Chapter 20 Huangfu Yuanzhou

When the banquet time arrived, the hotel's banquet hall became lively.

This banquet was jointly initiated by the Universal Group and the Tianhong Group, and almost all entrepreneurs with some influence in Yanjing were invited.

To people who don’t know the truth, it may seem like just a charity activity of these two companies. However, if you understand the true background of these two companies, it will not seem that simple.

Behind the Universal Group is the Song family, one of the five major families, while behind the Tianhong Group is the Li family, also one of the five major families.

The reason why these two companies jointly launched an event was naturally not a matter of funding, but they wanted to send a very clear signal to the outside world... The Song family and the Li family have formed an alliance.

The five major families in Yanjing are Jiang, Li, Song, Zhao, and Huangfu.

If we rank them by comprehensive strength, the Huangfu family and the Song family are at the top, the Jiang family is in the middle, and the Li family and the Zhao family are at the bottom.

The development of an enterprise is like rowing against the current. When an enterprise becomes the top in a certain field, it has only two paths to take.

Either transform or expand.

Otherwise, instead of making progress, the company will be eaten away by newcomers and continue to decline.

These five families are all leaders in their respective fields, but in order to develop themselves, they can only continue to expand, which leads to collisions between them in certain fields.

For example, both the Jiang family and the Li family have been keeping a close eye on China's tourism industry, which has been booming in recent years, and there have been constant frictions between the two sides.

This time, the Song and Li families joined forces to enter the field of communications technology, which had previously been controlled by the Huangfu family.

In addition to some open and covert struggles, the relationships between the five major families also include a lot of cooperation, which can be described as complicated.

The Huangfu family has always been on good terms with the Zhao family, and has also cooperated with the Jiang family in some areas.

The Zhao family and the Li family belong to the same downstream circle, and the two sides often cooperate.

After the Song and Li families joined forces this time, the relationship between them became even more confusing.

But there are only two words that bind them together...interests.

Once their interests are damaged, they will abandon their allies without hesitation.

…………

The theme of the charity dinner is caring for poor children in mountainous areas, and all the proceeds from the auction at the dinner will be donated to poor children.

After Lu Wanqi went on stage, Tang Shuo stood backstage and watched Lu Wanqi's performance.

Lu Wanqi chose an inspirational and loving song called "There is Hope for Tomorrow's Children". This song was originally dedicated by the author to some poor children who are suffering from difficult lives, and it fits the theme of the banquet very well.

Small eyes...

Lost the shine...

Even with a small palm...

The right to fly...

…

As a professional actor, singing is not Lu Wanqi's forte.

However, with her unique soft voice and singing style without any technical embellishment, people can feel a kind of pure emotion, and she fully expresses the love expressed in the song.

After the singing ended, there was warm applause in the banquet hall.

After Lu Wanqi finished singing, Tang Shuo thought he could leave directly, but Lu Wanqi took him around the back of the stage and walked towards the banquet hall again.

Tang Shuo asked doubtfully, "Is there anything else?"

"Just take some photos of something." Lu Wanqi said, "I was paid 500,000 yuan for attending this event. I'll add a little bit to make a million yuan and take some photos of something to donate."

Tang Shuo touched his nose in shame. At first, he was a little disdainful of this kind of banquet, thinking that those who attended such a banquet were whores who wanted to be saints.

If you really want to donate, can't you just donate anonymously? Why bother with all the fanfare of an auction?

In fact, Tang Shuo's idea is not wrong. Most of the entrepreneurs who come here have other intentions. For them, such occasions are mainly for building some personal connections, and charity auctions are just a way to spend some money for show.

People who hold the same idea as Lu Wanqi are rare.

As soon as he walked into the hall, Tang Shuo was surprised to find that there were several acquaintances he knew. He couldn't help but sigh that Yanjing was really small.

Tang Shuo took two glasses of champagne from the waiter and handed one to Lu Wanqi. The two of them stood in the hall waiting for the auction to begin.

With Lu Wanqi's popularity, she is naturally the focus of everyone's attention wherever she goes.

However, there was no star-chasing or anything like that in such an occasion. There were just two people who looked like wealthy bachelors who came up to chat with Lu Wanqi.

This wasn't the first time Lu Wanqi had encountered this kind of thing. Although she didn't like it, it was not easy for her to just walk away. So she could only suppress her impatience and talk to the other person with a smile.

The auction began immediately after the host of the banquet came on stage and made a brief introduction.

The first item to go up for auction was an ink painting. After two staff members hung it on a display stand on the stage, the host introduced it, saying, "This ink painting was created last year by Mr. Ouyang Wensheng, Vice President of the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Association. We would like to thank Mr. Xia of Si Technology and Trade Group for providing it for free."

The host smiled and continued, "The starting price is 50,000, and each bid must not be less than 5,000."

As soon as the host finished speaking, a bald man in the hall raised his hand and shouted, "One hundred thousand."

Charity auctions are different from ordinary auctions, so the way of bidding is also different from that of ordinary auctions. After all, the bidders are still wearing the guise of charity.

"Two hundred thousand."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand."

"Three hundred thousand."

“…”

After a fierce bidding, this ink painting worth about 100,000 yuan was successfully bought by the boss of an Internet company for 380,000 yuan.

After the host thanked him, the second collection was brought up.

The host pointed to a porcelain paperweight on the tray and introduced it, "This is a Ming Dynasty paperweight. The owner is unknown. Thanks to Mr. Ma from Senqiang Investment Company for providing it free of charge. The starting price is 50,000, and each bid must not be less than 5,000."

