Shortly after the birthday banquet, Tao Rui visited Mr. Jiang with his "treasured tea".
One advantage of living long is that you know a little bit about everything, and if you have a little interest in something, your understanding will be even deeper.
This is the case with Tao Rui's attitude towards the tea ceremony. In the ancient world, he was not allowed to drink beverages such as coffee, so of course he tried his best to make tea taste better, and by the way, he also became good at it.
Tao Rui and Old Master Jiang sat in their study, the air filled with the aroma of tea. The warm jade cups filled with clear tea, a sip of which was a pure enjoyment for both body and soul. Old Master Jiang was enjoying it.
He squinted his eyes, savoring the tea in his mouth and letting out a long sigh. "Good tea, truly good tea." Old Master Jiang opened his eyes and looked at Tao Rui, asking, "Where did you get such good tea, Xiao Rui? Could you tell me?"
Tao Rui smiled and said, "It was given to me by an old friend. I've treasured it for a long time and I'm reluctant to part with it."
"Old friend" simply means he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. Old Master Jiang didn't ask any more questions, but instead asked, "If you're reluctant to part with it, why would you give it to an old man like me?"
Tao Rui leaned back on the sofa and smiled. "Mr. Jiang, I'm familiar with Jiang Hua. Jiang Hua's grandfather is my elder. I learned you enjoy tea, and I happen to have some rare tea, so naturally I wanted to bring it to you to try. It's fate, really. The first time I met up with friends after returning to China was at Jiang Hua's club. Jiang Hua is a great guy, and he runs the club very well."
Old Master Jiang snorted, "This brat, I told him to come to the company and learn how to do things, but he went off to open a club and just had fun all day."
"That's not what I saw. Jiang Hua has a wide circle of friends. Among our generation, if we talk about who has the best relationships in this circle, it has to be Jiang Hua. There are many clubs, but if you want to say that everyone can feel safe and no one dares to cause trouble, it's only Jiang Hua's. Even those with lower status don't have a way to get in."
Old Master Jiang looked at him with some surprise, "You think highly of Xiaohua. It seems that you have a very good relationship."
"Of course, I always like to make friends with smart and capable people." Tao Rui smiled, poured tea for Old Man Jiang, and said meaningfully, "Jiang Hua usually likes to play, but he has always been the one who has the final say and has never been taken advantage of by others. This alone is very admirable."
This remark touched Old Master Jiang. He was actually quite annoyed by the way his sons and grandsons fought for power. Otherwise, they wouldn't have clung to power so tightly at such an old age. He simply couldn't see which of them was more capable of overpowering the others. If power were truly handed over to one of them, the Jiang family would surely decline.
He usually paid more attention to his children and grandchildren, who were fighting over things, and rarely paid attention to his spoiled grandson. He only occasionally heard about what the grandson had done, but it was usually just some playful things. Other than that, the grandson was very filial and would always find some good things to give him.
Now that Tao Rui had said this, he felt that he had neglected this grandson. If he could play to this extent, it also indirectly demonstrated Jiang Hua's ability. Perhaps he should pay more attention to this grandson, but...
He looked at Tao Rui and smiled, "Compared to you, Jiang Hua is still a little young."
Tao Rui smiled but said nothing. It would be pointless to be so secretive in front of the old fox. He mentioned Jiang Hua to get closer to Old Man Jiang, and also to show that with his relationship with Jiang Hua, there would be many opportunities for cooperation between the Jiang and Li families in the future. One more friend means more stability, which is a good thing.
Furthermore, Jiang Hua never let anyone take advantage of him, but instead allowed Tao Rui to find a breakthrough, giving him the opportunity to gain Old Master Jiang's attention. This showed that Tao Rui was more capable than Jiang Hua. Regardless, Old Master Jiang was happy to have such a friend, much better than those other insignificant friends. At the same time, Jiang Hua's recognition from Tao Rui was something Old Master Jiang was proud of and happy about.
So, Mr. Jiang and Tao Rui were quite happy chatting. He also knew that Tao Rui had come here at a time when he was looking for a partner, not earlier or later, precisely for that project. So, without beating around the bush, he said directly, "The Li family is very qualified. If the previous chairman was still around, I would have sought a partnership with them without hesitation. But the current chairman is indeed too young and inexperienced. I think you should understand."
Tao Rui nodded. "I wonder if Mr. Jiang has heard the news. The Zhou family has been a little bit unstable recently. The heir of the Zhou family had a minor accident two years ago. Recently, Mr. Zhou has paid more attention to his youngest son..."
Before Tao Rui could finish, Old Master Jiang waved his hand and said with a smile, "You think they'll cause chaos? No, the Zhou family's eldest son is from the original wife. That child's grandfather and uncle are in politics, so they have his backers without having to do anything. The later one has always lived in peace. At most, they want to train the younger one to prevent the eldest brother from being unwilling to take care of his half-brother in the future."
Tao Rui smiled and said, "Mr. Jiang, have you ever noticed that the eldest son of the Zhou family has never had any offspring? And why did he inexplicably get into an accident back then?"
Old Master Jiang's pupils suddenly shrank and his expression changed abruptly.
