Conflict
The piece of land at Third Ring Road was not large; it was only 20 acres. The government price was 6,000 per square metre, making the land worth at least 80,000,000. This was before bidding. If the government opened tender and developers get involved in the bidding, the price would double, or even rocket to over two hundred million. The location near the port was really good after all and developers wouldn’t mind paying the price.
Liang Si-Yao had an odd expression on her face after looking at the piece of land, “It’s such a waste to build a machine plant on this piece of land. If it were me, I’d build condominiums here. The location is good – there’s schools and a hospital nearby. I could simply set the price at 10,000 per square foot and add an elevator. Woah, I’d be rich overnight.”
Xia Lei laughed as he said, “Huang Yi-Hu wants to buy this piece of land to build condominiums; you have the same idea as him. However, I’ll insist on using it for a machine plant since he wants to build condominiums.”
“Are you trying to make him so mad that he’d kill himself?” asked Liang Si-Yao.
“It’ll be great if he died from anger but those sort of people don’t die so easily. Good people lead short lives while the bad live for ages.” He thought of Ma Xiao-An again.
Liang Si-Yao comforted him, “Don’t be sad. I’m afraid many developers will be interested in this land because of its value. Can your two friends really get this piece of land for you? You don’t have the money either.”
Xia Lei just smiled, “I’m not worried at all. Let’s go, Miss Liang. Let’s look for a place ahead to have tea and celebrate the establishment of my company.”
“Sure. Then stop calling me Miss Liang,” Liang Si-Yao smiled as she said, “Call me Si-Yao.”
“Okay, then stop calling me Mr Xia and call me Lei,” said Xia Lei.
“Lei.” Liang Si-Yao met Xia Lei’s eyes and she smiled.
They walked away from the empty plot of land and to the Great Wall H6 parked by the road. At that moment, three luxury cars stopped by the road. A black Maybach business sedan led the way, followed by a Mercedes-Benz S600 and a BMW 730i. These three cars were not something ordinary people could afford to drive.
The door of the Maybach opened and a young man in a black suit stepped out from the driver’s seat, then opened the back door. A middle-aged man alighted from the car; he was dressed casually but still had an upper-class air.
Xia Lei’s gaze landed on the middle-aged man and he stopped in his tracks.
The man who had got out of the Maybach was Huang Yi-Hu. Xia Lei recognised him from the picture he had seen last night.
Other people alighted from the other two cars. Every car had its main passenger and entourage; boss, bodyguard and driver. It was easy to tell who was who.
Just then, a woman also alighted from the Maybach. It was Li Yu-Lan.
Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan had not yet discovered Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. The married couple brought the other bosses to a little street which led to plot number 13, talking as they walked.
“CEO Wang, I will give the project to your Ling-Yun Construction Company after we get this piece of land,” said Huang Yi-Hu to one of the bosses.
“Thank you, thank you. It’s not the first time that we at Ling-Yun Construction Company have worked with you, Boss Huang. It’s no problem,” he replied.
Li Yu-Lan spoke to the other boss, “CEO Zhou, we will contract all our building materials, sand and reinforced steel bars to your building materials company.”
The boss called CEO Zhou smiled, “No problem. It’s not our first time working together. Same old terms, eh?”
Huang Yi-Hu stopped in his tracks then and chuckled, “Since CEO Zhou says so, we shall abide by the same old terms. Let’s make a pile together.”
The one called CEO Zhou said, “Boss Huang, there are no problems on our side but there are several people eyeing this piece of land. I’m not being a naysayer but what if you can’t get this piece of land?”
“Can’t get this piece of land? There is no piece of land I, Huang Yi-Hu cannot get in Hai-Zhu City. I’m not only going to get this land, I’m going to buy it for the lowest price,” said Huang Yi-Hu.
“Are the other developers not bidding?” The boss called CEO Wang looked very surprised.
Huang Yi-Hu sneered, “Bid? I will visit them one by one and see which one of them dare to fight with me, Huang Yi-Hu, for the piece of land!”
CEO Zhou and CEO Wang looked at each other and smiled.
True. Who would dare to fight with Huang Yi-Hu over a piece of land in Hai-Zhu City?
Liang Si-Yao spotted Li Yu-Lan and said, “Lei, should we avoid these people?”
“Why should we? This place is not theirs and theirs alone,” said Xia Lei.
“Okay.” Liang Si-Yao was also a woman who was not afraid to dive in. She looked at Huang Yi-Hu, who was next to Li Yu-Lan and asked, “Lei, is that man beside that woman the Huang Yi-Hu you spoke of?”
Xia Lei nodded, “It’s him.” He snorted, “Did you hear them? Huang Yi-Hu is already treating this piece of land like it’s his.”
Huang Yi-Hu did indeed see the piece of land as his own property already by bringing people from a construction company and building materials company to view the site and talk business.
“He has triangular eyes and horizontal brows. That Huang Yi-Hu person doesn’t look like a good person,” said Liang Si-Yao.
At that moment, Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard spotted Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. He walked over to them, speaking loudly, “What are you doing here? This is a construction site. Who let you in?”
Huang Yi-Hu, Li Yu-Lan and the others all looked at Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. In that instant, the expressions of the married duo changed to that of ugly, obvious hate.
