Big Data Cultivation
Chapter 874 - Chapter 874 Chapter 874 Steps

Chapter 874: Chapter 874: Steps Chapter 874: Chapter 874: Steps Mayor Xiang’s face suddenly darkened; he could clearly make out the sarcasm in the other’s words.

“Even if your son escapes this time, can he escape the next? Even if he flees to Merrick… will he be safe?”

He looked at Feng Jun, feeling somewhat incensed. Do you dare to threaten a leader so recklessly?

But then he thought again, it seemed… that the other really did have the clout. In front of a strict system, even the wealthiest merchant was but an ant, yet outside the system, a wealthy merchant could do far too much.

In Zhengyang City, if he really wanted to be ruthless, he absolutely could make Feng Jun’s life a living hell.

But if Feng Jun left Zhengyang, targeting Xiang Song would be just as unrestrained–indeed, even in Merrick, the truly wealthy could do whatever they wanted.

So he had to reconsider whether seizing the land of Luohua Manor was somewhat ill-considered?

But this was the only major move he could make recently, and he didn’t want to give it up easily…

Alright, for now, what he needed to discuss was still his own son. He took a deep breath, “So what you mean, Boss Feng, is that my son might continue to face some troubles?”

“It’s hard to say,” Feng Jun replied with a smile, “My son continuously faces troubles, and your son might too. We are really… ah, in the same boat.”

Mayor Xiang had been a high official for so long, he ultimately couldn’t stand a young man talking disrespectfully and cryptically in front of him, so he snorted coldly, “What my son faced was not an illness, it was a man-made disaster!”

“Hehe,” Feng Jun scoffed coldly, “A man-made disaster… Your son faced one, so what about my son, was that a natural disaster?”

Mayor Xiang acted as if he hadn’t heard this complaint; he spoke formally, “I need to correct you, Luohua Manor is just your business, not your real son… Anthropomorphizing doesn’t mean it’s a real life, one should respect life.”

“I have a question too,” Feng Jun said with a cold chuckle, “Between your business and your son, if you could only choose one… which would you pick?”

Mayor Xiang was silent; he really wanted to say he would choose his son, but saying that in public was politically correct, yet making such a claim here and now would seem pretentious.

“To hold sway over the world when awake, to lie drunk on the lap of a beauty,” that was the ultimate dream of every man, as one can see from the emperors throughout history. The issue of progeny was certainly important, but it had to come after these two.

Especially so for men in the rise of their power, usually, those who say “for my son, I could give up everything,” are either overdosed on motivational nonsense, or what they have isn’t much to speak of.

Mayor Xiang didn’t think his son wasn’t important, “A career is temporary, a son is forever. There’s no comparison between the two.”

But Feng Jun saw his hesitation and smiled dismissively, “You should know by now how much I despise you, right?”

Mayor Xiang shook his head unconcernedly, “You’re running this estate just for money. Just name a price, as long as it’s not excessive…”

“Hold on,” Feng Jun interrupted, stopping him mid-sentence, and gave him an odd look, “I’m quite surprised on how you became the mayor… just because you’re adept at being presumptuous?”

He didn’t wait for a response; he stood up and walked towards the door, “Come, let me show you something…”

The two walked out of the front building, standing in the fine autumn rain.

Feng Jun pointed towards a white building on the hill, “Guess, how much do you think that building is worth?”

Mayor Xiang had sought people to deal with Luohua Manor yesterday and had heard some rumors, so he replied indifferently, “That must be the legendary Jade building, right? So much Mutton Fat White Jade… it must not have been easy, worth a couple of hundred million?”

“What a joke,” Feng Jun laughed, “Real Mutton Fat White Jade… all of it, each gram worth tens of thousands. If I dismantled this building and sold it off, I could lower the Mutton Fat White Jade market in the entire country by eighty percent!”

Mayor Xiang was taken aback, his facial muscles twitched twice, “All of it is Mutton Fat White Jade?”

“Of course, don’t believe it? You can come and see,” Feng Jun couldn’t hold back his desire to boast, as keeping great items at home wasn’t satisfying. However, he still glanced at the other, “Can you recognize Mutton Fat White Jade?”

“Well…” Mayor Xiang hesitated for a moment but answered honestly, “I’m not very knowledgeable about it, but I could get an expert.”

“No need,” Feng Jun waved his hand, he had been keeping a close eye on this little building, “If you were an expert, I’d show you, but others wanting to see? No chance… I wouldn’t have let you see if you weren’t making things difficult for me.”

That was quite blunt! Mayor Xiang didn’t like this cause and effect logic, but looking at such a large building and thinking “worth tens of thousands per gram,” he felt like there wasn’t enough oxygen in his brain.

