The night deepened, and the dinner party was nearing its end.
People leaving solo or in twos, threes, or groups were a common sight. "The Wolf of Wall Street" wasn’t just a movie, it felt more like a docuntary.
During the event, Lu Liang visited the restroom twice—once he slled the scent of frying pork fat, and another ti he overheard a woman’s soft moan.
Therefore, claiming to be overwheld by alcohol, he had Xu Jiawei support him as he returned to his upstairs room to rest, with Little Wang seeing this and mimicking his actions, following right behind Lu Liang.
As soon as Lu Liang swiped his card and entered the room, Little Wang followed suit. Lu Liang’s eyes cleared, and he looked at him disapprovingly, "What do you want?"
"Just squeezing in. I can sleep in the living room."
With a helpless look on his face, Little Wang pulled out clump after clump of paper from his pocket—each inscribed with a code.
"This Black chick’s figure, tsk tsk, you have no idea how fine she is."
"And this white MILF, damn, busty with a slim waist and a big butt, it’s amazing."
"And this one is a Victoria’s Secret supermodel…"
Looking pitiful, Little Wang, in for a long night, was afraid he couldn’t control himself if he slept in the next room alone.
Before he could finish speaking, Lu Liang pushed, pulled, and escorted him out the door, even fastening the door with a security lock: "If you can’t sleep, just jerk off on your own, don’t fucking disturb my sleep."
"Heartless man," Little Wang sighed softly, looking down at his right hand before silently returning to his room.
anwhile, approaching midday Beijing ti, the news about the New York dinner party continued to fernt.
Normally, pictures from such events rarely leaked, but this ti was different, with the internet flooded with photos from various angles.
These included, but were not limited to, Lu Liang enjoying a lively conversation with the Trump family, with Soros, with the Kardashian clan, with Wall Street top brass, and scenes of him giving a speech.
"My man Lu killing it, Liangzi truly is the star of the party. Co on, Heizi, ti to speak up."
"With all this grandeur, Liangzi’s na not being on the rich list—Forbes really needs to do so introspection."
"But seriously, isn’t anyone curious about how Liangzi has earned such a grand welco?"
"He must have sold so key information, or else he’s just a Wall Street lapdog. What’s so strange about that? Any sane person would choose freedom."
"Spouting nonsense. What did he sell, and how exactly did he get roped in as a dog? Co out with so real facts."
Online opinion was divided into two camps: Lu Liang’s die-hard fans and fund investors on one side, and conspiracy theorists on the other.
The forr group thought that Lu Liang’s treatnt abroad was enough to immortalize him back ho. The last Chinese to receive this level of adoration in the West was Chen Long, who received the Academy Lifeti Achievent Award last year.
The latter group speculated that Lu Liang must have struck so kind of deal with Wall Street institutions, joining, or even becoming a part of them, otherwise he couldn’t possibly be receiving such high-level honors.
A tiny fraction of internet users who saw the truth believed this was a set-up to overhype Lu Liang. If the welco was genuinely that grand, there wouldn’t be so many detailed photos leaking, specifically targeting Lu Liang alone.
It was reminiscent of a scientist from the last century who was frad after rely eting a foreign friend and accidentally being photographed, thus raising questions ant to delay a project’s research.
However, the truth is often drowned out in public opinion, and in the black-and-white world of the internet, it stirs up no waves at all.
As ti passed, an hour later, Edinburgh welcod the first light of dawn.
"Umm~~ Why do you wake up so early every day?"
"I rember my mom telling that when she was eight or nine months pregnant with , she wished she could sleep fifteen hours a day."
Zheng Xiaoxuan sat on the edge of the bed, head drooping, her short hair a ss like a bird’s nest—if not for her ear piercings and the fact her chest puffed out, you’d mistake her for a boy at first glance.
"Sorry for waking you," Su Wanyu said apologetically, hand on her waist, face showing the shyness of a young girl.
She paused, then whispered, "Xiaoxuan, you could actually go ho to sleep. You don’t have to keep watch over every day."
"What now? Weren’t you the one who said you wouldn’t mind having a ’godmother’?" Zheng Xiaoxuan glared.
Su Wanyu silently lowered her head and softly said, "Thank you."
"Thank you for what?"
