Because Lynch had been away all this time, Anna didn't spend the night at Lynch's villa. Instead, she returned home.
The huge dining hall was like a medieval noble's castle, but the decorations inside were not very luxurious.
It was like a gathering place. Long tables were placed in the wide space, and there were two long benches on both sides of the long table. All the members of the Agincourt Family gathered here to eat.
The Agincourt Family claimed to be nobles, so they also had noble traditions.
Everyone, no matter what, had to eat here as long as they were still at home.
Including Mr. Patu.
Mr. Patu sat at the table in the middle, the seat of the host. His brothers and sisters sat on both sides of him. His uncles and aunts were all sitting at other tables.
Those people were too old and had already given up their power. They had left the core of the Agincourt Family's power, so naturally, they didn't have the qualifications to sit at the most eye-catching seats.
At the same time, as Mr. Patu's elders, they didn't want to have to look at a junior's face when eating. They had worked hard all their lives, and it was time for them to rest.
Only those in power had the qualifications to sit at Mr. Patu's table.
The other juniors sat at the table to the left. They were the juniors who received the most attention. They represented the next generation of the Agincourt Family. As long as Mr. Patu stepped down as the head of the family, these people would become the core of this dinner.
The whole dining hall was like a big canteen, full of rigid and serious things.
According to the usual practice, after Mr. Patu picked up the knife and fork to enjoy the main course, people could only start eating. Before that, they couldn't do anything.
They couldn't eat, drink, or make any noise. They could only sit.
However, there seemed to be something wrong with today's process. Mr. Patu didn't pick up the knife and fork to enjoy the roast chicken and praise the chef's cooking skills. Instead, he pointed to the last few empty seats at the table and said, "Anna, sit here."
At that moment, Anna, who was sitting at the front of the table on the left, felt her mind go blank. She subconsciously stood up and bowed to her brothers and sisters at the same table. Then, she came to the table where Mr. Patu was sitting and sat at the end of the table.
Almost everyone was paying attention to the changes here. Mr. Patu's action indicated that Anna was one step closer to the "destination"!
If it wasn't for Mr. Patu and the family's ancestral teachings that left such a "deep" impression on people, perhaps there would have already been people discussing in low voices.
At this moment, the restaurant was still as quiet as ever. It was so quiet that one could only hear the sound of various bellows being pulled rapidly.
Anna bowed again to every one at the table before she sat down. It was a necessary formality.
It was precisely because of these people at this table that the family could be as glorious as it was now. But next time, she did not need to bow, because she had also become one of them.
Mr. Patu then picked up the knife and fork, cut a piece of steaming meat from the roasted chicken thigh, put it in his mouth, chewed nine times, and swallowed it.
Then, he picked up the napkin and wiped the non-existent grease stain at the corner of his mouth. He turned his head and smiled to express his gratitude to the cooks standing at the side. "Very delicious dinner, thank you."
The cooks bowed and lined up to leave. Then, the restaurant became lively. Even if no one was talking, the movements of people during the meal made quite a lot of noise.
No one eats at dinner unless he or she has something important to tell him or her, but apparently no one has anything important to tell him or her today.
Everyone had a bellyful of questions. They did not know why Anna could sit at that table. They wanted to ask what had happened, but they could not open their mouths. They all looked very uncomfortable.
Today's dinner might be the shortest in a while. Soon, the young people left the table, bowed to Mr. Patu's table and left the restaurant.
One after another, they wanted to know what had happened.
In the end, only Mr. Patu and Anna were left in the restaurant.
In the empty room, the slightest sound would be like ripples on a narrow water surface, echoing constantly.
Mr. Patu put down the knife and fork, and looked at Anna.
"It's too strange …"
Mr. Patu wiped the tips of his fingers with a wet towel. He looked at Anna sitting opposite him. "The time, the event, the timing, everything is too coincidental!"
"You have to understand that when all the coincidences are gathered together, it is no longer a coincidence!"
"I know you young people like to watch those messy TV dramas where the female and male lead get pregnant after sleeping together …"
"Then this is a well-designed trap. This is not a coincidence."
"Help me make an appointment with Lynch. I want to talk to him in private!"
"I don't want a fourth person to know about this!"
