At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

The next morning, Wang Jianguang led his men and the prepared contract straight to the construction site in the south of Jiangyang County. As for Wang Jianhui, dealing with the Zheng family was not worth his time; it would be beneath him.

When Wang Jianguang arrived at the south of the city, he found that, just as his younger brother had said on the phone, the construction site gate was tightly closed, several excavators were quietly lying next to the foundation pit, the steel bars that had been neatly piled up were now scattered haphazardly, and the ground was still littered with construction debris that had been dumped earlier, leaving a mess.

A few workers were scattered around the shed, too lazy to get up when they saw someone arrive.

Wang Jianguang circled the construction site gate once, becoming increasingly convinced that the kid surnamed Deng couldn't hold on any longer.

He took out his phone and dialed Zheng Hao's number, his tone full of contempt. So what if the Zheng family is like this? They still have to kneel down obediently in front of them. It's just a top 100 county. Do they really think they can defy the heavens?

"Young Master Zheng, I heard your project has stalled? Are you short on cash? Our Boss Wang is kind-hearted and willing to pay two million to take over this piece of land. I've brought the contract. If you know what's good for you, come and sign it now, and you can leave with two million in your pocket. If you don't sign..."

He chuckled twice, not finishing the second half of his sentence.

On the other end of the phone, Zheng Hao was sitting in Guilan's tea room, opposite Li Xiao and Zhou Yanhuai. He covered the receiver and silently mouthed to Li Xiao, "The fish has taken the bait."

Li Xiao put down his teacup and nodded.

Zheng Hao understood immediately, released the microphone, and adopted a flustered yet forcedly defiant tone, "Two million? You think you can fool me?! Do you know how much money I spent just buying this land? Wang Jianhui is blatantly robbing me!"

Hearing Zheng Hao's furious tone, the bald henchman became even more certain that the kid was almost broke, and sneered.

"Young Master Zheng, don't be so stubborn. How much does your dad's building materials market make in a year? Two million isn't a small amount; it's better than not making a single penny. Our Boss Wang has limited patience. I'll give you two days to consider it; after that, it's over."

After saying that, Wang Jianguang didn't give Zheng Hao a chance to speak again, and hung up the phone triumphantly. Then he raised his chin to his subordinates behind him, "Go, go back and report to the boss. This kid surnamed Zheng probably won't last more than a few days."

"Feed me?!"

After the call was disconnected, Zheng Hao was almost laughing in anger. He was always the one who hung up on others, but now someone dared to hang up on him.

"Brother Xiao, did you hear that? Two million? He really dares to ask for that much. We spent ten million just on the land, and he just opened the door and said he'd cut it to 20% of the original price. This old bastard is treating us like fools."

Zhou Yanhuai sat to the side, a stack of documents recently transferred from the city spread out in front of him, his brows slightly furrowed. "The more he tries to lower the price, the more it shows he's determined to get this land. The problem is, how does he know this land is valuable? The provincial plan hasn't been released yet."

"This means he received the news in advance."

Li Xiao put down his teacup, his tone calm. He wasn't surprised that someone knew the news in advance; it was all too common. Take his family, for example; if there was any news in the city or province, his family would be the first to know.

"Wang Jianhui's network of connections in the city is deeper than we imagined. The third-in-command behind him has most likely already learned about the planning direction of the high-tech industrial park through internal channels. That's why he's in such a hurry to force us out—he has to get the property rights before the official documents are released."

Zhou Yanhuai's expression was grave. "If that's the case, then our window of opportunity is very tight. Once the freeze order is confirmed, the property rights cannot be transferred, and once the documents are issued, the initiative will be entirely in Wang Jianhui's hands."

"No."

Li Xiao shook his head and looked up from his teacup.

"Freezing property rights is a double-edged sword. For them to freeze our property rights, they must have sufficient legal grounds. If the reasons for the freeze are not valid, such as if the procedure itself is illegal, then this sword will turn around and cut them instead."

Of course, to do this, you must have the strength to compete with the other party. If the strength of the two sides is too different, even if you have sufficient evidence, nothing will happen and it will not have any impact on the other party at all. But obviously, they have the strength.

"You mean, we should start by examining the procedural legality of the freezing order?"

"It's not just the freezing order; I've already had Uncle Zheng check the complete list of all the land acquisition projects Jianhui Real Estate has undertaken in the past three years. Three of these projects used the exact same tactic as this one—first freezing the competitor's property rights, then acquiring them at a low price through discounted transfers. In one of them, the developer of the commercial complex project in Linjiang County last year was driven to suicide by the other party, and their family is still petitioning."

"More importantly,"

Li Xiao pointed to a line of data at the bottom of the document, "Every single transaction of Jianhui Real Estate's land acquisition funds is linked to an account connected to the third-in-command behind Wang Jianhui. That person is currently under consideration for promotion. If, at this time, the higher-ups receive a formal complaint with a complete chain of evidence..."

"Did Uncle Zheng find all of this?"

Zhou Yanhuai stared in disbelief at the documents Li Xiao had given him, which detailed every single related transaction involving Wang Jianhui, so meticulously that it looked like a fake.

Li Xiao shook his head, knowing that Zheng Guodong alone could not have investigated so thoroughly. After all, the other side was not stupid. How could they have left such important evidence so completely? Li Xiao had obtained all of this from the system using his happiness points.

But he couldn't say that to the other party, so he directly made an excuse, saying, "I sent people to investigate these things."

Zhou Yanhuai gave Li Xiao a deep look. Although he knew the Li family's influence in Jiangyang County, it was a bit too frightening that the Li family could have such terrifying intelligence capabilities in Tianshui.

Zheng Hao was so excited he couldn't wait to go, "Then what are we waiting for? Just go for it!"

"No. If we act now, the chain of evidence isn't complete enough. The more confident Wang Jianhui is of victory, the more relaxed he'll become. We need him to make an even bigger mistake—for example, forcibly starting construction before the property freeze order has fully taken effect, creating a fait accompli."

Zheng Hao's eyes widened, clearly disbelieving that Wang Jianhui would be so foolish. "He would do that?"

Zhou Yanhuai answered the question for Li Xiao, "He definitely will. This guy did exactly that in Linjiang County last year. Before the property rights were even transferred, he sent an excavator to bulldoze the construction site. By the time the other party wanted to sue, it was too late. This kind of person is too confident in his backing and doesn't take legal procedures seriously. That's his most fatal weakness."

Li Xiao nodded. "So from now on, your task is to play the role of a spendthrift who's been driven to the brink and is about to collapse. When he asks you to meet to discuss the transfer, go. Be firm but gentle in your attitude, and give him the illusion that if he just puts in a little more effort, you won't be able to hold on any longer."

"Understood." Zheng Hao nodded firmly. "Acting is my forte."

"Old Zhou, you continue to follow up on the evidence chain. The procedural loopholes in the freezing order, Jianhui Real Estate's past misdeeds, and the transaction records of the related accounts of that third-in-command—every single one must be verifiable and withstand scrutiny. These materials don't need to be submitted all at once, but they must be readily available at any time."

"Don't worry, I've had the old man's old subordinates personally oversee this matter. The old man has already given the order, so the investigation can be initiated as soon as the materials are submitted."

"That's good. Now, we just need to wait for Wang Jianhui to reveal his last weakness, and then it's time for us to close the net."