Chapter 162
Chapter 162
The man Tao Xiaoyu had hooked up with was named Xiang Kai.
I didn’t know who Xiang Kai was personally, but he was the chairman of Jiangling Group.
I knew of Jiangling Group. They were a major real estate enterprise as well, though their strength couldn’t compare to Weihai Group.
When Du Ruhai was alive, Weihai Group was the undisputed king of the real estate industry in all of Lanjiang City; every other company had to play second fiddle. But after Du Ruhai died, several major enterprises wanted to bring Weihai Group down. When one person stops cutting the cake, the others naturally get a bigger slice.
The news article Song Xiaotian showed me mentioned a major upcoming project in Lanjiang City that all the big companies were planning to bid on. As an industry giant, Weihai Group naturally wasn’t going to let such a massive project slip through their fingers.
In the past, whenever Weihai Group participated in a bidding process, the other companies only showed up for the sake of appearances. If they didn’t, it would be too obvious that the game was rigged. Even though every other company knew it was a fix, they still had to obediently join the fray and help Weihai Group finish the performance. That was the level of power and dominance Weihai Group once possessed.
But things were different now. Times had changed. The most terrifying man in Weihai Group had recently passed away, and the entire group was in the midst of upheaval. Under the influence of shifting power and interests, the company’s overall performance was bound to take a hit.
Securing this major project would not only benefit Weihai Group’s future development but also help dispel the shadow cast by Du Ruhai’s death. At a time like this, someone had stepped forward to challenge Weihai Group, attempting to restrain the industry giant.
And the one with the best chance of defeating Weihai Group in this bidding war was Jiangling Group.
The head of Jiangling Group, Xiang Kai, was not yet forty. To have built such an empire at his age meant he was young and capable, with a massive fortune behind him. However, he had one weakness: he was a womanizer. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t be fooling around with Tao Xiaoyu while having a family of his own.
It was no wonder Tao Xiaoyu was cheating. Among the working class, Meng Yifan was considered well-off and could provide her with a good life, but he could never compete with a capitalist tycoon.
I had to admit, Tao Xiaoyu really had some tricks up her sleeve to be able to hook up with someone like Xiang Kai.
“Why won’t this wench just break up with Meng Yifan if she’s already landed a big entrepreneur?” Song Xiaotian couldn’t wrap his head around it.
“That’s where Tao Xiaoyu is being smart,” I said. “Xiang Kai has a family; he’s never going to marry her. Besides, the man is a known philanderer. He likes Tao Xiaoyu today, but he’ll like someone else tomorrow. Tao Xiaoyu knows that sooner or later, he’ll dump her. What then? She knows the difference between a long-term meal ticket and a short-term one.”
Song Xiaotian cursed, “How can someone be so cheap! How did her parents raise her?”
I told him that didn’t matter. What mattered was that this woman was taking things too far. She was treating Meng Yifan like a total fool and scamming him!
I was definitely going to see this through to the end. I couldn’t let Meng Yifan be humiliated like this. Moreover, Tao Xiaoyu was constantly draining Meng Yifan’s money. If she ever ran off with someone, Meng Yifan would end up losing both his heart and his savings.
Song Xiaotian and I agreed to stake out Jiangling Group when we had the chance. Tao Xiaoyu worked there too, so she was bound to be seen coming and going with Xiang Kai. Since Meng Yifan didn’t believe she was cheating, we would catch them in the act and bring him to see it for himself.
That afternoon, Song Xiaotian and I first took a client to see a house. Since we only dealt in Stigmatized Property now, that was naturally what we went to see.
When that client left, I could clearly sense he had no intention of buying.
But that was normal.
Stigmatized Properties are both easy and difficult to sell.
The easy part is the price; they’re at least forty percent cheaper than the market rate.
The difficult part is simple: not everyone can accept living in a house where someone has died.
Generally, clients who look at Stigmatized Properties fall into two categories: those with an urgent need for housing, and those who are poor but desperate to own a home.
When those two conditions align, the property usually sells.
After showing the client the house, Song Xiaotian and I went to stake out the area near Jiangling Group.
We staked it out for two days straight. During those two days, Tao Xiaoyu went to a five-star hotel every afternoon at 2:00 PM. Xiang Kai would follow her into the hotel just a few minutes later.
The two of them were quite cautious about their affair, making sure not to enter or leave the hotel at the same time.
Song Xiaotian, being a former policeman, had strong investigative skills. He went inside twice and quickly figured out their room number.
For two days in a row, this pair of scumbags had their trysts in the same room.
By the third day, Song Xiaotian and I couldn’t hold back any longer. I called Meng Yifan and told him to come over.
The idiot didn’t even want to come at first, saying it was Tao Xiaoyu’s mother’s sixtieth birthday in a few days and he needed to prepare a gift for his future mother-in-law.
“There’s a client we need to meet. Come over for a bit; it won’t take long.”
I told a lie to lure him over.
When he arrived, he looked confused and asked where the client was.
“Inside. Let’s go.”
Song Xiaotian and I pulled him into the hotel and headed straight for the elevator.
There was no one else in the elevator. Since we were about to catch them in the act, I was afraid Meng Yifan might do something extreme, so I tried to prepare him mentally.
“Brother, eight or nine times out of ten, life doesn’t go the way we want. Aside from life and death, everything else is just a minor detail.”
“Look at me. I’ve had it rough, experiencing the deaths of those close to me one after another, but I’ve pulled through. As long as you’re alive, you have to look forward.”
My speech left Meng Yifan feeling a bit bewildered.
He smiled and asked, “Why are you suddenly saying all this?”
Song Xiaotian put an arm around him and sighed. “There’s no client here today, but something big is about to happen. It concerns you. We don’t need to say it; you probably understand in your heart. Try to stay positive. A woman like that isn’t worth it.”
By the time we stepped out of the elevator, Meng Yifan’s expression had turned grim, and his body was shaking.
We led him to the door of the room where the scumbags were and knocked.
A man’s voice quickly came from inside: “Who is it?”
Song Xiaotian replied, “Police! Room inspection!”
A moment later, a man opened the door. It was Xiang Kai, the head of Jiangling Group.
He had a bath towel wrapped around his waist and was scolding us with a look of displeasure. “What inspection? What is there to inspect! This is a five-star hotel, not some cheap motel. Do you know who I am?”
Without a word, Song Xiaotian shoved him aside and pulled Meng Yifan straight into the room.
We had caught them red-handed. Tao Xiaoyu was lying on the bed wrapped in a bathrobe, playing on her phone. The moment she saw Meng Yifan, her flushed face turned deathly pale.
Meng Yifan froze in place, looking first at Xiang Kai and then at Tao Xiaoyu on the bed.
I knew that at this moment, his heart was likely shattered.
His eyes turned bloodshot, and he exploded in a fit of rage, his voice shrill and agonizing: “I’ll kill you both, you bastards!”