DF Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Long time no see, the first thing you do is ask me to get in the ring?

Song Ji’an always felt she was hiding it well, but Sheng Jia shattered her pretense with a single sentence.

She leaned back, thanked the waiter for the milk and pre-dinner appetizers, and couldn’t help but look Sheng Jia up and down a few times.

“How did you figure it out?”

Song Ji’an didn’t think that the short time she and Sheng Jia had spent together these past few days was enough for the other to see her insomnia symptoms. Even the night she landed in Oslo, she hadn’t shared a room with Sheng Jia, so it was even less likely that Sheng Jia could tell she hadn’t slept all night.

“Guess,” Sheng Jia turned her head to look out the window, only curling her lips, not intending to continue the topic. “Hilda said she wants to bring the kids from the old families who were messing around last night to apologize to you later.”

“Why doesn’t she just tell me herself,” Song Ji’an recalled the Nordic girl named Ellie from yesterday. Actually, she didn’t feel that she needed to see her again.

“She called you four times from morning to afternoon and you didn’t answer,” Sheng Jia replied, “So she ended up calling me.”

Song Ji’an didn’t feel guilty at all when she heard this, only asking, “Can I refuse? I don’t need her apology.”

“Of course,” Sheng Jia said without hesitation, “If you don’t want to see her, you can call and explain it now.”

There was still half an hour before the agreed time, so there was plenty of time.

But before Song Ji’an could make the call, two people were already walking side by side towards the restaurant from afar. She put down the phone she was holding up and said helplessly, “Looks like I can’t make the call.”

However, Song Ji’an wasn’t too resistant to the matter. She only cut a small piece of the pre-dinner cake to fill her stomach.

Soon, Hilda and Ellie approached the table. Before Hilda could introduce them, Ellie held up her fishing bucket and said with a smile, “We just caught a lot of sea fish and two king crabs. Do you have any dietary restrictions?”

Her Chinese was very standard.

Ellie’s green eyes landed on Sheng Jia, and she took the initiative to reach out her hand to greet her, saying, “Miss Sheng Jia, I’m Ellie.”

“Hello,” Sheng Jia returned her handshake, and they quickly separated.

Ellie then looked at Song Ji’an, her eyes shining with fragmented light. She said with a smile, “Sister Ji’an, I’m sorry about last night. I did approach you with some small purposes, but there was definitely no malice. I just wanted to see what someone who could make Sister Hilda lose out looked like. Sister Hilda has already taught me a lesson today. I think we can get to know each other again.”

Song Ji’an looked up at her. At this moment, the sunlight outside the window shifted slightly, falling from Sheng Jia’s shoulder onto Ellie’s face. Her profile was illuminated by a spot of light, making her sharply defined features even more three-dimensional.

“I didn’t take it to heart. Miss Ellie is overthinking it.” Song Ji’an also shook her hand, considering the matter settled.

Seeing this, Hilda instructed, “Ellie, take the things to the kitchen. Tell Carrie the cooking method you like the most.”

Ellie, carrying the basket, gave Hilda a playful salute, saying “Yes!” as forcefully as a soldier answering an officer.

In the blink of an eye, her figure disappeared.

Hilda then let out a sigh and sat down. She explained, “I was originally going to kick her off the island in Honningsvåg, but she called my grandmother, so I had to take her to Kirkenes with us. Please rest assured, I’ll let her go to Finland after she gets off the ship. She won’t disturb our trip.”

“Miss Song Ji’an, I still have to apologize for not keeping an eye on her and causing you trouble.”

“It’s really not much trouble,” Song Ji’an said softly.

In her eyes, if Ellie had unilaterally come to probe her, then the only person who needed to apologize for this disrespectful behavior was Ellie herself. Hilda had no responsibility, and she had already reached a reconciliation with Ellie.

Hilda understood her meaning and didn’t mention the matter again, only her expression became a little more serious.

“As for what we talked about yesterday,” she pondered for a moment before saying, “I agree to your conditions. I will try my best to do what you asked. After you achieve your goals, I will send my requests to Sheng Jia’s email.”

In fact, Valma had indeed played a role in applying pressure to some extent. Hilda’s heart had been moved the moment Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an made that suggestion.

No one wouldn’t want to have power in their own hands, especially since the moment she saw Valma on the ship, her thirst for power had reached its peak.

