Hong Xiaotian and Secretary Wang Jinrong of the Municipal Party Committee commended the main leaders of several government agencies, including the Construction Commission, Urban Planning Bureau, Land...The Great Metamorphosis Chapter 90: Dinner

A five-star hotel is an important venue for politics, economy, and finance in a developed city. It is also the gathering place for many diplomatic and social activities. Historically, numerous significant decisions have been made within luxurious five-star hotels, which are favored by high-ranking officials as platforms for communication.

Alright, this is the official narrative. Behind the extravagantly luxurious facade of a landmark hotel lies political scheming and economic machinations among the politicians and influential figures who frequent it. It’s also where many individuals harbor dark despair akin to storm clouds.

Su Cun was being driven by Lin Guangdong in a Bentley towards this bustling establishment.

The exterior of this hotel resembles a large, reflective box that pierces through the sky, with its all-glass facade so clean it reflects the blue sky and white clouds as well as the distant city’s skyline.

Through the car window, Su Cun could see the hotel was only a few blocks away from them.

"Old Zhao of Shushan arrived yesterday. He didn’t come over since you were in class and didn’t inform me to tell him either. In the end, he dragged us all to an open-air seafood stall where we drank two cases of beer. After getting drunk, it was I along with their vice president who carried them back."

Lin Guangdong recounted last night’s amusing incident, chuckling in delight as he counted on his fingers, "Old Zhao, Wang Yue, Ren Ying, and Wang Feng have all arrived subsequently; they are currently in the hotel conference room, waiting for you, their boss who was attending class. Let's go now to finalize tonight’s dinner plans."

Su Cun’s professional managers usually work independently across various regions. Coupled with Su Cun being relatively low-key and due to personal reasons, they are aware of the business chain under their boss, Su Cun, but as each handles their own responsibilities, there isn’t much interaction between them. Apart from Wang Yue who is also an angel contact for Su Cun, most others aren’t very familiar with one another.

The fact that they could gather in Shanghai now made a significant difference.

Su Cun put aside the commotion at school and didn't concern himself with the potential campus uproar or Nan University’s debate triggered by Li Changlong's verbal assault towards him earlier.

He focused his full attention on dealing with the upcoming dinner hosted by Jian Hua.

In the bright glass-windowed conference room on the twenty-second floor of the hotel, Su Cen and his key team members finally gathered together.

The small meeting room was more like a lounge with a coffee table, two rows of sofas, and elevated seats. Apart from some potted plants or lattice chairs, it had an overall antique appearance, typical of a certain dull color scheme.

The lighting in the room was semi-bright.

Wang Yue wore a red cheongsam, her hair tied up at the back; half of her body appeared bright due to the side落地窗，一隻腿優雅地疊在椅子上。即使坐在她正對麵的挑剔的陳凱瑞也找不出瑕疵，反而對王玥在旗袍下露出的經過SPA日曬而曬成咖啡色的皮膚頗為欣賞。

Zhao Mingnong still had a rustic look with hints of excitement and unease. On the contrary, Wang Feng, who was refined before joining Dunhuang and now held a decent position, wasn't impressed by Zhao's somewhat unsophisticated demeanor.

Jiang Ming and Ren Ying, though one looked delicate and the other ordinary, both showed youthful enthusiasm for this gathering.

These people with different expressions were vividly present before Su Cen in this rather small meeting room.

Chen Kaizhi glanced at everyone and smirked, saying, "This doesn't look like a proper meeting at all. When I used to work at New Horizon, the scene was quite impressive; there would be editors, employees, and managers everywhere, black-clad figures densely packed. Even when we had meetings in coffee shops, it wasn’t this sparse."

The team was already accustomed to Chen Kaizhi’s tendency to dampen the mood unexpectedly; they knew he wouldn't feel comfortable unless he said something that made others uncomfortable.

"I'm asking what all these fuss is about. We're just discussing a matter together, and you want us to go to a coffee shop These pretentious folks have their little get-togethers, trying to mimic Hong Kong dramas—what's the point of that Let’s not pretend we’re something fancy. This place isn’t bad; look at how big and bright the windows are, and these chairs are well-made with plenty of tung oil and vermilion paint, quite luxurious. If you want a view of dense crowds, come to our venue for large meetings—when I give an impassioned speech, hundreds listen quietly; that’s got scale."

Only Zhao Mingnong could truly stand up to Chen Kaizhi.

Chen Kaizhi rolled his eyes at Zhao Mingnong in disdain. He felt frustrated but knew it was futile to argue with him, so he turned away and muttered, "Vulgar!"

The team couldn’t help but chuckle.

Su Cen sighed inwardly at these two troublemakers and then smiled at Chen Kaier, saying, "This is the difference between a sharp team. We don't seek quantity but quality. All of us are elite soldiers. If too many people come and Zhan Hua deals with it alone, wouldn’t that be embarrassing to mention Moreover, I believe our current scale is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what lies ahead."

Wang Yue got up and said with a smile, "Alright, Little Boss Su can always find an excuse. When will you ever stop fooling people Don't tell me there are no girls in university suffering from your deceit...

Su Cen felt awkward and said, "How could that be."

