Chapter 679 Another Storm Is Coming
“So, you finally admit to it, huh? Why didn’t you say so sooner?” “I did! I always admit to everything I do!” Nan Chen snapped back at her.
All I did was give Huang Zichao a little warning! Why is she confronting me about it and calling me shameless?
“Okay, I get it now. You’re Nan Chen, so you can do anything you want and get away with it! There’s no need for you to hide it at all, so why don’t you just go ahead and do it in front of me? You’ll only disgust me even more if you do it behind my back like a coward!”
“You’re the one being disgusting right now!” Nan Chen was exhausted after a long day at work, so he didn’t take kindly to Ning Ran yelling at him like that. “I’m being disgusting? You—”
Ning Ran was halfway through her sentence when Nan Chen hung up the phone. She tried calling him a few more times, but Nan Chen refused to answer the phone.
Ning Ran got so mad that she wished she could go straight to Flower City and confront him in person. After hanging up on Ning Ran, Nan Chen gave Jiang Zhe a call and summoned him to his office.
Jiang Zhe, who was working overtime that night, felt a little nervous when he came in through the door. Oh, no… He does not look happy… Who could’ve p*ssed him off this late at night?
“When did you contact that director?” Nan Chen asked. “At noon,” Jiang Zhe replied cautiously. “What did you say?”
“As per your request, I told him to have them keep their distance from each other outside of work because it would be unsafe and bad for their image.”
“Good. I want you to give him another call right now. Huang Zichao is to stay away from Ning Ran, or I’ll kick him out of the entertainment industry forever,” Nan Chen ordered coldly.
Jiang Zhe was a little shocked when he heard that. “Um… What exactly happened?”
“Just do it,” Nan Chen replied with a wave.
“As you wish, Mr. Chen.” Jiang Zhe knew better than to ask any further.
As he turned around and prepared to leave, Nan Chen called out to him, “Wait.”
Jiang Zhe immediately paused in his tracks. “Yes, Mr. Chen?”
“Do you think I’ve gone too far by doing this? Is this considered shameless behavior?” Nan Chen asked.
Jiang Zhe’s eyes went wide with shock, but he didn’t dare answer the question.
My goodness… Did someone call Sir Chen shameless? Who could possibly have the guts to say that to him? Sir Chen practically owns Flower City, so nothing he does is considered shameless here!
Nan Chen realized he had asked the wrong person that question when he saw the conflicted look on Jiang Zhe’s face.
Jiang Zhe is a smart guy. He knows he’ll get in trouble if he answers that question wrongly.
With that in mind, Nan Chen waved dismissively at Jiang Zhe and motioned for him to leave.
As Jiang Zhe was about to step out the door, Nan Chen said, “Forget about the call.”
Unsure of what Nan Chen meant, Jiang Zhe paused and stared at him in confusion.
“I changed my mind. You don’t have to make that phone call,” Nan Chen explained.
“All right.” Jiang Zhe nodded as he continued, “I, too, believe it is unnecessary to call that director again about Huang Zichao. We could just kick Huang Zichao out if he displays any more inappropriate behavior.”
See, this is what I like most about Jiang Zhe. He understands me so well that I can trust him to make the right decisions even without my instructions.
“All right, then. Tell me about the plans for the development of Serenity Street,” Nan Chen said.
“Sure. I’ll go get the coffee.”
Jiang Zhe would always bring Nan Chen coffee whenever he worked overtime. Of course, he made sure to order it from a café as the coffee in the office tasted horrible.
“Go on, tell me what you know about the project,” Nan Chen said after taking a sip of his coffee.
“Our developers have already started the preparations for Serenity Street’s development last year. However, because it is located in an old town, every inch of that land costs a bomb. On top of that, the compensation amount required for the relocation of its citizens is also very high. That results in a high development cost and a much higher risk. The slightest of mistakes could very well result in a total loss. That’s why we’ve been putting off its development all these years.”
Nan Chen nodded and motioned for him to carry on.
“Of course, a high risk also means a high reward. If we can make this work, then the profits it yields will be astronomical. The old town comes equipped with all the basic necessities and has a decent public transport network. In addition to that, the best schools in Flower City are located there. Given how strategic that location is, the houses there are bound to be the priciest in all of Flower City. The good news is, they could easily sell for double the market value. The bad news is, selling them at double the market value is the only way to bring in profits. That’s the reason most of the developers are unwilling to work on this project. The risks are simply too high.”
Nan Chen nodded. “Now that there is a downturn in the housing market, the risk is even higher than before. With everyone else lowering property prices to increase their sales, competition is tough as it is. The fact that we’re going against the trend by increasing the cost of our units will only make things all the more challenging for us. I’m not sure if we’ll even be able to sell a single unit.”
“Exactly. Not only are we not allowed to lower our prices, but we also have to hike them far beyond the market value in Flower City to ensure we make profits. That’s what makes this project extremely risky. A month ago, Nanshi Corporation was the only company bidding for this project. Now, there are two more competing for it. One of them is a real estate company under Sunshine Corporation, and the other is a developer named Green Beauty,” Jiang Zhe explained.
Nan Chen took another sip of his coffee. “That real estate company under Sunshine Corporation… It didn’t have any projects in Flower City before this, right?”
“No. It has always been developing in Pearl City. This is the first time the company is expanding into Flower City. Sunshine Corporation’s businesses in Flower City are mainly focused on the banking industry.”
Nan Chen looked up at Jiang Zhe and said, “Ouyang Li is determined to avenge her father, so it’s no surprise that she would try to compete with us. However, if she had a little bit more common sense, she’d understand that it’s impossible to defeat me here in Flower City. After all, we’ve been running our businesses here for so many years now. I am curious about Green Beauty, though. Could you tell me more about that company?”
“It’s a small company that has never made a name for itself. Green Beauty has never worked on any real estate projects as it was mainly a contractor. Green Beauty undertook one of our company’s projects two years ago, but the collaboration has already ended. Given how Green Beauty has only ever played the role of the contractor instead of the developer, I don’t understand why it is boldly competing for Serenity Street,” Jiang Zhe replied.
Nan Chen fell silent and spent the next few minutes twirling a pen between his slender fingers.
This behavior is a sign that Mr. Chen is processing the information. Usually, he will arrive at a conclusion in a few minutes, and his conclusions have been proven to be right most of the time.
With that in mind, Jiang Zhe kept quiet and patiently waited.
Sure enough, Nan Chen spoke up a few minutes later.
“Green Beauty is the real enemy here. Because of how insignificant Green Beauty seems, Ouyang Li thinks we’ll ignore it and focus our attack on Sunshine Corporation instead. However, Sunshine Corporation is just a ruse meant to keep us distracted. Go and find out if there have been any changes in Green Beauty’s shareholders in the past month. I believe Green Beauty has been wholly acquired by someone else. There must be men from Prosperity Holdings among its shareholders. Prosperity Holdings and Sunshine Corporation must’ve teamed up to acquire Green Beauty. I bet they’re secretly working together to stop us from getting our hands on this project. Now that they’ve struck a blow at me, I must deal with it and hit back as hard as I can,” he said calmly but firmly.
Jiang Zhe nodded as he wrote down everything Nan Chen said. Yet another storm is about to break out here in Flower City…