She had been treated unfairly by her grandmother for too long. She could no longer tolerate her grandmother’s favoritism, and she was even more tired of having to carefully watch the face of the person above her.

Actually, Hilda had never considered Valma an opponent. In her heart, defeating Valma was easy, but defeating her grandmother was the most difficult thing.

When she was little, she might have worried about not getting her grandmother’s favor, but now that she was grown up, she was no longer someone who needed to beg for love. Profit and power were her greatest pursuits. Of course, taking a little power from others’ hands wasn’t as satisfying as completely overturning their authority.

It was like how a young tiger couldn’t wait to overthrow the authority of its mother tiger after it grew up.

And now that someone was willing to conspire with her ambition, she had no reason to refuse.

Even if the conditions that Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an offered were harsh, she was willing to do it.

The Opter family had waited a long time for an oil field. They couldn’t give up this opportunity, so their bottom line would be lower than Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an imagined. The conditions they had proposed weren’t impossible to achieve, and this would be the greatest help for Hilda to achieve her goal.

Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an weren’t surprised by her choice.

Hilda’s ambition and unwillingness were almost written on her face. It would be strange if she didn’t agree to cooperate.

“Then should I say ‘happy cooperation’?” Sheng Jia laughed and raised her coffee. “You made the right choice.”

“It’s hard to say whether it’s right or wrong, but I made a choice from the heart.”

This was probably the first time Hilda had betrayed the family’s interests for personal gain, but at this moment, she felt extremely happy.

What shareholders’ meeting, what grandmother, only a fool like Valma would think of trying to please them. She was going to be the one who could make decisions and have a say. If she failed, it would only be returning to the original state or becoming worse than she was now. She had the confidence to deal with it.

So for her, the most important thing on the next journey was probably how to get her grandmother and the shareholders’ meeting to agree to Sheng Jia’s side’s demands. Her time wasn’t ample. Letting Valma go up to contact Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia was her way of testing their attitude. Obviously, Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an didn’t mind having other cooperative partners besides her.

But for Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an, the next journey would be like a vacation. Perhaps Hilda would give them a satisfactory answer without waiting for the second round of negotiations. Their real battlefield was in the country. Hilda’s project was obviously going to compete with the Meng family. Once Sheng Jia sided with Hilda, she would inevitably become an enemy of the Meng family.

Sheng Jia could almost imagine Meng Yeran’s expression at that time, but some things weren’t necessarily completely opposed. As long as there was profit to be made, it wasn’t impossible to turn from opposition to cooperation.

Ellie quickly returned from the kitchen. She was a typical Dutch girl, with a height of nearly 1.85 meters, making her the tallest of the three, but also the youngest. At a young age, she was already a famous bartender in Europe, with nearly twelve bar brands under her name. Of course, this was just her personal hobby. Being able to be an old friend of the Opter family meant that the family behind her shouldn’t be underestimated either.

Seeing her come, the few stopped talking. There were only a few cups of coffee on the table. Ellie glanced around and ordered a few more bottles of beer.

“Ellie started traveling the world when she was fifteen years old. What she did the most was eat, drink, and have fun. If you want to know how to make something delicious, she’s definitely a gourmet expert. You can trust her,” Hilda explained.

She was right. The food from the kitchen soon arrived at the restaurant, a sumptuous seafood feast. After the four of them finished eating, it was already six o’clock in the evening. In just two hours, the cruise ship would arrive at their destination—Kirkenes.

Although it was still in the middle of the polar day, the three decided to rest for a night before heading to the Aniels Islands. After all, they didn’t need to take a boat to get there from Kirkenes. They weren’t in a hurry to go there. They might as well rest here and adapt to the land before making any other decisions.

The three of them were going to take a private plane from the airport the next day. Ellie, who was supposed to be heading to Finland last night, had somehow joined the team again.

Due to that last big meal on the ship and her sincere attitude, Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an had no objections to her accompanying them.

The two-hour journey passed quickly. Although the Aniels Islands had been bought by the Song, Meng, and Fu families, because the islands were large, the half of the islands near the Arctic Circle had been turned into a tourist resort. Many tourists came every year. These islands were connected to each other. Not only were there boats traveling back and forth every day, but they could also be driven through, creating a sea highway. The meeting of warm and cold currents here made the climate not as harsh as imagined, especially in July. Snow-covered hills could be seen everywhere on the island. Renting a car and driving along the cross-island highways was extremely comfortable.

