Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Chapter 1759: The Douglas Hotel’s Opening Ceremony

“Boss, I said that the kid and the so-called boss of Song Jiang are useless. You see, Your hotel has already started construction and yet they still do not dare to take any action!” Chen Zhiye raised the wine glass and said gleefully to Caique. “They can only frighten those ignorant entrepreneurs in Song Jiang.”

“En, you are right with that,” Caique nodded and said with pride. “I am a foreign businessman. Wherever I go, I receive courtesy and preferential treatment. This is especially the case in your country of etiquette which will never lose face in front of a foreign friend.”

“Haha, it seems that Yang Ming has to suffer in silence!” Chen Zhiye laughed loudly.

“Yang Ming?” Caique was slightly startled when he heard this name. This was the first time that Chen Zhiye mentioned Yang Ming’s name in front of him. “Why does this name sound familiar? It seems like I’ve heard it somewhere before.”

“He’s the little rascal who is competing with my son for a woman,” Chen Zhiye laughed and said. “Familiar? Maybe I have told you before.”

“Maybe?” Caique nodded and no longer paid attention. “Has he made any moves these few days?”

“What else can he do? Didn’t I just say? They didn’t do anything. One by one, they cowered like cowards,” said Chen Zhiye. “Boss, at the present rate of construction, can our hotel start operating the day after tomorrow?”

“The day after tomorrow is a little too soon. There are still some preparations that need to be made.” Caique nodded when he heard Chen Zhiye’s words. “But, I arranged for those preparations to be made overnight. It should be almost the same.”

“That’s great! By that time, one move will establish your position as the boss of the Song Jiang Hotel Industry and cause Yang Ming’s hotel to be deserted!” said Chen Zhiye excitedly.

…

Yang Ming paid a little more attention to Chen Zhiye’s petty maneuvers since he received a call from Bao Sanli last time. But, he did not make any response.

Business competition was inevitable. The other party built a hotel on the Five Star Plaza, which was more or less meant to compete with Yang Ming. But the other party did not openly pick a fight with him. Yang Ming was not an overbearing person. He would only retaliate when the other party was unreasonable and started provoking him.

His special abilities were a gift from heaven. He could not excessively rely on them as a reason to live a domineering life. Yang Ming could finish Chen Zhiye in a matter of seconds if he wanted to. Even if Yang Ming fabricated an accident to kill Chen Zhiye, nobody would question it. Xia Bingbao would handle all the problems that follow.

But, Yang Ming would not do this. Moreover, their conflict was currently minimal. It had not escalated to a situation where they could not live together in the same world. Yang Ming felt that it was inappropriate to use his strength to bully the weak.

Of course, if Chen Zhiye overestimated himself and persistently bothered him, Yang Ming would have no choice but to retaliate.

Douglas Family? This name is a bit familiar. Yang Ming watched the news on TV with a sneer and repeated the name with slight contempt.

“Didi…” There was a text notification. Yang Ming turned off the TV and picked up the phone. It was a message from Jing Xiaolu.

“Are you free this Friday night?”

Friday night? Yang Ming thought about it. During these few weeks, he usually returned to his parents’ home for dinner on Friday nights. But, he did not have to eat dinner at home. It did not matter if he went back late. So, he replied, “What’s the matter?”

“My class reunion. I told you about it before,” Jing Xiaolu quickly replied back.

Jing Xiaolu’s short message reminded Yang Ming of their conversation before he went to the Butterfly Family. Jing Xiaolu did mention a class reunion. He promised her that he would accompany her to the class reunion if he had time.

“Okay, I’ll go with you then,” Yang Ming replied to her with a short message. Knowing that he had little time left, Yang Ming thought that he would try to fulfill Jing Xiaolu’s wishes as much as he could. He would try his best not to leave her with regrets.

“How is it, Xiaolu? What did Brother Yang say?” Ge Xinyao was entrusted by Bi Hai and wanted Jing Xiaolu to take Yang Ming with her. Hence, Ge Xinyao paid particular attention to this matter.

“Yang Ming promised me that he would accompany me!” Jing Xiaolu took a look at the latest text message from Yang Ming and joyfully made a triumphant gesture. “I found that he is becoming nicer to me recently!”

