Flander coldly observed the uninvited guest, who didn't even bother to rise and greet him, too lazy to even offer any pleasantries. It was clear he wasn't welcoming, even though the young man was carrying gifts. (This website's new domain name is the initials of Cola Novel Network (k1), the largest free Chinese romance website, come and join us!)

Duanmu Ci, however, didn't seem to care. He simply moved a chair to the other side of the desk, facing Flander, and placed the two bottles of liquor on the table. "This is excellent Scotch whisky, aged for eleven years in Scottish cellars. It's the Duke of Laterano's prized possession! The old man wasn't going to give it to me, but I promised him a small estate, so he did. We'll drink one of these bottles, and consider the other one a gift from me!"

"Has the Duanmu family always been this wasteful?" Flander said coldly. "Back then, your father traded a piece of imperial porcelain used by a Qing Dynasty emperor for a graffiti piece by the Klee family, and now you're trading an entire estate for a bottle of wine. Truly, 'each generation surpasses the last!'" He still harbored resentment over his father's assessment that his family was getting worse with each generation...

Duanmu Ci gave him a strange look. Couldn't these idiots with no artistic taste see that the painting by the Klee family was actually a masterpiece by the renowned painter Wu Daozi? How did it end up in Europe, only to be acquired by a vulgar, blind nobleman? Black and white ink paintings are just graffiti? They deserve to lose money in business! As for the porcelain used by the Qing emperors? Duanmu Ci never thought it was particularly valuable. It was just something that Puyi, that spendthrift son, secretly took from the Imperial Household Department to sell.

The idea of ​​trading an entire estate for a bottle of wine is utter nonsense. He bought that estate in the 19th century; it's long since fallen into disrepair, and it would probably take at least six months to clean it up before anyone could live in it. What he really traded wasn't just a bottle of wine, but an entire vineyard! And speaking of which, the Duke of Laterán is also short of money…

However, there's no need to explain these things to little Flander...

Flander had his secretary bring in two wine glasses. He was prepared to swallow his nausea and have a drink with the "kid" across from him. The current situation was extremely unfavorable for the Morgan family. None of the business owners he wanted to turn had been tempted, and the pressure from public opinion was overwhelming, not to mention the pressure from within the family itself.

Just now, the mayor of Chicago called him. His tone was more rude than ever before. But Friend didn't bother arguing with him, because he knew the poor mayor had just been reprimanded by his superior…

Now that the Duanmu family has come, and it's their top figure who's here, it means there's still a chance for things to turn around. Since there's room for negotiation, instead of a fight to the death, the rest is easy: negotiation, exchanging benefits, and signing an agreement. These things aren't difficult; he's used to doing them.

Flander and Duanmu Ci raised their glasses in a toast. Flander reluctantly said "hee" and then put the glass to his lips. The originally fragrant Scotch whisky now tasted utterly bland. Flander put down his glass and said, "What do you want this time? My Morgan family has made it clear: The Magniient is our property, and no matter what, we will never return it, absolutely not!"

This is Flander's bottom line. Or rather, this is the Morgan family's bottom line. This incident has already humiliated Morgan, leaving its employees feeling ashamed. If they were to return the newly acquired The Magniient, it would be like trampling on Morgan's already ruined reputation until it's completely destroyed.

This was something Flanders absolutely could not allow; he would rather see both sides suffer a fatal defeat.

Duanmu Ci smiled gently, even with a feeling of warmth and comfort. "Of course, it's a matter of course that money is exchanged for goods. People who break this rule usually don't have a good ending, no matter how powerful they are. So my Duanmu family has no intention of breaking this rule. That street was obtained by you from the Chicago city government, and it has nothing to do with me, Duanmu Ci."

Flander looked into Duanmu Ci's eyes and said very seriously, "You are here to negotiate today as the head of the Duanmu family, so I will not treat you as an ordinary young man. You should know that in this matter, we Morgan have given your family face. Since we chose to publicize it in a big way, we could have naturally publicized your family's 'embarrassment' as well, but we didn't. We only publicized our 'victory' and did not publicize your 'defeat'. Ordinary people don't even know who the original owner of that street was."

That's true. Morgan initially thought he had won, that he had outmaneuvered the Duanmu family. Under those circumstances, they could have easily proclaimed the Duanmu family's "defeat," but they didn't. They only proclaimed their own victory, which was quite prudent. On this bloody road to money, one couldn't ask for more.

Therefore, there were very few people in the world at that time who were qualified to know about the Duanmu family's "embarrassment" and "blunder," and people with less than 1 billion US dollars were simply not qualified to know the inside story.

Morgan ultimately reaped what he sowed. He unleashed the media, a ferocious beast, to promote his "victories," only to be mercilessly devoured and become a laughingstock worldwide. The bitterness he endured is beyond words.

Duanmu Ci swirled the remaining wine in his wine glass. "So let's call this even. Now let's talk about something else. The Morgan family's strike must be putting Mr. Flander under considerable pressure. How do you plan to resolve this? If the compensation is sufficient, my Duanmu family would be happy to help the Morgan family out of their predicament. We've been friends for generations!"

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