Chapter 601: The price of a flutter of the heart
Chapter 601: The price of a flutter of the heart
Liu Jishan and Shen Xue struck up a conversation, as they had someone to complain about together.
As they chatted, Liu Jishan gradually warmed to the heart as he watched the beautiful woman who had just stepped off the TV screen. He realised that she, like him, was also entangled in matters of fame and fortune.
Early the next morning, he instructed his secretary, 'From now on, send a bouquet of flowers every day to this address,'
he took out a business card with a faint fragrance and copied down the address on it, 'Remember, don't let anyone else in the company know, including Boss Liu,'
the secretary knew that Boss Liu naturally meant his brother.
'Understood!'
However, what was another blow to Boss Liu was that his romantic advances only lasted for two weeks before Boss Liu himself, dripping with cold sweat, called a halt.
This was because he had received several euphemistic greetings from various parties, all more or less saying the same thing, 'Just concentrate on your own business,'
One of the leaders of the Housing Management Bureau even summoned him for a meeting, looking at him as if he were a person who was courting death. The arrogant Liu Jishan broke out in a cold sweat. He knew only too well the role of government departments in the industry in which he wanted to strike it rich.
He also immediately woke up and understood that the key word in those words was 'concentrate'.
It turned out that the beautiful female hostess, even when she stepped off the TV screen, had nothing to do with someone like him. He received the warning, but he didn't want to and didn't dare to find out who was behind it.
However, this obviously wasn't the end of it. He could imagine for himself that if someone had a lustful thought about his wife, he would probably beat the guts out of that person if he could.
So he asked the leader of the housing management office to do something about it and invited host Shen out. Of course, he couldn't meet with host Shen again, so he asked his brother to go out on his behalf and give host Shen a card. The amount of money on the card really made boss Liu feel bad!
Not only did he get into trouble without getting the fox, he also lost a large sum of money. This time, his heart was moved, and the price was really high.
...
At this time, Zhou Xinyu had already returned to Shanghai. Instead of taking the initiative to find the China Merchants Bureau in Pudong, he used his connections to find a friend in the government department. However, the information he learned indirectly also made him very frustrated.
Feng Yiping was right. As of the end of November, Pudong's foreign investment had been less than 3 billion US dollars. But what was so unfortunate was that in that very month, Pudong had signed investment agreements for two huge projects: Hongli Semiconductor, which would invest 1.63 billion US dollars, and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, which would invest 1.5 billion US dollars.
In other words, the foreign investment that Pudong attracted this month was more than the total for the first 11 months of the year. Now everyone in the investment promotion department is busy working around the clock on those two major projects.
He feels that with the group's meagre $100 million, it is going to be very difficult to secure any favourable terms.
Upon hearing his feedback, Feng Yiping also lamented that there is really no such thing as the richest in this world, only those who are richer.
However, although this was the first time he had heard of these two companies, he knew that signing such a large project was no easy feat. It would definitely take more than a year of negotiations before a decision was finally made.
'Mr. Zhou, we can look at this from a different perspective. The landing of such a large project is not primarily the credit of the investment promotion department. I'm afraid that the main leaders of the Shanghai Municipal Government also had to contribute.
For the Investment Promotion Bureau, projects worth more than 10 million US dollars are all major projects. We are prepared to invest 100 million US dollars upfront, so we are definitely their VIPs and can make demands with complete justification,'
This Zhou Zong should have attached too much importance to the matter of returning home in glory and was a little ill-considered for a moment. 'Think again, why do these two projects have to be signed before the end of the year?'
After listening to Feng Yiping's analysis, Zhou Xinyu also became active. 'Of course it's for performance!'
'Yes, government departments also need results, especially in a representative place like Pudong. If they can have a good start in January 2001, wouldn't the China Merchants Bureau be very happy?'
'I understand, Yiping,' Zhou Xinyu successfully picked up his confidence.
Sure enough, as soon as he released the news, the leader of the China Merchants Bureau personally called him that day, quite enthusiastically.
...
On the night of the 24th, Christmas Eve.
