Chapter 3473: Altruism and Self-Interest

Because of Tawana's arrival, the originally tranquil White Horse Island suddenly became lively.

Even at the hottest time of noon, the hotel guests did not want to stay in their rooms, but came out one after another, wandering around like street loiterers, just hoping to run into Tawana by chance.

Even more strangely, many speedboats of unknown origin suddenly appeared around White Horse Island, big and small, these speedboats kept circling White Horse Island non-stop, some even wanted to drive into the bay and land on the island, White Horse Island quickly dispatched security and butlers, driving several speedboats and yachts on the island, blocking the entrance to the bay.

When Tawana landed on the island in the morning, many tourists had already posted her landing information online; the Maldives originally had hundreds of resort islands, and tourists from all over the world numbered in the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, all of whom had a certain spending capacity; upon hearing that Tawana was in the Maldives, on White Horse Island, many people wanted to come to White Horse Island to find out, and even wanted to see if they could catch a glimpse of Tawana herself.

Even if they could not see Tawana in person, taking a few close-up photos of White Horse Island and posting them on Moments or Instagram would count as not having come in vain.

White Horse Island is entirely a reef island, with the main reef body in a C-shape; the outer edge of the C is a ring of very shallow reef area, suitable for snorkeling, but because the reef is sharp and too close to the water surface, boats cannot enter; while in the middle of the C-shaped reef, there is a channel several meters deep, which can accommodate small and medium-sized vessels.

White Horse Island reacted quickly; a few boats blocked the opening of the C-shape, so those yachts could only keep circling in the outer deep-sea area.

The roaring engine noise was very noisy, making Ye Chen a bit irritable; after finally coming out for a vacation, he had just slept well, but by the next day, it had already become like a vegetable market.

Because Tawana suddenly landed on the island, Xiao Churan's mood also became listless; in unnecessary situations, she did not want to leave her room, go to the restaurant for lunch, and was also afraid of running into Tawana.

Fortunately, Tawana also did not want to be surrounded by a crowd wherever she went; her lunch was sent by staff to the water villa to avoid contact with the public.

Ye Chen and Tawana did not meet Tawana in the restaurant, but they met Hamid and his two wives.

After meeting, the two chatted for a while at the door; Hamid told Ye Chen: "Brother, after attending the party tonight, I have to return to Syria early tomorrow morning; we brothers hardly ever get to see each other, so do you want to have a drink or two together?"

Ye Chen smiled: "I won't attend the party; if Brother wants to have a drink or two, after the party ends tonight, let's go to the seaside bar and have a few drinks."

"That works!" Hamid said with a smile: "If you don't come to the party, then just wait until after the party ends and I'll contact you."

As he spoke, he suddenly gave Ye Chen a mysterious smile and asked: "Brother, did you also bring your wife on vacation this time with a plan to have a child?"

"What plan?" Ye Chen was momentarily puzzled, unable to grasp the meaning of his words.

Hamid chuckled, gestured at his protruding belly, raised his eyebrows and said: "Having a child, making your wife pregnant and give birth! I have so little family business, I'm afraid there will be no one to inherit it later; you, Brother, have a huge family business, if you don't have eight or ten sons, I'm afraid you won't be able to pass it on at all!"

"Oh oh, so that's what Brother meant." Ye Chen came to his senses, smiled awkwardly: "Now there are too many things, still in the entrepreneurial stage, temporarily no plan to have children, we'll talk about it later."

Hamid nodded, gave a thumbs-up and praised: "Brother, your big-picture view is indeed much stronger than mine."

Then Hamid's expression became somewhat embarrassed as he sighed: "I am just a typical case of being well-fed and warm-hearted but lustful, or perhaps too optimistic."

Hamid was embarrassed, and Ye Chen was also somewhat embarrassed.

Many things are inconvenient to talk about, so he did not pursue the topic further, but instead patted Hamid on the shoulder: "Brother, hurry back and get busy with proper business; if you have any problems, contact me immediately, I will definitely do my best to help."

"Okay!" Hamid said, moved, nodding his head: "Thank you, Brother!"

……

At night, Ye Chen and Xiao Churan do not plan to attend the party.

Ma Lan and Xiao Changkun are both very interested; after inquiring about many details, they plan to go early to join the fun.

Bernard Arnault very much hopes to take advantage of this opportunity to free-ride on Tawana's influence, so he warmly invites her, hoping that Tawana will sing a few songs for everyone at tonight's party.

The seaside bar, in order to create a high-end atmosphere for guests, already has a full set of performance equipment, and usually has a band performing live; if Tawana can casually sing a few famous songs here, not only will these guests be very happy, but more importantly, when the video is uploaded online, it will definitely attract worldwide netizens' attention and praise; in this way, the fame of White Horse Island will spread instantly.

Moreover, the White Horse Hotel is not just this one; many resort destinations around the world have their own directly operated stores; as long as Tawana sings a few songs here and lets the video go viral online, the White Horse Hotel will at least gain over a billion exposures, and even several million dollars in marketing expenses may not necessarily produce such an effect.

When Bernard Arnault conveyed this idea to Tawana over the phone, Tawana's face showed disgust.

