I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 399 Slapping Others in the Face Only to Get Slapped in the Face Himself
"Yes, but I couldn't be happier." Huang Zhihai smiled. "How can Huacheng Development's capabilities compare to our Country Garden? We've finally got a chance to teach them a lesson!"

“However, I admire Fang Qingye’s courage. He actually dared to acquire land at this time, and he even specifically chose the expensive ones,” Cao Rui said.

Huang Zhihai snorted coldly: "Arrogant and ignorant! Let's see how reality slaps him in the face!"
But to his surprise, he was proven wrong just two days later.

This morning, Huang Zhihai went to his office, turned on his computer, made a cup of tea, and was about to flip a deck of cards when his secretary, Xiao Zhao, hurriedly walked in, holding a document in her hand.

"Manager Huang, we just received an urgent fax from the provincial company, requesting us to withdraw our application to bid for plot No. 6 in Jinghai City."

"What? Withdraw?"

Huang Zhihai took the document and looked at it carefully. Sure enough, the fax clearly stated that in order to alleviate the group's financial pressure and prioritize the supply of funds for the construction of real estate projects in key cities such as Anhui, Beijing, Suzhou, and Wuxi, the bidding applications for 4 plots of land were withdrawn, all of which were concentrated in central and northern Jiangsu, including plot No. 6 in Jinghai City.

"Damn it! We're all stepchildren!" Huang Zhihai couldn't help but curse.

"Manager Huang, shall we apply?" Xiao Zhao asked after a moment.

Huang Zhihai suppressed his anger and said, "Have Manager Cao come over here."

Despite losing my temper, I still have to carry out the decisions made by my superiors.

"Ok."

Xiao Zhao left in a hurry, and a few minutes later Cao Rui knocked on the door and came in.

Xiao Zhao had clearly already told him the contents of the fax, so as soon as he saw Huang Zhihai, he couldn't help but complain: "Manager Huang, what kind of nonsense is this? Won't it be embarrassing if our competitors find out?"

"It's embarrassing, but we have to do it." Huang Zhihai sighed and handed the fax to him again: "I'm leaving this to you. Please make a trip to the trading center."

"Ah? Shall I go?"

“You’ve been in charge of this project all along, if you don’t go, who will?!” Huang Zhihai retorted.

What the hell!

I do all the dirty and tiring work, and you expect me to do the shameful things too?!

Cao Rui was furious.

But there was nothing he could do but accept the fax and leave the office.

After Cao Rui left, Huang Zhihai said angrily, "Fang Qingye, you got off easy this time! Wait till I get my hands on you next time!"

Then Cao Rui arrived at the Municipal Land Acquisition, Reserve and Transaction Center by car and met with Deputy Director Zhang, who was in charge of this business.

Country Garden is a large real estate company with development projects not only in Jinghai city but also in counties such as Nanxin and Wuyang, so Cao Rui and Director Zhang are familiar with each other.

Upon hearing Cao Rui say that he wanted to withdraw the bidding application materials, he couldn't help but smile wryly and say, "Manager Cao, to be honest, we have already submitted the application materials of all the bidding companies to the Land and Resources Bureau, and they may already be on Director Cui's desk."

Cao Rui, of course, recognized Director Cui as the top official of the Municipal Land and Resources Bureau, and was immediately taken aback: "Is it impossible to revoke it?"

"Of course you can. According to the regulations, you can withdraw your bid three days before the auction starts," Director Zhang explained, then couldn't help but complain, "If that's the case, you Country Garden should have just decided not to participate in the first place, to avoid this trouble."

"Well, actually, we really wanted to participate in this auction. To be honest, we were determined to get plot number six! But the provincial company went back on its word, and there was nothing we could do," Cao Rui explained.

Director Zhang also knew that Country Garden Suzhou Branch was in a somewhat awkward position. Although it was nominally a legal entity, it was under the strict control of the provincial company. The company's land acquisition and building project design had to be reviewed and approved by the provincial company.

