Xu Tingsheng left right away and searched through all the lots at Jiusong Temple. Yet, he was unable to find the one Liang Qin spoke of.
“Nonsense. How could such words be written on a lot?!”
On the way back to Libei, Xu Tingsheng was consoling himself throughout.
As for whether Liang Qin would enter Happy Shoppers and receive special treatment, he was already not concerned about it now. He was in no mood to pay attention to it. Also, after what Liang Qin had said about her father, Xu Tingsheng had no way of eliminating her for the time being.
He should let things take their natural course. Anyway, Xu Tingsheng himself was seldom in actual contact with Happy Shoppers.
His condition over the next two days caused his parents to worry a little.
In truth, of Zhou Yuandai’s existence and the contents of the lot that Liang Qin spoke of, either one alone would not have Xu Tingsheng feeling so troubled. Still, both of them combined now caused Xu Tingsheng to begin feeling worried and uneasy.
After having met her thrice, he received a call from Zhou Yuandai for the first time.
“You’re seeking to invest in Apple. You think very highly of its prospects?”
“...Yes.”
“The reason is that you know about its new type of phone?”
“Yes.”
The call disconnected.
Xu Tingsheng decided to conduct an experiment. He gave Hu Chen a call, setting up a mission:
First, since it was no longer a secret anymore, they would fully go in on Wayne Yang and all channels, directly applying for the acquisition of shares from all Apple’s shareholders who possibly would sell their shares. From this, they would seek a chance to invest in Apple.
Second, and to be kept highly confidential, their funds would secretly make at least seven or eight diversions as they fully focused on acquiring the shares of Symbian.
As of right now, Symbian had the support of top-end phone-makers like Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia, possessing a huge share of the market. In front of it, Apple who was new to the industry was but a ‘foolish’ challenger.
Only when Apple had officially launched its product in June 2007 would it see a huge wave of popularity. It would only face doubt following the product development conference in January.
Therefore, there was sufficient time.
Primarily in order to verify his worrying suspicions, Xu Tingsheng was digging a trap for Zhou Yuandai that only ‘smart people’ would fall into.
His second call was made to Apple who was in America. The two had already communicated once before this. Besides asking after him, Apple had also mentioned how she had looked for Cen Xishan for help. Next, she had asked him if he could consider joining her for a song in her new album.
Xu Tingsheng had not given her a direct response at the time.
Now, he asked Apple for Cen Xishan’s handphone number.
Apple had previously said that she had asked Cen Xishan for help to get Xu Tingsheng out of jail. Cen Xishan had agreed to help, while the person who had ultimately appeared before him was Zhou Yuandai...while she had sufficient capabilities, she had only exerted pressure on him and not helped him out.
While others might not have noticed, adding in some other factors, the answer was clear as day to Xu Tingsheng. A strong, extensive connection existed between Zhou Yuandai and Cen Xishan. Also, she held the superior position in their relationship.
The call connected.
“Hello, Uncle Cen. I’m…” Xu Tingsheng said.
He was directly cut off as Cen Xishan said warningly, “I know.”
Xu Tingsheng continued all the same, “Is the person controlling Ruanjin Corporation behind the scenes actually…”
Beep, beep, beep. The call disconnected.
Xu Tingsheng was rather flabbergasted.
Around half an hour later, there was an incoming call from an unknown number. He answered it.
“Yes, she’s controlling Ruanjin behind the scenes...controlling me too. Also, Ruanjin is just part of her total assets. I’m not so sure of the specifics myself. She’s..targeting you?” The sound of wind could be heard around Cen Xishan as he had clearly already switched locations.
“Yes, it seems so,” Xu Tingsheng said.
“Stay away from her.”
“She…”
“In the past, a genius and a madwoman. Now, a madwoman.”
“...Thank you.”
“I’m only doing this for my daughter.”
“...”
“Try your best to avoid her. If there’s really no other way about it, try to buy some time and think of all you can to make yourself more safe. I will help you at the critical moment. Actually...that is helping myself too, striving for my own sake. Still, you shouldn’t expect too much. There isn’t so much I can achieve.”
“Thank you.”
“Treat Xiyu a bit better. I’m not asking for so much. At least, don’t let her feel like she’s been thoroughly abandoned by someone whom she cares for deeply. I’ve already done that once before. Please...don’t let it happen again.”
There was a short silence before Xu Tingsheng said, “She and I will always be friends.”
The conversation ended.
Xu Tingsheng dialled Apple’s number once again, agreeing to participate in her album. Also, he would be directly appearing on screen.
On one hand, this was because of what Cen Xishan had said. On the other, Xu Tingsheng’s intention was to use this method to be exposed in the public eye to the greatest extent possible.
Fame was sometimes a form of protection as well. While he did not understand Zhou Yuandai, he felt that this person had a terrifying aura about her. Also, since she had always been hiding herself from the public eye, there were surely some things which were inconvenient for her. Xu Tingsheng wished for her to at least have some more reservations in her actions and methods.
After doing all that, Xu Tingsheng rested for two days, doing some things that he had done when he was little like picking up pebbles at a riverbank.
His hometown. He had always wanted to bring Xiang Ning here to look around in his previous life, telling her about his childhood and youth. Yet, he had never managed to actually do it.
This time, she would be here in another two days.
Due to a split in opinions, the Xu and Xiang families finally made a compromise. While the engagement ceremony would be a major affair, that would only be in Libei. Over in Yanzhou, both families would simply have a simple meal. The Xiang family would first accompany Xiang Ning over. The Xu family would go over afterwards.
Xu Tingsheng wanted to flee from his engagement banquet together with Xiang Ning, going to the place where he had most loved to relax in his youth. It would be just the two of them, she silently listening to him narrating interesting stories from his younger days and what he had previously dreamed of for the future.
All the preparations were in place, apart from Xu Tingsheng.
He made a trip to Yanzhou a day earlier.
He made Xiang Ning sign something.
He was transferring thirty percent of Xingchen Technologies’ shares to her.
Xingchen Technologies and Xingchen Games were independent entities. Therefore, Miss Xiang was actually the first shareholder of Xingchen Technologies thus far apart from Xu Tingsheng.
Whatever the future might hold, this thirty percent of shares was already sufficient to assure Xiang Ning of a life of wealth. Xingchen’s user base could guarantee a large sum, even if it eventually faced defeat and was sold at a low price. This was the reason for Xu Tingsheng suddenly doing this.
The silly Xiang Ning only learnt what she had signed after signing it. Fortunately, she was pure and less mindful of these things, also never having thought of asking Xu Tingsheng for all that.
“So, this is the engagement gift?” She asked, “Oh. I still thought there’d be a necklace or something.”
Waving the stack of papers in her hand, she actually looked a bit disappointed.
There was the sound of papers rustling.
Standing not far away, the relatives of the Xiang family who were drawn over peered at the papers in Xiang Ning’s hand. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed, they fell into a daze...they were sighing as they wondered: couldn’t this young girl before them who was worth several hundred million...show a bit of a normaler reaction?
Heavens, what kind of reaction was this? What do you mean you still thought there’d be a necklace? What do you mean so this is the engagement gift?
Everyone had to believe it: The Xiang family had a daughter, first-grade Fuxi bones, great wealth and fortune’s blessing.
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