The surroundings were very quiet. The servants of the Luo family all hid away, not daring to appear in their master's sight. They could only hide in the dark and listen secretly. When they saw Sister Hong coming, they all hid outside again.
Zhong Lini covered her face and cried quietly, not daring to refute.
Old Lady Luo said softly, "Think carefully about what you have to howl about."
Zhong Lini lowered her head slightly. Her family was in decline, her son was a sick and neglected second son, and her husband didn't even give her face today. Who else could she rely on
Old Mrs. Luo pursed her lips and said, "If not, then be content. The Luo family doesn't lack you for food, but we won't encourage you to be arrogant anymore. From now on, apart from the monthly nutrition fee, we won't give you a penny extra."
Zhong Lini wanted to ask about her clothing expenses and pocket money? And the living expenses given to her son by the family fund... But she glanced at her mother-in-law. She was afraid of this old hag in the first place, and now that she was angry, she dared not speak.
"Go upstairs. It's very chaotic outside now. Don't go out unless necessary." Old Mrs. Luo said it gently, but her meaning was very clear. She was putting Zhong Lini under house arrest and she was not allowed to go out unless necessary.
Zhong Lini has calmed down. Now is not the time to resist, she has to endure it.
She just couldn't help herself and was insulted like this.
After Zhong Lini went upstairs, Old Lady Luo didn't look at Guo Xuyan, but stared at her son coldly and said, "Sister Hong, accompany Miss Guo upstairs to treat the wound."
"Hey!" Sister Hong responded and accompanied Guo Xuyan upstairs, while the secretary and others also tactfully left.
There were only mother and son in this huge front hall.
Old Mrs. Luo turned and went into the utility room next door. A maid in the utility room was so scared that she hurried out.
Luo Jiaming followed nervously, and when he closed the door, before he could say anything, his old mother slapped him in the face!
Luo Jiaming, who is already old, was slapped in the face by his old mother. He was angry but dared not say anything.
Old Mrs. Luo lowered her voice and cursed: "You are in your forties or fifties, but you are like a brainless young man!"
"I'm sorry, Mom. I couldn't help myself!"
"If you want to hit her, go back to your room and close the door. You can hit her however you want. But you hit her in front of so many people. Do you know how many eyes are watching? Where do you put the reputation of our Luo family?! You think there is not enough gossip, right? Well, now you involve Shen Er, who knows how many rumors will fly in the future! Where is your brain?!"
Luo Jiaming bowed his head and apologized: "I was impulsive, it's my fault."
"What's the point of apologizing after being impulsive? And you still want me to give up my power? Do I dare to do so?!"
Luo Jiaming stopped talking.
"From now on, stay away from Guo Xuyan." After saying that, Old Lady Luo opened the door and went out.
Luo Jiaming gritted his teeth and exhaled heavily! He didn't blame his mother, he only blamed Zhong Lini, the bitch!
Old Mrs. Luo returned to the room on the second floor. Guo Xuyan had a slight scrape on her forehead, and Sister Hong had already helped her deal with it.
Old Mrs. Luo sat on the sofa where she usually sat, drinking hot tea from the cup. Sister Hong closed the door and went out, leaving only the mother and daughter to talk.
Guo Xuyan knew that she could no longer hide it, so she had to tell the truth: "Ye Zhao is indeed my daughter."
Old Mrs. Luo continued to drink her tea expressionlessly, waiting for her to continue.
"Back then, I liked a girl, but she liked another young educated man and only treated me as a good sister. I was anxious and resentful, so I seduced the young educated man she liked. Later... I accidentally got pregnant and gave birth to Ye Zhao. It was only later that I found out that Shen'er's girlfriend was Ye Zhao."
Mrs. Luo asked, "Does she know?"
"Know."
"Did you recognize each other?"
"She blamed me for abandoning her, so she would never recognize me."
"how about you?"
"I... I am not mentally prepared to acknowledge this daughter."
Old Mrs. Luo sighed. She finally understood why Guo Xuyan's mental state had been so up and down over the past year.
