Kapitel 25: The Darkest Household
[ Chapter 25 ]
It's a scene where four attractive mature ladies could be seen sitting around at one of the most VIP tables in the five-star restaurant, in a booth that provided a lavish and classiest dining experience, secluded from the rest of the hall.
The lighting was dim and light coming from Imperial's night made it look as if they bathed in a sacred temple, with a glow coming through the spacious bay windows. Smooth, syrups jazz filled the atmosphere, giving them a relaxing and intimate feeling.
They all have a fine and tasteful evening dinner. Even when Cassandra was discreet in her visit, since she's a very well known figure in business especially hospitality industry, she had been acquainted with the owner of High Medallion, and thus the service was managed by the manager himself and their meals were directly served by the head of chef.
"We hope you enjoy the dinner and have a nice night."
The manager, a distinguished looking man in his late forties dressed neatly in an elegant tuxedo, smiled politely at them once the meals were served. All of them were high profile individuals and frequent VIP patrons. It wasn't his responsibility to direct serving even the VVIP patrons but it's pleasure to serve such gorgeous women.
"Thank you." Celine gave out a faint smile while the others nodded their heads lightly. They all were used to receiving such service since all of them were women of prestigious status.
When the manager had walked away, they began to dine the exquisite gastronomic delight that was served with class before them.
In front of Cassandra, the aesthetic presented grilled chicken caesar salad and maple glazed salmon glisten invitingly, exuded with mouth-watering aroma of culinary perfection. Fragrant steam rises gently from a small gravy-boat filled with creamy sauce, which was surrounded by beautifully charred prawns on steel skewers bearing the insignia of the restaurant. In the centre of the table there sits a glass board piled with an assortment of fresh and light desserts.
The dining then proceeded with a pleasant atmosphere. The meals were delicious and the desserts perfectly complicated their satisfying dinner.
"Honestly, I still can't believe that young man is really Julian Long. I mean, who would have thought?" Celine resumed their talking which was previously interrupted by the dine once they finished their meals.
"Florencia and the Long, I couldn't understand them. What she's trying to do. But I have to say that she really is such a hellish woman." Jessica added, pouring herself a glass of martini.
"She's up to bad news. I'm afraid the incident that involved Gu household and their recent downfall had something to do with the Long, with the return of this Julian." Miranda grabbed the bottle of vintage liquor and filled both her and Cassandra's empty glasses with red wine.
Cassandra sipped her wine through her moisten lips whilst she's drinking their every word.
"That's obvious," Celine responded to Miranda. "That's their warning."
Celine remembered the moment when Long Household and Florencia Long went enraged sending shivering threats to those who dared to touch her son in the accident that happened ten years ago.
"I could relate her." Cassandra paused, fingering the hem of her glass. "After what they had done. I would've done same if I were in her place."
Cassandra sighed and took another sip of the fragrance liquor. Truth be told, if there's ever a woman whom she both respected and disliked, it would be none other than the current head and mistress of Long household, Florencia Long.
To think such a beautiful name was being owned by such a devious woman was unbelievable. That woman was entirely and completely different from what feminine women one think when they hear such an exquisite name.
Here in Huaxia, Florencia's name bearing the word of fear and power and if there's a woman who resembled a villainess empress of the ancient dynasty, Florencia had the right to claim that throne with her status and power. She's literally a certified minacious woman, as there's no one more dangerous than a wounded lioness protecting her cub.
Cassandra herself had experienced the masterful and menacing of Florencia's bearing since she had met her for a couple of times as both of them were fellow echelons of high business. No wonder she felt the familiar uncomfortable feeling when she was around Julian Long.
Florencia was simply an anomaly here in Huaxia, as no one knows her true background, no one knows who she really was and the entire nation was thrown into full blown of surprise and confusion when Davien Long, the former crown heir of the most prominent Long household, announced his marriage with a nameless yet mysterious, otherworldly gorgeous woman.
Even when Florencia had married Davien Long and became the mistress of Long household, her background remained a mystery and there's no much information about her. From what the official information, people only knew that Davien Long married a Russian descent whom he met when he's studying abroad.
Being the wife of the most powerful man and the mistress of the most influential household in the nation at that time, being pulled in the limelight was inevitable for Florencia but somehow she managed to free herself from the presses and there were not many people who had the luxury of seeing Florencia in person as she remained being an extremely private individual.
