Interference
Wednesday, continued…
Hou Yi turned to Assistant Wang with a serious expression. “What is it?” he asked.
Assistant Wang explained, “There are two issues at hand. Locally, Lu Corporation has filed a complaint with the authorities, claiming that we’ve engaged in an illegal international development project in Australia. While this isn’t a major problem, it will create some hassle for our legal department to resolve, especially since all the paperwork is in order.”
He paused, then continued, “The real issue, however, is in Australia. ANX Lawyers are quite concerned. They’ve been trying to contact Madam Hou, asking her to resolve the matter while she’s here on ‘holiday’ so that you don’t have to travel to Australia. It appears they don’t know about your marriage, and they’ve mentioned they’ve been unable to get in touch with her. However, they didn’t explain what the issue is.”
Hou Yi stood up abruptly, calling out to Butler Ge, “Where is my wife? Get all the electronic devices and cables from her cabin bag and take them to my study, now.”
“Young Master, Young Madam is with First Madam and Second Madam in the formal dining room,” Butler Ge responded promptly.
Without another word, Hou Yi headed for the formal dining room. Upon entering, he saw Anna, Du AnLing, and Leng Xi finishing up with their shopping. “Anna, sweetheart, I need your help with something now,” he said, walking up to her. “Sorry, Mother, Aunt, but you’ll need to leave.”
Du AnLing, ever graceful, nodded. “We were just about to do so. We’ll talk more in the next few days. Tell Assistant Wang we’ll be in touch to start making wedding arrangements.”
With that, Du AnLing and Leng Xi gathered their bags and took the elevator down, heading back to the Hou Ancestral Home. Anna followed Hou Yi to his study, where Butler Ge was waiting.
“You’ve got everything as requested in the study,” Butler Ge informed Hou Yi.
“Thank you,” Hou Yi replied. “Please arrange for coffee to be brought in, and place the remaining items from the formal dining room carefully in one of the spare rooms. I understand some of these are gifts for people in Australia, so handle them with care.”
“Yes, Sir,” Butler Ge said, bowing before heading off to carry out the orders.
Hou Yi opened the study door, allowing Anna to enter first. As she stepped inside, she noticed Assistant Wang was already there, waiting.
“Sorry, Madam,” Assistant Wang said, standing up. “I received a message that your employers have been trying to reach you regarding an urgent matter concerning our Australian subsidiary. They need your assistance to resolve it.”
“Okay, I’ll check my emails.” Anna nodded and plugged her laptop into an adaptor, connecting it to the power socket. After powering it on and logging in, she turned to Hou Yi. “I need the Wi-Fi password, please.”
Hou Yi walked over to the desk, sat down in the chair opposite her, and pulled out a card from a drawer. He handed it to Anna with a smile. “Here you go.”
Anna entered the details and connected to her email server. Immediately, she noticed an email from the senior partner. The message was urgent, requesting that she call him as soon as she received the email, no matter the time of day or night. Realizing she didn’t have her handbag with her, where her Australian mobile phone was, she quickly stood up.
“Butler Ge!” she called out. “Can you please bring my handbag here, right away?”
In less than three minutes, there was a knock at the door. It was one of the maids holding her handbag. Anna took it with a quick, “Thank you,” before closing the door behind her. She retrieved her new mobile phone, dialed the number from the email, and placed the phone on speaker.
The call was answered almost immediately.
“Good evening, Mr. Williams. Anna Jones here. I apologize for the late response to your email. My Australian phone has been experiencing serious issues here, so I had to purchase a local mobile. The number you see is the new one,” she explained.
“Not a problem, Ms. Jones,” Mr. Williams replied warmly. “I’m just grateful you were able to get back to me so quickly…”
