U City was a city the country planned to focus heavily on developing. Various policies had already begun to be implemented there. The population base was large, and it also happened to be close to the imperial capital, causing countless businessmen to flock toward it and set their sights on U City. Zhou Corporation was no exception.
The day before yesterday, after discussion during a company meeting, the corporation officially determined that its next target would be U City, preparing to develop aggressively there. But Zhou Corporation was not the only one with such intentions—Hengyu did as well.
After Wang Cheng replaced Zhou Lin, the core business he came into contact with was actually even greater than what Zhou Lin had handled during her tenure. Previously, Feng Yifan would never have entrusted an important project like U City to Zhou Lin, but this time he directly handed it over to Wang Cheng, while Zhao Jiansheng became Wang Cheng’s deputy.
Zhou Lin had long known Feng Yifan was wary of her, so she did not show much surprise about this matter. On the contrary, both she and Zhao Jiansheng even spoke well of Wang Cheng in front of Zhou Shichang.
Since Wang Cheng was still inexperienced and had never handled this kind of business before, Zhao Jiansheng’s role as deputy became useful. All the information Wang Cheng needed was collected by people Zhao Jiansheng arranged, and Zhao Jiansheng even personally discussed the situation of U City’s land plots with him.
The government valued U City even more highly than it once had Shanhai City. However, not every area was suitable for development. It depended on which section the government intended to develop first. Only by targeting that area would Zhou Corporation’s investment have real meaning.
Fortunately, these issues were not particularly difficult for Zhou Corporation. With insider information provided by the Zheng family, Wang Cheng quickly locked onto the target.
Two days later, the employees under Wang Cheng had already calculated estimated prices for several land plots he had set his sights on. His assistant delivered the information to him. After Wang Cheng reviewed it, Zhao Jiansheng came looking for the documents because they would be heading to U City the day after tomorrow to attend the government-hosted land bidding conference. However, Wang Cheng rejected him, claiming there were still issues with the pricing.
That afternoon, Wang Cheng received a phone call from his older brother.
“Chengcheng, I heard Zhou Corporation is also preparing to participate in U City’s land bidding conference?”
“Yeah, I’m the one in charge of this project.” Wang Cheng was not surprised his brother knew. As far as he knew, Gu Corporation had recently planned to build a factory and was also choosing a location. U City possessed abundant labor resources and forest resources. If nothing unexpected happened, Gu Corporation would most likely choose U City as well.
His guess was correct, but the person responsible for the matter was not Wang Ning’an. It was Gu Ping.
Gu Ping intended to use this opportunity to earn merit. If things went smoothly, he would likely receive another promotion. But Wang Ning’an had no intention of letting him get his wish. Although it would cause a certain amount of loss to Gu Corporation, it would only amount to a drop in the bucket.
Wang Cheng’s eyes immediately lit up and he quickly thought of a solution.
“I think we can ask Chu Yifeng for help with this.”
“Ask him?”
To ensure the smooth progress of the land competition, Wang Cheng stayed late at the office to work overtime that evening. The bright lights in the office did not go out until nearly ten o’clock. The employees accompanying him in overtime finally felt relieved. Having a boss who loved overtime was truly exhausting, though fortunately the new boss did not work overtime too often.
“Thanks for your hard work. Once this project succeeds, I’ll treat everyone to a huge meal,” Wang Cheng promised as he walked over to them.
The employees exchanged glances, surprise and delight evident in each other’s eyes.
“Thank you, Young Master Zhou.”
Chu Yifeng called Wang Cheng to inform him he had already arrived downstairs at the building. After saying goodbye to everyone, Wang Cheng put away his phone and headed downstairs.
Several employees also packed up and prepared to leave work. Just as they were about to enter the elevator, a male employee named Li Qiang suddenly cried out in alarm.
“Oh no, my keys are missing.”
“Are they really important? Can’t you look for them tomorrow?” a female employee asked.
Li Qiang shook his head. “No, without the keys I can’t get home tonight. It’s already so late. How about this—you guys head home first. I’ll look around myself. They should still be at my workstation.”
“You really don’t need us to help?” another male employee asked awkwardly. They all knew each other fairly well, so leaving him behind alone felt somewhat bad.
“It’s just a bunch of keys. No need for all of you to stay and help me search. I can handle it myself.”
After saying that, he stepped out of the elevator just as the doors closed.
Once he successfully persuaded the three of them to leave, Li Qiang returned to the office but did not head toward his workstation to look for keys. Instead, he went directly to Wang Cheng’s office.
The door was locked, but that did not seem to trouble him. After entering, he went straight to Wang Cheng’s computer. Once it powered on, the system requested a password. Li Qiang then pulled a USB drive from his pocket and inserted it into the computer. About ten minutes later, he successfully cracked the password.
However, the computer apparently did not contain what he wanted. Soon after, he noticed a locked cabinet. He pulled out another set of burglary tools. This lock took him some time to open, but once he finally did, he indeed found the documents he wanted inside. After photocopying the documents, he quickly left the office.
When he reached the elevator, the doors happened to open and a security guard walked out. Seeing him there, the guard paused in surprise.
“Oh, it’s Xiao Li. Why are you still here so late?”
