Everyone was in the same venue and Wu's tone wasn't quiet at all. All top clans turned in the main table direction, interested in the disagreement.
Swoosh!
A thin, soundproof barrier surrounded the main table as Wu and Master Dong had a stare-off, not even blinking as if testing who will crack first.
"Miss Wu. You are not our boss. All of us are partners," Master Dong called out sternly. "If you kick one of us, you will have to kick us all. No one is going to cooperate with you if you threaten your partners. Once all of us are gone, the Trade Union will fall with us."
"Oh, really? Are you sure?" Wu questioned while lifting her eyebrow and gazed at the rest of the partners. "Master Dong said you are willing to cancel all your partnership with Trade Union for him. Is that true?"
"…"
No one spoke a thing, creating an awkward silence that ended with Master Dong warning.
"Miss Wu, what you are doing right now is pure pressure using your power. This is not healthy for any partnership."
Master Dong turned to President Wu and questioned, "Are you going to let this continue?"
To his obvious surprise, President Wu took a sip of his wine and didn't meddle in the argument. "My granddaughter words are my words. She is the General Manager of Trade Union now. It's you who offended her first and our friendship will not help you."
Even Wu was a bit taken aback by his words but she expected it at some point. Going against her at such a moment would make the case even worse, confusing the power dynamics in their partnership that could let others take advantage of them. It was obvious they were the leaders in the market and they could only keep it by staying strong.
"I don't mind Miss Wu words," the lady with a fur finally commented. "Let's be honest. Trade Union has a great advantage by partnering with us, but if they stopped, they wouldn't fall. Their roots are too strong for that. They would be weakened for a while, but eventually, they would recover while we would lose our business, and thousands of our workers would lose their jobs. This is business. Master Dong, you should put your pride away and simply enjoy the opportunity in front of you."
"Lady Wang is right. If not for President Wu's trust in me, I would still be selling grilled meat in my small restaurant," Fatty Gu agreed. "Look at me now. Thousands of restaurants all around the Heaven Realm."
"Why not give Miss Wu a chance to prove herself?" Lady Wang suggested, giving Wu a smile.
Wu naturally returned it and pointed out, "We are business partners, not friends. No matter what you think of me, I will not tolerate smirking at my words. I don't need to work with someone if I don't want to."
With such a clear stance and no support from the rest, Master Dong didn't have many choices left.
"Miss Wu, I apologize," Master Dong gave in, bowing. "I was being skeptical without even giving you the chance to explain yourself. It was my mistake."
"I hope this won't repeat in the future. My tolerance is limited," Wu said. "Shall we return to the topic?"
"Yes, Miss Wu," Master Dong nodded, calming himself down with a deep breath. "If Miss Wu succeeds with your plan and you actually invade the Metal Land, it would be a huge win for us. In all honesty, I'm not worried about the Dwarf Kingdom but instead the Spirit Beasts roaming the land. How does Miss Wu plan to deal with them?"
His voice was much more polite than before, trying not to offend her once again.
"If you let me finish earlier, you would already know by now," Wu commented while rolling her eyes and gazed at Nuwa. "How about using Yiren's help?"
"Oh, she will definitely be down," Nuwa replied casually. "I'm sure she is roaming somewhere and befriending random beasts."
Before they asked, Nuwa introduced Yiren to the rest.
"She is my daughter and no beast stand a chance against her. She Ascended together with us but was split due to certain circumstances. Once we find her, the issue of any beasts attacking us would be void."
"Oh!" the partners exclaimed with interest. "A Master Beast Tamer?"
Even President Wu looked at Nuwa in surprise.
"Is that so strange? We Royal Forest Elves have extremely close contact with nature. Cultivation for us is a breeze and beasts are our friends. Unfortunately, there weren't many strong beasts in the Realms we visited, so Yiren couldn't really display her talent," Nuwa explained as if it was natural.
"Right," Wu agreed. "The most she could tame was a Celestial Stage Dragon and Celestial Stage Phoenix. The dragon became her personal pet while the Phoenix turned into a beautiful human form and became our big sister instead. I'm sure she will meet stronger beasts in the Heaven Realm."
