"Dad! Aren't you on good terms with Mr. Yi? We could ask him for help to get through these tough times!" Ou Xiaolong's youngest daughter, Chen Xuejiao, couldn't help but suggest upon seeing her father's distressed face. "Mr. Yi likes buying property anyway, so if you ask him to buy our properties, won't we have the money to continue construction?"

"But with the way things are now, selling the property after it's built would still mean a loss!" Ou Xiaolong said, frowning.

"So what do we do? We can't just leave the project unfinished! If we do that, our company will lose all its credibility. How will we survive in the future?" Chen Xuejiao argued. "Besides, things aren't going to stay like this forever. Property prices are bound to rise again. It's not just us who bought land; other developers have too. Even if they paid less than us, it wasn't by much.

"Moreover, the real estate industry is a pillar of our country's economy. The government won't just let it fail. The global financial crisis won't last forever; in a year or two at most, the economy will recover, and property prices will surely rise even higher.

"Maybe by the time we complete our current projects, prices will have already recovered, perhaps even surpassing last year's peak. Wouldn't that mean we'd have navigated this crisis successfully?

"Shenzhen isn't that big, and the population keeps growing. Property prices are definitely going to keep rising in the future."

After hearing his daughter's analysis, Ou Xiaolong felt she made a lot of sense. In the current environment, the one who could last until the end would be the ultimate victor. As for those who couldn't hold on, there was only one path: bankruptcy and the collapse of their company.

Ou Xiaolong certainly didn't want his company to go down that road. But when he thought of Yi Anguo, he hesitated. Because of the incident with Ren Xingsheng, it seemed Yi Anguo was now displeased with him. If he went begging for help now, would he still be willing to lend a hand?

In the world of business, favors were reciprocal; there were no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. Still, Ou Xiaolong felt too awkward to ask, finding it difficult to broach the subject. He couldn't help but discuss the matter with his youngest daughter.

"Dad! That's where you were wrong," Chen Xuejiao said, unable to help chastising him after hearing the story. "You knew that Ren Xingsheng and Mr. Yi didn't get along, and that Mr. Yi would never help the Ren Family. So why did you tell Ren Xingsheng that it was Mr. Yi who helped you? You even told him that Mr. Yi had the power to help but wouldn't because of their bad relationship.

"If I were Mr. Yi, I'd be displeased and hold it against you, too."

"I thought that if Ren Xingsheng knew Yi Anguo had helped me, he definitely wouldn't go to him for help, since he was well aware of their poor relationship!" Ou Xiaolong explained. "But how could I have known that Ren Xingsheng would actually go and ask him? And even after Yi Anguo clearly refused, he shamelessly kept pestering him.

"It got to the point where Yi Anguo, unable to deal with Ren Xingsheng, turned his complaints on me. It was so embarrassing that I couldn't hold my head high in front of him."

"Dad! What am I supposed to say to you? Your personality is just too soft. You care too much about face, and you meddle in things that aren't your business," Chen Xuejiao complained. "You think you're being kind-hearted, doing a good deed, and helping others, but for all you know, they find you incredibly annoying.

"Think about Ren Xingsheng. His problems were dire, and his company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Why would he care about face? Of course he was going to shamelessly beg Yi Anguo for help; that was his last glimmer of hope. He wouldn't give up as long as there was even the slightest chance.

"And what was the result? After Yi Anguo clearly rejected him, he had his father go and ask President Zhuo to intercede and persuade Yi Anguo to help.

"In the end, he completely infuriated Mr. Yi, who then used President Zhuo's influence to wipe out the Ren Family."

It had to be said, this Chen Xuejiao was quite remarkable. She analyzed the situation with perfect clarity, seeing through its logic at a glance.

"In the end, President Zhuo's Blue Coast seized the opportunity to expand by swallowing the Ren Family's company. Mr. Yi didn't lose out, either. Not only did he vent his frustrations, but he also acquired over 4,500 properties at an extremely low price. By selling them at 18,000 per square meter, he made a profit of at least four times his investment.

