In the era of fetal wear, she became the first socialite in Hong Kong

"Miss, Miss Xi is calling."

Fu Ziyan looked up at the stylist who was doing her hair. Without her saying anything, the stylist understood what she meant and explained, "Miss, please wait a moment. It's just a small part and it will be done soon."

"Okay," Fu Ziyan glanced at Ah Hong calmly, "Let Qingqing wait a moment, I'll call her back."

"Yes."

Not long after the stylist finished doing her hair, Fu Ziyan walked towards the study. As she expected, Xi Qingqing was fine and just called to share his nervousness with her.

The board meeting will be held in less than two hours.

This is the critical day for her to declare war on the position of heir. Even though she has made the plan as perfect as possible, Xi Qingqing is still worried that the plan she has worked hard on for half a month will be rejected by the directors; she is afraid that her father will accept the plan but not give her the opportunity to extend her tentacles to the position of heir.

Before an important occasion, people inevitably feel nervous and uneasy, and Xi Qingqing was no exception. However, as the daughter of the Xi family, aiming to become the heir, she couldn't show any of this to her subordinates. She was afraid her mother would expose her, so she couldn't tell her mother, so she could only confide in her best friend.

Hearing Dizhanggui's nervousness, Fu Ziyan comforted her: "Relax Qingqing, I will be with you."

Xi Qingqing had learned from Yanyan that morning that she would also be attending the board meeting with Director Fu. Hearing it again now, perhaps because emotions are more easily volatile when nervous, Xi Qingqing couldn't help but curl her lips, "Thank you, Yanyan."

Fortunately, that year she followed her father's arrangement and went to the Fu family to get close to Yanyan. Fortunately, even though it was a task arranged by her father, she still interacted with her sincerely. Fortunately... becoming friends with Yanyan must have been the most correct decision she had made in her youth.

"You're thanking me already?" Fu Ziyan chuckled. "To support you, I spent three days doing morning exercises with my dad to earn this opportunity. At least I should be number one on the thank you list for the celebration banquet, right? Su Tunan, as a rising star in the calligraphy and painting world, hand-painted a celebratory painting for me to celebrate your girlfriend's success. It's only natural, right?"

"Let me think about it. Today's rising stars in calligraphy and painting, future masters of both calligraphy and painting, will create works that are invaluable in a few decades. They'll probably fetch millions at auction. So, my appearance fee for attending this board meeting is pretty high!"

Xi Qingqing's nervousness was dispelled by Fu Ziyan's jokes, and he felt a little calmer.

She also joked, "As expected of Mr. Fu, he not only paints a rosy picture for his employees and subordinates, but he also paints a rosy picture for me very skillfully~"

"Paying a rosy picture is a basic skill for every leader. Qingqing, if you're not proficient at it, you can come to me for further training when you have time. I'll teach you for free."

"I hang out with Mr. Fu every now and then, and I've learned a lot from him. Why would I need to go to you specifically for further instruction? You've already taught me."

"Oh?"

Xi Qingqing curved her lips and cleared her throat: "Can I look forward to staying at Yuanxi Hotel no matter where I go on business trips in the future?"

"That's definitely something to look forward to!" The dark navy blue wool blend fabric had a matte texture in the morning light, and the fluffy big wavy curls hung lightly on the shoulders, trembling on the shoulders and neck with Fu Ziyan's laughter.

"Knock knock—" There was a knock on the door. Knowing that Xi Qingqing was busy, Fu Ziyan ended the call: "Okay, you go ahead and do your work. See you in the meeting room later."

"See you later."

*

Two black cars in front and back escorted the low-key and luxurious Rolls-Royce in the middle. The convoy stopped in front of a modernist glass curtain wall building on Des Voeux Road in Central.

It was approaching ten o'clock. In Central, traditionally a hub of white-collar workers, most employees were at work in the buildings, but many citizens were also on the streets, heading to brokerage firms and the stock exchange. Although Hong Kong is small, such scenes were not unusual for ordinary citizens, and from time to time, someone would peek in curiously.

"Wow, it's a Rolls-Royce, parked in front of the Haichuan Building. Could it be Mr. Xi coming to work?"

The man's companion corrected him, "Probably not. I have a relative who works for Xi's Shipping. I heard Xi's Shipping is holding a board meeting soon. Calculating the date, it seems to be today. I must be a shareholder of Xi's Shipping."

"A shareholder of Xi's Shipping? Could it be the HSBC boss?"

A passerby lowered his voice and said, "Look at the license plate, this is Fu Sheng's license plate!"

As soon as the man finished speaking, the bodyguard opened the door, and Fu Qiyuan and Fu Ziyan stepped out of the car from the left and right doors almost at the same time.

"This is Mr. Fu... Is this Miss Fu?"

"That should be the case. I saw a report in the newspaper before that Miss Fu had graduated and returned to Hong Kong."

