CHAPTER 1538: CHAPTER 1590: CONTEMPT

Sashar felt as if pardoned, fleeing hastily. Faced with Sarama’s obsession, he could only go help. Moreover, the banquet was about to begin, and he had to show up. Otherwise, as one of the hosts, it would be inappropriate for him not to appear.

Donning his suit, Sashar appeared amidst the crowd. As soon as he appeared, many people naturally gathered around him, including other princes, politicians, various wealthy individuals, and beauties. Sashar was busy entertaining them.

In the corner of the courtyard, Li Yifei had already devoured most of the food on his plate, stuffing a fine piece of steak into his mouth. Li Yifei chewed a few times vigorously, swallowed it, and looked up to see a group of East Asian faces walking by. Judging by appearance alone, he couldn’t tell which country they were from, but after listening for a bit, he found they were speaking Japanese.

A Japanese woman, clinging to a Japanese man, whispered into his ear, saying, "Tonohei-kun, this bunch of foolishly rich people is really boring. It seems like they’re so poor that all they have left is money."

"Haha, there’s a lot of truth to what you said. That’s why it’s very easy to cooperate with them." Tonohei arrogantly laughed and said.

The woman beside him also giggled. Although their words were disdainful, their faces were quite curious.

Li Yifei only glanced at them briefly before lowering his head to continue eating. He had no interest in such a banquet, knowing no one there. Why should he pretend to be interested?

A few minutes later, Li Yifei suddenly raised his head. He heard some voices of contention—a woman’s voice. Listening carefully, he stood up; it was the voice of Wu Shuwei.

Wu Shuwei had just encountered this recently arrived group of Japanese people. She originally wouldn’t have bothered with them, but one of them, upon spotting Wu Shuwei, brightened up and walked over, blocking her path and speaking to her in Japanese.

Wu Shuwei faced him coldly and replied indifferently in English, "Please move aside."

The man not only refused to move but switched to English and said, "Miss, are you Korean or Huaxia?"

"Move!"

The man persisted, saying, "Don’t be angry, I just want to be friends, why get so angry? Hehe, but you look even more beautiful when you’re angry. Seeing you alone, you probably don’t have a date, right? How about I be your date?"

Wu Shuwei turned her head to walk in another direction, but the man reached out to grab her arm. Wu Shuwei shook it off forcefully. The man’s voice then rose significantly, saying, "Haha, quite a fiery temper. I like it. You’d better not move, listen to what I have to say. Otherwise, once you leave this courtyard, your safety won’t be guaranteed."

Wu Shuwei raised her eyes, glaring at him, and said, "I don’t know you, nor do I want to. I won’t be intimidated by your threats! If you keep pestering me..."

Before Wu Shuwei could finish, she saw a man approaching. The man, upon seeing Wu Shuwei, was initially surprised, then laughed heartily, patting the Japanese man from earlier on the shoulder and said, "Honda-kun, you really have a good eye. But do you know who this woman is?"

Honda Takeshi shook his head and asked, "Who?"

Wu Shuwei, seeing this person approaching, realized who they were: the Huaxia side’s competitors, the Japanese representative. And in this project with Dubai oil, Japan currently had the advantage and it was almost certain that Huaxia would be cut off by Japan. She wasn’t clear about the methods used, but they were certainly unsavory.

And this man, clinging to the young lady earlier, was Tonohei. He squinted his eyes, leering at Wu Shuwei, and said, "This woman is actually our competitor, the highest representative from Huaxia, Ms. Wu Shuwei, tsk tsk."

Upon hearing this, Honda Takeshi understood, straightened his back with an arrogant look on his face, and raised his chin, saying, "Oh, so it’s the renowned Miss Wu. It’s truly a pleasure."

After saying this, he and Tonohei exchanged a sneering glance and said, "But I heard that tonight’s banquet did not include any invitations to the Huaxia personnel. I won’t ask how you sneaked in, but there’s one thing you should know in advance: tonight is our celebration with Dubai, and tomorrow morning we’ll sign the contract and reach an agreement."

Tonohei added, "That’s right, but we still appreciate your company’s early investments, although they are quite crude, they save us some investment. Very good, haha, I’ll toast to Miss Wu later."

Wu Shuwei, gritting her teeth, looking at these hateful Japanese people, as they spoke arrogantly and with a victor’s posture, she did not explode but merely said, "The matter isn’t finalized yet; be careful, after celebrating, the contract might go to someone else tomorrow."

