Chapter 190: Li Dong’s True Deviousness

Pingchuan.

Global Tower.

After ending the call with Qin Yuhan, Li Dong was still puzzled.

"What's going on with that girl today?" Li Dong muttered to himself, feeling somewhat baffled.

Qin Yuhan had suddenly called him today, asking detailed questions about his entrepreneurial history. Li Dong even thought Qin Yuhan was preparing to write a biography about him.

While contemplating Qin Yuhan's intentions, a knock on the door startled Li Dong.

"Come in!"

Zhou Haidong entered and, upon seeing Li Dong, said, "Mr. Li, we've located the area."

Li Dong took a moment to recall that this was about Wang Jia.

Thinking about Wang Jia's mother who was about to undergo surgery, Li Dong quickly asked, "Where is she?"

Zhou Haidong cleared his throat and said with a wry smile, "Mr. Li, we can only confirm that Miss Wang is somewhere in Zhongguancun. We can't pinpoint her exact location yet."

"Zhongguancun?"

Li Dong was momentarily surprised. It was quite a coincidence that Wang Jia had ended up in Zhongguancun.

But now was not the time to dwell on this. Li Dong pressed, "Since we know she's in Zhongguancun, why can't we find her?"

Although Zhongguancun wasn't small, finding a person should still be possible with effort.

Zhou Haidong said helplessly, "Mr. Li, Beijing is too far away, and we're constrained by our resources."

No matter how small the place, finding someone requires manpower.

Being far from Beijing and lacking connections, even tracing the landline numbers was something Zhou Haidong had to arrange through others.

Finding a phone number was one thing, but finding a person was much more difficult.

Wang Jia wasn't a celebrity. With the huge flow of people in Beijing, although they roughly knew she was in Zhongguancun, it was hard to locate her with just a few people.

Li Dong frowned slightly, then said, "Then let's hire a private investigator to find her. Get it done as soon as possible, don't worry about the cost."

Wang Jia's mother was about to undergo surgery, and if Wang Jia wasn't around, it would complicate matters.

Moreover, if Wang Jia didn't return, her mother wouldn't agree to the surgery. Li Dong couldn't force her onto the operating table.

Hearing this, Zhou Haidong quickly agreed.

As long as the money was available and the general area was known, finding Wang Jia shouldn't be too difficult.

Just as Zhou Haidong left, Liu Qi entered the room.

Seeing Liu Qi, Li Dong's expression turned strange.

Shouldn't Liu Qi be at a negotiation meeting right now?

Did Liu Qi skip work, or forget something?

Noticing Liu Qi seemed absent-minded, Li Dong coughed and asked, "How did the negotiation go?"

Liu Qi came back to her senses, looking somewhat peculiar, and after a moment, said, "The negotiation... I'm not sure how to describe it."

"What do you mean?"

Li Dong was puzzled, wondering what she meant by not knowing how to describe it.

Negotiations typically ended in success or failure. It was only the first meeting with Chen Rui and the others, so even if it didn't go well, it shouldn't be this confusing.

Liu Qi gathered her thoughts and said, "It's very strange. We met with Cheng Rui Real Estate, but just as we started, the CEO of Cheng Rui Real Estate ran away."

"Ran away?"

Li Dong scratched his head, confused about what this meant.

He was getting increasingly confused. Li Dong asked, "What do you mean by 'ran away'?"

Cheng Rui Real Estate was a shell company set up by Chen Rui. Although Chen Rui wasn't the legal representative, he should have been present for the negotiation.

But Chen Rui running away—what was going on?

Liu Qi was at a loss and said helplessly, "We don't know what happened either. At first, Mr. Chen was very polite, but then suddenly, it was like he was possessed and just left without saying a word."

Li Dong frowned. Was Chen Rui planning to sabotage the negotiations?

But if they intended to sabotage, there was no need to meet and then run away.

Chen Rui's actions seemed like a blatant slap in the face. Could Chen Rui be planning to fall out with him?

While pondering Chen Rui's motives, Li Dong's phone rang.

He glanced at the phone and answered, "Miss Zhang, I was just about to contact you. What's with the lack of courtesy today?"

Zhang Lanyu's voice was cold, "Mr. Li, it seems it's you who's being discourteous. I was going to ask you, what exactly do you mean by today's events?"

"What?"

Li Dong was confused, feeling like he was being blamed for something.

Just as he was about to ask more questions, someone else took over the call.

Chen Rui grabbed the phone from Zhang Lanyu and, agitated, said, "Mr. Li, your actions are really underhanded!"

Li Dong looked innocent. He hadn't even said anything about them, and now they were blaming him.

"Mr. Chen, shouldn't that be something I say to you?"

"Li Dong, stop pretending! Have you been toying with us from the beginning? You know exactly what you're doing by bringing her into this. Are you threatening me? If you want to play hardball, fine. We'll walk away from this. I'll let go of this land, and you won't get it either!" Chen Rui raged.

Li Dong was bewildered. Was this guy forgetting to take his medication?

Just as he was about to respond, Li Dong suddenly remembered something and tentatively asked, "Are you referring to Shen Qian?"

"Exactly! I knew you were doing this on purpose! Mr. Li, you're quite something, using us for your own amusement. If I'd known you had such power, we wouldn't have gotten involved!" Chen Rui was infuriated.

Li Dong had clearly been playing them. With Shen Qian around, there was no need for them to be involved in acquiring the land.

Chen Rui thought even further—was Li Dong setting a trap for them?

If Li Dong had revealed Shen Qian's background earlier, they would never have discussed the land deal. Although the land deal was mutual, and they had signed a contract with the district government.

But such matters shouldn't be made public. If pursued, they'd face accusations of embezzling state assets.

They only acted this way because they thought Li Dong had no background. They didn't expect Li Dong to have such a trump card. Chen Rui was nearly fuming.

After years of keeping a low profile and finally getting a chance to make a profit, they ran into Li Dong, who had been manipulative. It was infuriating!

The meat that was almost in their mouths was now being taken away. It was even more frustrating than not having it at all.

Li Dong wanted to say more, but Chen Rui had already hung up.

Li Dong looked perplexed. It seemed he had inadvertently made things worse.

Originally, he had thought that if Shen Qian had a background, it could be used to pressure Chen Rui and give them some deterrence.

But he didn't expect Shen Qian's background to be so significant that it scared Chen Rui and the others away.

From Chen Rui's words, it seemed that they were ready to give up the land, which was entirely unexpected for Li Dong.

This was a profit of tens of millions. Chen Rui and the others saying they would let go just like that—who exactly was Shen Qian?

Seeing Liu Qi still waiting, Li Dong asked, "Has Shen Qian returned?"

"She has." Liu Qi hurriedly replied.

She also sensed that this matter might be related to Shen Qian.

"Have her come see me."

Just as he finished speaking, Li Dong suddenly said, "Forget it, no need to call her."

Li Dong thought for a moment and felt that meeting Shen Qian now might not be useful. Sometimes, it was better not to clarify certain matters.

As for Chen Rui's side, Li Dong believed they wouldn't just give up like that and wasn't too worried.

Perhaps in the end, he might even benefit from it.