As the kiss deepened, his slender and beautiful fingers, knuckles distinct, caressed her face, as if taking away her mind, and kissed delicately.

The arm tightly wrapped around the girl's waist, and she tightened the strength of her hand, and the place where she had been touched was itchy, and she only felt a burst of suffocation, "Alan, go to my place." Fingers gripped him tightly by the collar.

"To you?" he looked at her, staring at her face, and it felt good to hold her, as if he was holding his beloved object firmly in his hands.

He was really looking at her seriously, referring to the Manhattan house.

Su Xiaoqi was looked at like this, she only felt that the skin on her face was hot, and she didn't know what to say, she was not a teenage girl, she would not be blinded by the impulses and temptations of youth and ignorance, but she also understood her feelings and deep-seated needs for him.

A gentle voice whispered in her ear, "What are you afraid of?"

Fingers ran through his soft-touch blonde hair and pressed his face to his cheek, "In my house, I won't be afraid." ”

His big slender hand let go of her, glanced at her, and chuckled with his lips in her ear, "Aren't you afraid in your territory?"

She was stunned, this man's analytical ability really made her speechless, slowly withdrew from his arms, and said softly, "Hmm." ”

His fingers touched her head, and his lips smiled gracefully, "I'll be careful." ”

The two of them went out the door together and came to the streets of Manhattan, where the afterglow of the setting sun ran through the east-west streets of Manhattan.

It's rare to see a hanging sun on the winter solstice, and when the sun sets behind the Chrysler Building, it's gilded with a golden sheen.

Every east-west street in Manhattan is bathed in the sunset for 15 minutes, and she looks up at the New York skyline.

The spectacular natural spectacle in front of us usually only appears on two days of the summer solstice in Manhattan, and it was named "Manhattan Hanging Sun" by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

She was soaking up the beautiful scenery when a man in a black woolen coat stepped forward and stopped ten paces in front of them and said, "Hello, Miss Katrina!"

"I am your international personal butler, Nabert. The man in the black coat said, "You probably forgot that you applied for a membership of the K-Club with us, and now you are our junior member, and a client has found you through Guò." ”

"Client?" she looked confused, remembering that when she got off the plane in New York a year ago, a man came to inform her that the Bellini family had declared membership for herself.

Nebert stood respectfully and said, "Of course, as your personal butler can do some things for you, you can decide whether to accept this commission or not?"

"So, what is the commission?" she asked.

He said in a deep voice, "Someone has asked you to identify a seventy-year-old object in a building on Manhattan Avenue in front of us. ”

"Where did this client know about me?" Su Xiaoqi asked him puzzled, "Why did he find me?"

The man said slowly: "I won't tell you, you know this client." ”

"I know?"

"She's Ms. Donna, but now she should be Ms. Wang. The 70-year-old bonds had the words "Republic of China" and the Federal Reserve on them, and she wanted to find a trusted connoisseur to look at. ”

She turned her head to the side and looked at Allen, asking if we could go and have a look?

The blonde young man smiled: "Don't worry, I'm here, let's go over and have a look." ”

The headquarters of the Lapis Group Building in New York State, where golden afterglow penetrates the floor-to-ceiling glass of the penthouse. In a glass case on display, the tripod of the Ji Zhou Dynasty shines in the setting sun, the carving and gloss on it are still so perfect, and a long-haired young woman looks at the delicate bronze in front of her.

A man in a black Tang costume walked behind her, glanced at the cultural relics in the glass case, and said indifferently, "The art is really the most high-profile display of wealth in human beings." ”

Donna narrowed her eyes and said lightly: "It's also the biggest hallucination!" The voice fell silently: "Since ancient times, how many people have spared no expense for it." ”

"Chairman," a staff member in a suit and leather collar walked in and said hurriedly, "two of the three experts we hired couldn't come because they had something to do, and one said that only Chinese could do this." ”

"The bank's men will arrive in an hour with that batch of collateral," he said, with another message: Miss Caterina will come with Mr. Roshill. ”

The man in Tang costume opened his mouth, "The experts we hired are either unable to come for something or have something temporary. I wonder if the Italian collector lady you invited here, Chairman, really has the courage to accept our commission?"

"I don't think we have a second person other than her right now. Donna said slowly.

Across the street, they entered the hall paved with black steel stone, accompanied by security personnel and Lapis Group staff.

A Chinese man in his fifties in a black Tang suit walked over leisurely, and he stopped in front of her and said, "Miss Katarina, the chairman is waiting for you in the conference room on the top floor." ”

The Wang family, compared to the big families of the local upper class in the United States, is equally mysterious and hidden, and for Chinese, too.