As for the Long household, an iceberg glimpse of their background was, Long household was an ancient family and the most prominent household among the Huaxian most influential households. There were a lot of rumours about them but in short, Long household was the most feared and respected family here in the nation.
The darkest household, was what society labelled them as they were famously known for their power and influence, they were also one of the world's well known and well respected families as Long household was an extremely successful business minded family.
The former head of Long household, the legendary Sir Alexander Long was a highly respected and admired figure in international business circles, regardless of the country. Sir Alexander's son, Davien Long was also a well-known figure in the international business world because of his numerous achievements as an international student and as a businessman. The two of them managed to place the Long Corporate-Group among the top and most respectable positions in the world business hierarchy.
Long Corporate-Group itself was a large multi-national conglomerate group and Huaxian leading business entity. A business mogul and famously known as the Tycoon of the East. They're highly respected in the nation as they positively contributed a tremendous deal to Huaxian superior economic ecosystem.
Them being labelled as the darkest household had something to do with the incident that had happened ten years ago. Before that, Long household was equally feared and respected because of their power and influence. That being said, they're not that kind of underworld family running an illegal business, neither were they an untouchable entity. They're just an extremely powerful family and highly respected because of their tremendous contribution to the nation.
Then suddenly, everything changed ten years ago and Huaxia was thrown into chaos by the incident that involved the head of Long household.
The fall of Davien Long.
Countless rumours circulated in Huaxia and the world was completely shocked by the news. Cassandra couldn't tell and didn't know the full truth behind Davien Long's fall but as a prominent figure herself, she knew something about it which was hidden to the rest of the world.
Internally and externally, both Long household and Long Corporate-Group were cyber, legally and financially attacked from all sides. The Long household was in chaos and their name was stained. Everyone was shocked by the down of the mighty Long household. Everything pointed to the downfall of them and everyone thought the same.
The peak of it's the crash and accident that befallen Davien Long's only son, Julian Long who at that time was still a fourteen years old heir. The sad news about the accident was too much for a coincidence and all people believed that the incident was a hostile attempt of a certain party attempting to assassinate the crown heir of Long household, to end their line of direct descendant. But the rumour about it had never been proven.
Ever since then, the young Julian Long disappeared from the world, almost all the evidence pointing to his death but there's no official confirmation about it from the authorities. Long Household themselves had never released the official statement about their heir condition. Some people believed he's really dead while the others didn't think so. Nevertheless even if somehow Julian Long survived the accident, there's a high possibility of him being disfigured or handicapped. That being rumoured, there's never further information about him as if Julian Long had really died in the accident.
It's at the time when most people believed it would be the downfall of the Long household or even their ending.
Like a raging flame erupted into a full of frightening inferno, with the accident of Julian Long as their bottom line. Once again Huaxia was thrown into chaos when Long household broke their defensive stance and counter-attacked with an even more vicious attack. It's as if the Long household fought back with all they had and was ready with the worst possible outcome.
The former patriarch of Long household, sixty five years old Sir Alexander Long returned from his retirement and reclaimed the chairman seat of Long Corporate-Group. He dealt with numerous cases of legal assaults especially the attack that targeted Long household.
However, the true turning point for the Long household was when someone no one put an importance of positioned herself as CEO of Long Corporate-Group. Florencia Long, the graceful and delicate looking wife of Davien Long whose personal information remained unknown, turned out to be an extremely capable individual. With her calm yet vicious style of leadership, Long Group repelled all the financial attacks and bounced back. She shockingly managed to stop the hostile takeover from all over the sides.
With the return of Sir Alexander Long and the rise in power of Florencia Long, the truce and balance was broken, Long household which previously seemed to be on the losing side managed to overturn the situation. Both of them dealt with the attacks that were coming from both within the nation and overseas. Somehow the people could see the direction of the situation and the allies of Long household began to show their stance to support them.
In the end the outcome that could be seen from this chaos was, there's no winner. Huaxian economy balance was negatively affected. Long household somehow managed to survive the never ending assaults though not without a heavy price. Although they managed to overturn most of the legal cases that were thrown at them, they were still severely damaged, their business received a heavy blow and their name was stained.
