Amidst the sea of men in uniform black suits, the appearance of two stunning beauties, Yu Li and Liu Chen, drew intermittent, feigned glances from those around them.
What were these two here for?
As the question arose, Guo Da greeted one of the young men wearing a fitted black suit.
"Miao Shi, thank you for your trouble today. This is my friend Liu Chen. She's curious about land auctions and wanted to come and see. I really troubled you this time. After the auction, let's go for dinner."
Liu Chen also quickly nodded and smiled:
"Brother Miao Shi, thank you so much for your trouble."
Miao Shi, whose hair was thinning but who maintained a slender figure, waved his hand dismissively, his expression gentle as he looked at Liu Chen.
"What trouble is there? Frankly, I'm just responsible for holding up a placard. You two can sit next to me. After I've finished bidding for my employer, you can ask whatever you want."
Liu Chen smiled and nodded, standing quietly to the side. When the door to the land auction conference room opened, she followed Miao Shi inside.
Opening the double doors of the conference room, Liu Chen took a general look around the room. At the front was a slightly raised podium, with an approximately 100-inch projection screen next to it.
There was also a reasonably sized projector on the ceiling. The projector had just been turned on, and the person at the podium was still adjusting the content on it.
Below the podium were two rows of long tables, with an aisle in the middle. Beneath the long tables were connected plastic chairs.
Seeing Liu Chen's gaze fall on the chairs, Miao Shi lowered his voice and explained:
"Originally, these chairs were wooden with backs. Then, during one land auction, I don't know how it happened, but the bidders on both sides started fighting. Someone swung a chair and smashed it. After that, the chairs for land auctions were replaced with these ones welded to the long tables."
After Miao Shi finished speaking, Liu Chen nodded slightly, indicating she had learned something.
Guo Da, Yu Li, Liu Chen, and Miao Shi took their seats in order, in the sixth row on the left side of the podium.
As soon as they sat down, the conference room curtains were drawn, and several lights overhead were turned off, ensuring sufficient illumination while maximizing the clarity of the projector display.
The person who had been at the podium adjusting the projector then lightly tapped the microphone.
"Zzzt..."
The sound of the microphone echoed throughout the conference room.
"Ahem, okay, the first land auction of 2010 officially begins. Next, I will present the scale and location of the plots for this auction."
As his voice fell, the projection screen beside him displayed a PPT.
The host double-clicked to open the first large slide of the PPT.
This was a municipal planning map of City C. The map of City C displayed on the 100-inch screen appeared much larger than usual.
"The areas marked in green on the map are the plots for this land auction. Each is marked with a number, indicating the order of auction for that plot."
The host explained casually while quickly clicking his mouse, scrolling through the PPT.
For the next half hour, Liu Chen watched as everyone bid once or twice, the host on stage symbolically tapped with a small wooden hammer, counted down three, two, one, and then sold plots of land worth tens of millions, even hundreds of millions.
Recalling the subsequent years when 300-square-meter apartments could easily sell for tens of millions, Liu Chen felt a pang of worry.
She had been too short-sighted. After being reborn, she only thought about buying a house. Couldn't she have taken a different approach? Buying land and becoming a developer would have been much better!
With this thought, Liu Chen waited for Miao Shi to finish bidding for his assigned plot, and then the four of them quietly left the conference room.
Liu Chen knew that Miao Shi bringing them to the land auction was actually a form of irregular behavior, so she enthusiastically invited Miao Shi to have lunch together.
On the way to lunch, Liu Chen curiously asked:
"Brother Miao Shi, if someone entrusts you to bid for a plot of land, but they don't have the money to pay after winning the bid, what happens then?"
Miao Shi sat in the passenger seat, looking at the road ahead, and replied:
"If they can't raise the money in time, they'll have to pay a fine. A fine will be levied for each day of delay. But if your bank can't lend you the money, and you can't afford to pay, then your deposit for participating in this auction will be confiscated, and the plot will be put up for auction again."
Liu Chen nodded, understanding.
The four arrived at a Chinese restaurant. Liu Chen sat down and opened the document for tomorrow's land auction plots that Yu Li had handed her earlier.
Seeing Liu Chen flipping through the documents for tomorrow's land auction, Miao Shi explained:
"There's a plot of land to be auctioned tomorrow that relatively matches your requirements, Guo Da told me. At least three mu, and convenient transportation. I specifically folded the page with the information for that plot, so you'll see it as soon as you turn to it.
However, to be honest, although that plot is considered convenient in terms of municipal planning for transportation, how should I put it..."
Liu Chen looked at Miao Shi's furrowed brow and turned to the folded page in the folder. Upon seeing it, Liu Chen smiled. Wasn't this the same plot that Shen Hong had called to inquire about earlier?
