Chapter 203

Chapter 203: So We’re Stacking Buffs Now?

Du An Rao’s spirit jolted. She unconsciously sat up straighter, eyes shining as she stared at the land contract on the stage.

[Looks like I blamed the behind-the-scenes boss who insisted on bundling these two plots together! This isn’t some trash poisoned apple at all. It’s clearly a gold apple wrapped in a thin layer of foam!]

Her “gold apple” was completely literal. This piece of wasteland everyone avoided like the plague would be surveyed a week later, and they would discover a large gold mine buried beneath it.

Jiang Chang Bin was stunned, and so was Xi Jing Yue.

A mine under this land, and it was a gold mine? What had City B’s survey department been doing all this time?

Before the two of them could even complain, Du An Rao had already given the answer.

It turned out the staffer in charge of surveying this land… was afraid of ghosts.

Du An Rao was speechless: “Seriously?!”

Just now, hadn’t Xi Jing Yue and the others said it? The Northern Suburbs Wasteland was barren for a hundred li in every direction, not a blade of grass growing, and long ago it had even been a cemetery.

That staffer was already scared of ghosts to begin with and didn’t dare stay there long at all. Every time he went, he just did a rough scan, then took the old survey records left by his department senior, made a few small changes, and turned them in. All he cared about was not making mistakes, not about doing a good job.

When that staffer was finally transferred to another place and a new surveyor took over, the survey equipment broke down.

Du An Rao held her forehead: “…Right, sure, let’s just keep stacking buffs here, why not?”

Survey equipment was very precise and very expensive. After the problem was reported, getting an approval, waiting for someone to come repair it, and getting it fixed all took months.

After this dragged on and on, the mine under the ground ended up being pressed down there for several years without anyone noticing.

As for how it was discovered later, that was simple: the equipment was fixed, the surveyor was fine, everything was ready, and the truth came out. But by then, this piece of land had already been bought at auction.

The one who bought it was the same behind-the-scenes hand that supported Du Wei Shuai’s family in stealing her Granduncle’s inheritance.

In the original plot, it never clearly said why this man bought this land. It only said that he accidentally learned there was a gold mine under it. Using this gold mine, his power grew fast. He went from a marginal competitor to the leader among all the forces eyeing Du De Sheng’s estate.

Even Du De Sheng himself was caught off guard by how suddenly he rose. He almost capsized in the gutter and suffered a big loss.

Looking at it now, that man’s original target should have been the South District Lakeside plot. The Northern Suburbs plot was just a forced add-on that came bundled with it.

Who would have thought the random freebie was actually the real trump card?

After reading through this part of the plot, all Du An Rao could feel was how deeply this world hated her Granduncle. It openly handed golden cheats to these greedy villains, not caring one bit about logical holes. Was it afraid it wouldn’t be able to kill her Granduncle otherwise?

No way. Before, she didn’t know, so fine. But now that she did, and just happened to bump into the key moment when the other side was about to reclaim this golden finger, there was no way she could let this land fall into the hands of Du Tian Ci’s family and the man behind them.

Du An Rao took a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind. She suddenly turned to look at Xi Jing Yue and raised her voice: “Mr. Xi!”

Xi Jing Yue had already guessed what she wanted. His eyes held a light smile as he asked: “What is it?”

Du An Rao pressed her palms together and rubbed her hands: “Can you lend me some money? I promise, I promise I’ll pay you back soon!”

“You want to bid on these two plots?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how much they’re worth?”

Du An Rao froze. She thought of how the dull gray rock she had just bought cost 2.05 million, and how earlier, when she randomly picked out a few pieces of jewelry at the store as gifts for her family, that had already been 10 million. The South District plot was so popular, with so many big families fighting for it. Of course it wasn’t cheap.

She hesitated for a moment, then tentatively held up one finger.

Xi Jing Yue shook his head.

She added another finger.

He still shook his head.

She spread all five fingers.

He was still smiling as he shook his head.

“The Northern Suburbs plot is fine. Everyone thinks it’s a hot potato, and it’s small, maybe thirty to forty mu of land. You can probably get it for under fifty million. The real problem is the South District plot. Just looking at the location and development potential, you can’t get it for less than 1 billion. And that’s without any price premium.”

Xi Jing Yue paused, then turned his head toward the stage: “You saw it too. There are so many people here who want that land. Actually winning it won’t be as easy as with that stone just now.”

He was also reminding her: these two plots were not like that stone she had bought earlier, where most people were just playing around.

These people were determined to get this land. Even if they couldn’t win it in the end, they wouldn’t make it easy for whoever did.

Even so, did she still want to bid?

Du An Rao pressed her lips together and said in a low voice: “Just tell me, how much do I roughly need to win both plots?”

“If you truly want them, you should prepare at least 2 billion to be safe.”

“2 billion!” Du An Rao couldn’t help shouting. Jiang Chang Bin also sucked in a sharp breath.

[What a rare unit, what a huge amount! All I have is the 200 million Granduncle gave me, plus my tiny savings. It’s not even enough for them to call out a price twice. Now I have to suddenly multiply it by ten. Where am I supposed to get that kind of money? Maybe I should just lie flat and give up! Wahhh… Granduncle, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. I’m just too poor!]

Xi Jing Yue was amused by her noisy inner drama. He thought she would give up, but instead, right after she finished crying in her heart, she grabbed his hand.

“Then, Mr. Xi, how much can you lend me?”

“You still want to bid on these two plots?”

“Yeah!”

“How much money do you have right now?”

“I have…” Du An Rao got stuck, and her face fell a bit.

She was about to answer honestly when A’Wen, who had been silently standing to the side like a background prop the whole time, suddenly leaned in and called softly: “Big Miss.”

“What is it, Uncle A’Wen?”

“The Ninth Master told me to remind you. He did transfer 200 million into your card, but before that, that card already had… 300 million.”

“Huh?” Du An Rao was stunned. So the black card in her hand now had… 500 million?

“In addition to that, so you wouldn’t worry about money tonight, the Ninth Master and Madam also prepared a 500 million fund in advance. As soon as you need it, they’ll transfer it to you.”

Du An Rao’s mouth fell open. She wanted to say something, but didn’t know what. All she could do was quietly sigh in her heart.

[Granduncle, you really are my god! This money came at the perfect time!]

“Mr. Xi, did you hear that? I have 1 billion in hand now. Would you be willing to lend me some more?”

Her tone lifted lightly. Her dark eyes shone like stars in the sky, full of joy and satisfaction.

Proud and stubborn, yet brimming with confidence. That was the courage that came from elders who loved her unconditionally.