Hailing barren city

At 25:[-] in the evening, the second floor of Qiangwei Manor was lit up, but there was still a large blank in the registration book.

Tao Rujiu sat on the seat by the window with a little embarrassment, the person he was waiting for hadn't arrived yet.

The banquet hall is lined up with three long tables on the left and right and in the middle, with flower balls and various meals.Considering that most of the attendees are Chinese, the banquet adopts a Hong Kong-style buffet. The dishes are carefully cooked and served with Chinese and Western gold and silver tableware, which is luxurious and compelling.For this grand event, the hotel also specially transferred three chefs from the Beijing head office, which shows how much they attach importance to it.

Xiyao is a small seaside town with 50% of its area in the sea. It is a well-known natural port since ancient times.The hilly terrain makes it have both vast sea views and dense forests. In mountainous areas where ethnic minorities live together, uncultivated barren hills account for 40% of the total area of ​​forests.

Unfortunately, both the port and the city are too small to be visited by ocean-going ships. In addition, typhoons pass here every summer. Since the late Qing Dynasty, Xiyao, who could not keep up with the process of large-scale mechanization, has almost The pace of development has stagnated.Until recent years, the introduction of the policy of repositioning the tourism tertiary industry and the arrival of the central appropriation finally made the small town show some vitality.

The long drought and the rain are gratifying, but sometimes things that go too far will always happen.For example, this kind of grand banquet to attract investment is the fifth time since the second quarter.

However, thanks to this abnormal gathering, Tao Rujiu had the opportunity to have a difficult negotiation with one of nearly a hundred celebrities.

The hour hand unknowingly pointed to eight o'clock, the banquet hall gradually became bustling, and the silk and bamboo players in the performing arts corner also took two rounds of rest.At eight o'clock, the government representative made a brief speech in front of the podium, and the dinner was officially started.

Tao Rujiu studied film and television in college. Although her grades were mediocre, she still has a professional sensitivity to light and shadow.The white lace tablecloth sifts out the golden countertops, and the golden or silver tableware is between the flower balls of perfume lilies and roses.The dishes arranged in a beautiful shape exude fragrance, mixed with various perfumes of male and female guests, turning into bursts of smoke.High-end suits and brand-name evening wear, the prismatic light of various gemstones and the huge chandelier above the head reflect each other, and the waiters in black shuttle among them, as if returning to the night Shanghai that has never been experienced before.

However, until this time, the representative of Ling's enterprise has not yet appeared.

My heart is filled with apprehension and doubt, so naturally I don't feel hungry.During this waiting time, Tao Rujiu wanted to find Uncle Ah Qing several times, but after dialing the number, he would always see the figure of the man busy with socializing.

Thinking that this might be another empty wait, the young man sat by the window with a little disappointment.Most of the male guests at the banquet were over [-] years old, and Tao Rujiu's young and handsome face attracted many people's curiosity.A few jeweled handkerchiefs were handed over to the side, secretly guessing, betting whose family's second generation Xiao Kai it was.

Before I knew it, the clock pointed to [-]:[-].

More than a dozen small halls on the left and right of the hall were opened in good time, and all businessmen with investment intentions were separated from the corresponding investment promotion team.The hall became quiet again, only a few guests, female relatives, bodyguards, waiters, and some staff remained.

The clock pointed to eight forty.

Several familiar officials shuttled between the small halls with wine glasses, and most of them blushed a few points every time they entered and exited.

The clock pointed to nine o'clock.

At the beginning, he came out to inquire about his nephew, but Uncle Ah Qing finally disappeared completely, and Tao Rujiu's eyes that were looking around were finally half-closed sourly.He decided to wait until a quarter past nine and then bid farewell to Uncle Ah Qing.

Due to the slack, my stomach also felt hungry, so I picked up something from the plate and sat back by the window.Around the time when the second set was being packed, the golden elevator door behind the glass screen opened, and five more people came out from inside.

Those five people looked younger than the previous VIPs, and their average height was above the standard, making them a very eye-catching group.Among them, three strong men in black suits seemed to be bodyguards.The other two were dressed in casual attire that was contrary to the atmosphere of the banquet. The one who walked in the front even had blonde hair dyed and light brown sunglasses.

After signing at the reception, the five people came to the banquet hall, and immediately staff surrounded them to greet each other. There seemed to be some differences between the two parties. After a brief negotiation, the staff dispersed, and the five of them took a short rest before taking some food with the tableware. .

All this happened did not attract too much attention from Tao Rujiu, because the "Boss Ling" he was waiting for was a man in his early fifties, slightly fat, and he always wore suits and leather shoes in public.