"But, Xu Yan, your personality has completely changed over the past year. You can't torture yourself because of this. It's meaningless. People should look forward. Your pain is nothing compared to mine. If I were like you, I wouldn't even need to live."
Guo Xuyan whispered: "Godmother, I know. But I can't control myself."
"You have to handle this matter well. I don't want our Luo family to become the topic of conversation for others."
Guo Xuyan could tell that Mrs. Luo sounded a little dissatisfied. She lowered her head and said, "I want to... I want to immigrate abroad."
After Guo Xuyan finished speaking, Old Lady Luo became obviously impatient.
She can tolerate other people's arrogance, but cannot tolerate the hypocritical, cowardly, and hysterical ones... She hates these things.
If you are sick, go see a doctor!
"You can do whatever you want." Old Mrs. Luo did not try to keep her. She stood up. She was extremely disappointed by all these people.
Guo Xuyan bit her lip and sat there motionless. She knew that Old Lady Luo was tired of her. What could she do
Ye Zhao sat on the motorcycle, hugging Zeng Xiang's waist, and the cold wind blew past his ears.
They got off the car in front of a billiard house, which was bustling with lights and people at the entrance.
When they walked in, the skinny guy who was playing billiard saw them and waved and greeted them enthusiastically: "Brother Xiang! Sister Zhao!"
"Come on? Play a game?" Skinny Monkey invited them to play together.
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Let's talk business first."
The three of them entered the small mahjong room next door. After closing the door, Ye Zhao placed three thousand yuan on the mahjong table and said, "Count it. This is your reward for this period of time."
Skinny Monkey has matured a lot in the past two years. He took the money and put it in his pocket without counting it. He smiled and said, "No need to count it. I trust you. Su Yingmin went back to his hometown today, and we just happened to take a break for the New Year."
"I checked your registration form. On November 3, Su Yingmin took a boat to Chitose Island. Do you remember?"
The skinny monkey was confused by the question. He thought about it carefully and said, "It seems so, but he went there by renting a boat. We couldn't follow him, so we didn't follow him and just waited at the dock."
"How long has he been gone?"
"We left at around 9am and came back at noon, so it took about half a day."
"He's the only one?"
"Yes, he is the only one."
"Please describe the situation in detail."
Skinny Monkey was stumped by the question. He went out to review the situation with one of his friends before coming back and saying, "Su Yingmin went to the Flower World around 9:30 in the morning, bought a bunch of flowers there, went to the pier, rented a speedboat, and went directly to Qiansui Island. Oh, he also took a plastic bag of something that looked like gold ingots or paper money or something."
Ingots, paper money and a bouquet of flowers, isn't this just visiting the grave
"Skinny Monkey, have you ever been to Chitose Island?"
"I haven't been there. But my grandfather has been there, and he said it's quite far from the coast, at least 20 kilometers away. The island is very big, and there is a large piece of virgin forest on it."
Ye Zhao thought for a moment and asked him, "Are you free tomorrow?"
The skinny monkey smiled and said, "Is there work? Of course I'm free if there's work."
"Tomorrow, help me go to Chitose Island."
When the skinny monkey heard this, he became interested and asked, "Do you want to call a few more people?"
Ye Zhao: "You go alone, bring flowers. There is a couple guarding Chitose Island. You can say you are from a flower shop and the boss asked you to bring flowers to visit the graves before the New Year. Ask them where the grave is."
Zeng Xiang said: "Bring your camera and remember to take pictures."
The skinny monkey readily agreed: "No problem."
The next day at noon, Shouhou returned from Chitose Island. He developed the photos that day and sent them to Ye Zhao in the evening.
When he arrived, Ye Zhao and his friends had just finished their meal, and they went into Zeng Xiang's room to chat.
The skinny monkey took out the photo and put it on the table, saying, "We didn't find the cemetery. But there are two trees. It is said that every time Su Yingmin came to the island, he would bring flowers and paper money to worship. The people guarding the island said that it was the mountain god."
