Chapter 1257 - Aggressive And Forceful Acquisition
Ever since the night that Jin Liwei formally introduced his AI children to Grandpa Lu, Ketchup and Bacon no longer hid their presence to the old man. As a result, the three could be heard chatting almost all the time.
Ketchup would chatter nonstop. She was delighted and loved talking to her great-grandfather because the old man never disdained her for being talkative. In fact, Grandpa Lu liked seeking her for company. Even when Ketchup was busy with her own tasks, she would always be available to accompany her great-grandfather whenever he called for her. Her almost god-like multitasking abilities allowed her to be in many places at the same time.
Surprisingly, Bacon also liked accompanying Grandpa Lu. Although he didn't talk as much as his older sister, he would still head straight home and keep his great-grandfather company after completing his daily tasks assigned by his Uncle Zihao.
It wasn't long before he realized that he gained another big backer against his Uncle Zihao in the form of Grandpa Lu. Whenever he was unsatisfied with his uncle's treatment of him, he would quickly run to his great-grandfather and tattle. Grandpa Lu would then call Lu Zihao and scold him for bullying Bacon.
The smug Bacon became even more so after this discovery of a great backer. His other foolproof backer was his Aunt Long Jinjing.
Lu Zihao might bear to ignore Grandpa Lu's harsh scolding, but he would almost always end up giving in to Long Jinjing especially recently. Not always, but now that she was pregnant with his child and they were engaged, he would grit his teeth and accede to her requests despite his obvious reluctance.
The cunning Bacon used Lu Zihao's newfound weakness whenever possible.
It was unfortunate that he had a pig teammate. His sister, Ketchup, tattled on him to their parents. In the end, their dad Jin Liwei lectured him for a long time. Fortunately, his father didn't ground him this time.
Unbeknownst to the black cat AI, Jin Liwei didn't ground Bacon because he wanted Lu Zihao to have a bit of a hard time with Grandpa Lu. It was just some petty back and forth antics between the brothers-in-law.
The relationship between Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao had improved a lot especially after the latter proposed to Long Jinjing at the Christmas party. This was largely because Jin Liwei provided him with a lot of help and advice to make his proposal a success.
Lu Zihao also found himself frequently consulting with Jin Liwei on how to better take care of a pregnant woman. Even though Jin Liwei didn't have that long of an experience yet, he was happy to share his personal experiences and offer more advice to his brother-in-law.
Lu Zihao was still the same alpha man but had become so much more tolerating of things and people that he normally found annoying. His sister, Iris, was amazed at this positive change.
By this time, Iris' baby bump was now noticeable. It wasn't that big yet but her unchanging svelte frame made it so that her bigger boobs and belly appeared very prominent. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot) com. Please
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She and Jin Liwei were still keeping her pregnancy a big secret to the general public. This meant keeping her public appearances to the bare minimum. Her fans, the Black Stars, were missing her like crazy and wished for her to do more shows like before but they would never demand her to do anything that she didn't want to do.
After dropping the bombshell that Iris Long was the true owner of the gaming company, Planet Monkey, and that she established her own holding company that housed several companies including LXC Studio that she co-owned with her husband, CEO Jin Liwei, and her brother-in-law, the superstar Jin Chonglin, she was once again the talk in the news for several weeks.
She accepted a few carefully selected interviews arranged by her manager Tang Yiyi through LXC Studio. However, she didn't go to the shows' studios but instead invited the interview hosts to her companies—Eve Holdings, Orchidia Beauty, LXC Studio and even Planet Monkey. She didn't bother with Gold Heights because it had its own original management that she rarely interfered with since becoming the owner.
These interviews became instant hot topics after they aired.
This was the first time that people saw that Iris Long was really now a legitimate businesswoman who knew what she was doing and not just a symbolic boss on paper.
If the interview shows aired about her were to be believed, her leadership skills and abilities were on par with business school graduates like Orchidia Beauty's COO Chen Fei and Iris' half-sister, CFO Long Jinjing.
The Black Stars were extremely proud of her while some didn't fully believe what they watched on the shows.
The skeptics suspected that the shows were deliberately edited in such a way to project a positive image of Iris Long as a competent business leader. Her lack of proof of higher education wasn't doing her any favour in persuading others that she was a natural as a businesswoman.
Despite all these mixed opinions about her business endeavours, Iris wasn't bothered in the least. She was keeping herself busy with many things while prioritizing her health and pregnancy. Every day was productive and meaningful.
At the moment, she was inside her office at Eve Holdings. Her executive business assistant had just handed her a Long Industries stock certificate with her name as proof of ownership of the new shares she acquired through Elder Long Jufang's mediation. There was a second certificate that she acquired through another more forceful channel.
She remained expressionless while looking at the certificates in her hand. Her executive assistant couldn't guess her thoughts through her face.
"Set up an investment company under Eve Holdings," she ordered. "From now on, we'll aggressively acquire as much Long Industries shares as we can. That'll be the main priority of the investment company until I say otherwise."
"Understood, President Long." The executive assistant jotted a note on his tablet.
When the assistant left, Iris reclined her seat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ketchup appear on her computer screen.
"Mommy, Uncle Long Jian left you a voice mail. Meow~"