Chapter 469: Zhu Junhao, Led Astray

Chen Yang gave these people from the Provincial State-owned Enterprise Reform Group Office a half-price housing quota, mainly because he valued them as future backbones of various provincial departments. This would put them in his debt, making future provincial affairs go much smoother.

But the Provincial Automobile Manufacturing was different. Not only because Chen Yang was merely a shareholder, the bigger reason was its huge workforce. With over three thousand employees, at least half had ten or more years of service, which meant at least fifteen hundred quotas would have to be allocated.

Moreover, the Provincial Automobile Manufacturing could not guarantee loans for them, and those who obtained the quotas might not be able to afford homes, so most likely they would end up receiving cash instead.

Chen Yang only knew Pan Ruoyun at the Provincial Automobile Manufacturing, and he had no obligation to hand out benefits to strangers.

However, Pan Ruoyun was ultimately the daughter-in-law of Xingcheng Mayor Sun Changqing, who had contributed greatly to the International New City project. Out of both sentiment and reason, Chen Yang also owed him a favor.

So, after leaving the Provincial State-owned Enterprise Reform Group Office, Chen Yang sent Pan Ruoyun a message saying he would add ten extra quotas for her, leaving the distribution to her to arrange. Once arranged, she was to send the relevant documents to Zhao Xiaoli's Common People Real Estate Agency.

Over the next few days, Chen Yang again holed up in the villa on Jiangmen Dao to seek tranquility. Apart from making late-night phone-call congee with Lin Wei, the rest of his time was spent battling in the stock market.

Riding the wave of tech stocks, he earned several tens of millions of dollars in the US stock market, just enough to repay the 500 million yuan debt he had borrowed from Xinghui Financial Investment Company.

However, this tranquil and comfortable life lasted only a week.

In early December, Chen Yang received an urgent call from Kong Jie's secretary Zhang Chunhua, saying that the fruit market construction project undertaken by Yongfa Real Estate Company had halted work, and the construction crew had withdrawn overnight from Qingshui City.

Upon hearing this news, Chen Yang felt very surprised.

Since Yongfa Real Estate Company was also ranked among the top ten builders in Xingcheng, how could it stop work without even a greeting……

Chen Yang dialed Li Yongfa's number, but the line was out of service.

Left with no choice, Chen Yang summoned his bodyguards and headed together to the headquarters of Yongfa Real Estate Company in Xingcheng.

Upon arrival, Chen Yang found Li Yongfa's office already surrounded by a crowd of creditors.

He had his bodyguards inquire, and discovered they were all demanding payment for project fees and material costs from Li Yongfa.

This result surprised Chen Yang even more. Having conducted due diligence on Yongfa Real Estate Company, he was well aware of its financial strength, and when Li Yongfa reported the fruit market construction progress to him last month, he had not mentioned any financial difficulties.

Bringing his doubts, Chen Yang had the security clear a path, then entered Li Yongfa's office.

Li Yongfa sat on the office floor in a disheveled state, his face somewhat swollen and hair messy, looking as if he had just had a violent clash with the debt collectors.

Seeing Chen Yang arrive, he instinctively lowered his head.

"Boss Li, I don't owe you any wages, do I? How could the fruit market project just stop without even a notice?"

Li Yongfa slightly lifted his head, feeling a bit ashamed, and said to Chen Yang: "President Chen, I'm sorry to you. But I had no choice but to make this decision."

Chen Yang curiously asked: "What happened to your company?"

Li Yongfa sighed and said: "The Zhixin Group was recently acquired. After the new owners took over, they not only demanded our company buy materials at double price but also required cash payment. I disagreed, so they united all our suppliers to demand payment from us."

"Moreover, they threatened our clients not to settle payments with us."

"Without payments, we cannot pay our suppliers, and thus cannot obtain materials."

"So, not only your fruit market, all of my current engineering projects have come to a halt."

Chen Yang frowned slightly. He had not expected that after Zhu Junhao took over the Zhixin Group, the chaos in Xingcheng's construction industry would actually become worse.

"Boss Li, since you're short on funds, let's keep the fruit market project going! If you lack materials, they will have them delivered to you. You just need to handle the construction work, and I'll cover the related costs!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yongfa repeatedly thanked him.

Chen Yang then told the other creditors: "Everyone, Boss Li is currently facing financial difficulties and cannot pay you for the goods. Blocking him here and even beating him to death would be useless. Better give him some time; once Yongfa Real Estate Company helps me finish the project and receives payment, you will have a chance to get your dues."

Many of the creditors present knew Chen Yang and understood his financial strength. They wanted money, not lives. As long as Chen Yang could provide Yongfa Real Estate Company with a steady stream of orders, they hoped to recover their debts.

After they left, Chen Yang placed a call to Zhu Junhao.

"Chairman Zhu, Li Yongfa is my friend; regarding the material fees, could you give me face and charge them the original price?"

"President Chen, do you know Li Yongfa?" Zhu Junhao on the other end also sounded a bit surprised. He had been squeezing Li Yongfa to obtain larger material rebates, never expecting that the other party actually knew Chen Yang.

Chen Yang lowered his voice and said: "Chairman Zhu, Yongfa Real Estate Company is among the top ten developers in Xingcheng. If you drive it into bankruptcy, how will you explain it when Mayor Sun investigates later?"

On Zhu Junhao's end, he immediately fell into silence.

Chen Yang continued: "Chairman Zhu, business is about long-term sustainability. If you push all of Xingcheng's developers into desperation, aren't you afraid they'll band together and sue you?"

"Moreover, once this gets exposed, what impact would it have on Mayor Sun?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Junhao suddenly cursed: "Damn Zheng Weimin, screwing me over again."

Hearing Zheng Weimin's name again, Chen Yang's mood also grew heavy. He warned Zhu Junhao: "Although I've never met Zheng Weimin, I can sense this guy is no good; his ideas are all about pushing you into a volcano."

Zhu Junhao angrily cursed: "That bastard told me that charging developers double in Xingcheng was a uniform standard. Turns out he was just trying to screw me!"

Chen Yang felt this was certainly not Zheng Weimin's idea alone; it likely also involved Wang Haifeng.

On the Dongjiang New City project, Sun Changqing had thwarted Wang Haifeng's conspiracy; the latter would surely try every means to get revenge.

Having Zheng Weimin bewitch Zhu Junhao into squeezing Xingcheng's developers, once the truth comes out, Mayor Sun Changqing will surely not be able to clear himself of responsibility.

Thinking this through, Chen Yang immediately told Zhu Junhao: "Chairman Zhu, if you have already taken double material payments from the builders, you had better refund them promptly. Otherwise, if word spreads to public venues, everyone will be certain that Mayor Sun is your protective shield."

"By then, not only will you suffer, but Mayor Sun's days will likely be no easier either!"