Chapter 643

It had snowed last night. There was no sun in Golden Port City in the morning, and the whole world was dim and gloomy.

In the dark room, a pair of eyes suddenly opened. They blinked, and then looked at the position of the window.

A sliver of light came through from behind the curtains that did not completely cover the window, but this sliver of light was too dim, so much so that it made people doubt the time.

He tried to close his eyes again to enter a dream, but unfortunately, he failed.

He closed his eyes for a while, and then opened them again. He couldn’t sleep.

People with something on their minds are like this. Once they get up early, it’s very difficult to fall asleep again.

Only a carefree person like his wife could fall asleep as soon as she lay down at any time. He was a little envious of that guy’s “superpower.” He also wanted the ability to fall asleep anytime, anywhere, but he didn’t have it.

He slowly sat up from the bed and lifted the quilt.

The room was heated. The copper pipes in the walls made the whole house warm.

Living in a detached villa in the Bay Area, you didn’t have to worry about heating in the winter.

The boiler in the basement would require several hundred dollars’ worth of diesel for a winter, but it could ensure that the house was warm for the entire winter.

He was wearing pajamas and left the bedroom.

Until he left, his wife had not woken up.

He was an… operator. He had his own factory in Golden Port City, mainly engaged in some import and export trade. He couldn’t say that he was particularly rich, but he was definitely not short of money.

Recently, he had encountered a problem.

Because the old industrial district was going to be demolished, it was blocking the way for the city to continue to develop—

The east and south of Golden Port City were all sea. In other words, if Golden Port City wanted to continue to expand its city circle, it could only expand to the north and west.

There were some small hills in the due north. Although the Federation had the technology to level these small hills, the cost was too great. The northwest direction was Creek Valley City. Unless the Likalai state government decided to let Golden Port City annex Creek Valley City, otherwise, developing in that direction would have many troubles and restrictions.

From this point of view, developing to the west seemed to have become one of the few choices.

As it happened, the industrial district was on the west side of the city, so moving it became an option that had to be chosen.

He sat in his study without turning on the lights. The sky outside was still dark, but he could already feel that it was about to get light.

Now was the moment before dawn. The dawn was about to come!

He drank some of the water from last night and then lit a cigarette.

In the dark room, the small bright light of the cigarette butt became the brightest thing.

As he took a puff of his cigarette, the tobacco in the cigarette made a crackling sound that could be heard in the quiet night.

That was the sound of the tobacco being ignited.

A thick puff of smoke was inhaled by him into his lungs.

The problem he was facing now was to continue to raise the land price with everyone and wait for an opportunity.

Or to choose to side with Mayor Williams.

Mayor Williams had already arranged for someone to talk to him. If he was willing to hand over his current land to City Hall through the method of “replacement plus subsidy,” then he could choose a piece of land in the new industrial district to rebuild his factory.

The land would be free, and he could choose a larger one, and there would also be some preferential policies and subsidies.

To say it was a subsidy, it could actually be seen as a “land purchase fund.” As a government subsidy for the construction of a new factory, it was about 2,000 per acre.

It seemed that he had lost a lot, but if you added the subsequent policy support promised by City Hall, it was actually very cost-effective.

The other choice was to continue to raise the land price.

With the saying “the old industrial district will be demolished to build a new core” becoming more and more widespread, even the land and houses around the industrial district had begun to rise in price.

Now the price of an acre of land in the old industrial district had risen to more than 12,000. This was obviously an unreasonable price.

But… the profit was amazing.

He had about sixty acres of land in his hands. If calculated according to the market price, this would be more than 700,000.

But if he chose to replace it, the more than 700,000 would become 120,000 to 130,000. A sudden loss of 600,000!

He couldn’t sleep because of this.

Some friends were running around everywhere, asking everyone to hold on.

As long as the majority of people stood together against City Hall, then they would definitely be able to get this bonus.

His only confusion now was, was the advantage of City Hall, or rather Mayor Williams, so easy to take?

He had a premonition that this was not a good bargain, and it would not be easy to take.

As a businessman, to persuade himself to refuse such a large profit was actually a very difficult thing. So far, probably only a little over 20% of the people had chosen replacement and subsidy.

The rest were all holding on, continuing to push up the land price.

They’ve gone mad!

After finishing a cigarette, he still sat there, motionless, as if he were dead.

The sky outside slowly lit up. He didn’t know how long he had been sitting, nor how many cigarettes he had smoked. There were already quite a few cigarette butts in the ashtray in front of him.

When the sun tore through the gloomy clouds and broke the darkness with a golden sword, the day broke.

He rubbed his neck. He had already made a decision in his heart.