On a day like this, if you're a petty bourgeoisie, you should go to a fancy restaurant and enjoy some Western food and wine. But Feng Yiping and Huang Jingping, two kids from the mountains, happily had another meal of hot, steaming pork shank, and both of them broke out in a sweat.
The villa area was bustling with activity, especially the foreign families, all with their differently-shaped Christmas lights in the yards.
They had just returned from the shabu shabu dinner, stepping through the snow and holding hands as they looked with interest at each house. 'It seems that they have a more lively Christmas than we have a Spring Festival,' said Huang Jingping.
Isn't that right? Nowadays, when we celebrate the Spring Festival, not many people even put New Year pictures on the door. Usually, they just stick a pair of couplets, not as grand as these foreigners.
But tonight, it's not just the foreigners' yards that are being made grand. Underneath one of the girls' dormitory buildings at the university, it's also being made grand.
With the help of a few friends, Gao Heng has used lit red candles to form a heart shape in the snow, and the middle of the heart shape is filled with red roses.
Before this display has even been successfully set up, it has already attracted quite a crowd, and the windows upstairs are filled with the heads of girls looking on. There is commotion everywhere, upstairs and downstairs.
Gao Heng had a half can of mousse on his head. He was dressed like a socialite in a white shirt, blue suit, red tie and black trench coat. He held his hands in a trumpet shape and shouted up the stairs, 'Wu Xinyang, I love you!'
Gao Heng's actions resonated with many young men and women who were still exuding strong hormones in the cold winter of the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. Many male classmates volunteered to help Gao Heng and shouted with him.
Five minutes passed, no one came down. Seven minutes passed, the person who was coming down was not coming. Ten minutes passed, and the target still had not come downstairs, and he didn't even show his head in front of the dormitory window.
The people who were helping out had long since run out of strength and motivation to shout, but none of them hurried to leave. The red candles were extinguished by the cold wind, and everyone was watching the male lead standing next to a heart-shaped hole, holding a bouquet of roses, and forcing a smile on his face.
But of course, at this point, no one was expecting a happy ending. They were mainly wondering how this would end for the guy.
When Gao Heng's smile on his face almost froze, they finally waited for a step. A girl upstairs shouted, 'Wu Xinyang is not here today!'
'Buddy, you didn't do enough preparation,' a few people in the crowd said, slightly complaining, and they rode off on their bikes, followed by the rest of the audience.
If I had known this was going to happen, I would have gone back to the heated dormitory earlier. Or, holding my girlfriend's little hand, under the bright moonlight, it would have been nice to walk through the snow on campus to find the plum blossoms.
On a winter's day like this, with snow, it can bring two people who are out and about together. And on a day like this, with moonlight, it might just bring an ambiguous relationship a step closer.
Gao Heng forced himself to gather the remnants of the party with a few friends, although his mind was elsewhere. He knew full well that Wu Xinyang was in the dormitory right now, but he still forced himself to be alert. 'Guys, I'll buy you a drink for all your hard work,'
One of his friends, who had participated in the design and implementation of the whole process, patted him on the shoulder, hesitant to speak. 'Forget it, it's late, go to bed early,'
Gao Heng gave one last look at the lit window. Would she be watching me from behind the window right now?
'Gao Heng, wait,' a girl shouted and caught up with him.
He was first overjoyed, then he couldn't hide his disappointment. He knew from the sound of her voice that it wasn't the person he was hoping for.
The girl didn't say anything, handed him an envelope, and then turned and walked away. Gao Heng suddenly didn't dare to look at what was written inside.
In the end, he found a street lamp and trembled as he opened the letter. Afterwards, he sat on the bench covered in snow for a long time. After returning to the dormitory, he didn't speak to anyone and went straight to bed without taking off his clothes.
On the morning of Christmas, Feng Yiping heard about the incident as soon as he arrived in the courtyard. Looking at Wu Xinyang, who was sitting in the front left of the classroom as if nothing had happened, and Gao Heng, who was sitting in the back right of the classroom with an expressionless face, Feng Yiping did not gloat. As a man himself, he actually felt a little sympathy for Gao Heng.
It was also on Christmas morning that Ma Ling, who had returned to her family in Florida for the holiday, received a gift from Feng Yiping sent by Michael.