Chapter 103

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Protagonist:

Jiang Wenyu

This is a grand gathering belonging to merchants from all over the world, but the vast majority of them are locals; people from foreign countries rarely enter.

The various colored tables inside the Platinum Hall also have their fixed conventions, which can be regarded as a kind of class division, a division aimed at merchants.

You hold a Purple Table invitation, but you can go to the Black Table, even the Red Table; no one will stop you. There are no administrators here, but your every action will be watched by other merchants. In severe cases, you may be directly blacklisted by certain merchants, because to the vast majority of people here, the table's color is sacred and noble.

Therefore, those at the Purple Table and above receive greater attention, while the Red Table... since the Platinum Hall began operating, the number of people who can receive a Red Table invitation is probably only two or three, and this time it is empty as well.

Reporters have been interviewing everywhere since they arrived; most choose guests at the Purple and Black Tables. The Smith couple just now were among them, and so was Miles.

At this moment, he was being questioned by a local reporter. As someone from a prestigious family, he naturally answered every question politely, yet simultaneously avoided questions touching on family secrets with propriety — skillfully and without losing face.

Most merchants have already entered; the scene is buzzing with lively chatter. Merchants at the white and blue tables sometimes loudly recount their glorious achievements to attract the gaze of merchants at higher-colored tables, using the opportunity to seek cooperation. Some also proactively approach other tables to seek negotiation opportunities.

Meanwhile, merchants at the Purple and Black Tables are looking for "prey" that meets their standards.

For a merchant, a keen "sense of smell" must always come first.

Smith is such a person. His family is not as great as the Tranqi, but he himself has a unique vision. Compared to making friends, he values interest relationships more. He has closed many major deals alone, but precisely because of this, his aura has become extremely arrogant. The two types of people he despises most in this life are: those with no value whatsoever, and Easterners.

The only type of person he values more is the powerful — for example, the Miles Family.

Therefore, after arriving here, he has been constantly seeking an opportunity to negotiate with Miles, but an exchange just now seemed to have backfired, leaving him somewhat hesitant.

Precisely at this moment, a few voices suddenly came from the east entrance of the Platinum Hall. Those voices were not very loud; others didn't even notice. Only Smith, who is exceptionally sensitive to Easterners, immediately turned his head to look.

"Damn, we finally made it. Zhou Shi, we're not late, are we?"

"Even if we're late, there's nothing we can do. Who told you to eat so much in one sitting?"

"I didn't want to either, but it's delicious! Mu Lin, you tell them — is that stuff good or not?"

"Mm, pretty good, just some of it I'm not used to eating."

"Hey, stop bickering. Jiang Ge said we must observe etiquette and rules now that we're here."

"Miao Miao is right. Li Chen, hurry up and wipe the cream off your face."

"Okay, okay, I'm wiping it now!"

There were four people in total: one woman, three men, all wearing formal attire. But aside from the cold, stern man at the front, the other two men seemed somewhat amateurish to varying degrees, and the young girl appeared a bit timid.

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Some merchants also noticed them at this moment — after all, their skin color was truly rare here.

Smith's gaze remained fixed on them, carrying a hint of coldness and disgust.

After wiping off the cream, Li Chen looked around in surprise: "My god, so many people. Are all these merchants?"

The silently standing Bai Mu Lin also couldn't hide his astonishment. Wu Miaomiao followed timidly beside Zhou Shi, afraid of getting lost.

Only Zhou Shi remained perfectly calm and composed: "Don't show too many unnecessary expressions. Most people here are famous merchants. Jiang Wenyu said appearance and conduct are the standards for operating here."

Li Chen immediately fell silent and straightened his back. Just as they were looking around searching for something, a tall, handsome foreign man suddenly walked up. He wore a composed smile; his eyes couldn't be read. Everyone saw him too.

Arriving before them, the man said: "Hello, I'm Smith. Are you Easterners?"

Initially, everyone had decided that Zhou Shi would handle any conversation. The other party was speaking a standard Western language at the moment, which only Zhou Shi understood.

Zhou Shi immediately replied: "Hello, Mr. Smith. May I ask what business you have?"

During their exchange, the other three couldn't understand a word. They could only stand frozen in place, nervous and motionless — a rather comical sight.

Smith still wore that bland smile, unsurprised that the man before him spoke a Western language. He merely said: "What did you come here to do?"

Zhou Shi found it strange. Coming here was naturally to attend this gathering; what else could they do? He was about to answer when the other party cut in first: "Can you show me your invitations?"