“Congratulations, Xiaolu!” Ge Xinyao was also sincerely happy for Jing Xiaolu. It was really difficult for Jing Xiaolu to be able to find such a good harbor.

“Hehe…” Jing Xiaolu giggled happily.

Ge Xinyao shook her head as she looked at the overjoyed Jing Xiaolu. Last night, she had questioned Jing Xiaolu carefully. It turned out that the relationship between Yang Ming and Jing Xiaolu had just progressed to the stage of holding hands. There was not even a kiss yet. However, Yang Ming gave most of the Ming Yang Company’s assets to Jing Xiaolu. This made Ge Xinyao a little confused and a bit inexplicable!

Did Yang Ming take the wrong medicine or something? I have never seen Yang Ming give any indication of liking Jing Xiaolu before this? Yang Ming formerly was a little averse to Jing Xiaolu. He only started to have feelings for Xiaolu after spending some time with her. Why does it seem like he is head over heels for her now?

If their relationship is like that, it is possible for Yang Ming to be obsessed with Jing Xiaolu and give her the company assets. But, now,…

However, no matter what, Yang Ming was nice to Jing Xiaolu. As her close friend, Ge Xinyao was glad. She could not comprehend some of the details behind it and she would not continue to think about it. If it was beneficial to Jing Xiaolu, it was good.

Looking back, Yang Ming went from introducing job opportunities to Jing Xiaolu, to giving Jing Xiaolu a car, to sticking up for Jing Xiaolu at the company meeting, to promoting her to vice president to giving her the company’s shares. This process seemed to be a step by step process. It was not surprising when one thought about it.

Anyway, Yang Ming was being kind to Jing Xiaolu. With Yang Ming’s personality, if he did not like Jing Xiaolu, he would not have the interest to play any sort of game with Jing Xiaolu. So, Ge Xinyao was not worried at all.

Friday arrived in the blink of an eye. It was the day of Jing Xiaolu’s class reunion. It was also the day of the Song Jiang Douglas Vast Hotel’s grand opening. The Douglas Vast Hotel had thirty-six floors. It could be considered to be the tallest building in Song Jiang.

In Song Jiang, there was no taller building. So, the news of Douglas Vast Hotel’s grand opening had attracted a lot of media competing with one another to report. Even the citizens of Song Jiang went to the opening ceremony to enjoy the live event! Reportedly, there would be a distribution of souvenirs!

At the opening ceremony, Caique stood on the rostrum in a suit. Chen Zhiye and Chen Xiaolong followed him from behind with smiles on their faces. Many leaders of the province and the city attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the hotel’s grand opening. Although Caique only made a brief appearance when the ribbon was cut, it was enough to show the importance he attached to the Douglas Vast Hotel.

Upon knowing Caique’s powerful political background, many big bosses in Song Jiang came to see the wind and set the helm 1. They participated in the opening ceremony of the Douglas Vast Hotel.

In these people’s opinion, no matter how powerful Bao Sanli was, it was only in the local area. However, Caique’s background was really solid. It would be literally impossible for him not to be able to develop in Song Jiang due to the support of the provincial and municipal leaders!

“Our Douglas Family’s principle is to ensure that our hotels are the best and provide the best service!” Caique started his speech at the opening ceremony…

Chapter 1760: Sister Xiaolu…

“Our Douglas family has invested in many five-star hotels all over the world. In many of these cities, these hotels exist as first-class hotels. So, we are also confident that the Song Jiang Douglas Vast Hotel will be number one in Song Jiang’s hotel industry!” Caique’s fluent Mandarin made the reporters and audiences present to praise him unanimously. Unknowingly, he won the favor of the people present and nobody was disgusted with his arrogant talk.

Come to think of it, a foreigner who spoke the native language fluently would unconsciously cause other people to have a feeling of intimacy toward him They could not help but form a good impression of him.

Caique also followed the local tradition. After announcing the official opening of the hotel, he invited the well-known rock band “The Firewood Cutter From Up Hill” who delivered a wonderful performance to the audience.