"He lent out 1.6 billion yuan, and after selling those properties, he must have recouped over 7 billion yuan.

"You have to admit, this Mr. Yi is a true business genius!

"On the surface, it looks like President Zhuo came out ahead by expanding his company, but I bet his days aren't so easy right now.

"If all of this was part of Mr. Yi's plan, then the depth of his schemes is truly frightening.

"Dad! We absolutely have to stay on Mr. Yi's good side. We cannot afford to offend him. If he ever decided to move against our company, I imagine our fate would be no different from the Ren Family's."

Ou Xiaolong's expression was one of shock. "How is that possible? He couldn't have predicted last year that property prices would plummet like this, could he? No, this was from the year before last! Could he have known back then that prices would soar last year only to be cut in half this year? That's just impossible. If he's that capable, he might as well just buy lottery tickets."

"Winning the lottery every day, do you think that's possible? Besides, is the money he's making now any less than what he'd win from the lottery?" Chen Xuejiao retorted.

"So what do we do now? Should we still go ask Yi Anguo for help?" Ou Xiaolong asked, his mind in turmoil. "He's so formidable. If we go to him for help now, will he scheme against us?"

"What would he have to gain by scheming against us? As long as we're sincere and don't try to play any tricks, he won't do anything to us!" Chen Xuejiao said. "I'll handle this. I'll go see this Mr. Yi."

"You'll go see him?" Ou Xiaolong asked, looking at his youngest daughter in surprise.

"What's the alternative? Didn't you say you were too embarrassed to ask him? If you won't go and I won't go, then what? Are we just going to stand by and watch our family's company go bankrupt?" Chen Xuejiao shot back.

"But you hardly know him! At most, you've met once. He only knows you as my daughter," Ou Xiaolong said with concern.

"Isn't that enough? You and Mr. Yi are like brothers, so by that logic, shouldn't I call him Uncle Yi?" Chen Xuejiao said with a charming smile. "Besides, you're from the same hometown as him, which makes me a fellow native, right? Since I'm your daughter, I should be considered a person from Xijiang, too!"

Yi Anguo was in his office, studying the time-series chart of international crude oil futures, trying to decipher the daily patterns of fluctuation. There were, after all, some discernible trends—which periods saw a surge and which saw a decline.

Just then, his young assistant, Zhou Mengdie, came over. "There's someone here asking to see you," she said. "She claims to be your niece."

"My niece?" Yi Anguo was puzzled. He couldn't think of any niece who would be in Shenzhen and want to see him. Back in his hometown, Yi Anguo had quite a few paternal nieces—the daughters of his male cousins. Some were married, others weren't. But the only one in Shenzhen was Yi Huijun, who had previously opened a Hunan restaurant in Pinghu. He'd run into her when she was heading home, though. Hadn't she already gone back to their hometown to buy a house and open a supermarket? If it wasn't Yi Huijun, then who could it be?

Still, no matter which niece it was, since she had come all this way to find him, he wouldn't refuse to see her.

Yi Anguo had Zhou Mengdie bring the person in, only to see that it was Ou Xiaolong's daughter. As for her name, he couldn't quite recall it.

"Uncle Yi! It's so presumptuous of me to come unannounced. I hope I'm not disturbing you," Chen Xuejiao said to Yi Anguo with a lovely smile.

"Oh, it's you," Yi Anguo said with a smile of his own. "You're Chen... what was it, Chen Mengjiao, right?"

"Chen Mengjiao is my older sister. My name is Chen Xuejiao. Please don't get us mixed up next time, Uncle Yi!"

"Chen Xuejiao, eh? 'Xue' as in snow?" Yi Anguo asked. "It doesn't snow here in Shenzhen, so how did you get a name like that?"

"Because when my mother gave birth to me, my father dreamed that it was snowing heavily back in our hometown, so he named me Chen Xuejiao," she explained with a smile.

"I see!" Yi Anguo nodded. "What brings you here to see me today? And where's your father?"

Yi Anguo readily accepted being called Uncle Yi. After all, among his own nieces from his father's side of the family, several were older than her, so why shouldn't he accept the title?

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