GEI, an Asian organization, and some say that hundreds of years ago, they were a highly secret and informal organization, a hermit family independent of the Chinese political system.

The man in Tang costume led them through the corridor to the elevator, and when he saw them onto the elevator, he said, "Miss, there is a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not?"

Su Xiaoqi looked up at him, "Please speak." ”

A faint smile pursed into the man's lips: "Miss Katarina, according to my experience of 30 years in the collecting industry, there are many rights and wrongs in this industry! ”

He stood by the door and gestured to the elevator, "Please!"

The elevator went straight up into the sky and stopped on the top floor, and the golden doors opened in front of them.

A young blonde female secretary approached and led the two into a palatial room with a smile on her face.

They sat down on the leather sofas, and the female secretary came over to serve a glass of fragrant dragon wells.

"Long time no see, Katerinkana. Then, a familiar figure walked over gracefully.

"Donna?" she looked up at the familiar smiling face.

Donna's facial features are still distinct, but she gives people a different feeling, and her gestures are a little more imposing of the superior.

"This is ——?," Donna said with a smile in the corner of her eye.

"Let me introduce you, this is my boyfriend. Su Xiaoqi introduced to her.

"Mr. Egbert, long admirable. Donna nodded at Alan.

"I haven't seen you in the past two years, it seems that you are doing well, next time we have dinner together?"

"Good. Su Xiaoqi nodded.

"Miss Wang, are you just looking for us for a batch of bonds?" Egbert asked with a faint expression.

"Mr. Rosehill wants us to talk more here?" Donna asked with a smirk.

He said in a nonchalant tone, "It's not easy to find us through the guòk-club, and since it's so troublesome, what are you going to use in return?"

"Let Mr. Ross Hill smile, this time to find Katarina, it is really urgent, GEI paid a very generous remuneration, will not treat her badly, as for the entrustment terms are between us and the parties, it is inconvenient to sue Sù third party, please forgive me. ”

Donna said: "I would like to talk to her about this matter privately, and there will be a private meeting later, and I hope Mr. Roshill will not mind." ”

"I don't mind. He smiled.

The blonde young man turned to her and said, "It's up to you to decide what to do." Su Xiaoqi looked at Allen, did he bring her here today, was it just for himself?

However, he said that he would not interfere in her affairs, which also made Su Xiaoqi relaxed, and she followed Donna into the private office, "Donna, I don't know what I can do for you?"

Donna looked cautious, "Katarina, I invited you to come this time because of a batch of bonds and notes from seventy years ago, and since no one has seen this batch of bank collateral, it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity, so I invited you to attend. ”

"Bonds from seventy years ago?" asked Su Xiaoqi in surprise.

From Donna's description, she knew the ins and outs. The origin of this bond, which is related to the last century, originated in World War II.

During the period from 1927 to 1938, the war continued to break out fiercely, and the large family was very afraid that a fortune would be controlled by Japan, and they initially wanted to hand over this wealth to the Republic of China, but at that time the Republic of China had already occupied most of its territory by the Japanese army, and Nanjing had fallen, and it was forced to transfer to the United States.

The Wang family came to the United States with the help of a general, and in the process, they placed a shipment of gold in a bank for safekeeping.

Who knows that more than 70 years have passed, and the whereabouts of this money have become an unsolved case. Even the bonds in their hands were stolen by a member fifty years ago and used as collateral for the bank.

Now there is only one Donna left in the Wang family, and with the death of Mr. Wang Ze, no one in the older generation has seen this batch of bonds.

The Wang family wanted to exchange this batch of bonds with the things in their hands, and because the amount involved was too large, the two sides of the transaction were too powerful, and during this period of time, the celebrities in the collecting world hired by them either had an accident or something could not come.

Whether it was public or private, Donna's decision to ask herself to come forward was also a very risky thing.

The shiny door of the conference hall opened, Su Xiaoqi followed the group into the conference room, the first time to participate in such a high-level meeting, she was inevitably a little nervous, took a deep breath, and calmed down.

There were a number of high-level people sitting in chairs in the room, and it was an internal meeting, and after a while, several Europeans, supposedly from Switzerland, came.

After Su Xiaoqi entered, the eyes of the people at the meeting were full of suspicion and scrutiny of the young woman invited by Donna, and Su Xiaoqi didn't say much, sat down and went directly to the work process.

Putting on white gloves, she gently scraped a little ink on the paper, opened the suitcase, put it under the instrument for inspection, and after a while, she slowly spoke: "The bill doesn't look like anything, but the handwriting on the Wang signature on it is not from the Republic of China period." ”

"Why are you so sure?" asked one of the executives in his fifties.