At first, Caique wanted to invite the Chinese superstar, Shu Ya, to come as per Chen Zhiye’s suggestion. The wealthy Caique had no problem paying and Shu Ya had expressed a great interest to come to Song Jiang to participate in business activities. However, since Shu Ya’s schedule could not be changed, this matter was dropped. Hence, the next best thing was to invite the “The Firewood Cutter From Up Hill” band.

“Boss, it seems that the opening ceremony is going well this time! The public response to it is also quite good!” Chen Zhiye said gleefully while watching the video of the opening ceremony broadcasted on the internet.

“Hehe, it seems that my fluent Chinese has won a lot of admiration from the audience. Luckily, I didn’t use English at that time!” Caique was also very happy. The grand opening of this hotel was not a simple matter of helping Chen Zhiye. It was also his first success since he became the family master!

“In a moment, when the hotel’s price and service standard is announced, I am afraid it will cause a commotion among the people attending the event!” Chen Zhiye was looking forward to this moment. He was looking forward to seeing how embarrassed Yang Ming would be after seeing this news!

Do you want to fight with me? Hmph Hmph, you’re still a little inexperienced. Don’t think that you are so outstanding just because you opened a hotel! It’s nothing in my eyes! Chen Zhiye sneered coldly in his heart.

The rooms rate of Douglas Vast Hotel was the same as the Song Jiang International Hotel. But, during the opening period, the overall price was discounted by twenty percent! The standards of the food and beverage outlets on the first floor were also customized with reference to international hotels. However, they were also subjected to the twenty percent discount!

Moreover, the chief chef of the Douglas Vast Hotel was an internationally renowned culinary expert from Europe! In this era where new brooms sweep clean 2, the presence of a top European chef was enough for the Douglas Vast Hotel to attract customers to try his cuisine out.

There was also a series of promotional activities available to customers. Caique had also prepared a few back-up plans if the Song Jiang International Hotel also reduced its price or followed the footsteps of the Douglas Vast Hotel and invited a foreign chef!

After all, Caique’s family, the Douglas family, was a family focused on the development of the hotel industry. They had excellent operating procedures for hotels as well as comprehensive countermeasures against competitors. It would be as effortless as blowing off dust for them to use their countermeasures here.

Chen Zhiye felt that he had made a wise choice to get Caique to officiate the opening of this grand hotel. His social relations, management methods and rich capital backing were enough to subdue Yang Ming completely!

Isn’t Yang Ming’s father-in-law a police chief? So what? Provincial leaders have spoken out in support of Caique. Could Chen Fei voice a different opinion?

In fact, although Chen Fei was not pleased that Chen Zhiye invited Caique here to open another hotel opposite Yang Ming’s hotel, he did not say much. After all, this was about commercial competition. He felt that it was inappropriate to interfere with this matter.

In addition, Chen Fei also felt that he did not need to speak out at all because of Yang Ming’s current status. Yang Ming could find an excuse to blow up Caique’s hotel and someone would come to clear up his mess. Caique could only accept his misfortune.

Or even worse, Yang Ming could use the excuse that Caique was a spy and arrest him…

However, Yang Ming did not do it. Chen Fei found this admirable! Chen Fei was a man of integrity. He did not want Yang Ming to use his power to benefit himself.

In fact, Yang Ming had not reacted yet because Caique’s approach had not crossed Yang Ming’s boundaries yet. Yang Ming seldom had the chance to relax for a while and he did not want to bother with these messy things. So, Yang Ming let Caique continue to mess around.

At five o’clock in the evening, Yang Ming punctually arrived at the base of Jing Xiaolu’s dormitory. Yang Ming did not drive because Jing Xiaolu had a car.

While Yang Ming was preparing to text Jing Xiaolu, a Volkswagen Magotan car that was parked downstairs at the dormitory honked twice. Then, a person jumped out of the car and ran towards Yang Ming, “Brother Yang!”

Yang Ming looked up. It was Bi Hai. He then remembered that Ge Xinyao and Jing Xiaolu were high school classmates. Jing Xiaolu wanted to attend the class reunion. Then, Ge Xinyao had no reason to miss it. It was reasonable for Bi Hai to pick up Ge Xinyao.

