You're already divorced, why are you so anxious about him becoming a succubus?

the next day.

Around 5 p.m., the sun in Jiangcheng had lost its midday scorching heat.

Lu Ci took a taxi to the 4S store, paid the repair fee, and picked up the car.

Lu Ci drove smoothly to the Twilight Chill Bar. As soon as he parked his car in a roadside parking space, he saw Chen Feng sitting on the steps at the entrance of the bar.

This guy had half a cigarette in his hand, and his eyes were darting around, locking onto the white thighs of a passing young girl with radar-like precision.

Lu Ci got out of the car and walked over, glancing down at him: "You, a big boss, are you sitting on the curb like a doorman?"

Chen Feng exhaled a smoke ring, pursed his lips, and pointed to the dark bar door behind him: "It's too cold in there. Bars never see a ray of sunshine all year round. The staff haven't started work yet, there's not a soul in the room, it's as cold as an icebox. Your brother here is getting old, my knees hurt if I stay in there too long."

Lu Ci sat down next to him on the steps, casually took out a cigarette case from his pocket, and lit one for himself.

"You know you're not getting any younger?" Lu Ci said, a cigarette between his fingers, looking at the bustling street. "Aren't you going to hurry up and find someone to settle down with?"

Chen Feng scoffed, "Ha, marriage? Marriage will probably make me age faster. Women will only slow down my money-making speed."

Lu Ci thought for a moment and nodded: "That's true."

As they were talking, a girl wearing a floral miniskirt and high heels walked past them.

Perhaps sensing Chen Feng's unbridled gaze, the girl stopped, turned her head, glared at him fiercely, snorted coldly, and quickly left.

Chen Feng wasn't annoyed by the glare; instead, he grinned and chuckled, revealing his bright white teeth. Only then did he reluctantly look away and get to the point.

"I've carefully considered that resort project we talked about yesterday, and it has great potential."

Chen Feng lowered his voice: "I spent the whole night asking around among some acquaintances in the industry. Gu Mingxuan has definitely gotten himself into big trouble this time!"

Judging from his current actions, it doesn't seem like he's trying to recoup funds to cover his losses; it looks more like he's dumping assets to prepare for a getaway. He's selling off several major projects and high-quality subsidiaries nominally under the Shen Group name at drastically reduced prices—this is definitely not normal.

Lu Ci paused, flicking his cigarette ash. "What's the specific situation with that resort?"

Chen Feng introduced: "It covers an area of ​​16 acres and has more than 60 guest rooms, as well as an outdoor swimming pool, a panoramic restaurant and a multi-functional conference room."

That piece of land was designated in the Jiangbei New Area. The initial slogan for this project was to boost the tourism economy of the surrounding towns, so not only was the land acquisition cheap, but tax breaks and policy support were also readily available.

As Lu Ci listened, his interest grew stronger: "Where is the construction progress now?"

"The main structure and hard decoration are basically completed, about 80% complete." Chen Feng sighed. "As soon as Gu Mingxuan returned to China, he directly halted the project in order to divert funds."

The construction site is currently owing the construction team a large sum of wages, and there are also bank loans in the books. It's a complete mess, which is why it's been sitting there unattended for so long.

Lu Ci pondered for a moment: "Approximately how much money would it cost to take it off, after deducting all debts?"

Chen Feng held up his finger and gestured: "Thirteen million. This is the lowest price we got after deducting all the debts, considering he urgently needed cash to get rid of the business."

Lu Ci was stunned.

His hand, holding a cigarette, hovered in mid-air as he turned to look at Chen Feng: "Are you kidding me? I only have four hundred in my account right now, enough to buy a few toilets at a resort?"

Now it was Chen Feng's turn to be shocked.

His eyes widened like saucers, staring at Lu Ci with utter disbelief: "Holy crap? You have four hundred?!"

After a brief moment of shock, Chen Feng's face instantly transformed into a sly smile as he leaned closer, winking and teasing:

"I knew it! How could you possibly be so honest and leave with nothing? Looks like you've been secretly swindling a lot of money these past few years as the Shen family's son-in-law. You're quite the hidden talent, brother!"

