Chapter 803 — Negotiating with the Orphanage

Although Wei Zhao said nothing, Tang Zhi, given her temperament, felt it was simply too much.

Mother Tang shook her head and looked at her daughter. "By the way, you still haven't told me — what relation are those two girls from yesterday to Wei Zhao?"

"They're my rivals in love. They're both richer than me, and they're about to push me out any day now. Satisfied?" Tang Zhi said bitterly. She stood up, ran to the bathroom in the ward, and wept in secret.

"Rivals in love?" Mother Tang was taken aback. "That doesn't seem quite right."

The Qibing Real Estate Company had paid out nearly double its budget today. Though even at this rate the company could still turn a profit, so much had already been sunk into the construction of the Qibing Towers that the profits from the shantytown development were nowhere near enough to cover the losses on those two buildings.

Judging by the present situation, the best the entire shantytown development could manage was a profit of thirty to fifty million — anything more was utterly impossible. The original budget had counted on earning back the cost of one tower, but now that Wei Zhao had entered the picture, that dream was shattered.

Zhao Qibing sat in the RV. When the news reached him, he was furious. Both his legs were broken, so he had not appeared at the demolition site this time; instead he sat far off in the RV by the roadside, directing everything from a distance.

"My career hasn't even gotten off the ground, and I've already lost two hundred million, with a single project that won't earn it back. What will the Zhao family think of me?" Zhao Qibing glared at Li Cihua, by now half-deranged. His grand ambition to build a career and prove himself to the family had been utterly shattered; at this point, not losing money would be good enough.

"Young Master Bing, Wei Zhao was an unstable factor nobody could have foreseen. Who would have guessed a figure like that could suddenly appear in Songshan City?" Li Cihua sighed as well. The days when he had dominated Songshan City were gone. Now, in front of Wei Zhao, Li Cihua was nothing — Wei Zhao did not even deign to notice him.

"Wei Zhao, just you wait. I won't let you off!" Zhao Qibing clenched his fists viciously.

"Young Master Bing, could you speak to the boss, ask him to send some skilled men to do away with Wei Zhao?" Li Cihua hesitated, but made the suggestion anyway. Wei Zhao's appearance had made Li Cihua timid in everything he did, and he loathed the feeling.

"I'll ask..." Zhao Qibing vaguely knew something of the pacts and mutual restraints among the hidden families — that Earth-rank experts were not permitted to appear in the mortal world at will, and that any hidden family breaking this pact would become the enemy of all the others.

Zhao Qibing did not know whether the pact was real or merely rumor, but so far no hidden family had broken the rule, and it was a fact that no Earth-rank experts had ever been seen in the mortal world.

"But my father is already quite displeased with me. The pressing task is to build the company up. Once I have results, everything else will be easy to discuss!" Zhao Qibing was too embarrassed to ask his father now. He had accomplished nothing — how could he ask his father to send a skilled man to assist him?

"With Wei Zhao meddling in the shantytown project, we can't make much profit anymore. We can't very well cut corners when building, can we? That would ruin our reputation. If someone exposed it, our apartments would be hard to sell!" Li Cihua knew that to build a lasting business, one could not tamper with the quality of the buildings.

"Have we made contact about the orphanage? That plot looks good to me — it's large, and the location is better than the shantytown. Tearing it down and putting up a high-end villa district would be nice!" Zhao Qibing said.

"Not yet. Wasn't this decided only in the past couple of days? I was planning to go make contact in a little while!" Li Cihua replied.

"It's just a private orphanage. Go throw some weight around and they won't dare resist!" Zhao Qibing said. "How about this — we'll go negotiate with them together in a bit!"

"Fine. Bring a few of Zhong Fabai's men along too, to put some fear into them!" Li Cihua nodded in agreement.

The matter settled, a little later Zhao Qibing, Li Cihua, and Zhong Fabai arrived with a retinue of black-clad henchmen — save for the two who had been crippled by Wei Zhao's kicks and sent to the hospital — and the whole procession swept into the shantytown's private orphanage.

A Mercedes RV, a Mercedes sedan, and two Jinbei vans suddenly appeared in the orphanage's courtyard. Such a convoy had never been seen there before, and it scared the children playing in the yard witless.

Li Cihua pushed Zhao Qibing out of the RV, while Zhong Fabai and the black-clad thugs took up positions around them in turn, like a detail of bodyguards.

"Call out whoever's in charge here!" Zhong Fabai snarled at the children.

"Who are you people? What are you here for?" Xiao Ken had heard the commotion in the courtyard and came running out of the orphanage's red-brick building. He was startled by the spectacle.

"Is there anyone here who can speak for this place?" Zhong Fabai did not deign to notice Xiao Ken; he would not stoop to talk to a child.

The old director was in Yu Xiaoke's room, keeping her company and chatting, when the clamor from the courtyard reached them. He hurried out with Yu Xiaoke and came into the orphanage yard, where he caught sight of Li Cihua, Zhao Qibing and the others, along with a whole crowd of black-clad thugs. His heart lurched in alarm.

"I am the director here. What business do you gentlemen have coming to this place?" The old director gave Li Cihua a cold glance, sensing something faintly familiar about the man. Then he turned to Little Ken and said, "Little Ken, take the children back inside. This is none of your concern."

"Yes, Director." Little Ken dared not disobey. He quickly shepherded the other children away, knowing full well that what was happening here was nothing children could meddle in.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Li Cihua, and this here is Young Master Zhao Qibing, chairman of Qibing Real Estate!" Li Cihua announced his own name first, then introduced Zhao Qibing.

"Li Cihua? So you're the famous Li Cihua of Songshan City's underworld!" The old director finally recognized who had come calling. "But I wonder, Boss Li, what brings you to my humble little orphanage?"

"I've taken a fancy to this plot of land of yours. Name your price!" Zhao Qibing was growing impatient. Eager as he was to get what he wanted, he saw any roundabout haggling as pointless; he wanted the land in his hands as quickly as possible.