Summer #48

Don't Turn from Summer (莫负寒夏) by Ding Mo (丁墨)

Chapter 48

Seeing her walking out, Mu Hanxia immediately stands up. Even though neither she or Lin Mochen, who’s behind her, has a good expression, Mu Hanxia still greets her with a smile and nods.

He Qingling gives her a glance and asks Lin Mochen, “Your girlfriend?”

Lin Mochen replies dryly, “The one I plan to marry.”

Mu Hanxia stiffens, but HE Qingling just says flatly to her, “Be good to him,” and walks away.

The room is quiet again.

Lin Mochen picks up the name card and glances at it. Mu Hanxia walks over and says, “Why did you say that?” They are far from getting married.

He says nothing.

Mu Hanxia asks no more. She turns her attention to the name card in his hand: “Are you going to contact this person?”

Lin Mochen answers, “If he is useful, why shouldn’t we use him?”

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Feng Chen has been constantly following up with Cao Dasheng about the lot. But as the negotiation gets deeper, the money issue becomes very urgent.

These few days, Lin Mochen arranges to meet a few people of investment. Of course, they include the Mr. Zhou from the banking system referred to him by HE Qingling. But as it’s the year-end right now, all the financial organizations are tightening up the investments. It’s not an easy business as the amount Lin Mochen wants to loan is huge.

That Mr. Zhou, however, is very kind to him. He is in his fifties who has gradually retiring from the banking business and calls himself Lin Mochen’s uncle. Talking about HE Qingling, Mr. Zhou claims that she did a great favor for him in earlier years and he never had a chance to pay her back. So he will try his best to help Lin Mochen. Although Lin Mochen doesn’t like to talk about his mother with people, he will not refuse the kindly offers from Mr. Zhou either, after all this is all about business.

After some days, Mr. Zhou is actually able to get some money for him. He uses part of his quota in a bank with HE Qingling being the loan guarantor. But the money can only arrive in installments. The second installment has to wait until after the Chinese New Year.

Everything is ready except one condition―the money. If they can acquire the lot from Cao Dasheng, Feng Chen will own a second lot in Lin City. Not to say as powerful as Rong Yue, they at least will become one of the first-tier real estate developers in Lin City.

But Lin Mochen just keeps delaying signing the contract with Cao Dasheng, neither has he signed the contract of loans. Mu Hanxia asks him, “What are you waiting for?” He just says, “Summer, this lot is critical to Feng Chen’s whole survival. I have to see it more clearly before I can get my hands on it.”

So Mu Hanxia understands that before the huge profit which seems easily obtainable, when he is surrounded by all kinds of compliments and admiration, this person still keeps his cool and looks at things clearly.

It so happens that after a couple of days, there really comes the problem.

There is problem with that lot of Cao Dasheng’s.

That day, while Lin Mochen and Mu Hanxia are having dinner in a reserved restaurant room, Sun Zhi knocks and comes in, followed by a girl.

Talking about Sun Zhi, he is really talented. A local of Lin City, about 32 or 33 in age, he has been in the real estate business for over ten years. He is very experienced and strong-minded, but with a personality not too pleasant. He was the general manager of the real estate company when Lin Mochen bought it, hired by the original owner. But because the original owner controlled things too tightly and did everything by the book, they constantly had conflicts. Later when the owner changed to Lin Mochen, Sun Zhi was ready to pack up and leave. But Lin Mochen paid him well and asked him to stay, promising him company shares and maximum authorities. As a result, he willingly submits to Lin Mochen and does his best at everything. And after observing him for a while, Lin Mochen also relies more and more on him.

Those who do real estate business usually have some relations in both the dark and bright worlds. Sun Zhi is no exception. Lin Mochen does need such a person to help him with his real estate development endeavors in Lin City.

Although Lin Mochen remains calm at what Sun Zhi is doing now, Mu Hanxia is totally lost.

Sun Zhi’s face is very serious. The girls he brings in is flamboyantly dressed and wears a heavy makeup with smoky eye shadows. She has an air of low taste charm. Even someone like Mu Hanxia, who has seen little of the gray zone, can tell she may not be a girl of good family.

“This girl is Xiao Ying.” Sun Zhi says, “Xiao Ying, tell the boss what you heard.”

Xiao Ying does not hesitate and starts to talk away.

Slowly, Mu Hanxia grasps the idea. It turns out that Sun Zhi has paid several girls like Xiao Ying to approach Cao Dasheng and sound him out. Sound out about what? Sun Zhi didn’t say. Just whatever is related to the lot they are buying.

Upon hearing this, Mu Hanxia glances at Lin Mochen, who’s slowly sipping his tea, and guesses it must be his arrangement. In the process of grabbing more profit, he is extremely cautious with every move.

But Cao Dangsheng, even though rough, is a very careful fellow. No matter how the girls make him drink or flirt with him, he just doesn’t say anything about business with anybody in bed.

But Xiao Ying is not an ordinary girl. To get the 100 thousand yuan promised by Sun Zhi, she approached another girl who is a long-term mistress of Cao Daosheng, and the two of them got very close.The name of that girl is Xiao hong. She wouldn’t be bribed, but there’s the thing called sisterly love. So at a time, Xiao Ying got Xiao Hong drunk and learned the following information―

Xiao Ying: “Sister Hong, your husband is really incredible, giving you such a big house to live in. He must have a big business.”