Su Xiaoqi picked up a bill and said, "I admit that they are very realistic, including the age and texture of the paper, almost to the point of being fake." However, all the letters and seals of the Wang family at that time were from the Longmen ink system made by the ink workshop during the Republic of China. ”

"Longmen ink uses high-quality raw materials, including musk, borneol and other high-quality raw materials, each process is handmade, and the raw materials will not be added to the oil imported from the United States. ”

"During the Republic of China, the ingredients for making ink were different, including egg white, fish skin glue, kraft jiao, spices, medicinal materials and other more than 1,000 kinds of ingredients, all of which came from ancestral secretaries and were often kept secret. ”

Su Xiaoqi finished inspecting the bills and said, "You see, the ink on this has been blurred. ”

She said, "The characteristic of Longmen ink is that the writing is black and bright, and the longer the time passes, the brighter it becomes, and the writing will never fade, and its taste is faint and fragrant." ”

After speaking, she made a gesture, and the staff on the side stepped forward, "What do you need?"

"Please give me a bottle of 2l alcohol. ”

After a while, the staff brought the props she wanted. The attendees were eagerly waiting to see what she was going to do.

Su Xiaoqi poured the alcohol on it, lit the fire with a lighter, and boom! The flames burst out, and the box of bills quickly burned.

The firelight illuminated her face, and as she stood aside, she remembered Alan's words - don't worry, I'm here!

If he did such a thing, would he really protect her? Wouldn't he feel that she was in trouble? If there was a conflict with his career and goals, would she be the first to be abandoned? What is the answer, you can only know after trying.

Several European men present were immediately dumbfounded, and one of them spoke: "This is bank collateral. ”

Her face was calm, and she said lightly, "It's a pity...... These bonds and bills are forgeries and have no value. ”

The faces of the people present turned blue, and they finally couldn't sit still anymore, so they got up from the venue and left.

Donna sent someone to invite Su Xiaoqi to her lounge, she came in through the side door, and a smile finally appeared in her eyes, "Alice, I have to say, you did a good job of avoiding losses and solving troubles for us." ”

Donna smiled, "I know that your current economic conditions are not bad, and you may not need a share, but in the world, you must always have a little capital to settle down, even if you have a good relationship with that person, you can't rely on him all because of this." ”

"Donna, how are you doing now?" Su Xiaoqi looked at Donna's tired eyes, and the sense of estrangement and distance caused between them in the past two years seemed to disappear.

"Do you mean what happened after you got the money?" Donna had already treated her as one of her own, and her speech was relaxed, even casually teasing.

She laughed, "I think it's boring! Who are those people? A group of lucky people, all of whom have no real talents, including me, of course." ”

I don't know why Donna said that? She was a little surprised, if she didn't have enough talent, Donna wouldn't be where she is today.

Donna lowered her eyes and said, "Standing here, I know that the real upper world is the richest hereditary financial family and the most powerful magnates...... Members of the British royal family, major consortium families, they are all from famous nobles, dignitaries and corporate chaebols. ”

She sighed softly: "Remember when we were in Paris? How naïve I was at that time, how crazy I was when I thought that Fayan would be with me, and I wanted to be famous. ”

Donna implied sarcasm: "You see, this is the high world, they are connected by blood and marriage, and the roots of this bloodline can even be traced back thousands of years......"

"It's amazing how all the opportunities in your life can be predicted not only by the social status of your parents, but also by the social status of your great-great-great-grandparents. ”

She knew what Donna was talking about, according to Harvard statistics, 10% of the change in a person's lifetime income can be predicted by the income level of their parents, and 50% to 60% of the overall social status is determined by the family. In any generation, lucky events include otherworldly geniuses that give rise to new nobles and high families.

For this big family, Donna herself has no feelings, all her feelings for GEI come from her uncle Wang Ze, which is why she cares so much about talking about the family genealogy of the upper class, as if from the perspective of a bystander.

Donna smiled at her, "Now, you're a member of the board of directors of Lapis! ”

Su Xiaoqi shook her head when she heard this, "Donna, I think I will refuse to sign an inexplicable appointment letter, I don't think it's the right decision." ”

"Alice, listen to me. Donna said.

"Look, this is America. It seems to be a diverse, active, opportunity-filled and egalitarian society, and it is true that social mobility has not decreased, but it has not been high. ”

"In fact, for a long time, there has never been a major change in the transfer of a member of a society or social group from one social class or stratum to another, from one social status to another. ”

"It's not just income and wealth, it's career, education, and longevity—social mobility is much lower than what we think, or try to convince ourselves to believe. ”

"Caterina, very few women have such an opportunity," Donna rarely calls her Italian name, "lucky timing, like an opportunity in the market, once you hesitate, it misses ......"