“How much money would that be?”

He somewhat understood why Feng Jun had such a big reaction, openly opposing his own son.

But he still felt it was a bit unjust, “You should have told me earlier, we could have encircled this area, not requisitioned it… The more we enclose, the better it is for protecting your assets.”

Feng Jun helplessly rolled his eyes, “You still don’t understand my point. I meant… I plan to seriously manage this place! It’s not about the money at all, I don’t need the petty subsidy from your city government.”

“If I thought from the beginning that this land couldn’t be saved, why would I have built a Jade house on it?”

“Let’s put it this way, find me another plot of land, it doesn’t matter if it’s remote, as long as it has mountains and water, the area… at least ten square kilometers, I can exchange with you, but Luohua Manor won’t relocate within the first five years of construction.”

His conditions weren’t too harsh. If the other party really agreed, he wouldn’t mind exchanging land, but by that time… there would be many details involved, and if they didn’t satisfy him, he wouldn’t agree.

All in all, it was a way to give the mayor a way out.

He believed that, even if the other party was very tempted by the terms, they likely wouldn’t agree because… the feasibility was too poor.

Sure enough, after thinking it over carefully, Mayor Xiang shook his head and sighed, “It’s not easy to find a place with both mountains and water, and even if you find one, what if you’re not satisfied? To develop it with infrastructure and leveling… how long would that take?”

Feng Jun just smiled and kept silent, thinking to himself that aside from anything else, I’m only moving after five years by which time you would have likely left.

Without a reply from him, Mayor Xiang also remained silent. They stood in the courtyard for a while, even getting their shoulders wet from the rain.

At last Mayor Xiang spoke, “Alright, I’ll relay what you’ve said to everyone… Exchange twenty square kilometers of land then. The higher the terms you’re demanding, the stronger their opposition will be, and this matter will just end here.”

“Oh,” Feng Jun nodded subtly, indifferently expressing, “I’ll inquire about the matter in the capital, to see if I can offer any help.”

Feeling that this young man was being aggressively domineering yet somewhat elusive, Mayor Xiang also felt some annoyance: How did I just end up provoking such a person?

Actually, he wasn’t very afraid to confront the other party. Once he decided to fight it out to the death, he might not necessarily lose. However, ultimately, it was still about considering the cost–politics was nothing if not an art of compromise.

Since they had opened up the discussion, the annoyances he had endured seemed insignificant–failing to reach an agreement would be the biggest annoyance.

So, he tried to ease the relationship with the other side… in a subtle way, “This manor is indeed nice, if I have some free time, coming here to relax would be great.”

But Feng Jun directly expressed, “I have no plans to open up the manor right now… Once the outer four thousand acres are sold off, transforming those places could also create a nice scenery.”

Mayor Xiang glanced at him unintentionally, no longer speaking.

At ten in the morning, the latest news came from the capital, stating that considering the reputation of the university, the police asked the school authorities to pick up Xiang Song. However, it was clear this issue wasn’t resolved, and the police would continue the investigation.

For Xiang Song, the outcome was still not perfect; he had hoped he could pay some money to be bailed out rather than having a school teacher pick him up–this meant the spread of the news was unstoppable.

However, in reality, when Mayor Xiang learned of this news, he couldn’t do much. Feng Jun had been setting up in the capital for so long, it was unrealistic to expect him not to vent some anger–and besides, the capital’s police force also has its own dignity.

He even comforted his son over the phone, “It’s okay, your classmates know you are innocent… With those who think you’re innocent, you can be friends. As for those who echo others, do you need to care about their opinions?”

After comforting his son, he stood up to leave, but this time the treatment was slightly better; no need to ride a motorcycle as Yang Yuxin personally drove him to the manor gate.

Director Yang’s driving skills were of a murderous level on the road; even with an automatic, her driving was jerky. Fortunately, she drove slowly, there were no cars in the manor to navigate around, and no need to reverse, so she managed to drive “steadily” to the gate.

Of course, Yang Yuxin wasn’t there just to act as a driver for him; she had some inconvenient words that must be said privately, “Mayor Xiang, regarding this incident, President Feng has already been very restrained, and I really hope there won’t be any more complications.”

Mayor Xiang had previous interactions with Ji Yuan Company and had met Director Yang before.

But before his son was “drugged”, he truly hadn’t expected that Gu Laosan’s wife would be living in Luohua Manor.

Today, he also found out that Gu Laosan’s daughter was there too. Despite being of school age and the school term having started, she was staying in the manor, which made him feel even more mystified about Feng Jun.

Now hearing Gu Laosan’s wife say this, he could only give a bitter smile.

(Updated, calling for monthly tickets.)

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