Translated by Pure

Edited by Qing

Chapter 47.2 Taken aback, the smile on Qi Kai’s face gradually froze.

Since the establishment of New Beginnings Real Estate, a total of three plots had been purchased by them. Two of the three plots had been combined and sold for a profit of close to 100 million yuan. The remaining plot was located in the north of the city, in the soon-to-be-developed central business district (CBD). The ‘land king’ and the triangular plot had completely elevated New Beginnings Real Estate’s fame and prestige overnight. The Yan City real estate industry had even secretly given Lin Jingzhe the nickname ‘philosopher's stone.’ They paid careful attention to his every move, word, and deed, especially when it came to land transactions. 

Therefore, since the auction was announced, people had been waiting for New Beginnings Real Estate’s next move. The projected prices were getting higher and higher; many were eager to base the future worth of the auctioned plots by using the choices of New Beginnings Real Estate. Unfortunately, under such attention, New Beginnings Real Estate remained as unmoved as a pool of stagnant water. From Lin Jingzhe to Deng Mai, these two administrators seemed to have forgotten about this grand event altogether.

Everyone had been clamoring for the last three months, but now there was only a little more than a week left to submit the application for the bidding meeting. Without any clues, they gradually started to believe that New Beginnings was probably not going to participate.

The concentrated gazes slowly started to scatter, and Qi Kai was no exception. If it hadn't been for the recent conflict between the two sides, which caused him to add extra manpower to keep an eye on Lin Jingzhe's movement, he would have completely fallen for Lin Jingzhe's feint.

Qi Qing was also very surprised. He approached Qi Kai and asked, "Is it really true? It can't be fake news, right?"

Qi Kai shook his head slowly but did not answer. He suddenly stood up after contemplating for a while, went to the desk drawer, and found a pamphlet and a map.

"Plot No. 2..." Qi Qing opened the map and looked around the map with sharp eyes. After a while, his fingertip stopped at one place, "found it!"

Qi Qing was still baffled by the situation, but he quickly took a closer look. Jiang Qiaqia put down the teacup in her hand and also came to look. The moment she saw the land, she hesitated. "More than 400,000 square meters...?"

This area was too big for her.

Qi Qing opened the pamphlet and found the section detailing Plot No. 2. After reading its introduction, he was left speechless. He had done some real estate related business in Qunnan, but the land price there was far lower than that in Yan City. This land was too expensive! Qi Qing couldn’t help but to carefully analyze the information provided, "I've been to that area before– Wubao Mountain in the south of the city. The land prices in that urban area are already expensive, so such a large plot of land would probably amount to at least tens of millions?"

Qi Kai, on the other hand, was experienced and knowledgeable. When he had engaged in smuggling business in Qunnan, sometimes his profit in a single transaction could reach this amount. Although he had later run into trouble with the law and was forced to surrender his earnings, his confidence was still there. He couldn't help but sneer when he heard Qi Qing’s words. Inwardly he mocked the latter's narrow vision. "How can the land be cheap? The ‘land king’ from New Beginnings Real Estate sold for more than 160 million yuan. The initial cost of their two lands totaled about 50 million yuan."

That's what real estate was all about, making large investments for even larger returns. Using less than 50 million yuan to earn a net profit of more than 100 million yuan. Moreover, Lin Jingzhe didn’t even have the initial capital, he had even used a loan to pay off his previous loan. No one could criticize this method, no matter what industry it was used in. Although Qi Kai didn’t like him, he had to praise Lin Jingzhe for his wit. It only made him wish harder for this smart opponent of his to stop growing.

Qi Kai used a pen to circle the huge Plot No. 2 in the south corner of the city, and then drew an equally eye-catching star beside it.

After Qi Qing was ridiculed by Qi Kai, he immediately calmed down. He was a little unconvinced before, but after thinking about it carefully, he also felt that what Qi Kai said was indeed reasonable.

His brain turned very quickly. Seeing Qi Kai being so cautious, Qi Qing immediately guessed that this business might contain unimaginable profits. The last time Lin Jingzhe invested 50 million yuan, he earned 100 million yuan from it. Now this Plot No. 2 would cost at least 60 to 70 million yuan. What kind of turnover would drive him to be so liberal?

Furthermore, he also discovered a more important clue in what Qi Kai said to him just now.

New Beginnings Real Estate discretely delayed until near the end of the application process before handing over the materials. Presumably, it was because they didn't want their targeted plot of land to be acquired by competitors. However, there was always a mountain taller than the other [1]. Even if they tried their best, they couldn't hide their schemes from Qi Kai. 

Their application had been handed in that morning. It was only the afternoon, but even the contents of their application was known by Qi Kai. How strict were the confidentiality measures in real estate bidding? Qi Qing, who had dealt with similar situations in Qunnan Province, couldn't be more clear. Where ordinary businessmen didn’t even have a chance to get acquainted, Qi Kai seemed to treat it like a visit to his own garden. His capabilities were probably far greater than Qi Qing had anticipated.

Startled by his own revelation, Qi Qing immediately dismissed the idea of asking Qi Kai for the extra personnel expenses. That had been really too short-sighted of him. 

Although it was possible to temporarily relieve their financial pressure, they were only a newly established company without a firm foothold. Was it worthwhile to offend a backer who was capable of taking them to the sky for hundreds of thousands worth of compensation? With Qi Kai's ability, even if he didn't make any big moves, just taking them out to purchase land and developing them, or to give them some insider news, the benefits he could bring to them were already incalculable.

