Chapter 1129: Plans

Translator:

Exodus Tales

Editor:

Exodus Tales

Daytime of the next day.

Tang Xiu accompanied Ouyang Lulu to wander around, tasting delicacies, shopping, and watching movies. There was nothing that made him out of sort whatsoever, yet he was now a celebrity-like figure and many people remembered him. Hence, he spared some time to use special means to change his appearance.

For the entire day, Ouyang Lulu, who was like a female devil in many people’s eyes, turned into a happy little la.s.s next to Tang Xiu, enjoying herself to her heart’s content merrily.

As dusk came, Tang Xiu took her back to the Blue Starfish Mansion which was already decorated with lanterns to greet the coming night. The resort that used to have a few guests now had a constant stream of visitors coming at this time.

“They are all successful people given their looks.” Tang Xiu’s gaze swept over the guests around him and murmured with a smile.

“Heh, what successful figures? They are just pretending and showing off.” Ouyang Lulu rebuked with curled lips. “It’s you who’s the real successful person here since you won’t show off that easily even though you got billions in wealth. You don’t even show off even though you got amazing abilities. It’s not like they don’t know anything about their surname with their little money, either.”

“That’s too far-fetched comment and quite extreme, Lulu.” Tang Xiu chuckled and said, “I know you want to praise me, but you don’t have to attack others like that either, no? Besides, to ordinary people, the parameter of success is having money and status. It’s the rule. Let’s not say the whole world, there are more than a billion people in China alone, but how many of them are truly rich and powerful? They can become some bigwigs, which in itself shows their capabilities. As for shortcomings… everyone has them, no? We’re not sages nor saints, so there’s no need to look at people so narrowly.”

Ouyang Lulu raised her chin and hummed. “Hmph, none of them are better than you in my eyes. And those who are will receive my due acknowledgment.”

Tang Xiu shook his head with a wry smile. He had 10,000 years of experience and life story, it was not an egg to egg comparison, like literally. Still, such devotion and love made him warm inside. He grabbed her fragrant shoulder and smilingly walked side by side to the interior.

Auctions. Various society circles had various types of these auctions. For instance, this one. It auctioned some strange stuff. Although some objects were very valuable, most of the guests were Shanghai’s locals and a few came from the neighboring cities.

“Tang Xiu!”

With the lead from the attendant, Tang Xiu and Ouyang Lulu had just entered the auction venue when he heard someone call his name. He was slightly stunned and a bit surprised. It must be noted that he had changed his appearance. Unless it was someone very close to him, others would find it difficult to recognize him.

“Gu Changmin?”

Tang Xiu s.h.i.+fted to the direction of the voice and suddenly saw Gu Changmin and Jin Xingkui coming towards him. However, he was keenly aware that they looked a bit stunned upon seeing his current appearance.

Tang Xiu released Ouyang Lulu’s shoulder and smilingly walked over. “Hey, Old Brother Gu and Jin! I never thought I’d run into both of you here today! What are you doing here, planning to grab some treasures?”

Gu Changmin and Jin Xingkui exchanged glances and wore strange expressions. The former then inquired. “Well, we thought we saw someone with your resemblance, so we called out. But then when we saw your face, I thought I called the wrong person, you know! What’s up with this appearance…”

“Blame that celebrity effect. I had to change my looks a bit so as to avoid being recognized by others.” Tang Xiu smilingly replied, “You both know I never liked attention, no?”

Gu Changmin and Jin Xingkui quickly understood, and the former chuckled. “That’s so very you, Brother Tang. You’re always low key. But that’s why this old brother of yours admires you. Which young man hates showing off and bragging about his achievement nowadays? You’re of the extreme opposite, but your low-key efforts kind of rises people’s hackles, you know.”

Jin Xingkui, on the other hand, smilingly said, “Well, you’re always making a fortune and ama.s.sing wealth while keeping a low profile, Brother Tang. Anyways, you really made me annoyed, you know. We’ve been cooperating for the project and half of it has been done, yet you’ve never been to the construction site at all. You never even spared time to visit my company, either. The way you act like a shopkeeper who only asks others to do his bidding is too excessive, no?”

“Hehe, then why should I have you, Brother Jin?” retorted Tang Xiu smilingly. “Besides, if you were someone I don’t trust, I’d have inspected the worksite thrice a day.”

Tang Xiu’s reply made Jin Xingkui happy and burst into laughter. Afterward, he grinningly said, “That makes my painstaking efforts and hard work worth it, Brother Tang. But rest a.s.sured, though. Our project is progressing smoothly and we can start to earn some revenue in at most half a year. You can wait for the money to roll in then!”

Tang Xiu gave him a thumbs up and praised. “It’s truly great and joyful to cooperate with you, Brother Jin. Anyhow, how about we grab some drinks after the auction?”

“Fine with me!”

“Deal!”

Gu Changmin and Jin Xingkui smilingly replied.

Immediately after, some prominent business people around Shanghai spotted Gu Changmin and Jin Xingkui chatting with Tang Xiu. Each one of them came to greet them one after another. But Tang Xiu himself didn’t want to chat with these bystanders, so he made up an excuse and left. He and Ouyang Lulu then casually picked up some random seats in the auction venue.