The four landed on the main island, where even a star-rated hotel had been built. The entire island was like a small town, with most of the necessities of life available. There were also many sports and fitness shops. The basic facilities weren’t perfect, but at least they could live without worry, but the prices were more expensive than elsewhere.

They didn’t choose to go to the hotel, but instead moved into the private villas built by the three families at the foot of the snow-capped mountains. Three sides of the villa were floor-to-ceiling windows. The fireplace in the room burned comfortably. If they brewed a pot of hot milk tea and sat by the floor-to-ceiling windows to rest, it would probably be a great enjoyment. Anyone sitting here would relax.

While Meng Yeran and Dong Zhen hadn’t arrived yet, the four of them strolled around the town. There were many tourists this season. After all, July was the peak tourist season everywhere. Occasionally, some pedestrians passed through the town, and the car rental business reached its peak for the year. They also rented a Jeep and circled the island along the ring road.

But by the next day, they had lost interest in wandering around the island, because most places looked very similar. After seeing them for a long time, they got used to them. So they found new fun.

When Meng Yeran and Dong Zhen got off the plane, no one even came to pick them up except for the villa’s housekeeper.

The two of them were considered to be in a cooperative period during this time. Meng Yeran had taken a fancy to a director’s project under Dong Zhen and wanted to ask her for someone. As a result, after going back and forth, they simply invested in the project together. The total investment added up to seven or eight hundred million, which was considered a large-scale investment. It wasn’t officially launched until yesterday. The two started their journey after attending the launching ceremony.

After the housekeeper took them back to the villa and Meng Yeran put down her luggage, she couldn’t help but ask, “Where are Sheng Jia and the others?”

“Miss Sheng Jia and the four of them are in the boxing gym,” the housekeeper replied. “They said that if you and Miss Dong Zhen come, you can go directly to them there.”

“Boxing gym?” Meng Yeran was a little surprised. “Wait, four people? Where did four people come from?”

“One of them is the Opter family’s old friend’s child, Miss Ellie,” the housekeeper replied.

“Oh,” Meng Yeran didn’t hear any familiar names and only responded faintly.

It just so happened that Dong Zhen had finished packing, so she asked, “They’re all in the boxing gym. Are you going?”

“What are we going there for?” Dong Zhen was a little strange. They and Sheng Jia and Hilda weren’t in a relationship where they had to rush to see each other. Since they had gone out, it was fine to wait for them to come back to the villa. Dong Zhen had been living in seclusion in recent years and didn’t like going out very much. If it weren’t for Fu Minglang’s strict orders, she probably wouldn’t have felt the need to come. From her understanding of Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an, they didn’t need them to come forward at all. The two of them were enough to solve the problem, so she only thought of this as a vacation.

“You and Song Ji’an haven’t seen each other in five years, right?” Meng Yeran picked up her coat and said with a smile, “Aren’t you going to see her?”

“I’m very curious. You scammed Song Ji’an once, how can you go see her so calmly?” Dong Zhen asked, crossing her arms. From her current understanding of Meng Yeran, she knew that she had bad intentions as soon as she saw her smile.

“Sheng Jia dares to see her and can get along with her harmoniously. Why can’t I?” Meng Yeran straightened her back and revealed a playful expression on her face. “Moreover, I want to see what’s going on between Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an.”

“Is that so?” Dong Zhen glanced at her with a meaningful look and simply took her own coat. She walked to Meng Yeran and raised her chin, “Let’s go.”

Perhaps Meng Yeran was very confident in herself, but she probably forgot that Song Ji’an wasn’t a good-tempered person.

Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an could get along harmoniously, and the problem must be very complicated, because their relationship itself was equally complicated and unspeakable, but facing Meng Yeran was much simpler.

The two drove the small car in the villa, and it was only a ten-minute drive to the boxing gym according to the navigation.

It was a converted factory building, with soundproof materials used on the outside. You could only hear the sound of boxing and fighting when you went inside.

Because it was a private boxing gym, it was divided into many areas. Today, the largest boxing area was booked by Sheng Jia and the others. Meng Yeran and Dong Zhen quickly found the place.

As soon as they pushed open the door, they saw a person on the octagonal stage being hit into the net by another person, and then simply hanging on it like a salted fish.

Ellie’s voice came, “Ouch, let’s not fight anymore. No one ever said that Sister Ji’an was so good at fighting.”

