At 4:30 pm, Duanmu Ci got off work on time and went home. The housekeeper, Bu Tongxun, opened the door to greet him.

"How was your first day teaching the students, sir?"

"It's alright, the students are all fairly well-behaved."

Duanmu Ci handed his briefcase to Bu Tongxun, then asked while changing his slippers, "Do you have anything planned for today? If not, let's eat first."

Bu Tongxun replied, "Yes."

Duanmu Ci was taken aback. He had only asked casually, but he hadn't expected there to be a real reason. "What is it?"

Bu Tongxun turned around and placed her briefcase on the coffee table, then picked up an invitation. "This was personally delivered by Tang Ke this morning. He said it was his grandfather's birthday and asked you to attend. Since the gentleman wasn't there, I accepted it on his behalf."

Duanmu Ci said "Oh," then paced to sit on the sofa and asked, "Tell me, should I go?"

“Of course we should go!” Bu Tongxun answered without hesitation. “The Tang family is a leader in Haishan’s business sector and has a reputation throughout the country. If we can be on good terms with the Tang family, it will be very beneficial for our family to expand its presence in the country.”

The family she was referring to was, of course, the Duanmu family.

Duanmu Ci opened the bright red invitation card, which was printed with very polite words, such as "Father's birthday, please do not miss it," and it seemed to be an invitation issued in the name of the second generation of the Tang family. Then they attached the hotel address at the bottom of the invitation card.

"Hilton Hotel?"

“Yes,” Bu Tongxun said with a smile. “I remember last year the heir of the Hilton family made a special trip to Chicago to visit you, sir. Hmm… you even gave him a bottle of 1982 Lafite.”

"Yes, he later gave me a 1990 Patrus in return."

"Sir, you've lost out."

"Yes, we lost money, but that's not the real issue. The real issue is that I injected a large sum of money into the Hilton family's global hotel chain, helping them weather the financial crisis. If it weren't for my investment, at least 1,000 Hilton hotels worldwide would have gone out of business. That's why I'm now a major shareholder of Hilton Hotels."

"so……?"

"So I will go. The Tang family is holding a birthday banquet at the Hilton Hotel, it won't be a small affair, it's a super five-star hotel. I'm now a major shareholder of the hotel, why wouldn't I go to such a good opportunity to generate revenue for me?"

Bu Tongxun: "..." The adult's perspective on problems is indeed unique.

Duanmu Ci looked at the date of the birthday banquet and smiled, "This date is quite a coincidence, it falls on a Saturday, so I don't need to ask the academy for leave, and there's even less reason not to go."

...

...

The Tang family's birthday banquet is still a few days away, so there's no need to dwell on it too much. Now that the decision to attend has been made, the remaining issue is simply the gift: should it be an authentic work of Yan Zhenqing, a Northern Song Dynasty Duan inkstone, or something else entirely?

It really is a loss. A few days ago, we gave Tang Ke a valuable painting and calligraphy for this matter, and now we have to give him another gift. It seems like we're losing more than we gain. However, looking at Bu Tongxun's calculating expression, Duanmu Ci could roughly tell how much of the Tang family's wealth was about to be taken away.

So it seems... I shouldn't lose money.

Suddenly, Duanmu Ci thought of something and asked, "Do you have any way to become a member of the board of directors of Haishan University?"

Bu Tongxun hesitated for a moment, then said, "I don't think that will work. Haishan University is a public university, so it's impossible for it to have a board of directors. After all, the education systems in China and the West are different, and foreign practices won't work here. But why is your lord asking this?"

"It's nothing, I was just asking."

Of course, it wasn't just a casual question. Back when Duanmu Ci was studying at Harvard, the Duanmu family was a member of the Harvard University Board of Trustees, which made Duanmu Ci thrive at Harvard. Now that the landscape has changed, Duanmu Ci naturally wants to repeat the same trick and do it again.

It's a pity that public universities in China don't have institutions like board of directors, so naturally, they don't have such unscientific entities as board of directors.

Bu Tongxun thought for a moment and said, "But it's not entirely hopeless. Haishan University has 20,000 to 30,000 students and such a large campus, and its annual research projects cost a fortune. I'm sure the university welcomes external investment, otherwise they wouldn't have 'opened a back door' for you, sir, just for a building."

Does Haishan University have money?

Of course I have money.

As one of the top universities in China, the Ministry of Education allocates an astronomical amount of educational funding to Haishan University every year, and donations from society and alumni are also substantial. However, Haishan University is a large and well-off institution, and its spending always outpaces its income, especially recently with the government's tight budget and significantly reduced funding compared to previous years, making its situation even more difficult.

Duanmu Ci had obviously thought of this as well, "Then you should contact the school and try to gain some influence."

Striving for a sense of security in the places where he lives and operates is something Duanmu Ci has been doing for two thousand years. Guided by this principle, Duanmu Ci will do everything in his power to create a sense of security in his surroundings and will not allow anything out of his control to happen.

In ancient times, he would cultivate relationships with every local official in his area of ​​residence. In modern times, feeling the decline of China and its inability to provide a safe environment, and unwilling to wear a queue (traditional Manchu hairstyle), he went abroad. To create a sense of security abroad, he founded the Duanmu family.

Therefore, the Duanmu family, which appears incredibly mysterious to outsiders, was ultimately just something that Duanmu Ci accidentally created for a vague sense of security.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!