"No one has ever been on the board of directors of the Lapis Group like you, even though you don't yet understand the composition of the Lapis stake – 5% is the share held by the CEO. ”

Su Xiaoqi couldn't help but groan, "Donna, what can you do if you let me join the board, and how will it help you?"

Donna glanced at her and said indifferently, "You're a member of the K-Club, and this alone can shut up the old guys on the board!"

"I really need someone to balance the power of the board, I don't need you to do anything, I just need you to stand by my side when it matters!"

She clasped her hands, "This candidate, not everyone can do it." ”

"If you dare to burn the bank's collateral today, you may not have the confidence and ability to change anyone, even if it is a forged bill, the value of the bank is hundreds of billions of dollars. ”

"I haven't forgotten that when I was most desperate and difficult, it was you who stopped and pulled me, so I didn't want to be cheap to outsiders. ”

"You have a place on the board of directors of the Lapis Group, and this is also a reward for the help you have helped me," she said. Of course, responsibilities and rights are equal, and risks are proportional to benefits. ”

Donna was a little suspicious of the Rosehill family manager at first: the business world was unsympathetic, and there were many robberies while the fire was hot, so she didn't plan to tell them all at first.

But Su Xiaoqi's act of burning the bills made Donna have a deeper understanding of Su Xiaoqi and felt that she was a very suitable candidate.

It seems that Alice has not yet realized what she has in her hands, and as a candidate for balancing the various forces, she can maintain a delicate balance.

It was getting late when she came out of the Lapis Group building, she turned her head, looked at his handsome side face, and said, "They asked me to identify a batch of bonds from seventy years ago. ”

"And then?" he asked.

"I found out that it was fake, burned them. ”

She didn't expect Donna to return 5% of the Lapis Group. If you estimate it in money, it is enough for her to live a rich life in the upper echelons of the United States.

"As long as you're happy. His fingers ran over her long hair.

They walked out into the street holding hands, and she was much more relieved to hear Alan's words.

Riding in the black Bentley, Allen's driver knew the house. The sedan glides down the main street of Manhattan. She was in a luxurious Bentley, and the scenery she saw was very different from usual, with starry sky, bright lights, swaying flowers, and charming moonlight.

Bentley stopped in front of the big mansion and they got out of the car.

Su Xiaoqi took the key to open the door, and Alan followed her upstairs.

The downstairs hall is filled with paintings, statues and ceramics, and they rarely come to stay here, but the rooms are cleaned by the management.

The young man went upstairs with her, Alan lit the fire in the fireplace, she went into the bedroom, took a shower, changed into pajamas and came out, and when she came out, she saw the young man with blond hair also standing by the fireplace in his dressing gown.

There was a gentle glow of fire in his eyes, and as she approached, he looked up at her, the lines of his collarbones beneath his dressing gown were graceful and charming, and a few strands of blonde hair were falling, revealing a patch of snow-white skin on his chest.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked.

"I'm afraid of pain. She whispered.

"I'll be careful. He said.

She lowered her eyelashes and was thinking wildly, when suddenly a pair of big hands wrapped around her waist and flipped over, falling into the other party's arms. She pressed her face against the other's chest, and when she smelled the dark male body on his body, her heart beat chaotic in an instant.

Clung to his chest, his heart pounding. Every inch of his body had a temptation, like an invisible net bewitching her.

"Alice, look at me. There was a hint of command in his voice, his arm tightly wrapped around the girl's waist, and he tightened the force of his hand, she only felt a suffocation, and her center of gravity was unstable, hanging on the other party.

Through the soft fabric, you can feel the warm skin underneath, and you can even feel the blood flowing under the fabric...... It felt good to hold her, in a sense that she was his, it was already - it felt good, and the relationship between the two was inherently close.

A few locks of blonde hair fell from her forehead, and the two of them fit tightly together, "Why don't you speak?" his magnetic voice chuckled above her head.

Her arms wrapped tightly around the girl's waist and fell into this soft and firm embrace, and she felt more and more that her body was soft and boneless, and she couldn't move.

Slender and powerful fingers ran across her lips, neck, collarbone, the fabric on her chest, waist and abdomen, and the place where she had been touched was tingling. She felt as if she had been drained of her strength, and her hands were weakly placed on his chest, barely supporting her.

He rubbed his palm lightly against her waist, "You're so soft. "The magnetic voice is tinged with a hint of seduction/seduction, holding her, it feels good, she is originally his, and the relationship between the two is inherently close.

Slender and beautiful fingers, caressing her face, knuckles are distinct.

The next moment, he kissed Su Xiaoqi's lips, a highly suggestive kiss that heralded some kind of enchanting moment to come.

His hand went all the way up, pinched her soft waist, and slowly untied the belt of her clothes.