At Lingxi City Airport, an airliner touched down with a thunderous roar. About ten minutes later, it slowly taxied to its gate. Airport staff began placing chocks by the wheels, and the jet bridge was brought over...
The seats, service, and food in first class were the best on the flight. Those who could afford first class were mostly society's elite, celebrities from various fields, and business owners.
The flight attendants serving first class had all been carefully selected. At the very least, they could communicate fluently in English, and their figures and looks were of a high standard.
The attendants were eager to chat with first-class passengers and provide them with warm service. If you happened to fall asleep, they would gently drape a blanket over you to keep you from catching a chill.
If you were handsome and rich, it was easy to attract several fair-skinned, beautiful flight attendants to chat and laugh with you. You might even have a chance encounter at some hotel after landing.
Yet there was a unique presence in first class. He was dressed casually, but everything he wore was from a Swiss luxury brand. Without even considering the cost of his outfit, the Cartier watch on his wrist alone was worth over two million.
Some people drove million-yuan luxury cars, and some went around boasting about investments worth several million or even tens of millions. But you rarely saw anyone wearing such an expensive watch—and especially not a young man in his early twenties.
Handsome? Rich? Even those two words seemed inadequate to describe him.
He had no woman by his side, yet nearly every flight attendant kept glancing his way. He was the sort of person who drew everyone's attention, but whom no one dared approach.
Being a pilot with an annual income of a million was a career many people envied. Yet the co-pilot on this flight hadn't stayed in the cockpit. Instead, he had come to the luxuriously decorated first-class cabin.
Ma Junhao had become a co-pilot at thirty, making him the ideal partner for many of the flight attendants. Standing six-foot-two, he strode over to the young man and greeted him with a smile. "Brother Yao, how was the flight? I asked the captain to keep things smooth earlier. It wasn't too bumpy, was it?"
Yao Hongguang kept reading without even looking up at the young co-pilot who was trying to ingratiate himself. He merely nodded. "It was all right. Big planes are pretty stable."
The first-class passengers began collecting their luggage and preparing to disembark. Ma Junhao raised a hand to stop a flight attendant who had come to help Yao Hongguang with his bags. He took the luggage himself and escorted Yao all the way off the plane.
Once Yao Hongguang had left in his private car, the flight attendants gathered around Ma Junhao, all asking who that man had been.
"To be honest, I've only met Brother Yao once. It was at a party for the wealthy in Paris. I wasn't qualified to get in, either. My uncle runs a company over there, so I went in with him."
"There weren't many Chinese people at that party, and Brother Yao got the best treatment of anyone there. The party was hosted by a famous Wall Street investment manager. My uncle told me the guy was managing at least several billion."
One of the attendants asked excitedly, "Was he the investment manager?"
Ma Junhao shook his head. "No, the investment manager was a foreigner. But even so, he was extremely deferential to Brother Yao."
The attendants' eyes lit up. "Wow! So that handsome guy must be a billionaire?"
Quite a few of them immediately regretted not striking up a conversation with him. They did sometimes meet billionaires in first class, but most of them were middle-aged men in their forties or fifties.
Ma Junhao smiled. "A billionaire? You're underestimating Brother Yao. My uncle doesn't even know what kind of business his family is in. There weren't many Chinese people at the party, so I got up the nerve to introduce myself to Brother Yao. That's how I got to know him."
"I overheard Brother Yao talking with the investment manager. The manager really wanted him to provide some funding, but Brother Yao didn't seem interested in investing with him."
"The investment manager got a little anxious. He said he didn't need much—just a hundred million—and that he had a great plan that was guaranteed to make money. He hoped Brother Yao would give it a try."
One of the attendants cried out, "A hundred million isn't much?"
"Exactly! Anyone who can casually put up a hundred million to invest must be worth over a billion!"
Ma Junhao pursed his lips and shook his head, correcting them again. "You're underestimating Brother Yao. The investment manager meant a hundred million U.S. dollars. And from the way he spoke, it seemed as though coming up with a hundred million dollars wasn't much for Brother Yao."
Some of the attendants quickly did the conversion, then exclaimed in amazement, "Oh my god! A hundred million dollars is almost seven hundred million yuan! And seven hundred million isn't much? Then what counts as a lot...?"
Ma Junhao could see the money glittering in the women's eyes. He smiled. "Otherwise, why do you think I was so eager to carry Brother Yao's bags?" He seemed immensely proud of knowing Yao Hongguang.
After the crowd dispersed, Ma Junhao walked off the plane from the cockpit, pulling his little black suitcase.
Suddenly, a pair of hands gently wrapped around him from behind. When Ma Junhao turned, a wave of perfume reached him. One of the flight attendants had taken advantage of the moment when no one else was around to sneak up and hug him.
Ma Junhao was quite experienced with this sort of thing. He couldn't compare to those rich second-generation heirs or business owners with assets worth hundreds of millions, but he was young, and an annual income of a million was already more than enough to attract these women.
There were plenty of women hoping to secretly get on his good side. He never turned away a woman who came to him like this.
Ma Junhao ran a hand over her waist and glanced down through the opening of her collar. The view inside was enticing, making his heart itch. Her waist isn't quite slim enough, but at least she's well-endowed...
Meanwhile, Yao Hongguang rode away from the airport in his car. He habitually sat in the back seat, watching the city through the window as they drove along the airport expressway.
"Uncle Li, do you know where Shili Street is?"
Uncle Li was Yao Hongguang's personal butler and part-time driver, a man in his early fifties. He thought for a moment before answering, "Sorry, Young Master. I've never been to Lingxi City either, so I don't know my way around."
"All right, then. Let's go to the hotel first. Look up Shili Street later. There's a little shop there called the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. Tell me the address once you find it."
"Understood," Uncle Li replied.
Yao Hongguang gazed out the window, unable to hide his anticipation.
He liked interesting novels and exploring mysterious fields. Shen Qiong's story was like a novel, while fortune-telling was an unfamiliar, mysterious field.
He murmured, "Five hundred thousand. So what if I give it to you? I hope you won't disappoint me."
The car rolled along the expressway. It was a black sedan. Since Yao Hongguang didn't want to draw too much attention, he had chosen to ride in an Audi Q5.
The car stopped in front of the Airport Hotel. Yao Hongguang sat on a sofa in the lobby, crossing his legs as he read a novel.
As for everything else, Uncle Li would take care of it. Yao Hongguang didn't need to worry.
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