“Holy… this brat is simply…”

Gu Changmin shook his head and looked at Tang Xiu’s back as he left while murmuring with a dry smile.

Jin Xingkui squinted and whispered, “It’s just like his usual mannerism, Brother Gu. Else, we wouldn’t have our place in the world today.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Gu Changming was stunned and asked with a confused expression.

“Have you ever thought that if he has a showing-off character, then he’d get countless business opportunities coming to him given his abilities and ident.i.ty?” said Jin Xingkui. “Which rich boss doesn’t want to cooperate with someone with such abilities and ident.i.ties like him? I dare say that tons of people in the whole of Shanghai, regardless of the industry, would definitely wave their checkbooks just to cooperate with him and join their endeavors.”

Gu Changmin nodded. Then, he spoke with a wry smile, “True that. Even if we do leave out his abilities, just his ident.i.ty alone is enough to make numerous people gather around him while stuffing tons of money into his pockets. But speaking about that, though, I really do admire this young man. Just think which one among those scions from prominent families in the capital doesn’t rely on their status and background? They get dividends and support from other companies, but what about Tang Xiu? He never does such a thing. I don’t think he’ll even spare a glance at the money delivered by others to his door.”

“Yeah, that’s what makes him fearful.” Jin Xingkui sighed. “He never proactively demands money from others, and it’s likely that he won’t accept money sent by others either. Even then, he just relies on his own abilities to set up the fast-growing Magnificent Tang Corporation. The amount of wealth he has made… is definitely hundreds of times more than those second-generation officials who took dividends from others’ companies. Speaking about it, Tang Xiu must have become richer than us by now… right?”

Gu Changmin gave a firm nod in response and said, “True. My estimation is that just the Magnificent Tang Corporation alone is probably worth more than 50 billion yuan.”

“That much already?” Jin Xingkui was shaken, disbelief overflowing from his eyes. It must be noted that the Magnificent Tang Corporation had just been established—only more than a year. How could it create so much profit in just a short time? No matter how great their products were and their demands far outstripped the supply, it shouldn’t have happened that fast, right?

Gu Changmin went on with a strange face. “Aren’t you now in cooperation with the Magnificent Tang Corp., though? Don’t tell me you got no idea this company is now investing in Star City? Just that project investment will probably secure them tens of billions of yuan in profit. Their products are making money much faster than the bank’s printing machine. I even think that my previous valuation of the Magnificent Tang Corp. at 50 billion yuan is still far short from its actual value.”

Jin Xingkui also gave it a thought but still felt that Gu Changmin was exaggerating the facts. He had learned some facts about the Magnificent Tang Corp. himself. The company had low output for each product. The price of each may be very expensive, but it was unlikely that the annual profit was at the 20-30 billion figure. Additionally, there was no way the investment yield from Star City would reach 50 billion either!

“Brother Gu, it’s impossible for the Magnificent Tang Corp. to have a total net worth of 50 billion. Unless Tang Xiu also has other investments,” said Jin Xingkui seriously.

“You’re usually so smart, why have you become so silly now!” Gu Changmin with a strange expression. “What about the real estate developed by your own company? Is it without his investment? Further, are you also forgetting the fact that he’s the owner of the Everlasting Feast Hall? That Hao Lei from the Grand Fortune Jewelry is also his subordinate. Now calculate for yourself how much would that be if the a.s.sets of the Everlasting Feast Hall and the Grand Fortune Jewelry are added together?”

Gasp…

Only then did Jin Xingkui suddenly realize that he had been underestimating Tang Xiu’s wealth too much. Leaving out the Everlasting Feast Hall and the Grand Fortune Jewelry, Tang Xiu invested in his company and the income six months later would be a huge figure as well. Who knew if the Magnificent Tang Corp. had any other investments? If there were, it would simply… let alone 50 billion, it was even likely it was just a hair away from 100 billion.

“That’s literally sitting on mountains of gold!” Jin Xingkui wryly smiled and sighed.

Gu Changmin grinningly said, “Whether he’s sitting on mountains of gold or not, just with his ident.i.ty and background alone and the fact that we’re on good terms with him is already the luckiest thing. Alright, let’s just wait for the night-snack time later. I gotta talk about cooperation with him. I hope he’ll be interested.”

“You want to cooperate with him? You got any good project?” Jin Xingkui was surprised.

“I’m quite optimistic about the prospect of logistics recently,” said Gu Changmin with a smile. “I’m going to set up a large domestic logistics company. Be it the delivery speed or the coverage area in China, I’m gonna press several other large logistics companies. If Tang Xiu is willing to join in, I can use his ident.i.ty and background to negotiate with some e-commerce business owners. What do you think? Will those e-commerce business owners give us some slices of the pie even if they have their own logistics network?”

Jin Xingkui shook wryly smiled and shook his head after hearing this. Then, he immediately said, “You’re literally robbing their food. Those e-commerce guys will never bother to spare you a glance if there’s no Tang Xiu. That’s for sure.”

“Why must we waste Tang Xiu’s ident.i.ty, though?” Gu Changmin grinningly replied.