Luckily, she was able to secure Raymond ahead of time. Not only was he richer than Huo Wencheng, he was also willing to spend money on her.
She said she enjoyed lake scene and he bought this mansion in three days’ time. He was about to transfer the title over to her in the next few days to make up her emotionally and physically for accidentally getting pregnant with his child.
Thinking of that, she looked for an agency, “What did Huajian say? I can go 5% lower but that is as low as I will go.”
She would be leaving the country to start her life afresh.
Raymond, too, had mentioned that he would gift her a vineyard when they got to France. She could be a vineyard owner and all of the produces, wines, etc. would yield income of over 100 million a year.
She wasn’t stupid. One way or another, she would still have the Gu’s shares.
Even though their reputation wasn’t the greatest right now but she should still be able to fetch a good price.
One way or another, it would allow her to settle down overseas.
“Boss Wushuang, I’m afraid you will need to go down by 15%. If it isn’t for the fact that Jiahe’s factory is still fairly new in age, Huajian won’t even consider this at all. You must know that Jiahe no longer has its worth two years ago.”
There were a lot of limitations when the brand’s value was low.
Even though they were selling it as a package, but really all the buyer wanted was the few factories, the logistics, and the channel of sales.
“The economy is not great right now. Even if they are to buy the land and build from the ground up, it would still only cost half of what you are asking.”
Gu Wushuang gritted her teeth.
“Alright. Have them sent the contract over to me. I’ll have it delivered after I signed them.”
She needed to rest right now and couldn’t go in person.
“Alright.”
And that was how Jiahe was sold for a cheap price.
Gu Wushuang signed the papers.
Gu Jiangxin had already retreated from the management but, as the second largest shareholder, let it be that he had been sick for a while now or that he had placed most of his energy on his young son, he too agreed to the sales of it.
Shortly thereafter, the gaming area that Huo Wencheng had been eyeing, as it had been in the reds for two years in a row, was also sold to Huo Sishen’s H Corporation at a low, low price by Gu Wushuang.
She was angry. She would rather sell it to Huo Sishen at a loss just to spite Huo Wencheng!
She wanted him to know that he would never have what he wanted in life. Instead, they would all go to his big brother who was superior than him in all areas!
Within a week, all Gu Wushuang had left in hands were the shares in real estates.
Finally, before she left the country, she reached out to Mother Gu.
Having no idea that Mother Gu already had a change of heart, she tempted Mother Gu to buy those stocks from her.
“Mommy, the best revenge is to have what others wanted he wanted the most but couldn’t have.
“I won’t be around for you in the future. You will have to stand up for yourself now.”
She thought perhaps Mother Gu would not want to spend the money, or not have that much capital with her, so she had the entire speech prepared. She even went as far as reaching out to Zhang Sheng, the authority of the Zhang family.
Her enemy’s enemy was her friend.
They all hated Gu Jiangxin.
She knew that Mother Gu might not be able to think clearly but Zhang Sheng, as a businessman, would know it very well, “Uncle, the Zhang family had always wanted to expand into real estate in City Shun, right?
“Anything that Daddy Gu had today came from you and Grandpa Zhang. The Gu family would never have their fortune today had it not been for the Zhang family. It isn’t too late to take them all back now.”
Real estate was slow right now and those associated with the Gu Real Estate had negative publicity attached to them. She finally sold them to the Zhang family and Mother Gu at a “friend and family price”.
All said and done, after taxes and fees, she received more than 20 million in cash along with two properties in France.
Finally, Raymond transferred the ownership of the French vineyard over to her. There were long contracts in both French and English. Witnessed by a lawyer, she paid 5 million yuan in transfer tax and earnest money for her immigration.
Nevertheless, when Gu Wushuang went chicly to the airport and all set to head to the manor in France with Raymond, he never showed. She received a message from Raymond after a long while, having her to go on her own.
She felt that something was off and said she would wait for him at the airport.
That turned into a week-long wait.
It took 3 days’ time for her team of assistants that she had sent out ahead of time to check out the place in France to get back to her.
“Boss Wushuang, there is a manor but the land was barren and worth 1 million franc.”
Gu Wushuang almost fainted.
“Both the manor and the machineries are in disrepair.
“You will probably need to do a lot of repair work if you want to make it operational again. We estimation it would cost over 1 million franc to bring them to operating state.”
Such was the unique situation in the west.
Many castles appeared to be spectacular and sacred from the outside but their décors, pipes and electrical conduits were all aged. Anyone who wanted to move into them would have to spend a large sum of money to first bring everything up to date. The property tax would also be hefty should one want to have the title transferred.
There was fire burning in Gu Wushuang’s heart. She felt like she could breathe fire right now.
“What about the vineyard? I thought they sell their products to the royalty?”
“Ugh…… their operations had been shut down a while back due to quality issues.”
“What about my two mansions?!”
“Those are there and are move-in ready.”
Gu Wushuang let out a sigh of relief. The two mansions combined added up to over ten million.
“However, their actual values are a little different than what we have expected.”
Gu Wushuang almost stopped breathing.
Investments overseas were under strict regulations in China.
Anyone wanting to exchange for over 50,000 in foreign currency would need to report it, let along buying houses overseas.
She purchased those two places through an agency through some special channels. In short, they took advantages of current loopholes and was not protected under China laws.
“Where’s Raymond?!”
