Chapter 14 Bidding Events (Part 1)

  Kai Lai Hotel ushered in another glorious day, once again as the municipal banquet hall, held a bidding venue within the municipal government.

  Since the former municipal party secretary led the way, it has become a place for business talks and exchanges in the city, with infinite glory, and is also the brilliant era of Kayla Hotel.

  The service staff at the entrance wore uniform purple silk cheongsam, looking lovely. The internal service staff all had a confident smile on their faces and welcomed every guest with a warm smile.

  Outside the hotel, a red banner reads "Pre-congratulations to the successful completion of Xia Hai City's Economic and Trade Bidding Meeting!" The interior lobby is magnificent and resplendent, but it inadvertently adds a tense atmosphere.

  The heads of various economic administrative departments were all present on site, and preparations were proceeding in an orderly manner.

  The mayor, Hong Xiaotian, looked at the seemingly good situation and also had some sighs in his heart. Since he took over as the municipal party secretary and was handed over the economic burden, he seemed to be somewhat overwhelmed and made several reforms with great fanfare, but the effect was minimal.

  Xiahaishi City is located in the central and western inland areas, where multiple ethnic groups have always resided, with a strong folk culture. In ancient Shu times, this place was known for its fierce and untamed nature, refusing to submit to central governance; even if a large army of 100,000 were sent in, they might not be able to conquer it. Although modernization has brought development, the local customs and traditions are an indelible mark that cannot be erased after thousands of years.

  The city's civilians have a widespread tendency to form cliques and protect their own interests, making it difficult for the new mayor to get started. Some stubborn obstacles are also hard to remove, and in the municipal standing committee, the secretary of the municipal party committee dominates with an iron fist, while his own influence is minimal. This time's bidding conference is also a means for him to suppress the regional protection policy. Sometimes, if one remains dormant for too long without making a move, many people will forget about him.

  If the real situation can integrate and operate like now, he would have enough confidence to show his political ideal of "an old horse in a stable, with ambitions for thousands of miles".

  The bidding Q&A session will be composed of the expert review panel and the supervision group, as well as the bidding committee. After a busy morning, most of the bid documents have undergone qualification review, and what remains is to hold a unified Q&A session and make the final determination.

  Under the hotel activities, Hong Xiaotian's mood is somewhat bad. At this stage, the hotel has gathered entrepreneurs from Xiahai City and surrounding towns. Among them are some flattering people, and some businessmen who look very oily and slippery also frequently find opportunities to increase their exposure in front of him, which is also a kind of boasting and hinting, wanting to give themselves an eye-opener.

  But there are also arrogant ones, some state-owned enterprises have a hard personality, old cadres with a strong sense of must-get, and they rely on their extensive connections in Xia Hai City to exert pressure on this outsider mayor through various channels.

  Hong Xiaotian's surface, of course, cannot let everyone know his true thoughts. He is mostly polite to those who flatter him and adapt to the situation, and he is even more friendly to some state-owned enterprise officials with administrative positions. This makes these people even more arrogant, among whom the most arrogant are a few deputy department-level cadres of state-owned enterprises, who openly show their dissatisfaction with Hong Xiaotian's move to hold this bidding meeting. However, Hong Xiaotian ignores all this, which makes people feel that the rumor about this soft persimmon following the mayor who is a member of the Standing Committee is not exaggerated at all.

  Some influential businessmen in Xihaishi gathered together, discussing not the bottom line and requirements of bidding, but probing into someone's background, providing a channel for mutual acquaintance. In their view, this gathering was called bidding, but in fact it was no different from usual, following one's own route, having already set up a routine, and more often than not, just providing a platform for socializing, which is what human society is all about.

  Zeng Quanming, who has been officially nominated as the director of the Construction Bureau, looked a bit awkward in front of Jiang Chaoyang, the old general manager of Xia Hai Department Store. Jiang Chaoyang is one of the state-owned enterprise cadres who are known for being arrogant and stubborn. It's said that if he hadn't turned to business, he would definitely be sitting in the deputy mayor position now, which explains his haughty attitude.