"One hundred thousand."

"Two hundred thousand."

“…”

Tang Shuo lost interest in the auction after taking a look. He walked to a table with snacks in the corner with champagne and started to deal with the extremely tempting desserts on the table.

Suddenly, there was a low voice of conversation in front of the club. When Tang Shuo looked back, he found that Jiang Tiantong and Jiang Tianwei walked in, followed by a handsome man in a royal blue suit.

Song Wenchang, who had met Tang Shuo once before, exchanged glances with a sharp-minded young man beside him, then waved to the host on the stage, signaling him to pause, and then walked towards Jiang Tiantong who had just entered the room with the man beside him.

The handsome man in the royal blue suit is from the Huangfu family, named Huangfu Yuanzhou. He is also the biggest enemy of their alliance this time.

They had long expected Jiang Tiantong and Huangfu Yuanzhou to come, but they didn't expect that they would come together.

The meaning of this is not simple.

Could it be that the Jiang family also wants to get involved in telecommunications? And together with the Huangfu family?

Why did the Huangfu family form an alliance with the Jiang family?

"I thought you weren't coming." Song Wenchang said to Jiang Tiantong with a smile, "Come in quickly, it's already started."

Huangfu Yuanzhou, who was standing next to Jiang Tiantong, said jokingly with a smile: "It seems that you only have Tiantong in your eyes, and you don't care about others at all..."

Seeing Jiang Tiantong's warning look, Huangfu Yuanzhou's voice became weaker and weaker. Finally, he smiled angrily at Jiang Tiantong and waved his hand to indicate that he would not continue speaking.

It has long been no secret in their circle that Song Wenchang is pursuing Jiang Tiantong.

This is no wonder. Even without talking about the issue of family background, Song Wenchang and Jiang Tiantong are a perfect match, both talented and beautiful.

But Jiang Tiantong never agreed to Song Wenchang's pursuit, and treated him neither distantly nor closely.

"Brother Wenchang." Jiang Tianwei greeted Song Wenchang with a smile.

Hearing Jiang Tianwei's words, Jiang Tiantong frowned slightly and walked straight into the banquet hall. She was not used to being stared at by so many people.

Song Wenchang smiled and patted Jiang Tianwei's head, saying, "You go in first."

As soon as Jiang Tianwei left, Huangfu Yuanzhou patted the shoulder of the man next to Song Wenchang and said, "Li Ruiyi, please think carefully about what I said last time. Don't rush to give me an answer."

After saying that, Huangfu Yuanzhou walked straight into the banquet hall, greeting people he knew from time to time.

Li Ruiyi smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "This guy..."

Song Wenchang also smiled and said, "Let's go in first."

Huangfu Yuanzhou has already alienated the relationship between several people twice in front of everyone with just a few simple words, and you can't refute it.

He first used the fact that Song Wenchang liked Jiang Tiantong to stimulate Jiang Tiantong, and then directly inserted a thorn between their newly formed alliance.

Although everyone present was smart and these words didn't have much effect, they still made people feel uncomfortable.

…………

Time flew by, and soon dozens of collections were sold.

Lu Wanqi just bought a pair of white jade bracelets for a high price of one million, the actual price of which is about 200,000.

Now there are only a few finale collections left on the scene.

Tang Shuo was considering whether to pack some snacks to take home when he suddenly saw Li Jia walking towards him aggressively.

Tang Shuo didn't even stay with Lu Wanqi for long. He deliberately chose an inconspicuous corner early in the morning to eat quietly. He didn't expect that what was coming would still come.

…………

The news that Li Jia was beaten up by someone in the South Country yesterday and then thrown out has almost spread throughout Yanjing.

He didn't want to attend the banquet today, but his cousin Li Ruiyi asked him to go early in the morning. He had no choice but to go out and tell Li Ruiyi what happened yesterday in person.

Li Ruiyi didn't say much after listening to it. There was no way to pursue this matter now. Although Nan Guo had gone a little too far, it was Li Jia's own fault after all.

What's more, Li Ruiyi didn't want to offend others because of Li Jia.

Li Ruiyi was just about to come here at the time and had some errands to take care of, so he asked Li Jia to run an errand.

After Li Jia finished what Li Ruiyi had asked him to do, he rushed here to tell Li Ruiyi that the banquet was about to begin, so he did not leave and stayed to watch the fun.

When Jiang Tiantong and Jiang Tianwei came in, Li Jia naturally would not go up and cause trouble for himself, so he prepared to find a corner to drink alone.

Who knew that after walking around, he saw Tang Shuo eating and drinking at the dining table in the corner.

"Who are you? Do you have an invitation?" Li Jia sneered as he walked over to Tang Shuo and said sarcastically, "You're not here to get free food and drinks, are you?"

Now his cousin, Song Wenchang and others were in the banquet hall, so Li Jia didn't dare to be too presumptuous, but it was okay to ridicule Tang Shuo.

This dinner requires an invitation to attend. There are no specific regulations on whether invitees can bring their families. Generally speaking, even if they bring their families, the organizers will not kick them out.

However, if you really want to make a fuss about this kind of behavior, then you can also consider it as the other party sneaking in.

He thought Tang Shuo came in with Jiang Tianwei and definitely didn't have an invitation.

Li Jia's voice was not loud, but the people around the table could still hear it clearly, so they turned their heads and looked at Tang Shuo who was holding a piece of high-end handmade cake and stuffing it into his mouth.

Under everyone's gaze, Tang Shuo put the cake into his mouth and finished it. He took another sip of champagne and said, "Is the invitation important? I'm here to show my love."