Chapter 575 Provocation

"Guests have arrived? Who do they mean? 'Then do as you said before. We'll give them a most direct welcome!' That signature smile of Ye Ming’s slowly bloomed on his lips. 'Alright! I hope they aren't too surprised!' Nangong Qianyu also smiled. Though this smile carried a hint of coldness. 'Let's go! After we finish giving our instructions, we'll go meet them!' With that, Ye Ming led Nangong Qianyu out of the private room. As they exited, Qiu Ruiming and the other four were waiting outside. 'Mr. Ye! Miss Qianyu!' The five bowed in succession. 'Elder Qiu, please stay,' Ye Ming said casually after glancing at them. Upon hearing this, the four chief executives of the Tianzi Consortium, excluding Qiu Ruiming, exchanged glances but dared not speak further, quietly withdrawing. 'Mr. Ye! What matter requires this old servant?' Qiu Ruiming went straight to the point without any unnecessary pleasantries. 'Elder Qiu! Why don't you guess why I've asked you to stay behind?' Ye Ming asked with a smile. He wanted to gauge how far Qiu Ruiming’s foresight extended. However, after a brief moment of hesitation, Qiu Ruiming replied, 'Does Mr. Ye wish for me to become the helmsman of the Tianzi Consortium?' The helmsman of the Tianzi Consortium? Qiu Ruiming wondered if this answer would satisfy Ye Ming. As everyone knew, the current Tianzi Consortium had five chief executives. Any major decision required their collective agreement. And based on Qiu Ruiming's interpretation, Ye Ming seemed inclined to consolidate power within the Tianzi Consortium, placing it under a single leader for more efficient management, unlike the previous decentralized structure. 'Half!' Ye Ming shook his head slightly and said, 'You've only guessed half correctly!' Qiu Ruiming seemed unfazed by this and countered with a question: 'Mr. Ye! There's one question, if I may ask?' He sought an answer to a particular query. 'Go ahead!' Ye Ming didn't commit to answering but didn't refuse either. 'Before Mr. Ye arrived in the Gaoqiao Nation, had you already decided not to grant the spokesperson position to the Tianzi Consortium?' Qiu Ruiming asked earnestly. 'Oh! You would ask this?' Ye Ming's eyes narrowed slightly, as if scrutinizing something. He continued, 'You already have the answer, don't you?' Having the answer! 'As expected,' Qiu Ruiming chuckled with a hint of helplessness and sighed, 'A consortium with dispersed power, Mr. Ye truly wouldn't fancy it!' From this question, Qiu Ruiming gleaned much information and finally understood the other half of the reason he hadn't voiced earlier. 'Black Tower! Mr. Ye has chosen them!' Qiu Ruiming's doubts were cleared, and he finally understood Ye Ming's complete intentions in keeping him behind. 'You are indeed very clever! I didn't misjudge you!' Ye Ming admitted directly, revealing his prior contact with Black Tower. After all, if he wanted Qiu Ruiming to work for him, he had to be informed about Black Tower. 'Now you should know why I asked you to stay!' Ye Ming's gaze flickered as he carefully observed the old man before him. 'To control the Tianzi Consortium, and...' Qiu Ruiming's voice deepened, 'to supervise the operations of Black Tower!' With this simple statement, everything was laid bare. For Qiu Ruiming, the former might not be a difficult task. However, the latter was far from easy. 'Can you do it?' Ye Ming asked calmly, awaiting his reply. This time, Qiu Ruiming was different. He fell silent for a long time, his head bowed, saying nothing. He was contemplating whether he possessed the capability. The answer was revealed by himself a minute later. 'I beg your pardon, but I... cannot!' Qiu Ruiming bowed, openly admitting his inability to fulfill the task. He had a clear understanding of his own limitations. If tasked with managing the Tianzi Consortium, Qiu Ruiming was undoubtedly capable. But when the subject changed to Black Tower, even with the objective of supervision, he felt he could not accomplish it. For instance, to this day, let alone the most mysterious Tower Master of Black Tower, he hadn't even fully understood all four Elder Seats. Therefore, supervising the entirety of Black Tower was truly beyond his scope of ability. 'Hahaha! You are quite frank!' Ye Ming did not offer a direct evaluation of Qiu Ruiming's answer but instead exaggerated the man's directness. 'My ability is limited; I wouldn't dare to impede Mr. Ye's affairs!' Qiu Ruiming lowered his head, his tone carrying a trace of helplessness and... powerlessness. 'Alright! You may leave. I will give you a new response before you depart tomorrow!' Ye Ming waved his hand, not continuing the discussion. Crucially, he didn't have the time to. 'This old servant takes his leave!' Watching Qiu Ruiming's retreating figure, Nangong Qianyu, standing beside Ye Ming, blinked her eyes and then looked at him, 'You had already made up your mind, didn't you? Why delay telling me until tomorrow?' This was Nangong Qianyu's point of confusion. 'Aren't we telepathic? Wouldn't you know?' Ye Ming playfully tickled her nose and smiled. 'Oh! I don't want to use that ability so casually!' Nangong Qianyu shook her head. 'If it continues like this, there's no mystery at all, it's very boring!' Initially, Nangong Qianyu quite enjoyed the feeling of telepathy. But as she used her brain less and less, being able to get answers directly from Ye Ming's mind for every question, it gradually made her lose much of the fun. As she said, there was now a lack of mystery and anticipation between them. Therefore, she had chosen to block that ability. 'Since that's the case, then use your clever little brain to think about it carefully!' Ye Ming chuckled. 'Besides, what's the difference between me telling you now and you directly reading the answer from my mind?' 'Uh!' Nangong Qianyu paused, her expression blank. It seemed that was indeed the case. 'Alright then!' To make her little brain smarter, Nangong Qianyu secretly resolved to find the reason behind it. 'Okay! We can think about it later!' At this moment, Ye Ming suddenly took her hand. And for some reason, his expression turned somber. 'Hmm?' Even though her telepathy was blocked, Nangong Qianyu could clearly sense that Ye Ming's mood was not good at the moment. There was even a hint of killing intent in his eyes. 'After provoking me time and again, don't blame me!' With his words, Ye Ming and Nangong Qianyu vanished from their spot."