Lawrence Winters glanced at the small round table in front of him, casually dragged over a box of matches, slapped it on the table like a gavel, and started speaking like a storyteller.
"This matter needs to be traced back more than twenty years ago," Lawrence Winters said, placing the box of matches back and picking up his cappuccino, smiling as he continued, "At that time, the focus of the Spencer Group was not inland but in H City."
"Although they were considered financially strong and influential, they didn’t have much of a presence inland."
"Meanwhile, the Foster Consortium, more than twenty years ago, was already one of the top ten wealthy conglomerates in the nation."
Kenneth Osborne raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Really? I always thought the Foster Consortium was in decline, only climbing into the top ten on the rich list in recent years."
"Yes, because it was more than twenty years ago, not many people know about it."
"People today generally consider the Foster Consortium to be a new emerging wealth, but in fact, they’re an old establishment."
"They had just once fallen to rock bottom, almost suffering crippling damage, but later they employed a new CEO, bringing the Foster Consortium back to life."
"After more than twenty years of effort, they re-entered the top ten on the wealthy list and even climbed to fifth position." ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾※𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Even twenty-odd years ago, the Foster Consortium hadn’t reached such heights."
Lawrence Winters spoke with verve, and Kenneth Osborne was quite absorbed, not noticing a man with delicate, almost feminine features in a suit walking past them and sitting next to a middle-aged man opposite them.
"Dad, I couldn’t find you anywhere, didn’t expect you to be here drinking coffee." The young man whispered with a smile, "Is the black coffee we imported from Colombia not fragrant enough, or is the barista who makes coffee just for you slacking today?"
The middle-aged man gestured "shush" to him, indicating for him to quiet down, and nodded toward Kenneth Osborne and Lawrence Winters, suggesting he listen carefully.
The young man glanced over, just catching sight of Lawrence Winters’ stunningly beautiful face.
The woman was speaking, her rose-like lips opening and closing, revealing snow-white teeth.
She looked at the man across from her attentively, her expression lively and animated.
Her eyes weren’t particularly large, but they were much darker than most, inexplicably giving off an aura of otherworldly purity.
In fact, upon closer inspection, when the woman smiled, she exuded a strong sense of down-to-earth warmth, leaving him perplexed as to where the initial ethereal liveliness came from at first glance.
This combination of ethereal and enchanting was quite unexpected, making him feel a restless curiosity.
He had seen many types of beautiful women, and this girl wasn’t the most beautiful, but she was certainly the most captivating to him because her looks and aura were precisely his aesthetic preference.
As Lawrence Winters finished explaining the backstory to Kenneth Osborne and lowered her eyes to drink coffee, she sensed someone watching her and casually glanced up.
It was then she noticed a young man sitting next to the middle-aged man.
It was obvious at a glance that they were father and son, with very similar features.
However, the young man was more handsome, with a very straight nose like a bridge spanning the heavens.
As he narrowed his eyes to look at her, he also resembled a sly fox a bit.
Lawrence Winters twitched the corners of her mouth, averted her gaze, and looked at Kenneth Osborne.
She thought to herself, in front of Kenneth Osborne, there was still someone pretending to be a fox? Didn’t they realize the real charmer was right in front of her?
She couldn’t help but smile to herself, ignoring that boring person, and continued talking with Kenneth Osborne.
However, her voice lowered even further, and the middle-aged man and young man diagonally across strained to catch even a bit of what she was saying.
Lawrence Winters said, "More than twenty years ago, the CEO and chairman of the Foster Consortium was Adam Foster, a very well-versed entrepreneur."
"Forty-odd years ago, he foresaw the real estate market and invested all his assets into it. As a result, twenty years later, he made the Foster Consortium a member of the national rich list."
"Unfortunately, it was also over twenty years ago, just as the Foster Consortium was about to further expand, that a problem arose in a residential area they were developing in Z City of the Southern Region."
"The problem was very serious, serious enough that years of accumulation by the Foster Consortium were almost wiped out."
Kenneth Osborne then curiously asked, "...According to what you’re saying, the Foster Consortium began to rise forty-plus years ago, and twenty years ago, they were already on the national rich list."
"At that scale, how could such a problem still occur?"
"Even though I’m not an entrepreneur, I know about the basic principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket."