Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 118 Gu Anbang

Spend a lot on Fridays and Saturdays.

How ruthless?
I bought a car.

The gleaming black Audi A6L drove on the road, occasionally accelerating as the 3.0L, 218-horsepower V6 engine roared slightly, giving a strong sense of power.

Four-wheel drive.

Just step on the gas, and leave the rest to Quattro.

That's not even the best part.

The best part is driving on the roads you built yourself.

The seating arrangement in the car was chaotic: the boss was in the front, the driver was in the front passenger seat, and the assistant was in the back.

"Bro, you make so much money...why don't you buy an A8? It looks way more impressive than this! If you drove an A8 to the construction site, wouldn't that be incredibly cool!"

Despite his complaints, Jiao Gui specially bought a casual polo shirt, dress pants, and leather shoes, and shaved his head into a neat short haircut to match his beloved car.

Chen Xuebing glanced at Jiao Gui, his disdain written all over his face.

"With your skills, buying an A8 would be too much for me! This A6 is only for high-ranking officials! Use this car to practice, and once you've mastered it, I'll buy you a proper, good car!"

After saying that, he accelerated again, enjoying the feeling of being pushed back.

In his previous life, he was a devoted Audi enthusiast, having driven two A6s of different engine displacements and an A8. Behind his hobby, however, lay a desire for power.

Volkswagen and Audi are commonly used official vehicles for government leaders.

He first became fascinated with Audi when he illegally parked his car on the street below a hotel overnight. By dawn, all the illegally parked cars on the street had been ticketed, but his A6 was the only one that was ticketed. The traffic police cautiously called him seven or eight times to wake him up and ask him to move it before the morning rush hour at seven o'clock.

He was young then, and his worldview was influenced by it. He bought an Audi, befriended leaders, and tried to get closer to government power.

But now, his thinking has completely changed. Buying an Audi is just a matter of getting used to Audi, and his status just happens to match. When he needs to get used to a new brand someday, he will get used to it again.

He remains close to the government, but will stay away from politics.

Since his rebirth, he has been constantly striving for money, like a wound-up machine, enduring the wind in winter and the sun in summer. Now that he's back in this car with the air conditioning on, some of his superior mentality is gradually returning.

Jiao Gui, standing beside him, watched him slowly push the steering wheel and felt a pang of envy.

"Brother...aren't you tired yet? I'll drive when we get back to Furong Village?"

Chen Xuebing shook his head and slowly began to speak:
"Jiao Gui, do you know why I'm having a novice driver like you drive for me?"

Jiao Gui's expression turned serious when he heard this question.

"Brother, I understand that you trust me."

"Yes, I've been observing you during this time. You've become more composed than before, but it's not enough. You need to learn to listen and observe more, but don't say what you hear or see. You need to keep it to yourself and let it ferment into your knowledge and cultivation. I don't have many things to keep secret right now, and the people I'm in contact with aren't too complicated, so you still have time to learn. If you want to work for me for a long time, you need to learn to change. If one day people feel that it's abrupt for you to be my driver, then that's your failure."

These words made the other two people in the car feel uneasy.

The man rushed off too fast; the two people who were closely following him knew it best.

One million, four million, twenty million—in the blink of an eye, several months passed. What was most frightening was his confidence. With each step he took in acquiring different amounts of wealth, it seemed that his insatiable mentality remained completely unchanged.

Even if it were 20 million, he still wouldn't feel it was enough.

How did Jiao Gui and Ren Ying, two people from different cultural backgrounds, both feel the same way?
It's actually very simple: being busy.

Just like now, Chen Xuebing didn't even go home after buying the car, nor did he call anyone. He didn't show off or enjoy the process at all, as if he had nothing to be proud of.

They headed straight for Pengshui County.

He always has endless things to do, time is tight, and those around him are busy as well; you can easily feel it.

Jiao Gui was somewhat blind to Chen Xuebing's ideas, and quickly nodded earnestly:
"I understand, boss."

Ren Ying, sitting in the back row, realized that these words weren't just for Jiao Gui's ears, so she sat up straight and stared out the window for a while, deep in thought.

In terms of academic knowledge, she is quite confident. Even though Chen Xuebing didn't make any demands, she has never stopped growing personally. It's just that what she is learning now is more targeted.

She looked down at her clothes, straightened the wrinkles, took off her thick glasses, and blinked hard at the window.

"Mr. Chen... I'd like to ask for leave when I return to Chongqing to have laser surgery."

The road ahead was blocked. Chen Xuebing stopped the car, looked around, and slowly drove the car into a side road before glancing back at Ren Ying.