She said to her parents: "This Bernard Arnault doesn't have the slightest demeanor of a former world's richest person; everywhere he thinks about saving money, about free-riding, and now he even wants me to sing a few songs at the party; normally, for such an occasion, at least several million appearance fees should be paid; he is so rich, yet he absolutely refuses to mention the cost."

Tawana's mother smiled and said: "Baby, remember, the richer a person is, the more often they are skilled at calculation; he is not unwilling to spend this money, but just feels that if the money can be saved, it should be saved as much as possible."

After saying that, she reminded: "If you really don't want to agree, just find an excuse to refuse him; you can say you've been feeling unwell recently, or your throat is uncomfortable; I believe he won't keep pestering you."

Tawana nodded: "Then I'll tell him later that I held twenty concerts in a row recently, overused my voice, and need to rest."

Tawana's father said at this moment: "I think it's better to just give him a favor, casually sing a couple of songs at the party."

"How can that be acceptable." Tawana's mother said dissatisfied: "You didn't see that Bernard Arnault is just trying to take advantage, do you? Since we landed on the island, he hasn't even said a word about helping us cover all the expenses on the island; inviting our daughter to attend the party didn't mention any appearance fee, and now he actually wants our daughter to sing—on what grounds should we indulge him?"

Tawana's father smiled and said: "Problems cannot be viewed so one-sidedly; only looking at singing without return, indeed it lets him take advantage, but have you thought about it? If this matter gets exposed online, the video of your daughter singing at the party being spread across major platforms, this is also a very good promotional opportunity for your daughter!"

"Nowadays, big stars doing down-to-earth things, in the eyes of ordinary people, are simply like gods descending to earth, which will move the public deeply; like your daughter, a top-tier singer, on vacation walking into a bar and singing a few songs for free for the bar's customers, when posted online, who knows how many people will go crazy over it!"

"Moreover, we are in the bar of the White Horse Hotel, interacting closely with customers; the White Horse Hotel's group official will definitely seize this opportunity, invest a large amount of funds in global entertainment media to seek exposure; by then, it will be him spending money to help them and us package together for promotion."

"Moreover, although Bernard Arnault is very stingy, he is after all the owner of so many luxury brands; in the future, there will definitely be many cooperation opportunities; although he is stingy in private, public cooperation follows normal procedures, and the money that should be paid, their group will definitely not pay less, so why not just give him a favor? For us, all the costs are nothing more than our daughter opening her mouth to sing a few songs."

"We agree to Bernard Arnault, which appears to be altruistic, but is actually also self-interested; in today's business market, altruism often is better self-interest."

Tawana and her mother fell into silence at the same time.

After careful thought, Dad's analysis just now is actually very reasonable, and also very objective.

Sometimes it is indeed unwilling to let others take advantage of oneself, but upon careful thought, if there is an opportunity for mutual benefit and win-win, it is also not a bad choice.

Although he free-rode on my a few songs, I also happen to take this opportunity to promote another side of a star being more down-to-earth.

So Tawana nodded and said: "Since that's the case, then I will agree to let him hear me sing a few songs at tonight's party."

Tawana's mother instructed her: "Baby, listen to Mom; we will sing at most three songs!"

Tawana, for some reason, suddenly thought of Ye Chen in her mind, and thus said: "Let's sing four songs; I want to add one more song by someone else."

"Ah?" Tawana's mother asked in confusion: "I can understand you singing four songs, but why do you want to add someone else's song? Wouldn't singing four of your own songs be better?"

Tawana said absentmindedly: "I want to sing Gu Qiuyi's 'Assassin'; I really like that song..."

Tawana felt that if she sang at tonight's party and ended up on the entertainment headlines, then she must seize this opportunity to express her feelings to Ye Chen across space, and Ye Chen will definitely see it.

Tawana's mother does not have the concept of altruism; thinking of her daughter publicly singing someone else's song, she feels it is a loss, and thus earnestly advises her: "Baby, no matter how many songs you sing, it's fine, but it's best not to sing someone else's song; to make a wedding dress for others, why bother?"

Tawana shook her head, firmly said: "Mom, don't persuade me on this matter; if I only sing one song, I also hope to sing Gu Qiuyi's 'Assassin'."

Tawana's mother looked helpless, but seeing her daughter's firm attitude, she could only nod and say: "Okay, since you've decided, that's fine."

In the evening, the sky gradually darkened.

The guests who received the news had already surrounded the seaside bar to the point of being watertight; everyone was waiting for Tawana's appearance.

Tawana changed into a set of silk-embroidered cheongsam, carefully styled her hair into a Chinese hairpin, looked at herself in the mirror for a long time, and felt especially satisfied in her heart.

Bernard Arnault and his wife also came to the door of Tawana's villa; they brought a fleet of golf carts, preparing to go to the bar together with Tawana.

At the same time, in the sea area one hundred nautical miles away, several black speedboats were speeding at high speed, each speedboat equipped with six super-powerful marine engines, extremely fast.

On these speedboats, there were at least forty black-clad masked men with live ammunition, they were crouching in the open boat cabin, inspecting weapons and equipment.

And the direction they were speeding toward was White Horse Island, where Ye Chen was!