Unlike the smaller lounges on the second floor, the lounges on the third floor are more like presidential suites, offering greater comfort, luxury, and privacy, with each person having their own private room.
The banquet was about to begin.
The three shareholders in the room looked at each other.
After a long while, one of the shareholders finally spoke up: "This... why are there only three of us today? Where are the others?"
"Have all those people switched sides to side with the old shareholders?"
The oldest of the three, and the shareholder who had been with his grandmother the longest, looked at the three people left in the room and suddenly realized something, letting out a helpless sigh.
In that instant, he seemed to have aged ten years.
Back when Grandma Zhou was in charge of the company, there weren't so many problems. Even if someone had ulterior motives, with Grandma Zhou as the pillar of the family, no one dared to jump on the stage and cause trouble.
Now that Grandma Zhou has fallen ill, all sorts of demons and monsters have come out to fight.
Looking at the three loyal people who remained on his side, the shareholder felt that he was really getting old and perhaps it was time to withdraw from this struggle.
"Let's go. Maybe after tonight, the Zhou Group will be defunct in name only, and we might have to change its name."
The shareholder stood up from the sofa, walked to the full-length mirror behind the door, straightened his suit, and prepared to go to the banquet with the other two.
At the same time, the old shareholder, who was waiting to take over, squinted and came out of the room, where he met the three people in the corridor.
The old shareholder greeted the three men with great enthusiasm: "You three have come at just the right time."
"You visited the old lady in the hospital a while ago, right? Although our Zhou Group has experienced some fluctuations in recent years, it is still the number one group in Luzhou City."
"Just by looking at the scale of this banquet, you can tell that as long as things stay stable at the top, the Zhou family won't fall."
"The old lady was in a coma for nearly four years, but she pulled through, didn't she?"
The other three shareholders frowned and sneered at the old shareholder's veiled implication, and did not want to talk to him.
The old shareholder was not angry at being ignored by the three.
The outcome is already decided; what's the point of just a few people making a futile effort?
Let these losers vent their anger; after tonight, they won't even have the chance to vent anymore.
The three men disdained to take the same elevator down as the old shareholder. After entering the elevator, they hurriedly pressed the close button, leaving the old shareholder alone outside.
When the old shareholder walked over slowly, he saw that the elevator doors had already closed, and a cold glint appeared on his smug face.
Have I been too lenient with these three stubborn old men?
Unlike the other three shareholders, the old shareholder took an elevator down alone. When he appeared in the banquet hall, he was surrounded by everyone.
The change of power within the Zhou Group had long been known to outsiders, who, knowing that the old shareholders now held great power, rushed forward to curry favor and offer toasts.
The three shareholders who came in earlier were left out in the cold.
It seemed that everyone already knew that the three of them were doomed, after all, these three had always sided with Aunt Zhou, and now that Aunt Zhou was still in the police station, it was unlikely that she would be able to get out.
With this change in power, no one dared to step forward and speak to them.
"Ha, how opportunistic."
One of the shareholders snorted coldly, his face extremely ugly, but because he was in a public place, he had to suppress his anger.
If he had known he would be treated like this today, he wouldn't have come.
The other two shareholders were also very angry, but they suppressed their anger and whispered words of comfort to the angry shareholder.
The three of them found a secluded corner to sit down and saw that not only were there guests from outside, but also senior and middle-level managers of the Zhou Group going to the old shareholders one after another to make their faces known.
The scene was infuriating, so the three of them only stayed in the banquet hall for a short while before going to the garden outside for some fresh air, hoping to avoid seeing it.
In another corner of the banquet hall, Su Qingjiao was surrounded by her classmates, who were like stars around her.
What they saw was the upper class, and their composure in every gesture amazed and intimidated the students who had only managed to get in thanks to Su Qingjiao.
They had never been to such a grand occasion before, and were afraid that if they did something wrong, they would be ridiculed, so they became even more cautious.
One of the students looked on with envy and asked curiously:
"What a luxurious hotel! So much food, all free! Miss, just setting up a hotel like this must have cost no less than two million."
Hearing his naive and unsophisticated manner, one of his classmates burst out laughing: "You're seriously underestimating the Zhou Group's financial power!"
"Pfft, two million? That's probably not even enough to book the whole place."
"I estimate it will cost at least tens of millions."
Su Qingjiao waved her hand, and immediately a waiter in a tuxedo came over. Su Qingjiao picked up a glass of red wine from the waiter's tray and gently swirled it, her demeanor as composed as could be.
Unlike her classmates who sat upright and serious with their teachers, she leaned back on the sofa with her legs crossed, her body slightly tilted to the side, in an extremely relaxed posture.
Then, taking a sip of red wine, he smiled and said, "The Zhou family's budget for the annual Zhou family celebration is no less than 200 million."
After explaining the budget to them...
A collective gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd.
"My God, two hundred million! Even if I didn't eat or drink, I couldn't earn two hundred million even if I lived from the Qin Dynasty to the present day."
"Am I hearing Chinese? Two hundred million? Haha, I only have Tiandi Bank."
"As expected of the Zhou family, they are truly arrogant."
The teacher sitting to the side mentally hypnotized himself dozens of times: I am a teacher, I cannot appear ignorant and naive in front of my students.
But upon hearing the figure of two hundred million, his usually tense face finally broke down.
"Hiss... The budget for such a grand celebration is actually two hundred million?" The teacher quickly composed himself and walked up to Su Qingjiao: "Su Qingjiao, I wonder if your parents have arrived yet?"
"I'd like to talk to your parents about the school donation."
The teacher coughed, trying to make his voice sound less weak.
I just approached several company executives to discuss the donation, but they all politely declined.
After being rejected by several people, the teacher was discouraged and had no choice but to swallow her pride and approach Su Qingjiao.
Amidst the overwhelming praise, this discordant voice was inserted. Su Qingjiao inwardly resented her teacher for spoiling her mood, but she couldn't show any displeasure on her face.
She opened her mouth as if to speak, but her eyes suddenly sharpened as she looked into the distance.
Seeing that Su Qingjiao remained silent, the others followed her gaze.
A man in his fifties or sixties was walking this way, and people kept toasting him along the way, making him look like the host of the banquet.
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