Chapter 701: Chapter 440: Boarding the Ship

Xu Liang nodded and casually asked, "Where are they?"

The words fell.

Hu Wei paused for a moment, then turned sideways.

When his broad body moved aside, a door on the wall behind him was revealed. The door was made of redwood, not solid, carved with patterns, the hollowed-out parts covered with glass.

Inside was arranged like a lounge, with a color TV, sofa, air conditioner, everything complete, and quite a bit of red wine.

Through the glass, you could clearly see a few people sitting on the sofa, smiling as they flattered each other and chatted idly.

Among them.

The people inside noticed Xu Liang’s gaze and smiled, nodding at him in greeting.

These were... the others getting ready to join the Cross Group!?

"Lawyer Xu, if you have time later you can get to know these people. Their connections and resources are excellent."

Hu Wei leaned in close to Xu Liang’s side, enthusiastically explaining.

He extended his hand and discreetly pointed at a middle-aged man in a suit. The man had a bit of a receding hairline, fat body and big belly.

"This is President Zhao, Zhao Feng, the chairman of Shifeng Bank. He’s got plenty of financial resources and cash in his hands."

"If you build a good relationship with him, it’ll be very beneficial for your own career."

Shifeng Bank?

Zhao Feng!?

Xu Liang paused. He’d heard of this bank. It didn’t belong to the official six major banks; it was private and relatively small in scale.

But however small the scale, it was still a bank, not some petty little corner shop or supermarket!

The cash inside and its financial channels... even if the seven top red-circle firms came together to feed off it, it would be enough for every firm to gorge themselves till oil dripped from their mouths.

And as the chairman of Shifeng Bank, Zhao Feng was naturally a dragon among men. The news constantly broadcast his positive image; even at drinking tables without him present, when people mentioned him, they still had to respectfully call him "Chairman Zhao"!

Only, at this moment, this so-called Chairman Zhao...

Xu Liang paused.

His gaze passed through the glass and fell on a little girl beside Zhao Feng.

This was... a very pretty girl, delicate like a doll, not very old, looking blank and innocent. She was currently standing obediently at Zhao Feng’s side. Zhao Feng wasn’t paying her any attention, just carrying on his conversations with the others.

Xu Liang narrowed his eyes slightly and suddenly asked:

"Who’s that girl?"

"Which one?"

Hu Wei was taken aback, turned his head and followed the direction he pointed. Seeing that girl, he laughed and said:

"That’s someone Chairman Zhao brought himself."

"Seems like she’s mixed-race... Mixed-race, you know, it’s usually hard to form a proper family, especially when her mother ran off and her father’s an irresponsible one."

"Chairman Zhao adopted her a few months ago. She usually stays at a welfare home, and he kept her there until bringing her on the ship this time..."

Brought himself...

Xu Liang’s brows furrowed as he silently watched.

In a daze, it seemed the girl inside also noticed the outside. She turned her head to look, just happening to meet Xu Liang’s eyes.

Then the girl showed a shy smile, like a flower bud about to bloom, then quickly hid again, occasionally peeking at Xu Liang from the corner.

Xu Liang shifted his gaze away.

And placed it on the others.

In the room, people could roughly be divided into two categories.

Namely, those wanting to join the Cross Group, and Zhao Feng and that girl as the other category.

Those wanting to join the Cross Group were both men and women. The people they had brought were fairly varied, mixed male and female, of different ages.

There were little boys, and there were teenagers.

"Lawyer Xu, if we count the time, we should be heading out soon."

Hu Wei suddenly glanced at his very expensive watch, then urged Xu Liang.

"You’d better pick one quickly."

"I’m telling you, this time I personally selected some for you based on those people’s tastes!"

As he spoke.

Hu Wei, without any attempt to hide it, pulled an album out of the drawer in the guest lounge.

He walked to Xu Liang’s side and opened the album.

"Look, these are the ones I prepared for you."

The album opened.

Revealing photos of some people not very old, both male and female, mostly female.

Their ages varied, spanning all sorts of young and middle-aged ranges.

The main thing was...

"They’re all vegetarians."

Hu Wei kindly reminded him.

"They fit the tastes on this ship. You can rest easy."

Although from the start he’d already guessed that this so-called "pledge of loyalty" had something to do with "people", but...

Fit the taste?

What the hell is that.