So he didn't say anything more: "Okay, follow the procedure. Fill out the withdrawal application form first."

What Director Zhang and Cao Rui didn't know was that Director Cui had not only reviewed the detailed application materials of the bidding companies, but had also sent copies to the district government offices of the four districts under the jurisdiction of Jinghai.

Mei Shuwei was in his office looking at the documents and materials sent by the Municipal Land and Resources Bureau.

He was originally the deputy director of the Municipal Finance Bureau, and was appointed as the head of Pingdong District at the Municipal People's Congress in March of this year. In the past, as the head of a district, he would not have cared about such trivial matters as land auctions; at most, the Finance Bureau would handle it.

But not this year.

In the third quarter, Pingdong District listed 10 plots of land of various types for sale, the most among the four districts under the city's jurisdiction, but 4 plots failed to sell! Among them, 3 plots were residential land, and 2 failed to sell! This is the highest number among the four districts.

It's utterly shameful.

Of course, losing face is a minor matter; the more important thing is that the land cannot be sold, which seriously affects the district's fiscal revenue.

Jinghai is not as good as Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, but land revenue accounts for a large proportion of its fiscal revenue, and the same is true for Pingdong District.

This prompted Alexander, the newly appointed district head, to take office.

The upcoming fourth land auction will be the last centralized auction of the year, and Pingdong District will have 12 plots listed, the most in the four auctions this year. Mei Shuwei naturally attaches great importance to this and personally called to have the relevant documents sent to his office.

He sipped his tea while flipping through the information of the companies participating in the auction.

Most of them are local urban enterprises, and you can roughly tell the type of land they are bidding for from the nature of these enterprises.

Jinke Real Estate is a relatively large real estate company in the city, mainly developing residential buildings.

Tongfang Science and Technology Park is land purchased by their own company for building office buildings.

Country Garden?
Finally, a national real estate company has joined the bidding. Last year, large real estate companies such as Vanke and Poly participated in the land auction in Jinghai city. However, due to policy adjustments, only Country Garden remains this year.

Huacheng Development? Is that the real estate company that built Nanxinhu Park?
Mei Shuwei glanced at the company profile again and couldn't help but laugh.

As expected, it was Fang Qingye's company.

The two met at an alumni reunion two years ago. Mei Shuwei was then the deputy director of the municipal finance bureau, and Fang Qingye's second uncle was the director of the county finance bureau, so they kept in touch and had a good relationship.

Fang Qingye resigned from the bank. He felt a little regretful when he found out, because he could have made great strides in his political career. He didn't expect that Fang Qingye would also be so successful in running a business.

In particular, his development of Nanxin Lake Park has earned him high praise not only from leaders of Nanxin County but also from leaders of the city.

I wonder which piece of land Fang Qingye has her eye on?

As Mei Shuwei was pondering this, his secretary suddenly knocked on the door and hurriedly entered.

"District Chief Mei, I just received a call from the Municipal Land and Resources Bureau saying that the list of bidding companies forwarded the day before yesterday has changed, and Country Garden has applied to withdraw from this land auction."

Mei Shuwei gave a wry smile upon hearing this.

He didn't know if the land that Country Garden had its eye on was in Pingdong District, but it was definitely not a good sign.

Oh dear. Could it be that a large number of land parcels in Pingdong District will fail to sell at auction again this time?
Mei Shuwei was somewhat worried, but of course he wouldn't show it in front of his secretary.

"I see."

After the secretary left, Mei Shuwei looked at the list again and suddenly wanted to see Fang Qingye.

Isn't tomorrow the weekend? Let's get together and enjoy some tea; it's one of our shared hobbies.

Mei Shuwei picked up his phone.

At this moment, Fang Qingye was also playing games on the computer in the nursery office. Of course, she wasn't just idly flipping through playing cards; she was playing World of Warcraft.

Last year, the latest expansion for Warcraft, Cataclysm, was released, and he's currently playing the latest version, 4.2: Wrath of Fire.

(End of this chapter)