The venue for the five-party meeting was the Richard Hotel. Compared with the Longan Hotel, the Richard Hotel is older and has only five floors. However, it is the oldest hotel in Longbei with a history of over a hundred years. Many firsts in Longbei's history took place in this hotel.
More than eighty years ago, Richard Hotel and the Governor's Palace were connected to gas. More than seventy years ago, Richard Hotel and the Governor's Palace were connected to electricity and light bulbs were installed. Basically, these changes in the Governor's Palace were promoted by Richard, the owner of Richard Hotel.
More than 50 years ago, the first movie in Longbei was also shown in this hotel.
Today, this hotel is not as grand as the Long An Hotel from the outside. Old Richard has long passed away and his descendants have returned to the south. However, the golden signboard of "Richard Hotel" is still used by the new operator.
The interior of the hotel still maintains a very elegant and comfortable style. Although there are not many hotel rooms, there are billiard rooms, bars, dance halls, chess and card rooms, theaters, coffee shops, etc. This also allows hotel guests to make full use of these entertainment facilities. They can have a very comfortable day at the hotel without leaving the house. Therefore, the hotel rooms here are almost all private rooms for playboys.
Compared to the Long An Hotel, the real traditional upper class still recognizes Richard as the rich and luxurious hotel.
But now, no matter how reluctant those young masters were, they had to temporarily clear out their private rooms. The Richard Hotel was temporarily requisitioned as the meeting place for the five-party meeting, and it was also the temporary residence for representatives of all parties.
Wang Ding lived here.
After a big gamble yesterday, Lu Ming came to Richard Hotel early this morning.
In the conference room on the fifth floor, the seventh round of consultations of the five-party meeting was taking place.
In fact, it is called a conference room, but it is of the same style as the super VIP rooms of some member clubs. It does not look like a conference venue. Several representatives sat on large and soft sofas, smoking cigars, drinking tea and chatting.
Qi Zongxun deliberately sat next to Lu Ming. The chips he lost in the last round yesterday were returned to him, so after the final bill, he still won more than 100,000 yuan.
"Commissioner Zhang, I must treat you to a meal, and please give me this favor!" Qi Zongxun said in a low voice.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Okay, let's see and coordinate a time."
In fact, Haeseo representative Kim Hae-hyuk was speaking loudly about the urgency of reaching an agreement on the chaos in Ansan as soon as possible.
Six rounds of consultations have been held, but in fact, nothing was discussed and the tone of the meetings could not be unified.
Because Heishan and Longbei demanded that the issue of who represents the current Anshan government be resolved first.
Without resolving this fundamental issue, it will be impossible to reach a consensus, let alone issue any joint declaration.
Lu Ming listened to Jin Haihe's speech. Although it was very empty and boring, by listening to what these people said and from some small details, he might be able to understand the real thoughts of the Haixi top leaders.
During the entire morning meeting, Lu Ming did not speak. He just listened to them and thought silently.
However, he could occasionally notice Tojo Saburo's gloomy look, but Lu Ming pretended not to see it.
…
The eighth round of meetings is scheduled for two days later.
Lu Ming returned to his study in the Snow Viewing Garden and did not come out the whole afternoon, writing something the whole time.
There was a gentle knock on the study door, and Bai Narcissus came in holding a plate of fruit.
"Master, Zi Han's parents are very nice. They even asked me to tell them thank you for your gift."
Lu Ming was stunned for a moment before he reacted. In the morning, he allowed Bai Shuixian and Xue Zihan to go home to visit their families. He gave them 100,000 yuan each and asked them to use it to settle their relatives. After all, it was the money they had just won, so he didn't feel sorry at all. Yesterday, he gave tips to the casino manager and dealers, all of which were 10,000 yuan each.
"Oh, is she back too? Why didn't you stay home for a night? Have you settled down at home?"
Bai Shuixian said, "Actually, there is nothing much to do. Sister Zi Han and I have discussed that we should give them some money every month. Otherwise, if we give them all the money given by the master, they might cause trouble. It is better to give them some money every month, which can really help them and will not cause a huge change in the living environment of our family."
Lu Ming nodded: "You are right in thinking about it."
Bai Shuixian glanced at Lu Ming's expression and said, "I heard from Zi Han's family that her best friend in college, the kind that the master calls a best friend, is having her birthday tomorrow. She even went to Zi Han's house specially because Zi Han suddenly dropped out of school and no one knows what happened to her. Her best friend has been to her house several times and went again this time to ask about Zi Han." After a pause, "But Zi Han told her family not to tell her former classmates that she is back."
Lu Ming's attention was already on the materials on the desk. He asked casually, "She doesn't want to go? Why? Fake sisters?"
Not getting a response, Lu Ming looked up and then understood, "Oh, ask her to go. It's rare for you to go back to Longan, so go meet up with your classmates and friends and keep in touch." He glanced at Bai Shuixian and smiled, "And you, go meet up with your relatives and friends these days. I have no objection to you having a social circle, you should know this."
"Well, Zi Han and I both know what the master is like, but the master is doing important things here, and we don't want to affect the master's work. We are afraid that we will contact old friends and be noticed by those with ulterior motives."
Lu Ming smiled and said, "It won't affect me. I'm the head of the secret police, and I don't have any reputation. I'm not afraid of being accused of being lustful and having many concubines. And to be honest, I would feel uncomfortable if I didn't have a big family around me." What he said was half true and half false, as if he had gradually gotten used to being surrounded by a group of beautiful women wherever he went, and he also had several families, all over the country.
Maybe, the less you belong to this world, the more you fear being alone.
Hearing Lu Ming say "a large family", Bai Shuixian's beautiful eyes lit up, and she breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "Then I'll take my leave and go inform Zi Han."
Lu Ming nodded.
As soon as Bai Shuixian left, Grandma Tuolong knocked on the door and came in, handing over a secret telegram.
A secret telegram came from Wu'an County. Two years ago, a new pawnshop opened in Wu'an, called "Da Ci Ye". It was actually a branch of the Military Intelligence Department. Moreover, the staff were selected by Lu Gaoyi himself and they only had a single line of contact with Lu Gaoyi.
Of course, this intelligence point has always been silent and does not spy on any information. It just runs a normal pawnshop.
He was not even allowed to have any contact with Lu Zhongduo, even business contact.
A few days ago, Lu Ming ordered Lu Gaoyi to transfer this intelligence point to the leadership of "Commissioner Zhang".
Lu Ming did not really activate this intelligence team. He just asked them to investigate Boris' current situation. Moreover, it was not a secret investigation, just the information available on the street.
This telegram tells you about Boris's current situation.
Looking at it, Lu Ming shook his head. It seemed that this old man had developed some feelings for Wu'an after all these years. He was planning to spend the rest of his life in Wu'an and even bought a piece of land with excellent feng shui for his grave.