"Haha, what? Didn’t you know? European and American companies have already withdrawn from this competition, so now it’s just us." Tonohei said smugly.

European and American companies withdrew? Wu Shuwei genuinely didn’t know this, and a hint of astonishment flashed in her eyes, captured by Honda Takeshi, who said, "It seems Miss Wu is not well-informed and didn’t know this news. Oh, well, since your company is about to withdraw, it’s normal not to know."

Wu Shuwei’s chest rose and fell slightly, her fists clenched and unclenched several times before she let out a faint laugh, saying, "The final result isn’t out yet, don’t celebrate too soon."

Tonohei laughed arrogantly, saying, "Hahaha, Miss Wu, thanks for your kind words, but even if there’s no chance for us, your company definitely has no chance."

Li Yifei had already walked over, and across the crowd, he saw an acquaintance. The other person also saw him and instinctively stepped back, and at Li Yifei’s glare, they turned and left.

Li Yifei ignored that person, instead pushing through the people in front, saying, "I could hear the barking from afar, came over to see, sure enough, there are a few Japanese dogs here. Tsk tsk, they don’t look that great, but they sure are loud."

Li Yifei spoke in English, which the Japanese people understood. They turned abruptly, seeing Li Yifei walk to Wu Shuwei’s side and stop slightly in front of her, with a cold smile on his face.

The moment Li Yifei appeared, the anger in Wu Shuwei’s heart gradually faded. Earlier she almost couldn’t hold back her outburst, but she was alone. Even if she exploded, what could she do? Was she going to physically fight these arrogant Japanese? But with Li Yifei’s presence, she feared nothing.

Li Yifei carried a fierce aura, merely walking over at a steady pace, and the few Japanese subconsciously stepped back. Realizing this, they stepped forward again.

Honda Takeshi stared angrily at Li Yifei, pointing at him, "Kid, are you insulting us?"

Li Yifei said indifferently, "Seems your ears aren’t working well. Didn’t you hear what I just said? I don’t want to repeat it. Should I curse you a few more times?"

"You..." Honda Takeshi was about to lash out when Tonohei pulled him back, saying, "Huaxia people, don’t be too arrogant. You have already failed; as the defeated ones, what can you do, even if you gather a bunch to beat us up? Can you recover your loss? Haha, don’t be naive. I tell you, it’s impossible. The oil project belongs to the Empire of Japan."

Li Yifei was amused by this, looked around, and noticed a large crowd had gathered, as they were speaking in English, most of the surrounding people understood. They knew it was a confrontation between Huaxia and Japanese, with informed ones aware it was over oil, hence the severe animosity. Seeing some drama unfolding, they eagerly gathered around.

Putting away his smile, Li Yifei fixed a sharp gaze on the two Japanese in front, and slowly said, "Can you ensure this project will definitely be Japan’s?"

Honda Takeshi sneered disdainfully and said, "Why not? This project is already ours."

"What if it isn’t signed tomorrow?"

"Haha, impossible."

"Good, then if it isn’t signed tomorrow, you kneel in front of me and shout three times that all Japanese are ****. Oh, you know what ’****’ means, right?"

The smile vanished from Honda Takeshi’s face. Li Yifei had once again insulted the Japanese before him. He was already enraged to the extreme. If it wasn’t for this being someone else’s place, he might have outright ordered Li Yifei to be dealt with. Staring at Li Yifei, Honda Takeshi said even slower, "Is this a bet now? I’ll accept it. But what if we sign as scheduled?"

"Simple, I’ll kneel before you and shout three times!" Li Yifei said.

Honda Takeshi smirked coldly, saying, "Good, you’d better not disappear tomorrow, or I assure you, you’ll end up very badly."

Tonohei snorted as well, "Huaxia people, you’re destined to fail."

Wu Shuwei hadn’t spoken since Li Yifei appeared. She felt with Li Yifei around, she didn’t need to confront them herself. Such thoughts would never occur to her before, but now she had none of those chaotic thoughts, listening to Li Yifei rebuff and insult them without feeling uncomfortable.

The several Japanese left swaggeringly, heading towards the villa.

The surrounding onlookers expected a good show, but ended up seeing only some back-and-forth insults, ending with them parting ways, leaving them feeling it was uneventful.

"The bet... is it really okay?" Wu Shuwei asked worriedly. After all, just now, Li Yifei, in such a setting, was representing a country. The stakes seemed quite high.

Li Yifei merely smiled faintly, shook his head, and said, "It’s not tomorrow yet, so anything can happen."

Just then, an idea had occurred to him.