Ye Zhao picked up the photo and looked at it carefully. In the photo, there were two towering trees that looked about the same size and should be more than ten years old. Under one of the trees was a bunch of dried flowers, and there was a plate with a few rotten apples on it.
The skinny monkey pointed to the big tree on the right and said, "The tree on the right is the mountain god that Su Yingmin went to worship. It is said that he used to worship the other tree as well, but since your father passed away, he stopped worshipping the tree on the left."
Ye Zhao was surprised: "My dad is going to worship too?"
"That's what the island guard said. I gave him a pack of cigarettes and he told me everything. He also said that your father used to go to the island alone and sit next to the tree on the left for a long time."
Ye Dingguo often went to Qiansui Island and sat by a big tree for a long time? This couldn't be because of some mountain god. Ye Dingguo was not superstitious. Even if he was superstitious, he didn't have to be so pious, right
Ye Zhao looked at the two trees in the photo again. It was very likely that these two trees were the same age as her.
The skinny monkey recounted the entire process of getting to the island in detail. Ye Zhao asked the skinny monkey to find out all the information about Chitose Island, especially the period from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.
The skinny monkey agreed readily. Ye Zhao offered him generous compensation and he was happy to work for her.
After the skinny monkey left, Ye Zhao said, "These may be two cemeteries."
Zeng Xiang nodded: "It's very likely."
"One of them should belong to Jin Jingzhi." If we call the police now and let them dig, they may not find evidence and may even alert the enemy.
Zeng Xiang said: "Find more information and then make plans slowly."
The Chinese New Year is just three or four days away. Half of the employees of Zhaohua Company have returned to their hometowns, and half have stayed behind to be on duty. Ye Zhao had just finished a financial meeting with Sister Song and the others in the company and was about to go out for dinner when Ni Meng came again.
This time he was alone.
Ye Zhao asked him, "What's wrong, Uncle Wang? Are you still not giving up? How much money did you invest? You are so enthusiastic."
Ni Meng didn't dare to hide it anymore, so he could only sigh and admit honestly, "It's not easy to spend the New Year, what do you think?"
Ye Zhao frowned and said, "I have reminded you so many times, but you ignored my words. What can I do?"
"You can buy it. You can negotiate the price with Xiao Xu's family and try to lower the price."
"No matter how much you lower the price, it's impossible to get it down to a price I can afford."
Ye Zhao: “…”
Ni Meng continued mysteriously, "After leaving your house that day, I went home and thought about it for a long time. I remembered another newspaper news item from last time. Who went to ring the bell when Song Rongji went public? The headline of the news said, "Big Luo Tai. At that time, we were discussing in your yard that Big Luo Tai looked very similar to Qiao Jie. Doesn't this connect the dots?"
Ni Meng changed his sitting position as he spoke, "The newspaper said that Ye Zhao, who is worth 1 billion, is the girlfriend of the eldest son of the Luo family. If Qiaojie is the eldest wife of the Luo family, then Zeng Xiang is the eldest son of the Luo family, right? Aren't you the girlfriend of the eldest son of the Luo family? Right? That Hongcheng boy back then was a member of the Luo family, so everything can be explained."
Ye Zhao glared at him without saying anything.
Ni Meng quickly put away his smile and lowered his voice: "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. If I tell anyone, I'm not afraid of Qiaojie punishing me. You can keep your heart to yourself. I, Zeng Wanglong, promise that I will never tell anyone. If I tell anyone, I will be so angry!"
Seeing that Ye Zhao still didn't express his opinion, Ni Meng swore even more fiercely: "If I tell anyone, I won't have a son to look after me in my grave! Is that ok?!"
This oath is poisonous enough.
Ye Zhao couldn't hide it any longer, so she said, "Uncle Wang, why don't you be Sherlock Holmes!"
Ni Meng looked confused: "What Fowles?"
Ye Zhao couldn't help but smile: "It's okay."
