When I went home for Chinese New Year, I spent a million times more money on my foreign wife.

Snow Palace Territory, Top-Level Data Center.

A giant holographic globe floats and rotates in the center of the room, with countless points of light distributed across the map of the six continents.

Each red dot represents a multinational corporation waiting in line for a response, and each gray dot represents a family that has already been rejected.

The number of red dots is still increasing.

Chen Yue stood in front of the control panel, her fingertips tracing the list, scrolling down three pages before reaching the bottom.

"As of 4 p.m. today, a total of 467 organizations and individuals have officially submitted applications to attend the ceremony."

Katyusha leaned against a velvet couch by the window, flipping through a wedding dress catalog of Suzhou embroidery, an intangible cultural heritage. Her gaze never left the catalog, and her voice carried a hint of languor.

"List the families who voted against the Moby Dick incident in the European Parliament."

Chen Yue pulled up a document and projected it onto the wall. Seven surnames, spanning England, Gaul, and Germania.

Katyusha turned a page of the picture book.

"Not a single one."

Chen Yue didn't ask any further questions and simply marked the seven names with red crosses.

"What about the Middle East? All three royal families have submitted applications. Crown Prince Al Ahmed's wording was the most sincere, saying that he was willing to give the exclusive right of call at Red Sea ports as a congratulatory gift."

"Here you go." Katyusha's finger paused for two seconds on a piece of brocade pattern. "The Ale family helped my dad at the energy summit, so we have to acknowledge that favor."

"On the US side, both the Locke family and the Morgan family have sent intermediaries to sound them out—"

"No."

Chen Yue crossed out those two names, then looked up at the dense red dots on the globe representing the North American continent. The dots in that area were turning gray at a visible speed.

The elevator doors opened.

Chen Yang walked in, holding a cup of freshly brewed Longjing tea. He glanced at the densely packed application list on the holographic projection, then sat down next to Katyusha.

"How's the decision going?"

"There are 60 tables for the main banquet and 120 seats for the spectators." Chen Yue announced the numbers. "My sister-in-law and I have already reviewed the list of guests for the main banquet. It includes my father-in-law's family, several oligarchic families that my father-in-law is on good terms with, the emperor, the three crown princes of the Middle East, the actual controllers of the top five European groups, and the high-level delegation led by Minister Li from our side."

Chen Yang nodded.

"The problem lies in the seating," Chen Yue said, throwing a statistical report onto the wall. "Over four hundred applications are vying for one hundred and twenty spots, and more than thirty applicants have net assets exceeding five hundred billion US dollars. Last night, the Wallenberg family from Northern Europe sent the title deed for a copper mine directly to the Snow Palace reception desk, saying it was an 'early congratulatory gift.'"

"Return it." Chen Yang took a sip of tea. "The invitations aren't for sale. Whoever is qualified, you and Katyusha can decide."

Just as Chen Yue was about to speak, her communicator rang. She pressed the answer button, and Lei Zi's voice came through.

"Mr. Chen, a team has just checked into the Park Hyatt Harbin. The leader is Eric Vanderbilt, the eldest son of the Vanderbilt family. He specifically asked to see you, saying he has important matters to discuss in person."

Chen Yue's finger stopped on the control panel.

Vanderburg.

One of Europe's top three century-old shipping conglomerates, whose fleet accounts for 12 percent of global ocean shipping tonnage. Three months ago, this family, through three shell companies, purchased short-selling contracts against the Snow Palace Fund on the dark web, which were intercepted by Chen Yue's risk control system. At the time, they kept quiet, but the data was preserved.

"Sister-in-law, this place—"

"I remember." Katyusha closed the booklet. "How much did you lose on that short position?"

"They lost about four hundred million US dollars." Chen Yue pulled up the records. "After the contracts were liquidated, the Vanderbilt family's North Sea route faced a cash flow shortage. Eric's visit this time is probably to use the wedding invitation as an opportunity to repair relations and, incidentally, discuss the right of passage through the Arctic shipping route."

Katyusha looked at Chen Yang.

Chen Yang put down his teacup.

"Let him wait. Let's finalize the invitations first."

Chen Yue nodded and switched back to the list interface.

"I have an idea for the invitation's specifications." She projected a design draft onto the screen. "The Snow Palace's materials lab just completed a batch of nanoscale cutting tests on meteorite iron last month, achieving a precision of 0.01 millimeters. I plan to use pure gold for the base, meteorite iron for the cover embossing, and embed quantum encryption chips in the inner pages."

Katyusha sat up straight.

"What are chips used for?"

"It has dual functions," Chen Yue said. "First, it's anti-counterfeiting. Each chip is bound to the holder's biometric information, and it can be scanned upon entry on the wedding day, making it impossible to counterfeit. Second, these chips use Snow Palace's self-developed quantum communication protocol, with an encryption level on par with military-grade standards. Once the invitations are sent out, the whole world will know the current stage of Snow Palace's quantum encryption technology."

Chen Yang glanced at her.

"You want to turn the invitation into a tech launch event?"

"Killing two birds with one stone." Chen Yue didn't deny it. "The invitation itself is a statement. Whoever receives it stands on the side of Snow Palace. Those who don't receive it will be more nervous than those who do."

Chen Yang didn't say anything more, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Chen Yue snapped her fingers, and the holographic globe magnified, making the distribution of red and gray dots clearer. On the European continent, gray dots now covered the majority of the area.

"I will complete the final selection within 48 hours, and you can review the list after it is finalized. The production cycle for the invitations will take about ten days, and I have already transferred a team of craftsmen from Jingdezhen and Suzhou."

"Is there enough meteorite iron?" Chen Yang asked.

"The inventory is only enough to make two hundred servings," Chen Yue said. "Exactly, not a single one more."

Katyusha lay back down on the soft couch, her hand resting on her slightly protruding belly.

"See you tomorrow, that guy from the Vanderbilt family." She turned to look at Chen Yang. "Let him stay at the hotel one more night, don't let him be too comfortable."

Chen Yue received the instruction and sent a message to Lei Zi.

The holographic globe continued to rotate. Three more red dots turned gray.

The communicator on the control panel lit up again. Chen Yue glanced at the source identifier and raised an eyebrow.

"Brother, in Paris, Martin DuPont, the former director of the Langfeng Group, just contacted our general counsel through private channels. He said he has a request jointly submitted by seven major European families, hoping we will 'consider' increasing the number of attendees."

Chen Yang stood up and walked towards the elevator.

"Two hundred servings, not a single one extra."

The elevator doors closed.

Chen Yue entered the request number into the system, and two words popped up in the status bar—"Rejected."

On the holographic map, another batch of red dots went out.