Chapter 422 - 220: Want a Wife or Not?

Chapter 422: Chapter 220: Want a Wife or Not?

Elder Xiao and Elder Jiang both looked at Su Chen, waiting for his answer.

Su Chen simply held up his right hand, showing two fingers.

The gesture left both elders baffled. Just as Elder Jiang was about to ask, Su Chen spoke up. "Two things. And they’re both very simple for you."

"Simple? Anything that comes out of your mouth is never simple, kid."

After all, Elder Xiao knew Su Chen. Anything he had his sights on was bound to be no ordinary matter.

Su Chen pursed his lips. "Who says? Elder Xiao, you can’t go around slandering me like that. These two things are a walk in the park for you!"

"Alright, alright, stop keeping us in suspense. Spit it out!" Elder Jiang, who had been listening on the side, was getting impatient.

Hearing this, Su Chen didn’t waste any more time and got straight to the point. "First, the companies under my name are currently being consolidated. All I’m missing is a corporate headquarters, and I was thinking... would it be possible to get a plot of land approved for me in Shanghai..."

"Or you could just give me a skyscraper. That’d work too."

In a city like Shanghai, where every inch of land is as precious as gold, a skyscraper would cost billions, at the very least.

Sure enough, both Elder Xiao and Elder Jiang frowned upon hearing Su Chen’s words.

In principle, Su Chen’s request was simple enough for them to handle. The main issue was where to give him the land and how much of it. That would require serious discussion.

This wasn’t like the Zheng Island industrial park, which had been approved almost immediately.

After a moment of thought, Elder Xiao glanced at Elder Jiang before speaking. "I’ll state my position first. In principle, I agree. But the specifics will require further discussion, and we’ll need to consult with the officials in Shanghai."

He paused, then continued, "On this matter... we’ll have an answer for you in five days, max."

A smile appeared on Su Chen’s face. With Elder Xiao’s word, the deal was as good as done. He just wondered which location the higher-ups would ultimately choose for him.

"Now, what’s your second request?"

Given the scale of the first request, Elder Xiao naturally assumed the second wouldn’t be anything more significant. After all, people usually present their most difficult requests first.

"As for the second matter..." Su Chen hesitated. The information was simply too shocking, and if he handled this poorly, it could have enormous repercussions.

Seeing Su Chen’s prolonged hesitation, Elder Xiao couldn’t help but ask, "Hm? What is it? Are you too embarrassed to bring it up?"

Su Chen scratched his head. "It’s not that I’m embarrassed, I just don’t know how to put it."

"What could be so hard to say? There are no outsiders here!" As Elder Xiao spoke, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the mostly silent Elder Jiang.

Elder Jiang understood instantly and chimed in, "Go on, say it. Whatever it is, we two old geezers have got your back."

Since they’d put it that way, Su Chen decided to stop worrying about the consequences. "It’s actually not that complicated. I have an island in Venezuela. From what I can tell, it has considerable oil reserves. I’m just looking for some technical support with extraction."

The island Su Chen owned was indeed rich in resources, but most of the oil was offshore. This meant considering how to conduct offshore drilling. When it came to offshore oil extraction technology, the most advanced in the entire world were the US and Huaxia.

The saying goes that one shouldn’t let fertile water flow into others’ fields. Su Chen naturally hoped that his own people would be the ones to enjoy this sumptuous feast.

"An island in Venezuela?" Elder Xiao and Elder Jiang couldn’t help but exclaim in unison.

Elder Jiang’s reaction was particularly strong. He leaned in close to Su Chen and asked, "You said ’considerable’ oil reserves. Do you have any hard numbers?"

Su Chen was taken aback by Elder Jiang’s intensity. After regaining his composure, he shifted slightly closer to Elder Xiao before speaking. "The estimated reserves are as high as fifty million tons!"

"Fifty million tons!" Even Elder Xiao couldn’t remain seated now, shooting up from his chair.

He had never imagined that Su Chen was sitting on such vast resources. And that was just the fifty million tons of crude oil Su Chen mentioned, not even counting by-products like natural gas.

At the current domestic import price of four thousand per ton, those fifty million tons of crude oil were worth two hundred billion!

The two elders, after all, were men who had weathered many storms, and they quickly composed themselves. Their surprise wasn’t just at the value, but at the fact that Su Chen—someone they knew—could single-handedly control such a massive resource. It was something they had never anticipated.

After all, the world’s oil reserves were almost exclusively in the hands of nations and top-tier financial consortiums. It was, quite literally, liquid gold.

Hadn’t the US fought wars in the Middle East for years over its oil?

For a moment, the two elders’ minds raced. They understood that for Su Chen to tell them this so openly, he must have the confidence and ability to secure the island himself.

Otherwise, he would have offered to sell them the island or the oil reserves, not just ask for technical support.

The two elders exchanged a look. Then, with an air of feigned concern, Elder Xiao said, "Xiaochen, you must be aware of the situation in Venezuela. Can you really guarantee the security of your island?"