Another room within the starport.
The Hurricane Conglomerate's chairman, Feng Weihao, held aloft a glass of costly strong liquor, his gaze fixed on that display stand out in the open-air exhibition hall where the most people had gathered. There, projected, was a newest-model T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer. One could see several dozen young women of blooming years, dressed in provocative attire, within the stand, talking over this warship's performance and related information with people of every sort of standing come from all across the Empire.
"Little Wei, over these next few days you go and inspect those 30 T2 Hyenas we brought, and make certain every module and system is without any problem whatsoever. The Empire's side may, when the time comes, require a test-sail and an inspection of the sample ships. There absolutely must not be any slip!" Feng Weihao looked at Feng Xiaowei behind him, who was fiddling away without pause at the virtual screen before him.
Feng Xiaowei's two eyes were fixed on the beauty after beauty of information on the virtual screen; at a chance for a gathering like this, this young master of the Hurricane Conglomerate had a beauty-hunting opportunity he simply had to seize hold of.
"Dad, these past few days I've already checked over those T2 Hyenas top to bottom several times; I've as good as licked every one of our warships all over, inside and out. If you ask me, you're just fretting over nothing. This procurement order is definitely going to be our Hurricane Conglomerate's — that much is a stone-cold certainty. You tell me, of all those trash ships, which one can't be beaten? Which one can hold a candle to our T2 Hyena? Even the people from the procurement committee have already sounded you out several times, wanting you to lower the price when the time comes — isn't that plainly showing that our T2 Hyena is the pre-appointed ship for this procurement order!" Feng Xiaowei said with the utmost assurance.
Beside them, Feng Dawei, though he looked down on his younger brother, likewise said confidently, "Dad, though careful sailing keeps a ship afloat ten thousand years, this time I've personally seen to every joint of the thing myself; no problem is going to arise."
Feng Dawei was himself a graduate of the ship-engineering profession; young though he was, in this field he could well be called a genius!
"It's not that I'm being overcautious — it's that this procurement order truly is of the greatest importance to our Hurricane Conglomerate. Our funds just now are all piled up on those two T3-warship R&D projects; if we can't carry off this procurement order this time, then our capital chain may well snap. It could even cause both R&D projects to miscarry. This time our Hurricane Conglomerate is truly gambling — gambling on whether we can seize hold of this moment on the crest of the wind, and truly become a core power of the Starlight Empire!" Feng Weihao said in a low, heavy voice.
Feng Xiaowei walked up before his father and laid a hand straight on his father's shoulder. "Just tuck your worries away in your belly and rest easy. I'd say you've simply been too worn out these days. You pick one out — whichever you fancy — and I'll have her sent to your room when the time comes; I absolutely won't tell Mom." Feng Xiaowei, a wicked grin on his face, pointed at his virtual screen full of all manner of girls' photographs.
"What rot are you talking!" Feng Weihao slapped Feng Xiaowei's hand away, then shot a glance at Feng Xiaowei's "resources." "The usual will do."
"Heh heh heh…" Feng Xiaowei grinned and looked over at his elder brother behind him. "Big bro, and you? Still the usual — get you a mature woman with a bit of lingering charm to her?"
Feng Dawei gave a cold snort and paid Feng Xiaowei no mind.
Just now, these three — father and sons — did not yet know they were celebrating far too early. The man they'd once regarded as a mere ant had long since laid out a game for them.
……
Three days later.
Zhao Chen and his party, turned out in full dress, walked into a place of resplendent, gold-and-jade magnificence — a banquet venue with, all told, some 200 or 300 people. It presented three ring-shaped tiers, rising from the outer edge toward the center. On the outer ring were, for the most part, minor nobles of the various star-domains, or parts-and-components suppliers along the ship-manufacturing chain — folk hoping only to see whether there might be, in this procurement, some chance at a sip of the soup, or a warship after their own hearts. The nearer the center of the venue, the more illustrious the standing.
The banquet venue played music from who-knew-where; though it had no lyrics, listening to it gave one a soothing, lilting sort of feeling.
"How is it you keep glancing this way and that?" Zhao Chen looked at Zhao Wan'er beside him, dressed in a light-blue formal gown.
Zhao Wan'er smiled mysteriously. "You'll know in a bit."
Zhao Chen paid Zhao Wan'er no mind and set to sizing up Chu Xuan beside him — a purple full-length evening gown, her long hair draped over her shoulders, her fragrant shoulders and fair neck laid bare. It had to be said, Chu Xuan's looks were among the very first rank of all the women Zhao Chen had seen — above all that temperament in her very bones, like a Valkyrie, which lent her a charm all its own.
And just then, Chu Xuan took it upon herself to link her arm through Zhao Chen's; Zhao Chen felt that trace of softness against his arm and, somewhat surprised, looked at the faintly blushing Chu Xuan.
Chu Xuan said in a low voice, "Don't misunderstand… this is what my grandfather told me before we set out — that at an occasion like this I must strike this sort of pose. This is… this is a kind of protection for you!"
"Ohh, ohh, ohh…" Zhao Chen wore an I-understand sort of expression, but for some reason drew out the tail of the sound rather long.
As Zhao Chen stepped into this place, no few of the female guests' eyes ran over him in appraisal too. Perhaps they didn't know Zhao Chen, but they surely knew the eldest miss of the Chu family. And the young man who could appear at the Chu family's eldest miss's side — who else could he be but that hero who'd been riding so high in the limelight half a year ago! Now, seeing this hero, all the more did they sigh their admiration. Dressed in attire resembling a military uniform, his whole person set off with masculine vigor to spare, his handsome face all clean angles and edges. And at an age barely past 20, the aura about him yielded not one bit to those generals within the Empire's military. His devastating effect upon those female guests could well be called total!
"Wan'er."
Zhao Chen heard someone calling out Wan'er's name. In a place like this, there was someone else who knew Wan'er? Could it be Big Sis? Recalling Zhao Wan'er's mysterious expression a moment ago — could it be that Big Sis had contacted Zhao Wan'er in private? Zhao Chen looked over, somewhat expectant and curious — only to see two figures, one tall and one short, one big and one small. A familiar willowy build, a familiar twin-tailed little loli. Su Lan and Xue Xiaoxiao.
"How are the two of you here?" Zhao Chen was somewhat surprised; he looked at Zhao Wan'er's happy expression beside him — by the look of it, that so-called "surprise" was this reunion of her circle of close friends.
"Miss Chu Xuan; junior Zhao Chen." Su Lan greeted Chu Xuan and Zhao Chen. Chu Xuan knew Su Lan and the others as well, and answered with a smile.
Facing Zhao Chen's puzzlement, Su Lan explained, "Our Su family was invited too, so I just came along."
"I happened to have an invitation myself — I heard you could see lots of big cannons here! So I came along, and I never thought I'd run into senior Su Lan and Wan'er!" Xue Xiaoxiao said happily off to the side. And then she couldn't help pulling Zhao Wan'er over to chatter away about all the big cannons she'd seen these past few days — how this one's caliber was large, this one's power was fierce, this one could telescope, this one had a long range, and so on.
"But turning it over and over in my head, they all seem to lack a bit of flavor, somehow. I still like your brother's T3 Blizzard bow cannon the best of all!" Xue Xiaoxiao muttered.