護花近衛 - 第4623章 業務暫停 - 翰墨軒

With the Central Merchants' Association rising so fast, Si Haitao, as the manager of its North Island branch, naturally saw his own status rise with the tide. Nowadays, at the Hong Merchants' Association's headquarters on Central Island, quite a few senior figures were proposing large-scale cooperation with the Central Merchants' Association, and to that end they were willing to whitewash Si Haitao's name. Profit ruled the day—it was an irresistible trend, and even Hong Zhong could not stop it.

Since the two sides had business dealings, Hong Zhong naturally would not go out of his way to make things difficult for Si Haitao. After all, he was a businessman who sought harmony for the sake of wealth; unless it was a blood feud that could never be reconciled, any other grievance could be set aside.

Strictly speaking, moreover, there had never been any direct conflict between him and Si Haitao. Back then Si Haitao had merely been blind enough to tease Shangguan Lan'er and Ning Xuefei—he had brought it all on himself, and none of it had anything to do with Hong Zhong.

"Well, well, if it isn't Manager Hong. What brings you to my door in person?" Seeing Hong Zhong enter, Si Haitao, lounging lazily in a grand chair on the second-floor corridor, greeted him from on high, a scantily clad woman in each arm. Neither was a peerless beauty, but both ranked among the finest.

He had been riding high of late. Though on the surface he was merely the manager of the Central Merchants' Association's North Island branch while Hong Zhong was vice president of the Hong Merchants' Association—a full rank above him—he had actually come to look down on Hong Zhong. The Central Merchants' Association was nothing but an expansion tool of the Center; before the Center, which held the sky in one hand, what did it matter that the Hong Merchants' Association was the second-largest merchant association on Cloud Terrace Island?

Of course, despite his contempt, Hong Zhong was still a figure of consequence, and Si Haitao would not go so far as to treat him too shabbily. After all, the business of his North Island branch had extensive dealings with the Hong Merchants' Association, and a souring of relations would do him no good.

"Manager Si, it has been some days. I trust you have been well." Hong Zhong gave a faint cupped-hand salute and a smile, seeming utterly unconcerned by the other's negligence. Si Haitao looked down on him, and he looked down on Si Haitao just as much. In his eyes Si Haitao was nothing but a petty man inflated by good fortune; had he not been lucky enough to board the ship of the Central Merchants' Association, heaven knew which potter's field this creature would have died in long ago.

But Hong Zhong's depth and cultivation were far beyond the likes of a mere Si Haitao. However much he despised the man in his heart, he could still make the other feel as though bathed in a spring breeze—that was the skill a true businessman ought to have.

"Tolerable enough. Eating what I please, drinking what I please, and best of all, beauty at my side—now that is what I call living. You look awfully lonely over there. Shall I give you one of mine?" Si Haitao laughed heartily.

Over the past two years he had spent considerable effort gathering beauties from every quarter and assembling a harem. Day in and day out he wallowed among them, drunk on life and lost in dreams—that was the pursuit of his existence.

And his superiors showed not the slightest displeasure at such conduct. So long as he completed his tasks on schedule, he could keep three thousand beauties in his harem and no one would come to interfere.