7 PM, Mingjing Building
When Hong Dali's fleet of luxury cars pulled up at the square in front of Mingjing Building, the entrance to Mingjing Building was clear of any unrelated idlers. The parking lot was filled with all kinds of cars, their cost ranging from 200,000 to millions of yuan. The security guard patrolled back and forth, armed with an electric baton. The place was heavily guarded, and any suspicious person was questioned immediately. People who did not know would think that someone important was coming to inspect.
Once the cars came to a halt, people rolled out the carpet, followed by a few beautiful ladies donned in high-slit cheongsams. They stood in a straight line along each side of the carpet. When Hong Dali and Tang Muxin alighted the car, the beautiful ladies bowed 90 degrees to them and spoke in unison, "Welcome." No matter where Hong Dali looked, all he saw were the ladies' bare skin glistening. As he trembled, Hong Dali almost thought he had arrived at some high-cla.s.s social club in Dongguan city.
As they pa.s.sed the beautiful ladies, they were faced with reporters from more than ten news media. Hong Dali was giddy with the camera flashes flas.h.i.+ng nonstop like lightning.
"Are you trying to murder someone?" Others were afraid that when it was them, there were not enough flashes from the camera. But Hong Dali was fuming. "I'm not a star. Stop taking pictures of me! If you continue, do you believe I'll show you how the flowers turned red 1 ?!"
The nine lackeys cleared the path in an imposing manner, short of hitting someone with a brick. A group of reporters saw that they were getting upset and quickly turned off their cameras. If anything happened to their cameras, they would have come for nothing.
It was finally quiet. Hong Dali muttered, "What kind of lousy c.o.c.ktail party requires such publicity? Is that old fool Liu Mingxin trying to bluff me?"
While he spoke, Tang Muxin suddenly exclaimed and tugged at Hong Dali's arm twice. She pointed at a luxury sports car driving in and excitedly said, "I know that car! It belongs to the superstar Tai Yajing!"
Hong Dali replied uninterested, "Oh. It's just a celebrity, see how excited you got. Our Sister Nianwei is also a superstar. I don't see you being so excited to see her?"
Tang Muxin eagerly said, "Tai Yajing used to be my idol. I used to like her so much, she was so beautiful! She sings well too, and she was in several movies. Those movies all did quite well."
Hong Dali shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, it seems like she's here to attend this charity dinner. Do you want to go get her signature?"
Tang Muxin's eyes brightened at once. "Signature! I almost forgot. I'll go upstairs to ask for her signature later!"
Really… Hong Dali muttered, "I've never seen you in this manner before."
Tang Muxin coyly said, "Everyone had an idol in their childhood. I had one too. Didn't you have one?"
Hong Dali gaped as he spoke, "I… Alright, I had one too."
Having spent such a long time in this world, Hong Dali was experienced with scenes like this. He didn't care much about this charity dinner.
That was human nature. Circ.u.mstances would affect people's view. Hong Dali walked past the two statues of three meters tall red jade lions at home every day. Naturally, he would not be shocked by a situation like this.
Disregarding the reporters, Hong Dali and Tang Muxin went upstairs with the driver and his 9 lackeys. The welcoming staff could tell that Hong Dali was an affluent young master from his entourage and did not dare to block them. Not to mention ask for the invitation card. They led them to the elevator which brought them straight to the event hall on level 26.
The elevator arrived promptly at level 26. As its doors slowly opened, what greeted them were at least 20 men and women holding video recorders, cameras, audio recorders, and microphones who immediately started filming and recording once they saw them.
Hong Dali held up his hand to s.h.i.+eld Tang Muxin's and his' eyes. When the sounds of shutters stopped, he opened his eyes and clenched his teeth while ordering the lackeys. "Go!"
The male lackey ferociously marched towards a reporter who was still trying to squeeze his way to the front. He barked at him. "What are you filming? Do you even know who we are before you start to film?"
It was only then that the reporter came to his senses and realized he was filming the wrong person. "You are…"
The male lackey said, "This is our young master and young madam. Do you know now?"
The reporter shook his head and wondered who claimed himself to be a young master in that tone. "No… I don't know."
The male lackey raised his hand and pushed the reporter, causing him to stumble to the ground. "You lived in vain!"
Hitting a reporter? That was big news. The other reporters rushed to take photos to make the headlines, but the lackeys were quick to stop them. Hong Dali took Tang Muxin and walked into the event hall with their heads up and chests out. He did not forget to snap his fingers while saying, "Good job. Twenty thousand yuan tip for you!"
The lackey who pushed the reporter hurriedly thanked him. "Thank you, Young Master, for the tip!"
The reporters were stunned to hear about the 20,000 tip. Hong Dali knew to apply the principle of the carrot and stick approach. He sniffed and said while he continued walking, "Xiaoyi, tell them. Those who delete the photos will be tipped 5,000 yuan each."
In an instant, the reporters deleted all the photos of Hong Dali and his entourage!
That's right. This is how it is like for a great prodigal's son! Hong Dali had come with the intention of getting the others to let their guard down. Hence, it was best for him to appear like an arrogant wastrel. The lackeys had understood Hong Dali's intention before arriving at the event hall and did their best to play along. When they arrived at the door of the event hall, the hostess asked to see the invitation card, to which Hong Dali directly replied, "No."
The hostess was full of cold sweat. She looked at the fierce-looking lackeys and instinctively felt that if she dared to say no, she would definitely be dragged away to G.o.d-knows-where and what they would do to her. In consideration of her life and safety, she bowed immediately and said, "I'm sorry, Sir. I did not see anything."
Hong Dali snapped his fingers and said, "Um, not bad. Five thousand."
A male lackey promptly took out a stack of notes, counted them, and stuffed them into the hostess' hands. "A tip to soothe your nerves."
While the hostess was in a state of shock, Hong Dali and his entourage walked in.
Finally, they arrived at the event hall on level 26 without any mishaps.
In all honestly, Hong Dali had experienced and seen events of such a big scale. But even he was made aware of the luxurious setting of the event hall.
Thousands of square meters in area, exquisite paintings on top of a Basilicstyle arch. Eighteen chandeliers, each with 6 tiers in the shape of an inverted pyramid and encrusted with many small bulbs. It was simply beautiful and luxurious.
The most amazing thing was the marble flooring that looked like it was waxed multiple times. Hong Dali unknowingly looked down and was extremely pleased with it. "Hm, it's white."