DF Chapter 101

Chapter 101: Very Ambitious

Chapter 101 Very Ambitious

Before Hilda could come up, Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an had already recovered from the shock.

For things that people are unwilling to mention or face, most people choose to pretend they don’t exist. Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an can’t pretend this doesn’t exist, but after calming down, they can temporarily forget its particularity and immorality, and rationally analyze it.

Someone like Hilda, who appears humble, well-mannered, and sunny in front of outsiders, would be even less likely to have her true face discovered if she were actually dark and paranoid in private.

After all, they have such a role model by their side—Meng Yeran. If she hadn’t been willing to participate in the Song family’s affairs, who would know what her true face was like?

This type of person would only carefully maintain their disguise in order to maintain a normal image in front of the public. How could they so easily reveal their true colors in a place where they could be discovered at any time, and even expose the immoral side of their relationship with their cousin?

There is only one possibility, Hilda is doing it on purpose.

It may even be because she couldn’t get Valma off the ship in time, and she also believed that with Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an’s intelligence, they would likely discover the existence of another Opter family member on the ship before she could resolve the matter. So, she decided to simply and directly reveal the matter, and in a not-so-honorable way.

She is telling Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an that within the Opter family, she, Hilda, is the winner, and Valma is the loser in the power struggle. She also wants them to understand which member of the Opter family is worth making a deal with.

If they chose Valma, then on this ship completely controlled by Hilda, she also has the ability to prevent any cooperation that is not beneficial to her from taking place.

With a hint of threatening edge, it just came straight at them.

Since Hilda wants to participate in the subsequent negotiations, she can’t always maintain a pleasant appearance. This Opter family’s female eagle is appropriately showing her fangs.

In less than half an hour, Hilda came up.

Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia were opening the English tea set in the wine cabinet to make tea, and they were brewing the Pu’er tea they brought themselves.

The fragrance of green tea can only be smelled up close. The two of them were relaxed, as if they had been waiting here for a long time.

“I heard the butler say you were looking at the rooms up here,” Hilda smiled as she walked in, “How is it? Do you want this one?”

“As long as the butler doesn’t think it’s troublesome, I think her suggestion of rotating room changes is a good idea,” Song Ji’an replied.

“However, since it’s currently the period of polar day, if you want 24 hours of sunshine, it may cause excessive mental stress and difficulty falling asleep,” Hilda kindly reminded.

“Who said I wanted to chase the sun?” Song Ji’an asked in surprise, “I proposed changing rooms because I disliked the glaring sun and didn’t want to always close the windows.”

Hilda paused slightly before saying, “I see, then rotating room changes is indeed a good choice.”

She didn’t linger on the topic and took the initiative to invite, “It’s almost time to reach the vicinity of Shevoyer City. This is a famous fishing ground. Would you like to add a small boat for some sea fishing?”

The cruise ship will stay here for nearly an hour, which is a special sea fishing time for passengers. After they return to the ship, they can hand over their spoils to the back kitchen to make a delicious lunch. Of course, if they catch nothing, it doesn’t matter. The back kitchen itself has many seafood specialties.

This was a pre-arranged itinerary, and Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an didn’t refuse. In fact, they were waiting in the room for Hilda to call them to go sea fishing.

The three quickly took the VIP elevator to the deck, where several speedboats were being launched one after another. They drove to a place where there was an endless ocean as far as the eye could see, without a trace of the city.

Hilda had already prepared a spacious boat, and the three of them carried fishing buckets and fishing equipment onto the boat.

Sea fishing is different from fishing by the river, and it doesn’t require absolute silence.

The sea breeze in July is not as biting as imagined. Although it makes the forehead a little cold, it is within an acceptable range. The life jacket on the body can lock in the heat, so people don’t feel too cold.

This area is a fertile natural fishing ground, which provides everyone with an excellent sea fishing experience. The fathead fish seemed unable to see the hook and kept jumping out one after another. Soon, there were three or four fish in each of the three’s fishing buckets.

Sheng Jia squinted at the sparkling sea. Looking down, the sea is black, without any deep blue, it is a beauty full of mystery.

“Hilda,” she suddenly said, “If you had to choose between profit and power, what would you choose?”

“Are you suddenly asking such a philosophical question?” Hilda said slowly, “But I’m more greedy, I want both. Can’t I have both?”

“What if getting both comes at a great cost?” Song Ji’an asked with a smile, “For example—excessive greed will make it impossible for you to keep the profits and power you get for a long time. Everything is just a fleeting illusion.”