"I'm telling you the truth, you have money, so take over the Fortune Building while it's cheap."
"The Fortune Building has bad feng shui."
"You're a college student, why do you believe in Feng Shui? Look at these pieces of land I introduced to you, which one of them would you not make a lot of money from? If you are really superstitious, you have to believe in me, I am your lucky star." Ni Meng said with the corners of his mouth curled up.
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Thank you. But forget about the Fortune Building."
Ni Meng whispered, "It's dropped another 10 million. Now it's selling for 50 million. I think if you push it down a bit, you can get it down to more than 40 million. Although it's an unfinished building, it's basically completed. Once you get it, you can fix it up and sell it without spending much money."
"Since it doesn't cost much, why don't the Xu family hurry up and build it quickly, and then sell the houses one by one?"
"They can't afford even a penny. The aftermath of this cleanup will cost at least 10 or 20 million, right? This is a small amount of money for you, but not for others. That's definitely a prime spot. You can directly see Lotus Mountain!"
Ye Zhao said: "If the Feng Shui is really that good, how could it become an unfinished building again and again? It won't bring good luck to the owner."
"That's not the case. It's not that it doesn't bring prosperity to its owner. It's that it's too prosperous. The original owner didn't have the blessing and couldn't suppress it. Have you heard of a queen named Wang in the Tang Dynasty or something? She married several men, but killed all of their husbands. The fortune teller said that her fate was too noble and she would marry the emperor. In the end, she really married the emperor and became the queen. The land of the Fortune Building is just like Queen Wang. It is noble only if someone can suppress it."
Ni Meng is a salesman at the sales champion level. After being praised by him, Ye Zhao was actually a little moved.
Seeing that Ye Zhao seemed to be more thoughtful, Ni Meng quickly struck while the iron was hot: "Do you have time? I'll take you to have a look. You'll know when you see it, it's definitely worth buying."
Ye Zhao pretended to be helpless and said, "I happen to be free today, so let's go and have a look. Keep a low profile and don't let anyone know that I went to see it."
"No problem. It will be kept strictly confidential. Come on, I'll take you there."
Ni Meng and Ye Zhao each rode a bicycle to the construction site of the Fortune Building. The construction had been suspended for some time, and it was the end of the year, so there were almost no workers on the site.
The elevator in the Fortune Building had already been installed, but there was no electricity. Ni Meng went to find someone to connect the electricity. They took the elevator to the 49th floor and climbed a fire escape ladder to reach the roof.
There were not many tall buildings around Shenzhen at that time. The Fortune Building had a total of 50 floors. When you reached the top of the building, you would definitely feel as if you were looking down on all the other mountains.
Moreover, for such a tall building, the roof is windless and feels comfortable even in the cold winter.
Ni Meng pointed at the mountains in the distance and said, "Look, it's right in front of Lotus Mountain. Everyone knows that Lotus Mountain is the dragon vein of Shenzhen City. We are on the central axis of the dragon vein. This place will definitely be prosperous in the future. If you believe in Uncle Wang, you will definitely get rich. If you get even more prosperous, you may be worth tens of billions in the future."
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Uncle Wang, you really dare to dream for me."
"I'm speaking from the bottom of my heart. I'm different from Lao Kai and Lao Mai. This building cost at least 700 to 800 million yuan to build, plus the land price of about 20 million yuan, so the total investment is over 100 million yuan. The previous buyers all put money into it, and you bought it for 40 or 50 million yuan, which is equivalent to making 40 or 50 million yuan. Now no one dares to take over, that's because everyone is affected by the rumors that the feng shui here is bad. If no one dares to buy it, but you dare to buy it, then you are a real hero." Xiao Guan Ni Meng used another drastic measure.
This provocation didn't work on Ye Zhao, but the attraction of the Fortune Building itself made Ye Zhao change her mind. She asked, "Can the Feng Shui pattern of this building be changed?"
"How do you want to change it?"
