After listing to discussions with those present for twenty minutes, Hou Yi asked if everyone could leave the room for a few minutes for him, Yao Tan, King, Snake and Lion to speak.

Once the door was shut, Hou Yi turned to King and said, "What is behind the change in att.i.tude?"

Pointing to Hou Yi and then Yao Tan, King responded "Your wives. They came under the guise of a business meeting, and effectively told me to grow up along with a few other home truths. And they were right. Time is too short, and with your wife expecting Toff she does not need problems with our relations.h.i.+p effecting her."

King paused and looked at Hou Yi, before continuing "Toff, I know you do not trust me, and always have just tolerated me. We know why, as I know you do not trust me business wise given my past. I have never hidden that, but my wife, a childhood friend for both of you, made me, and everyone else in the end change our ways. As we said, there are sound business reasons and you know that like Hou Enterprises in property developments we are environmentally conscious, somewhat more so than you. There are huge long-term benefits in being environmentally conscious in developments."

"But there is another reason behind this proposal, and we do know that neither of you are that stupid. It was obvious that we could not be involved in your joint venture. There was never a reason for us to be involved. That is clearly aimed at Lu Corporation and given what happened to our princess we want to be involved in taking it down as much as we can, to minimise the ability for Lu Jingho to escape responsibility for his actions."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"The money they get from Studio City, contributes significantly to their profit and is allowing that idiot to escape responsibility. While it might not stop him now, the benefit is that in the longer term it will end up undermining profits for them, and his ability to get money out of the company. Petty revenge for what he has been involved in and the hurt he has inflicted on our princess, but something we can do."

Yao Tan turned and said "Yi, it makes sense. Hou Enterprises additional land is not enough to dramatically expand what is needed for the joint venture let alone for you making profits out of it. We have been flagging the need to take some projects away from Studio City due to the lack of s.p.a.ce. I must admit, from a user of the facilities perspective it sounds tempting, and more importantly the longer-term benefit is squeezing Lu Corporation's profits. That fits our goals. But it needs to be a decision in the best interest of Hou Enterprises, not the joint venture, me or anyone else. If it came to the board meeting for a decision, I would simply declare a conflict of interest and not vote."

After pausing for a few minutes, Hou Yi said "It sounds highly attractive, and I must admit that it is tempting to do it, but you all know that I am not stupid in business. Emotions can come in to play to drive actions but as you are aware for me it is about profits in the end. What I am willing to do, if you find it acceptable, and when everyone comes back in I will make it clear is sign a memorandum of understanding, on the basis that we receive a fully detailed proposal before we sign the agreement."

"We would not expect anything different from you Toff" came the response from Snake.

"And I would have said the same thing," added Lion.

With that, everyone was called back into the room, and a brief memorandum of understanding was signed, with the intention that the plans for the development would be finalised before the start of December. After the signing of the preliminary agreement, King, Snake and Lion all left, with a quiet promise to Yao Tan that they would catch up with him over the weekend.

Despite the distraction, everyone present focused on the real reason for the meeting. The announcement of the next project that the joint venture had taken from Lu Corporation's entertainment division. This one, was one that they had absolutely no idea had gone and based on the information that Yao Tan had they were still actively pursuing the deal, despite the contracts having been signed on Thursday last week. Once they had their plans finalised an email was sent for confirmation of the announcement tonight.