"Dad! That's enough. Don't you think you've embarrassed us enough?" Chen Xuejiao said angrily. "Flies don't buzz around a flawless egg. If you have something to say, say it yourself. I'm not going to lose face with you. I have a lot to do, so take a taxi home yourself!"

After Chen Xuejiao got into the car and left, Ou Xiaolong looked at Yi Anguo, feeling embarrassed and awkward all over again.

"I'm going to bail someone out. Are you leaving, or are you coming with me?" Yi Anguo said with a smile.

"I'll go with you! I still think I was framed. I had absolutely nothing to do with that woman," Ou Xiaolong said, unconvinced.

"You're a man, and you've surely been drunk before. Do you really think that when a man is blacked out drunk, he still has the capacity to do something like that?"

"That's hard to say. You're the only one who knows whether you did it or not. How could you have no memory of it at all?" Yi Anguo replied.

"But I really don't remember doing anything with her! I don't even know how I got into the hotel room," Ou Xiaolong said.

"So you aren't actually sure whether you slept with that woman or not, are you?" Yi Anguo countered.

Ou Xiaolong really wasn't sure if anything had happened with that woman while he was blacked out.

"So, do you still want to go into the police station?" Yi Anguo asked again.

"Ah, let's just forget it. My head is killing me. I'm going to go back and rest." After calming down, Ou Xiaolong decided it was better to let it go. The less trouble, the better.

Yi Anguo nodded. "Alright then. Take care, I'm heading in."

"When you have a chance, come to my company. We can discuss the investment partnership in detail!"

"Didn't my daughter already finalize the investment partnership with you? I've already signed it," Ou Xiaolong said, taken aback.

"I haven't signed yet, so we need to renegotiate," Yi Anguo stated.

"Renegotiate? You're not satisfied with that contract? If you squeeze me any harder, I'll have no way to survive," Ou Xiaolong said, his face a mask of distress.

"It's precisely because you have no way to survive that I feel the terms are too harsh. I want to give you some breathing room," Yi Anguo said. "If you feel we don't need to discuss it further, we can just proceed with what was agreed upon before."

"Oh, no, no, no! Brother Yi, I knew it! I always said my daughter was too ruthless. Brother Yi isn't the type to watch a man drown or push him off a cliff. It's definitely better to talk it over!" Hearing that Yi Anguo intended to offer him better terms, Ou Xiaolong immediately broke into a fawning smile. "How about I come to your company tomorrow to discuss it? Is that convenient for you?"

Yi Anguo nodded. "Come see me tomorrow afternoon."

After entering the police station and explaining his purpose, Yi Anguo met a haggard and dejected-looking Zhuo Weidong. He paid the fine and walked Zhuo Weidong out of the station.

"Brother Zhuo, the way I remember you, you've always been so suave and meticulous about your image. Seeing you like this today, maybe I should take a picture as a memento!" Yi Anguo said with a chuckle once they were in the car.

"My luck is bad enough as it is, and you're still making fun of me," Zhuo Weidong said sullenly.

He had never imagined he would one day be arrested during a police raid for soliciting a prostitute. The problem was, he couldn't reveal his identity over something like this, nor could he let many people know about it. He had no choice but to pretend to be an ordinary person and ask Yi Anguo to bail him out. At that moment, Zhuo Weidong realized the person he trusted most was actually Yi Anguo. Even he found that hard to believe. But it was the truth. He had countless friends, including many within the system and even some acquaintances in the police force. Yet, after thinking it over, he had chosen to call Yi Anguo to get him out.

"Take me to a mall to buy a new set of clothes, then to a hotel spa to wash off this bad luck!" Zhuo Weidong told Yi Anguo.

After buying new clothes, they went to a high-end hotel's spa. Soaking in the bath together, they spoke frankly. They chatted about this and that, and eventually, the conversation turned to work and partnerships.

The key was that the woman wasn't even pretty, and she wasn't young either. He would never normally go for a woman like that—he couldn't even bring himself to make a move!

"I've thought it through," Zhuo Weidong said. "You want Blue Coast Square and Blue Coast Century Center, so they're yours. But Blue Coast Century Center is a massive project that has just broken ground. You'll have to advance me the construction funds, right? Also, I don't need to make a huge profit from you, but you can't let me take a loss, can you? My company still has so many mouths to feed!"

"Of course," Yi Anguo nodded. "What good would it do me to drive you into a corner and bankrupt your company? I never kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. How about this: I'll give you an 8 percent net profit on top of your total costs. Is that enough?"

"An 8 percent net profit! Great! Thanks." Zhuo Weidong hesitated for a moment before quickly agreeing. He was pleasantly surprised; his original goal had been to secure a 5 percent net profit, which would have been satisfying enough.

The two projects had a combined saleable area of over 560,000 square meters, with a planned total investment of over 10 billion yuan. An 8 percent net profit would amount to nearly a billion! Although it wasn't as much as he could have earned under normal circumstances—when the net profit could be close to 20 percent, assuming property prices at least didn't fall—in the current market, just breaking even was a win. Earning a net profit of 8 percent was more than decent. Since he would have willingly accepted 5 percent, getting 8 percent was a wonderful surprise.

"But let me be clear," Yi Anguo added emphatically. "I'm guaranteeing your profit, but you have to guarantee the quality of the construction. If the quality doesn't meet the standards, you will bear the consequences yourself. Furthermore, the construction funds will be paid to your company in installments. When ten percent of the work is done, you'll get ten percent of the funds. The money will also be under the supervision of my people. I don't want to find the money's all gone before the buildings are even up."

"That... how could that happen!" Zhuo Weidong said with an awkward laugh. "As long as your funds arrive on time, we will guarantee delivery on the agreed-upon date. However, while these two projects are now settled, my company's financial crisis isn't over yet."

"The rest is easy to handle," Yi Anguo said decisively. "As for the houses you've already built, I can buy them at the previous price."

"The previous price? You mean the price for those 4,500-plus units?" Zhuo Weidong asked. "That price you gave me before was really too low. I wouldn't just make no money; I'd actually lose money!" he exclaimed, looking deeply aggrieved. "How about you raise it a little? At the very least, you can't let me take a loss!"

"So how much do you want? Don't forget the current market price. You can't expect me to offer a price higher than the market rate, can you?" Yi Anguo retorted.

"Well... the current lowest price on the market really is rock-bottom," Zhuo Weidong said helplessly. "It's practically a clearance sale where developers can't make a single cent."

"That's because your costs are high," Yi Anguo stated. "Other developers don't have costs as high as yours. Their so-called 'lowest price' still includes a profit margin."

Zhuo Weidong was at a loss for words again because what Yi Anguo said was essentially true. Since he had taken over the project from the Ren Family, his costs were inevitably high.

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