"Okay, let's find a good one. I'll reimburse you. Also, remember to rest after the laser surgery and don't overuse your eyes... Oh, perfect timing, I'm starting school soon. You can rest for a while, so now is the perfect time to have it done."

"Are you really going to school?" Ren Ying asked in surprise. "Actually, you can just get a certificate from the hospital saying that you are not suitable for prolonged exercise or sun exposure."

Ren Ying is a pragmatic person. With so many things to do lately, what isn't more important than going to school?

In her view, university majors in arts and tourism can't teach Chen Xuebing anything at all; Chen Xuebing's entrepreneurial experience, on the contrary, can teach many people a lesson.

"I'm not suited for sports? If my dad heard that, he'd jump off his grave and beat me up."

Chen Xuebing chuckled, then raised his chin towards the front and said, "I'm here to discuss this with the school leaders. The leaders from the Transportation College are at this construction site today."

He rushed here today because he heard that the leaders of the Jiaotong University were coming to provide guidance.

Although Jiaotong University is small in scale, it now has a top-ranked major that ranks tenth in the country: Bridge and Tunnel Engineering.

There is also a national key laboratory for mountain bridge and tunnel engineering. Professor Gu Anbang, who served as the vice dean of the university and was one of the leaders of the laboratory, guided the design of the Wanzhou Yangtze River Bridge, which won the Zhan Tianyou Civil Engineering Award. It has also won the first, second and third prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and has been nominated for the most influential award in next year's 15th Mao Yisheng Science and Technology Award - the Bridge Award.

This professor is exceptionally capable and has extensive experience in guiding others. He has visited this construction site several times recently.

He first received this information from an unbelievable place.

A few days ago, he was browsing the school's online forum when he had nothing to do.

Many people have mentioned Professor Gu, saying that he is fully qualified to be nominated as an academician of civil engineering, but unfortunately he was held back by the school's ranking.

Out of curiosity, Chen Xuebing specifically searched for the name on the school's online forum and examined it closely.

One of the posts even said that he was recently providing guidance on the Wujiang Grand Bridge in Pengshui.

He quickly called Yang Feng, the project's executive deputy manager, and got confirmation that the person was coming today, along with a leader from the Jiaotong University.

Didn't we all catch up?

Putting aside the current school leaders, this big shot alone should definitely come and get involved; it would be a waste of the opportune moment and location.

……

The car slowly pulled up to the ground floor of the project office building.

After waiting for a while, Zhao Fuhua, the construction site manager, arrived on a red motorcycle and parked behind the Audi. Only after he got off the motorcycle did he reveal Tan Hailiang behind him.

Jiao Gui, sitting in the Audi, felt a pang of heartache.

"My motorcycle..."

He was the one who bought the bike and was the one who rode it. Later, after leaving Pengshui, he gave it to the construction site for use.

Zhao Fuhua adjusted his belt, looked at the new Audi in front of him, and clicked his tongue.

"Tsk tsk, Engineer Tan, look at this project team, they're so rich! They bought an Audi A6! That's a car only high-ranking leaders can ride in!"

This guy used to sell cars in Shanghai. He was circling the back of the car, pointing to the "3.0" badge and explaining the horsepower to Tan Hailiang. Suddenly, the car window rolled down.

"You seem quite knowledgeable."

Zhao Fuhua was surprised to find someone in the car.

"Holy crap... Mr. Chen? This is your car?!"

Tan Hailiang also got in, looking at Chen Xuebing in the driver's seat with a complicated expression: "Mr. Chen, you bought a new car?"

Chen Xuebing glanced at him and said with a faint smile, "What, am I only fit to walk? Since you didn't know I bought a car, you didn't even call to ask if I needed a ride?"

His voice carried an imposing authority even without anger.

If you're not on the construction site for a long time, you have to give your subordinates a taste of discipline periodically.

Especially those like Tan Hailiang who used to be somewhat disrespectful to him.

"Mr. Chen, we thought you chartered a car to come here! You really bought a car! This is the top-of-the-line 3.0 model, it must cost over 700,000 yuan, right?"

Zhao Fuhua came up with a grin to explain to Tan Hailiang, but he had no sense of boundaries and kept peeking through the car window, looking left and right.

Chen Xuebing opened the car door and got out. Seeing the thick layer of mud on the fat man's shoes, he turned around, took out two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes from the car, and tossed them to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen!" Zhao Fuhua said with a beaming smile.

Chen Xuebing also lit a cigarette: "How's the road construction going? Hopefully it won't leave me with no say in the project office?"

Zhao Fuhua immediately patted his chest in confidence.

"With the money in place, how could the work not be done? Tan and I work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, and we've already covered more than two kilometers! The project will definitely be completed by the end of September!"

