Chapter 58 Buying an Office Building Worth 600 Million at Rock-Bottom Prices

Leaving Qiongjing Garden, the X5 pulled onto the main road. Chen Ang rolled the window down halfway and flicked his cigarette butt out.

He closed the window, rested his left hand on the sill, and tapped his fingers unconsciously.

Refreshing.

Physically refreshing, and mentally refreshing too.

Tu Yuandong hired someone to tail him, so he slept with Tu Yuandong's ex-wife.

When Tu Yuandong called, Yu Fei even cooperated by putting on a live show.

One could imagine just how frantic and furious the man surnamed Tu must have been at that moment.

Analyzing his personality, even though she was his ex-wife, in that specific situation with that specific person, he would feel his dignity being trampled under Chen Ang's crotch.

Yu Fei also saw the flaws in his character, which was why she cooperated so recklessly, and it pleased her as well.

An eye for an eye; this account was settled clearly, with interest.

His phone suddenly rang. Chen Ang glanced over; it was a call from Jiang Shan.

After answering, he didn't speak, listening instead to what Jiang Shan had to say.

Two minutes later, the call ended, and he received an email.

He pulled the car over to the side of the road, opened the email, and read it; a smile played on Chen Ang's lips.

Back on the road, he thought of another matter, so he dialed Yu Liang's number.

The phone was answered after two rings.

"Yu Liang, help me look into someone."

"Go ahead."

"Nickname, the boss of Hongsheng Financial Services. The registered address is in the Golden Bridge Building in the New District. He used to do loan shark debt collection and has over a dozen thugs under him. He tailed me all the way last night."

There was a moment of silence from Yu Liang's side. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped half a tone: "Do you have the license plate number?"

Chen Ang gave him the license plate number.

"Don't touch him, I'll handle it," Yu Liang said. "Stalking is a public security case. It's not convenient for me to open a case here; it's across districts. But I have someone in the Economic Crime Investigation Division at the Municipal Bureau. Companies like Hongsheng always have issues if you look into them. Give me some time."

"Alright."

"How is Sister Xin doing over there?"

Now that the serious business was done, Yu Liang made rare small talk.

His wife hadn't worked outside the home for six years, so he was a bit worried, especially since it was his brother's company. If something went wrong, it would be very awkward when they met.

Chen Ang understood his thoughts; he was afraid other matters would affect their brotherhood. He smiled and said, "She picked it up very quickly. After Lawyer Shen handed over the finances, she took one look at the asset statement and everything was crystal clear."

Yu Liang laughed on the other end of the line, and Chen Ang could hear the relief in his laughter.

"Free tonight? Come over for dinner."

Chen Ang thought about it; he didn't seem to have anything on for the evening, so he didn't refuse.

After he got into Bin University at eighteen, his whole family moved to Bin City.

But he didn't know many people, and his social circle was narrow.

From high school until three years after college graduation—a full ten years—he had spent most of his time clinging to Director Xu Qingwan.

After being forced into marriage, his family fell on hard times. He was busy working like a mule every day, saving money to pay off debts, and communication with colleagues was limited to work.

As a result, his circle of friends became even narrower.

After Yu Liang graduated from the police academy, he got together with Zhong Yuanxin, and his job was also in Bin City.

Since both people he was close to were in Bin City, Chen Ang's social life most of the time consisted of Yu Liang and his wife.

Therefore, he didn't feel like an outsider at all about going to Yu Liang's house for dinner.

After hanging up, the X5 drove into the Financial Center basement.

After going upstairs, he passed by Zhong Yuanxin's temporary office and glanced inside; no one was there.

There were only a few stacks of financial vouchers and tax registration forms piled up inside.

The accounts for Hengxing Investment had just been taken over, and many things needed to be reorganized.

Therefore, Zhong Yuanxin had scheduled an appointment with a specialist from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in the afternoon to align on compliance filings for return investments, and she also had an appointment with the Tax Bureau to handle the tax registration changes for foreign-invested enterprises.