As soon as he spoke, Anna put down the knife and fork, bowed her head slightly to show her submission, and listened carefully.
After listening to Mr. Patu's words, although she didn't understand what he meant, she still said that she would do as Mr. Patu said.
Sometimes in such a big family, it was necessary to be indifferent to everyone.
That was the best way.
You couldn't be warm to your children just because you were the head of the family, or give them more and better resources. That would only continue to pile up conflicts until they completely exploded in the end.
Not treating these people as your children was the simplest way. It was the same to everyone. This was limited justice, but at least he was fair!
Then Anna knew that she could get up and leave. She put down the knife and fork, cleaned her face and hands, and got up to bow slightly to Mr. Patu. "It was a very delicious dinner, Father."
Mr. Patu nodded slightly in return, and Anna quickly left.
After a few minutes, he stood up, looked at the dining room where he was the only one left, and turned around to leave expressionlessly.
The next day, Anna came to the villa with a stomach full of doubts. Fortunately, it was only doubts and not experience.
"My father wants to talk to you in private."
Anna didn't beat around the bush and directly said that she had accepted the commission.
Lynch wasn't surprised at all. He wasn't surprised that Mr. Patu could detect him. It was like an old hunter standing in the downwind and knowing whether there was prey in the upwind.
Some things couldn't be hidden, such as smell, traces of movement, and even the behavior driven by animal instincts.
The same was true for the market.
There were so many coincidences and coincidences. How could Mr. Patu, who specialized in the business of resources, not detect these problems?
Moreover, he was the CEO of the Star Dream Butterfly Consortium. He had a keen perception of the changes in the entire market. He found some problems.
More importantly, Lynch had been "curious" not long ago and asked some sensitive questions.
It wasn't strange that he could guess it!
Lynch gave an affirmative answer and agreed on a time.
A few days later, in the evening, two people sat on a boat on the artificial lake outside the city.
There were only two of them here, but neither of them had brought a fishing rod.
Lynch didn't like fishing. He didn't like wasting his limited time on fishing. He could understand the game between man and fish, and the joy of winning the game, but he just didn't like this kind of time-wasting exercise.
So the two of them sat on the boat, facing each other, like fools.
"I should have brought a fishing rod. Even if I don't fish, at least I look better."
Lynch opened his mouth to warm up the atmosphere. His opening remarks made Mr. Patu smile a little more.
This rigid guy rarely showed his emotions. Then, the feeling of "he seemed to be smiling" disappeared, leaving only his usual appearance.
"Alright, our time is very limited. Can we skip this part?"
After getting Lynch's affirmation, Mr. Patu asked directly, "You're going to make a move on silver, aren't you?"
Lynch didn't admit or deny it. "Why do you think so?"
"Because an open-air gold mine was discovered in Najalil!"
"You're not in this line of work. You may not understand how sensitive we are to these things. After the gold mine was discovered, the price of gold fell immediately."
"This deepened people's concerns about gold. Silver's momentum is so strong. You have to raise the price of silver!"
"The faster silver rises, the more people are disappointed in gold, and vice versa."
"More funds will flow from gold to silver. You're still going to make a move on silver."
Lynch was not surprised to hear Mr. Patu's analysis. Many people could analyze the same result. What he was curious about was not this, but …
"Why me?"
Mr. Patu looked at Lynch. "Among the people I know, you're the only one who fits my guess the best."
"Lynch, not everyone dares to dance on a tightrope. I talked to you about this last time. You're going against the world."
"Maybe now there are more than ten billion in funds on the table. If you want to move it, those people will make you pay with your life."
Lynch shook his head after listening. "People always think about the best when they consider the choices they make. Just like me, no matter how radical it is, I'll think I've succeeded."
"And when you look at the choices of others, you'll be too conservative. You'll always think that the possibility of failure is higher."
"We can't just look at the risk and not talk about the profit. Mr. Patu, you should understand that the greater the risk …"
Mr. Patu continued without pausing. "The greater the return!"
Lynch nodded. "Yes, ten billion. Even if I can only pocket five percent of it, it's worth the risk."
"As for your consideration of whether or not someone would harm me through other means …"
Lynch pursed his lips and thought for a while, then said with a smile, "I'll become a danger to them before they become a danger to me!"