Chapter 47 — A New Hope at the End of the Road

So Yang Ce turned Wu Zhongjie down in just a few words, telling him he had things to do and was busy. Wu Zhongjie took it badly, saying Yang Ce had gone back on his word, and threatened to call Lin Yanhe and tattle on him.

Yang Ji was amused, and handed the phone straight to Lin Yanhe beside him, letting Wu Zhongjie do his worst. This time Wu Zhongjie truly had no card left to play; he knew Yang Ce really did have matters to attend to, so he had no choice but to drop it.

And so today he had come to his father's company again, to discuss with him the matter of hiring Yang Ce as a tutor. But today Wu Fugui, Wu Zhongjie's father, was very busy. After hearing only a few sentences from his son, he waved his hand, told his secretary to deposit fifty thousand yuan onto his card, and said, "The money's yours. Go find someone yourself."

"I don't want any money. Is this how you handle things for me?" Wu Zhongjie's face showed some displeasure.

"I'm busy all day long, and isn't it all to build up an estate for your future?" Wu Fugui said impatiently. "All right, go off and play."

"You said it, so don't get angry next time I come in last in the class," Wu Zhongjie said flatly.

"What's the matter with you?" Wu Fugui frowned. "I couldn't find the person you asked me to find. I'm busy all day—where would I find the time to go looking for those people you mentioned?"

Though Wu Fugui doted on his son, he showed it not through concern but mostly through material things. Whatever his son wanted to buy, one word was enough; no matter the price, he would not hesitate to hand over tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, without so much as a frown. But now that his son wanted him to do something laborious, he was a little impatient.

He had made inquiries before, after all; he had had his secretary contact several tutoring centers, but none of them could reach that college student named Yang Juehuan. In his view, what was the difference? If you couldn't find this one, just pick another—couldn't money buy a good tutor?

"Fine, don't regret it," Wu Zhongjie said in a fit of anger. His father—the moment he saw his son, all he knew was to give him money; beyond that, he asked about his grades and nothing else. Not a single question about the rest of his private life.

"This kid," Wu Fugui said, shaking his head, but he did not take it seriously. In his view, giving his son more money day to day was precisely how he showed him care and affection.

Wu Zhongjie stormed out of his father's office.

Yang Ce and Zhang Bin arrived at the headquarters of Xinheng Real Estate and were stopped straight away by the young woman at the front desk.

"Excuse me, you two—who are you here to see?" The question was polite, but very formal, carrying the oppressive feel of a big company.

But Yang Ce had seen all kinds of people; he had not flinched even before the king of assassins at the top of the world, let alone a receptionist. Zhang Bin, however, was different—faced with such formal questioning, he immediately grew a little tongue-tied.

"Hello, we're here to buy a property," Yang Yongjin said unhurriedly.

"Buy a property? I'm sorry, sir, we don't sell properties directly here. Each development has its own sales office. If you're interested in a particular development, I can give you the sales office's phone number," the receptionist said.

"We're not looking for that kind of commercial housing. We want to buy a shopfront," Yang Ce explained.

"Commercial units are also sold through the sales offices. Which commercial unit were you interested in?" the receptionist asked.

"No, the place we have our eye on is a shopfront at the entrance of the commercial street. It used to be your company's sales office, and now it's sitting empty. I'd like to buy it," Yang Ce said, shaking his head.

"You want to buy the sales office?" The receptionist gave Yang Puqi an odd look, then said, "I really haven't come across this before. Please wait a moment—I'll confirm with our supervisor."

Yang Yu nodded. The receptionist made a phone call. After a while, she said, "Please wait a moment. Someone from our sales department will be over shortly to speak with you. You can rest on the sofa over there in the meantime."

Before long, a tall, thin man stepped out of the elevator. After exchanging a few words with the receptionist, he came straight over to where Yang Ce and the others were.

"Hello, I'm the deputy manager of the sales department. My surname is Wang," the tall, thin man introduced himself.

Yang Ce quickly rose to shake his hand, and then the two of them sat side by side on the sofa in the reception area by the entrance.

"Hello, Manager Wang. I believe your front desk has already mentioned it—we're interested in buying one of your company's sales offices," Yang Ce said, coming straight to the point.

"Yes. Tell me the details—which sales office do you want to buy?" Deputy Manager Wang nodded and asked.

"We're interested in the one on the commercial street, the two-story one," Yang Yanzhou said.

"That one—I know it." Deputy Manager Wang frowned. "There are no plans to sell that sales office yet, and moreover, our company still has other uses for that shopfront's location."

"I see," Yang Yongjin said, unable to hide some disappointment. But if they weren't prepared to sell, he couldn't very well force them to, could he?

"How about the two of you leave your phone numbers for now? I'll report back and then get in touch with you," Deputy Manager Wang said.

From Deputy Manager Wang's tone, Yang Puqi could tell the matter seemed unlikely to go through; asking them to leave their contact information was merely a courtesy. The hope was slim to none.

"Deputy Manager Wang, could you perhaps check with them right now? We're truly sincere about buying, and the price is negotiable," Yang Shuoxuan said. He had genuinely set his heart on that shop's location; the price was of no concern, since this was a one-time investment after all.

"Well, all right then." Deputy Manager Wang hesitated. He knew, too, that if that place really were sold, the price would surely be over ten million, and his own commission would be far from small.

So Deputy Manager Wang called his superior, the sales department manager, directly. But the sales manager could not make the decision either, so he in turn called the chairman of Xinheng.

After the secretary transferred the call, Deputy Manager Wang got through to the company's chairman.

"Chairman Wu, this is Wang from the sales department," Deputy Manager Wang said.

"Yes, what is it?" Wu Fugui asked bluntly.

"It's like this—a client wants to buy that sales office of ours on the commercial street. Shall we sell it?" Deputy Manager Wang asked for instructions.

"The sales office?" Wu Fugui frowned. "That one hasn't been priced yet, has it? Even if we were to sell it, that would have to go through a meeting and discussion first. Besides, don't we have another development near there to sell next year? It can't be sold for now."

"Oh, I understand, Chairman Wu." Seeing that the chairman had no intention of selling for the time being, Deputy Manager Wang gave up asking. Though he watched a huge sum of money drift away before his eyes, there was nothing he could do about it.

He hung up the phone and shrugged. "I'm sorry, sir, to have kept you waiting. Our chairman has no intention of selling at present."

"All right, then. Sorry to trouble you." Yang Yu nodded, knowing that saying more to this Deputy Manager Wang would be useless. A nobody like him could not possibly change the decisions of those at the top.

Yang Ce was now turning something over in his mind: should he have Hou Lin go and work some connections? But what Yang Ce wanted to do now was legitimate business; he did not want to resort to underhanded, shady methods.

If it was just a matter of cultivating some connections, that should be fine; but if it came to coercion and bribery, then no.