Zhou Shi shook his head and said meaningfully: "We left our invitations on the ship. You shouldn't be staff here, right? So why are you demanding our invitations?"

Zhou Shi was indeed a man who had studied abroad. Facing the other party's unfriendly move, he remained vigilant. Smith continued: "There are no staff here. You say you forgot your invitations? I see."

Zhou Shi stayed vigilant but still asked: "Could you please take us to find someone here? We're not very familiar with this place."

Smith still smiled: "Of course. Then please follow me."

After speaking, Zhou Shi signaled the three to follow, and they trailed behind Smith.

Li Chen and the other two didn't dare speak much either.

A few minutes later, they stopped. But Li Chen and the other two felt something odd; even Zhou Shi's expression changed slightly. Smith hadn't taken them to find anyone — he had brought them outside the Platinum Hall.

Zhou Shi immediately asked: "Mr. Smith, what is the meaning of this?"

Smith turned around, still wearing that composed smile. He walked past them and stood on the steps of this side entrance, looking down at them from above. He opened his eyes, but they were full of disdain and contempt. Even while smiling, his intent to reject them was unmistakable.

"This is the noble Platinum Hall. You weak, pitiable Easterners could never possess invitations. I am merely escorting idle riffraff out on behalf of the Platinum Hall."

Zhou Shi heard this

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and his face instantly changed. The other three couldn't understand what the other party was saying, but from Zhou Shi's reaction, it was clearly nothing good.

There were quite a few people outside the Platinum Hall too — mostly reporters and onlookers. They were also suddenly drawn to Zhou Shi's group. After all, Eastern faces were far too rare here.

The crowd of onlookers grew larger. Smith's smile deepened. He made an extremely elegant gesture — right hand extended, left hand placed on his abdomen — and said: "Please leave."

Zhou Shi's brows furrowed tightly, his face growing uglier. He asked: "Mr. Smith, we truly came to attend the gathering. It's just that the invitations were left on the ship. If you don't believe us, you're welcome to come with us to find that ship. When the time—"

"My apologies for the interruption." Smith replied: "I have no interest in humoring a few swindlers from the East. If you don't want to further humiliate yourselves, leave now."

The surrounding onlookers increased. Li Chen and the other two couldn't help but feel nervous. Li Chen asked: "I say, what's going on here?"

Zhou Shi's face was tense. He said in a low voice to the three: "He doesn't want to let us in because we're Easterners."

Li Chen immediately said: "Isn't that discrimination against us? How can you run into this kind of person even in a place like this?"

Zhou Shi replied: "People like him are not few here. Just look at the gazes of those around you and you'll know."

The three of them looked around at the words, and sure enough, they saw that many people's gazes toward them were full of disdain, with only a small portion feeling puzzled.

"Then what do we do?" Li Chen asked with some worry.

Zhou Shi immediately raised his head and continued speaking to Smith: "Sir, I've heard that the Platinum Hall is open to everyone in the world; you shouldn't reject us like this."

As soon as these simple words were spoken, the gazes of many people around shifted slightly, but Smith alone remained unchanged, still wearing a smile that didn't reach his eyes, and said: "The Platinum Hall is so sacred, how could it tolerate you Eastern monkeys."

Such blatant provocation made Zhou Shi somewhat angry; what he feared most coming here was running into this kind of person, yet by coincidence that's exactly what happened.

They were just blocked outside like this, with people around discussing animatedly, and the four people's expressions changed repeatedly.

But right at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from inside the Platinum Hall, along with a voice that Zhou Shi and the others were very familiar with.

"What are you doing!?"

A tall man walked out; when he saw Zhou Shi and the others below the steps he was instantly a bit surprised, while the latter four people were immediately overjoyed at seeing him.

The man was precisely Miles, who had come at the sound; he hurried down the steps and said to Li Chen and the others with a smile: "How come you only just arrived, why didn't you go in?"

His Chinese still wasn't very fluent; Zhou Shi took a deep breath, turned back and pointed at the somewhat dumbfounded Smith and said: "This man won't let us in."

Upon hearing this, Miles immediately looked at Smith, his expression abruptly turning cold, and said to Smith in a foreign language with displeasure: "Mr. Smith, why did you stop my honored guests and not let them in?"

Smith at this moment was already extremely surprised, his mouth unable to close.

"Ho... honored guests!?"

(End of chapter)