Chapter 9: Let's do some good deeds.
A few days later.
Jiang Qingying arrived at the company early in the morning. Zhou Yu had already prepared the materials she needed and placed them on his desk. She quickly flipped through them, with a cup of coffee prepared by Zhou Yu beside her.
What do you think?
Jiang Qingying suddenly asked a question, and Zhou Yu's heart skipped a beat. He replied, "On the surface, it seems like nothing, but in reality, it's just a facade of peace before the turmoil."
The Lu Group is now roughly divided into two factions: Lu Jinyuan's faction and Lu Yunsong's faction. The projects that the Lu Group is currently undertaking are highly polarized. On one side is the new force led by Lu Jinyuan, who brings more advanced and innovative management concepts. On the other side is the traditional faction led by Lu Yunsong, whose business thinking is conservative. However, this faction is mainly targeting Lu Jinyuan and consists of a group of elders who rely on their seniority.
Jiang Qingying curled the corners of her lips, closed the folder, and put the matter aside for the time being.
Seeing this, Zhou Yu handed her the work schedule, saying, "This is the work schedule for this week. Please take a look."
Jiang Qingying glanced around briefly, then stopped at a certain spot. "Is there an auction tomorrow?"
Zhou Yu thought for a moment, "It's that plot of land we inspected last time, but didn't you say..."
"Hmm." Jiang Qingying slowly took a sip of coffee. The rich aroma of the coffee, tinged with bitterness, gradually drove away the morning drowsiness. "But that doesn't stop me from watching the excitement."
Zhou Yu pursed his lips. "Okay, I'll make the arrangements."
Jiang Qingying continued browsing the worksheet, pointing to a particular row with her fingertip, "What kind of activity is this?"
Zhou Yu noticed and explained, "You were invited to be a presenter at an awards ceremony hosted by a video platform that our group sponsored."
Jiang Qingying frowned, dissatisfied with his unilateral decision. "When did I agree to that?"
Zhou Yu felt ashamed and took a deep breath. "This was agreed upon by Madam on your behalf."
Jiang Qingying's furrowed brows relaxed; it was her dear mother.
"It's alright, you can go back to your work."
Zhou Yu nodded respectfully and turned to leave.
Jiang Qingying immediately called Qin Qing, and the call was answered quickly.
"Hello, Mom."
Why are you calling my wife so early?
Upon hearing her father's voice, Jiang Qingying laughed and said, "My mother hasn't gotten up yet."
Jiang Chen: "She's up, but your phone call woke her up, and she's throwing a tantrum."
Jiang Qingying sighed helplessly, but knew that this was probably a joke. "Dad, why did Mom agree to this awards ceremony for me? I hate those kinds of social events the most."
Jiang Chen recalled for a moment, then smiled maliciously, "Your mother happened to be playing mahjong with the organizers that day, and then she just casually agreed."
"Is it really because of this?" Jiang Qingying asked.
It's no wonder she asked so many questions, because Qin Qing never interfered in company affairs, and even after Jiang Chen stepped down, she rarely inquired about them. So, something must be amiss if things are not going well.
There was some static on the other end of the phone, and the next second Qin Qing's voice could be heard, "It's such a waste not to show such a beautiful face."
She has repeatedly expressed regret that her daughter's face did not sweep the entertainment industry, and she couldn't wait to tell the world that she had such a beautiful daughter.
"Don't we already have a celebrity in our family?" Jiang Qingying rubbed her temples. "You can just mess with that kid Jiang Xu."
"That's different. If you show your face, you might get on the trending topics or something, and then I can use Weibo to find you a husband across the entire internet."
"Mom!" Jiang Qingying was angry, but she couldn't take it out on her elderly mother. "I already have a plan for this, please don't worry."
"...What are your plans?"
Jiang Qingying looked slightly taken aback and said vaguely, "It's not convenient to talk about it now, but I have plans."
Qin Qing sensed that she was a little angry, and tentatively asked, "Are you still going?"
Jiang Qingying swallowed hard, then adopted a gentler tone, "Go ahead, when have I ever disobeyed you?"
Qin Qingfang, who was on tenterhooks, told her to take care of her health and not to work too hard.
The awards ceremony was scheduled for the next few days, so Jiang Qingying didn't interfere and left the matter to Zhou Yu.
The next day, Jiang Qingying attended the auction dressed in a pure white business suit. Following the instructions of the staff, she took her seat and immediately felt an unfriendly gaze directed at her. She glanced over and saw it was Chen Liqian.
Chen Liqian gave her a disdainful smile, but Jiang Qingying ignored him completely and whispered to Zhou Yu, "How much has the starting price been raised?"
Zhou Yu: "1.58 billion."
Jiang Qingying raised an eyebrow; he was taller than she had imagined.
Just as the auction was about to begin, a sudden commotion broke out in the room, and everyone's eyes were drawn to one spot.
As Lu Jinyuan walked from the main entrance to the main seat, he was surrounded by all sorts of gazes—surprised, disappointed, and even Jiang Qingying, who was there to watch the drama unfold.
The venue was arranged with the auction stage at the center and the auctioneers' positions arranged in an arc around it. Lu Jinyuan sat in the very center, Chen Liqian sat not far to his left, while Jiang Qingying sat discreetly in the far right corner.
Perhaps Jiang Qingying's subtle gaze was too conspicuous, for Lu Jinyuan's gaze shifted to the right and met hers. His sword-like eyebrows lifted slightly, his eyes remained calm, and a faint smile floated on his face.
