Chapter 210: A Stroke of Luck
Municipal State-Owned Hotel. Fugui Hall!
When Li Yi walked in with Tang Xue, he found that the spacious private room contained only Huang Lixing and his wife, along with Wang Anguo—there were none of the provincial and municipal leaders he had expected to see.
It was clear that both Wang Anguo and Huang Lixing were well aware of his temperament.
Li Yi was quite satisfied with this!
It wasn’t that Li Yi genuinely disliked interacting with high-ranking government officials; in fact, in China, the reality is that whoever maintains good connections with those in power and has strong influence can make a fortune.
In fact, this isn’t just true domestically; it holds true in the vast majority of countries around the world.
Take, for example, the oligarchs who emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union; or that country with 200 million people going hungry, yet capable of producing Asia’s richest man and the world’s second-richest; or even the so-called “Land of the Free,” where every major conglomerate has built its fortune on this very principle.
However, Li Yi knows full well that he is not yet in a position to raise a glass with those high-ranking officials.
Given his current status and standing, he would have absolutely no say if he were to mingle with those officials!
To put it bluntly, in the eyes of those bigwigs, he was currently nothing more than a tiny, insignificant shrimp—utterly incapable of making any significant waves.
Under these circumstances, associating with them would require him to humble himself to the very lowest level—so low he’d be crawling in the dust.
He might even have to learn to suck up and flatter them.
Or he’d have to be mentally prepared to get crushed—after all, no one would give a young man who lacks power yet acts defiantly a friendly reception.
Take the day Huang Lixing first arrived in Ning City, for example. Just because of the way Li Yi looked at Huang Lixing, a city official jumped in to accuse him of being rude.
Because of this incident, Li Yi was even moved to a different building.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg!
So, until he had sufficient clout, Li Yi really didn’t care for having anything to do with those high-ranking officials.
On the contrary, Li Yi felt more at ease sitting down for a meal with just this small group of people.
When they saw the young couple, Li Yi and Tang Xue, walk in, Huang Lixing and his wife, along with Wang Anguo, all stood up to greet them, while Chen Chuhong walked straight up to Tang Xue and pulled her over to her side.
“Mr. Li, why didn’t you let us know you were coming? If I hadn’t just run into Sir Wang, I wouldn’t have known you were in town!” Huang Lixing said with a smile.
Li Yi replied immediately, “Haha, it’s no big deal—I didn’t want to bother you all!”
“Don’t be so formal—that calls for a drink!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll have one drink, but no more than that. After all, I have to catch a train in a little while!”
“Alright, alright!”
After that, everyone took their seats according to their roles, and the dinner officially began.
Knowing that Li Yi had to catch a train that evening, Huang Lixing didn’t actually make him drink a penalty shot; instead, he simply asked about the destination of his trip.
Upon learning that Li Yi and Tang Xue were returning to Qin Province to visit family, he immediately expressed his own longing for the ancient Han and Tang capitals, adding that he definitely wanted to visit them someday if he had the chance.
After chatting briefly, Li Yi suddenly asked, “Mr. Huang, I heard you’ve been inspecting local rural schools these past few days. What have you learned?”
Instead of answering the question, Huang Lixing smiled and said, “It feels too formal—you calling me ‘Mr. Huang’ and me calling you ‘Mr. Li.’ It sounds a bit awkward. From now on, I’ll call you ‘Brother Li,’ and you can call me ‘Old Brother Huang.’ How does that sound?”
Huang Lixing then added, “Just like you and Wang do!”
Li Yi knew Huang Lixing was intentionally trying to build rapport, so he nodded immediately and said, “Then I’ll take Old Brother Huang’s advice!”
“Hahaha, let’s have a drink to that!”
With that, Huang Lixing raised his glass!
Everyone else immediately raised their glasses and clinked them lightly.
It was Tang Xue’s first time attending such an occasion. Although her cup was filled with plain tea, she was still a bit nervous.
Chen Chuhong, sitting nearby, clearly noticed this. After sitting down, she kept whispering to Tang Xue, trying to calm her down.
With Chen Chuhong’s reassurance, Tang Xue gradually relaxed and soon adapted to the dinner gathering.
Li Yi observed all of this and couldn’t help but nod approvingly to himself.
It must be said that Huang Lixing’s wife may not seem particularly striking at first glance, but she is actually quite capable.
Her appearance wasn’t particularly striking; compared to the female celebrities in Hong Kong at the time, she could be described as plain-looking.
Moreover, her figure appeared somewhat bloated due to her pregnancy.
But to stand out among the many women vying for Huang Lixing’s attention and ultimately become Mrs. Huang, she clearly had to be quite resourceful.
Not to mention, the fact that she could persuade a man of Huang Lixing’s caliber to give up the chance to live and willingly go to his death for her—that certainly speaks to her extraordinary nature.
After finishing his first glass of wine, Huang Lixing immediately said, “Brother Li, to be honest with you, after seeing where those country kids go to school these past few days, I’ve been deeply moved!”
“Before coming to the interior, I knew the country was poor and that educational conditions were poor, but I never imagined they’d be this bad!”
“So I’ve decided to build all one hundred schools to the high standards of a central school. If possible, I’ll keep this project going—we might end up building two hundred, three hundred, or even more!!”
Li Yi could sense the sincerity in Huang Lixing’s words. He suddenly said, “Brother Huang, that’s going to cost a lot of money!”
“Brother Li, I’ve had it specifically calculated. Given my company’s profitability, we can certainly sustain an investment of several million yuan a year!” Huang Lixing said confidently.
Li Yi smiled and said, “Here’s the deal, Brother Huang: if you really pull this off, I’ll give you a windfall next year!”
Hearing this, Huang Li’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked, “Do you mean it?”
“Yes, when I, Li Yi, make a promise, my word is as good as gold!”
“Alright then, it’s a deal!”
“It’s a deal!”
……
The meal didn’t last very long; it was over before eight o’clock.
On the one hand, Huang Lixing and his wife had been working hard all day and needed some rest.
On the other hand, Li Yi and Tang Xue had to catch a train in a few hours and couldn’t stay up too late.
Besides, both Mrs. Huang (Chen Chuhong) and Tang Xue were pregnant, so they certainly couldn’t be overworked!
After the meal, on the way back to their rooms with Li Yi and Tang Xue, Wang Anguo asked curiously, “Brother Li Yi, can you give us a hint about what kind of opportunity you’re planning to offer Mr. Huang?”
Li Yi didn’t hide anything; instead, he smiled and said, “I’m giving him a chance to strike it rich!”
“Strike it rich?”
“Yeah. Because of me, he’s donated quite a bit of money. No matter how much he spends, I’ll make sure he earns back ten times that amount!” Li Yi said.
“Ten times?”
Wang Anguo was taken aback by Li Yi’s words. After all, given the current situation, if Huang Lixing were to actually build those 100 schools, it would cost at least 5 to 8 million.
Ten times that would be 50 to 80 million—even for a billionaire like Huang Lixing, that was no small sum.
If he hadn’t known Li Yi’s capabilities, he would’ve thought he was just bragging.
Li Yi smiled and said, “Brother Wang! No need to be surprised. It’ll only take a few months to see if it works out or not. We’ll just have to wait and see!”
“Alright!”
…….