Offer to the CEO

Saturday, continued …

Having moved away to a quieter area, other people started to come up to Anna and Hou Yi to talk to them about various matters. Before either of them knew it, everyone was being called inside the banquet hall for their dinner and the auction afterwards.

Hou Yi had spoken to the organisers before the function and despite their reluctance agreed, the made sure the main Lu Corporation Table one table away from the main Hou Enterprises Table. He knew how to continue to stir up Lu Jingho, with bidding on various items he already knew that he had expressed an interest in.

Before either Anna or Hou Yi knew, the entrees were being brought out. Anna took one look at her place, and Hou Yi's plate, and realised that they needed to swap them over given her plate had items she knew she could not eat.

As the staff came to clear their entrée plates, Hou Yi quietly stopped one and asked what the remaining courses were before quietly asking them to make sure certain dishes were given to Anna, as the others likely contained food that she was not able to eat.

Just over an hour later, the last tables were having their dessert dishes cleared and the MC of the auction has stepped up to the microphone and started his pre-set speech for the auction. Hou Yi, when he heard part of the money raised would be going to their charitable initiative, turned to his wife and said, "What did you do?"

"Yi, nothing. I just politely asked would they be willing to add it as one of the charitable partners for the auction …"

Given Anna was not able to completely look him in the eye, he knew that something was not totally right. Leaning over and giving her a brief kiss, Hou Yi pulled back and said "Sweetheart, I know you did something, spill or …?"

"Or what?"

In very quiet tones Hou Yi whispered so only Anna could hear "You will miss out on what I think you will want tonight."

Anna knew she was blushing and that her darling was not going to play fair, so she knew the game was over before she really started. "It was only a couple of little things. Your mother helped me purchase a jade bracelet and pink diamond earrings to donate for the auction. Given the mess that Lu Corporation have been brought into I was able to sweettalk the organisers in that our charitable initiative would be a better partner, than that started by Lu Jinhu and Yang Lin."

Anna then leaned over and quietly whispered "It will totally annoy CEO Lu, because he was for days promoting how much this would benefit their initiative, therefore achieving the other goal we have." She leaned her head to Hou Yi who gave her a kiss, before they were interrupted by the MC, repeatedly calling Anna to come up to the microphone.

As Anna was making her way up, Hou Yi could see that Lu Jingho was barely containing his rage. He thought that he was going to control tonight with speaking about the initiative created by Lu Jinhu and Yang Lin, given their current periods of home detention. So, no one had let him know that it was not going to be a charity partner tonight.

It seemed like his wife was in fact learning from him about the importance of, at times, keeping information close to her chest, and not even letting him know. How annoying that was. However, as he watched Anna speak about the importance of supporting domestic violence victims and working to eradicate it in the future, he could see her passion for the cause.

While articulating her own story, she was careful not to cross the line imposed by the court orders through only talking about what was in the public sphere, she added to it through explaining the observations she made working with victims of such violence. It was obvious that she had most of the room in her hands within a couple of minutes of starting to speak, which for a group that attended these events to be seen rather than to care about the cause was an amazing task.

Even though she exceeded the allotted five minutes, no one seemed to feel right in interrupting her passionate explanation. When she left the stage, Anna observed Lu Jingho knew that much of what she was saying was aimed at him and he was struggling not to respond. The other speakers spoken about the other charities being supported, before the MC, got down to the main event for the night, the goods auction.

Hou Yi, having glanced at the list of donated items, had noticed a couple of pieces of jewellery he intended to bid on as they were pieces that would be perfect for Anna. He was also glad that his chair was such that he could see Lu Jinhgo to bid on the items he wanted to secure.

Two hours later, as they were leaving the venue with the items that Hou Yi had secured, observed an angry Lu Jingho and Rong Jingye storming away from the venue as he not only had lost the prestige of being a charity partner for the dinner but lost out on securing every item he had wanted from the night. Anna whispered to Hou Yi after they climbed into their car to head back to their apartment, "He is definitely angry?"

Hou Yi responded "He is, and Tan has called Snake and Lion to let them know to expect some people to be at the venues tonight."