Xie Qining did not have two days to be happy after acquiring the prime piece of land before he noticed Zhao Jianhua's attitude had become peculiar.
When he first obtained the land, he had contacted Zhao Jianhua. At that time, Zhao Jianhua was extremely surprised, not expecting that the land he wanted the most would actually be bought by Xie Qining from Ao Xiang.
Xie Qining had said he could sell it to him for three hundred million. Zhao Jianhua had immediately agreed over the phone and seemed eager to purchase the land from Xie Qining.
Xie Qining had put on a bit of an act, saying others were willing to pay a higher price, and then arranged to meet him in two days.
However, after two days, when he contacted Zhao Jianhua again, his attitude had completely changed. Today, Zhao Jianhua wasn't even answering his calls.
He couldn't help but feel a sense of panic. The two hundred million he had paid to Ao Xiang was borrowed from the bank, with the Xie family mansion and his mother's Xie Corporation shares as collateral. He had arranged with the bank to repay within half a month, with interest calculated at the lowest rate.
The bank had all agreed based on his status as a Xie family young master. If he couldn't repay on time, just the interest alone would be enough to break him. Then there was how he would explain it to his grandmother and mother. If his father found out, he would never forgive him.
Therefore, no matter what, he had to see Zhao Jianhua today. What had been agreed upon absolutely could not be reneged on now.
Xie Qining had no choice but to humble himself and go to Zhao Jianhua's real estate group. As soon as he reached the front desk, someone stopped him and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for your President Zhao?"
The young lady at the front desk politely asked, "Do you have an appointment?"
She had never seen someone looking for the big boss rush in directly. She didn't know who this person was.
"An appointment?" Xie Qining said with a hint of anger, "Tell him right now, my surname is Xie, and I need to see him immediately."
The young lady maintained her smile and said, "Mr. Xie? Alright, please wait a moment."
Xie Qining glanced at the young lady and then saw guards by the elevators. He realized that trying to find Zhao Jianhua directly would likely be impossible.
After making a call, the young lady replied, "President Zhao has an important matter today and cannot receive visitors. Perhaps you could schedule another time with President Zhao's secretary."
Xie Qining became anxious. It seemed Zhao Jianhua was determined to avoid him.
He didn't understand why. Just as he was about to lose his temper at the front desk, he suddenly saw a friend of his father coming out of the elevator.
His father's friend also saw him. With no way to avoid it, he had no choice but to step forward and pretend to be obedient, calling out, "Uncle Wang, what are you doing here?"
"Isn't this Qining? Are you also here for business?" his father's friend asked.
Xie Qining replied, "Yes, Uncle Wang, what business are you here for?"
"Oh, President Zhao here asked me to come and help them with engineering quality inspection. I'm here to pick up some blueprints." His father's friend then asked, "How has your father been recently? How is his health?"
"My father's health is even better than mine. He exercises frequently," Xie Qining said with a smile, thinking to himself whether this engineering quality inspection was crucial. If Zhao Jianhua still didn't show up, he would definitely make Uncle Wang cause trouble for Zhao Jianhua.
His father's friend, Uncle Wang, said with a chuckle, "That's good, that's good. Please send my regards to your father and tell him we should play golf together when we have time."
"Certainly, no problem," Xie Qining said, watching Uncle Wang leave with a smile.
He immediately turned to the front desk with a gloomy expression. He saw the young lady was on the phone.
Just as he was about to send a message to Zhao Jianhua, the young lady at the front desk hung up the phone and immediately called out, "Mr. Xie, please wait. President Zhao said he has finished his business and would like you to come to his office."
Xie Qining realized that Zhao Jianhua was probably a shrewd operator. The moment he encountered his father's friend, Zhao Jianhua's attitude immediately changed.
He couldn't help but look up at the ceiling of the reception area. He figured there must be cameras, and Zhao Jianhua knew his every move at the front desk.
He strode into the elevator and went straight to Zhao Jianhua's office.
As soon as he saw Zhao Jianhua in person, the anger that had been building up completely erupted. He slammed his fist on his desk and angrily demanded, "President Zhao, what exactly do you mean by this!"
Zhao Jianhua quickly got up, closed the office door, and said with a fawning smile, "Young Master Xie, you have no idea, I have my own difficulties. I can't take this land anymore. Aren't there others willing to pay a higher price? Then sell it quickly."
Xie Qining paused awkwardly upon hearing this, but his anger did not subside. "You said you were willing to deal with Ao Xiang together and wanted to get this land. It took me a lot of effort. Of course, I won't sell it to anyone else. I've turned them all away!"
Zhao Jianhua sighed, took out a document with an official seal from a folder, and handed it to him. "Take a look yourself. You've been set up by Qin Tianyi and Xiao Anjing."
He felt fortunate that he hadn't hastily bought the land from Xie Qining, otherwise, he would be the one crying now.
Xie Qining glanced at the document and asked confusedly, "What is this? What does this have to do with whether you buy the land from me or not?"
Zhao Jianhua thought to himself that this young master truly knew nothing. He explained, "This is an official government document regarding flood control planning. I managed to get a copy, and it hasn't been released yet."
Xie Qining still didn't understand and said impatiently, "Why are you telling me all this? If it weren't for you, how would I have gone to such lengths to buy this land? How did they set me up? The price I got was definitely lower than the market price, and I was going to transfer it to you at the lowest price!"
"It's all over our industry. The land you have is within the flood control planning zone, which means this land has no commercial development value anymore," Zhao Jianhua also explained loudly to him.
Xie Qining began to understand and said, "You mean the land I have is now worthless?"
Zhao Jianhua dared not look at him and nodded.
"But, but, what about the money I've invested..."
Zhao Jianhua clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture and said, "Young Master Xie, please spare me. We are a small company, we can't afford losses of hundreds of millions. Your Xie Corporation is different. Hundreds of millions is nothing to you. I really can't buy this land from you..."
Xie Qining raised his foot to kick him and roared, "This deal was agreed upon. Don't even think about going back on your word!"
Zhao Jianhua dodged him and said, "But we only spoke about it verbally, we never signed any written documents. I'm not going back on my word. In business, people go where the profit is. If you weren't trying to make money from me, how would you have fallen into Qin Tianyi's trap?"
Xie Qining missed him and kicked over a nearby chair, "Fine, you all colluded to play me!"
"No, I absolutely did not." Zhao Jianhua knew clearly that Young Master Xie could not be offended, but he also couldn't buy this land. "I also hope to bring down Ao Xiang and make Qin Tianyi and the others utterly defeated. I definitely want to help you. Therefore, I will personally offer ten million to compensate for your losses as a token of my sincerity."