"Are you the manager here?"
When the woman heard someone speaking behind her, she turned around and sized up Huo Sining with a glance, then curled her lips in disdain and said,
"Our Chen’s Jewelry is requisitioning these display cabinets here. We’re swapping with that position over there for you. Our Chen’s Jewelry is a major domestic company, not something that your little jadeite shops can compare with. I advise you to be sensible and quickly move all your junk away."
Hearing this almost made Huo Sining burst into laughter. Of course, she had heard of Chen’s Jewelry, and it was indeed a well-known jewelry company in the country, on par with Zhou Dasheng.
But now, they had the gall to come over and compete with her for the booth, wasn’t this slapping the Jade Association in the face? Instigating trouble at this time, was there something wrong with this woman’s brain?
Huo Sining looked at the woman coldly and asked indifferently, "And what if I refuse to move?"
The woman’s face turned cold instantly after hearing this: "Ungrateful!"
With that, she signaled a few young men inside the booth with her eyes and shouted, "You guys start moving stuff. If anything happens, I’ll take the blame!"
"I’d like to see who dares to touch anything!"
Huo Sining’s voice was low but carried a naturally imposing aura, causing the young men ready to act to involuntarily stop what they were doing.
The woman, who apparently hadn’t expected Huo Sining, a mere studio manager, to dare to talk back to her and found her own people were genuinely intimidated, immediately turned around and glared fiercely at Huo Sining:
"I advise you to be sensible. Our Chen’s Jewelry is backed by the Vice Chairman of the Jade Association. Not to mention your small jadeite shop, even Zhou Dasheng would be in trouble if he offended our Lu’s. I could still make him regret it!"
"I didn’t know that the Vice Chairman of the Jade Association had such great influence! What’s the name of this Vice Chairman you speak of? Let’s see if I recognize him."
No sooner had the woman’s words fallen than there were footsteps and scolding sounds from behind.
Hearing this familiar voice, Huo Sining abruptly turned to look back and, indeed, saw Qin Tian and Ouyang Jun approaching from not far away.
Accompanying them was an elderly man with white temples but still full of vigor—none other than Qin Lianshan and the owner of the "Li Duanduan Drawing," Wu Dekai.
"Elder Qin, Old Master Wu, what brings you here?"
Huo Sining turned around somewhat surprised to look at the four people. The exhibition was about to start; why was Qin Lianshan here instead of attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony?
Qin Lianshan smiled and said, "It’s these two lads who have been pestering me to bring them here. They’ve given me such a headache that I just decided to bring them over for a look first."
With that, Qin Lianshan turned to look at Huo Sining’s booth and after glancing at the jewelry in her display cabinets, he couldn’t help but praise, "The jewelry in your display is quite impressive. It looks like you should have a good haul today."
Huo Sining was not modest, "This is just the ordinary stuff, I have an ultimate weapon too. But for now, I need to keep you guessing."
With that, Huo Sining winked, feigning mystery with a smile, before turning her head back to Ouyang Jun and Qin Tian, "When did you guys get back?"
Huo Sining had won the bet against Song Xiaochen in Macau, and after that, Song Xiaochen dutifully signed a cooperation project with Ouyang Jun and Qin Tian.
So during this time, the two of them had been busy with the project in Macau, and Huo Sining hadn’t seen them since she arrived in the Imperial Capital. Now, the two had suddenly appeared, and Huo Sining was inevitably surprised.
Ouyang Jun’s gaze swept over the woman and the few young people in the booth before finally settling back on Huo Sining, his expression softening a bit as he smiled and raised an eyebrow:
"I just got back to the country and heard from Xu Zi that you had opened a new store in Wangfujing and were planning to participate in a jewelry exhibition. By chance, I had some free time these days, so I called Qin Tian to come have a look. What’s this? Are you encountering some tricky problem that you can’t solve? "
As Ouyang Jun said this, a casual smile played on his face, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Huo Sining felt a bit embarrassed; she was merely participating in a jewelry exhibition, how could she have known that she would encounter trouble, it was really unlucky.
In Huo Sining’s view, since the Jade Association was hosting the exhibition, it was only natural to follow the procedures. Who could have imagined running into such a self-righteous person who actually wanted to force her to change booths?
"What’s going on here?"
Qin Lianshan also couldn’t help but frown, his eyes sharply focused on the troublemaking woman.
He had overheard the woman’s arrogant words earlier, and upon arriving, he saw those young people seem to be using violence inside Huo Sining’s booth to switch it out, immediately showing his displeasure.
He was, after all, the Chairman of the Jade Association. These people were causing trouble under the name of the Jade Association; if he didn’t clarify the matter, the blame would eventually fall on the association, and that would tarnish its reputation, wouldn’t it?
The woman thought at first that some significant figure must have arrived but upon turning around, she found nothing more than two old men and two young men. Although the two young men were quite handsome, she was sure she didn’t recognize them.
She had initially worried that the studio, called ’Jade Beauty,’ had gone to call for reinforcements, and she was somewhat wary. But upon seeing these four people, she couldn’t help but smirk, her face showing both mockery and impatience.
"Which one of you is the owner of this ’Jade Beauty’? Let me tell you, this booth has been requisitioned by Chen’s Jewelry, so hurry up and pack up your junk. The exhibition is about to start, and I don’t have the spare time to dawdle here with you!"
The woman spoke in a tone full of arrogance, exuding disdain.
Upon hearing this, the expressions on the faces of Ouyang Jun and Qin Tian instantly darkened.
Qin Lianshan, standing beside them, also showed a look of disapproval. He turned to Huo Sining, saying apologetically:
"Huo girl, this is an oversight on our part. Rest assured, I’ll handle it for you right away."
After these words, Qin Lianshan furrowed his brows, his eyes stern as he scanned the woman: "Who is Cai Limin to you?"
Caught off guard by Qin Lianshan’s question, the woman froze, lifting her head to glance at him. Her eyes flitted around, and she bit her lip without speaking.
"Hmph, you don’t need to say it for me to know. You mentioned a Vice Chairman of the Jade Association from your Chen’s, and there’s no one else but Cai Limin! Now, I really must ask, since when does the Vice Chairman of the Jade Association have such authority to requisition a booth at a jewelry exhibition without high-level association deliberation?"
Qin Lianshan was clearly enraged, his words utterly unreserved.