“Brother Yang, are you here to pick up Sister Xiaolu?” Bi Hai wanted to win favor by making an invitation. “Brother Yang, why don’t you go to my car and wait for them while sitting?”

“Pfff… *cough*…” Yang Ming was surprised by Bi Hai’s words. He then laughed and coughed with a smile, “How did you address Xiaolu?”

“Ugh... I called her… Sister Xiaolu…” Bi Hai said a little awkwardly.

“How old are you? How old is Xiaolu?” Yang Ming grinned and touched his chin. “Can you stop being so funny? You still called her Sister Xiaolu. Didn’t you always call her Xiaolu?”

“This… Age is not the main point. Your capability comes first,” Bi Hai explained quickly. “Just like how everyone calls you Brother Yang. Even Brother Bao calls you Brother Yang…”

“How is Jing Xiaolu capable?” Yang Ming asked with a smile.

“That… She was the former vice president of the company and she is the chairman now. Naturally, she is better than me…” Bi Hai explained.

“En?” Yang Ming mused over the matter. Bi Hai was right. Jing Xiaolu was really good, but he had not changed his impression of her. “It’s a bit awkward. You can call her Xiaolu or President Jing.”

“That’s a bit formal, Brother Yang. Should I call her Sister-in-law Xiaolu?” Bi Hai asked flatly.

“Whatever you want…” Yang Ming shook his head helplessly and responded.

“That’s fine. I will call her Sister-in-law Xiaolu,” Bi Hai quickly decided. In his opinion, this manner of address was even more cordial than Sister Xiaolu. This would show that she had an extraordinary status and a close relationship with Yang Ming.

Although Bi Hai knew that Yang Ming had distributed the company’s shares, Jing Xiaolu took a large percentage of it while Bao Sanli and Hou Zhenhan took a small percentage. However, Bi Hai was very clear that Yang Ming was still the boss behind the scenes. Whether it was Jing Xiaolu or Bao Sanli and Hou Zhenhan, they only follow Yang Ming.

Yang Ming texted Jing Xiaolu, telling her that he had reached downstairs from her dormitory. It did not take long for Jing Xiaolu and Ge Xinyao to come out from the dormitory building.

Bi Hai viewed this situation with envy, “Brother Yang, you are still the only one with face. Before this, when I told them to wait downstairs, they would not come down. Brother Yang, you managed to get them to come down with a text message.”

“Bi Hai, what are you blabbering about? Is your skin getting itchy?” Ge Xinyao said as she glared at Bi Hai.

“I just casually said it…” Bi Hai quickly confessed.

Now, Bi Hai and Xinyao’s positions were completely reversed. Xinyao was quite domineering and Bi Hai could only accommodate and smile apologetically to Xinyao. It could not be helped. Ge Xinyao had become Jing Xiaolu’s close sister.

“Xiaolu, where’s your car? Will we be riding in your car or will we be riding in Bi Hai’s car?” Yang Ming glanced at Jing Xiaolu and asked her.

“Ah, you didn’t drive your car here!” Jing Xiaolu looked around. She didn’t see Yang Ming’s car and was a little disappointed. She and Ge Xinyao had planned to drive her BMW and let Yang Ming drive another one. Together with Bi Hai’s Magotan, the three cars would stop at the resort door, making a grand entrance.

But, Yang Ming did not come by car. So, she could only drive her own car. Jing Xiaolu naturally would not agree to ride in the same car as Ge Xinyao. Hence, she quickly said, “Sister Xinyao will want to be affectionate as a couple. How can we interrupt them? Let’s just ride in my car then!”

“En,” Yang Ming nodded and did not think much. He got off from Bi Hai’s Magotan and followed Jing Xiaolu to her car which was not parked far from the dormitory building.

“Yang Ming, why didn’t you drive?” Jing Xiaolu asked as she walked.

“I thought that since you have a car, I do not need to drive my one here,” said Yang Ming. “My car number is conspicuous. I am a bit reluctant to go out and display it ostentatiously.”

“Seriously, Sister Xinyao and I thought that you will be driving your car to the class reunion to show off!” Jing Xiaolu did not hide anything and said what she thought straightaway.