Futile Devices Scans

After throwing Ji Tianyu to the back of his mind, Wang Cheng and Chu Yifeng went to inspect the plots of land they had their eyes on.

There were a total of thirty-six plots of land prepared for bidding in U City, represented by numbers 1 through 36. The four plots Zhou Corporation had set their sights on were Plots No. 2, 6, 7, and 12. Although there were four plots, they never intended to obtain all four from the beginning.

After learning that Huaying Real Estate had taken a liking to Plot No. 7, Wang Cheng decisively gave up on it and prepared to choose two out of the remaining three plots. Since Chu Yifeng also needed to inspect the land, the two temporarily split up.

“Plots No. 2, 6, and 12 are all pretty good. Have you decided which two plots you want yet?” Zhao Jiansheng asked when he noticed Wang Cheng still had not made a decision.

In truth, they had already thoroughly investigated the strengths and weaknesses of the three plots beforehand. According to the information they gathered, Plots No. 2 and 6 were both excellent, while Plot No. 12 was slightly inferior.

“Not yet,” Wang Cheng replied.

Zhao Jiansheng said, “Plot No. 2 is excellent. Its development potential is the greatest, so there’s no need to hesitate about it. We can choose it directly. Although transportation around Plot No. 12 isn’t convenient enough at the moment, the government already plans to build roads nearby. Once that happens, its potential value may become even greater than Plot No. 6. I think we should choose Plot No. 12.”

Wang Cheng merely nodded without verbally agreeing.

Not long afterward, the three of them arrived in front of Plot No. 6. Several representatives from companies that were also interested in the plot had already gathered there.

The bidding process in U City was different from a typical auction.

It wasn’t a group of wealthy tycoons gathering together to bid aloud. Instead, whichever plot you liked, you would go to the number representing it. A box would be placed there. If you wanted that plot, you would write down the price you had in mind and place the form into the box. After the bidding conference ended, the staff would take out the forms from the boxes and tally them. Whoever submitted the highest bid would win the land.

After looking over Plot No. 6, they headed to Plot No. 12 to see who their competitors were. Once they understood the backgrounds of those competitors, they would have a better chance during the bidding.

At that moment, Chu Yifeng came over and said he had some new information to tell Wang Cheng.

Wang Cheng asked Zhao Jiansheng and the assistant to wait for a while before leaving with Chu Yifeng to speak privately outside. The conversation lasted less than two minutes. Once he returned, Wang Cheng immediately made a decision.

“We’ll choose Plot No. 6 as the second plot. We’re giving up on Plot No. 12.”

“Why?” Zhao Jiansheng immediately asked. “Isn’t Plot No. 12 better than Plot No. 6?”

Wang Cheng explained, “I just received information that the government may cancel the intended use of this land and repurpose it for something else. We can’t take that risk.”

Hearing that, Zhao Jiansheng seemed unconvinced.

“That’s only a possibility. If the information turns out to be false and the company misses out on this plot because of a misjudgment, who will take responsibility?”

“I will,” Wang Cheng answered without hesitation.

“Since you insist, I won’t say anything else. I just hope your decision is the correct one.”

Zhao Jiansheng more or less understood he could not stop Zhou Cheng, so he compromised.

After deciding which plots to bid on, Wang Cheng instructed Zhao Jiansheng to fill out the bidding form for Plot No. 6, while he and the assistant went to handle Plot No. 2.

The company had long since calculated estimated values for the plots based on their worth. All they had to do was write those values onto the forms and toss them into the boxes.

After Zhao Jiansheng finished and returned, Wang Cheng and the assistant had already finished as well.

He then found an excuse to go to the restroom, but in reality, he slipped outside to make a phone call.

At the same time, Ji Tianyu walked outside and answered his phone.

“How did it go?”

“The results are out. They picked Plot No. 2 and Plot No. 6.”

“Plot No. 6? Isn’t Plot No. 12 better?”

“That’s what I said too, but Zhou Cheng claimed the government might cancel the development of that land. He even told me to bid on Plot No. 6.”

Ji Tianyu suddenly laughed.

“It seems the heir Zhou Shichang picked isn’t all that impressive after all. He actually thinks he can fool me with such childish tricks.”

“You mean Wang Cheng deliberately did this and his real target is still Plot No. 12? But if that’s the case, wouldn’t that mean he’d end up bidding on three plots? The company’s budget only covers two. That wouldn’t benefit him at all. Besides, Chu Yifeng was the one who gave him the information.”

“Plot No. 6 isn’t so poor that nobody wants it. On the contrary, plenty of people are competing for it. It’s still uncertain who will win. Besides, there’s also Aimoer. Even if Wang Cheng really manages to win Plot No. 6 as well, he could simply transfer it to Aimoer.

“As for the information you mentioned—that’s exactly where they were clever. In my opinion, they probably suspect either you or the assistant might leak information, so they deliberately staged this performance in front of you.

“Chu Yifeng is from the Chu family. No one would doubt information coming from him. If the government truly planned to use Plot No. 12 for another purpose, then the plot should already have been withdrawn from bidding. If you don’t believe me, go investigate whether Zhou Cheng visited the area around Plot No. 12 after you left.”

