The sound of her phone ringing woke Nicole from her sleep. Groggily, she reached for the device on her bedside table and glanced at the clock on its screen. It was three in the morning.
"Allô Martha," Nicole answered the call, speaking in French.
"Did I wake you up?" Came the reply, also in French.
"No, it's fine. I wasn't really asleep anyway," Nicole responded as she sat up from her bed.
For the past ten years, Xie Shan has been living in France. The beginning of her tragic journey was marked by a nerve injury caused by her step brother that ended her career as a professional athlete. As if that wasn't bad enough, she also found out that Wu Zhaoyi only approached her in order to seek revenge for his sister's death.
Luckily, at the lowest point in her life, she managed to get a job as a private swimming instructor for a wealthy family. However, just when things were looking up, her boss's wife passed away and he decided to return to his home country. Desperate, Xie Shan begged him to take her in, which then began her role as Ryan's personal assistant, now known as Nicole.
"I just wanted to let you know that I've emailed you the information you asked for."
Nicole quickly threw off the blanket covering her body and got out of the bed. "Wait a minute," She said then walked to the table where the small lamp was still on and the laptop was left open.
"Since you need it urgently, I just gathered some general information that might be useful for your meeting today." Martha commented, "And the rest is up to God and Luck."
Nicole quickly read through some of Martha's emails with her phone still on her ear, "It's okay. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future if I fail today."
Martha chuckled on the other end. "You always say that before going into an important meeting. But honestly, when have you ever failed?"
"That's because I've been lucky so far, but this time things are more complicated," Nicole admitted.
"Have you read my email about Lai Ting?" Martha asked.
Nicole closed some of the emails and started searching for the topic Martha was talking about.
"You can read all the information about Lai Ting later, but the thing I want to highlight is at the bottom." Hearing that, Nicole started scrolling through the emails until she finally came to the part Martha was talking about.
That's when her eyes caught a photo of a woman there. Which made her hand that was holding the phone unconsciously grip the object a little tighter.
"Can you believe it? Janice Huang is now the Sales Director at Lai Ting?"
Nicole could hear Martha's loud and clear sigh on the other end, as if she was the one who was betrayed by Janice, not her.
"That's great," She said. "I thought it would take a long time to help Mr. Yan. But, it seems like I can return to Paris sooner."
"Well, that's good to hear," Martha commented with more controlled emotion. "She was the one you trusted and relied on the most, but now she is no longer. Who would have imagined that one day, you and her would fight in the same arena? Even though my dog knows who will turn out as the winner."
A smile spread across Nicole's lips, "Any updates from Paris?"
"Nothing, everything is fine here. Just someone who's missing you very much," Martha replied playfully. "You need to come back soon or else I might just steal that person away from you."
A short laugh was heard from Nicole, followed by Martha on the other end. This short chat with her best friend apparently lightened the burden on her shoulders a little.
"I've sent you a gift as a good luck charm," Martha said.
Nicole pulled the phone away from her ear and opened the message Martha had sent. It was a photo of herself and a grown man smiling broadly. Seeing the gift, her mood immediately changed greatly and a bigger smile spread across her mouth.
"Thank you, Martha. I owe you a lot this time." Nicole said earnestly.
"Don't mind, remember I'll always be there for you."
In the end, it seemed fate didn't hate her that much.
***
For the past hour, the sound of the waves crashing against the pool had been noisy and chaotic. Water had splashed onto the upper deck where lounge chairs were lined up, wetting some parts of it. From afar, it might seem like there was a competition going on, but in reality, there was only one person swimming. However, his powerful movements caused a commotion and made it seem like a disaster had just occurred.
In fact, the conditions in that place exactly depict the mood and thoughts of the men there who were indeed in chaos. Even though he was almost out of breath and energy, adrenaline still forced his body to move. Because, he knew that when he stopped, his mind would be even more chaotic, making his emotions easily control him.