His father had once told him that a businessman had to be greedy, but he couldn’t be greedy for things that were clearly beyond the scope of the consequences he could bear.

To fight against the mayor on the mayor’s turf, he didn’t think this was a smart decision, although he really wanted that money!

At a little after nine o’clock, the phone rang. It was his good friend.

The friends of the poor are the poor, and the friends of the rich are also the rich.

His friend had known him since he was a child. Their fathers were also friends. Both families had come to Golden Port City from other places to do business.

They had been good friends since they were children, went to school together, went to high school together, and only separated when they went to college.

But after graduating from college, they both returned to Golden Port City because they had to inherit the family business. It had been more than twenty years, until today.

“Have you made a decision?” his friend asked.

Because today was City Hall’s “ultimatum.” For those who registered after today, there would be no replacement or subsidy.

This could be seen as a way for Mayor Williams to force these people to take a stand, and also a means of establishing his authority.

Having figured it out, he already realized that after today, there would definitely be a series of actions.

So he nodded and said, “Yes, I’ve decided to go and sign the replacement agreement.”

“Are you crazy?”

The voice in the receiver went up an octave, as if someone had pinched the throat of the person in the receiver and then punched him in the balls, making his voice become high-pitched!

“That’s tens of thousands!”

“You’re only getting a subsidy of a little over a hundred thousand for the replacement. The gap is too big!”

“How long will it take you to earn several hundred thousand?”

“Two or three years?”

“Or longer?”

He was silent for a moment. “That’s not money I earned through my own efforts…”

“Shit, you still fucking believe in that?”

“Your brain is really broken!”

The person in the receiver spoke very quickly, which made him silent for another moment. “I don’t know if it’s broken or not, but I know that in this city, the mayor is the biggest.”

A disdainful laugh came into his ear. “The last mayor also thought so.”

He continued to argue to defend his point of view. “But the last mayor was not a local. Williams is a local, and a local prestigious family at that!”

“But he can’t represent the Bay Area!”

The two argued endlessly for a long while before they gradually calmed down.

“Anyway, once you’ve made a decision, you can’t go back on it. My suggestion is to wait a little longer.”

His friend was still trying to persuade him, but he had already made a decision and would not change it.

After saying another sentence, he hung up the phone, then changed his clothes and chose to go out. He was going to City Hall to sign the replacement agreement!

He had a feeling that he might not be able to make such a large fortune by digging a hole for City Hall.

But at least he was safe.

There was one sentence he had always thought was very right: in the face of a choice with a huge risk, losing less is winning!

This round, he had won!

There were not many people on City Hall’s side, because those who were willing to replace had already replaced. Those who were not willing to replace, today was the last day, and there was a high probability that they would not come.

Only people like him who had hesitated for a long time would come on the last day. There were not many such people.

After all… those who wanted to please the mayor would definitely come as early as possible. As for those like his friend who stood firmly on the Bay Area’s side, they would not have come before, and it was even more impossible for them to come now.

Under the guidance of the staff, he came to the outside of the mayor’s office. Originally, this kind of work did not require Mayor Williams to do it himself, but now was the time for him to establish his authority. He needed to personally entertain these people.

“Please wait a moment. The mayor will be here shortly.”

After the secretary brought the coffee, she took the initiative to leave.

After about seven or eight minutes, the door to the room opened. Mayor Williams stood at the door with a smile on his face.

His face was immediately filled with a smile as he went up to him. And at this very moment, the smile on his face suddenly froze, and his footsteps also paused for a moment.

He saw a person behind Mayor Williams who was putting on his hat and passing by the door. At the same time, that person also glanced at him.

That familiar face… everyone in the entire Golden Port City knew it. There was only one person who was so handsome that he was recognizable.

His stiff smile became enthusiastic again. He quickly walked to the front and shook Mayor Williams’s hand. “I hope I’m not disturbing your work.”

Mayor Williams laughed and shook his hand a few times. “No disturbance. I have set aside the whole day to serve you people who are willing to support my work. As long as it’s before twenty-four hundred hours, I will be at your service anytime, anywhere!”

He paused for a moment, let go of his hand, and invited the businessman to sit down. “Shall we sit down and chat for a while?”

The businessman nodded repeatedly. The two walked to the side of the sofa and sat down. This was the reception room, not the mayor’s office.

Mayor Williams looked at him, observing this person. Originally, he had wanted to go straight to the topic and talk about the replacement and subsidy.

But he found that this businessman’s expression seemed a little off.

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

The businessman asked tentatively, “Just now I saw a gentleman leave from behind you. That was…”

“Mr. Lance?”

(End of a Chapter)