Xiaokai's heart was as sweet as honey. As they walked out, he kept thinking, "We are really fated to be together! We are really fated to be together!"
Indeed, if it wasn't destined, how could they have gone from being strangers yesterday to suddenly becoming so ambiguous today?
When they left, it was noon, and the subway was empty. They reached the bidding venue smoothly. As soon as they stepped in, they were startled.
The hall was crowded, and everyone looked like successful people. Men were dressed sharply in suits, with neatly combed hair, and women were all well-dressed, with beautiful looks. Xiaokai felt ashamed as he looked at his casual clothes, while Xiaozhu, in her white dress, still attracted the attention of many men. Unfortunately, the women around continued to look at Xiaozhu with disdain, as they deemed her youthful attire unsuitable for the professional setting.
"Hello, which company are you from?" Xiaozhu's charm was extraordinary, and before they could even react, a charming man came over to strike up a conversation, "Are you here for the bidding as well?"
"Yes, we are," Xiaozhu calmly nodded, "We are from Tianyi Corporation."
"Tianyi? Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't heard of it," the man was about six feet tall, around twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. Not only did he have the mature look, but his voice was soft and polite, showing confidence and grace. Undeniably, he was quite attractive, "Let me introduce myself, I am the Planning Department Manager of the Sima family, Sima TingXue."
As soon as the Sima Group was mentioned, even the passersby couldn't help but look over. The Sima Group was not an ordinary small company. It was one of the four major multinational conglomerates in the country and a completely family-owned business. The President of the company had two sons and two daughters, Sima TingFeng, Sima TingXue, Sima TingHua, and Sima TingYue, who all held important positions in the Sima Group. The person in front of them, Sima TingXue, was the third son of the Sima family.
The Planning Department of the Sima Group was a world away from the Planning Department of Tianyi Corporation. The former had thousands of employees from various industries and categories, top-notch office environments, and top salaries, while the latter was just a place for second-tier university graduates like Xiaokai to earn a living.
Although Sima TingXue’s manner was genteel, there was an air of arrogance about him. After introducing himself, he stood proudly, waiting for others' admiration.
But Xiaozhu just nodded slightly and said, "Oh," without any other reaction.
Xiaokai was even more perplexed and casually glanced at him before continuing to observe the scene.
Sima TingXue's face immediately turned unsightly. His greedy eyes roamed over Xiaozhu's face, and suppressing his displeasure, he smiled and asked, "May I know your name, miss?"
"My surname is Chi," Xiaozhu glanced at him lightly, then turned to Xiaokai with a smile, taking his hand, "Let's go, let's sit over there."
"Alright, the seats over there are nice, I was just thinking of going there," Xiaokai looked at his hand that was held by Xiaozhu, feeling a soft touch and filled with sweetness. He didn't even bother with the young master Sima nearby, "Let's go, we can go over the plan again."
Sima TingXue's face turned pale as he watched the two of them walk away, quietly clenching his fists.
"Young master, should I investigate that girl?" an old man approached and asked quietly.
Sima TingXue nodded, his face cold, "What kind of company is Tianyi? Investigate thoroughly. If possible, prepare for acquisition."
Xiaozhu led Xiaokai to the other side of the hall and let go of his hand, laughing softly, "I think that TingXue must be quite frustrated."
"Hmph, I always hate arrogant people!" Xiaokai said with a righteous expression, "The Sima Group or not, I have never heard of it. It's probably just a third-rate small company, daring to show off in front of us!"
Suddenly Xiaozhu became flustered, "Do you really not know?"
It was a very beautiful girl, wearing a snow-white dress similar to the small bamboo, looking refreshing, with her long black hair tied into a ponytail, smiling gracefully with an old man beside her, full of youthful vitality. Her small nose was cute and wrinkled, against the brightly colored, curved mouth, making Xiao Kai slightly dazed, only to retract his gaze.
This girl was none other than the girl in the photo Xiao Kai picked up yesterday. As Xiao Kai looked at her from a distance, then at the girl beside him, he felt that the two were quite contrasting - one calm and the other lively, both equally beautiful and adorable, making it difficult to distinguish between them.
"Could it be... her boyfriend is from Zhonghang Real Estate?" Xiao Kai thought to himself secretly, "Who is that old man? Her grandfather? It seems that she is also from a wealthy family."
This time, Zhonghang Real Estate's bidding was indeed quite significant. They had bought a piece of land in the newly developed commercial area in S City, with an area of over 30,000 square meters, planning to establish a small high-end entertainment area. The purpose of this bidding was to select a suitable unit for the overall planning and design of the project. In fact, if they won this project, it would be sufficient to provide many units with sustenance for many years. That was why even heavyweight personnel from the Sima Group had personally attended the event.
