Chapter 90 (1/2)
Company Anniversary
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao chose a building materials company named ‘Forest Man’ in the end. This company was also newly-established but it was large-scale and had a comprehensive selection. Xia Lei could order the materials they needed for both the office building and workshop at the same time.
When Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao arrived a member of the sales staff attended to them but when he heard that Xia Lei was here to order new materials for building a company, he called one of the senior management from Forest Man over.
“Good day, I am Shentu Shi-Shan. Please let me know if you have any needs.” The senior manager of Forest Man introduced himself with a smile when he met them.
“Shentu?” Xia Lei had a bit of an odd reaction to Shentu Shi-Shan’s self-introduction. “May I ask if you’re a member of the Shentu clan?”
Shentu Shi-Shan looked at Xia Lei and asked tentatively, “Why, Mr Xia, you know about the Shentu clan?”
Xia Lei smiled, “Who doesn’t know about the Shentu clan in the territory of Hai-Zhu? I just didn’t expect that this company would also belong to the Shentu clan.”
“This company is a subsidiary of Vientiane Group,” said Shentu Shi-Shan. After a pause, he added, “Let’s not talk about non-business matters and cut to the chase. We can provide a full service for your company, from designing of the blueprints to the construction of the company. You just have to tell us your budget and we’ll do the rest.”
“We will take care of the blueprints ourselves. Your company just needs to provide the materials and construction,” said Xia Lei.
“That can be arranged as well. I’ll take you to see our products first and I shall prepare a quote after you have chosen what you like,” said Shentu Shi-Shan.
“Okay. Please lead the way,” said Xia Lei.
As they walked out of the reception room, Liang Si-Yao pulled at Xia Lei’s sleeve and asked in a quiet voice, “Is the Shentu clan very powerful?”
Xia Lei lowered his voice and replied, “They’re the richest clan in the whole of China. So, do you think they’re powerful or not?”
Liang Si-Yao’s little peach mouth opened in awe, “They’re really powerful, then. If you know someone in the Shentu clan you must mention that person. We may get some preferential price.”
Xia Lei froze for a moment - he’d thought of Shentu Tian-Yin again. He didn’t just know Shentu Tian-Yin; he had saved her life once. If he spoke of it, this Shentu Shi-Shan would probably give a call and ask about it and Shentu Tian-Yin would maybe give him a good price. However, he changed his mind as soon as the thought popped up in his head, “The other party is one of the elite and I’m just a small fry. I may know the person but the person wouldn’t know me.”
Liang Si-Yao smiled, “I don’t care about the elites.”
Shentu Shi-Shan brought Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao to the product showroom of Forest Man Company. The showroom held not just the various new products manufactured by Forest Man Company but also building models of condominiums, warehouses and so on, constructed from their new building materials.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao went around the showroom and picked some new building materials.
Just as Xia Lei was about to discuss the pricing of the materials he’d selected with Shentu Shi-Shan, a Forest Man employee suddenly came running over, saying excitedly, “Manager Shan, the Lady is here.”
Xia Lei’s heart thumped. ‘Is Shentu Tian-Yin here?’
Shentu Shi-Shan then said, “I do apologise to you both but I have to go off for a while. Please look around some more and we shall discuss the pricing afterwards.”
“Sure, no problem,” said Xia Lei.
Shentu Shi-Shan and the employee who had come bearing the message walked towards the exit of the showroom but a group of people walked in before they could walk out.
The person at the head of the group was the current person at the helm of the Shentu clan - Shentu Tian-Yin. Her assistant and bodyguard followed right after.
Shentu Tian-Yin wore a black dress and she was peerlessly cool and elegant. She did not like wearing clothing with a lot of exposure and the clothes she wore always covered most of her body but this did not affect her sexiness at all. A woman like her did not need to show off her body to receive the appreciation of men. She did not have to use sweet smiles to move people either so she was always cold as ice and seemed unapproachable to others. She was like this but one casual look from her was enough to make most men willing to grovel at her feet. She did not have to prove anything or do anything; her sexiness and beauty was enough to conquer all men.
This was Shentu Tian-Yin. Xia Lei felt like a deer caught in headlights whenever he saw her.
“Is she Shentu Tian-Yin?” asked Liang Si-Yao quietly.
“Yes, she’s Shentu Tian-Yin,” said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao gave a soft sigh of admiration, “She’s so beautiful.”
Liang Si-Yao had never seen Shentu Tian-Yin before but she could guess who she was at first glance. This wasn’t because Liang Si-Yao was very perceptive but because Shentu Tian-Yin’s presence was too powerful; one could easily tell that she was different from other people.
Shentu Shi-Shan welcomed her with a flattering smile, “Tian-Yin, you should have called ahead. I would have been able to make arrangements if you’d called ahead.”
Shentu Tian-Yin just glanced at him, indifferent, and wordlessly walked around him and towards Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao.
Shentu Shi-Shan froze on the spot, his face a mixture of embarrassment and hate.
Xia Lei saw it all and he found it strange. He thought ‘Shentu Shi-Shan is also part of the Shentu clan but Shentu Tian-Yin has this sort of attitude towards him. It’s as though he’s worse than a stranger to her. That’s weird.’
Shentu Tian-Yin took no notice of Shentu Shi-Shan but Shentu Shi-Shan persisted and caught up with her, putting on his flattering smile again, “Tian-Yin, are you here today for a routine inspection? I’ll get the finance department to prepare the accounts right away. I’ll escort you if you want to go to the workshop.”
“No need.” Shentu Tian-Yin finally talked to Shentu Shi-Shan but it was just two words.
Shentu Shi-Shan shot Xia Lei a look, asking him to leave. He did not know that Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin actually knew each other.
Xia Lei had no intention of greeting Shentu Tian-Yin either. He said to Liang Si-Yao, “Si-Yao, let’s go out for a bit.”
Liang Si-Yao nodded and followed Xia Lei, who was heading towards the doorway.
When they were about to brush shoulders as they passed each other, Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly spoke, “Mr Xia, what are you doing here?”
Xia Lei paused and he stopped in his tracks. This was the first time Shentu Tian-Yin had taken the initiative to greet him first. She had not even looked him squarely in the eye, even back when he told her there was a bomb under her car.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei as though she were waiting for him to speak.