Only then did Meng Yeran put her gaze on the other woman standing on the stage. She was wearing a simple gray vest and shorts, with her long hair tied up high. She was lowering her head to bite the boxing glove strap on her hand. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she turned her head and looked over.

It was Song Ji’an.

When she saw Meng Yeran’s familiar face, she curled her lips and picked up another pair of boxing gloves from the side, throwing them straight at her.

“Meng Yeran, get in the ring.”

A light shone over, Meng Yeran was holding the gloves in her hand, her face a little amused. “Long time no see, the first thing you do is ask me to get in the ring?”

“Why should I get in?”

But as her voice fell, the door behind her was already locked.

She turned her head, and well, Sheng Jia and Hilda were standing behind her with smiles on their faces, like two door gods.

“So you mean I have no choice but to go up today?” Meng Yeran said helplessly. “Sheng Jia, you’re crossing the river and demolishing the bridge, aren’t you?”

“Come on,” Sheng Jia replied with a smile, “Weren’t you just looking for some fun for yourself? Now that Song Ji’an wants to make trouble for you, I promised her that I would stand on her side.”

“That’s right, Meng Yeran, today you only have two choices, either get ganged up on by us, or go up and fight Song Ji’an one-on-one,” Hilda said with a smile, but if you looked closely, the smile didn’t reach her eyes, and it contained a bit of coercion.

This plan was proposed by Song Ji’an last night. This was the first time Song Ji’an had made a request to Sheng Jia as a cooperative partner. There was no way Sheng Jia would refuse, but surprisingly, Hilda actually agreed, and even took the initiative to participate.

If you wanted to say that Hilda and Meng Yeran had any grudges, Sheng Jia felt that there shouldn’t be any commercial or interest-related grudges, after all, Hilda was very humble and smooth in her dealings, and wouldn’t easily make enemies. Although she and the Meng family were considered rivals, her business map hadn’t expanded yet, and the two families hadn’t had any clashes.

So Sheng Jia suspected that Hilda and Meng Yeran had conflicts in other aspects.

The fact that Meng Yeran wasn’t even communicating with Hilda now only confirmed Sheng Jia’s guess.

She approached Meng Yeran and said softly, with only the two of them able to hear, “After you went to Iceland some time ago, Hilda suddenly entered the domestic market and clashed with your Meng family’s business. Later, you came back and stayed at home for two days without going out. I thought it was very strange.”

“Now that I suddenly found out that Hilda has a lot of opinions about you, did something happen between you two? Let me guess, is it related to Valma?”

Meng Yeran was slightly stunned and glanced at Hilda in surprise. Seeing that Hilda didn’t react, she belatedly realized that Sheng Jia already knew about Hilda and Valma’s affair.

She quickly figured out the cause and effect, knowing that she probably couldn’t escape going on stage today no matter what. She also saw Sheng Jia’s idea of ​​watching the show, so she simply lowered her voice and said, “What do you think Hilda is? Something good?”

“I met Valma in Iceland. That guy, with a head full of red hair, asked me to go to her room. I, of course, went because we were willing to and the atmosphere was good. As a result, Hilda came over aggressively. I didn’t feel anything, but that Valma was more interesting than I thought. She lay on the bed and asked Hilda what she was getting angry about. If she had the ability, she should join in.”

After saying that, she snorted and turned her head to look at Sheng Jia, who was obviously dumbfounded and unable to react after being hit by this huge and complicated amount of information. Did she still not know where Sheng Jia’s weakness was? This guy had been focusing all her energy on her career in the past few years, working so hard that she had become strict and perverted with herself. Where would she have time to enjoy life? She was still only shocked when she heard this kind of gossip. It was good to be shocked. If her brain was confused, she wouldn’t have time to watch the show.

If she wasn’t in the center of the incident right now, she would definitely seize the rare opportunity to laugh at Sheng Jia’s gaffe.

Unfortunately, it was she herself who was being stared at intently now.

Meng Yeran patted Sheng Jia on the shoulder, put on the boxing gloves on her hand, and said meaningfully before going on stage, “Guess what happened in the end?”

After saying that, she stepped onto the octagonal stage, only letting Sheng Jia guess the result herself.

Sheng Jia stood there with a straight face, unable to see what she was thinking, but could feel that she had fallen into deep thought.

Song Ji’an on the stage couldn’t hear what they were saying offstage, only smiled at Meng Yeran, her eyes a little dangerous and sharp. “Meng Yeran, long time no see.”