Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Well, Wei Jin, I don't even know what your company is worth right now, so I can't just throw out a price," Yang Yanzhou said. "Besides, the funds I have on hand aren't all that plentiful at the moment."

Hearing Yang Juehuan's words, Wei Jin grew anxious and hurriedly said, "Yang Ce—Brother Yang—don't do this to me. If you don't buy it, what am I going to do? I guarantee my company's price is low."

"Oh? Tell me about it first, and I'll see whether I can accept it," Yang Moyi said with some amusement.

"All right. Dekang Real Estate—I had someone appraise it. After deducting the bank loans, it's worth roughly a hundred million," Wei Jin said.

Hearing Wei Jin's words, Yang Lanxu thought, Who are you trying to fool? A hundred million? Do you take me for a complete fool? So he said with some difficulty, "A hundred million? That much?"

"Of course, that's just its value," Wei Jin said quickly, sensing the hesitation in Yang Ce's voice. "But Brother Yang, if you're buying, I'll give you fifty percent off—half price. How about fifty million?"

Wei Jin was terrified Yang Yongjin might refuse and wanted to unload the company as fast as possible. He had no head for business at all, and so he immediately offered Yang Ce a massive fifty-percent discount.

Yang Ce was stunned. He thought, No way. I was going to offer him eighty million and let him make ten million, and the kid quotes me fifty million himself.

If he didn't accept now, wouldn't he be a fool? So Yang Ce deliberately adopted a pondering tone: "All right, fifty million is acceptable. We'll start working on the contract in the next few days."

"Brother Yang, forget a few days—can we do it today? I really am desperate. It's a matter of extreme urgency," Wei Jin said. "I'll trouble you—let's get this done tonight."

"Tonight?" Yang Ce hadn't expected Wei Jin to be such a hothead. But a bargain like this didn't come along every day, and moving fast could only help him, not hurt. So Yang Ce said, "All right then. You wait for me. I'll send someone to Dekang Real Estate, and we'll settle the contract today."

"Great, Brother Yang. I'll head over right now," Wei Jin said delightedly upon hearing Yang Ce agree.

"How did it become fifty million?" Wang Yanqiu asked in surprise after Yang Ce hung up.

"Who knows what that kid was thinking. He gave me another discount. But if he's willing to lose money, what can I do?" Yang Ce spread his hands helplessly.

"You get the better end of the deal and still play the innocent," Wang Yanqiu scolded. "If Black Widow had run into a fool like that back in the day, she wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state."

"Then how do you still have the money to buy a villa?" Yang Jiyan did not believe Wang Yanqiu could be short of money.

Wang Yanqiu's face flushed red at once. She raised her fist and swung it at Yang Ce, saying resentfully, "Couldn't you just play along? Do you have to reopen my old wounds to be happy?"

Yang Hengye laughed, and he understood that it was merely an excuse Wang Yanqiu had made to cover for herself—and now that it had been exposed, of course she was angry.

When Bao Lin learned that Dekang Real Estate could be bought for a mere fifty million, his astonished expression was easy to imagine. He was dumbstruck for a long while before saying, "Brother Yang, how did you pull that off?"

"That kid's short on brains. Nothing I can do about it," Yang Yanzhou said. Pitiful as Wei Jin was now, Yang Jiyan did not sympathize with him—there was nothing to sympathize with. He had brought it all on himself. If he had not insisted on scheming against Liu Baoqiang, and insisted on putting on airs in front of him, how could he have come to such an end?

"All right, Brother Yang. Then President Hou and I will go take over the company." Bao Lin asked nothing further. Whatever Yang Ce wanted him to know, he would tell him in time; whatever he did not want him to know, Bao Lin would not press for.

Wei Jin truly could not wait. He would rather lose twenty million himself than let Zou Ruoguang live one more day. Fortunately, the bank savings Wei Dekang had left him already exceeded a hundred million, so losing twenty million would not cripple him; with the rest, he and Sister Gu could hide abroad and live out their remaining years.

The lawyer had already been arranged and was waiting at Dekang Real Estate. The moment Bao Lin and Hou Lin arrived, the two sides held no negotiation at all—they simply settled the contract, had their respective lawyers review it, and once everything checked out, signed it.

With that, Dekang Real Estate formally came under the banner of Mingyang Entertainment, becoming one of Yang Juehuan's holdings.

To be continued

1036. The Young Strategist

Once the money was in hand, Wei Jin could not wait to wire the owed sum into the designated account of the "Black Widow" assassin cell.

Wei Jin was far too impatient—so much so that his head was overheated and he did not even discuss a deposit, paying the full amount outright. Had this been a swindler with a poor reputation, the man would simply have taken Wei Jin's money and run, and Wei Jin would have had nowhere to weep.

Fortunately, Zou Ruoguang was also Yang Juehuan's enemy, and eliminating him was already part of Yang Ce's plans.

Li Qiang had found the man—pulling one at random from his old unit to carry out the assignment. The job, however, was done very cleanly, without leaving a single loose end.

Zou Ruoguang's death looked perfectly ordinary: walking along the road, he accidentally fell into a manhole without a cover. Of course, he did not die right away—he starved to death down there.

So no one suspected any foul play. Falling into a ditch and dying of injury and hunger—one could only say his luck was wretched. At most, people cursed the thief who had stolen the manhole cover.

When Yang Shuyu heard the news, she and Wang Yanqiu rolled around on the bed in each other's arms, laughing for ages. Who on earth had done this? The man was a genius—killing without a trace.

He made a phone call and asked Li Qiang, and Li Qiang's answer had Yang Ce and Wang Yanqiu laughing for another whole night—even when they were making love, the thought of it made them smile.

Li Qiang's answer was this: his man had gone and was tailing Zou Ruoguang, waiting for a chance to strike, but before he had followed him long, Zou Ruoguang fell into the ditch all by himself.

The only thing his man had done was to half-cover the ditch so that Zou Ruoguang would not be easily discovered.

Yang Ce was astounded. No way—he died just like that? It was too theatrical. It seemed Wei Jin was unlucky too: had he contacted him a few days later, Zou Ruoguang would probably have died on his own, and he would not have had to spend a cent. As it was, he had spent seventy million and still believed Zou Ruoguang had truly been killed by the assassin cell, and that the apparent signs of an accident were merely a fabricated illusion.

"This money is just too easy to make." Yang Ce hung up the phone and said with a bitter smile.

Wang Yanqiu had heard it too, and was already doubled over with laughter beside him: "If Wei Jin ever learns the truth, he'll probably die of rage."

"But he should never learn the truth. Who would he ask?" Yang Hengye said. "The police certainly won't tell him anything, and besides, Zou Ruoguang really did fall in by himself."

"True. He can only blame his own bad luck." Wang Yanqiu nodded. "Still, it's just as well—he's kept in the dark and knows nothing of what really happened."

Songjiang, the outskirts of the city. In a secret room.

"What can you do for me?" the boss, whose face could not be clearly seen, asked a young man beside him in a mild tone.

"Help you get rid of Yang Ce," the young man said.

"You?" A trace of disdain flickered at the corner of the boss's mouth.