Seeing Victor Mo , Serena Li took two steps toward the door and politely greeted him, “Mr. Mo.”
Today she wore a white short-sleeved chiffon blouse with black high-waisted cropped trousers and small high heels, just enough to reveal a small section of her fair ankles.
His attire was simple and neat, yet incredibly sexy. Victor Mo narrowed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly.
“I’m sorry to have kept Ms. Li waiting.” Victor Mo strode in, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at Serena Li . “The meeting was delayed.”
The man was extremely tall. Serena Li, wearing 5cm heels, was also about 170cm tall, but when they stood together, she only reached the man’s shoulder. So she looked up at him, smiled, and said, “It’s okay.”
“Let’s have our meal first!” Victor Mo said, then turned and gestured for the butler at the door to come in.
“Mr. Mo, Ms. Li, please take a seat.” The butler invited the two to sit down.
Victor Mo reached out and unbuttoned his suit jacket, smoothly took it off, tossed it to the butler, and then sat down.
With slender fingers, he unbuttoned two buttons of his shirt and turned to ask Serena Li , “This private restaurant specializes in Cantonese cuisine. Does Miss Li have any dietary restrictions?”
Serena Li shook her head, and Victor Mo told the butler what dishes to serve. The butler noted it down and told the kitchen to prepare them.
“Are you traveling to the United States alone this summer?” Victor Mo asked after the butler left.
“My dad works there, I’m going to visit him,” Serena Li said.
A moment later, a graceful woman in a cheongsam brewed the tea and brought it over.
Serena Li picked up the tea, first smelling its aroma; it was delicate and refreshing, unlike ordinary flower tea.
“Miss Li, what do you think of this tea?” Victor Mo asked Serena Li after taking a sip .
“This tea is very good; it must have been brewed with a few Chinese herbs,” Serena Li said after taking a sip.
Victor Mo rested one hand on the back of the chair and tapped the table with the other, raising an eyebrow and asking with interest, “What kind of Chinese herbal medicine?”
“I bet they added dried tangerine peel and longan to the tea!” Serena Li said after taking another sip.
“You’re absolutely right. Our tea does indeed contain dried tangerine peel and longan, which have the effect of moisturizing dryness and stimulating appetite, making it very suitable for summer drinking,” the tea ceremony beauty said with a smile.
Victor Mo made a gesture to the beautiful woman, who nodded, bowed, and left, closing the door behind her.
“You’re also knowledgeable about tea ceremony, aren’t you?” Victor Mo asked, looking at her.
“No, I talk a lot during lectures, so I usually like to drink some tea to soothe my throat and improve my voice,” Serena Li explained. Then, remembering why she was there today, she asked, “Has the online education platform that Mr. Mo mentioned yesterday been launched and is still in use?”
“You’ve heard of Youerxue Education Group, right?” Victor Mo said after getting up and pouring her a cup of tea.
Serena Li nodded. She knew about the “Youerxue” training institution, which specialized in after-school tutoring for primary and secondary school students. Some students who were struggling academically had previously gone to this institution for tutoring.
“Last week, the company received a financing proposal from them, which I’m quite interested in. The marketing department has also done market research before. There are government support policies for education investment now, and the long-term returns seem quite considerable. But all investments carry risks, and I’m still considering it. Ms. Li happens to be a teacher, so I’d like to ask for her advice.” As he spoke, Victor Mo took out his phone. “I’ll send some materials to Ms. Li. Would it be convenient to add each other on WeChat?”
Serena Li said yes.
Victor Mo opened WeChat, and Serena Li scanned his QR code, which brought up a WeChat account.
His WeChat profile picture is of the sea, and his nickname is his name.
Serena Li sent a friend request, which was quickly accepted, and then she received a PDF file.
Upon clicking, a large portion of the content is an introduction to the “Youerxue” brand, which Serena Li skims through quickly.
When she saw the brand’s advantages, the words “artificial intelligence” caught her eye.
It roughly means that this online education platform uses facial recognition technology, which can dynamically capture students’ classroom status and emotional data in real time, such as raising their hands, practicing, listening to lectures, and expressing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. Combined with an intelligent practice system based on big data, cloud computing and other advanced technologies, it can accurately analyze students’ weak knowledge points and generate customized learning plans for each student.
Serena Li was pursuing her master’s degree, she taught online at another training institution. She was well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of online teaching. The biggest advantage was its convenience, while the biggest disadvantage was that she couldn’t see the students and couldn’t understand their level of understanding.
The facial expression recognition technology newly developed by Youerxue is indeed an innovation, largely compensating for the shortcomings of online teaching. Other branded training institutions do not yet have this technology, so this is a significant competitive advantage for Youerxue.
However, Serena Li hasn’t experienced the technology yet and can’t comment on its effectiveness. After watching it, she told Victor Mo , “Facial expression recognition technology is quite interesting; it’s a major innovative highlight compared to traditional online courses.”