“I’ll check right now.”

Zhao Jiansheng pretended he had just returned from the restroom. When he found Wang Cheng, he saw him and the assistant standing not far from Plot No. 12. His gaze flickered slightly.

When Wang Cheng noticed Zhao Jiansheng return, he told him he planned to accompany Chu Yifeng to inspect other plots. He instructed Zhao Jiansheng and the assistant to move around freely and regroup there once the time came.

Zhao Jiansheng felt this was a good opportunity. After the two of them left, he deliberately started chatting casually with the assistant.

“What a pity about Plot No. 12.”

The assistant had no idea what he was really after. Hearing the comment, he also felt somewhat regretful.

“Yeah. Young Master Zhou actually valued that plot a lot two days ago. He even had me gather a bunch of information on it. Who knew it would end like this?”

Zhao Jiansheng’s eyes landed on the bottle of mineral water in the assistant’s hand.

“When did you get that water?”

The assistant raised the bottle. “Young Master Zhou just asked me to get it for him. He said he was thirsty.”

“I see.”

Zhao Jiansheng asked no further questions. He had already obtained the answer he wanted.

After separating from the assistant, he immediately relayed the information to Ji Tianyu.

Ji Tianyu revealed a knowing smile.

At the same time, the people he had stationed inside the bidding venue also informed him that Wang Cheng had secretly bid on Plot No. 12 after deliberately sending his assistant away.

Ji Tianyu immediately put away his phone and walked toward Plot No. 12.

He had long since learned the bidding prices Zhou Corporation planned to use. Even if Zhou Cheng tried to confuse his judgment with tricks, it would be useless. He was determined to obtain Plot No. 12.

Meanwhile, Gu Ping had also selected the plot Gu Corporation wanted.

Since the suburbs had too few people and inconvenient transportation, they ultimately chose a location closer to densely populated districts. Judging from the number of competitors, there did not seem to be many companies interested. Gu Ping was ninety percent confident he would emerge victorious.

Under everyone’s tense anticipation, the land bidding conference finally reached its climax.

Once the bidding period ended, the staff immediately took all thirty-six bidding boxes backstage.

Wanting to learn the results as soon as possible, the various businessmen all remained behind. The tallying process did not take very long. About half an hour later, the person in charge of the bidding conference appeared holding a list.

The atmosphere in the venue instantly became tense.

Wang Cheng was calm and confident, so he was not particularly nervous.

After everyone sat down, Ji Tianyu, the president of Hengyu seated diagonally across from them, suddenly shot them a provocative glance. The posture of absolute confidence he displayed made him appear even more certain of victory than Wang Cheng himself.

Wang Cheng showed little reaction. Instead, he glanced toward Zhao Jiansheng.

The moment Zhao Jiansheng noticed Wang Cheng’s gaze, his heart tightened involuntarily.

Could Zhou Cheng have discovered something?

He had been extremely careful throughout the entire process. It should have been impossible.

The person in charge began announcing the winners of the land bids, starting from Plot No. 1.

The winner of Plot No. 1 was a major corporation with tremendous financial strength. The bidding price they submitted left everyone else convinced beyond complaint because the price had already approached 1.5 billion yuan. The land was mainly intended for the development of a commercial center.

Many people were also focused on Plot No. 2.

Although its value was not as high as the first plot, its geographical location was exceptional, so many companies had competed for it.

The person in charge did not keep everyone in suspense and directly announced Zhou Corporation as the winner of the bid.

Two people below nearly thought they had heard wrong.

Those two were Zhao Jiansheng and Ji Tianyu.

Ji Tianyu immediately turned to look toward them, fury hidden within his eyes.

Zhao Jiansheng did not even dare meet his gaze. His heart was becoming increasingly uneasy because Zhou Corporation’s final bid price differed from the original figure they had discussed. It was twenty million yuan higher than expected.

Since Hengyu had obtained information from Zhao Jiansheng and his wife, they had only raised their bid ten million above Zhou Corporation’s originally planned price.

Hengyu had also been determined to secure Plot No. 2.

Now that they had lost the bid, there were only two possibilities: either Wang Cheng had suddenly changed his mind and increased the price himself, or Wang Cheng had long since known Zhao Jiansheng was colluding with Ji Tianyu and had deliberately used the original price to deceive them.

“Zhou Cheng, this price is different from the company’s budget. Why didn’t you tell me?” Zhao Jiansheng finally could not hold himself back and asked nervously.

Wang Cheng raised an eyebrow.

“Really? Oh, I decided it at the last minute. When I was filling out the bidding form earlier, I noticed there were more competitors than we expected, so I made the call myself to raise the price slightly. I forgot to tell you.”

Zhao Jiansheng was completely choked by the answer.

Originally, he had wanted to use this matter to challenge Wang Cheng, but Wang Cheng had simply pushed the reason onto the competition itself, leaving him unable to determine whether the explanation was true or false.

The person in charge would only announce the winning bid prices. The losing bids would not be disclosed unless someone specifically investigated them—and even then, they would first need to know which company submitted them.

At that moment, the person in charge just happened to announce the winner of Plot No. 6.

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