The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

The two arrived at the company in the morning. Everyone in the entire group was relaxed, even though they all knew today was the bidding day for the Qingtian project. Those who were in on the secret knew the bid was a sure thing, so they weren't worried at all. As for those who weren't in the know, they figured that since the Li Group had merged with the Huang Company to become the largest and most powerful construction company in Jiangzhou, there were no rivals left to worry about.

When Chen Dong arrived at the office, Wang Hao was bragging about what had happened by the river yesterday. "Xu Qing, you have no idea! That Evil Flood Dragon blotted out the sky! It was unbelievably ferocious, killing everything in its path..."

Xu Qing snorted. "You're full of it. Who believes in dragons these days? They already put out a statement debunking it, saying it was a movie shoot using the latest naked-eye 3D effects!"

"But it's true! There really was a dragon, right on the riverbank not far from our company," Wang Hao tried desperately to explain. Seeing Chen Dong, he immediately called out, "Brother Dong's here! If you don't believe me, ask him! Wasn't there a dragon?"

Chen Dong wasn't particularly interested. He nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah, there was a dragon."

Xu Qing hurried over. "Really? Brother Dong, you saw it too?"

Chen Dong nodded again. "I didn't just see it, I was almost eaten by it. It could have turned me into a human popsicle with a single breath!"

Xu Qing slapped her forehead. "Oh, great. Now Brother Dong has been infected by Wang Hao and started making things up!" Clearly, she didn't believe him either.

Too broke for pay-to-win games, Chen Dong decided not to log on. Instead, he just found a random movie to watch.

As it happened, the star was Qin Yun. It was a historical epic about a powerful heroine whose family was massacred, leading her to master martial arts and seek revenge. The plot was cliché, but Qin Yun's performance was excellent.

After Chen Dong finished the movie, Li Huiran sent him a message asking him to accompany her to the bidding.

Chen Dong naturally agreed.

The two of them drove to the Jiangzhou Hotel. Since the Qingtian project hadn't broken ground yet, the Zhao Family didn't have their own office building in Jiangzhou. They typically stayed at the Jiangzhou Hotel whenever they were in town.

The Jiangzhou Hotel had plenty of conference rooms that were often rented out by large corporations for annual meetings, making it a suitable venue for the bidding as well.

When they arrived at the bidding hall, it was already crowded. Some people were there as escorts, like Chen Dong. Others were simply spectators, drawn in by the buzz; after all, the Qingtian project involved a massive amount of capital and was the talk of Jiangzhou. This group included numerous reporters. Then there were those hoping for a lucky break—representatives from various small and medium-sized construction companies. If the project happened to fall into their laps, it would be like winning the lottery.

Upon seeing Li Huiran, Lu Dian and Lu Chunqing strutted over, their chests puffed out.

Lu Dian's eyes were filled with contempt. "What's this?" he sneered. "Did Li Jianwen know he was going to lose face, so he sent a little girl to do it for him?"

Lu Chunqing chimed in, "Maybe President Li figured that since she's so beautiful, he'd have her try a honey trap. Perhaps the Zhao Family will give her some bonus points!"

At this, Lu Dian and Lu Chunqing shared a forced laugh. They had already confirmed that Zhao Yiniann wasn't interested in women, so it didn't matter how devastatingly beautiful Li Huiran was. Her looks couldn't possibly change the outcome.

Chen Dong gave the Lu father and son a cold look. "The two of you don't look so well today," he said calmly. "You'd better have some Lifesaving Pills ready, just in case you can't handle the shock and drop dead."

Lu Chunqing roared, "How dare you curse us! I'm telling you, after today, even if you, Chen Dong, get on your knees and lick my shoes, I won't give a single scrap of the project to your Li Family!"

Lu Dian chuckled. "Son, don't be so heartless. We were all colleagues once, after all. If Chen Dong kneels, you don't have to give him a thing. But if the lovely President Li gets on her knees... well, even if you don't do it for her, you do it for the view. You'd have to give them something then, wouldn't you? That is, if President Li is willing to get on her knees!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the father and son burst into laughter, acting as if they had already won the bid.

Li Huiran gave them an icy glance and said coldly, "Lunatics."

Lu Dian patted his son's shoulder, laughing. "See? She's angry! She's angry!" Then, his expression instantly turned cold. With a twitch of his lips, he said in a sinister voice, "Just you wait. Soon you'll have a real reason to be angry."

With that, the two of them walked away.

Li Huiran looked at Chen Dong. "Are they really that confident?"

Chen Dong shrugged. "I'm not them, so how would I know? Everyone's wired differently."

Li Huiran nodded silently.

Soon, it was time. Zhao Yiniann entered the hall with Daoist Bo Qing.

He cleared his throat and said formally, "The rules were posted outside, but I will state them again here. The bidding for the Qingtian International project will be conducted as a blind bid. All decisions will be made at the sole discretion of the Zhao Clan, and the Zhao Clan reserves all rights of final interpretation. Please place your bid proposals into this box. I will select one to be the winner. Does anyone have any objections? Speak now."

"None!"

"None!"

Zhao Yiniann nodded with a smile. "Very good. Please submit your bid proposals."

Lu Dian was the first to rise and submit his proposal. The Zhao Family's choice of a blind bid suited him perfectly. Though he had prepared a serious proposal, the secret agreement he had with Zhao Yiniann made this format much easier to manipulate.

After submitting his proposal, Lu Dian shot Zhao Yiniann a meaningful look.

Zhao Yiniann smiled and returned the look, which made Lu Dian all the more convinced that his victory was a sure thing.