"I was downstairs just now and found that its main door faces a three-way intersection. I changed the direction and opened the door." If we change the direction, there will be a subway line passing by in the future, which will be more beneficial both in terms of feng shui and for convenient transportation.
Isn't this simple? Ni Meng said, "You buy it and you can modify it however you want."
Ye Zhao nodded: "Okay, I'll think about it seriously."
"Don't think about it. I think if the price is lowered, someone else will grab the bargain sooner or later. Do you believe it?"
Ye Zhao smiled and stared at Ni Meng. Ni Meng said quickly, "I know a boss of Xiao Xu's family. How about I ask them to talk to you?"
The delicious food was already in front of his mouth. It would be impolite for Ye Zhao not to eat it. "Okay, then ask Xu Guangrong to come to me with a reasonable price. I'm spending the New Year in Hong Kong City. Xu Guangrong knows where I live."
When Ni Meng heard this, he knew that Ye Zhao had already agreed, so he said happily, "Okay, okay, I'll tell Xiao Xu's family right away. Don't worry, I'll keep this a secret and won't tell anyone."
Ye Zhao, Aunt Qiao and Brother Xiang arrived in the port city on the morning three days before the Spring Festival.
After moving into Chiwuju, Aunt Qiao walked around the house and she liked it very much.
In the afternoon, Aunt Qiao went shopping for groceries with her nanny Ahui. When they came back, she smacked her lips in amazement.
Aunt Qiao had never been to a vegetable market before when she came to Gangcheng, so this time she finally had an experience.
Aunt Qiao, who never felt bad about spending money when buying groceries in Shenzhen, was hurt today by her spending. Meat, vegetables, fruits, everything was expensive. Some were several times, more than ten times, and even dozens of times more expensive than in Shenzhen...
Aunt Qiao stood at the back door, looking at the garden behind, and said to Ye Zhao: "It's a waste to plant flowers in the back garden. If we live here for a long time, I would rather grow some vegetables myself. The vegetables here are all made of gold. They are too expensive."
Ye Zhao stood in the garden and said with a smile: "Aunt Qiao, I have already paid Ah Hui for the groceries. When you go out next time, don't pay. Let Ah Hui pay."
Aunt Qiao explained: "It's not that I don't have money, I just feel bad about it. It's not easy for you to make money. We agreed that I will pay for the New Year's expenses. You can't deprive me of the right to spend money just because I complain. Can't I say that the vegetables here are expensive?"
"Of course, of course you can. You can say whatever you want."
Aunt Qiao thought about it and immediately said, "Vegetables are so expensive here, doesn't your vegetable company make a lot of money every day?"
Ye Zhao said: "So, don't feel bad about spending money when buying groceries. Spend what you should spend. There aren't many of us anyway, so we can't spend much."
"But the labor here is expensive. If we use the labor from Shenzhen, we can earn the money here."
Ye Zhao laughed and said, "How could we possibly gain all the benefits..."
Aunt Qiao felt that what Ye Zhao said made sense, and she said, "That's true, don't be too greedy. I'll make your favorite braised pork later, four pieces, and you can eat them slowly during the Chinese New Year. After the braised pork is done, we'll make some brown sugar rice cakes in the evening, so that the Chinese New Year will be prosperous."
Ye Zhao said: "Aunt Qiao, please teach me and I will do it with you."
Just as she finished speaking, an orange core fell on Ye Zhao's face. Ye Zhao looked up and saw her brother Xiang eating an orange on the second-floor balcony.
Ye Zhao showed the orange core to Aunt Qiao: "Aunt Qiao, Brother Xiang hit me with the core!"
Aunt Qiao made a "tsk" sound and bent down to pick up a pebble. Ye Zhao was so scared that he quickly hugged Aunt Qiao and said with a smile: "Aunt Qiao, don't get excited. The glass on the second floor is very expensive."
Aunt Qiao threatened her son Xiangzi: "Get down here!"
Seeing Xiangzai hiding in the house, Aunt Qiao tapped Ye Zhao's forehead and said with a smile: "If I really hit him, you will be distressed again."
