Chapter 281: The White-Robed Knight

As long as Zheng Qian wasn't a fool, there was no way he would shell out an extra 1.5 billion to fight them to the death.

How much was pride worth?

Sometimes, even if you had to sell everything you owned, you had to save face.

Other times, swallowing your pride could save you over a billion!

Many people present felt that Zheng Qian would choose the latter.

However, based on Tang Xingyu's understanding of Zheng Qian, it was hard to say.

He had 5 billion in funds on hand, which was equivalent to nearly half of Xingyao Group's total assets.

Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't invest it in this encirclement.

He would only bring it out as a last resort.

Tang Xingyu had his own calculations.

He wanted to save face, but he also didn't want to invest too much money.

This group of people also served as his safety net.

To put it in professional business terms: risk transfer.

"Exactly, Old Li. Didn't you already audit Qianhe Group's accounts yesterday? With his current capabilities, the cash he can pull out at once shouldn't exceed one billion."

"That's true, but..."

Li Huaan hesitated.

He had checked Qianhe Group's accounts, but Zheng Qian had been spending so frequently, and none of the funds came from Qianhe Group!

Every single one of Zheng Qian's massive expenditures came from his personal account.

What's more, they were truly given to those girls in the form of gifts, including Jiang Yanran!

Li Huaan had even sent people to make inquiries at Asia Shipping.

Asia Shipping hadn't signed any cooperation agreement with Zheng Qian at all!

Li Huaan actually felt a bit uneasy.

Zheng Qian had been making frequent moves at the auction house over the past two days, spending over two billion in just three days.

He heard that Zheng Qian had even paid an astronomical price of one hundred million to have a superstar sing.

That was nearly three billion!

As for the maritime shipping industry, Li Huaan had also done some research.

Although the profits were high, the risks were also high.

Shipping was tied to the economy.

If the economy was bad, there would be no orders.

Once they hit a coastline blockade or something similar, they would have to halt operations for several months.

Was Zheng Qian really that optimistic about the maritime shipping industry?

In just a few short months, he had expanded from Zhengxin Shipyard to a scale like Qianhe Group.

He was even planning to develop cruise ships and wanted to acquire the white knight?

Even when throwing money at a business, no one did it like him.

From a financial perspective, Zheng Qian's way of spending money was completely nonsensical and had no pattern to speak of.

"Alright, alright, stop with the 'buts'."

"If you think our money isn't enough, don't we still have those two?" Liu Ruipeng reminded him.

Just as he spoke, a young man wearing gold round-rimmed glasses, with not a single wrinkle on his clothes, appeared in their line of sight.

He looked to be in his thirties, but his identity was very special.

"President Tang, President Li... hello."

"Secretary Ding, you're here..."

He looked to be in his thirties, but his identity was very special.

He was one of the members of the think tank of Jiangnan's richest man, Chairman Zhu Hongfu.

At the same time, he was also Chairman Zhu Hongfu's private secretary.

To hold both positions, he must have deeply earned Chairman Zhu Hongfu's trust.

While Tang Xingyu was lobbying the Jiangnan gentry, Chairman Zhu Hongfu and Lin Chengye were also growing restless.

The two of them simply couldn't swallow this insult.

They found Zheng Qian extremely eyesore.

But fearing that things might get out of hand, they didn't show up in person.

Instead, they appointed Ding Mao as their agent to bring a massive sum of money to Tang Xingyu.

A whopping 5 billion!

Combined, all the funds of this group had reached a total of 9 billion.

"Old Li, Secretary Ding is here. Now you can finally put your heart at ease!"

Liu Ruipeng laughed heartily.

Only then did Li Huaan slowly nod his head.

They knew that behind Ding Mao stood the number one and number two figures of Jiangnan!

Chairman Zhu Hongfu!

Lin Chengye!

With all of them chipping in, were they still afraid that Zheng Qian would make the headlines again?

"Chairman Zhu and President Lin both asked me to send you their regards."

"Please, everyone, take a seat."

Despite Ding Mao's youth, he was dispatched by two big shots today, so he was still not to be underestimated.

"Hey, look over there, isn't that Sun Taining?"

Following the direction of Jin Changyuan's finger, everyone indeed saw Sun Taining.

"That kid came too?"

When Tang Xingyu was lobbying, he had wanted to win over Sun Taining.

But Sun Taining had hesitated and never gave Tang Xingyu a definite answer.

"Old Sun!"

"Come over here!"

Everyone called out to Sun Taining.

However, Sun Taining only cast a stealthy glance at them, pretended not to see, and walked straight in the other direction.

"That kid? What's going on? Pretending not to see us?"

By the time everyone snapped out of it, they realized...

He had actually gone over to strike up a conversation with Zheng Qian!

Everyone: ???

Why was that bastard Sun Taining betraying them at a time like this, even going out of his way to curry favor with Zheng Qian!

They couldn't hate Zheng Qian enough.

How could Jiangnan produce such a traitor?

Instantly, everyone's teeth itched with hatred for Sun Taining.

Whether he was with them or not didn't make much of a difference anyway; they had President Lin and Chairman Zhu backing them up!

But Sun Taining's behavior made Tang Xingyu very displeased.

Everyone made up their minds that once this matter was over, they would definitely make Sun Taining pay.

On the other side of the venue.

"Hehe, President Zheng!"

Sun Taining walked up with a grin to Zheng Qian, who had just entered the venue.

Being suddenly stopped, Zheng Qian was a bit dazed.

Who was this guy?

"President Zheng is indeed heroic and young and promising!"

"My name is Sun Taining. You might not know me, but I've admired you for a long time."

Sun Taining immediately showered him with flattery, leaving Zheng Qian temporarily speechless.

It wasn't until he mentioned that he was in the beverage and alcohol business that Zheng Qian understood what was going on.

"President Zheng, you must be careful today!"

"Those bad old men in Jiangnan are trying to find ways to mess with you!"

"Word is they've already raised a huge sum of money, wanting to crush your prestige!"

Sun Taining's behavior was that of a textbook traitor.

However, Zheng Qian had known about these things long ago, so he didn't need him to tip him off.

"Then why aren't you on their team? Why run over to cozy up to me instead?" Zheng Qian hit the nail on the head and asked back.

Sun Taining didn't expect Zheng Qian to be so direct: "Uh... well, about that."

"I feel that with your strength, their encirclement has zero chance of succeeding!"

"I am unwilling to associate with them!"

Zheng Qian: ?

That was a bit amusing.

Sun Taining was probably well-informed and knew that Zheng Qian was preparing to open a winery, so he wanted to use this opportunity to get on his good side.

Whether Zheng Qian won or lost today didn't have much to do with him.

As long as Zheng Qian was willing to cooperate with him on the alcohol business, Sun Taining would be able to make a fortune.

As for saving face, Sun Taining didn't care about that.

He believed that business was business.

Zheng Qian had money, so of course he could do whatever he wanted.

If you're jealous, then you go ahead and do it too!

Wasn't it just jealousy?

Sun Taining said with full confidence, "President Zheng, give me your card number, and I'll transfer two hundred million to you right now."

"Although it's not a lot of money, this is the absolute most I could raise."

Sun Taining was actually lying here.

If he wanted to raise funds, it would only take him a day to easily scrape together five hundred million.

Two hundred million was nothing to Zheng Qian, and he might not even accept his money.

But this gesture was undoubtedly a token of allegiance.

The meaning was: Young Master Zheng, this is my tribute to you. From now on, this little brother will follow your lead.

By doing this, Zheng Qian would definitely be touched.

He might even refuse his money.

Without spending a single penny, he got to show off big time.

Sun Taining had already made a killing.