The next day, at the living room of the Zhou Family Villa.
Elder Zhou and Zhou Yuexi are seated in the living room waiting for the Zhangs to arrive. While the butler and the other servants were at the door, also waiting for the guests' arrival.
Old Man Zhou sat quietly in his wheelchair and would release short series of coughs every now and then, a maid near by to assist him. Zhou Yuexi on the other hand sat elegantly as the lady of the house, seeming calm and collected in the surface but her heart was racing as if ten horses were running in her chest.
Zhou Yuexi already know some information about her husband to be but she never personally met him so this visit is as nerve wracking as an exam she didn't review for.
Old Man Zhou noticed the uneasiness Zhou Yuexi felt. "Xiao Yue, relax. They're pretty nice people. Do I look like I would entrust your life to some ferocious beast? So calm down, that old man and grandson pair won't eat you alive.", he said as he chuckled lightly.
Zhou Yuexi then looked at her grandfather in disbelief. "Grandfather! You could still joke around like this?", she questioned to which her grandfather just answered with a light laugh.
"I just wanted you to calm your nerves down." Old Man Zhou said then coughed a few times. "Your fingers won't stop from tapping the sofa, I'm afraid it will have a hole in it any second now." Then he coughed a few more.
Agitation and worry surfaced on Zhou Yuexi's face, the latter more evident. "You're already like this but you still have the knack to make fun of me. Just a few moments later you'll find it hard to breath.", Zhou Yuexi said as she crossed her arms to her grandfather.
The old man didn't like being scolded but since this is how his granddaughter shows her concern for him, he doesn't take it to heart. "You see I'm already like this but you still have the knack to scold me. I'm so pitiful.", he said acting hurt.
Zhou Yuexi just sighed to the old man's antics.
Finally there was a sound of a car pulling over.
"Master, Elder Zhang has arrived.", the butler announced.
Zhou Yuexi then stood up as sign of respect to the guests as the lady of the household and went near the entrance. Followed by the old man who was wheeled by a maid.
Footsteps could be heard with the tapping sounds of a walking stick against the floor. The sound could be heard clearer by the passing seconds, along with it goes the fast beating of Zhou Yuexi's heart due to nervousness.
"Old Zhou, how are you? You look pretty alive to me. Are you sure you're sick?", Elder Zhang joked as soon as he saw his old friend.
"And you sound like you want a beating. Is this what I will get after not seeing you for years?" Elder Zhou countered his friend.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yuexi occasionally shot glances at the entrance then back at the two old friends who are happily conversing as if she's not there. She was looking for the grandson of Elder Zhang that her grandfather arranged to be her husband.
While Zhou Yuexi was spacing out, Elder Zhang finally noticed her. "Is this your granddaughter, old man?", the elderly man asked which caught the attention of Zhou Yuexi.
Zhou Yuexi bowed as a greeting to the elderly.
"Yes, you're right. This is my granddaughter Yuexi. Beautiful isn't she?", Old Man Zhou introduced.
"Yes, she is. She has good facial features and she's quite tall. An outstanding lady indeed.", Elder Zhang commented as he observed Zhou Yuexi. The elderly then turned to his friend. "I can see that she definitely took after her your wife."
"You... You're really asking for some beating aren't you?", the old man fumed. "But since you praised my Xiao Yue, I'll let you off."
"She's a stunning young lady. How old did you say she was?"
"Xiao Yue just turned 22 this year. She's quite young but rather capable for her age. She's not just beautiful physically, she's also got the brains and personality that goes with it."
"That's good. I really find her compatible with my grandson."
Zhou Yuexi felt hot in the cheeks hearing her grandfather brag about her. "Grandfather, why don't we let Elder Zhang have a seat first? I'll serve you some tea.", Zhou Yuexi offered trying to divert the conversation.
"Sure. Sure. Hey, old man have a seat... If you dare."
Zhou Yuexi just shook her head at her grandfather's antics as she lead Elder Zhang to the living room and served them tea.
"Hey old man, I don't see your grandson around. I thought you'd bring him with you."
"Well, there were some important emergency situations in the branch in Country J that he had to attend to so I'll just bring him over next time." Elder Zhang reasoned. "Maybe we can set a date for the kids to have dinner so they can get to know each other before they get married."
"Okay. We will do that."
...
Elder Zhang's visit ended after lunch. The elders picked the following Saturday to have their grandchildren meet.
"Grandfather I'll be going out. I have a meeting to attend to at 5 p.m. If ever it ends late, I'll just spend the night at my apartment then go back here tomorrow morning."
After hearing this, the look on the old man's face saddened. He loved having his only grandchild around but he didn't want to be a burden so all he could do was nod in agreement.
Zhou Yuexi then kissed her grandfather goodbye, then drove to her office.
Zhou Yuexi owns a real estate company named Empire Estates where she rivals her grandfather's company which is currently owned by the old geezers that took advantage of Elder Zhou's poor health. But aside from that, she has another investment company under the name Yueguang[1] Corporation where she hides her identity as CEO. It's not a big company, just a few employees to lessen the Zhou Yuexi's workload, and Ye Zixuan who maintains her identity as a secretary for Zhou Yuexi at Yueguang hidden as well. For Zhou Yuexi investing on various projects is just a hobby where she enhances her ability to judge whether a certain proposal is feasible or not.
When she arrived, her secretary, Ye Zixuan was already waiting for her at the entrance of the building.
Ye Zixuan related her reports to Zhou Yuexi as they rode Zhou Yuexi's personal elevator. "Ma'am, the Li Group of Companies sent their revised proposal for the land in City H. The Zhang Corporation also handed in a proposal for the same land."
"Put their proposals on my table, I'll review them after my meeting. What happened to the background checks I asked?"
As soon as the elevator doors opened, they went straight to Zhou Yuexi's office.
Ye Zixuan pointed out the stack of papers on Zhou Yuexi's desk. "They're already on your table beside the proposals. Also Mr. Zhang's secretary asked for a meeting with his boss regarding your investment in Azure Hotel."
Zhou Yuexi started reading the proposals from the two companies while listening to Ye Zixuan's report. "Reject it, tell them to just send us updates if there's a need for revision in our contract, which I highly doubt there is. Also, speaking of meeting, what time is Mr. Smith arriving?", Zhou Yuexi asked while flipping through the papers.
"His flight will land in 15 minutes. I already sent Chen Liang to escort Mr. Smith. Lin Zhongren from your grandfather's company also asked for an appointment with Mr. Smith but he declined." Zhou Yuexi snorted at what Ye Zixuan said.
She ridiculed her enemies in her mind. 'Those old geezers really think they could win against me because they're older than me. Ha! It's exactly because they're old that they can't win against this young and fresh brain.'
"Good. Of course he'll decline, with the proposal I sent him he won't even take a glimpse of any other proposals."
Zhou Yuexi finished reading the proposals from both Zhang Corporation and Li Group of Companies (LGC), marking the faults on the proposals with a red pen. The one from LGC looked as red as a tomato.
"Send these back to their companies. Keep a reminder never to take any proposal from LGC. They call that crap revised? Do they think I'll get blinded by the price they offered." Zhou Yuexi fumed as she massaged her temples. "Also tell the Zhang Corporation to revise the contract to how I noted in their proposal then have them send it to me by tomorrow so I can sign it immediately."