Ye Tian and Lin Ziyi arrived at the inner courtyard. The inner courtyard featured garden-style architecture but with a more modern feel. Each house accommodated only one group of guests, ensuring excellent privacy.
Their car drove up to a residence called "Chang Yuan" and entered the courtyard directly. Upon exiting the car, they found themselves surrounded by a garden, adjacent to a three-story building resembling a villa.
Lu Chuanxin stood at the main gate. Upon seeing Ye Tian, he quickly walked over, smiling, "Brother Ye, it's been a while!"
Ye Tian smiled back, "It has been some time. Old Lu, who are we meeting today?"
Lu Chuanxin replied, "Friends from the business world. They heard you're the boss of Baozhi and wanted to meet you. I know these people well, you should try to get acquainted with them."
Ye Tian nodded, and the three entered the main hall. Five people were seated inside. As Ye Tian and Lu Chuanxin entered, they all rose.
After introductions, they moved to the inner dining room for tea and conversation.
Among them was Lei Chuansheng, who primarily dealt in import and export trade. He sourced goods domestically and wholesaled them to Russia and Eastern European countries. Due to his large procurement volume, his own transportation routes, and good relationships with distributors in Eastern Europe, his business was substantial. Last year alone, he shipped approximately fifteen billion euros worth of goods to Russia and Eastern European nations.
Lei Chuansheng, in his fifties, was thin with sharp eyes. During their conversation, he recounted an interesting experience.
About three years ago, he visited a certain Eastern European country. His distributor told him about a famous local witch who could tell fortunes and see the future.
Lei Chuansheng was skeptical but curious. Following his distributor's directions, he met the witch.
The witch was an old woman, blind in one eye and with poor vision in the other. She was very thin and short, and carried a strange herbal scent.
Upon their first encounter, the old woman, who had never traveled abroad and was illiterate, spoke fluent East Asian languages and conversed with Lei Chuansheng in three different tongues.
Lei Chuansheng was stunned and complimented her on her linguistic skills. To his surprise, the old woman claimed she hadn't studied these languages but had encountered Eastern deities in her dreams, which granted her the knowledge.
Lei Chuansheng didn't believe her, thinking she was deliberately saying this. However, during their subsequent conversation, the old woman predicted a fire-related disaster for him within three days and advised him to stay put.
Lei Chuansheng remained unconvinced. Before leaving, he gave the old woman two hundred euros as a fee for her time. That evening, he boarded a luxury cruise ship on the Black Sea, arranged by his distributor to attend a "No Clothes" convention.
The "No Clothes" convention, as the name suggested, involved Eastern European beauties mingling among the guests, who were all wealthy individuals. Guests could take any woman they fancied directly to their rooms.
Lei Chuansheng, known for his philandering, particularly enjoyed such events. He boarded the ship that day and spent a wonderful and wild night.
The next morning, Lei Chuansheng was awakened by screams. He rushed out to find the cruise ship on fire, with everyone fleeing in panic.
Lei Chuansheng was a cautious man who always prepared for contingencies. He had secretly instructed his driver to rent a yacht and follow nearby.
As the cruise ship was engulfed in flames, he contacted his driver via walkie-talkie while dragging a life buoy and jumping into the sea.
By the time he reached the yacht, the entire cruise ship was ablaze. Many people had jumped into the water, but more had perished in the fire, including the beautiful young Eastern European women.
Lei Chuansheng immediately began rescue efforts. He eventually saved over a hundred people. However, others had either burned to death or drowned, beyond any hope of rescue.
After recounting the story, Lei Chuansheng sighed softly, "There are truly extraordinary people in this world. Later, I visited the witch again and thanked her with a substantial sum. She then gifted me a piece of crystal."
As he spoke, he produced a piece of purple crystal from his pocket. It was irregularly shaped and contained a strange, pale golden rune.
Ye Tian glanced at the crystal and felt a peculiar attraction to the rune within.