Disappointment seemed inevitable, and Tao Rujiu only hoped to finish his dinner before the five people completely controlled the table situation.Jade soup dumplings are his favorite, and at this moment, the man wearing sunglasses has wandered to the drawer cage.

With a provocation in his heart that he didn't even realize was venting, Tao Rujiu also took the plate and walked to the golden drawer cage, "Tao Tao!"

Just as he was about to start the Jade Soup Dumpling at the end, he suddenly heard Uncle Ah Qing calling in a low voice. Tao Rujiu turned his head to find the source of the sound, but his right hand still followed the inertia towards the direction of the drawer.

He saw the surprised and strange look on Uncle Ah Qing's face, he couldn't laugh or cry.And the outstretched hand accidentally touched the five fingers of another person who reached out at the same time.Almost out of the cafeteria reflex cultivated in his student days, Tao Rujiu lifted his spirits, turned around and grabbed the silver clip beside him, and quickly grabbed the emerald soup dumpling.

All of this was completed in an instant, Tao Rujiu held back his triumphant gaze and raised his head. During this time, Uncle Ah Qing had rushed over from the entrance of the small hall.The face that was still slightly drunk just now faded to pale.

"Boss Ling..."

Tao Rujiu heard Uncle Ah Qing spit out these two words, and the target was the brown-haired man whose soup dumpling was snatched away by him.

Returning to China last night, he started working the next morning, which is normal for Ling Li, and it is not troublesome to fly to Province F, but what is tiring is to drive for more than four hours from the provincial capital where the airport is located to Xiyao.The highway is full of new killers, and the road has been rebuilt for thousands of years. During this period, a section of the road was caused by a landslide and made a big circle.

The lunch was exhausted in his stomach, and the long-distance bumps also wore out his usual patience.Ling Li found that he always came to Xi Yao with all kinds of dissatisfaction, he smiled wryly.

Although it was a dinner party, he negotiated the expansion project of Xiyao Bay on behalf of his uncle and the management rights in the future, so he knew that he would not get a respite.In his heart, he hated this kind of dinner table negotiation, but on the surface, he just said a few words lightly, and obtained a buffer for himself and his subordinates for about a quarter of an hour.

Although Xiyao's place is not big, its official atmosphere has a long history. Although it is open-minded on the surface, it is another subtle attitude after in-depth contact in private.Ling Li understands that money is earned for himself after all, there is no need to break this hypocritical balance just for a trivial matter.And the facts seem to prove that this dinner is still a bit interesting.

For example, this young man who just grabbed a jade soup dumpling with him.

With fair skin, yellowish hair, and a beige suit, the whole person is covered with a layer of soft light yellow under the light. In the eyes of hungry people, it can just be described as a snack made of milk.What's even more strange is that after hearing that his surname was "Ling", the young man seemed to have seen a ghost.The hand holding the soup bag froze in mid-air.

At this time, several officials in suits and leather shoes came from the small hall on the left and right, talked with the staff for a while, and then came to shake hands with Ling Li, seeming to support his back affectionately, almost pushing him towards the A small hall prepared by the Ling Group.

And Tao Rujiu was also stopped by Uncle Ah Qing, whispered a few words and followed him in, sitting far away on the sofa in the rest room.

There is another banquet table in the small hall, and the pure Chinese dishes almost gather all the rare delicacies in the sea.Both the host and the guest understand that these are just beautiful decorations on the negotiating table.

On the other side, Tao Rujiu sat down in the lounge, the fish skin chandelier above his head was a little shaking, dazzled by the light.

Model-like figure, dyed hair and casual attire, if not for Uncle Ah Qing's "Mr. Ling", Tao Rujiu would never have made any connection with the old-fashioned president of Ling's company.

However, the man with dyed hair is named Ling Li, and he is the nephew of the president Ling Bojin.At the same time, he is also the president of the tertiary industry company in charge of Ling's investment.

Tao Rujiu is not completely unimpressed with such a person.However, in the investigation materials he found, the information about Ling Li was only a photo of him after he graduated from the Ivy League.

Capable but ordinary black short hair, suit and leather shoes.The sharpness at that time was more like a background among the family elite.

I can't recognize it myself, maybe it should be.

Habitually scratching her hair in trouble, Tao Rujiu turned her head, and she could vaguely see the situation inside through the wrought iron partition and frosted glass.But it is impossible to guess when this feast will end.

And the emerald dumpling incident just now.

Although he knew in his heart that the other party would not make trouble because of such a trivial matter, he was still uneasy because of the state of asking for others.Subconsciously, Tao Rujiu always regards himself as an item, and it seems that he can only sell it smoothly after obliterating all imperfections. However, at this point, his meeting with Ling Li is indeed a big failure.