But, a few moments later he finally gave up and stopped at the last lap, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath while taking off his swimming goggles. After calming down enough, Zhaoyi then got out of the swimming pool and entered the changing room and turned on the shower. The cold water poured over his body from head to toe, but it's still unable to erase the image of that person in his mind.
The cell phone placed on the sink not far away rang once and made him immediately grab a towel to cover his body. On the screen, a message came in from an unknown number.
"Good morning Director Wu, I'm Nicole. I'm in front of your house."
His brows furrowed slightly, but a second later he immediately realized who the sender was. Glancing at the wall clock that showed six in the morning, Zhaoyi commented, "She's early." Then, according to the instructions in the text message, he quickly put on his clothes and left the house.
A black Rolls-Royce-style car was waiting for him with a male driver standing by the door. The driver greeted Zhaoyi respectfully and opened the passenger seat for him to get in.
On the other side of the seat, sat a woman dressed casually with an iPad and laptop in her hands who looked busy, she even did not glance at Zhaoyi at all. After a moment of hesitation, the man finally decided to get in and the door closed beside him. The driver then returned to his original front seat and the car began to drive through the Shanghai morning streets.
"Good Morning, Director Wu." Nicole greeted him with a slight bow, still busy with her work and not looking up at him. "Sorry for the sudden interruption. I just received information that Director Gai is in Shanghai and will be playing golf around here this morning."
Nicole handed her iPad to Zhaoyi. "Here's some information on Director Gai, you can take a look at it for a moment." She gave him some time to read before continuing, "As we discussed with Director Yan yesterday, I'll introduce you to each of the four Directors one by one. For today, we can start with Director Gai."
"Do you know him?"
Nicole was a little taken aback by Zhaoyi's response as he had been silent during their meeting yesterday and spoke only with a light hum. However, behind his silence, he kept giving Nicole an intense stare from the beginning to the end of the meeting. Maybe if Director Yan hadn't been there yesterday, she would have died on the spot because of that sharp and deadly stare.
"I've met him a few times," Nicole answered honestly. "Among the four of them, he is the most easygoing and can get close right away."
Nicole speaks from her experience, which she hopes will be the same for Zhaoyi. A few minutes later, as Nicole had expected, the distance from Zhaoyi's house to their destination was not too far and did not take long. In less than half an hour the car finally stopped at the lobby door of a modern classical style building and the driver in front informed them that they had arrived.
"Just treat him as an old friend, then he will treat you the same." Nicole suggested.
Zhaoyi then turned off the iPad screen in his hand and placed it on the passenger seat, "Looking at the time and our clothes, it seems like you don't plan to stay here for too long, right?" The man glanced at the watch on his hand and saw that the two of them were not dressed like people who wanted to play golf.
Nicole nodded her head once, "You're right. Then I'll bother Director Wu, to help us speed up the discussion and get approval from Director Gai before noon."
The woman's words hinted at something. Zhaoyi saw it as a test to prove his credibility and how much he really needed her help.
"Three hours," Zhao Yi exclaimed. "I will show you in three hours, I can get his support on Wei Sheng." Then the man got out of the car without looking back at all and went up the stairs to enter the main lobby.
Through the window on the side, Nicole stared at the man's back until he disappeared inside. "Then I can only wish you a good luck from here." She said quietly then asked the driver to park the car some distance away in a quiet place.
***
Wu Zhaoyi stepped through the lobby and looked around him at the somewhat quiet surroundings. Gongya Golf Club is the most luxurious private club in Shanghai nowadays, that only accepted their exclusive members to stay and play there. Looking at the decoration which tries to combine Western and Chinese culture, then using the best materials and handmade furniture from the famous crafter, it gives you totally different vibes to others club. But, the added value that's given the most prestige to that place is that they only accepted members through invitation, which also proved those people are not ordinary ones.