Qi Kai saw off the couple who came to visit every day, and happened to meet the friend who tipped him off. This friend was a full-time information broker who was well informed. Not only did he know Qi Qing and his wife because of their company's famously high salary, but he also had a good grasp of the trends in Qi Kai's company. After entering the office, he couldn't help but ask Qi Kai, "Why do these two people come to your place every day?"

Qi Kai, who had been feigning ignorance in front of Qi Qing, sneered and said, "What else could it be? They’re here to ask for money."

His heart was full of mockery. Were Qi Qing and Jiang Qiaqia right in the head? Coming to Dominion Properties to ask for money? Did they really think he was running a charity?

The office was used by them and the people they recruited were also employees of Qiqing Real Estate. They were overestimating themselves. Did they really think he was doing these favors for free?

"Let's not talk about them." Thinking of those two sightless country bumpkins made him upset, so Qi Kai changed the subject. He pulled his friend to sit on the sofa and quickly began to discuss New Beginnings Real Estate’s most recent movements.

Qi Kai was very cautious. He and Lin Jingzhe were at odds with one another and had been going tit for tat. However, ever since his car’s tires were punctured, Lin Jingzhe had been in a passive state. Based on Qi Kai's understanding of the other party, Lin Jingzhe was definitely not such a submissive character. Most likely, he was plotting a grand scheme, just waiting to trip him up.

Knowing that Qi Kai was suspicious, his friend simply gave him a copy of the information that Lin Jingzhe had handed over.

After confirming this information, Qi Kai could only believe it. Nonetheless, he still had some doubts about Plot No. 2, which was more than 400,000 square meters.

He couldn't figure it out. Except for its size, this land had no other outstanding characteristics. Right now, the fastest growing and most promising urban area in Yan City was obviously in the north. Land prices there changed every day or even several times a day. Among the seven plots included in next month’s auction, the two in the north were the most popular. Apart from them, the remaining five plots were scattered, and people were not very interested. 

Although Wubao Mountain was decent in all aspects, it was only valued at tens of millions because of its 400,000 square meters. Compared to the similarly sized ‘land king,’ which sold for half a million yuan a few months ago, one could see how ordinary this plot of land was.

Qi Kai racked his brains but failed to make any sense. "Why would New Beginnings Real Estate pick this land? No matter how I think about it, it makes no sense."

He was also a little wary: "I have been at odds with them lately. Do you think that surnamed Lin deliberately released this news to fool me?"

This kind of speculation was not impossible, afterall, Qi Kai had been duped by Xiao Chi in a similar way before. As a result, he was fooled into owning that useless land in Shiku Lane that had no development prospects for several years. Since then, Qi Kai had been overly fearful, and he found it difficult to fully trust the opponent's purpose if it was too obvious.

But his friend felt that he was overreacting. "You had this same thought when you competed with Flux Realty for the Dongtai Community. However, what happened when you withdrew from the competition?"

Qi Kai stared at the table expressionlessly as he listened to the speaker say word by word, "Flux Realty made— a— killing— from this project"

Qi Kai let out a breath and his eyes became a little dark. That missed project was indeed an old err that still haunted him.

Xiao Chi had used a deceptive method to make him overthink and withdraw from the competition. He had used the same method in another form to ruthlessly trick him a second time, too.

Qi Kai could no longer figure out what was true and what was false. In short, there were countless possibilities buried under this ambiguous attitude.

Coming to this conclusion, Qi Kai suddenly asked, "How did you discover this information from New Beginnings Real Estate? How could it be such a coincidence that you saw it as soon as they handed it in this morning?"

When his friend heard his question, he immediately became energetic. "It's a long story. It really was just a coincidence! New Beginnings Real Estate’s General Manager Deng was very careful, he didn't hand the application in directly. He had found one of our team leaders who was in charge of bidding. They were invited for a drink and given some benefits before entrusting this team leader to sneak in their application. It stands to reason that even I may not have found out if it weren’t for his one error. The team leader he found was truly unreliable and also loved to show off. He leaked the news during lunch after saying three words to me."

Qi Kai frowned. "Deng Mai looks like a resourceful man, how could he find such a person?"

"What’s the use?" His friend sneered. "I know that person is unreliable, but how would he know? If I asked you, would you know?"

Qi Kai thought his words made some sense and couldn't help but nod.

His friend took a sip of tea, and his face became tense again. "I only told you about this matter. I also had that team leader keep his mouth shut, so don't screw things up for me and keep it a secret, okay?"

Qi Kai nodded. He had already started to believe in the authenticity of this news. Lin Jingzhe procrastinated until the very last week and even handed in the application in an indirect way. This had all been done cautiously. It was very possible they were planning for a big move.

Lin Jingzhe had made a similar move when he bought the land in the north of the city. Like a stupid c*nt, when everyone was retreating, he staked it all on those seemingly hopeless plots, and then just soared into the sky.

Outsiders said he was just lucky, but anyone with a brain knew that was a lie. Would anyone dare do such a thing without any confidence?

This time Lin Jingzhe took a fancy to the unremarkable foot of Wubao Mountain in the south of the city. Wasn’t this very similar to his previous actions?

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Footnote:

[1]There was always a mountain taller than the other (一山还比一山高) - An idiom that means: There’s always somebody else who’s better.

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