However in the larger picture, the hostile party was on the losing side, as their all out attack failed to inflict life ending damage on Long household and their hostile takeover on Long Corporate-Group could be considered as a complete failure. A lot of their people were arrested, their businesses were equally damaged and numerous of their illegal secrets were exposed. These were the price of dealing with such a powerful household. They wasted the perfect and golden time to completely attack Long household and there would be no perfect second chance.
The experts that were capable of reading the real situation know that the hostile party within the nation was at more disadvantageous side since they would live in fear, being marked by such a powerful household and they had to live with Long household standing close behind their necks.
Years passed by and sure enough, the fear that they were afraid of came into reality when Long Corporate-Group, under Florencia Long's leadership, managed to slowly recover from their previous damage. In fact, Long group turned into entirely different else under the management led by Florencia Long as its CEO. Florencia had always been calm and cautious in her style of management, but people know behind her perfect facade lies a heartless woman capable of crushing anyone without batting an eye.
In truth Florencia Long was even more wicked and vicious than her husband in her style of doing business. Who would have thought that such a graceful woman was actually an extremely dangerous person. Practically a certified forceful, manipulating and scheming woman who had ruined a lot of lives over these past few years. She had always appeared to be unfathomable making it hard for one to understand her. Merciless and spared no mercy to anyone that stands in her way. A lot of people loathed and resented her.
Although Long household seemed to slowly regain their previous stand, They appeared to be low profile. But who knows the truth as no one knows what they were actually doing behind the scene as over the past few years. On the surface, Long household was calm, but it's a kind of frightening calm that sent shivers to those who sinned them.
Another years went by and again, Huaxia was shocked when the news of Julian Long's return started to circulate around Imperial. Over the past two weeks, everyone and media were all frenzied with the news of Julian Long, the rumoured dead heir of Long household. Finally last week, Long household with the statement announced by Florencia Long herself, officially announced the return of her son, Julian Long. These past two weeks, Julian Long has been the most searched name in all social media and was featured in most news.
Fortunately, Cassandra was glad that her name wasn't being pulled into this mess. It's thanks to the fact that the wedding banquet in which she danced with Julian Long was a very private banquet, most of its guests were her acquaintances and they all were high profile individuals of high society, they perfectly knew the etiquette not to mind in something that wasn't their business. Moreover, it involved the name of Cassandra Qin and Julian Long, they had to be careful as both of them weren't someone they could mess with.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about the return of this Julian Long?" Celine frowned as she eyed her besties.
Personally, none of them here were direct acquaintance of Florencia Long or people from Long Household. But the influence of Long Household was too huge for them to ignore. Moreover, think about it, if Julian Long was anything like his parents, Davien Long or Florencia Long, then there's something to fear. As there's no one more dangerous than the son of a villain with a vendetta.
Miranda responded, "I don't know, better not to think about it. We shouldn't get ourselves into the mess."
"It's too late isn't it?" Jessica rasped, tapping her finger over the table, "I mean," three of them turned their attention at Cassandra, their expressions were complicated.
Cassandra calmly downed the last sip of her wine. "There's nothing to worry about."
"Tell me you didn't get in touch with him after that night?" Celine questioned.
Cassandra shook her head in response, she frowned telling them the half truth.
Miranda's eyes narrowed at Cassandra, they were too close for her not to know well her bestie. She pressed more, "Cass, tell us."
Cassandra put down her glass. Her frown got deeper as she knew there was nothing that could be hidden from them. Clearing her throat she answered, "I'm not lying okay. Just a couple of bouquets were sent to my office."
Their eyes widened and Cassandra continued, her eyes instantly darkened with contempt, "You know it yourself how I feel about them. I would appreciate it if you could stop asking me about him. Him and Long Household are entirely different case here. He's nothing to me."
"We didn't mean it," sighed Miranda.
Cassandra clicked her tongue, "I know."
Honestly, Cassandra didn't hate them as she had no personal feud or something. She just didn't see the people from Long Household in a good light. As Qin and Long shared quite some past. Moreover, Davien Long was the one who's responsible for what happened to her older sister those years ago.
"Well enough for that." Sensing the atmosphere, Jessica chimed and lightened the mood with her up-beat personality. "Come one the night is young, let's have some fun, shall we?"
"Alright," Celine nodded.
They then continued to chat for a couple more time before they ended their evening dinner, ready to enjoy the rest of their women night out night.
Geschenke
-- Geschenk
erhalten Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein