The next morning, Iris received a call from her financial manager, Qiao Yu. He informed her that another 5% shares of Long Industries were put up for sale. Qiao Yu immediately made an offer but was rejected when it was discovered that he was buying it for her.
"Despite your growing reputation, there are still people from Long Industries that don't think highly of you," Qiao Yu told her. "We have the money. I even offered to pay more, but the shareholder refused to sell it to me because of his preconceived notions against you."
Iris frowned. This wasn't the kind of news that she wanted to hear first thing in the morning.
"Who bought it, then?" she asked.
Qiao Yu hesitated. After a few seconds, he finally told her.
"It's the Young Master Long Hui."
Iris was surprised. "What? Where did he get the money? Did he get a loan? Did he sell some of his properties?"
Unfortunately, Qiao Yu didn't have that kind of information. All he knew was that the 5% shares went to Long Hui.
After the call, Iris instructed Ketchup to find out how Long Hui was able to buy the 5% shares. Since he was now on their virtual black notebook, Ketchup closely monitored him. As a result, they knew how much assets and liabilities he owned in the country and overseas. As Long Tengfei's eldest son and Long Industries' Deputy CFO, Long Hui was rich compared to the average person. However, he certainly wasn't rich enough to buy 5% shares using just his own money.
It turned out that Ketchup had already gathered the information about it and was just waiting to report it to her. Ketchup was planning to report her findings to Iris before she headed for breakfast, but Qiao Yu beat her to it and called so early in the morning to tell her first.
"1% was bought by Long Hui himself, that good-for-nothing scumbag. Actually, he could only afford 0.5% but Long Meng gave him a loan to buy another 0.5%.
"2% was contributed by the Zheng family, Long Hui's maternal family.
"The remaining 2% was contributed by the family of Long Hui's new fiancée.
"Pweh! Auntie Ying Yue is definitely prettier than that plastic doll! At least, Auntie Ying Yue's entire body is all-natural and she worked hard to achieve all of her muscles! Ketchup has detected that Long Hui's new fiancée had multiple plastic surgeries. Her entire face is fake! So are her boobies and boom-boom—"
Iris scowled. "Ketchup, where did you learn those words?"
"Meow? Which words, Mommy?"
"The boo—the last words you said."
"Oh? You mean boobies and boom-boom? Meow~ Ketchup learned them from Uncle Dom. He says that Daddy loves Mommy's boobies and boom-boom the most, so other hos will never be able to seduce him using their boobies or boom-booms that are either fake or flat. He also says that compared to the other hos, Mommy's boobies and boom-boom are natural and will only get bigger and better after you give birth to your first human baby. And also—"
"That's enough!"
"Meow? Is Mommy angry at Ketchup? Is Ketchup being a bad kitty again? I'm sorry, Mommy. Ketchup will do better next time. Meow…"
Although she knew that Ketchup was only an AI, Iris couldn't stop her heart from softening after hearing the virtual white cat's remorseful tone. Iris sighed and smiled.
"Blacklist the words 'boobies', 'boom-boom' and 'ho' from your vocabulary. You are not allowed to say them anymore. If you do, your dad and I will ground you."
"Meow! No, Mommy! Ketchup doesn't want to be grounded! Ketchup will be a good kitty. I'll never say those words ever again…"
"And don't listen to everything your Uncle Dom says."
"Okay, Mommy… Meow…"
After disciplining her third kitty baby, Iris headed for breakfast. Jin Liwei already left at dawn for work. She tried to wake up to accompany him for breakfast, but he encouraged her to continue sleeping instead. She also had to return to work later this morning.
In the meantime, she thought about the current situation. Long Hui now had a total of 7.5% shares in Long Industries. Other than Long Tengfei, Long Hui was now the next biggest shareholder within the Long clan. He had kicked off Iris' position with her 5% shares.
Although Qiao Yu already warned her that her bad reputation in the past was still an issue when buying investments in the country, she didn't really care much about it until now. Buying Long Industries' shares was very important to her, especially now that Long Hui waged a custody battle against Jiang Ying Yue.
With that, Iris started making plans to take over the Long clan. She honestly didn't want to do it—such a bother—but Long Hui had forced her to take action.