Victor Mo nodded and said, “Yes, the platform has already been launched in internal testing, but it needs more investment for widespread use. Youerxue wants to raise funds through financing. My assistant will bring the laptop over in a moment, and Ms. Li can try it out.”
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
“Let’s eat first!” Victor Mo said, then called out to someone outside.
The housekeeper and a waiter pushed a cart in, and dishes were served one by one.
After the butler set out the dishes, he wanted to stay and serve, but Victor Mo gestured for him to go out first. He then personally ladled a bowl of soup for Serena Li . Serena Li took it, and her fingers just happened to touch his slender fingers. His fingers were slightly cool, but the knuckles were distinct.
During our conversation before dinner, our eyes inevitably met. Admittedly, he really did have ulterior motives, just as Joyce Wu had said. Even though she knew she was single-minded, his aristocratic air and powerful presence still made her nervous, and she didn’t dare linger her gaze on his features. She was starting to regret agreeing to the meeting, especially since it was at such a private club.
“Is the soup not to your liking?” Victor Mo asked, noticing that Serena Li had taken a sip and then looked down, holding the spoon without moving.
“No, it’s still a little hot,” Serena Li said after a pause, regaining her senses.
During the meal, Victor Mo was very gentlemanly, urging her to eat, but the two didn’t exchange many words.
Towards the end of the meal, someone knocked on the door. The butler opened the door and a person walked in from outside.
The visitor was carrying a notebook. After entering, he respectfully greeted “President Mo” and then nodded to Serena Li in greeting.
“Turn on the computer first, I’ll use it in a bit,” Victor Mo said to his assistant.
After the assistant opened the laptop, he left the room.
“Is it that online teaching platform you mentioned earlier?” Serena Li , having finished eating, wiped her hands with a damp towel and pointed to her laptop, asking.
He then walked to the table where the notebook was placed.
“Yes.” Victor Mo stood up from his seat as he watched her leave.
He walked behind Serena Li , bent down, and opened the beta system for her.
His warm chest beneath the white shirt pressed against Serena Li ‘s back, a warm current flowing through her body. With every movement, their bodies rubbed together, and Serena Li felt her heart race.
He stood behind her, intently watching the screen, occasionally pointing at it and asking her questions.
The breaths were too close, so Serena Li tried to press her body against the table to keep away from him.
She told herself to relax and not to deliberately pay attention to his presence, pretending to be calm as she spoke to him. However, his broad body was indeed behind her, asking her questions, and his breath on her neck as he spoke felt like a man’s subtle kiss to a woman, making her uneasy.
He stood behind her for more than ten minutes, and Serena Li felt a warm sensation enveloping her entire back. Just as she felt she couldn’t bear his breath any longer and wanted to find an excuse to leave…
The door to the room was pushed open, and several footsteps and an excited voice came in.
The two men turned to look at the doorway, where three tall men walked in.
“I knew I wasn’t mistaken, that’s Boss’s car.” The red-haired man at the front said, but he was clearly taken aback when he saw the two people in the room acting intimately. However, he quickly recovered and said to Victor Mo with a smile , “Boss, you brought your girlfriend to dinner!” Since there was no assistant around, it didn’t seem like they were entertaining clients. He then probed the relationship between the two.
Victor Mo straightened up, glared at him, and said, “Can’t you knock?” Then he turned to look at Serena Li , noticed the embarrassment on her face, and said gently, “I’ll arrange for a driver to take you home first.”
Serena Li nodded, feeling a slight sense of relief, picked up her handbag, and prepared to leave.
“Oh dear, why did you and your wife leave as soon as we arrived?” The red-haired man was startled when he saw the two about to leave, realizing that their sudden visit might have ruined Victor Mo ‘s plans.
Serena Li looked at the man, wanting to explain, “I’m sorry, you…”
Before he could even say “It’s a misunderstanding,” Victor Mo interrupted, “Ignore them, I’ll take you downstairs first.”
As she walked out the door, the other two men who had been silent said to her politely, “Goodbye, sister-in-law.”
Serena Li was surprised by their directness. Does this mean that every woman in Victor Mo’s life is called “sister-in-law”? Or is he just too casual, indulging his friends’ teasing and seemingly enjoying such ambiguous terms?
Realizing what was happening, I wanted to explain that I wasn’t your sister-in-law, but Victor Mo had already closed the door.
Reluctantly, not wanting to linger any longer, he frowned and started walking down the stairs.
Victor Mo ‘s voice rang out from behind, “We’ve all been drinking, don’t take their jokes to heart.” Serena Li was walking ahead and didn’t see his expression. Was that supposed to be an explanation? Why didn’t he just clarify things in front of those people? Anger bubbled up inside her. She thought to herself that businessmen are all the same; they probably all like to make these kinds of jokes that they think are harmless, but which just come across as frivolous.
However, when answering, he said, “I don’t mind.”
I don’t want to say I mind because I don’t want to get too involved.