The grand fireworks show gave guests an unforgettable visual feast. The guests dispersed, and the Smith family originally wanted to have tea together, but Michael said goodbye to Mr. Smith, citing Sophia's unwellness as an excuse.
Although Sophia felt uncomfortable with Michael's excuse, she was still very happy to be able to leave this place of right and wrong. On the way back, both of them leaned toward the car door, without any communication the whole time.
Sophia received a new message on her phone, from Wendy. "I found an unpalatable fish today. It's awful. I really want to cut it into pieces with a knife and fork." When Sophia saw this message, she frowned slightly at first, and then a smile appeared on her face.

Michael noticed the change in Sophia's facial expression, but he just looked at everything and said nothing.
The car was driving at high speed, and the moon was in the sky, reflecting a silvery white light. Everyone's faces flickered, and everyone was thinking about something they didn't want the people around them to know.
Back to the castle. Michael took the elevator straight to the fifth floor. Sophia also returned to her room. Sophia turned on the computer and clicked on the encrypted email sent by Wendy.
"qxitidtopdl, plndelsikdao, soxjfofanirnskankcsl. aejdakokaoeihn alcnjajwnask aowjfvjankpwsjk andjosjkjqaowkc fnajnwjji anmwnkjaknajNdknx, ajebhbv ajwojj apkkfjvha. ndjchyagkdjakncj bhawcdm vjhuan dvahuwdbncka dsieufhjakjf"
Sophia translated the encrypted email through the coded translation she and Wendy wrote together.
"The company now has 20 million mobilizable funds in its account. The Gemstone Fund will support 40 million. Today's disruptor is Blackstone Fund Investment Company, which is controlled by the Smith family, but the company's real executive director and CEO information is not available yet. Found it. The external professional manager announced to the public is Mike Swift, a Harvard graduate. He went to AZ Company today and went to the Hot Spring Hotel with the chairperson of AZ. Maybe they have reached some cooperation, but I can’t contact them now. The director of AZ and the secretary have been perfunctory with me. There must be someone else behind Blackstone, maybe someone from within the Smith family. You should keep an eye on it. Blackstone is a well-known shark in the industry, if they maliciously raised the price of AZ. The opening price is not a good thing for us. What do you think now?"

Seeing this, Sophia fell into thinking. Have these people been investigating themselves? Tonight, everyone in the Smith family looked at me a little strangely, and it could be said that they all had their own agenda. Who will be the current controller and person in power of this Blackstone company? Could it be Mr. Smith? But in recent years, he has focused his energy on supporting his eldest son's political career and his younger son's scientific research institute. Will it be the eldest sister, Linda Smith? The way she looked at herself tonight was indeed slightly aggressive, like the way a cheetah looks at its prey on the African savannah. But Linda’s career seems to have always been in the field of fashion and clothing, and I have never heard of her being involved in the financial field. Could it be the third brother, Zealand Smith? He is a scientific researcher and has always been obsessed with scientific research. The younger sister, Angela Smith, is still studying at Yale, but she is studying a double major in medicine and law. If none of these are possible, only Michael is left. Could it be him? It was rumored that because of his injury, he was considered an outcast of the Michael family. He was left in this old castle by his family to take care of the family's organic farm. Last year, a tabloid media photographed him picking tea leaves in a tea garden. And judging from his recent interactions, every time he comes back from going out, he is stained with a little bit of dirt, a little bit of grass, and some indescribable mixed smell. Most of the time, I just watched him stay in this castle and carry out all his fitness and entertainment activities.
After thinking for a long time, Sophia still had no idea. Then she reviewed AZ Company's information again and sent an encrypted document back to Wendy.
”dzjc jbaloih ab jhdeuvhianwk dquhaeu bakjwihc dhquoyawhjcbjsjlay shaufugckawfuiyy dhquiwyefygchao ahfuiycgkawify dhytawyfbcjkahuwyf hduigafeybckajwufg ahfuuabjwfhhc iheaugchaljwf, bsefiugyv wfjkafg. aehfugchbqwakjfhcuga dfshagwhbhaefjjblawhfjhka khfygqbwj akehfughjadlocjlu befchjabk fh efghjabclahc"
"I don't have a clue yet, but I will continue to watch and pay attention. I just checked Blackstone's investment projects in the past six months. They just invested in an offshore wind power project two months ago, and last year's desert photovoltaic power generation project was about two weeks later. It's the first anniversary, and we need to fulfill the second phase of capital investment obligations. I don't think there will be more than 80 million liquid funds to short AZ and us, unless it is specifically for us, then they need a partner. For insurance For the sake of safety, we can first undermine the confidence of stock investors. As long as there are fewer retail investors who follow up in the early stage, the chance of shorting us will be reduced. We need to find Blackstone’s partners as soon as possible.”

Then, Sophia's slender fingers moved rapidly on the computer keyboard. She reread Blackstone's home page, the news reports, and all the gossip. She carefully looked at everyone's faces in the photos and videos, trying to match the guests at tonight's dinner one by one, and found clues from them. Mr. Smith did not have any communication with his siblings at the dinner tonight, which is consistent with the rumors that they seemed to be at odds. Moreover, Smith's brother and sister's family members are basically mediocre. Their children either play around or work as small leaders in subsidiaries of non-core companies of the Smith family. Maybe it's because they have a big tree like Mr. Smith and they are happy to be leisurely and have the capital to spend money. After ruling out family relatives, Sophia finally found some clues at a charity event two years ago focusing on the rescue of children with leukemia. The man standing next to Mr. Smith in the photo from the charity event is Kosal N Leen, president of the Space Bank, and he was also at the dinner tonight with his wife, sitting with Sophia behind their table. Presumably, Blackstone Investment Company is controlled by the Smith family. If they want to grab a piece of the AZ pie, the bank is indeed a good partner. But this is all Sophia's guess, and she needs more concrete evidence.
Thinking of this, it becomes more important and urgent to confirm the actual controller of Blackstone. Sophia must ensure that AZ is successfully listed and does not get shorted by other companies and get kicked out. Sophia first encrypted the situation and speculation she had investigated and sent it to Wendy, keeping the information flowing so that we could work out a solution together. Sophia and Wendy founded a small company together, Green Cycle Co., Ltd., whose basic business scope is to carry out energy conservation and environmentally friendly projects. But Sophia is an anonymous shareholder, and only Wendy knows about this. Usually the company and projects are managed by Wendy and the team she formed. Sophia is always thinking of ways and helping behind the scenes. Because everyone is basically just a student, the company basically does very small projects, and no one cared about it before. Therefore, Sophia didn’t understand why the Smith family and Blackstone Investment were targeting their small project. AZ is just an old transportation company, and Green Cycle Company needs AZ's transportation lines. This is also the condition that Green Cycle and AZ originally negotiated. Sophia indeed took advantage of the environmental protection activities in disguise to negotiate and communicate with AZ on the details of the listing, and reached cooperation.
As time passed by, Sophia clenched her hands. She must find a way as soon as possible. She must find a way to find out the estimated price of the black stone.