Li Qiang was startled badly. His heart pounded violently. Since Zhou Lin had liked working overtime before, he had often been one of those staying late as well, so the security guards responsible for inspections knew him.
He tried his best to appear normal and forced out a relaxed smile.
“I left my keys behind. I just found them, and now I’m about to head out.”
“Then be careful on your way home.”
The security guard patted him on the shoulder before heading inside to carry out the final inspection, not suspecting him in the slightest.
Li Qiang tightly gripped his briefcase and quickly entered the elevator.
Today was the day of U City’s land bidding conference.
Early that morning, Wang Cheng arrived at the company, took the documents from his drawer, and headed to U City together with Zhao Jiansheng and his assistant. The bidding conference was being held inside the government hall. By the time they arrived, many people had already gathered inside.
U City was an enormous cake. Countless businessmen were interested in getting a share. Even though the bidding conference had not officially started yet, everyone was already discussing it enthusiastically.
Zhao Jiansheng appeared to spot acquaintances and split off from them midway. Wang Cheng, however, was in no rush to gather information. He first sent his assistant to inspect the situation of several land plots before going to look for Chu Yifeng.
Huaying Real Estate was also participating in this bidding conference. Chu Yifeng had personally taken charge of the project, while Cheng Cheng had been sent over from Shanhai City as well. The two had arrived early, and Wang Cheng quickly spotted them in a corner.
“Cheng Cheng, long time no see.”
“Brother Cheng, I finally get to see you again.”
Cheng Cheng became extremely excited upon seeing Wang Cheng and enthusiastically threw his arms around him in a hug.
He was no longer the ordinary little employee he once had been. He had already been promoted to deputy manager, while Fang Tian had become the department manager. As for veteran staff like Zhang Yiheng, they had already returned to Aimoer headquarters some time ago. All of them had originally been people Chu Yifeng brought from headquarters, so they were never meant to stay at Huaying Real Estate permanently.
Wang Cheng quickly pushed Cheng Cheng away, worried the big boss might get jealous and secretly make things difficult for him later.
Chu Yifeng asked, “Didn’t Zhao Jiansheng come with you?”
“Him?” Wang Cheng smiled meaningfully. “He probably saw some like-minded acquaintance and is busy catching up right now. Forget about them. Has Gu Corporation’s representative arrived yet?”
Chu Yifeng’s gaze shifted toward a certain direction.
Wang Cheng followed his line of sight and saw Gu Ping chatting and laughing together with a group of wealthy businessmen. Since he had come representing Gu Corporation, those businessmen were all eager to build relationships with him. Even those who knew Gu Ping only came from a branch family still believed that, since he managed to obtain this project, he might soon continue climbing higher and higher.
“He’s smiling pretty confidently. Looks like he’s very sure of himself,” Wang Cheng murmured while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Unfortunately, today he was destined not to get his wish.
“With that so-called Old Madam Gu backing him, of course he feels confident.”
Cheng Cheng could not understand what they were talking about, but he could tell Wang Cheng and the boss held little goodwill toward this Gu Corporation representative, so he dutifully remained in the background.
There were also plenty of people trying to flatter Wang Cheng. Some even attempted to pry out from him which plots of land he intended to bid on.
This bidding conference involved more than thirty plots of land up for auction. Though the number seemed large, only about half truly possessed competitive value. Meanwhile, over a hundred businessmen had come to participate in the bidding conference. The intensity of the competition was obvious.
Only ten minutes remained before the bidding conference officially began when both Wang Cheng’s assistant and Zhao Jiansheng returned.
Seeing Chu Yifeng, Zhao Jiansheng appeared somewhat uncomfortable.
The assistant briefly reported the situation of several plots of land to Wang Cheng. The plots they had their eyes on happened to be the best ones, so naturally many others were interested as well. In merely an hour, twenty to thirty people had already wandered around those plots. Though not all of them possessed the financial power to compete, there were still seven or eight capable competitors.
At that moment, a middle-aged man walked toward Wang Cheng’s group.
“Young Master Zhou, Young Master Chu, it’s an honor to meet you both for the first time. I am Ji Tianyu, president of Hengyu.”
Ji Tianyu was the very person who had repeatedly opposed Zhou Corporation. Not only was he Hengyu’s president, he was also Hengyu’s largest shareholder. Hengyu mainly focused on the hotel industry as well, so their objectives aligned perfectly with Zhou Corporation’s. The plots Wang Cheng had chosen were also the ones Ji Tianyu wanted. In terms of competitiveness, the two companies were basically evenly matched.
Wang Cheng did not have a favorable impression of this man. Judging from previous incidents, Ji Tianyu was definitely the type who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Wang Cheng simply exchanged a few polite greetings before finding an excuse to leave.
Watching their retreating figures, Ji Tianyu’s lips instead curled upward.
Originally, he had wanted to chat with Wang Cheng a bit longer. He was also quite interested in Chu Yifeng. The Zhang family behind him and the Chu family were mortal enemies. The Zhang family had always searched for opportunities to pull the Chu family down.
Initially, the Zhang family’s target had been Chu Li, but Chu Li was too difficult to deal with. Later, they shifted their focus onto Chu Yifeng instead. Even before learning Chu Yifeng liked men, they had already considered exploiting the matter—but they had never managed to obtain decisive evidence.
Futile Devices Scans 
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