The direction of Tao Rui's words was too obvious. He was clearly saying that the younger son of the Zhou family had harmed the older son and made him unable to have children.
What does it mean for such a large enterprise that the heir is unable to have children? It means that those in power will definitely consider others. But what if this person is the perpetrator? Furthermore, the victim has powerful backers. If Tao Rui knew about this, then the Zhou family would definitely know too. Even if they don't know now, Tao Rui can leak the news later.
If this news is true, then the cooperation between the Jiang family and the Zhou family started for three years. During this period, the chaos in the Zhou family will inevitably affect the Jiang family. Maybe the two sons of the Zhou family will both suffer losses, causing the Zhou family to withdraw from the top families. Then the Jiang family will definitely be implicated and suffer heavy losses.
The Zhou family was a partner that Old Master Jiang had almost confirmed. He had no choice but to take it seriously. He sat up straight, stared at Tao Rui, and asked, "How did you know this?"
Tao Rui shrugged. "You know, besides painting, I spend all day making more friends. I want to integrate into this circle as quickly as possible. With so many friends, it's inevitable that I know more than others."
It sounded so simple, but actually trying to find out such secret information was no easy task. Old Master Jiang no longer had the heart to chat with Tao Rui. After asking him to leave, he immediately mobilized the Jiang family's forces to investigate the authenticity of the matter.
After knowing the truth, the investigation will be relatively simple. There is no wall that is impenetrable. Mr. Jiang soon became 60% sure that this matter was true.
For such a large project, he wouldn't dare bet on even 30% of it, let alone 60%. He couldn't bet on the entire Jiang family.
Old Master Jiang pondered for a long time in his study. Having given up on the Zhou family, he began to reevaluate the Li family. He learned a lot about Li Jiaxuan's situation since she took over the Li family, and he speculated more carefully about her future growth and Tao Rui's role in the Li family.
Today, Tao Rui was able to learn the Zhou family's secrets and break the cooperation between the Jiang and Zhou families. In the future, Tao Rui could do many other things. He had reason to believe that Tao Rui's friendships were not just for fun or to integrate into the circle, but to expand his own information network and collect information for the Li family.
News is very important to them and will affect their various judgments, just like he almost fell into trouble at the Zhou family this time.
Who is Tao Rui?
Elder Jiang couldn't just trust the Li family, so he sent people to investigate Tao Rui's past. Others interested in Tao Rui had also been investigating him. However, Tao Rui had erased almost all traces of his past since his time traveling through time, so no one could uncover anything. Instead, their investigations only made him seem even more mysterious.
Especially since he had such a wide network of contacts abroad, one can't help but wonder if he was also building an information network at that time. And how big was his information network?
Lack of understanding makes a mysterious person even more mysterious. Even if Old Master Jiang discovered Tao Rui's affairs with other women abroad, he would doubt any deeper meaning behind his actions, refusing to believe he was simply a gigolo. Just like now, he has begun to suspect Tao Rui of gradually gaining control of the Li family. This kind of thing has happened before, and it has nothing to do with him. He only needs to ensure that his partners can complete the cooperation well, that's all.
After several analyses, it was clear that the Li family's strength had taken a step forward under Old Man Jiang. This was not only because he knew Tao Rui was very strong, but also because Li Jiaxuan was no pushover.
So the sea fishing trip that Tao Rui had mentioned to Li Jiaxuan finally took place.
Old Master Jiang specially brought Jiang Hua along so that he could get to know his grandson better and see if his grandson and Tao Rui really had such a good relationship.
This was certainly true; Tao Rui did like to make friends with those who were powerful. Jiang Hua wasn't competing with his family simply because the time hadn't come yet, and he was avoiding the spotlight. He was actually quite clever, having already made many preparations. Tao Rui mentioned this to Old Man Jiang because Jiang Hua was about to make his move, and mentioning him now was a favor.
Tao Rui and Jiang Hua sat on the deck fishing. Jiang Hua adjusted his hat and said with a smile, "Thanks, brother. That's very natural."
Tao Rui caught a fish, looked back at the cabin, and said, "It's a win-win situation."
Jiang Hua also looked over. Through the glass, they could clearly see Old Man Jiang and Li Jiaxuan chatting happily. They had already clinked their glasses, indicating that the cooperation was a done deal. For the next three years, their two families would be partners.
Jiang Hua, meanwhile, was initially considering how to join his father and brother's fight in a more legitimate way without becoming a target. Unexpectedly, Tao Rui came to his rescue. This naturally drew the attention of the old man, prompting him to begin "disciplining" him. This way, he would superficially passively accept the old man's discipline, being brought back to the company to learn the ropes without alerting others.
Then after three years of cooperation between the two families, it is not certain who will dominate the Jiang family.
This was more than a win-win situation. Jiang Hua felt that perhaps he and the Li family could be partners for many years to come. He looked at Tao Rui, feeling incredibly fortunate to have taken the initiative to get to know Tao Rui after the race that day. Now it seemed like he had made a great acquaintance.
Although he still didn't understand why this noble man only liked to paint at home, was art really so fascinating?
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