“A fleeting illusion?” Hilda asked back, “What does that mean? A Chinese sentence that sounds difficult.”

“You understand,” Song Ji’an said, “Your Chinese proficiency has always been very impressive, hasn’t it?”

Hilda sighed and replied, “I thought one Sheng Jia was difficult enough to deal with, but I didn’t expect Miss Song to be even more difficult.”

“Perhaps I should say, what is a fleeting illusion? Anything that comes into my hands can’t be easily taken away.”

As she said that, she picked up her fish bucket, “Just like the fish in here, as long as I don’t want to let go, their final destination can only be a delicious meal that we eat.”

Her eyes were full of determination.

“A very ambitious statement,” Song Ji’an nodded in praise.

Hearing this, Hilda leaned back slightly on the reclining chair behind her. There were only the three of them on their boat, and not even a sailor was assigned. At this moment, there were even fewer people in the fishing area they were drifting to. She turned her head to look at Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an and said bluntly, “Since you’ve both mentioned it, why not be more direct? I didn’t think you would talk in circles like many Chinese businessmen.”

“Talking in circles is also a method,” Sheng Jia said, “If you can really confuse the other party with vague words, that’s also a skill.”

However, neither Sheng Jia nor Song Ji’an liked to talk like that. Now that they had tested Hilda’s attitude, there was no need to be vague.

“I think the first round of quotations and requirements we gave to the Opter family should have already been sent to your mailbox,” Sheng Jia said slowly, “You say we’re talking in circles, aren’t you also pretending to be confused? Why not be more direct and say what your expected price is in your heart.”

Hilda pondered for a moment and said truthfully, “Opter’s expectation is to buy the entire island at a 125% premium, but this idea is too whimsical, so it was rejected.”

The 125% premium does not refer to the estimated price of the natural gas field, but the current estimated value of the island group bought by the Song, Meng, and Fu families, plus a premium of 125%. This is no different from robbery.

In fact, many people at the group meeting agreed with this idea. Although the Opter family has become a marginal oil and gas merchant in recent years, the glory of the past has allowed them to maintain good relations with government officials to this day. They believe that to take over the ownership, they can completely reach a private agreement with the government, take away the Song, Meng, and Fu’s natural gas usage rights, and use the island sale method to be fully bought by the Opter family. At that time, 40% of the profits will be distributed to the government.

This may be a feasible thing. Perhaps it is not only Opter who can do this. The reason why the remaining oil and gas companies have not done such a stupid thing is that everyone wants to eat this huge benefit. Therefore, after several parties pulled each other, they all defaulted to solving the matter privately. The initiative is not in their hands. As long as any of them make any rash moves, the Song, Meng, and Fu families can completely turn to other companies.

The Opter family is even more special. This year, they entered the Chinese market to seek new ways, and their investment is huge. The first cooperation partner is the Song family. At this time, Hilda really thinks that the person who can propose this method should be immediately fired. This is obviously a moth with eyes on the top of their head, still dreaming of being superior.

So, she proposed a more specific bottom line, “You can’t get the mining rights for the natural gas field here. You can only be employed through domestic oil and gas companies. We are willing to sign a private contract with you after hiring your team. Every year, you can have 10% of the natural gas mining rights and can sell it to any European country.”

She stared at Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an, “The 125% premium has been increased to 300%, not for the islands, but for the amount of natural gas stored. This is my greatest sincerity.”

Sheng Jia proposed 20% of the mining rights in the contract, and a more important condition—she wanted a transportation route that could be transported to the country.

She glanced at Song Ji’an slightly, and Song Ji’an understood what she meant, “We want 20% of the mining rights and the right to export to our country.”

Hilda fell silent.

Ten percent was already the result of her arguing at the meeting. Twenty percent is almost an impossible requirement, which is equivalent to one-fifth of the gas volume.

“You should know that I don’t have such great authority to make this decision,” Hilda said, “Opter will definitely not pass your conditions, but I believe that no oil and gas merchant in Norway can offer more favorable conditions than us.”

“What if you have such authority?” Song Ji’an asked.

Hilda’s hand holding the fishing rod paused, and her thinking was rarely stagnant, “What did you say?”

“Actually, we’re not in a hurry about this matter. We can just drag it out,” Song Ji’an said leisurely, no longer looking at her, “As long as the ownership of this island belongs to us for one day, you won’t be able to get on the island unless you use extreme measures. This is not a problem for us. The Song, Meng, and Fu families don’t rely on this to survive. If we reach an agreement, it’s a windfall. If we don’t reach an agreement, it’s just another loss.”