Jiang Qingying didn't respond to him, but simply looked away quietly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the auction. Today's items for auction are three plots of land in the South District of Nanzhou City, totaling 338 acres. Please allow me to briefly introduce the basic information of these auction items..."
The auctioneer's fluent delivery of lines made the competing items sound perfect, and Jiang Qingying didn't hear a word he said until she heard the start of the bidding. Only then did she come to her senses and be the first to raise her paddle.
"Add another ten million."
"Jiang Group plus 10 million, 1.59 billion."
Chen Liqian raised his sign, looking at Jiang Qingying with a defiant expression, "Add twenty million."
"The Chen Group adds 20 million, bringing the total to 1.61 billion."
Jiang Qingying pursed her lips, stopped raising her paddle, and rested her chin on her hand, watching the group of shills trying to drive up the price.
When the price reached 1.8 billion, Jiang Qingying saw the two people behind Chen Liqian doing calculations. She stopped smiling and gestured for Zhou Yu to raise his paddle.
Not to be outdone, Chan Lai-him also raised his sign.
Jiang Qingying was mentally calculating the price when she saw Lu Jinyuan raise his hand, and Qi Xin next to him raised his sign.
"The Lu Group, which we've been waiting for, has finally made its move. The auction price has reached 1.83 billion. Are there any higher bids?"
Jiang Qingying met Lu Jinyuan's gaze from afar for a moment. He calmly smiled faintly, and she muttered to herself, "He actually knew what I was going to do."
When the auctioneer called the price for the second time, Jiang Qingying raised her paddle before Chen Liqian and gave him a triumphant smile.
"Does Mr. Chen want to continue bidding?" the auctioneer asked.
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Liqian said, "Add ten million."
"18.5 billion." Before the auctioneer could speak, Lu Jinyuan preempted him. He paused for half a second, then flashed a professional smile. "Mr. Lu, add another 20 million, bringing the bid to 1.85 billion. Mr. Chen and Mr. Jiang, would you like to raise the bid?"
Jiang Qingying suppressed a laugh, turned her head slightly to the left to look at Lu Jinyuan, and slowly raised her wrist to make a gesture of deference. Her gentle smile was simply captivating.
Chen Liqian's assistant and finance staff behind him were clearly flustered; the price was almost exceeding the budget.
Zhou Yu whispered in Jiang Qingying's ear, "Aren't you going to call anymore?"
“If Chen Liqian hadn’t poached my senior executives the other day, I wouldn’t have bothered coming here to play with him today.” Jiang Qingying shook her head, feigning regret, but her words were tinged with schadenfreude. “This price is about right. It would be unethical to raise it any higher.”
Zhou Yu: "......"
Chen Liqian finally raised the price, just before the hammer fell on the third bid.
"1.86 billion, now it belongs to Mr. Chen. Mr. Lu, would you like to raise the bid?" The auctioneer's words were polite and measured, but every word was dripping with the lure of money.
"19." Lu Jinyuan said these words effortlessly, yet they caused an uproar throughout the room.
The auctioneer's mouth was practically stretched to his ears with a wide smile as he looked at the hesitant Chen Liqian. "Mr. Chen, we've all been waiting for you."
Jiang Qingying clicked her tongue and shook her head. "So ruthless."
Chen Liqian's grip on the bidding hand tightened. He looked at Lu Jinyuan, who remained calm and composed, as if Lu Jinyuan was challenging him. With a determined look, he gritted his teeth.
"19.5!"
This time, applause erupted in the room, and even Jiang Qingying couldn't help but clap. Lu Jinyuan, who was sitting in the center, just looked like he hadn't had enough, but Jiang Qingying saw the scheming hidden in his eyes. If she were the one playing mind games with him today, she might not be able to win.
The auctioneer had already made his second bid. Lu Jinyuan noticed Jiang Qingying looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He went up to her and asked her silently. Jiang Qingying moved her red lips up and down, making a silent utterance.
"Have some decency."
Lu Jinyuan understood, couldn't help but chuckle softly, turned to look at the auctioneer, and shook his head at him.
"1.95 billion, the third time!"
Thump—
The decision was final.
"Congratulations, Mr. Chen, on successfully winning the bid at a price of 1.95 billion!"
Apart from Lu Jinyuan and Jiang Qingying, everyone present stood up and applauded. Chen Liqian faced the people who came to congratulate him with a stiff smile. His back was already drenched in sweat, but he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing that Jiang Qingying was about to leave, he held his chin high and quickly walked up to her, blocking her way: "President Jiang, you are too kind."
There wasn't a trace of humility in his tone.
Jiang Qingying finally managed to give him a forced smile, "Congratulations."
Chen Liqian: "Perhaps it's a shared joy; when something good happens, we'll definitely share some with President Jiang."
Jiang Qingying was stunned, speechless and unsure what to say to him. After a long pause, she said, "I dare not accept such praise; I am not worthy of such an honor."
Chen Liqian thought she was aggrieved, and suddenly felt a sense of revenge, so he was in a great mood and made way for her.
Jiang Qingying walked out the door and suddenly stopped, startling Zhou Yu who was following behind her.
She turned to Zhou Yu and asked, "I really... I'm not soft-hearted at all."
Anyway, it's Lu Jinyuan who's the one who's immoral, not her!
Even after saying that, he still found it unbelievable and exclaimed, "How did such a stupid person become a CEO?"
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