cooked by Young Master Zhou. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so confident. I really hope Young Master Zhou can prove them wrong, but alas, Young Master Zhou doesn’t like to show off. Sigh!”
While Si Cong was secretly pleased, he didn’t realize that Lao Wang beside him had noticed his change in expression, but he didn’t confront him about it.
Without hesitation, Zhou Chao picked up his chopsticks and tasted a representative dish of Shandong cuisine, the Three Shredded Shark’s Fin. It was crisp and refreshing, and the combination of shark’s fin and chicken legs made the bamboo shoots even more delicious.
“It’s really good. Director Wang, you should try it too. It won’t taste as good when it gets cold later.”
After seeing Zhou Chao start eating, both Wang Jianlin and Zhang Liang picked up their chopsticks and began eating slowly while continuing their previous conversation.
The meal lasted for a full two hours, during which the dishes on the table were replaced several times. Whether they finished eating or not didn’t matter; as long as the dishes cooled down and affected the taste, Huasheng would arrange for the servers to bring out a new dish.
“We’ll head back first. Young Master Zhou, Lao Zhang, see you tomorrow,” Wang Jianlin greeted the two before getting into Si Cong’s car and leaving.
Watching Lao Wang’s car leave, Zhang Liang turned to Zhou Chao and said, “Young Master Zhou, I’m going to the company. I’ll take my leave.”
“No problem, you do what you need to do. We’re also going home to get some sleep.”
“Alright, then I’ll take my leave.”
Soon, Zhou Chao drove towards home.
Early the next morning, Zhou Chao and Jiang Li got up early. After all, today was the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the foundation, so the two of them took great care in dressing up. Zhou Chao even specifically chose a more formal outfit. As the behind-the-scenes boss of the group, he needed to maintain a certain image.
“Ah Li, are you ready?”
“Ready!” Jiang Li was dressed in a loose black dress, quite conservative, with only her arms exposed, and even the hemline fell below her knees.
“How do I look? Do I look good?” She twirled around.
Seeing the dazzling Jiang Li, Zhou Chao walked over, embraced her, and kissed her directly, his hands not staying still as they roamed over her body.
“Alright, it’s getting late. We should leave now,” Jiang Li said with a hint of coyness.
Only then did Zhou Chao remember that there was an important event to attend today. He had gotten a bit carried away just now.
As they descended the stairs, they saw Lin Wu standing straight in the lobby with two others.
“Boss!” Lin Wu called out as he saw Zhou Chao and Jiang Li coming down.
Zhou Chao nodded gently and walked towards the main entrance, where three Rolls-Royce Phantoms were parked. Two black-clad bodyguards stood beside each car. Seeing this scene, Zhou Chao’s face showed a hint of surprise.
“Did you arrange this?” Zhou Chao asked Lin Wu beside him.
“Boss, the scene today is quite grand. I heard that there are dozens of media outlets at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. As the president of Dragonfly Group, your image must not be underestimated. Besides, they will also be your security team in the future. Today is just a chance for them to practice.”
“Let’s go. It’s getting late.” Zhou Chao was actually quite satisfied with this arrangement. After all, who wouldn’t want to show off a bit and satisfy their vanity, especially on such an occasion?
With that, Lin Wu led Zhou Chao and Jiang Li into the middle car. Moments later, the three Rolls-Royces drove out of the gate of Junzhou Huating and merged into the traffic. The road ahead was clear for ten meters, and the cars behind automatically slowed down.
Meanwhile, downstairs at the headquarters of Dragonfly Group in Zhangjiang High-Tech Zone, it was already crowded with employees and numerous media personnel.
“The information is really accurate. Is it really a 20 billion foundation?” A young man whispered as he held a camera, his badge vaguely showing the word Phoenix.
“That’s obvious. Look at who’s in front. Bingbing, she’s the best newcomer of CCTV. Do you think this news could be fake? And you don’t know the strength of Dragonfly Group. They wouldn’t joke with you. Today is definitely big news. I’ve counted about forty to fifty media outlets on-site,” said a middle-aged man with a Xinlang badge, wearing a confident expression.
“Oh, they’ve done such a good job keeping it under wraps. There was no hint of it before. If it weren’t for the chief editor asking us to come here yesterday, I wouldn’t have known. A foundation of 20 billion, this probably ranks as number one among private foundations in Huaxia, right?”
“Yeah, not a whisper of it. Even this Dragonfly company, I only learned about it yesterday. When I looked into it, I was shocked. It has hundreds of subsidiaries covering various industries. I checked Dragonfly’s financial report from last year, and wow, the profits were in the hundreds of billions. And the most crucial thing is that there’s hardly any relevant information reported domestically. They are low-key to the extreme.”
“Humph, what’s the use of last year’s financial report? Look at the first half of this year. They’ve already invested billions in public welfare and charity, yet they don’t care at all. There’s no information online. If it were any other group, even if it were just a few million, they would hype it up online. It looks like Dragonfly Group will dominate the hot searches today and tomorrow.”
For a while, the entire media area was bustling with conversation, with everyone sharing the information they knew. After all, this was all easily accessible information and not particularly secretive. As the conversation deepened, people gradually realized the enormity of Dragonfly Group, far beyond what they had imagined.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was scheduled for 10:30, but at 10 o’clock, there was already a guest entering and a signing ceremony for the fayade. Many media outlets had their eyes fixed on the red carpet, as no one knew which celebrities would attend this prestigious event.
At ten o’clock, the first to appear were Lin Chen and other executives of the group. After all, today was Dragonfly’s home ground, and these executives, along with Lin Chen, would serve as the hosts to welcome the distinguished guests attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Are these the executives of Dragonfly Group? The one the host introduced at the front is actually the chairman of Dragonfly Group. Damn, if such a figure is at the forefront, just imagine who will be behind him.”
“Unbelievable, I have a feeling that the social media today might explode!”
“No way, the social media has only exploded a few times.”
“Then let’s wait and see!”