He still harbored some doubts about the information from Song Qiao, so he immediately asked Pei Jing to confirm it.

There is indeed such a person, but it will take some time to collect evidence.

He sent Song Xingyao a text message to let her know, and then left Tiansheng again.

Even Pei Jing wasn't with them; no one knew where he went.

Li Hao was summoned by Sun Jiming a week before the start of the second bidding meeting.

Stepping back into Liangyan, it was much quieter than before.

Without those colorful lights, it feels like a truly quiet place to eat.

Pushing open the door, I found that almost everyone in the room was already there.

Almost all of them are familiar faces.

A group of entrepreneurs of some standing in Jiangcheng gathered in a meeting of a group that would become the future Minister of Commerce.

No one would think this place is innocent.

Li Hao glanced around, but the place did look clean today. There were no hostesses, and the room was much quieter than when he had come before.

Sun Jiming naturally saw him as well.

Secretary Xia led the person to an empty seat near Sun Jiming.

He bowed again to the people inside, then went out and closed the door for them.

Sun Jiming took a sip of the wine in his glass and spoke.

"Everyone knows why I brought you all here: if there's meat, we should share it; if there's wine, we should drink it together."

As he spoke, he raised his glass.

The people inside followed his gesture and raised their glasses; no one dared to disrespect him.

He nodded in satisfaction. "I knew it. I, Sun, hadn't misjudged you. As you all know, the second round of bidding for the construction of the exchange area is about to begin. After the last round of qualification confirmation, the experts on the bidding committee specifically determined that we could cooperate in the bidding. We are all top-ranking companies in Jiangcheng. We can't let Tiansheng alone make all the money, can we? Hmm?"

His speech was very impassioned. After a moment of silence, some people quickly spoke up in support of him.

"Of course, Minister Sun has given us such a great opportunity, we can't just sit idly by and let Tiansheng take the lead."

Li Hao remained silent, his gaze passing over the wine glass to the person who was speaking.

That person was Mr. Yu, the one who took Xiaowen out last time.

After he finished speaking, rustling sounds of discussion filled the room.

One of the managers hesitated before speaking up: "But bidding involves not only economic strength but also the presentation of bids. Won't that take a while...?"

Sun Jiming smiled and said, "Don't worry, if you have to worry about this, then there's no sincerity in our cooperation."

He clapped his hands, and immediately someone brought in a thick stack of tender documents.

The space that was originally for wine glasses was now occupied by a thick, tall stack of tender documents.

“I’ve got everything ready. All you need to do is provide your official seal and signature, and that will be half done.”

The crowd fell silent; everyone knew what the other half he was referring to was.

That is the economic strength of competition.

But who here can rival Tiansheng?

Sun Jiming glanced around, and when no one spoke, his brow twitched.

He was facing Li Hao, who had just finished a glass of wine.

He spoke slowly, "Why don't you let President Li make a statement first?"

Li Hao straightened up slightly and looked around.

"One billion."

A thunderbolt struck the water, creating a large splash.

Even Sun Jiming was stunned.

He then calmly explained, "I mean, I personally contribute 1 billion. I've had a professional estimate calculated, and such a good project would cost at most 2 billion. I don't think Tiansheng would go too far to be a sucker. Minister Sun said he doesn't support a monopoly, so I can only try my best to share the burden."

After saying that, he symbolically raised his glass, which had been refilled with wine, to Sun Jiming.

The crowd was in an uproar; no one had expected that this dark horse, Li Hao, could come up with so much money.

They all started to make plans in their minds.

Sun Jiming hadn't expected Li Hao to bring out so much.

Sure enough, once someone spoke up and took the lead, others immediately echoed their sentiments.

Some people are taking a wait-and-see approach, after all, there's a huge risk involved in throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars in cash flow.

Even if the exchange area generates revenue after its completion, how long will it take to recoup the investment?

Investments that involve both risk and reward require careful consideration from anyone.

Only Sun Jiming, with admiration, shifted his gaze from Li Hao to the others.

Mr. Yu gritted his teeth: "I'll offer 200 million."

"I'll offer 100 million..."

...

Soon, the amount of just over 2 billion yuan was raised, and Sun Jiming was very satisfied.

He personally clinked his wine glass against the one in Li Hao's hand.

“I knew that President Li had good judgment in joining midway.”

"You're too kind, Minister Sun has given us the opportunity to make money together."

Under the lights, the shrewd look in Li Hao's eyes was blurred by the spotlights overhead.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you!"

The gathering inside the room ended after this toast.

Li Hao didn't leave as hastily as usual.

After most of the people had left, he asked with a hint of respect, "Minister Sun, the girl you arranged to come to my side last time, didn't she come today?"

Sun Jiming was taken aback, then immediately burst into laughter. Several bosses who hadn't gone far turned back to look in the direction of the private room.

"I never thought that Mr. Li, who is usually indifferent to women, would be so captivated by them. I understand. It's a special time lately, so we didn't arrange for them to come over. Mr. Li would like Xiaoxiao to keep you company? Then I'll send her to your room."

His tone was flippant and teasing, with an expression that said, "I'm a man, I know what I'm doing."

Li Hao smiled but did not deny it.

Sun Jiming was overjoyed, feeling that his decision to have Sun Xiaoxiao serve Li Hao was a stroke of genius.

Even heroes can't resist the charms of a beautiful woman!

Moreover, he was just an ordinary, worldly businessman.

"If you're looking for Xiaoxiao, contact him. I'll explain everything to him."

He sent Zheng Zhonglai's phone number to Li Hao.

A seemingly refined but secretly passionate man like him would actually chase after a woman.

That's certainly interesting.

Li Hao politely thanked him and left.

Holding the cigarette he had just taken out but hadn't put in his mouth, he extinguished it in the metal basin beside him.

Li Hao didn't think too much about it; he just saw Sun Xiaoxiao's information from Fu Siming.

I later learned that almost all the people in those erotic venues came from orphanages.

She was the oldest one there.

Such a person is either utterly loyal or utterly traitorous.

He was gambling, but he didn't actually reject contact with her.

This is a key reason why Li Hao chose her.

He didn't want to touch women of the night in those kinds of places, even if they were young girls.

But when Sun Xiaoxiao first took him into that room with the peculiar fetish and was rejected, the blush on her face couldn't hide the fact that she was still a girl.

Would a woman who has been in the entertainment industry for so many years still blush?

"Of course not," he was certain.

So he wondered whether this woman was a loyal subject or a traitor.