I checked the time. It was ten in the morning, four hours before the meeting.
I called Wen Siqiang and told him to have a car ready downstairs to wait for us. We would depart in an hour.
Young Master Wu called. His men were clearing customs and expected to be deployed by noon.
Senior's Taoist brothers were cooperating with the police, lying in wait at the scene.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion. Senior went to the restroom to tidy his attire. Today, he was representing the client to sign the platform transfer agreement. I, as the general manager of the new company, would take up my post. Senior had been appointed as a senior consultant.
Principal Sun and Chen Liben were also appointed as consultants. Prince Kang would be the second largest shareholder. Brother Hui Xie Jiabao had no displayed position or shares within the company; I would hold them on their behalf, exercising their powers fully.
This was their usual trick. I had become their shadow, possessing absolute power to control the entire company, yet I was merely a puppet. In reality, the true controllers were the Xie brothers.
Of course, I wasn't going to dwell on these matters. My objective was to send them all to prison. Even if they gave me all the shares, it would be meaningless to me.
Mr. Song had arrived, the Taoist brothers were in position, and Young Master Wu was en route. We, too, were about to depart for the place where the facade would be revealed.
Everything was happening silently. I could almost see them being subdued.
Senior emerged from the restroom, and told me, "Let's go."
I put on my hat and mask and followed him.
Qian Fugui quickly ran ahead to open the elevator for us.
With my current appearance, it was rare to see someone like me in Ruili. A baseball cap, large sunglasses, and a big mask – it was very similar to some movie stars I encountered at the airport later. I wondered if they had learned from me.
Senior's attire was also unusual: sunglasses and a brightly colored shirt and pants, making him look like someone who had returned from overseas at first glance.
As the two of us walked through the lobby, we drew 100% of the attention.
Wen Siqiang's car was parked at the entrance. Qian Fugui ushered us into the car and then sat in the front passenger seat.
Once inside the car, I called the Prince and informed him of the meeting time and location. He said he understood and would have his attendants handle the procedures at the office of academic affairs.
It was quite a distance to the East Suburb Clubhouse, covering nearly half of Ruili City. Even without traffic, it would take about an hour.
I notified A'Gan to depart at one o'clock in the afternoon, aiming to arrive at the venue around two-thirty.
A'Gan used a pager. Once he received the message, he didn't need to call me back.
Thinking back to that time, mobile phones were only for making calls. Sending messages still required going through the paging station and transmitting to a dedicated receiving terminal. There were 126, 127, and later 191, 192, and other operators. Everyone wore a small rectangular device on their belt. When it beeped, they would excitedly pick it up to check the number or Chinese characters displayed, then look around for a public payphone.
Later, mobile phones could send messages, replacing the once-popular pagers. It only took a few years for them to go from having 65 million users to announcing their closure.
The rise of SMS marked a significant advancement in the telecommunications industry. The "thumb generation" contributed to operators' revenues every moment. One cent per message; if it were lovers, they could send hundreds a day.
This allowed operators to earn immense profits.
Even later came multimedia, allowing unlimited chatting and even video calls over the network, enabling people separated by thousands of miles to speak face-to-face. This completely ended the era when mobile phones were only for making calls.
However, at present, we lived in the age of the bulky mobile phones and pagers. Pagers were still the mainstream communication tool.
I've drifted too far. The future is for the future; it's more practical to deal with the present matters.
The car drove into the East Suburb Clubhouse. Everything was still quiet, and I sensed nothing unusual.
I knew the police and Senior's Taoist brothers were lying in wait, but I couldn't see them.
This was good. If I couldn't see them, I presumed they couldn't see us either.
I led Senior to the meeting venue, letting him familiarize himself with the environment.
I had specifically arranged for Mr. Wen not to come today, entrusting everything here solely to us.
Even the security guards and waitstaff in this room had been replaced by our own people.
The team leader was none other than Xiao Hong!
Xiao Hong didn't recognize me. Just as I was about to greet her, I suddenly remembered I wasn't myself yet, so I stopped. Otherwise, if she recognized me after I took off my mask, wouldn't she be startled?
I walked past her, pretending to be a stranger. She politely asked who we were looking for. Senior said we were organizing a meeting, and I was Sheng Hao, the moderator.
Xiao Hong: "Mr. Sheng Hao, hello! I am Su Xiaohong, head of the reception department. I am responsible for all reception tasks. Please feel free to state any requirements you may have."
I replied, "Okay, I'll take a look at the venue and see if there are any other issues."