Mistaking My Sister-In-Law for My Wife After Getting Drunk!

Chapter 321: Chapter 321 Other Means

On the other side, Jiang Guohao was seething with rage, grinding his teeth in anger.

"Xu Yang, you've got skill, I'll give you that," Jiang Guohao said through clenched teeth. "No wonder you became a billionaire in just one year. If it's a fair competition you want, then a fair competition it shall be. I won't need to spend this money after all. But let me tell you, if you think you can win the bid for the project just like that, you're dreaming!"

Having said his piece, Jiang Guohao hung up the phone.

He knew that he had lost this round.

Ever since Xu Yang gave that reason, he had already lost.

If he had lost, then there was no point in continuing the call.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please wait a moment while I have someone deliver cash to you all. I hope you can ensure a fair and impartial assessment of the bids," Xu Yang said.

"You can count on us to be fair and impartial."

"Fairness and integrity have always been our pursuit."

"We're known for our credibility and we will not let you down."

The experts spoke in turn.

This was their duty after all, and it couldn't have been easier.

"How many of you are there?" Xu Yang inquired.

"Five people," one of the experts replied.

"Alright, five million will be delivered shortly," Xu Yang said.

"Hold on, your name is Xu Yang. Aren't you the owner of River Bottom Salvage, Xu Yang?" one of the experts suddenly asked.

The moment Jiang Guohao called him by his name earlier, the expert thought of the famous Xu Yang and couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, that's me," Xu Yang admitted.

"It really is you!"

"I had no idea you've entered the real estate industry. It looks like the property market in Jiang City is in for a big shake-up!"

"Mr. Xu, we admire the way you conduct business!"

"Mr. Xu, we're pleased to be cooperating with you in this manner."

The experts chimed in one after another.

"Everyone, I'm also very pleased to work with you. Please wait a moment, the money will be delivered soon," Xu Yang said before ending the call.

"Mr. Xu, impressive!"

Lan Penghua gave Xu Yang a thumbs up.

"President Lan, let's send five million over first," Xu Yang instructed.

"Okay, I'll call right away," Lan Penghua promptly phoned the financial department of Huayang Real Estate.

The money, naturally, would come from Huayang Real Estate's account.

Spending five million and getting nothing tangible in return might seem like a loss, but in fact, it was a gain.

This could prevent Jiang Guohao's side from playing dirty and ensure fairness.

With their capabilities, securing a few projects should be no problem at all.

Soon, everything was arranged.

Half an hour later, five million was placed in the hands of the experts.

What the experts did with that money was their business; Xu Yang and his team did not need to worry about it.

If they couldn't handle such a small amount of money, they wouldn't have accepted it in the first place.

Not to mention that there should be no issues with the money, but even if there were, they knew how to handle it; otherwise, they wouldn't have considered accepting Jiang Guohao's money earlier.

Xu Yang put down his phone and turned to Lan Penghua, "President Lan, now comes the bidding. There are no issues with our bid proposal, right?"

Puffing out his chest with confidence, Lan Penghua assured, "Mr. Xu, rest assured, there are absolutely no problems with the bid proposal. I've been in real estate for many years. I know how it's done. In fact, bidding is just as you'd expect; most people's proposals are very much alike; it usually comes down to price differences.

Evaluation experts typically base their decisions on the average bid price of all competitors, then select the proposal that is higher than the average."

On hearing this, Xu Yang knitted his brows, "So, winning the bid is still a matter of luck?"

Competitors didn't know each other's bid prices, which meant they also didn't know the average price.

Wasn't winning the bid then a matter of luck?

"That's one way to put it," Lan Penghua nodded and smiled. "Isn't there a saying? Luck is also a part of strength. Over the years, my success as the so-called real estate tycoon has also involved a stroke of luck."

"This old city district project is divided into several subprojects, with the core area alone comprising ten projects. There are a total of five enterprises participating in the competition; we make one, and Jiang Guohao has four, basically the top five enterprises in Jiang City."

"As for the projects in the peripheral areas, those are left to smaller real estate developers. We're involved in the core area, which is the most profitable."

"Given the number of projects, even if we were to divide them equally, each company would get at least two projects. As long as our luck isn't too bad, we're definitely in the running to win some."

This explanation clarified the situation for Xu Yang.

But his brow remained furrowed.

Because he remembered the last thing Jiang Guohao said before hanging up, that bidding for the project was wishful thinking for them.

It suggested that besides buying off experts, Jiang Guohao probably had other underhanded tactics at his disposal.

Noticing Xu Yang's furrowed brow, Lan Penghua realized something and asked, "Mr. Xu, do you think Jiang Guohao will resort to other tactics?"

Xu Yang nodded, "I suspect that may be the case. Otherwise, I can't explain his confidence when ending the call. He seemed to think that, even with our insistence on a fair competition, we wouldn't stand a chance at winning the bid. Where does such certainty come from? According to what you said, as long as our luck isn't too bad, we should manage to win at least one or two projects."

Lan Penghua also furrowed his brow, "What other tactics could they deploy?"

Xu Yang responded, "That's what I'm asking you. As an industry insider, aside from buying off experts, what other tactics do you think are possible?"

Lan Penghua frowned deeply in thought, then his expression suddenly changed.

Xu Yang raised his eyebrows, "It seems you have an idea. Tell me, what other tactics could they use?"

Lan Penghua said, "There's one more tactic. And at this stage, it's the only plausible one—they could encircle the bid."

Xu Yang was baffled, "What is encircling the bid?"

As someone not from the industry, and never having done related work, he honestly didn't know what encircling the bid meant.

Lan Penghua explained, "As I mentioned before, the evaluation experts determine an average price. Under these circumstances, companies have to predict a price based on the project costs and budget without knowing the average price—that involves luck. But if you have ten companies bidding and only one competitor, that means you virtually control the average price yourself.

This is called encircling the bid."

On hearing this, Xu Yang finally understood.

He hadn't expected bidding to involve such tactics.

It seemed that his venture into the real estate industry had indeed taught him quite a bit.

Otherwise, he might have remained clueless about such matters forever.

Xu Yang asked, "If the other side encircles the bid, is there a way to counter it?"

Lan Penghua replied with a wry smile, "There are no real counters unless we also recruit more companies to encircle the bid. But that requires a lot of money, and it's an illegal maneuver."

Xu Yang said, "We don't need to be so scrupulous. We'll recruit companies to encircle the bid just to deter Jiang Guohao, not actually to carry it out."