Tianyi was caught off guard by the news. Xiao Anjing rushed in with his phone, saying, "Look quickly, look at the cultural wall project Xie Zhendong is doing online. The opening ceremony for this project is so grand, they've surely got this in the bag."
"That's not necessarily true," Tianyi said without watching the video. "Competition in the business world is always changing, with variables every minute and second. No one can be sure until the very last moment."
"Then have you thought of any solutions?" Anjing was starting to lose his composure.
Tianyi looked at him and said, "The solution I've thought of is to first do what we need to do, without being influenced by the outside."
Anjing complained, "But what's the use of our best preparations? We'll just be cannon fodder during the bidding. The Xie family's strength is too great..."
"Have you forgotten what our goal was before?" Tianyi said calmly. "Didn't we say we would one day reclaim the building in Lancheng with the only golden spire? Although it's no longer the tallest building in Lancheng, it's proof of the Xiao family's most glorious times. If we can't even defeat opponents like Xie Zhendong, how can we achieve the acquisition of Ruihuang? Currently, the Huangfu family controls Lancheng's finance industry, which is even more powerful, mysterious, and low-key than the Xie family. Dealing with them will be even harder."
Anjing no longer dared to think about it. His past ambitions had been almost completely worn away by years in the business world. After having a wife and children, he lacked the drive to think and do anything he dared to.
"I thought you, like me, had long forgotten the ambitions we set when we first returned to Lancheng from abroad."
Tianyi's gaze was sharp as he said, "I haven't forgotten, never forgotten. It's just that our current strength is still not enough. Alright, let's not be affected by this matter anymore. Let's continue doing what we should be doing."
Anjing grunted and left his office without further complaint.
However, he remembered his maternal grandfather, who was impoverished abroad and, in his dying moments, held his hand and repeatedly entrusted him with the task of restoring the Xiao family's status in Lancheng's financial circles and reclaiming the financial building designed by his grandfather.
At that time, he was just a teenager. The Qin family had abandoned him abroad, claiming it was for his recovery, but in reality, they didn't want to bother with him and left him to fend for himself.
When his grandfather desperately needed money for medical treatment, he wanted to use the fund his mother had left him, but his grandfather absolutely refused, preferring to endure the pain himself. He repeatedly instructed that the money could only be used to revitalize the Xiao family.
In the end, his grandfather died in a foreign land due to the lack of proper treatment, suffering greatly.
Before his grandfather passed away, he had unhesitatingly agreed to his grandfather's entrustment, just to give him peace of mind. But later, he realized how difficult it was to fulfill that promise.
At that time, the descendants of the Xiao family had all scattered. Fortunately, Xiao Anjing's mother took good care of him, preventing his grandfather from having a more tragic death.
Xiao Anjing was present when he promised to fulfill his grandfather's entrustment. As a more legitimate descendant of the Xiao family than him, Xiao Anjing was initially even more passionate and cared more about the ambitions they had set.
He had also wavered, considered giving up, and even wanted to forget about it all.
Xiao Anjing's current situation was very similar to his own before, but this time, Xie Zhendong's provocation reignited the fighting spirit that had been hidden in his heart for a long time.
Now he felt that regardless of whether he ultimately succeeded, he couldn't stop. Staying true to one's original aspiration leads to fulfillment.
...
Early in the morning, Susu also went to the studio, no longer dwelling on Sophie's matter, using work to numb herself.
Due to all sorts of messy affairs recently, she hadn't done any proper design work for some time. Moreover, Sophie had left behind a mess of unfinished business and several clients in the studio. There was a lot to sort out.
She spent the morning completing Sophie's unfinished work. In fact, she understood Sophie's design style, as they had studied and collaborated together before. She thought that the fashion she ultimately designed would be similar to what Sophie wanted.
Just then, her phone rang. Seeing it was Gui Nan's number, she picked up and heard Gui Nan say that negotiations with the other party's lawyer were not going smoothly. Yu Wei was playing a game of evasion, trying to delay as much as possible.
Susu understood his meaning and didn't put pressure on him, telling him not to rush.
If Yu Wei was unwilling to negotiate directly and chose to stall, then they would go to court as he wished and resolve the matter through litigation.
Although it would be more troublesome, if the other party was too difficult to deal with, this was the only way.
After hanging up the phone, Susu felt a bit tired looking at the blueprints. She idly scrolled through the news on her phone and clicked on a video. It was about some project's launch ceremony, which she was initially going to scroll past.
But someone in the video caught her eye, and she saw Zhan Jiayi.
In front of a formal launch banner stood a row of men in formal attire. Zhan Jiayi, wearing a business suit, stood next to an older man, holding a rectangular briefcase.
Although she wasn't in the center, she was quite noticeable in the video.
Susu remembered that the last time she saw her, she was being supported and didn't need to work anymore.
But why would she appear at an important business event? The bag she was holding shouldn't be hers; it was clearly a men's briefcase, and she seemed to be holding it for the older man beside her.
Had she come out to look for work again, and was she working as a secretary or assistant?
Out of curiosity about Zhan Jiayi's situation, Susu searched online for information about the project.
She discovered it was a public welfare project, and the initiator was Xie Qining's father, Xie Zhendong. The man standing next to Zhan Jiayi was Xie Zhendong.
She hadn't expected Zhan Jiayi to go to work for the Xie family. Susu had heard a little from Tianyi. Because of Lan Yu's matter, they had caused Xie Qining to suffer a great setback. Now, Ao Xiang and the Xie family were not on good terms, and a fierce battle in the business world was inevitable.
It was too coincidental that Zhan Jiayi became Xie Zhendong's assistant at this time.
...
At the cultural wall project launch site, facing media reports, Zhan Jiayi followed Xie Zhendong around, her face aching from smiling.
Once everyone had left the site and gone to the pre-booked reception, she could finally relax and hide in a corner to drink a glass of champagne.
Having not worked in a while, she was a bit unaccustomed to such events. It would take some time to return to her previous state.
After becoming Xie Zhendong's woman, Zhan Jiayi had also realized that she couldn't do nothing anymore, like a caged bird waiting for her sugar daddy's call.
She still wanted to have her own job, like before. At least it wouldn't be so boring and empty, and she wouldn't be looked down upon by these high-and-mighty men.
She had given Xie Zhendong extreme pleasure and made only one request: to find her a job.
Xie Zhendong readily agreed and, without any hesitation, made her one of his assistants.