This time, however, Xiao Ran and Yun Mengqiu were also there. Veranica and Wang Yunshu had headed back to the hotel first.
After listening for a while, Xiao Ran realized that the discussion still revolved around specific matters of cooperation and the Legendary Pokémon fossil.
China refused to let the matter of the fossil go, while the Federation refused to hand it over, shifting all responsibility onto a few children. Though Xiao Ran and the others despised such behavior, there was nothing they could do about it.
Aside from the fossil, the biggest sticking point was how the Island Challenge would actually be run. How would participants be selected? How would the challenges work? How would the final results be judged? They could never agree on anything. After more than an hour of noisy arguing, it was already past nine. Xiao Ran wanted to speak up, but Qiu Yuxuan stopped him.
She gestured toward Xu Zhixing beside them and Laud and the Federation diplomat across the table. All three sat there perfectly composed, sipping tea or coffee. Only when the arguments beside them grew particularly heated did they interject with a few token remarks.
"We're partners, so naturally, the rules of the Island Challenge should be drawn up jointly by both sides."
"How could that possibly work? You're partners, sure, but partners are just shareholders. Have you ever seen shareholders doing the work? It's the directors and general managers under them who handle things, so just leave these little matters to us."
"We're partners. Since when did we become shareholders? Are you paying dividends? Do you have financial statements? Shareholder meetings? This is cooperation between two countries. How could we possibly let you make the rules all by yourselves?"
"Exactly, we're cooperating on the slots for the Island Challenge. We