A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)
Chapter 171 Auction on Mid-Autumn Night!

"Her phone is switched off?"

"Could something have happened to her?"

Ye Fan frowned as he felt a nagging bit of worry.

But on second thought, after taking into consideration her status and level of influence, he decided that she was probably not in any sort of big trouble.

However, out of concern for his friend, Ye Fan made a call to Li Er to ask for more information.

Li Er had always been Xu Lei's rival in Yunzhou.

On the surface the both of them appeared to have a harmonious relationship but, privately, competition had always been fierce between them.

There was not enough room for two kings in Yunzhou City. But although Li Er and Xu Lei were not mortal enemies, they were still competitors.

In Great China, there was a saying: the person who understands you the most is not yourself but your rival.

Therefore, in the whole of Yunzhou, the person who understood Xu Lei the most was Li Er, the person who had been her rival for so many years.

"Mm?"

"The Xu family has sent their people here?" Ye Fan's curiosity was piqued after hearing what Li Er had to say.

"Yes, Mr. Chu. A few outsiders came to Hongqi Group a few days ago. After carefully investigating them, I deduced that they must be Xu Lei's family elders."

"I guess something must have happened to her family?"

"From the looks of things, Xu Lei's family must have transferred her out of Yunzhou. Yesterday, she resigned from her position as president of Hongqi Group and somebody else was put in charge of the company."

"Oh? Something like that happened?" Ye Fan was slightly surprised. He had not expected Xu Lei to leave just like that.

But Ye Fan did not ask anymore questions after finding out the truth. After all, this was Xu Lei's family matter. As an outsider, he had no right to go meddle in somebody else's family affairs.

"But could Xu Lei be a member of the Xu family of Yanjing?"

When he thought of this, Ye Fan shook his head with a smile.

He had not imagined that Xu Lei had such a powerful background.

But it made sense. Xu Lei was just a woman after all. Even though she was a resourceful person, there was no way she could have grown the company to such an extent all by herself. Moreover, Xu Lei had been wearing another hat as the regional manager of Hongqi Bank while she was running her company.

According to Ye Fan's knowledge, both extraordinary capabilities and a powerful family background were needed for a person to become a regional manager of Hongqi Bank.

Now that he had found out the truth behind Xu Lei's disappearance, Ye Fan felt relieved.

He had been afraid that Xu Lei was in trouble, but now it seemed that he had been worrying too much. They were Xu Lei's blood-related family after all, so they would do nothing to harm her. Ye Fan had nothing more to worry about.

But just as he was about to end the call, Li Er suddenly chimed in with a request.

"Mr. Chu, it will be Mid-Autumn in a few days. Every year on that day, the Yunzhou city government will collaborate with the business magnates to organize some festive activities. And the most popular one is the auction held at Shanshui Hall."

"This year, I am involved in the planning for the auction and I have come up with some new gimmicks. I hope Mr. Chu can do me a favor by giving me something that I can put up for the auction." Before Li Er could complete his sentence, Ye Fan interrupted him and shook his head with a laugh.

"You old bastard. How dare you try to take advantage of me?"

"My wife runs a tight ship at home. I even have to save up money just to be able to afford my own meals. Under the circumstances, do you think I own anything presentable enough for the auction?" "For things like this, isn't it better for you to ask Shen Jiu-Yi? That old fellow owns a lot of precious antiques. That time, he even came up with an original painting by Tang Bo-Hu."

"Alright, I am going to stop chit-chatting with you. My wife is about to get off work.

I have to hurry home and prepare dinner."

Just as Ye Fan was about to end the call,

Li Er hurriedly interjected: "Please don't, Mr. Chu."

"I have already thought of everything. I don't need you to come up with a precious antique. I just need you to..."

And Li Er started chatting away on the phone.

When he had finished speaking, Ye Fan smiled and said: "Okay, Er. You have good business acumen indeed. You deserve to be making money."

"Alright. I promise you. I can give you what you want. You just go ahead with the auction. But I am not going to turn up at the event. Too lazy to go."

Li Er chuckled and said: "Mr. Chu, don't be too quick to say that. Would you believe it if I told that, when the time comes, you will have to show up whether you want to or not?" "Mm?" Ye Fan was taken aback. He had no idea what Li Er meant by that.

But the latter did not say anything more. After greeting Ye Fan once, he hung up the phone with a smile on his face.

Afterward, Li Er called for Jin Bao and Yin Bao.

"Go make some arrangements. Get me two invitations for the 'Mid-Autumn's Night' event. Send one to Miss Qiu Mu-Cheng and, remember, you have to get her to promise to attend." "And then, since Madam Chu will be attending, doesn't that mean Mr. Chu will have to go as well?"

And Li Er smiled the smile of an experienced schemer.

He could not persuade Mr. Chu to attend the auction, but surely Qiu Mu-Cheng could!

After all, Ye Fan's reputation as a henpecked husband was well-known among the leaders of Jiangdong!

Li Er was the organizer for this year's "MidAutumn's Night" auction. And if he could invite a VIP guest like Mr. Chu, that would make him look good. Chen Ao, Lei San and the others would have to think more highly of him.

After all, after the Mount Tai Tournament, Ye Fan's status and influence had peaked in Yunzhou. It was as if he was now the master of the whole province. If the people found out that even the master of the province would be attending the auction, then it would instantly make the event more high-end.

"Hahaha-"

"With Mr. Chu as a gimmick, we shall see how Chen Ao and Lei San are going to be able to challenge me during the "MidAutumn's Night" auction."

"At that time, the event hall at Yunzhou will be filled with wealthy people and bigwigs. It will be so lively here. But the guests at Jianghai and Jingzhou will be few in number and their halls will be deserted.

Chen Ao, Lei San and the others will be so mad!"

Li Er felt enormously satisfied when he imagined the bitter expression on the faces of his rivals.

The Mid-Autumn's Night auction would be held in many cities in the province.

Not just Yunzhou City. In previous years, prosperous cities such as Jianghai and Jingzhou would also hold their own auctions.

But there were only so few magnates with enough wealth and influence to bid on the items. Since so many cities were holding auctions at the same time, Li Er and the other leaders had to come up with ways to attract those magnates to their respective territories.

That was the reason why, each year at this time, Jiangdong would be engulfed in marketing war. In order to attract the buyers to come, each city would advertise the valuables that would be up for bidding at their auction.

But for the past few years, Li Er had been greatly falling behind Chen Ao and Lei San in terms of money power and the quality of auction items. So each year, the MidAutumn's Night auction held at Yunzhou would be particularly deserted. All the magnates had been lured away by Chen Ao and Lei San, so the Yunzhou auctions had not seen many sales transactions. After repeated failures, the money Li Er had earned was not even enough to cover the costs of setting up the venue.

But fortunately, this year, a dragon had appeared in Yunzhou.

Li Er was fully confident that the presence of an esteemed VIP like Mr. Chu would transform the Mid-Autumn's Night auction at Yunzhou City into the brightest jewel of the province!