"Has there been any change in Xi's Shipping's equity? I haven't heard that Ms. Fu holds any shares."

"It has changed. It was just announced yesterday that Mr. Fu gave 5% of Xi's Shipping shares to Ms. Fu. It was mentioned in today's financial newspaper as a graduation gift. Didn't you see it?" The man said as he flipped through the newspaper in his hand and handed it to the gossiping passersby next to him.

Someone boldly speculated: "Announced yesterday? Hey, could it be that the shares were transferred specifically to allow his daughter to attend this board meeting?"

"It's just a coincidence. The entire share transfer process will take at least four or five days to complete."

While passersby were peeking in to watch the excitement, stopping to chat about gossip and read newspapers, Fu Qiyuan and his daughter had already been welcomed into the Haichuan Building by Xi Sen's secretary.

There were already four shareholders sitting in the conference room. Except for the HSBC boss and Xi Sen, everyone else had already taken their seats. As soon as they saw Fu Qiyuan, they started to flatter him.

"I haven't seen Mr. Fu for a long time. Mr. Fu loves his children very much. Miss Fu gave him such a large number of shares as a gift right after graduation."

"Ms. Fu is now the youngest shareholder on our board of directors."

"Miss Fu is young and promising. I heard she's an outstanding graduate. She's on par with so many British people. She's amazing!"

"Mr. Fu is really good at raising children. My child is really worrying."

"..."

Fu Ziyan stood beside her father, smiling and chatting politely with several directors.

These individuals held relatively modest stakes; some operated shipyards, others warehousing companies, and other businesses upstream and downstream of the shipping industry, primarily with cross-shareholdings within the Xi family. Fu Qiyuan and his daughter were financially strong, so their meetings with Fu Qiyuan and Fu Ziyan naturally focused on flattery and courtesy, as they might need their investment or collaboration someday.

The same principle applies when they meet HSBC boss Shen Bishi, who is also flattering and polite. After all, it is a bank, and business is bound to be difficult to handle. When dealing with a bank, let alone HSBC being the largest bank in Hong Kong at the time, the status of HSBC boss is obvious.

After Shen Bi greeted each of them one by one, he looked at Fu Qiyuan, and his attitude was much more enthusiastic than that of other shareholders.

Firstly, the Fu family had a lot of business dealings with HSBC and could be considered one of HSBC's major clients. The HSBC here not only covered Hong Kong, but also the UK. Secondly, for the same reason as the previous one, Fu Qiyuan was familiar with the directors of the UK head office and was able to replace him, the head of the Hong Kong branch, through some connections.

"Mr. Fu, good morning. If the Fu Group needs a loan in the near future, HSBC would be happy to help." After greeting with a smile, Shen Bi looked at Fu Ziyan who was beside Fu Qiyuan.

"I've known for a long time that Miss Fu had graduated, but I didn't expect to meet her today. Congratulations on your graduation." Shen Bi smiled, his manners elegant and gentlemanly. Behind his black-framed glasses, his usually sharp eyes were rarely kind. "After Miss Fu takes over the Yuanxi Hotel, if you need to apply for a loan, you can also come to HSBC. HSBC and your Fu family have been partners for many years."

Fu Ziyan no longer needed her father's help and support in business formalities for several years. She could answer them flawlessly on her own.

"Thank you for your kindness, Boss. If we need a loan for expansion, we will definitely turn to HSBC. As you said, we have a deep friendship from our long-term cooperation." Fu Ziyan smiled and thanked him, then casually mentioned, "After graduation, I went to Africa for over a month with Felicity and the others, so I came back a little late."

Long-term cooperation is real, but deep friendship is not necessarily the case. Capital partnerships like HSBC are naturally icing on the cake when things are flourishing, but if things stumble, they will pounce like hyenas.

Upon hearing this, Shen Bi was surprised and asked, "Is the Felicity that Miss Fu mentioned the heir of this generation of Prichi Capital?"

Pritch Capital is a British domestic capital group born after World War I. Most importantly, this capital is one of the many shareholders of HSBC.

After the 1970s, HSBC's equity became highly dispersed, with shareholders consisting of British local capital groups and international financial institutions. Prudential Capital was one of them and had some say within the bank.

Fu Ziyan smiled: "Yes."

Shen Bi looked at Fu Ziyan with a more serious look.

The boss of Prichi Capital has only two children in this generation. The eldest son had a car accident in his early years and has poor health. The only one who can inherit the group is Felicity. More importantly, one of the shareholders who supports him to take the top position is Prichi Capital.

After several shareholders sat down and chatted for a while, Xi Sen entered the conference room with his secretary, followed by his four sons and one daughter. Fu Ziyan looked at Xi Qingqing, a polite smile on her lips. When she met Fu Ziyan's gaze, she winked playfully at her right eye.

Xi Sen took the main seat and said, "Hello, fellow directors. Welcome to the first board meeting of Xi's Shipping in 1978..."

The board meeting officially begins.