Chapter 554: Chapter 554

Huo Hanjian looked at his mother with a sad face, "Mom, I admit I was wrong, Big Bao really knows his mistake."

"Mom, I admit I was wrong too," Huo Hanjie, seeing his elder brother's reaction, suddenly knelt down on the ground.

Granny Huo, seeing her two sons sincerely admitting their faults, couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart; her mouth twitched, but ultimately, she closed it.

Huo Chen glanced at them and then turned around, taking Xu Ying outside, "I'll take you home, leave the child at home, and you should get back to work."

Xu Ying looked inside the sickroom at Granny Huo, who was crying tears of joy, and nodded.

She turned and left the hospital with Huo Chen, driving toward home.

As they approached Xu Qiuye's house, Xu Ying saw Director Ge and a familiar female figure standing with a middle-aged man in between them.

"Zhang Linyu," Xu Ying tugged at the man and said, "Is that Director Ge?

It looks is the new partner indeed."

Seeing Zhang Linyu, Xu Ying instantly understood what was happening and hugged her child, scoffing coldly.

Huo Chen drove up beside them and stopped the car right in front of them, "Director Ge, when are we starting the construction on the contract we signed?"

Upon hearing the voice, Director Ge turned around to see the last person he wanted to see, his face immediately turned embarrassed: "Huo Chen ah, it's not that I don't want to begin the construction.

It's mainly because I'm worried about the bad influence, you know your cousin works in our unit.

If there were no external partners, it'd be fine, but now that we have external partners willing to cooperate, wouldn't it seem like we're abusing our authority by working with internal personnel?"

Hearing this, Huo Chen's eyebrows shot up, and he sneered, "Director Ge really has one set of rules for before using someone and another for after.

Today I've really seen it all, but if you want to breach the contract, that's fine too, the contract states the penalty fee is fifty thousand yuan.

Just bring out this penalty fee, and I'll agree to terminate our partnership."

"Fifty thousand yuan that much?" exclaimed the middle-aged man beside them.

Zhang Linyu, smiling, looked at Huo Chen, "Huo Chen, aren't you asking for too much? Director Ge is developing these two courtyards for the sake of our county's citizens.

You asking for so much seems rather mercenary, doesn't it? Your wife claims to drive the economic development of our county, you doing this is just holding your wife back."

Xu Ying sarcastically smirked at Zhang Linyu, "Zhang Linyu, there's no need to sing my praises, I do want to drive our county's economic development.

But not by letting people take advantage as ingrates. However, my husband and I can't be compared to your father—who truly was a good director—only thinking about how to harvest the benefits from the citizens rather than how to promote their development.

Director Ge is now involved with Zhang Linyu, could it be that you knew Director Zhang before? Both of you wouldn't happen to be cut from the same cloth, would you?"

These words instantly frightened Director Ge into sweating profusely; he had no idea that this was the daughter of the former director.

"You're going too far," Zhang Linyu glared angrily at Xu Ying.

As Zhang Linyu looked at her, Director Ge's face changed greatly, and the middle-aged man beside them, fearing this deal would fall through, quickly smiled, "Director Ge, Director Zhang previously took measures, and it has nothing to do with his daughter.

Miss, you seem to be a bit too petty, blowing these issues out of proportion."

"Uncle, since you're so generous, why don't you take care of the fifty thousand yuan penalty fee," Xu Ying said with a smile.

Although she didn't know the background of this uncle, the shock on his face upon hearing about the fifty thousand yuan penalty fee suggested that his assets were limited.

Xu Ying was curious, how had this uncle managed to secure such a large project with a bold move?

When Director Ge heard this, he immediately looked expectantly at the middle-aged man, "Mr. Liu, if you want to work with us, we would need to break another contract because of your breach. Shouldn't you be the one paying this penalty fee?"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Liu's expression became rather awkward, primarily because the two courtyards were now fully open, which had consumed a significant amount of resources.

Each of the original residents had to be provided with a house per head, among other small compensations, which amounted to several hundred thousand.

And betting on a small county town, he really didn't dare to gamble.

Seeing the man's hesitation, Zhang Linyu became somewhat anxious, "Mr. Liu, this collaboration will definitely make you extremely wealthy.

These two are top-notch in business—the rural tourism and the food and textile factories of our county were all started by this lady.

It took me great effort to pull you into the business of developing these two courtyards, it'd be a pity to let go now."

Mr. Liu had heard about Xu Ying and Huo Chen, both known as adept businesspeople, especially since Huo Chen's real estate business had taken off over the past year.

Every property developed had sold extremely well.

Though the county was small, if these two were keen on it, the two courtyards definitely held a promising future.

Mr. Liu gritted his teeth and decisively nodded, "Okay, I'll take care of the fifty thousand yuan."

Hearing this, Director Ge was overjoyed and looked at Mr. Liu, "Since that's settled, give this gentleman the money. Our collaboration ends here, and we can sign a new contract to start construction."

Mr. Liu, eager to wrap up the business—since securing this deal would mean Zhang Linyu would marry him—nodded with a smile and went to get the money.

Director Ge was also pleased; Mr. Liu had agreed to the deal, and just signing the contract would earn him a commission of five thousand yuan.

He looked at Huo Chen and Xu Ying with undeniable disdain; they were rich, sure, but they weren't as shrewd in business as Mr. Liu.

The contract was quickly signed, and Huo Chen took Xu Ying straight home.

"Are you sure about canceling the contract? Isn't it a bit of a waste?" Xu Ying asked curiously.

Huo Chen shook his head, "The initial plan was to collaborate on developing these two courtyards just to improve the economic and construction conditions of the county. Since someone else is willing to take it on, I'll step back.

Do you know about the big courtyard next to our county high school?"

"The one near where I used to rent?" Xu Ying asked.

Huo Chen nodded with a smile, "Right. I think that location is truly excellent—close to the train station with high foot traffic. If we can secure that area, business will surely thrive."

He had signed the contract initially because he wanted to support the work of Xu Shengshun, and his wife was wholeheartedly devoted to the development of Yu County; he didn't want to be a drag. Since Director Gu had left this task, he simply wanted to help out.

He hadn't expected a 'thief' like Cheng Yaojin to suddenly emerge, but since he was willing, Huo Chen decided to let it go.