Very Pure and Ambiguous: The Prequel

“Oh, that. Hehe, it was just a joke. The bride price is a popular dowry there in our China but there is no such custom here, so you don’t need to worry about it. It was just me speaking thoughtlessly!” I said with a smile.

“How is that good? When in Rome, do as the Romans do! Since Sallica is your fiancee’s younger sister, then we have to do it according to your customs!” Old Philip pretended to be pondering as he said, “Oh, right! Your fiancee is also an Oriental, so how could she be Sallica’s elder sister?”

I smiled secretly. This old fogy was finally showing his true colors.

“Do not misunderstand me, I have no ulterior meanings. I am simply curious!” Seeing me not reply, Old Philip thought that I was angry, so he immediately explained himself.

In fact, I was just thinking about how I was going to explain the matter to old Philip and was just organizing my words, “Old Philip, in fact, my fiancee and I happened to meet Philip and Sallica while traveling. Since we hit it off quite well, I became very good friends with Philip and my fiancee now considers Sallica as her own sister. There isn’t any special blood relationship actually!”

“No actual relations?” Old Philip was stunned and his brain immediately started to churn at a rapid pace, pondering over the pros and cons of the matter.

I could see the change in Old Philip’s expression and couldn’t help but laugh, “Perhaps, you also know that we Chinese people are very loyal and sometimes, friends might even be more intimate then blood-related siblings!” {TL: They are loyal and the rest of the world is an illusion.}

Old Philips had obviously also thought of this matter. And after listening to my words, his heart became steadfast and there was nothing to worry about for him. He knew that just my relationship with Philip was enough to bring great benefit to their family in the future! And it also seemed that Sallica’s role was quite minor in the matter! However, nothing was going to go forward without her! Only after they accepted Sallica will Philip fully concentrate in developing the family business in the future and I will be of more help to Philip! Therefore, Old Philip finally made up his mind, “Mr. Liu, I had no other meaning. By the way, when will you be leaving Milan? I was thinking if we should arrange Philip and Sallica’s wedding while you were still here! How about that?”

We? Arrange the wedding? Shouldn’t someone acting as Sallica’s guardian have the authority to do that? I bitterly smiled and said, “I am just here as a guest from the bride’s side, it would be better to let Sallica’s parents decide the wedding arrangements with you instead of me!”

“That’s not an issue as long as you attend!” Old Philip said.

“That is natural, I am still their future child’s godfather after all!” I said with a smile.

Finishing talking about this matter, Old Philip started to talk about the benefits, “Right, I had heard that Shuguang invested in East Asia Motion to develop an Environmental Purification System! I wonder if the agency on the European side has been finalized already?”

This old fox sure had a lion’s appetite right from the get-go! It must be known that Su Yuanchao (one of Liu Lei’s father in law) just held a press conference a few days ago in which he revealed the Environmental Purification System. Although it was a civilian grade product, the majority of the buyers were actually authoritative bodies from many countries! It must be known that air pollution was one of the biggest environmental issues right now! This kind of Purification System could condense a large area of polluted air into the fresh air and took little space. And use it together with East Asia Motion’s engine and the system will work continuously for many years! This was a dream come true for many developed countries!

And this Environmental Purification System had not even gone on sale yet, let alone its agencies being decided. And this Old Philip actually wanted the entire contract for the entire European market!

“European market? I can’t guarantee that. But Italy? The System will hit the market very soon, probably sometime right after Philip gets married and is done with his honeymoon. We can make him responsible for the promotion of the product then!” I thought about the matter and didn’t fully agree to Old Philip’s request!

Even so, my promise made Old Philip very satisfied since his original purpose was to get the Italian contract, asking for entire Europe was just him deliberately exaggerating to bargain with me! As for me saying that we will let Philip be responsible, Old Philip understood that I was telling him subtly that all of it was me giving face to Philip (young).

However, that didn’t matter much since Philip was certainly going to become the head of the family in the future, so making him be responsible for some of the family business ahead of time was also a good thing!

Old Philip still wanted to ask for a few more advantages, but he was afraid that I will be angry that he was asking for a mile when given an inch, so he tried speaking a few times but no words came out of his mouth.

Looking at Old Philip’s appearance, I couldn’t help but laugh and say, “Old Philip, there’s no need for you to be like this or say anymore — so long as Philip is completely responsible for your family’s business one day, I will certainly not overlook your family!”

Old Philip knew that I was reassuring him that the benefits were just going to increase in the future and it was inevitable. Not just that, he also understood that I was telling him my final verdict: Philip will be the next head of the family! If not, then our cooperation will be terminated!

However, Old Philip was very glad to accept this condition since that was his intention from the start!

In the evening, Old Philip set up a very sumptuous banquet to entertain Yang Mei and me, Philip and Sallica were also invited.

At the time of the meal, Old Philip officially announced that he had agreed to the marriage between Philip and Sallica, and told everyone that they will discuss the matters of the wedding as soon as Sallica’s parents came over!

This result made the two young lovers very happy, grinning from ear to ear. Naturally, even if they were very happy they didn’t forget to cast a grateful look towards me, their benefactor!

The entire family was happy, but there were still some people bitter from this, and that person was the largest shareholder of the Orde Financial Group, Witter! Old Philip had made a phone call a moment ago, letting him know of the engagement, making Old Witter furious out of shame!

His family and the financial group had such prestige in Italy, yet they dare break off the engagement! After the word spread what face will he have left in the business world!

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Sallica’s parents were also very happy to know that the Philip family had accepted their daughter. But more than that, they were worried. They had once urged Sallica to not be with Philip! First, they didn’t know whether the Philip Family will be willing to accept their daughter, and even if they accepted her, the disparities between the two families were just too big, they were afraid that Sallica will be treated unfairly!

Now that Philip Family finally accepted Sallica, her parents fell in doubt and wondered why would the Philip family suddenly accept their daughter, was there some plot?

However, after Yang Mei and Sallica’s explanation, Sallica’s parents finally understood that it was all thanks to me! Although Sallica’s parents were just white-collar workers, they still understood that there must have been quite a lot of benefit for the Philip Family to have changed their mind like this! In other words, I must have promised to give the Philip Family quite a lot of benefits, otherwise, this matter wouldn’t have turned out so smoothly!

Regarding this, Sallica’s parents had no way of thanking me, so all they could do was express their gratitude and be grateful to me in their hearts.