It was Huang Yi-Hu’s first time seeing Xia Lei but he knew clearly what Xia Lei looked like, where he lived and what he’d done. He also knew all the details about what had transpired in the Trade and Commerce Bureau, which was equivalent to Xia Lei giving him a slap in the face. When he saw Xia Lei, the hate and annoyance in his heart was displayed for all to see on his face, his gaze so hateful it seemed he would not hold back from drinking Xia Lei’s blood and rending his flesh.
“I’m talking to you. Are you deaf?” Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard had a bad temper.
“I’m not talking to you because I don’t want to. You’re not blind. Can’t you tell?” said Xia Lei.
“You fucker!” Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard’s temper flared and he strode towards them.
Xia Lei did not move and just watched Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard in silence.
A small sneer appeared on Huang Yi-Hu’s lips. He knew his bodyguard’s capabilities. The little thugs employed by Chen Chuan-Hu could not compare to him. He was sure that his bodyguard would throw Xia Lei and the woman next to him to the ground in a few seconds. After that, he would step on Xia Lei’s face with his foot and open his zipper to piss on his head!
“You sucker!” Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard swung a fist at Xia Lei’s head.
Xia Lei’s right elbow cut from inwards-out and blocked from inside the bodyguard’s right elbow, then blocked the punch and thrust his right hand forward, attacking the heart of the bodyguard with a Short Bridge Piercing Fist.
Bam! There was a muffled thump and the bodyguard groaned as he turned ashen. His body tilted backwards but before he hit the ground, Xia Lei suddenly moved close and used both fists to pummel him over ten times in his lower abdomen in the blink of an eye.
“Bleurgh-” Blood sprayed from the bodyguard’s mouth and he fell head-first onto the ground. He struggled to get to his feet but only got ten centimetres off the ground before he lay bonelessly down again.
Only five seconds had passed from the time Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard had attacked to the time he hit the ground. Normal people could only blink a few times in such a short period of time but Xia Lei had knocked down a professional bodyguard!
Everyone’s eyes went to Xia Lei, and they were full of fear and astonishment.
The only person who acted normally was Liang Si-Yao because she knew Xia Lei’s strength. Xia Lei could beat the ironman-like Lu Sheng, so what was this bodyguard to him?
“Ptew!” Xia Lei spat on the face of Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard, and, pretending to be a hooligan, cursed, “Fuck, I needed to vent my anger and you just pissed me off. You think I’ll be afraid of you because you have a sucker big boss? Let me tell you – Even if your boss is here, I’ll beat him up too if he dares to open his mouth!”
This line was obviously directed at Huang Yi-Hu.
The two bosses accompanying Huang Yi-Hu looked at him strangely. They did not say anything but their eyes spoke volumes – aren’t you an underworld boss? Can you take being cursed at like that?
Huang Yi-Hu was so angry his face had turned the colour of pig liver. He regretted bringing just one bodyguard this time. Xia Lei had insulted and provoked him but he could not beat him in a fight!
The accompanying bosses had their own bodyguards too but Xia Lei’s earlier display of skill had shocked them and they wouldn’t challenge Xia Lei even if their bosses told them to.
The atmosphere turned heavy with nervous tension.
Huang Yi-Hu reached for his waist with his hand.
Xia Lei looked at Huang Yi-Hu’s waist area and his eye twitched, revealing a black handgun. He felt a jolt of nervousness and quickly thought of countermeasures. He looked at Li Yu-Lan next, and prepared to push her towards Huang Yi-Hu the moment he took out the gun, then take the opportunity to hit the gun out of his hands.
It was very risky to do so but it was also the best course of action.
Li Yu-Lan suddenly grabbed Huang Yi-Hu’s hand in the nick of time and she said something quietly in his ear.
Xia Lei looked at her lips and lip-read her words.
‘Hu, this kid is provoking you deliberately. He’s got someone backing him. Even if you take your gun out and kill him, we’ll be finished if you shoot him in broad daylight. He’s a poor little bastard so hold off your grudge against him – there will be plenty of opportunities to take care of him.’ This was what Li Yu-Lan said to Huang Yi-Hu.
Huang Yi-Hu put his hand down, looked at Xia Lei and spoke fiercely, “You know who I am, punk?”
Xia Lei relaxed and put down his guard a little and spoke with equal measure, “Huang Yi-Hu, I’d recognise you even if you were turned to ash. I’ll state today that you will pay for my friend’s life sooner or later.”
“Hahaha…” Huang Yi-Hu guffawed, “You? You will make me pay? Can you?”
Xia Lei sneered, “You’ll know soon whether I can or not.”
Huang Yi-Hu pointed at Xia Lei, “Fine. You have balls. Use whatever you have to come at me. I’ll take it all. I’d like to see who gets the last laugh!”
Li Yu-Lan maintained calm all throughout and she had thought about the details. She asked probingly, “Mr Xia, I did not expect to run into you again so soon. Let me ask this – what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to look at this piece of land,” said Xia Lei.
“Look at this piece of land?” Li Yu-Lan looked at Xia Lei in surprise.
Huang Yi-Hu and the two bosses also looked at him in surprise.