Xu Liang frowned, for a moment unable to make sense of it. After all, in principle, "taste" should be a detailed description of a pattern of similar traits within a small range.

But this album covered an extremely broad range, completely the opposite.

Of course, that wasn’t the key.

The key was...

He had no reason to let an innocent person get on the ship and take risks with him because of his own situation!

"How come that bald guy didn’t bring anyone?"

Xu Liang suddenly raised his head and looked back toward the lounge.

He saw a middle‑aged man with a huge belly and no visible neck, his face piled with a smile, chatting and laughing with Zhao Feng, while the space beside him was completely empty.

"You mean Mr. Wang? Mr. Wang also came with his own people."

Hu Wei only glanced over, then responded gently.

He didn’t know that Wang’s background either; Hu Wei guessed he must be some kind of invisible rich man, whose net worth was definitely no less than Wang Chenghua’s, maybe even far above his!

But the identity didn’t matter; he only needed to do his own job well.

"Who did he bring?" Xu Liang frowned.

Hu Wei said, "Mr. Wang brought his wife and daughter."

As his words fell.

Xu Liang paused for a moment, falling silent.

The wife and daughter both came... this guy’s pretty ruthless.

After a long while, Xu Liang pulled his thoughts back.

"I don’t like exposing my identity."

He said it plainly.

Hu Wei, slick as he was, instantly got it; he turned to the last few pages of the album and spread them out.

"These all volunteered to come along, but they’re a bit tacky."

"They’re just good‑looking, and also all vegetarians. To be honest, I personally recommend you pick from the earlier ones."

Hu Wei started introducing.

On the album were a few handsome men and pretty women, with different styles of makeup. Overall, they looked... somewhat similar to how Zhao Jie had looked before.

He added, "But relatively speaking, the psychological burden is lighter with them. They already have a strong dislike for domestic people and worship foreigners, and we’re taking them to meet foreigners..."

"The reason I could find them is because this bunch came to me on their own... they’re desperate to leave."

Hearing that, Xu Liang stopped short.

He more or less understood what the other meant, and didn’t hesitate much further.

"Her."

Xu Liang casually pointed at a woman, then stopped paying attention to Hu Wei; he didn’t go into the lounge.

Instead, he sat down directly in the reception room, leaned back on the sofa, and closed his eyes to rest.

"Alright then, just wait a bit."

Hu Wei was a little surprised inside, but didn’t show it on his face.

He bowed slightly and left to make arrangements.

To be honest, that he would pick someone who, aside from being pretty, had no other selling points... Hu Wei could understand that.

People like this... you could only say they make it much easier for Xu Liang and the others to keep their identities hidden!

After all, Zhao Jie had originally been introduced to Wang Chenghua by him.

If Wang Chenghua hadn’t had trouble accepting it, Zhao Jie would’ve died long ago and never exposed a thing.

The safety factor was very well guaranteed.

Around nine o’clock.

Hu Wei’s figure returned, appearing again in front of Xu Liang.

But this time he came back with another silhouette in tow.

It was... a woman!

A very beautiful woman, looking exactly the same as in the photo!

She had a nice figure; in such cold weather she was even wearing a light, thin evening dress, with delicate makeup on her face.

Her name was Su Yao.

Su Yao was excited, thrilled, feeling like her dream of so many years was about to come true.

She wanted to find a rich man.

Or rather... find a white guy, or a black guy—anyway, she wanted to marry abroad!

As for domestic men... she felt a bit of contempt, even disgust, and even anger.

So even when those rich men sought her out, although she would plaster on a smile, just looking at them made her feel sick.

As for those boot‑lickers who idolized her, Su Yao would mercilessly drain them of money, using their resources to pave the way for her departure from Eastern Country.

Because of this trait, she was picked by Hu Wei, so when Hu Wei called her just now...

Su Yao was thrilled, her heart pounding wildly!

Except...

"Just stick with Mr. Xu, and make sure you don’t upset him."

Hu Wei whispered to Su Yao.

Mr. Xu?

An Eastern name?

Su Yao froze, and instinctively looked toward Xu Liang, whom he was referring to. Seeing his face and skin tone, her expression instantly stiffened a bit.

But it only lasted for a split second; in the blink of an eye, she greeted him with a smile and sat down beside Xu Liang.

Xu Liang looked at her with a playful gaze, but didn’t say anything.

A moment later.

Hu Wei suddenly spoke.

"Time’s about up."

"Board the ship!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.