Ye Zhaocai refused to admit it. She hugged Aunt Qiao and said coquettishly, "I don't feel bad, I feel bad for the glass."
Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
The doorbell rang. Ah Hui went to open the door and ran to the back garden to ask Ye Zhao, "There is a Mr. Xu Guangrong outside the door asking to see you. Do you want to let him in?"
Xu Guangrong has a very sharp nose. Ye Zhao said, "Let him in."
The person who came with Xu Guangrong was the proud Mr. Bai. This time, Mr. Bai did not dare to be as proud as last time. After coming in, he stood aside respectfully.
Xu Guangrong looked the house up and down, and said with a bit of regret: "I didn't get to live here, but I didn't expect you guys to move in. It's really been such a short time, and the world has changed so much!"
Xu Guangrong once hated Ye Zhao very much, but after calming down, he felt that he could not blame others entirely. His biggest failure came from his blind impulse and greed.
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "We just arrived. Mr. Xu, you are well-informed."
Xu Guangrong was quite direct: "I heard that you are interested in our Fortune Building?"
Ye Zhao shook his head quickly and said, "I'm not interested. Several people in the village came to beg me, almost kneeling down, saying that you, Boss Xu, can't sell this building, and you don't have the money to pay them for the materials, so they can't celebrate the New Year. They have been our old neighbors for many years, and my aunt was soft-hearted and forced me to agree."
Xu Guangrong smiled awkwardly and asked, "Do you know the price?"
"You have to talk to me about this?"
Xu Guangrong looked at Mr. Bai, who said hurriedly, "We spent more than 80 million to buy it, and then invested a lot more money after taking over. Now we are only selling it for 60 million RMB..."
Xu Guangrong said: "60 million RMB can buy such a big building, which is several million cheaper than this house. It's a good deal."
Ye Zhao said: "This price is not right, right? They told me it was 40 million."
President Bai: "How is 40 million possible? That is the best location in Shenzhen in the future."
Ye Zhao said directly: "Boss Bai, when you wanted to buy my Zizhulin, you said that we were in the countryside. Now it's your turn to sell the building, and it has become the best location in the future. Zizhulin and Fortune Building are less than 2 kilometers apart in a straight line."
President Bai smiled awkwardly: "The location of Fortune Building is indeed good."
"If it's really good, how could you not sell it? Besides, the feng shui of this building is not good. I gritted my teeth and promised Uncle Wang. If you go to Shenzhen and ask around, nine out of ten people will know that the Fortune Building is an evil place with bad feng shui. To be honest, I was reluctant to pay 40 million."
Ah Hui brought hot tea to the guests, but Xu Guangrong had no mood to drink it. He thought for a moment and said, "Let's each make some concessions. How about 50 million?"
Mr. Bai: "After receiving the 50 million, we paid off various debts and paid the employees' salaries. Our boss doesn't have a penny left."
"How is that possible? A lean camel is bigger than a horse! I have a fairly good understanding of your debt situation." Ye Zhao had already found out that Xu Guangrong had basically paid off all his debts. The only thing he still owed was the money to the suppliers and contractors of the Fortune Building, which added up to only about 10 million yuan.
This was a buyer's market, so Xu Guangrong had no choice but to make another concession. The two sides negotiated for a long time, lowering the price from 50 million to 48 million, then to 45 million, and finally to 42.22 million, with both decimals and integers.
Qi Lian'an was called over, and both parties signed the agreement, stamped it, and then took the contract back to Shenzhen for filing. Afterwards, Ye Zhao paid the first installment of the fee that was enough for Xu Guangrong to repay his debts, so that the suppliers, contractors and workers could all have a good New Year.
When Lao Mai, Lao Kai and Ni Meng got the money, they were so happy that they almost cried.
Old Mai sniffed and said, "I should have known not to ask Mr. Ye for help. It made me lose face at all."
Ni Meng patted his shoulder and said earnestly: "Be grateful! When the new boss comes, you may not be given any work."
(End of this chapter)