"You don’t need to explain it to me," Wang Yue pulled out a chair and sat down gracefully. She ignored Su Cen who was very professionally placing the template on the table.

“…” Amidst everyone’s suppressed laughter, Su Cen shook his head with a bitter smile as he sat at the meeting table. Indeed, one cannot be overly kind when commanding troops these days because it is getting harder and harder to manage them.

"Basically, that's all there is to it. However, this is only what we are doing by taking into account their opinions. The Jadeite Restaurant on the 36th floor will provide us with venue support. You and Zhan Hua will be in the main dining area facing the Huangpu River where you’ll have an open view of the most beautiful scenery. There’ll just be the two of you there while we'll be in the separate dining areas discussing our respective companies' issues, even though the Jadeite Restaurant is entirely booked for us. However, this isn’t a secret. After talking to the hotel manager earlier on, I learned that although they are providing the venue free of charge, all their accompanying bar tables have been reserved. They probably expect people who want to see the expensive dinner to come over."

"Will there be many people This makes me feel a bit nervous. It's like going into battle… " After hearing Wang Yue’s analysis, Su Cen felt a little anxious and muttered, "This Jadeite Restaurant really knows how to do business. By providing us with the venue free of charge, they may lose hundreds of thousands but it boosts their fame. Meanwhile, their accompanying bar stands to make quite a profit... It's too shrewd."

The famous New York designer who created this Jadeite Restaurant has an advantage in terms of the hotel’s unique scenery. The most special thing is that the designer grasps Chinese elements extremely well; upon entering, one sees traditional Chinese bowl-shaped sculptures over four meters high made with metal and porcelain pieces, creating a distinct visual impact. In the dining area, there are snuff bottle sculptures in the center, making it such that every table can overlook the Huangpu River from this space, thus giving them a unique advantage.

Varying people of all kinds sit inside the bar next to the restaurant—whispering white-collar workers and businessmen inviting friends. This place is not lacking in well-fed men or elegantly dressed women, but most everyone’s attention is on the restaurant's location.

The future direction of some people’s projects depends on whom Zhan Hua meets with today and what they discuss—whether to make money from a certain area, whether others can maintain their shrinking assets, and whether someone will succeed in finding profitable directions for the future. All this hinges upon who Zhan Hua sees today.

Before that, over ten people from Ericsson's後勤department were already on-site arranging things with Su Cen’s side. These men wore silk black shirts uniformly while the women wore stylish black suits.

Zhan Hua brought a team of seven people who were from asset management, investment advisory, funds, consulting, and board directors departments. Compared to the strikingly good-looking後勤department men and women, these individuals had varying qualities, but each was very capable.

Su Can immediately understood that Jian Hua was indeed sincere, and the people he had brought were likely key personnel from his AnLixin Group. However, they were just a small part of his group. The true core members would not usually come unless ordered to by Jian Hua himself.

“Please follow me; our General Manager Jian has been waiting for you for quite some time,” said the woman with an oval face and somewhat mixed-race features, reminiscent of Greek aesthetics. Yet her expression was cold and devoid of any emotion when she spoke, as if a machine reciting words.

Su Can thought to himself: "It's fine that there's no smile on your face, but the monotone of your voice is really off-putting..."

The encounter with Jian Hua's team didn't surprise anyone. They seemed to already know about what happened at the auction. The woman leading them walked like a model, her hips swinging seductively as she went first, attracting the gazes of men like Lin Guangdong who dared not look around but couldn’t help glancing at her to speculate on her relationship with Jian Hua.

Jian Hua didn't act high and mighty by arriving last; quite unexpectedly, he arrived early to wait for them.

They entered a spacious round dining table set up with exquisite appetizers, under a grand chandelier. The luxurious setting was overwhelming, yet Jian's team stopped without moving forward, like an orderly military formation.

"Mr. Su, our General Manager is waiting for you inside. Please come in," the leading woman instructed in an unnaturally calm voice, her words feeling cold and distant amidst the sharp shadows of the grand hall.

This dinner was a one-on-one meeting, albeit just formalities. It was essentially an exchange session where Su Can had spent over a million to buy an advertisement ticket. However, it only facilitated team-to-team cooperation; with Jian Hua's team present, all issues related to Su Can’s company could be consulted and addressed by AnLixin Group's top advisors.

Su Can nodded and entered the room as his companions interacted with Jian Hua's robotic-like team at the table.

In the main dining area, there was a large table beside a transparent glass window. Seated casually in polo attire was someone who wore white休閒parda皮鞋 (assuming this is a brand or style of shoe), and on the table were Chinese dishes already set out with an opened bottle of wine. Jian Hua tapped his thumb along the rim of a highball glass, looking at Su Can whom he had met briefly and engaged in confrontation at the auction.

His eyes narrowed as he spoke: "How is Mr. Xu Zheng doing"

The rush to complete this chapter is finally over; it coincided with both a featured recommendation and an author Q&A session, combined with my previous lack of saved chapters, making the situation very awkward. I'm scrambling on all fronts but haven't missed any updates. I owe you guys one, and I'll make up for it next month—I’m almost in tears over this.ui and said, "District Head Yang, oh hello there! We need your assistance to set up a base for our company here in Rongcheng this time around; back in 1995 I had come to Rongcheng before, the city’s d...