A Graduation Gift

"Amanda Ke…"

It sounded familiar to Horace as he repeated the name, but he found himself at a loss in pinpointing it to an actual face.

"Ah, you might know her? She is a world-famous female pianist. She had a performance in a concert in G City not long ago,"

The man smiled and reminded Horace after sensing his confusion.

The name clicked into place at the man's remark. Horace remembered a concert in G City recently. The performers and singers were all from abroad; and major real estate developers in G City, including the Tang Group, sponsored the event.

Amanda Ke's piano performance was the grand finale. The next day, her name poured out from almost all the headlines of newspapers and social media posts. There was an overwhelmingly unanimous verdict— her performance was praised in words as an 'unprecedented success.'

With the turn of time, living conditions had been steadily improving in the city; and more and more people were gaining new appreciation for the arts. The government of G City was planning to build a new theatre in the newly-constructed tourism industrial area in order to host more performances from different artists in the future.

As for the TY Group, they took advantage of this opportunity by holding a concert for Amanda, and was well-received by the public. The tickets almost sold out only hours after the performance had been announced.

Horace didn't pay a lot of attention to this in the beginning, so it took him some time to recall the name, and all he knew was that she was an excellent pianist.

"I barely know her. How can I let Rufus and her be together?" he hesitated.

It would be strange to set Rufus up with a woman whom he didn't know at all. The very idea was ridiculous.

The man chuckled at his response and said, "I will connect you with Amanda. You can rest assured that she would be agreeable to a marriage with Rufus."

He sounded confident, his laugh was loud and had an odd ring to it.

"Are they old friends? Then… what about our business agreement?"

Horace asked, his mind on the negotiations for the investment.

"When Amanda and Rufus decide to marry, I will put the money into the Tang Group's account. Money isn't a problem. Name your price, and we'll be sure to match it," the man answered nonchalantly.

He didn't seem to care about the money. From the way he spoke, it was as if the marriage between Rufus and Amanda was the only thing he had in mind.

the situation. After some deliberation, he had arrived at a

I look forward to

man hung up. Horace found himself still listening to the busy tone from the other end. The reality of the conversation had not yet completely

capital firm. A colleague had once mentioned to Horace that the company was known for its risk-taking strategies. The riskier an investment was, the

way to be one of the

best option as the Tang group

and was willing to invest in the Tang Group on

marry Cassandra, but that decision ended tragically. And his grandchild…wasn't even able to make it to this world. Now, he was asked once again to marry a son to a stranger. There was a heavy reluctance tugging at him

words implied that they should let nature take its course between Rufus and Amanda. And so, technically speaking, if things went well, Horace would not be the

He wasn't Lionel. In fact, he seemed to be an opposite of his half-brother. Rufus wouldn't be as submissive as Lionel, if he

head turning, Horace decided to check up on Amanda's background first. As the saying goes, know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. He

Amanda threw a file on the desk. She

woman!" she

background, from the way Rufus behaved around her. It turned out that

at Cassandra's resume carefully. In all fairness, she did win many competitions since her university days. However, her achievements were a speck of dust compared to

lips, emptying the contents. It was an excellent wine with a warm, thick

She gripped the glass as she thought of the other woman on the file. Cassandra was probably some second-class bitch who could only resort to dirty tricks to seduce her brother-in-law. A woman such as her would never deserve Rufus in a million years; and Rufus...he must have been blinded by her wiles. Otherwise, what other explanation

she was employed directly by the Tang Group and was given the position of manager in the design

been placed under a magnifying glass. But Amanda

of wine, she looked at the photo of Lionel and Ivy. It was

and Lionel was already seeing Ivy, which meant that Cassandra was not

Three days after Ivy's miscarriage, Lionel and

reason why Ivy had miscarried, and Lionel couldn't put up with it so he and Cassandra got a divorce. Another thing was that the terms

banned from working as a designer in the same industry in the coming two years. That would definitely cause a huge blow to

age, she did not have enough base to stand on to make it on her own. Such a young designer needed backing and recommendation to gain enough experiences in order to establish a name and build up a career. And the industry was not kind. It had always been a cut-throat competition. While it was true that some designers managed to became famous after slow and constant effort, success came at a

lips curled into a satisfied smile. She felt as if she had already defeated Cassandra

felt stifled, and grabbed his tie to pull it down to give himself more space to breathe, however it still didn't help

arrived at the company, Lionel saw Cassandra in the