Arriving at Shen Pianran's office, he found the door ajar.

When Chen Ang pushed the door open and entered, she was leaning back in her office chair, her right hand supporting her forehead, her left hand pressing down on an open file. Her fingertips were tapping a line of text, and she hadn't turned the page for a long time.

The cup of coffee on the desk had long since gone cold, and a ring of brown water stains had formed on the rim.

"Headache over that witness recanting?"

Shen Pianran looked up and rubbed the space between her eyebrows. "After that financial director recanted, the other side tucked a pile of new evidence into the second-instance materials. I spent the whole morning reviewing it again and discovered they're even preparing to overturn several transaction records that were already confirmed in the first instance."

She closed the file and pushed it toward the corner of the desk, somewhat venting her frustration. "Let's not talk about that. The results for that office building you asked me to look into are back."

"That was fast." Chen Ang sat down opposite her and added, slightly surprised.

"I know a lot of people in the circle, and these things aren't exactly major trade secrets." Shen Pianran turned to her computer to pull up an email, then rotated the screen to face Chen Ang.

"The owner of the office building is Mingzhou Real Estate, and the parent company is Jiangyang Real Estate from Jiang Province. At the end of last year, they issued a USD bond in Hong Kong that matures this August."

Flipping through the pages, she held a neutral pen and pointed it out to Chen Ang, not stopping her explanation:

"Jiangyang used this building in Bin City as collateral. As it turned out, a major project of theirs in Hangzhou became a stalled development in August, their capital chain snapped, they defaulted on the USD bond, and this building was listed by the bank for non-performing asset disposal."

"Is it listed on the auction platform now?" Chen Ang's eyes lit up; he was genuinely interested.

"Not yet, but it's close. The company is rushing to finish the renovation and boost the valuation, just to find a buyer before the bank forces an auction, so they can push the price up."

Shen Pianran clearly expressed the other party's intentions.

Chen Ang nodded and smiled. "When Manager Hu hinted to Yu Fei that the construction period was very tight, I heard the tone was a bit heavy, so it didn't come as a surprise."

"It should be about right. Road and Bridge Bureau is the general contractor, and they know the owner's financial situation better than anyone."

Chen Ang then leaned back against the chair. "How does this building compare to the two we looked at earlier?"

Shen Pianran turned the computer back a little and opened another file. "The medium-sized standard building you looked at earlier is 20,000 square meters, with an average price of 13,000, and a total price of 260 million. The owner is local Daqi Real Estate."

"And the Mingzhou Real Estate building is nearly 30,000 square meters, in a better location, right at the intersection of Yushui Road and Xincheng Avenue. The normal market price should be a little over 20,000, with a total price of around 600 million."

Shen Pianran leaned forward and looked at Chen Ang. "This will at least require you to put up another batch of bitcoin."

"Do you think it can be taken for 400 million?" Chen Ang's gaze flashed with sharp light as he looked at her.

Shen Pianran was stunned for a moment, then smiled sweetly. "If you really want to take it, you could even press it down to around 350 million."

"Jiangyang is clearly a defaulted project. Everyone in the industry knows that taking it over means carrying the risk of hidden debts."

"Besides, it's about to be listed by the bank as a non-performing asset. If it goes to a mandatory judicial auction, the first starting bid will be at a 30% discount. If it fails to sell again, it will drop further, and the price will only be lower by then."

Chen Ang couldn't help but let his smile spill over. He cut in, "Most importantly, Tu Yuandong will mess up the renovation project. By then, the construction delay will turn it into a stalled development, and the owner will be begging me to buy it."

Shen Pianran rolled her eyes at him, a smile curling the corners of her lips, looking as if she knew he was planning this all along. "Then we'll wait for Tu Yuandong to sign the contract first."

Chen Ang smiled and nodded.