“But you are different. You want to enter the Chinese market as a pioneer, but now you are eager to return to your old business because of the sudden appearance of oil and gas resources, so you are more eager.” Song Ji’an continued, “But the oil and gas production here is not as much as you think, at least it can’t completely revive Opter, which is a big hole.”

“But the new project in your hand is different. Once you gain a foothold in the domestic market, it may bring new vitality to Opter. Compared to a resource island that can only be mined to depletion in five years at most, I think the power and money in your hands can give you and Opter’s old conservatives more confidence to challenge them, right?”

Hilda’s eyes suddenly sharpened, but Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an didn’t look at her, only leaving her gaze to rise and fall on their faces.

“This requires a lot of courage,” she suddenly smiled, “Who can guarantee that the seedling in the Chinese market can grow successfully? It is still too weak now, even just a child with an uncertain future. You are asking me to gamble.”

Song Ji’an’s words seemed to point out Opter’s current embarrassing situation, and she was thinking about Hilda everywhere, but in fact, all of this didn’t matter to Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia, but it was a big gamble for Hilda. They opposed Hilda’s interests and Opter’s interests, destroying the integrity of her and the family.

If she did as they wanted, then it would no longer be a small fight with Valma, but an opposition with most of the family.

“Then who can guarantee that you can’t succeed?” Sheng Jia said meaningfully, “What if you succeed? If you succeed, then we have no conflict over the distribution of interests in the natural gas field.”

Hilda narrowed her eyes, she understood, Sheng Jia was asking her to set conditions.

—As long as Hilda is willing to take a gamble, Sheng Jia will stand behind her with the Song family and provide assistance.

Suddenly, a wave on the water broke the conversation of several people. A huge tail sprang out of the water, and the splashing seawater hit them. The women who had just been unpredictable and pursued fame and fortune were drenched all over. Surrounding them came bursts of exclamations.

The culprit jumped out of the sea again and performed a diving performance for everyone. This time, it attracted everyone’s attention.

Black and white colors, huge body, Sheng Jia’s small boat was slightly shaken by its tail, and Sheng Jia’s fishing bucket instantly fell into the sea. The sea fish drilled out one after another, and in the next second, they were swallowed into a big mouth that seemed to have been prepared long ago.

Several cries that even humans could hear happily sounded in the sea water.

Several people looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh at each other’s embarrassed appearance, and there was no longer a tense negotiation atmosphere.

The conditions and the ceded interests of both parties have been laid out. The decision is now in Hilda’s hands. They all know that such a thing is absolutely impossible to be easily decided on such a boat. It must be carefully considered.

“It’s the Valentina family that travels between the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean,” Hilda explained, “The family’s grandmother whale is called Valentina by us, so we usually call her family that. Valentina is already sixty-four years old, and her family comes to Shevoyer City every winter, but they usually leave before March. The one who attacked our boat just now was Valentina’s youngest granddaughter, Shiria, who is less than seven years old.”

“I don’t know why, but she’s still here now.”

Song Ji’an lay on the handrail and looked at the naughty Shiria across the sea, and couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know them?”

“I often take this route,” Hilda smiled, “I usually come here once in January every year, and Valentina can be said to have watched me grow up, right? But unfortunately, I know her, but she doesn’t know me.”

The pod of whales in July attracted almost everyone’s attention. They roamed freely on the sea, often deliberately performing a few jumps with the crowd, obviously to amuse humans, and it was also the killer whales’ pleasure to see them exclaim at their performance.

But the captain was already standing on the deck, calling the passengers who had been let out and were a little unable to be recovered back to their warm and comfortable rooms, so as not to freeze them with the cold air in the Arctic Circle.

Sheng Jia and the others quickly returned to the ship. The three of them walked into the VIP elevator. Originally, their next itinerary was to go to the high-rise restaurant on the fourteenth floor to enjoy the fruits of their sea fishing, but Shiria’s playful prank forced them to return to their rooms to change clothes first.

When Sheng Jia raised her hand to touch the door handle, using her body as a cover, the small recording device she had placed in front of Song Ji’an’s door had not yet been removed.

She and Song Ji’an looked at each other and returned to their respective rooms. Almost as soon as she entered the room, a message was sent—

“No audio has been transmitted during the time we were away.”

This only illustrates one thing, Valma has not left in the middle, she is still in Hilda’s room.