32 THE POWER OF HIS FAMILY

The evil emperor returned on Monday, making Hu Lei forget about the nice and domestic Zhong Feng. However, after learning more about Etude Technologies, the general politics of Supreme City and Zhong Feng over the weekend, she understood the importance of the numerous meetings that he had scheduled.

As a relatively new business, Etude Technologies was quite successful, especially considering that Zhong Feng had started it independently when he was nineteen years old. The business had grown exponentially in the six years of its operation. The solutions from Etude had touched every part of the country. Unfortunately, except for the games, the influence of the software from the company in the international market was not high.

As a result, there was a sense of stagnation, attracting a lot of criticism. Though the naysayers were not many, they could influence the credibility of the products and cause a decline of the business. For instance, some well-known web resources had claimed that the software from Etude was not that good or else the international market would be more interested.

A local magazine had also published an article which seemed to be in favour of Zhong Feng. However, the writer had concluded that Mr Zhong was not suited for building a legacy business. The article had gone on to state that he had proved that he could run a successful business, so he should go back to the family business instead of wasting time on a company that would die in no time.

Hu Lei had been intrigued, so she dug into the family business, Zhong Industries. It turned out that the big boss was from the richest and most influential Zhong family which had power in almost every field. Unfortunately, it seemed that this had some disadvantages for Zhong Feng.

It was hard for people to separate him from the power of his family, even though he had built his business without relying on that power.

The now informed Hu Lei decided to put her best foot forward during the week to avoid letting him down. In fact, she decided not to involve herself in other activities until the conference week was finalised. She would sleep like a normal person, eat all her meals and be on location thirty minutes before time.

From the beginning of the week, her schedule was completely packed. Zhong Feng did not leave her out of any of his meetings, even when she was not needed. She did not dare complain. Complaining to an evil and stressed out emperor would probably lead to a beheading.

She tried to be as helpful as possible while minimising her presence. She realised that some of the business people and their corporate entourage preferred to speak their native languages even if they spoke fluent English.

She consulted Manager Lin, and she advised her on how to interact with these people like she would to ensure that they feel at home without interfering with official business. The meetings went well and several contracts were signed. She also had to attend the trade fair with some of the business people who were interested in the showcases. The constant politeness, smiling, talking and bowing took a toll on her, making her question life.

However, she soldiered on because the pain was about to come to an end.

On Friday morning, she made a point to come early to the office because the most important meeting was still to come. It was the meeting with the Russians.

Originally, this meeting was scheduled for Tuesday earlier in the week. This would have been the optimal time because the connection with the company was not solid. It was not often that a first meeting would result in collaboration.

If the meeting had been conducted earlier, they could plan a follow-up before the week ended. After all, most companies opted to remain for the entire period of the conference to expand their horizons or even have a little fun in the local way.

Unfortunately, Novia Corporation had gotten in contact and requested for a change because the representative would change. The original attendee was the vice-president of the company. But it turned out, the president wanted to make an appearance in person.

Hu Lei had tried to dig out the information from the web, but it seemed that he did not want anyone to find him. She had come a little earlier in order to get some information from the big boss.

When she made it to the office, she found Zhong Feng sleeping in the office. She almost let out a loud laugh when she saw him. His sleeping position was both funny and sad. He was sitting in an upright position in his chair, looking as immaculate as usual. It was almost impossible to tell he was asleep.

Before she could come closer, he woke up and looked at her.

She sighed in her heart looking at the shadows around his eyes. It seemed that he had not slept well if at all for the entire week.

"You look tired." She said softly.

He nodded a little before turning his eyes to his computer. For some reason, she thought his pitiful nod was quite cute.

"The information is at the couch." He said without looking at her.

She did not disturb him anymore. The folder detailed the agenda of the meeting and other boring details. She skimmed through the stuff she knew so that she could see the profile of the Novia Corporation president. Manager Lin had insisted that knowing the profile should be the key to conduct during the meetings. So far, the principle had worked.

Vladimir Romanov.

Her blood froze in her veins at the sight of the two words.

Vladimir Romanov.

The ink did not shift no matter how many times she looked at the name. The name she had hoped never to hear or see again.