Chapter 736 — The Clever Tang Zhi

"Forget it, I am not short of that bit of money! I will spend it to buy myself something I like!" Bald Boss Wu ground his teeth and consoled himself.

"That is right! For the same money, we get a bigger one!" Mother Tang was delighted this time, and she asked Lai Pangzi, "So, can this apartment still come with a discount?"

"It can, of course it can!" Lai Pangzi thought for a moment and said, "How about this: that apartment just now sold for two hundred and fifty thousand more only because you were competing for it, Auntie. So for this apartment of yours, we will take two hundred and fifty thousand off! That makes it nine hundred and fifty thousand as well, and all the other benefits stay the same! What do you say? Manager Wang, will that work?"

Now that Boss Lai had spoken, how would Manager Wang dare say it would not? The whole estate belonged to Boss Lai; he himself was nothing but a hired hand. So he answered hurriedly, "It works, if Boss Lai says it works, then it certainly works!"

Privately, though, Manager Wang was astonished. Just what was the relationship between these people and Lai Changshan? To slash two hundred and fifty thousand off just like that, and still let them enjoy all the other purchase benefits afterward—a concession of this magnitude was simply unprecedented!

Bald Boss Wu had already been miserable enough. He had squandered two hundred and fifty thousand for nothing and bought himself a tiny apartment, when that money could have bought a big one! But to show off his wealth, he had swallowed it down.

And now this fellow called Boss Lai was actually using his own money to give Mother Tang a discount. Was that not fleecing him outright? He nearly rolled his eyes back and fainted on the spot! What a botched attempt at putting on airs!

He felt like a perfect fool. Not only had he failed to sting Tang Zhi's family, he had stung himself for two hundred and fifty thousand! They had not only bought an apartment they liked, they had gotten it two hundred and fifty thousand cheaper!

Just as he was stewing in his misery, Xiaoli came back from the draw, carrying a rice cooker, a microwave, and an electric kettle, and said happily, "Hubby, look how many prizes I won! We have saved the money for home appliances!"

"What use are these bits of junk? You and your craving for petty bargains!" Bald Boss Wu had lost two hundred and fifty thousand for nothing and was in a foul mood already. Seeing Xiaoli so pleased over a few worthless prizes, he flew into a rage at once. "If it were the grand prize or the first prize, fine, but these scraps and you have to show them off? Get moving, will you, and stop making a spectacle of yourself here!"

Bald Boss Wu simply could not stay a moment longer. It was too stifling here. He felt he had taken a huge loss today—a bigger loss than he had ever taken in his life!

Xiaoli was instantly flustered by his scolding, and Bald Boss Wu dragged her out of the sales office.

Mother Tang pursed her lips and watched the two of them go with a mocking look, then could not resist saying, "What a piece of work. Bet that shut him up?"

Mother Tang had been quite depressed before, when she failed to buy the apartment. To have finally found one she liked and then have it snatched away—how could she have been comfortable with that? But now she was so happy she could have jumped for joy. Wei Zhao's standing was truly great. Casually, effortlessly, two hundred and fifty thousand had been knocked off. With a discount like this, she would be smiling in her dreams tonight!

With Lai Pangzi and Manager Wang personally accompanying her, Mother Tang went to see the apartment again, and this time she was even more delighted than before! The apartment was clearly much bigger. The previous one had been three bedrooms and a living room, this one had four bedrooms and a living room. The rest of the layout was much the same, with only an extra storage room, and the price was the same as before. It was simply a steal!

"Good, good, we will take this one!" This time Mother Tang decided without the slightest hesitation. "Xiao Lai, my Xiaoyi is truly lucky to have a friend like you!"

"Not at all, not at all..." Lai Pangzi wiped the sweat from his brow and thought to himself, it is I who am lucky to have followed a good leader. Otherwise, where would I get this kind of clout? Even Liu Tianyi now treats me with the utmost deference! In the future the Lai family will be a great clan too, the greatest of them all, too lofty even to keep company with those five great clans and four lesser clans!

Lai Pangzi was looking far ahead. He believed that sooner or later Wei Zhao would soar to the heavens, and so long as he kept close behind Wei Zhao's steps, wealth and glory would be his for the taking.

Under Manager Wang's personal supervision, the contract was drawn up in no time. Mother Tang paid, and she too received a chance at the draw.

"Auntie, let me take you to the draw!" What sort of man was Manager Wang? He was one of society's sharpest operators. Had he not been shrewd, he could never have risen to the post of sales office manager. He had seen clearly enough that Boss Lai was no mere friend of this Mr. Lin—there was plainly something of currying favor in it!

To knock two hundred and fifty thousand off in one stroke—how was that a discount anymore? It was practically a clearance sale at a loss!

Still, Manager Wang showed nothing on the surface. He was preparing to give Mother Tang a little something extra.

Mother Tang knew her own luck was poor, and she had never imagined she could win anything in a draw like this. But the presentation had been so glowing—a hundred percent win rate—and that Xiaoli had just won three home appliances. Surely she would not do worse than her?

If she could draw a microwave or a water heater or the like, that would save no small sum of money right there!

At that thought, Mother Tang could not help asking, "Manager Wang, that person just now drew three times. Can I draw three times too?"

Had anyone else asked such a thing, Manager Wang would have sneered at them outright — a discount of two hundred and fifty thousand already, and you still care about these little draw prizes? But at this very moment Manager Wang was looking for any chance to help Lai Pangzi curry favor with Tang Zhi's mother, so how could he refuse? He smiled and said, "Ma'am, why don't you go and draw three times as well!"

"Good, good!" Tang Zhi's mother's face lit up at once.

Tang Zhi looked at her mother carrying on like that and felt rather helpless. Only after her mother had walked some distance away did she whisper to Wei Zhao at her side, "Thank you..."

"Ha, what are you thanking me for?" Wei Zhao laughed.

"You know perfectly well!" Tang Zhi gave a little huff and ignored him.

Having been seen through by Tang Zhi, Wei Zhao felt a touch embarrassed; it seemed Tang Zhi was no fool after all. The key point was that Tang Zhi knew Lai Pangzi was one of his underlings, so her suspicion was only natural.

Seeing that Tang Zhi had caught on, Lai Pangzi showed no embarrassment either; he came over grinning broadly. "Boss, sister-in-law, are you satisfied with the place?"

"Just don't take a loss, that's all." Wei Zhao dropped him a hint.

"No loss at all, how could there be a loss? Selling at cost — think of it as us dropping off an extra unit for sister-in-law's family along the way while we were building." Lai Pangzi said with a smile.

Tang Zhi found it hard to know whether to laugh or cry at that. Dropping off an extra unit while building? But since there really was no loss, Lai Pangzi's words did put her a little more at ease!