Xiao hong is also proud. She replies with blurry drunk eyes, “Of course, he said he’s doing another deal of business. When it’s done, he will get a bigger house for me.”

“Wow, that’s awesome! So sister... has he divorced his wife yet?”

Xiao Hong is instantly quiet, and she becomes somewhat irritated. She says, “Um, how does it matter whether he’s divorced or not? I will just take whatever I’m entitled to.”

Taking the opportunity, Xiao Ying asks, “Sister, what business is my brother-in-law busy at right now?”

“Fussing over the land. What else can it be?”

“Land of where?”

“Long Xi County.”

Xiao Ying: “Ahh, I’m from Long Xi too. Is it the lot at the west side of the county? I heard long ago that the lot was bought by a wealthy developer. Turns out it’s my brother-in-law! Sis, Sis, when brother-in-law has the houses built, let me have an unit with discount, won’t you?”

Xiao Hong smiles slightly, “Build the heck. He doesn’t build houses. He just sell the lot to others. That lot...can hold buildings.”

“Why not?”

“Let me tell you the secret. He got someone to inspect the lot and underneath it was all very hard rock of hundreds of years old. They can’t be punctured. Whoever invests in it will definitely lose money. But that’s fine, my little sis, your brother-in-law actually has another good lot hidden. It’s also in Long Xi. After he got some dumb head to buy this lot, he will start to develop the other good one. At that time...we can be neighbors...”

......

After seeing Xiao Ying off, Sun Zhi comes back and says, “The land inspection report Cao Daoshing provided us before showed no problem with the lot. He got the lot with some underhand methods and completed all the legal procedures afterwards. So the information was well hidden. But after hearing what Xiao Ying reported, I had someone go after the information and did find out he got two lots at the beginning. He’s already talking about development cooperation about the other one. In another word, this bastard is planning on selling this rotten lot to us and use the money he gets to develop the other lot.”

The night is quiet outside the window. Lin Mochen remains calm and says nothing.

Mu Hanxia now has a basic understanding: The information Xiao Ying found out is probably true. Cao Dasheng appears to be a rough person, but he is actually very evil and has no honesty. He hid the problem with foundations of the lot he is trying to sell Feng Chen. If Feng Chen buys it, later they will be trapped, which will be a big trouble for Feng Chen. Whereas, Cao himself will take what he gets from the deal and goes to develop the other lot in his hand, the good one.

It is not impossible to have a thick layer of non-penetrable rock underneath the foundation, but it is very rare. So, it’s reasonable that Lin Mochen didn’t think of it before. But now, Mu Hanxia wants to thank their good luck. If not for such an accidentally discovered clue, it will be really hard for them to find out about the problem.

But on a second thought, she has a feeling that this result is inevitable. Who else except Lin Mochen can still be this cautious and unhurried at this stage? It is exactly because that he has commanded Sun Zhi to be extra careful with Cao Dasheng that leads to this accidental discovery. So it really can be said that opportunities are for those who are prepared. To reach where he is today, Lin Mochen doesn’t merely rely on his talent and ambition, there’s also the cautiousness and diligence much greater than regular people. Canny as him, Mu Hanxia thinks, who in the world can ever trick him?

Mu Hanxia and Sun Zhi both stare at Lin Mochen.

They thought they could win another battle, but it turns out someone has dug a trap right by their feet which they would easily fall in if they were a bit less cautious. What will he do next?

Lin Mochen looks up at them and smiles coldly, “Ha... a dumb headl?”

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That night, Lin Mochen and Mu Hanxia return to the hotel.

About how they will deal with Cao Daosheng, Lin Mochen hasn’t said anything yet. But Mu Hanxia is sure that he won’t let him slip away easily. Will he take immediate action? Of that she’s not sure. After all, Lin Mochen is a crafty man who can wait a lot time just for the right opportunity to take revenge.

With these thoughts, Mu Hanxia gazes at his slim and handsome profile and can’t help but smiles. He notices it and asks, “What are you smiling at?”

“Nothing.”

He studies her thoughtfully for a moment and also breaks into a smile, saying, “As the old saying goes, one who loses in his business will gain in the love affair. I had frustrations today. As my girlfriend, what do you plan to do to console me?”

Mu Hanxia’s face starts to burn at these ambiguously implying words.

“... that’s so much of frustration you had!”

Lin Mochen wraps his arm around her shoulders and chuckles in a low voice.

Mu Hanxia asks, “About Cao Dasheng, what’s your plan?”

Lin Mochen pauses for a moment and says, “It’s not hard to get rid of Cao Dasheng. But is there someone else behind him? How powerful are they? And do they have subsequent actions?”

Mu Hanxia is taken aback and listens as he continues: “They set up such a trap hoping me to jump in. Do I jump in and fight with them, or just put it aside and let it cool without confronting them directly? I need to think it over.”

“OK.” Just as she thought, even though he was irritated by the word ‘dumb head’, he is still calmly weighing the situation without taking hasty actions. But judging from his cold eyes, she’s sure he will take revenge.

This is exactly what she loves about him.