After failing to negotiate a raise, Xu Pidai decided to start his own business. In 1996, he traveled alone to Sheep City and founded Hengda Real Estate.

He first took a daring loan of 5 million yuan from the bank. He then acquired a residential plot of land on an installment basis and began selling houses using the presale system.

At the time, Xu Pidai focused on small-sized apartments, which were rare on the market. His prices were also lower than surrounding developments, so his properties sold out almost instantly upon release. As a result, Xu Jiayin successfully earned his first pot of gold.

Afterward, Xu Pidai rapidly developed over a dozen projects in Sheep City. In less than four years, Hengda became the top player in the city's real estate market.

After a few years of company growth, Xu Pidai prepared for an IPO. In 2007, to push for the listing, he frantically acquired projects in the market, causing the company's debt ratio to surge within a single year.

At the same time, Xu Pidai also boldly secured a high-stakes investment of four hundred million US dollars tied to a valuation gamble.

Unfortunately, the global financial crisis erupted in 2008. Xu Pidai's plan to list in Harbor Island failed, his capital suddenly tightened, and the company was in constant danger of collapse.

Xu Pidai was naturally unwilling to accept defeat. Instead, he went to Harbor Island to secure investments.

His luck was remarkably good. Against all odds, he fortuitously got to know a wealthy entertainment mogul from Harbor Island and made his way into the top echelons of the island's rich and powerful.

It is actually very difficult to integrate into the elite circle of Harbor Island's tycoons. Even a powerhouse like Jack Ma couldn't get in, but Xu Pidai did, and he even befriended many of them. You have to admire Xu Pidai's networking skills.

It was with the help of Harbor Island's circle of tycoons that he secured an investment of six hundred million US dollars. This allowed him to successfully overcome his difficulties, and he eventually listed on the main board of Harbor Island in November 2009.

And what exactly allowed Xu Pidai to so spectacularly break into the tycoon circle of Harbor Island?

This brings us to the fact that Xu Pidai had a wide range of interests and loved to gamble. It was precisely his decent card-playing skills that allowed him to successfully infiltrate Harbor Island's circle of tycoons.

By this time, Xu Pidai had likely already received the money invested by the Harbor Island tycoons, so he appeared somewhat triumphant.

Yi Anguo knew exactly what kind of person Xu Pidai was. He had no intention of investing in him, let alone collaborating or becoming friends. Naturally, he was quite indifferent toward Xu Pidai and showed little enthusiasm.

Zhuo Weidong assumed it was because the two were not yet familiar with each other and didn't pay it much mind.

Blue Coast had also failed to list in Harbor Island, suffering a similar fate to Hengda. With Yi Anguo's help, however, Blue Coast not only suffered no losses during the 2008 financial crisis but grew even stronger.

At land auctions in major cities across the country, Blue Coast acquired numerous plots at their starting bid prices, allowing the company to expand beyond Yue Province and achieve a national presence.

Although the two parties had already signed an agreement specifying that Yi Anguo would take half the profits after these plots were developed and that the property management rights would be handed over to Anguo Property, Zhuo Weidong still felt it was a fantastic deal. He considered it a huge profit, since Yi Anguo had paid for the land, allowing him to reap the benefits without taking on any risk.

Yi Anguo's decision was born of necessity. He didn't want to establish another real estate development company, partly to avoid the hassle. The main reason, however, was that real estate development inevitably involves taking on significant bank loans. Securing those loans would undoubtedly require public relations and bribing bank executives. Otherwise, borrowing enough money would be nearly impossible.

If nothing went wrong, it would be fine, but any issue could escalate into a major incident. Taking a bribe is a crime, but so is giving one. However, if you tried to do everything by the book, your real estate development company probably wouldn't survive.

By cooperating with Zhuo Weidong's Blue Coast Real Estate Development Company on land acquisitions, Yi Anguo only needed to provide the funds for the land itself. He didn't have to concern himself with anything else.

How to secure a bank loan or how to construct the buildings—those were Zhuo Weidong's problems, not his. All Yi Anguo had to do was wait for the developments to be completed and then collect half the profits as stipulated in their contract.

Alternatively, he could take half of the apartments, paying Blue Coast Real Estate Development Company for them at cost price.

Yi Anguo wasn't worried about projects being left unfinished or having quality issues. He trusted that Zhuo Weidong wouldn't dare to play any tricks on him. After all, Zhuo Weidong had nothing to gain by offending him.

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