My Youth Began With Him

“The company suffered heavy losses, clients who paid their deposits have all asked to be refunded and breached their contracts, even those who have already moved in are demanding a refund.”

“This is absurd…” Huo Mian was more worried than ever.

“Let’s stay calm and observe the situation a little longer.”

“Mhm.”

“Come on, let’s go eat.” Qin Chu held Huo Mian’s hand as the two of them quietly headed towards the company cafeteria.

On the TV was Chairman Zhang Liangui of the Zhang Corporation, surrounded by a bunch of reporters.

“Chairman Zhang, what’s the purpose of lowering housing prices?”

Zhang Liangui looked like he was about to burst out in tears as he squeezed out the following words, “To benefit the civilians.”

“Chairman Zhang, no wonder you’re a renowned entrepreneur. You’re a model to the rest of us. 4,000 yuan per square meter is a price all civilians can accept.”

Zhang Liangui smiled at the camera, but he was actually cursing Huo Siqian inside out. If the latter hadn’t forced him, he could have never done something as stupid as this!

His company sold more than ten million apartments this morning, but after taking all relevant fees into account, he actually lost 7 million yuan!

It was only the morning, and 7 million yuan already flew away, just like that.

He didn’t know why Huo Siqian would force him into lowering housing prices, but he knew the latter was up to no good.

Huo Siqian had to be doing this for a reason and that afternoon, he slowly began to understand what was happening.

There were 15 real estate companies in the city, and 13 of them came together to reduce prices. The only ones who didn’t do anything were GK and the Huo Corporation.

Zhang Liangui heard that many buyers demanded a refund from GK, but the Huo Corporation didn’t sustain any losses because they didn’t have any projects underway… It seemed like Huo Siqian had planned this out meticulously, and the ultimate goal was to overthrow GK.

That evening, the Huo Corporation announced that their new residential district – Greenstone Garden, will be open for purchase in the morning, with prices at 3,999 yuan per square meter.

This announcement immediately reignited the people’s passion for real estate purchasing.

Greenstone Garden was the Huo Corporation’s most recently completed project, but the company never began sales. It was located at the edge of 4th Ring Road and since it wasn’t in downtown, public transportation was still underdeveloped.

The good thing was, there was a natural lake, East Lake, near the property with breathtaking views.

In the beginning, everyone assumed that a high-end residential district like this would at least cost 9,000 yuan per square meter.

To their surprise, the company listed the property at 3,999 yuan – talk about a markdown!

This announcement put GK in an awkward position because they had just listed their newest property, an office-housing district called Lafei Residents, at 7,500 yuan per square meter. Lafei Residents was located near downtown, on 2nd Ring Road.

Huo Corporation’s newest property cost almost half as much as GK’s. As an old saying goes, ‘There is no harm without comparison’.

Therefore, when the Huo Corporation announced that they were reducing their prices as well, GK’s last straw to survival vanished, making the company a public enemy.

The truth was, Qin Chu wanted to reduce prices, but he couldn’t afford to. Unlike evil developers, GK had been focused on quality.

When Qin Yumin still led the company, he emphasized the importance of quality, and therefore the mere cost to build a GK property was more than 4,000 yuan per square feet.

Add that to the promotion and other miscellaneous fees, the company made less than 1,000 yuan per square meter. Therefore, GK’s prices really weren’t unreasonably high.

If GK lowered all its prices to 4,000 yuan, it would suffer a 50% loss. Some companies may be able to endure that, but GK couldn’t. The company’s main line of business was in real estate and it had sold too many properties over the past two decades.

Moreover, they had a lot of new projects in line, and if they gave discounts to everyone… it wouldn’t be as simple as losing 7 million yuan in one morning like Zhang Liangui.

The entire company would go under….

Therefore, GK didn’t make any moves and decided to go with its original prices. However, civilians who weren’t aware of the truth cursed and judged the company, accusing it of moral abduction.

That evening, some anonymous netizen uploaded an article onto a forum –’C City’s real estate developers are benefiting the civilians, GK’s the only one still ripping us off’.