The time was 10:05 AM.
The sunlight overhead already carried a scorching heat.
Even though the path was still lined with splendid blooms and surrounded by shady green trees, the mood of the group of four had shifted from relaxed anticipation to a certain solemnity and silence.
The noisy magpies that had been chattering incessantly in the branches had flown away, and the colorful koi in the pond below the rockery had sunk to the bottom, out of sight.
The man named Wu Chao, wearing black-framed glasses, eventually lost his patience and said with a barely concealed annoyance,
"Mr. Wang, what exactly does that Chu junior mean? He neither discussed the contract with us nor haggled over the price.
The documents we spent two days preparing... he glanced at them for all of two seconds, at most... Does he just have no intention of investing and is deliberately toying with us?"
