Three days had passed since the matter at County No. 1 High School had been dealt with. That day, Li Rui received the license plates Wang Zhongtian had arranged for his McLaren P1 and ten Land Rover Range Rovers.
Li Rui also took the opportunity to order an Apollo Apollo for 25 million yuan, a Bugatti Veyron for 43 million yuan, a Hennessey Venom GT for 80 million yuan, and a Lamborghini Veneno for 90 million yuan from Wang Zhongtian. The supercars were worth close to 240 million yuan in total, while Li Rui paid 250 million.
The supercars already carried substantial markups, but Li Rui paid another 12 million yuan to get the four cars sooner. Top-tier sports cars were all limited editions, with few available to begin with, but as long as he offered enough extra money, he could definitely buy them.
However, they might have taken two or even three months to arrive. With Li Rui paying another 12 million yuan, Wang Zhongtian said he could get the cars in half a month. As for money, to Li Rui, it was no different from a fart.
He also ordered fifty Land Rover Range Rovers for Umbrella Security Company and one Lincoln Navigator for each household in the family, seven in total. Anyone without a driver's license could go get one themselves.
As for Seventh Aunt's household, they could only drive theirs once Li Ru got her license. Whether Li Ru would like that sort of rugged SUV was something Li Rui could not be bothered to consider. If she did not like it, she could simply sell it. Every other household was getting one, so he could hardly leave one out. It was such a small amount of money that he could not be bothered to think about it.
Upon learning that Li Rui wanted to order cars worth a total of 324 million yuan, Wang Zhongtian nearly had an epileptic fit from excitement, then solemnly swore that he would absolutely deliver the cars on time.
By this point, Li Rui had spent over 400 million yuan since returning home. He had over 9.5 billion yuan left in his domestic bank account, over 89.5 billion yuan in his overseas financial account, and 20 billion yuan in the hands of the high-level elite business professional Lu Yan. Li Rui lamented how slowly he was spending his money. There was so much of it that he simply could not spend it all.
Over the past few days, the rebuilding of the family ancestral hall had also proceeded in an orderly fashion. Li Rui had originally intended to let his uncles find people themselves to build it.
Only in the end did he realize that a project this large could not possibly be handled by individuals. Some of the design work involved had to be done by a professional construction company. This proved how limited Li Rui's outlook had been as a poor loser.
The old ancestral hall had already been knocked down by excavators, and 4,000 square meters of land had been cleared. Since the ancestral hall stood at the very back of the village, with no homes around it and only weed-covered ground, clearing the site was fairly convenient. With ten excavators working at once, it had taken only two and a half days.
The ground for Li Rui's new house, which would occupy 1,000 square meters, had also been cleared. Li Rui could only marvel at how easily money got things done. Whether it was the ancestral hall or the new house, all that remained was to find a construction company to draw up the designs before construction could begin.
Within a few days, word of such large-scale activity in Li Family Village had spread throughout the dozen or so surrounding villages. Spending 50 million yuan to build an ancestral hall caused quite a sensation.
Even Su Yinshan, thirty kilometers away, heard the news.
That day, Su Yinshan was playing mahjong with several people when the man opposite him said, "Have you heard? Some big shot has emerged from Li Family Village in Tianlong Town. He's spending 50 million yuan to build an ancestral hall. Now that's spending on a grand scale."
"Yes, yes, I heard my eldest aunt mention it too. She lives only five or six kilometers from Li Family Village. She said a big shot had emerged from there. When he came back, he drove a sports car worth tens of millions and brought dozens of bodyguards. What an entourage!"
Su Yinshan jolted. He ran a construction company, yet he had not even heard about something this big. Had he known earlier, he would certainly have paid a visit. If he could land such a large project, he would make at least a few million.
Li Family Village in Tianlong Town? Wasn't that where my daughter married into? At that thought, he stopped playing mahjong, pushed his tiles away, and said, "I'm done, I'm done. Something's come up." Without waiting for his fellow players to respond, he turned and left.
He got into his car, took out his phone, and called his daughter, Su Xueting. He had not called that number of his own accord in over ten years. It was always Su Xueting who called Su Yinshan, while he responded coldly and indifferently.
As for why things were like this, it went back more than ten years. The story was simple enough: a wealthy family's daughter resisted an arranged marriage, fled the wedding, and ultimately married a poor boy.
Although the Su family could not exactly be considered rich and prestigious, they had counted as a wealthy household back then. The family Su Xueting married into, however, did not even qualify as comfortably well-off. They could even be called poor.
Naturally, Su Yinshan had been furious. If his daughter had married into that wealthy family back then, his business would surely have been ten times larger by now. That was also why he had treated his daughter so coldly all these years.
Today, however, he had heard some very unexpected news. That Li family was actually spending 50 million yuan to build an ancestral hall. He had to call his daughter and ask what exactly was going on. If it was true and he could land the project, he could make a few million.
Over the past few days, Su Xueting and Li Cong had been discussing starting a company. With the family business startup fund supporting them, money was not a problem. But after thinking for two or three days, they still had no clear idea what exactly to do.
Just as Su Xueting was racking her brains, she received a call from her father, Su Yinshan, leaving her utterly astonished. He had not called her of his own accord in over ten years. Why would he suddenly call her today? Puzzled, Su Xueting answered.
"Dad, is something the matter?"
"I heard your Li Family Village is building an ancestral hall? And that you're spending 50 million yuan?"
Hearing her father's cold voice, Su Xueting finally understood why he had taken the initiative to call her today. Bitterness filled her heart.
"Yes. The seventh younger brother in the family is putting up 50 million yuan to rebuild the ancestral hall."
With his daughter confirming it, Su Yinshan was delighted and immediately said, "Tell your father-in-law that I'll be visiting your home today."
He hung up before Su Xueting could answer. Su Xueting gave a bitter smile. In her father's eyes, perhaps money mattered far more than she did. It had been that way more than ten years ago, and it was still that way now.
But what could she do? He was her father, after all. Su Xueting then went out to find her father-in-law.
At that moment, Li Yongjin was reclining in a woven bamboo rocking chair, leisurely listening to opera and smoking his pipe.
Over the past few days, after people nearby heard that their Li family was spending 50 million yuan on an ancestral hall, quite a few construction companies had come bearing gifts. Even if they could not land the project, they wanted to at least become familiar faces. After all, the Li family of today was no longer what it had been. Fine cigarettes and liquor kept arriving at his home, including no small number of cartons of cigarettes costing over a thousand yuan and bottles of liquor costing over a thousand yuan each.
But he had refused them all. Quite apart from the fact that he was only responsible for managing the funds, keeping accounts, and such, his nephew trusted him enough to let him help manage such a huge sum as 50 million yuan.
Naturally, he had to do the job properly. Other people's things were not so easy to accept. Accepting gifts tied your hands; eating another's food softened your tongue. As someone already halfway into the grave, he naturally understood that principle.
A few days earlier, Li Yongjin had discussed it with his brothers. They planned to hold a bidding meeting tomorrow, just as people did when putting up buildings in the city. He had also told the construction companies that had come bearing gifts over the past few days, and more than ten companies had already expressed their intention to participate.
Whoever offered the better design and more reasonable costs would naturally get the project. Including the new house for Li Rui's family, the combined cost of the two projects might exceed 70 million yuan. In the county town, that was no longer a small project.
Although he had accepted no gifts, all the flattery over the past few days still left Li Yongjin floating on air. Having lived more than half his life, he had enjoyed more bootlicking these past few days than he had throughout the first half of his life. It made him unconsciously begin humming a little tune.