“Ugh… Boss Wushuang, we went to meet up with Mr. Raymond at K Oil Company, but he isn’t the same person that you introduced to us before……”
Gu Wushuang finally collapsed onto the floor with her phone in hand.
Inside the Jingting Mansion.
“He’s a conman. An upscale one.
“They specifically target upper class ignorant women. These people can’t even read France and could barely read English. How do they dare to contracts involve such huge amounts?”
Huo ChuChu went on and on and looking happy from the melon-eating.
“Gu Wushuang looks to be very smart. Even she fell for it.”
Qin Ruhai, leaning half way onto the couch while holding an unlit cigarette, tabbed his watch and smiled at the solemn looking man across from him.
“Conmen are very smart nowadays. They can speak French and they have good knowledge of the loopholes in real estate work both domestically and overseas……”
Huo Sishen looked very calmly as though none of these concerned him.
Huo ChuChu, on the other hand, was so happy that she couldn’t stop herself, “Exactly. From her team of lawyers to the agency that she used, all of them were referred to her by Raymond. She thought she had all areas covered and even looked into him. In the end, he was the one in control all along.”
Qin Ruhai smiled. “All men are scary. Chuchu, you need to be careful in the future.”
Huo ChuChu hasn’t even said a word yet when Huo Sishen gave her a cold look.
Gu Shishi, who had just helped her little son wiped his mouth, looked up, a bit bothered. “I heard those two mansions were given to her from the Zhang family. If they are problematic, that means the Zhang family too……”
This time, Huo ChuChu chuckled wickedly.
Now that she had taken over the family business, she was quite aware of all the nooks and crannies in their circle.
“Sister-in-law, do you have any idea what transportation business in the capital city was 100 years ago? It was escort services. The business that takes advantages of both the good and bad guys in wuxia novels!”
Gu Shishi’s mouth dropped open and remained open for a long time.
“After all those craziness with Gu Wushuang and then she wanted to take advantage of the Zhang family by selling them the real estates in a packaged deal? Ahahahaha…… she asked for this one herself!”
Huo ChuChu couldn’t be more amused.
“Nonsense.”
Huo Sishen frowned and cut her off.
“This has nothing to do. You just focus on your own matters.”
“Oh.”
Huo ChuChu sat up properly.
Truth was, ever since dinner the other day, Huo Wencheng’s status slipped even more in Mother Huo’s mind and more focus had been placed on Huo ChuChu.
Over half of the company’s responsibilities now fall on her.
“Big Brother, you should just take away the Huo enterprise. It’s too tiring.”
Huo ChuChu expressed that melon-eating was much more fun.
He was telling her that it was a gift to her and she could hand it over to her husband or her children in the future.
Huo ChuChu blushed and was distracted immediately. She stopped talking about Gu Wushuang.
Gu Shishi, next to them, could bare think amidst the crying of her little son.
Ever since she had become a mom, even her interest in melons had declined.
Qin Ruhai was the only one smiling at Huo Sishen and, with his mouth cracked open before he took off, asked, “How much are you going to pay me for my silence?”
Huo Sishen raised his brows. “And talk about the betrothal money too?”
Qin Ruhai, smiling, his handsome look froze on him all of a sudden and a hint of pink could be seen on the rim of his ears.
***
The first sun of the morning poured inside the room through the gap between the dark and thick curtains. It was both warm and shiny when casted on the Persian rug in front of the bed.
Gu Shishi rolled to the other side and languidly buried herself into the warm chest of the man next to her. She snuggled up against him like some small animal.
The man had been awake. His dark eyes half opened and, looking down, saw her sleeping messily and half of her round shoulder was exposed from under her pink nightgown. His lips curved and he adjusted the thin strap of her nightgown.
The very next second, however, he had already leaned in and planted a kiss on her collar bone.
Half-asleep, Gu Shishi suddenly felt a warmth on her shoulder and weight on top of her.
… …
She thought she was dreaming but only realized that his man was starting trouble early in the morning after she had woken up.
Lo and behold, even Huo Xiao Bao quietly cooperated with his dad. He even delayed his normal cry-to-have-diaper-changed time for an hour and never made a peep to interrupt what his father was doing.
Gu Shishi instantly felt betrayed.
The brat was still a child and he was already on his dad’s side.
His personality and schedule fit perfectly with Huo Sishen’s. They worked together seamlessly like gears.
As though knowing that Huo Sishen had a rough life, he knew exactly how to entertain Huo Sishen.
Every time Huo Sishen picked him up, he’d laugh. It was like a role reversal of who was entertaining whom.
Being all roughed up under the blanket, she felt very disturbed.
2 against 1. That was so unfair.
Whatever happened to the son liking the mother?
Tsk.
“The art association will be organizing a solo exhibition for me. They will be here to pick up my work today.”
When the man was satisfied, she, too, had returned from the cloud nine and stepped foot softly onto the floor.
She turned and, sweaty all over, stepped on the man’s foot.
She finally recalled something important.
Over the last year, from her testing out the system’s advanced painting skill to her trying to sum up what she had learned from it, she painted close to 100 paintings in over 300 days.
Even with the assistance of the system, 90% of those were still trashed.
The 10 or so remaining ones were all best of the best.
Plus the few that she had created in the past, there were just enough for a mini exhibition.
She was, after all, not a high production artist.
Besides, some of her scenery paintings were 3 ~ 5 meters in length and took her almost a month to complete. Those paintings ought to be able to provide half a day of entertainment for the viewers.
“Mmm,” was all the man said in acknowledgement.