Zheng Xiaoxuan smiled warmly, quickly slipping under Su Wanyu’s blankets, basking in the comforting warmth and delicious aroma.
"So comfortable," she squinted, "I’m on sumr vacation recently, and if it weren’t for you taking in, I’d be dead from boredom delivering goods with my mom every day or acting as a translator for my dad."
"It’s better living with you, peaceful and undisturbed. Our own little world for two."
Zheng Xiaoxuan sneaked a peek, hoping to catch Su Wanyu’s reaction, but she seed not to hear, keeping her head down in silence.
"What are you looking at?"
She was very curious, so she stuck her little head out and saw Su Wanyu browsing news on Instagram. "My ii, when will she ever co to Edinburgh for a concert?"
"Wow, even the Kardashian sisters? It’s rare to see them appear together at an event, and businessn, too? Is there so big event happening in New York?"
Su Wanyu was silent for a long ti before answering softly, "It’s not a big event, it’s a welco for soone’s arrival."
"Who is it, to have such a grand welco?" Zheng Xiaoxuan was surprised because she saw a family of businessn as well.
It was hard to imagine who could pull such a crowd, especially since they generally don’t mix.
"Liang... Lu Liang."
"Lu Liang? Is he Chinese?"
"Mm-hmm."
"What does he do to be so amazing?"
"The financial industry."
"The financial industry? I rember now, isn’t he the one who predicted Brexit and shorted British Pounds last year?"
Zheng Xiaoxuan suddenly got excited. There had been a heated discussion in the Chinese community, with many people angrily criticizing Lu Liang.
She tends to like what others dislike, so she started following Lu Liang’s Twitter account at that ti.
However, after he was officially banned for three days, he never ca back online, and she forgot about him.
Su Wanyu nodded, with a forced smile on her face, and subconsciously touched her belly.
"Is the baby kicking you again?" Zheng Xiaoxuan hurriedly leaned in to listen for any movent.
Su Wanyu whispered, "Not really, I guess it hasn’t woken up yet."
"Nonsense, I can hear the little heart thumping."
Zheng Xiaoxuan squinted her eyes and flashed an auntie’s smile. "Have you thought of a na for the baby yet?"
"I’m still thinking." Su Wanyu hesitated for a while and then slowly said two words, "Siqing, how about that?"
"I disagree, there’s a song called ’Siqing, Korea’s sorrow~’ It’s not good for the baby to be born sad."
"Is that how it goes?"
"Doesn’t matter, it’s just not okay."
"Then I’ll keep thinking."
…
The next morning, headlines all across Arica were reporting on Lu Liang’s arrival, and a grand welcoming dinner had been held for him the night before.
"This fuckin’ sucks, was everything I said last night for nothing?"
Little Wang was furious, rummaging through the Fox newspaper to the New York Daily News and then to the Wall Street Journal.
In all the front-page pictures, he either had only half a face showing or just had the back of his head visible.
He flipped through more than a dozen different newspapers and couldn’t put together a single full-face photo.
"It wasn’t for nothing; you’ve still got ’Panda’, what’s the use of all these empty titles?"
Unable to hold back a smile, Lu Liang took a sip of coffee and pointed to a few lines in the newspaper.
’Panda’ had been ntioned by all the dia, after all, his main intention of coming to Arica was to assist Panda in completing its IPO review process.
It was foreseeable that the first hurdle for Chinese concept stocks going public in the US would not involve a cold IPO reception that Panda would have to face.
Little Wang sighed, held back his words, but couldn’t help saying, "Actually, I’m worried about you."
This was blatant over-exaltation. A Chinese person, coming to Arica for the first ti, receiving such extraordinary treatnt was alarming. What exactly were they planning?
"I’m already here, I’ll deal with things as they co."
Lu Liang smiled indifferently, let them praise him; he wasn’t particularly concerned. He had anticipated this situation before coming and guessed that it might happen.
"Aren’t you worried you won’t be able to go back?" Little Wang asked.
Given the past incident with Alstom and Pierluigi, who was effectively under house arrest for five years, and the multinational corporation was dismantled.
Lu Liang chuckled, "You must have paranoid delusions. What’s Alstom’s international status when compared to mine? I’m just a guy with so cash, not worth making such a big fuss over."
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