"Get lost, this is money I made from stock trading myself." Lu Ci rolled his eyes at him, annoyed.

Chen Feng chuckled twice, his brows furrowing as he began to calculate the funding gap.

"You have four million as a base. I'll go back and swallow my pride and try to negotiate with my old man. If that doesn't work, I'll sell my G-Class and the car in the garage to get cash."

If we put our fingers together... we can probably pull out six hundred.

Chen Feng drew a circle on the ground: "It adds up to exactly ten million, but we're still three million short. That's no small amount. We'll have to see if we can bring in another partner we know well."

The two fell silent, smoking silently, trying to come up with an idea in the smoke.

"Your bar is doing so well, why don't you use it as collateral for a loan?" Lu Ci suggested.

"Damn it, don't even mention it." Chen Feng irritably ran his fingers through his hair. "I rented this bar space; I only have the right to use it, not the ownership."

Besides, banks are extremely reluctant to lend to entertainment venues like these; they simply won't pass the risk assessment. I asked Lin Wan, but it was no use.

Chen Feng's eyes darted around, his gaze landing on Lu Ci's face. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head: "Hey, if all else fails, why don't you use your looks? I met a rich old lady at the club the other day, she's loaded!"

They love your cool, aloof demeanor, and your good looks and figure. If you just put up with that and make them happy, we could easily afford two resorts, let alone three million.

"roll!"

Passersby, hearing these outrageous words, turned their heads and stared at the two men sitting on the steps with strange looks.

Just then, Lu Ci's phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

He took out his phone and glanced at the screen; the caller ID showed the name "Shen Man".

Lu Ci frowned slightly.

Sitting to the side, Chen Feng leaned over like a curious child and caught a glimpse of the name on the screen.

He touched his nose guiltily and immediately stood up: "Ahem... well, there's a Mixue Ice Cream shop over there, I'll go buy two lemonades."

After saying that, Chen Feng disappeared faster than a rabbit.

Lu Ci held the phone to her ear, watching Chen Feng walk faster and faster, almost jogging.

"Feed?"

Shen Man's voice came from the other end of the phone: "I heard from Chen Feng that you were in a car accident yesterday? Are you alright? Were you injured?"

"It's nothing. Is there anything else?"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

A moment later, Shen Man's voice carried a hint of ingratiation: "It's okay... can't I just call you?"

"It's best not to fight."

"Lu Ci, I know I was wrong..." Shen Man's breathing became a little rapid: "Could you... not be so cold to me?"

"Then I'll hang up now."

"Wait! Don't hang up!" Shen Man, afraid the call would be cut off, quickly sped up her speech: "Chen Feng told me that you want to acquire Gu Mingxuan's seaside resort project, but you have a funding gap. I can give you money, is five million enough? I'll transfer the money to your account right now!"

Meanwhile, behind a tree not far away.

Chen Feng, holding a glass of lemonade in one hand and a straw from another glass in his mouth, was peeking out from behind a tree trunk, secretly observing Lu Ci's movements.

Lu Ci looked at him with a cold smile, and said into the phone, "No need, I'll figure out the funding myself."

"Lu Ci, please accept it. You can consider this money as my investment..." Shen Man's voice carried a hint of pleading.

"I said no, I have things to do, I'll hang up now."

Lu Ci hung up the call immediately.

He put his phone back in his pocket, smiled and beckoned to Chen Feng, who was hiding behind a tree: "Come here, Boss Chen."

Seeing that things were not going well, Chen Feng slowly emerged from behind the tree, a straw dangling from his mouth, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Hey bro, let's talk this out. She came to request a song yesterday and when you weren't there, she came to ask me. I also wanted to find out about Gu Mingxuan's situation and see if there was a chance to negotiate a lower price, so I told her."

As he spoke, Chen Feng slowly backed away: "I just remembered that I forgot to turn off the gas at home."