"Forget it, I'm not short of this much money! Money spent on something I like!" Bald Boss Wu consoled himself through gritted teeth.

"That's right — same money, and we get a bigger one!" Mother Tang was in high spirits this time. She turned to Fatty Lai and asked, "So is there still any discount to be had on this apartment?"

"Why not? Of course there can be!" Fatty Lai thought it over and said, "Here's what we'll do. The only reason that last apartment sold for two hundred and fifty thousand more was the competition with you, Auntie. So let's take two hundred and fifty thousand off this one for you — it comes to nine hundred and fifty thousand — and all the other discounts stand unchanged! What do you say? Manager Wang, will that do?"

Since Boss Lai had spoken, how would Manager Wang dare say no? The entire property belonged to Boss Lai; he was nothing but an employee. So he hastened to reply, "If Boss Lai says it's all right, then it's certainly all right!"

All Manager Wang could feel, though, was astonishment. What on earth was the relationship between these people and Lai Changyi? To knock two hundred and fifty thousand off in a single stroke, and then let them keep enjoying all the other purchase discounts besides — a concession of this magnitude was simply unheard of!

Bald Boss Wu had been gloomy enough already. He had thrown away two hundred and fifty thousand on a small apartment, when that much would have bought him a big one! But in order to show off his wealth, he had swallowed it.

And now this Boss Lai, whoever he was, was discounting Mother Tang's apartment out of his own pocket — wasn't that a swindle right to his face? He nearly rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot. He had played the big shot, and played it disastrously!

He felt like a perfect fool. Not only had he failed to swindle Tang Yun's family, he had swindled two hundred and fifty thousand out of his own pocket — and they had not only got the apartment they wanted, they had got it for two hundred and fifty thousand less!

While he was still stewing over it, Xiaoli came back from the prize draw with a rice cooker, a microwave and an electric kettle in her arms, all smiles. "Husband, look how much I won — we won't have to spend a thing on appliances!"

"What use is any of this junk? Out for a bargain, are you!" Losing two hundred and fifty thousand had left Bald Boss Wu in a filthy temper, and seeing Xiaoli so delighted over a handful of rotten prizes made him explode. "If you'd drawn the grand prize or first prize, maybe — but you're actually showing off this junk? Come on, get out of here before you make a fool of us!"

Bald Boss Wu could not bear to stay a moment longer; the place was suffocating his rage. He felt he had taken the worst beating of his life today — never in all his years had he lost so badly!

Scolded into bewildered silence, Xiaoli let Bald Boss Wu drag her out of the sales office.

Mother Tang curled her lip, watching the pair's retreating backs with mockery. "What a couple of pieces of work. Dumbstruck now, aren't they?"

Mother Tang had been wretched enough before, failing to buy an apartment — she had finally set her heart on one, only to have it snatched away, and how was she supposed to feel good about that? But now she was so happy she could have jumped for the ceiling. It was Wei Zhao's clout that had done it: two hundred and fifty thousand knocked off just like that. A discount like this would make her laugh in her sleep!

Escorted in person by Fatty Lai and Manager Wang, Mother Tang went to look at the apartment again, and this time her delight was greater than ever. It was plainly bigger — the last one had been three bedrooms and a living room, this one had four bedrooms and a living room. The layout was otherwise much the same, with the addition of a storage room, and the price was exactly the same as before. It was an unbelievable bargain!

"Good, good — this is the one!" Mother Tang made up her mind on the spot without a moment's hesitation. "Young Lai, my boy Xiaoyi is lucky indeed to have a friend like you!"

"Not at all, not at all..." Fatty Lai mopped his sweat and thought to himself: It's my good fortune that I latched on to a fine chief — otherwise where would I be today? Even Liu Tianyi treats me with the deepest respect whenever we meet! From now on the Lai family will be a great house in its own right, the greatest of them all — too high and mighty to keep the company of any so-called Five Great Houses and Four Small Houses!

Fatty Lai had a far longer view than most. He believed Wei Zhao would soar to the heavens sooner or later, and that so long as he kept pace with Wei Zhao's every step, glory and wealth would be his for the taking.

Under Manager Wang's personal supervision the contract was drawn up in short order. Mother Tang paid up, and won herself a turn at the prize draw as well.

"Auntie, let me take you over for the prize draw!" What sort of man was Manager Wang? A shrewd old fox of the world, that's what — he would never have risen to run a sales office without a bit of cunning. And he had worked it out now: Boss Lai was hardly this Mr. Lin's friend. There was plainly a good deal of toadying in it.

A discount of two hundred and fifty thousand in one stroke — since when was that a discount? It was practically a clearance sale at a loss!

Still, Manager Wang kept his face perfectly impassive. He was quietly preparing to offer Mother Tang yet another kindness.

Mother Tang knew her own luck was poor and had never for a moment imagined she could win anything in a draw like this. But the promotion promised a hundred-percent winning rate, and Xiaoli had just walked off with three appliances — surely she couldn't do worse than her?

If she could draw a microwave or a water heater or something of the sort, that would save a pretty penny all at once!

At the thought of this, Mother Tang could not help asking, "Manager Wang, that girl just now got three draws — could I have three as well?"

Had anyone else asked him that, Manager Wang would have looked down his nose at them: two hundred and fifty thousand off already, and you still care about these trifling prizes? But he was at this very moment hunting for a chance to help Fatty Lai curry favour with Mother Tang, so how could he possibly refuse? He laughed and said, "Then you go and take three draws too, Auntie!"

"Good, good!" Mother Tang's face broke into a beaming smile.

Tang Yun watched her mother's display with a certain exasperation. Only when her mother had walked out of earshot did she say softly to Wei Zhao beside her, "Thank you..."

"Heh, what are you thanking me for?" Wei Zhao smiled.

"As if you didn't know!" Tang Yun sniffed and ignored Wei Zhao.

Having been seen through by Tang Yun, Wei Zhao felt a little awkward. So Tang Yun was not stupid after all. The crux of it was that Tang knew perfectly well that Fatty Lai was his underling — which made her suspicions only natural.

Seeing that Tang Yun had seen right through everything, Fatty Lai did not turn the least bit embarrassed; he simply came over with a broad grin. "Chief, sister-in-law — is the apartment to your liking?"

"Just make sure you're not taking a loss," Wei Zhao hinted.

"No loss, nothing to lose — I sold it at cost. Call it something I picked up for sister-in-law's family along the way while the building was going up," Fatty Lai said with a laugh.

Tang Yun did not know whether to laugh or cry — as if you could pick up an apartment "on the side" while building the place! Still, since he was not taking a loss, Fatty Lai's words did set her mind a little more at ease.

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