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However, in the face of Lu Yingying's concern, Ma Lu still refused, "Forget it, this is between Hou De and Hero Group; let's not drag Mr. Lu into the water."
"It's fine; this isn't the first ti I've caused trouble for my dad," Lu Yingying insisted, "His chamber of comrce doesn't do much business in Ping City, and since I'm just a woman, if there's really a big problem, I'll just cry a little. With the Luo family concerned about face, they definitely won't cling to the issue."
"Hey, don't worry, I'm not a child anymore; I have plenty of ways to protect myself."
"The main thing is that I already have a female companion," Ma Lu said.
"Who?" Lu Yingying imdiately beca vigilant.
"Teacher Cao," Ma Lu said, "I promised her first, and she's more familiar with the various forces in Ping City than I am."
"Cao Youyi? Hmm... indeed, she might be good at managing students, but I doubt whether she can handle all the fake politeness at the banquet."
Yet Lu Yingying didn't want to give up, "I'm an expert in this area. I've attended over a hundred banquets and balls; with by your side, you definitely won't regret it."
......
Inside a luxurious guest room on the fourth floor of the Six Nations Hotel.
A young man in a suit stood in front of a window looking down at the street below, "Director Ye of the police station and his wife have arrived."
Having said that, he glanced at the floor clock on the wall, "It's 6:48 pm, less than 12 minutes until the banquet starts; he's probably not going to co."
"That's just perfect, deal directly with the local forces of Ping City, get them to take action together, help us drive Hou De out; then Principal Ma will co to us for help."
A middle-aged man with half-white hair, appearing to be just over fifty and with a genteel deanor, said.
"But after all, Hou De is the only talisman master school in Ping City," the young man said, "And they've been quite active in clearing the catastrophe belt lately. If they are really forced out and the Disaster cos again, these people will have to ask other talisman master schools from different cities for help. Are they really willing to cooperate with us?"
He said this while pulling out a pack of cigarettes and taking one in his mouth. He then took out a box of matches and glanced at the picture of Ma Lu on the case.
"In my opinion, you're making things too complicated. It would have been simpler to follow my suggestion and have the Ministry of Education find a pretext to revoke Hou De's educational credentials from the start. That kid wouldn't have been able to cause any trouble, and we wouldn't have all these problems now.
"You even made Heroic Concealnt lose so much face; now, all those country bumpkins outside are laughing at us. In the end, it's still your face that's getting folded."
He struck a match and lit his cigarette, but after only one puff, the middle-aged man extinguished it with his hand.
"The President shouldn't be bothered over such trifles. Our job is to alleviate the President's worries," the older man said.
After he threw the cigarette into the trash can, he said, "Smoke less. With you like this, how can I feel comfortable handing over the group to you?"
The young man smiled, "I'm also doing this to alleviate your worries. If soone causes trouble later, I'll give them a taste of their own dicine first."
The middle-aged man shook his head, "This isn't Xindu. When dealing with local forces, we should focus on winning them over. Don't ss things up; I have my ways to persuade them to join us in dealing with Hou De."
Seeing that it was almost ti, he straightened his long robe, accepted the young man's felt hat, and headed downstairs.
The banquet was set up in the ballroom on the first floor. By this ti, most of the guests had already arrived. As soon as the middle-aged man and the young man appeared, they attracted the attention of the entire room.
People nearby ca over to greet them, "Boss Luo, Young Master Luo."
Luo Xiangshi returned their greetings one by one, looking warm and affable, while his second son seed carefree and indifferent to those who ca up hoping to make his acquaintance.
His gaze scanned the crowd, looking for his quarry for the evening.
Society in Xindu knew that Luo Xiangshi's son, Luo Yuxiang, was a playboy and had dubious relationships with many socialites and stars.
It was uncertain which of the ladies present would catch his eye tonight.
Of course, Luo Yuxiang's most desired person was the superstar Chen ng, but her backer was not soone easy to ss with; even he didn't dare to touch her, so tonight he would have to look elsewhere.
Alas, Ping City was not like Xindu. There were many pretty won, but not many caught his eye.
Just as Luo Yuxiang was looking around, a convertible stopped outside the hotel.
A man and two won alighted from the car. Seeing those two won made Luo Yuxiang's eyes light up.
One of them wore a black cheongsam and was unsmiling like an ice lotus; the other wore a Western-style dress, appeared pure and lovely with a naively charming air—such a contrast of cool and warm, of ice and fire, both were breathtakingly beautiful.
The man standing beside the two won seed familiar to Luo Yuxiang, but he couldn't recall the na right away.
Only when he heard soone ntion that this was the newly appointed Principal Ma from Hou De, the person who had beco the talk of Ping City over the past month, did he suddenly rember he had seen this person's photograph on a matchbox.
After getting out of the car, Lu Yingying handed the car keys to an attendant and then peered into the hotel, muttering to herself.
"Good, good, we're not late after all. I told you my driving was excellent."
"If you hadn't hit the other car, we would have arrived 20 minutes earlier," Ma Lu said.
"As long as it didn't delay the important matter," Cao Youyi said indifferently.
In fact, she wasn't as calm as she appeared, especially when she heard that Ma Lu intended to take her and Lu Yingying to the event together; her first reaction was to refuse.
However, both Ma Lu and Lu Yingying were outsiders, unfamiliar with Ping City, and they needed a local like her—at least to make clear the backers behind these forces and their interrelationships.
So, despite her doubts, Cao Youyi still ca.
Ma Lu had not even entered the ballroom when a young man approached him.
"Principal Ma, you sure are lucky with ladies."
"And who are you?" Ma Lu raised an eyebrow.
"I'm Luo Yuxiang, a director of Hero Group, and thanks to Mr. Tuo Ma, I'm also currently serving as the Acting Dean of Heroic Concealnt," Luo Yuxiang offered his hand.
But Ma Lu remained unmoved, "You're not worthy of shaking hands with ; go call your father."
Luo Yuxiang's face slightly changed, and he leaned in close to Ma Lu, "Bluffing won't help you; after all this ti, we've figured out your real situation. Principal Ma, you have no significant backing."
"Is that so? Then your investigation isn't very good, is it," Ma Lu said, "Did you even find out where I went after leaving Hou De?"
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