And for such large-scale and high-stakes bidding, the participating units were all nationally renowned large companies. As Xiao Zhu and Xiao Kai continued to watch, almost every company that took the stage boasted about their long history, strong technology, and a complete set of plans for land planning. Various terms such as "high-tech leading lifestyle", "humanized design", "reader consumption psychology", etc. were constantly thrown around, making the pair feel overwhelmed. After listening for about twenty minutes, they had already lost all hope for their own proposal.
"Xiao Kai, let's leave," Xiao Zhu, usually a calm girl, began to feel embarrassed. "There's no need to embarrass ourselves by going up there."
"Yeah, that's what I think too," Xiao Kai nodded. "Although Manager Jia's proposal is a bit lacking, even if we try our best, we probably won't have much chance."
"That's right," Xiao Zhu objectively remarked. "The competition is too fierce, these companies, not to mention how well their plans are executed, just their company size and industry credibility are far beyond what we can compare."
"What should we do?" Xiao Kai felt a bit unwilling. "I feel like leaving now would be a little loss."
"Don't hesitate anymore!" Xiao Zhu was resolute. After making up her mind, she immediately looked firm, tossing their proposal into the nearby trash can. "Let's go."
"But..." Xiao Kai was still hesitant, but then he heard the host on stage loudly announce, "The next bidding unit is the Sima Group. Now, we invite Mr. Sima Tingxue, the manager of the enterprise planning department of the Sima Group, to take the stage."
Xiao Kai sat down. "Let's see what he has to say first."
Sima Tingxue's performance indeed lived up to the reputation of the Sima Group. He elegantly walked up to the stage, took the microphone, but didn't rush to speak. He first displayed a very mature and charming smile, which made many serious-looking women in the audience light up. Then with a very magnetic voice, he said, "As you all know, the reason why our Sima Group has been able to rapidly rise and become a first-class enterprise in China within a few short years is due to the four words 'quality-based.' So, our philosophy is, if we're going to do something, we should do it well, do it perfectly, flawlessly. Not only should the product be flawless in the eyes of the users, but even we ourselves should not be able to find any flaws. It's because only by having the most demanding and strict standards for ourselves, the things we produce can truly meet our customers' expectations. This is the ancient principle of 'learning from those above and those among, and learning from those at the bottom.' Our goal is to 'learn from the supreme and achieve the supreme.' Thank you."
This opening speech immediately provoked enthusiastic applause. Xiao Kai noticed that even the key decision-makers from Zhonghang Real Estate, who were sitting in the backstage, were clapping their hands.
"He's really got something to boast about!" Xiao Kai turned and exclaimed, "Although the Sima Group doesn't have much fame, it seems they really are well-prepared!"
Xiao Zhu covered her mouth, nodding without saying anything, but Xiao Kai could clearly see her secretly laughing.
"What are you laughing about?" Xiao Kai said foolishly, "Did I say something wrong? Is the Sima Group very famous?"
On stage, Sima Tingxue skillfully took out the proposal and instructed his assistant to project the prepared demonstration materials onto the screen.
"Wow!" There was a sudden exclamation from the audience.
The material was truly breathtaking, the entire display could only be described as impeccable. Observant people could even see that every public facility such as billboards, trash cans, benches, etc., within each sector was meticulously labeled on the blueprint. It was clear that Sima Tingxue had indeed put in all his efforts into this plan. This kind of proposal, combined with the strong financial support behind the Sima Group and their absolute commercial credit, almost meant that unless there was an unexpected ace in the crowd, today's bid would most likely be the Sima Group's.
"Goodness! This is what a real proposal looks like!" Xiao Kai stared at the stage dumbfoundedly, feeling amazed.
"Humph, this is completely unprofessional, doing it this way will surely cause problems." Suddenly, a very subtle voice sounded in Xiao Kai's ear, and he only paused for half a second before realizing that it was the voice of Xiao Guan, the strange little kid from the street.
"Xiao Guan, what do you know?" Xiao Kai tried to communicate with Xiao Guan in his mind, "With my professional perspective, this plan is an absolute masterpiece!"
"Hahaha, of course it's bad, doing it this way will cause death!" Xiao Guan laughed unabashedly in Xiao Kai's mind, "Look at this plan, there's a swimming pool opposite the restaurant and a half-mountain erected in the middle, do you know what that is? This is a typical loss-making formation. Even if the restaurant hoards a lot of gold and silver, they won't be able to hold back the flowing water, and that half-mountain blocks all exits, meaning they will only lose money and won't earn any. "