The man surnamed Zhu didn’t have much money.

But he had a money bag sitting beside him.

Xia Xiaolan was speechless, “Earlier, 80% of the bidders with limited capital hated you. Now it’s great – someone else has taken on that hatred. With Zhu Suizhou acting this way, small capital bidders can’t even afford Parcel No. 2!”

Du Zhaohui chuckled:

“Too bad Harold’s assistant won’t yield to him.”

There were too few young men who were both handsome and wealthy like him!

Why had everyone from Tang Yuanyue to the other Hong Kong companies, and finally even Harold’s assistant, given up bidding when he showed his determination to buy Parcel No. 1? These people certainly weren’t yielding because of his looks, but because of his money!

They all had to maintain relationships, so why ruin them over a piece of land?

If they missed Parcel No. 1, there were others – they could spread out their bids.

Calling himself handsome was Du Zhaohui’s self-flattery, but calling himself wealthy was pure fact.

When Du Zhaohui bid 24.5 million for Parcel No. 1 and Karl chose to give up, did Karl not have the authority to bid up to 25 million? He certainly did! But Du Zhaohui was a premium VIP member at the golf club and had previously sold his family’s shipping business to Karl’s boss Harold. The two sides had connections, which was why Karl had yielded.

For Parcel No. 2, it was Zhu Suizhou competing with Karl, and Karl wouldn’t yield to this “Yangfan Real Estate.”

They weren’t in the same weight class – if they had to yield here, the Wilson family might as well quit doing business!

Sure enough, just as Du Zhaohui finished speaking, Karl raised the bid to 15.5 million.

Zhu Suizhou must have realized this point too.

This made Zhu Suizhou very uncomfortable.

That feeling of being inferior drove Zhu Suizhou to bid again: 16 million.

Xia Xiaolan could understand Zhu Suizhou’s feelings. She also agreed with the saying “How can nobility be predetermined at birth?” believing that while birth determined one’s starting point, it shouldn’t define their endpoint.

Although she sometimes joked about envying the lucky births of Du Zhaohui, Tang Yuanyue, and others, her envy was just that – envy, not jealousy.

They were born with silver spoons – that was the result of their ancestors’ hard work. What was there to be jealous of?

When others’ ancestors risked their lives in the military, her ancestors didn’t dare.

When others’ ancestors smuggled into Hong Kong and started as fish vendors, her ancestors didn’t dare.

The different choices and circumstances of previous generations created different starting points for her generation – wasn’t that normal? Xia Xiaolan didn’t envy second-generation officials or rich kids. She couldn’t control the past; she could only change herself and strive to become first-generation wealthy.

If Xia Xiaolan were in this situation, wanting Parcel No. 2, she would just try her best.

Bid as much as you can afford, try to borrow if you’re short, and if you still can’t borrow enough, then gracefully concede.

Would there be resentment?

What’s there to resent?

Just disappointment.

Disappointed that your capital wasn’t enough, that you couldn’t yet handle such big business. Then channel that energy into making more money, so next time you encounter a similar situation, there will be no regrets.

However, Sheng Xuan and Zhu Suizhou weren’t so open-minded. Since Karl wouldn’t yield, Sheng Xuan had also seen red. The two sides took turns bidding, having already pushed out other bidders.

After several rounds of bidding, Parcel No. 2’s price was pushed up to 18 million!

This price was from Sheng Xuan.

The entire venue fell silent.

This meant Parcel No. 2’s unit price was about 261,000 yuan per mu – was it worth such a high price?

Karl answered with action:

“…18.5 million!”

Sheng Xuan tried to raise her paddle again, but this time Zhu Suizhou firmly grabbed her wrist:

“No, we can’t take it – the premium is too high!”

Their capital all came from bank loans.

Bank loans required interest payments. With such a high premium and planning to hold the land for a long time, Yangfan Real Estate would have significant interest to pay. Zhu Suizhou was now somewhat like future generations using loans to pay loans – if any link broke, every loan would collapse!

Sheng Xuan struggled several times but couldn’t break free. Her hand holding the paddle fell limply, and she collapsed against the chair back as if all energy had been drained from her.

“18.5 million going once, 18.5 million going twice… Parcel No. 2 is sold!”

Karl finally won Parcel No. 2 for 18.5 million.

Goodness, Parcel No. 2’s unit price reached 268,100 yuan per mu!

Anyone could see Sheng Xuan and Zhu Suizhou’s reluctance. Liu Yong was puzzled: “Why is everyone else just bidding normally, while these two are acting so strange?”

Xia Xiaolan said quietly:

“Because they’ve added too much drama for themselves. Auctions simply come down to who has money and who’s willing to spend it – whoever bids the highest wins. They competed with others, lost, and then acted like someone bullied them. That’s why it looks strange to you.”

Liu Yong suddenly understood – that was exactly it.

People like him and Bai Zhenzhu knew their limits. They couldn’t afford this kind of auction yet, so they just came to watch. They got excited watching others bid but felt no resentment or jealousy.

Du Zhaohui thought that while the Wilson family had plenty of money, they wouldn’t spend it carelessly.

Americans could be petty, and since the Zhu Suizhou couple made Karl spend more money, Karl would remember them… definitely not in a good way.

The auction continued. After the drama of Parcels No. 1 and 2, Parcel No. 3 was the largest plot at 135.6 mu, with a starting price of 20.6 million – this starting price alone scared off many people.

Meng Guanchao and other small capital holders could only watch helplessly. Parcel No. 3 had the quickest auction, with few bidders, and was finally won by Tang Yuanyue for 32 million, about 240,000 yuan per mu.

Du Zhaohui was delighted because Parcel No. 1 had the lowest unit price among the three plots – he felt he had gotten a bargain.

Tang Yuanyue was also satisfied. Parcel No. 3 was large enough, matching his original intentions.

However, the unit price was twenty to thirty thousand higher than expected, influenced by Parcel No. 2.

Karl was the least pleased – Parcel No. 2 was the smallest but had the highest unit price, all because of Yangfan Real Estate’s bidding. Karl even suspected Yangfan Real Estate was deliberately planted by the Ye City government to drive up prices and make foreign investors spend more.

Little did he know that Zhu Suizhou and Sheng Xuan were equally unhappy.

If Karl had so much money, why didn’t he compete for Parcels No. 1 or 3? Why fixate on Parcel No. 2? How could they not be suspicious?

Especially after the auction ended, when Karl approached Xia Xiaolan with a smile, making Sheng Xuan’s vision blur:

“Suizhou, Xia Xiaolan is going too far—”

Going too far!

Truly too far!

What benefit was there for Xia Xiaolan in preventing Yangfan Real Estate from buying any land?

Xia Xiaolan was taking the blame unfairly this time. She hadn’t expected Karl to approach her – they weren’t even familiar.

“Miss Xia, I’m delighted to see you in Qiong Island. Our club has been wanting to upgrade your membership level. Would you be interested?”

So it was about upgrading her golf club membership to premium VIP status.

A year ago, Harold had prepared two high-level VIP invitations – one for Du Zhaohui and one for Xia Xiaolan.

At that time, due to the Hong Kong stock market crash, Xia Xiaolan’s net worth had reached the minimum threshold for the club’s premium VIP membership. Harold also wanted to thank her for facilitating his acquisition of the Du family’s shipping business, so he had prepared a high-level VIP invitation for her as well.

However, that invitation never made it into Xia Xiaolan’s hands, as she had already left Hong Kong for Beijing to get married.