Shen Hong had said it was difficult to get information about this plot, that someone was willing to transfer it, and now it was appearing in the land auction?
This plot had issues. Thinking this, Liu Chen couldn't help but look up and ask Miao Shi:
"Brother Miao Shi, do you think there's a problem with it?"
Being asked such a question by a young, beautiful girl with a sincere and trusting demeanor, Miao Shi couldn't help but feel a bit flattered. He had intended not to say too much, but he couldn't help but add a couple of words.
"It's not that the plot itself has a problem, but rather the municipal planning does. Look here, it says next to this plot is the construction of a four-lane dual carriageway as a side road to the Third Ring Road, right?"
Liu Chen listened to Miao Shi while looking down at the map next to the plot description and nodded.
"Yes."
Miao Shi sighed, "The problem is that the road in the municipal plan was decided by the previous mayor. As you know, a new broom sweeps clean. The mayor changed two years ago revised the plan, canceling the westward expansion and opting for southern expansion instead."
Liu Chen nodded. Her family's Fenghuang City was located in the central area of the southward expansion, which would see the most dramatic housing price increases in the future.
"So, with our southward expansion in full swing, appearing to be a large-scale development, the westward expansion left by the previous administration, especially this road... it will likely become a plan that will never be implemented."
After hearing this, Liu Chen looked at Miao Shi with newfound respect, as he had accurately predicted City C's development trend over the next decade based entirely on his personal experience and wisdom.
With this in mind, Liu Chen wanted to establish a good relationship with Miao Shi.
"Then, Brother Miao Shi, if I have a plot that I'm interested in, can I invite you to act as my proxy bidder?"
"Hmm? Of course, no problem. That's my profession!"
Having received his promise, Liu Chen then smiled and lowered her head to diligently review the plots to be auctioned tomorrow.
Indeed, it was no wonder Miao Shi had given her this document. The plots to be auctioned tomorrow were more affordable compared to the prices and scales of today's auction.
Most of the plots ranged from three to six mu, and some were even just over one mu.
With smaller plots, the total price would not be too high.
Liu Chen quickly skimmed through the information for nearly forty plots to be auctioned tomorrow, then calmly closed the folder. She finished lunch with the three people at the table and cheerfully saw Miao Shi off.
Getting into Guo Da's Mercedes-Benz business van, Liu Chen asked Guo Da not to drive yet and to find a safe place to stop by the roadside.
"Okay!"
Guo Da didn't ask why, but obediently followed Liu Chen's instructions, driving the car onto the roadside curb and stopping in front of a closed shop.
At this moment, Liu Chen cautiously took out the documents for tomorrow's land auction, which she had seemingly put away casually earlier.
Seeing Liu Chen's actions, Yu Li vaguely guessed something and turned to look at her.
Liu Chen, however, was immersed in memories of her past life.
Had she walked this path before? What was this road like back then? Was it an industrial area? Was the traffic convenient? Were there any dead-end roads nearby?
Liu Chen was so excited because she realized that tomorrow's land auction was practically picking up money!
Perhaps because many people believed that the westward expansion had been halted, many small plots in the western part of the Third and Fourth Ring Roads were being sold off.
Of course, the small plots in the western Third Ring Road were not cheap. But if one was willing to tolerate the distance, plots outside the western Third Ring Road or towards the future western Fourth Ring Road could be described as being sold at a bargain price.
Liu Chen had even chosen her target plot: Plot Number 18 for tomorrow's auction!
This was a plot of land located about one kilometer outside the future western Fourth Ring Road, with a starting bid of ten million.
The reason it could be so cheap was likely because it was too far away...
It was so far that it would take twenty minutes to drive on an ordinary paved road to reach the Third Ring Road, which, to the ordinary people of City C at that time, was considered countryside.
However, knowing that City C would enter a period of rapid development in the next ten years, Liu Chen viewed this plot of land with the eyes of future well-developed supporting facilities.
In other words, Liu Chen was going to 'strike gold'!
Moreover, perhaps it was because everyone had lost confidence in the western plots, or because these plots were relatively remote and a bit large.
They were neither large enough to be the coveted properties of real estate developers, like the plots auctioned today with convenient transportation, nor were they like some of the plots for tomorrow's auction that had convenient transportation, small plot sizes, and low total prices, which were considered prime investments for individuals and small businesses.
Therefore, besides the ten-mu plot that Liu Chen was interested in, there were several other smaller plots around it. The smallest one was only two mu, but its starting bid was only a little over two million!
Liu Chen's mind began to race. She wanted to acquire one-third of these lands with the funds she could currently mobilize!