  However, he is extremely charismatic and has many owners of small and medium-sized enterprises around him, plus the head of the administrative department. When everyone talks about this circle, they evaluate today's outstanding guests one by one. Some people who wear neat deep blue Zhongshan suits look outstanding in temperament and have an extraordinary background, naturally becoming the focus.

  After all, most of the people who can attend this gathering have some foundation and depth. In such a party, it is naturally the most anticipated and a highlight, because they are generally outstanding. In social situations, people often judge others by their first impression and by their status, which has become quite common. And these central figures will all take the initiative to greet Jiang Chaoyang, showing off Jiang Chaoyang's connections, which naturally raises his status.

  All of this was seen by Hong Xiaotian, who felt that the resistance was even greater and extremely troublesome.

  Director of the Municipal Construction Bureau, Zeng Quanming, seemed somewhat absent-minded while chatting with everyone. He had deliberately gone to the main hall earlier and also visited some small meeting rooms, but now he was still in the hotel lobby and hadn't seen Su Licheng and Zeng Ke's figures. His original intention was to let the two of them come and experience such a scene, broaden their horizons, but unexpectedly they didn't even have the courage to show up.

  Forget it, Zeng Quanming felt a flash of anger in his heart, and indeed, he couldn't help but think that some people were beyond help.

  But the city hall suddenly fell silent, interrupting his discontent.

  Then a small commotion arose, and there were whispers among the crowd, "Oh, who is this? Do you know him?"

  "This man looks familiar, I think he's Secretary Wang of the Provincial Committee's secretary, what is he doing here today?"

  "That woman is his lover, huh? She's got a lot of charm. Isn't she the host of some show on Provincial TV? I think she even started her own company..."

  While people were talking and discussing among themselves.

  Some people around Zeng Quanming also stopped talking and looked towards the door, their eyes all lit up.

  Someone has already asked Jiang Chaoyang, "Director Jiang, who is this person? Are you going to introduce us? Is he not a secretary of the provincial party committee? Mayor Hong's connections are really extensive!"

  Jiang Chaoyang furrowed his brow and fell into deep thought. Among the officials he knew, there was no one with this title. Of course, this only applied to Xia Hai and did not include the provincial party committee at such a high level.

  Zeng Quanming, wearing glasses, stood with his hands behind his back, wondering who had come again, and looked towards the hotel lobby door.

  It's now afternoon, the sunlight is dazzling, and the exterior wall of the hotel lobby is made of glass. The light shines in, casting a large patch of bright white on the ground. There are three people there: a man, a woman, and a boy about their shoulder height. Zeng Quanming can't see very clearly at first, but as this family of three walks out of the dazzling sunlight into the lobby, he nods his head in approval - they indeed have good temperament.

  The man's suit was crisp and smooth, without a single wrinkle. The style was much more elegant than the majority of the Zhongshan suits and dark blue Western-style suits on site. At first glance, it was clear that the fabric was extraordinary. His leather shoes were polished to a high shine, his face was square-shaped, with handsome eyebrows and eyes. Although he had already entered middle age, he still exuded an air of youthful vigor and spirit.

  The woman beside him wore a long black dress, elegant and refined, with her hair styled in a bun, looking dignified and noble. She held a dark-colored handbag that matched the color of her clothes. Just by looking at her attire, one could tell she was from the provincial capital, and her taste was far superior to that of Xia Hai's middle-aged women.

  Hmm... why does this woman look so much like my own sister?

  Zeng Quanming took off his glasses, wiped them clean and put them back on, this time preparing to take a closer look.

  Su Can wore a small leather jacket, gray undershirt inside, casual trousers on the bottom, typical handsome young master attire, holding his parents' hands, expression calm and collected, and pinched his parents' hands to keep them smiling naturally as he had previously instructed.

  An old man led a family of gods into the scene, drawing applause and guesses from the crowd.

  Clang! Zeng Quanming's glasses fell from his trembling hand.