Bai Yanyun

"How did that guy get out of the same car as Li Ruobing..."

"Is that Li Mingze?"

"No, Li Mingze isn't as tall or handsome as him. Could this be Li Ruobing's boyfriend?"

The Li Family has significant influence in Tongzhou, and Li Ruobing is also quite famous. So, when Su Rui stood beside Li Ruobing and casually linked arms with her, he instantly became the center of attention.

An old man in a Tang suit standing at the entrance had a peculiar smile on his face as he quietly exchanged words with his companion beside him.

"That granddaughter from the Bai Family just returned to the country with her boyfriend too. I didn't expect Li Ruobing to also come to this summit... Once these two meet, there's going to be a good show!"

"These two have never gotten along, and now they've both brought their boyfriends. There's bound to be some competition."

"Heh heh..."

"That son-in-law from the Bai Family is no simple person. I heard his family is from the North... I haven't heard of this young boyfriend of Li Ruobing's. Could he also be a descendant of a prominent family from elsewhere?"

Su Rui smiled and nodded politely to those around him, then directly led Li Ruobing into the hotel.

"Miss Li." A middle-aged man with graying temples walked up, smiling as he greeted Li Ruobing. "This is..."

"Her boyfriend." Su Rui answered before Li Ruobing could.

"A truly talented individual!" The middle-aged man chuckled.

The middle-aged man's name was Wang Fu. He was thirty-eight years old, of average build, about 1.75 meters tall, with fair skin and very short hair. He looked very quiet and refined, spoke politely, and wore gold-rimmed glasses. From his appearance alone, he resembled a university professor.

But the reality was quite different.

More than ten years ago, Wang Fu was just a contractor in a small county town. He later made his fortune through demolition projects, steadily rising to his current net worth of over a billion yuan. He was a bona fide underworld boss.

Although his strength couldn't compare to the Lin Jiatao family, his rags-to-riches story was much more exciting and much more brutal than Lin Jiatao's.

His rise began with a municipal development project. To welcome instructions from higher authorities, the Tongzhou City leaders planned a piece of land in the suburban area to build factories. However, that area happened to be an old residential zone, a mixed bag where most of the residents were brothers from border ethnic groups. As soon as they heard about the demolition, they immediately refused.

In those years, the ferocity of the border ethnic brothers was unimaginable. The demolition team tried to start work several times but were beaten back, and even the bulldozers and excavators were smashed.

For two whole months, the demolition team made no progress at all.

The higher-ups were furious and immediately removed the project manager. But even after replacing the person in charge several times, the matter remained unresolved.

After dragging on like this for two or three months...

Wang Fu didn't know where he got the information, but he went all the way to the Municipal Committee leaders and guaranteed that he could get the job done within three days.

The leaders were so angry they laughed, saying that if he could pull it off, all future Municipal Committee projects would be handed over to him.

That night, Wang Fu went back and sold one of his houses in the city center to a relative at a low price. Then he scraped together less than two million yuan, drove a broken Songhua River van, and headed straight to the old residential area.

He didn't bring any people, nor did he bring any knives.

When he arrived at the residential area and explained his purpose, the border brothers immediately wanted to smash his car and beat him up again.

At that moment, Wang Fu directly took out a pot of gasoline from the trunk, poured it over himself, and placed the two million yuan in cash on the ground.

The border brothers had been dealing with the demolition team for so long, but they had never seen a scene like this. They were instantly stunned.

Then Wang Fu said, "This two million yuan is money that I and a few friends managed to scrape together by selling off all our family property. If you agree to the demolition, this money will be my personal subsidy, unrelated to the demolition compensation!"

"If you simply refuse to move and still want to rob me, then I will burn myself and my money to death right here. Anyway, our family property has been sold at a low price, and us brothers can't live anymore. But after I die, you'd better be careful of my few brothers who also can't live on. When a person is pushed to a dead end, do they still care how fierce you are or if you have border ethnic policy protection?"

As soon as he said this, the border brothers were instantly enraged and cursed him, saying if he was so good, he should light the fire, and if he had the guts, he should kill their whole family!

Wang Fu didn't say a word at the time, directly lit the clothes in his arms, and wrapped his arms around the person who had spoken.

In just three seconds, the two became a ball of fire.

Fortunately, there was a large pond nearby, and the people around managed to put out the fire. Wang Fu was severely burned, and that border brother also peed his pants in fright.

Everyone saw that this was the ultimate ultimatum. Wang Fu's move truly made them tremble a bit. He said he would light the fire and he did, completely disregarding his own life!

Although the border brothers were fierce, they weren't invulnerable!

No one could constantly guard against the retaliation of such desperate people.

So that night, at the Central Hospital, the border brothers from the residential area signed the relocation agreement with Wang Fu and went back to divide the two million yuan.