Chen Xuebing initially paid 470,000 yuan for the road, and the second payment of 1.5 million yuan was split equally between the two parties, with 750,000 yuan remaining. After deducting the 135000 yuan paid to the project department for the grating, there was still nearly 1.1 million yuan left.

Once the project has money to start and the relationships are straightened out, the necessary advance payments have to be made. It's been going on until now, and the 110 million yuan hasn't been spent yet.

Chen Xuebing has kept his promise; the construction site is not in debt.

As for the advance payment for equipment and materials, that's not considered a debt.

That's called the payment cycle.

As long as the money is paid according to the agreed-upon advance payment period, it cannot be called a debt.

This project is fully funded upfront, and the settlement cycle is very simple: once he receives the project payment, it will be settled in one lump sum, and everyone will clear up their accounts.

Chen Xuebing lit a cigarette and began to explain as he puffed out smoke.

“If you don’t have enough money, ask Liang Hui for it. Now is the time to build your reputation, so make sure the quality is good. Also, I’ve taken on a 20 million yuan project in the city, and we’re a bit short-staffed. You guys get to work quickly. Next month, I’ll be transferring half of the management of these two projects to the city.”

A project worth 20 million.

Tan Hailiang immediately realized what was going on.

"Mr. Chen... did you secure that third-tier project?"

"Hmm." Chen Xuebing nodded lightly: "My uncle and Luo Min got divorced. Luo An worked for a while and wants Qingfang to bring him on board. You know this person well, so I'm going to have you represent me and my uncle in this matter. Tan Maoshui is already working on the settlement documents. Call him over in a bit to hand over the technical matters. When I go back, you can come with me."

Tan Hailiang was utterly shocked.

Unexpectedly, even though the matter had already been settled, it still ended up back in Chen Xuebing's hands!

"That's...that's great! But it's been two months since it started operating, right? How much is its output? Clearing out the site will probably require a large sum of money..."

Tan Hailiang was still organizing his thoughts.

Chen Xuebing raised his hand to stop him from speaking, and said:
"I'm sending you there to set the output value for him. Everything will be done according to the contract. After my uncle gets his share, I'll give him the money all at once. You don't need to worry."

"You...aren't you going to show up?"

"I'm too lazy to argue with that family. I'll just follow the contract. If they dare to cause trouble, I'll provide you with manpower."

Chen Xuebing adopted a disdainful attitude, clearly not taking the other party seriously.

Tan Hailiang swallowed twice, sensing that President Chen's aura had become even stronger.

"Um... if they're short-handed over there, I'm actually familiar with all of his work teams. Should we keep them?"

“You two brothers can manage this construction site. We only need workers, not subcontractors. The foremen can sign formal employment contracts. I’ll give you ten slots. I hope your management won’t make me as an eyesore as the Yuzhong construction site.”

Chen Xuebing stubbed out his cigarette in the trash can and threw it in before going upstairs.

The small conference room on the second floor was filled with quiet conversation.

"Actually, dealing with settlement is not my specialty, but according to the hardening requirements of this karst cave, cement grout and resin can meet the requirements for grouting materials. We will drill holes at the entrance and then inject grout into the karst cave through grouting pipes. At the same time, we will set up grouting holes above and inject the grout underground to reinforce the grouting layer."

"Grouting around the annulus?"

"Correct."

Chen Xuebing looked through the window and saw a man with a full head of black hair standing among the group, pointing at the blueprints in front of him and speaking.

He frowned and glanced at the people around him.

I don't think I saw anyone who looked 70 years old.

He had checked Gu Anbang's information; he was born in 35 and is exactly seventy this year.

The person hasn't arrived yet?

"Professor Gu, it's not just a settlement issue. You're an expert in hydrology, and we also have some bridge pier design issues we'd like you to take a look at..."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuebing quickly looked inside more closely and realized that the black-haired man standing in front of the blueprints seemed to be quite old.

He immediately went and knocked on the door.

As soon as the door opened, Chen Xuebing's face was already adorned with a delighted smile.

"Teacher Gu? Is it really Teacher Gu?"

The black-haired old man turned his head.

"You are…"

"I'm a student from Jiaotong University!" Chen Xuebing stepped forward quickly, grasped the black-haired old man's hands, and held them tightly.

"I applied to Jiaotong University specifically because I wanted to take your class! Professor Gu, I never expected to see you here! It's such a surprise!"

Gu Anbang was a little confused.

"Excuse me, we have something to take care of here... You, are you from the project?"

Yang Feng, the executive deputy manager standing next to him, was even more bewildered.

What's so surprising about you? Didn't you call me before you came?

"Mr. Chen... so you're from Jiaotong University?"

(End of this chapter)