Chapter 855 - 855 A Hot Potato

855 A Hot Potato

Ji Qingyan pondered for a moment.

“Are they the ones who came to negotiate the payout?”

“I don’t know what they were here for, but they were fighting. I think he said he wouldn’t sell it no matter how much money they offered.”

“Alright, I understand.”

Ji Qingyan stroked w.a.n.g Dongdong’s head. “Remember to tell me if something like this happens again.”

“Yes, yes, but you can’t tell on me,” w.a.n.g Dongdong said. “My mother said that she wouldn’t let us talk about this, so I told you about it secretly.”

“Yes, Sister definitely won’t let them know.”

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

Lin Yi called out from the door, “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Let’s go.”

Ji Qingyan replied, “I’ll leave first. We’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes. Take care, Sister.”

With that, w.a.n.g Dongdong grabbed Ji Qingyan’s hand and handed her another piece of candy.

“You little brat.”

Ji Qingyan returned to Lin Yi’s side with the candy and took a taxi back to the hotel.

During this time, he also received a call from Guo Ningyue. After learning that Lin Yi was here, she prepared to come back the next night.

“I want to tell you something,” said Ji Qingyan when they arrived at the hotel.

“What is it?”

“Uncle Zhao got into a fight with someone a few days ago.”

“Huh?” Lin Yi frowned, “Who did he fight with? Who told you?”

“Didn’t Dongdong call me aside before we left? He secretly told me about this.”

“I think it was those people who came to talk about the demolition. They couldn’t get him to agree on the final price, so they took action.”

“There are cameras in the courtyard. I’ll check tomorrow and see if I can take a screenshot of the video.” Lin Yi said, “F*ck, these people are quite bold.”

Ji Qingyan shook her head. Lin Yi’s bad habit of scolding people was probably not going to change anytime soon.

The next morning, Lin Yi and Ji Qingyan finished their preparations and took a taxi to the Chaoyang Group’s branch office in Yangcheng.

The company’s executives were on pins and needles when they saw her.

Previously, when the president came, she would inform them in advance. Now, she had started to just travel incognito.

“President Ji, President Lin.”

Seeing Lin Yi and Ji Qingyan, the newly appointed general manager of the branch company, Liu Wenchang greeted them.

“Is there any problem with the company’s situation during this period of time?” Ji Qingyan asked.

“Everything is going according to plan. The remaining payment for this year is almost done. The situation is very stable.”

Ji Qingyan nodded. “Let’s go. We’ll talk in the meeting room. Bring me the accounts from the finance department.”

“Alright, President Ji. I’ll make the arrangements now.”

After the meeting began, Ji Qingyan checked the company’s finances as usual. Lin Yi sat at the side and closed his eyes to rest, as if he was an old man.

She flipped through the doc.u.ments briefly. There were some very fishy accounts in certain sections.

However, Ji Qingyan had no intention of pursuing this matter.

Although Chaoyang Group was not as big as Lingyun Group, it was not small either.

She understood the principle that when the water was clear, there would be no fish.

Sometimes, it was indeed necessary to turn a blind eye.

“I’m here today mainly because I have something else to tell you.”

“The piece of land east of Hanshui Road is preparing to be turned into a new economic zone. You all know about this, right?”

“I know, I know.” Liu Wenchang nodded.

“During the day, Secretary Wu of Yangcheng handed this project to us. The total value of this project is about 2 billion yuan. It’s the largest project that the branch company has taken over in recent years. When the time comes, the head office will also provide a certain amount of manpower to support it. Manager Liu, organize the manpower here and make preparations. The project should be ready before the Lunar New Year. We should be able to start work after the new year.”

Liu Wenchang and the other executives of the company looked at each other. There was a hint of hesitation in their eyes, but in the end, they still nodded.

“President Ji, don’t worry. We will definitely do this project well.”

Lin Yi, who had been playing games, looked up.

“Shouldn’t winning such a big project be something to be happy about? Why are they all showing such solemn expressions?”

Ji Qingyan remained silent. From the moment this project was announced, she had felt that there was something wrong with the expressions of the employees of the branch company.

Now that Lin Yi had helped her ask this aloud, there was no need for her to express her stance.

“No, no.” Liu Wenchang smiled and said,

“President Ji, President Lin, don’t worry. We’ll complete this mission successfully.”

“Manager Liu, you were transferred here from the head office. We’ve known each other for quite some time. Do you really think I can’t see through you?”

“Well …”

Liu Wenchang smiled bitterly. “President Ji, President Lin, this is indeed a good project, but it’s a little bit of a hot potato. It’s not easy for our Chaoyang Group to accept it.”

“How is it a hot potato?”

“Fifth Master of Yang City has taken a fancy to this project.” Liu Wenchang said.

“More than a month ago, there was a real estate guidance meeting in Yangcheng. When we went to the meeting, Fifth Master announced to the people present that he wanted to do this project. If we fought over it, there would definitely be conflict between the two sides.”

“Who is this person? Is he very powerful?”

“Quite impressive.” Liu Wenchang nodded and said,

“His name is Wu Tianfu. Everyone in the underworld calls him Fifth Master. He’s the number one figure in Yangcheng. He takes all the legal and illegal projects.

“Moreover, we are also handling the ongoing project in Binhai Forest View. He wanted to send his own property management company to handle that, but we did not agree. In short, our relationship is quite tense. If we really s.n.a.t.c.h the project in the economic new district, it will not be easy to do business in Yangcheng in the future.”

Having been in the real estate industry for many years, Ji Qingyan was very familiar with this scene.

From the beginning to the end, this industry had never been clean.

“What do you think we should do about this?” Ji Qingyan asked for Lin Yi’s opinion. “Do you think Wu Zhaoyou is the one behind this? Do you think he wants to use you to get rid of Fifth Master?”

“You think too much.”

“First of all, he doesn’t have the guts to play such a trick on me.”

“Secondly, with his current status as the head, there’s no one he doesn’t dare to deal with in Yang City.”

“Thirdly, he gave me this project because he wanted to get closer to me. At his level, he has long stopped using others to do his dirty work.”

Lin Yi was certain of his guesses.

There was no need to mention the other reasons. Just the fact that Liang Ruoxu was standing behind him ensured that the other party not dare to have any ill intentions toward him.

Hence, her thoughts were a little unnecessary.

“It’s fine as long as there’s no other reason.” Ji Qingyan continued, “Do you think we should talk to Secretary Wu about this?”

“It’s better not to. They’ve already given you the two billion yuan project. If you ask them for help upon encountering trouble, it’ll look like we can’t handle anything,” Lin Yi said.

“In that case, let’s deal with it ourselves.”