In terms of Zhaoyi allowed to enter there without any inspection, indicating that Nicole had arranged everything very well. On one side, Zhaoyi began to realize how powerful this woman is. Although in reality, maybe she has a much bigger influence than he could have imagined.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Zhaoyi began to take a walk around the places. His steps then stopped when he found an open space room without a door, where an old man was sitting on the couch alone while waiting for boiling water. Looking at the equipment and some stuff on the table, Zhaoyi could guess that the old man was brewing tea.
"I think that's not the right way to brew the tea, Director Gai." Zhaoyi's voice made the old man raise his face and turn towards him. "White tea is best left for twelve hours in a chiller, then served cold."
Director Gai heard this explanation with slightly furrowed brows as he stared at the doorway, "You are.."
The young man standing there bowed once and then introduced himself, "How are you, Director Gai. I am Wu Zhaoyi from Wei Sheng, nice to meet you."
Director Gai's voice lingered, as though he had suddenly recalled something important, "Right.. Right.. You are Wu Zhaoyi." He said with a cheerful and enthusiastic expression, "Come.. Come.. Sit there," Pointing his hand to the empty sofa in front of him, to invite the young man to sit down.
"Based on what you just said, it seems like I did something wrong, Director Wu?" Director Gai asked in a somewhat joking voice.
There was a faint smile on the lips of the young man wearing a black turtleneck and white leather jacket, "It's just because I have been drinking this tea for almost my whole life."
Director Gai's eyes widened, "Really?"
Zhaoyi nodded his head in confirmation, "Because my grandma is coming from Fujian province, where you can easily find this white tea. Also, I grew up by living with her until junior high school."
Director Gai's surprised voice came, "I thought you were growing up in Shanghai together with your parents."
The young man shook his head, "No. I stayed in that small village until I got a call from Chinese national team." Zhaoyi tried to summarize his life story as briefly as possible, to answer Director Gai's curiosity, "Didn't Director Gai's family also come from Fujian?"
Director Gai's low laughter was heard, "My dad is coming from Fujian, but he has already moved to Europe since he was young. Which I also grew up abroad and just came back here for retirement."
Zhaoyi nodded his head several times, as if he finally understood why he had only heard the name of the person in front of him in the past few years. "Then, if you mind, I will accompany Director Gai drinking this tea from now on."
The man in his sixties and white hair smiled broadly with his eyes shining. "Can I? It will be my pleasure, Director Wu."
Zhaoyi shook his head gently, "Pleasure should be on me, Director Gai."
There was the same laugh again from the old man, which made the atmosphere warm and full of nostalgia. The Nicole's words came back to Zhaoyi's head, the way to treat Director Gai is like how you treat your old friend.
"I have admired you since a long time, Director Wu. As an athlete and as Wei Sheng's Director, which I hope you will keep upholding the essence of your company as you go forward." Director Gai's said sincerely, "Also becoming a good example for young people and next generation to create something that is beneficial for human life, not only because it's profitable in business aspect."
Realizing that Director Gai could see through his intention, Zhaoyi chose to speak honestly. "Asking a company to have such pure motivation will be a challenging task, Director Gai. Because, we are different from charity or non-profitable organizations from the start. But, one thing I can assure you is we plan to do this for a long time and with one mindset, which is to maintain the Trust from our customers and be a Good Governance to our staff."
Director Gai stayed in place and looked at the young man in front of him seriously.
"One, matching the quality and trust is essential. No one will risk money to buy something if they can't trust the company to provide them with high quality products. Trust is built through careful curation and we know this very well." There was a brief pause before Zhaoyi continued his words, "Two, Good Governance. This is all about creating good rules to increase value and enhance growth for our company. Like all healthy communities, there is a need to be rules protecting the members of the community. The wrong kind of rules, however, can alienate people."
Zhaoyi finished his explanation there, not expecting to go deeper or more detailed about his company value in that short amount of the time, "That's a few things I can promise that Wei Sheng will keep doing, Director Xiu."
***