From then on, Wang Fu entered the sight of the higher-ups. Although this fire severely burned Wang Fu, his fate was rewritten from then on. With his iron-fisted methods and audacious personality, he rose step by step from a small contractor to the upper echelons of the entire Tongzhou. He had seven or eight construction companies of his own, as well as construction teams and design companies, with a market value definitely exceeding one billion!

Moreover, the smartest thing about Wang Fu was that he knew his limits.

An ordinary contractor involved in the underworld who had such an extraordinary encounter would have long since become arrogant and lost his way! But Wang Fu was different. Except for a few fierce battles in the early stages of his rise, he had been very low-key ever since, and he made great efforts to restrain his subordinates, preventing them from causing trouble outside. He also actively began to cooperate with the higher-ups to legitimize himself, preparing to transform from an underworld boss into an outstanding entrepreneur!

It could be said that if Lin Jiatao hadn't made his fortune a few years earlier than Wang Fu and been favored by the Far East Chamber of Commerce, Wang Fu would be the strongest underworld boss in Tongzhou City today.

Wang Fu and Li Ruobing met a long time ago through their families but had never had a deep relationship.

They had only recently started contacting each other.

The project for the Qiantang New Store was done by Wang Fu's construction company.

"Miss Li, I'm truly sorry about the new store construction site..." Wang Fu pressed his palms together, his face full of smiles. "The company isn't entirely mine; many brothers rely on me for a living, so I had no choice."

What Wang Fu was referring to was the matter of the Qiantang New Store's funding being cut off earlier and his urgent demand for the project payment.

Li Ruobing was cornered during the board meeting before, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, Wang Fu played an important role in it.

"I understand," Li Ruobing replied indifferently. With that, she linked arms with Su Rui and said, "Let's go in."

Wang Fu could hear the coldness in Li Ruobing's words. He let out a dry laugh and didn't speak further.

"Let's have tea sometime," Su Rui said, looking back at Wang Fu.

"Absolutely! Absolutely!"

Silence.

Su Rui and Li Ruobing walked through the corridor. Ahead was the hall where the summit was being held.

"The reason he was so eager to block the entrance and demand payment was because his company is also facing a financial crisis," Su Rui said, as if seeing through Li Ruobing's thoughts. "Otherwise, an underworld boss who clawed his way up from the bottom wouldn't risk offending you by blocking the new store construction site for money."

Li Ruobing paused for a moment, then nodded, seemingly accepting Su Rui's explanation.

"He'll be useful in the future," Su Rui added. "He's not your enemy. You can try to build a relationship with him!"

"Okay," Li Ruobing replied, her expression unchanged.

Passing through the line of receptionists, when Su Rui and Li Ruobing appeared at the entrance of the hall, there were already over forty or fifty people inside, with waiters in formal attire circulating occasionally.

Although there were many people inside, it wasn't chaotic like a typical gathering.

The hall was very quiet, with only the sound of low conversations. People stood in small groups, admiring the paintings and collections on the walls or in the display cases, occasionally commenting and laughing.

Su Rui immediately spotted a figure standing in the center of the hall, looking exceptionally prominent and eye-catching.

It was the girl who had gotten out of the custom Rolls-Royce earlier. With a pure smile on her face, she stood in front of a 19th-century mahogany grand piano, her arm linked with a man in a white suit, chatting with a few friends in front of her, occasionally covering her mouth and chuckling softly.

She was the granddaughter of the Bai Family patriarch, the eldest daughter of the direct lineage of one of Tongzhou City's two top prominent families, Bai Yanyun.

Bai Yanyun wore a white gauze dress, somewhat like a princess gown. She was indeed a beauty, and her unique sense of purity made people feel she was very圣洁 (sacred and pure).

But if you looked closely, you would notice that although she was talking to a few local friends from Tongzhou, her facial expressions and body language subtly maintained a distance, as if deliberately reminding the other party of her higher status.

Her smile was stiff, and even when talking to friends, it felt a bit like a condescending favor and a perfunctory fake smile.

Her gaze shifted, and Bai Yanyun looked towards the entrance of the hall. She was momentarily stunned, then an expression of surprise appeared on her face.

"What's wrong?" the man in the white suit beside her asked.

"Saw someone I know," Bai Yanyun said, a sweet and pampered look appearing on her beautiful face. "Deng Hao, come with me to say hello!"

Deng Hao followed Bai Yanyun's gaze, his eyes sweeping over Li Ruobing's face, his expression unreadable. "Is she the woman you often mention, the one who always competes with you in everything?"

"Heh heh... Don't talk nonsense, we have a great relationship. It's just that she used to be jealous of me and always liked to play little tricks..." Bai Yanyun chuckled.

"Should I go help you vent some anger?" Deng Hao asked in a playful tone.

"Can you?" Bai Yanyun tilted her head and said softly.

"Heh heh... Didn't you say she's just a businesswoman who only knows how to do business? She doesn't even understand the basics of art, yet she dares to attend the Arts and Culture Summit. It'll be easy for me to toy with her, won't it?" Deng Hao blinked, smiling coldly.