In the 1980s, 500,000 yuan was a huge sum of money. Back then, being a household with 10,000 yuan was already extraordinary, and 100,000 yuan was considered superhuman. Who could come up with 500,000 yuan in such a short period of time?

“Yes, 500,000, and these homeowners harbor deep resentment towards her. Bai Weiwei is trying to get something for nothing, and she also wants to use the former sock factory manager to take back the property deeds. They’ll be overjoyed if we buy the property deeds.” Qin Xiaoyu still seemed very confident.

"I can come up with 100,000 yuan. If that's not enough, I can sell a few more shops," Qi Si immediately offered.

"We can get 100,000 yuan from the clothing factory and various department stores." Qin Xiaoyu had already calculated it.

The garment factory originally had some capital accumulation, but it recently invested in a counter in Fengcheng. They've just paid out a month's wages, and now they can only wait for the counter's cashback, which takes time. Their short-term cash flow is tied up; otherwise, they wouldn't be short by much.

"Don't give up so easily, think of a way first." Qi Si is a real man after all, and he's been fighting his way up since he was young, so he's got guts.

"This is our last chance, let's give it our all." Qin Xiaoyu considered the people around her. There were a few well-off families who should be able to contribute some money. The most important thing was that they couldn't make this public. They could only borrow money from people who knew their backgrounds. If Bai Weiwei found out, she would probably find it easier to raise money, given her status as the mayor's wife.

Upon hearing that money needed to be raised, Commander Zhou and his family, including Zhou Yue, immediately contributed 110,000 yuan. Qin Xiaoyu then realized that she had underestimated everyone's strength.

Commander Wang was always generous with her money, and having just held her wedding, she didn't have much savings. However, she was well-liked and had a wide network of connections, so she managed to raise 30,000 yuan.

My cousin's wife originally intended to allocate funds for my cousin to open a factory, but now she has to suspend the project and deduct 30,000 yuan. With this arrangement, she now has nearly 400,000 yuan.

There are two days left until the final deadline.

Everyone was frantically raising money. Tang Long and Xiao Pang brought back more than 20,000 yuan, Director Zhang's family raised 20,000 yuan, and later Xiao Li's mother shamelessly borrowed from all her relatives and got another 10,000 yuan.

"Sister-in-law, thank you so much." Qin Xiaoyu held the money, not knowing how to express her gratitude.

"It's all a family matter. The most important thing is to save the land. It's heartbreaking to see such a nice house being demolished like this." Xiaoli's mother is a straightforward person, and she has done her best to help her daughter's husband's family.

The gap was getting smaller and smaller, and Qin Xiaoyu could see hope.

Everyone got into the zone and began a thorough search. Qin Xiaoyu had never felt money so dear before. She rummaged through all her bags that she didn't usually use and managed to scrape together a few hundred yuan.

"Mom, this is my money." Hanhan was the first to take out her piggy bank. There were over three hundred yuan inside.

"This is mine! I'm telling you, it's a loan from you, you have to pay me back when you have the money!" Xiao Jin had always managed to get a lot of money from Zhou Yue, and she pulled out eight hundred yuan in one go, which startled everyone.

Sister-in-law Ge is usually thrifty and has over three thousand yuan in savings. Tang Hu's mother ate with them, saving more than two thousand yuan.

The wife managed to scrape together three thousand. Even Xiao Chen brought over three hundred.

The names on Qin Xiaoyu's bills were getting longer and longer, and the amount of money was also increasing, getting closer to what they needed.

The deadline has arrived; there's only one day left.

Uncle San has already arranged for fifty homeowners to come to Hengchang, and they are just waiting for Qin Xiaoyu to deliver the money.

There were no hundred-yuan bills, but the 500,000 yuan was packed into more than a dozen sacks, which Qin Xiaoyu, along with Qi Si and the others, carried into the conference room.

The place was packed with people; they had been eagerly awaiting their money for a long time and were finally getting it today.

This is something that has been petitioned on multiple occasions without success. Firstly, Bai Weiwei genuinely has a cash flow problem.

Secondly, she is a bully who preys on the weak. She will delay paying the money as long as possible, since they are just a bunch of ordinary people and there's nothing they can do about her.

Unexpectedly, despite all the precautions, Qin Xiaoyu took advantage of the situation.

Hearing that the sack was full of money, everyone in the room got excited and almost pushed the table into the corner.

"What kind of bullshit mayor's wife is she? She doesn't keep her word. It's better to get the money now." Someone shouted, and others immediately echoed.

"Alright, everyone line up and come collect your money with your property deeds," Qin Xiaoyu said, maintaining order.

"Wait a minute, I have something to say."

Bai Weiwei's voice came from the doorway. She was walking quickly, her face covered in sweat, followed by a group of people, all carrying bags. However, those bags were much more professional than Qin Xiaoyu's; they even had the bank's stamp on them, indicating that the funds had been directly transferred.

They're here to cause trouble.

"I never expected you to have this trick up your sleeve. Luckily, I wasn't too slow." Bai Weiwei arrived just in time.

"If you can't fulfill the contract, I'll do it. You don't have any objections, do you?" Qin Xiaoyu smiled coldly.

“I have a problem with this.” Bai Weiwei smiled smugly, clapped her hands and said, “Attention everyone! Anyone who comes here now to collect their contract and pay will receive an extra thousand yuan for each contract.”

The crowd erupted in uproar. A thousand yuan was a huge sum of money.

"How long has that bitch been dragging her along? If we don't give it to her, we'd rather not have that thousand!" someone said, but their voice clearly lacked conviction.

"A thousand is not a small amount; how much can one earn in a year?"

"Are you paying in cash?" someone asked tentatively.

"Cash, I'll take it right away!" Bai Weiwei was going all out.

"Can you trust me? I'll add another thousand, and that thousand will be in place tomorrow!" Qin Xiaoyu said anxiously.

"These days, who can you trust? Whoever gives you cash, you give it to."

"That's true, it takes two years to get a new IOU, and there's no guarantee what will happen!" someone muttered.

The situation was already chaotic. Seeing that his efforts were about to be in vain, Third Uncle turned pale and was ready to give up.

Qin Xiaoyu knew that this amount of money was her last resort; it was impossible for her to come up with tens of thousands more. It seemed that she couldn't save the house.

"Don't panic! Listen to me!" came another voice from the doorway.

“We also have cash, Xiaoyu, let’s find some cash!” Factory Director Xie led several female workers in, who were in pairs, each carrying a bag.

"What is this?" Qin Xiaoyu was taken aback; she couldn't believe that Factory Director Xie could come up with so much money.

"This is money raised by all the employees of our factory, ten yuan each. There are six hundred people, including current employees and retirees, totaling sixty thousand yuan, to cheer on Director Qin!" Director Xie turned to the business owners and said loudly, "Twelve thousand two hundred yuan per person, pay now, do you want it or not!"

"Yes!" The answer came in unison. They already had a lot of complaints about Bai Weiwei, and now that someone was offering more money than her, why not? They got more money and also slapped that woman in the face.

"Don't move, wait for me to go back and get the funds!" Bai Weiwei shouted hurriedly.

"Are you going to raise the price again?" someone asked.

"Raise it! I'll add another thousand!"

Bai Weiwei's words caused the crowd to stir again.