"True, true. That's why I'm not even worried about her. She will do well," Nuwa replied with a confirmation.
Their short exchange was enough to shock the seniors.
"You have a Celestial Stage Phoenix as a friend?" President Wu asked calmly but Wu knew he was panicking inside. No one knew about that fact aside from them as Bella was always disguised as a human inside the Earth Realm.
Wu smiled amused. "What? You didn't know? Oh, I forgot. You were busy scheming about how to get rid of my husband and introduce new guys to me. I'm sorry for not informing you."
"Oh, by the way," Wu added. "Yiren is also one of us, Liu Xuefeng's wives. Her Spirit Beasts will be really mad if something happens to him."
Oof!
The Seniors were taken aback, holding back their breaths while President Wu frowned, straight up denying, "Why would I ever scheme against your husband? He is naturally welcome and I'm proud you found yourself a strong partner. Also, the Celebration Party wasn't aimed at finding you a husband. It was meant to help you meet the elites of Heaven Realm and introduce you to the world. I would never do anything to hurt my granddaughter."
"Oh, my bad then. That's really reassuring. Thank you, Grandfather. Everyone will remember what you said," Wu apologized with a gentle smile and turned to Master Dong. "Are there any other doubts about my suggestion?"
"All my doubts were cleared. If everything Miss Wu said is true then it is really possible. I'm impressed," Master Dong praised. "I'm once again sorry for my actions from earlier. I got carried away."
"All good. Everyone makes mistakes," Wu assured while looking in the distance. "As long as they realize they did, apologize, and work on redeeming themselves, everyone can be forgiven. Some people just need to realize they can't win, and each time they go against me, they dig their graves deeper. It would be best if everyone was as fast as Master Dong and give in before it is too late. Sometimes it is just too late and in the end, they might end up losing me forever."
Master Dong scratched his head, gazing awkwardly at her as if he didn't know what to say. The message wasn't for him though but a certain someone Wu once admired but he disappointed her times and times again.
President Wu didn't show anything on his face, nor did he comment on anything but Wu already expected it.
"Anyway, Trade Union will invest in exploring the Metal Land. If Master Dong wants to continue our partnership, we will use your manpower and connections to slowly set up bases. We are not in a hurry and Trade Union has enough funds to burn if there is a need," Wu proposed.
"Sound perfect to me," Master Dong replied with a satisfied smile.
Wu wanted to continue right away but was suddenly disturbed by her grandpa who stood up from the table. He looked absent as he called out, "Elder Yang, can I ask you to talk privately? I want you to ask something unrelated to the current discussion."
Elder Yang raised his eyebrows but also stood up. "Sure."
"Excuse us for a minute. I will exchange a word with Elder Yang and return. You can continue discussing with Little Wu. She is more than competent to handle everything," President Wu expressed before leaving the main table, heading to the main exit with Elder Yang.
Wu couldn't actually figure what he schemed once again but before she could decode it, Lady Wang raised her voice.
"Miss Wu, there is an issue I have. Would you mind advising me as well?" Lady Wang questioned as she winked at Wu.
"Of course."
"I have troubles with bandits groups who are targeting my herbs plantations and stealing my Spirit Herbs. I have so many of them in multiple places that it is impossible to protect them all with most of my high ranked experts," Lady Wang explained. "What does Miss Wu suggest I can do? Maybe increase the number of experts?"
"That would work temporarily but it's costly and in the end, doesn't solve the issue. What we can do is announce a contest to the Dragon Steps cultivators. Anyone who can destroy the bandits troubling you would be handsomely rewarded by the Trade Union. A year worth of Cultivation Resources should suffice as a reward," Wu proposed. "If we wanted to hire people to settle the problem, the price would be much higher. Why not let others deal with it for us?"
"Naturally, we expect some discounts for future batches of herbs," Wu added, taking a sip of wine.
Lady Wang didn't hesitate and agreed, "Deal, works for me."
"Anyone else?"