From Runaway Bride to Global Queen-Chapter 19 - Bidding

Chapter 19: Chapter 19 Bidding

Qiao Yi felt the occasional glances from Lu Yanchuan landing on her. Feeling uncomfortable, she turned her head and glared at him.

“Do you think I was too harsh on Qiao Xin?”

Lu Yanchuan’s mind was still dwelling on how Qiao Yi’s little demeanor just now was somewhat tantalizing, when unexpectedly, the little woman next to him angrily questioned him.

Receiving Lu Yanchuan’s somewhat puzzled gaze, Qiao Yi felt a bit more at ease.

“Your grudges with her have nothing to do with me.”

The implication was whether he was harsh or not, it didn’t matter to her.

...

Qiao Yi withdrew her gaze and looked out the window, and the two of them fell silent for the rest of the journey.

Tian City’s geographical location is advantageous, plus its long history, making it a city that can’t be overlooked, whether politically, economically, or geographically.

Since Tian City’s development in the North has spanned decades, in recent years, the Tian City government has rarely opened new official projects. This time, the redevelopment of the old harbor district is the first in five years.

Scarcity breeds value, and as soon as the project news went out, there were no fewer than ten companies from Capital City alone coming in for the bid, not to mention, the national companies coming to the bidding meeting totaled over fifty.

The Qiao Family and Lu Family stood out among them, drawing innumerable gazes upon the two figures who entered the venue together.

Could it be that the Qiao Family and Lu Group are joining forces?

That was the thought running through most people’s minds. But upon seeing the two people return to their respective seats, like complete strangers, their thoughts began to waver.

If the Qiao Family and Lu Family joined forces, others wouldn’t stand a chance, but now it seemed like there was still hope.

Before the bid submissions, this was their last chance to modify the terms.

People from well-acquainted enterprises gathered together, whispering, and from time to time glancing over at Lu Yanchuan and Qiao Yi.

Qiao Yi, sitting there bored playing with her phone, ignored Mr. Feng who kept nagging her to review the documents.

She was just going through the motions; why bother?

However, Mr. Feng made a good point – she still needed to keep up appearances in front of others, to avoid showing that the Qiao Family had given up.

“President, we’ve obtained the bids from Longjia and Tengxin. However, their attitudes are ambiguous – doesn’t seem like they’ll compete fiercely.”

Ma Yu’s words drew Lu Yanchuan’s attention back from Qiao Yi.

“It’s unlikely, even though the representatives from those companies aren’t the chairmen, they are the high-level executives. They won’t give up on the project that easily.”

Ma Yu followed his gaze to look at the representatives of those two companies, seeing only two dark heads and couldn’t figure out how Lu Yanchuan identified them.

Lu Yanchuan, not wanting to deal with this assistant with questionable intellect, handed over the bid documents to Ma Yu and started to rest with his eyes closed.

There were not a few who acted like him, yet not many could relax completely as he did.

Qiao Xin, having treated her wounds, eventually made it to the bidding venue. After signing in, she didn’t go to the Qiao Family’s seat, but instead found a spot to sit in towards the back.

“Xinxin, why are you sitting here?”

“There are too many people inside, I’ll sit here for a while to avoid bumping my foot.”

Qiao Xin answered expressionlessly, and Lu Ming, sensing her perfunctory tone, reminded himself over and over not to get angry, and sat next to her with a forced smile.

“I’ll keep you company here then.”

Qiao Xin gave him an impatient, frowning glance but said nothing more.

As the time for bidding approached, the venue gradually quieted down, everyone waiting for the host to announce the start of the meeting.

Qiao Yi turned her head to look back and saw Qiao Xin sitting at the rear, puzzled.

Since when could she stay so composed?

Several leaders went on stage to give their speeches, and Qiao Yi, listening from below, began to feel sleepy, slowly dozing off in her chair.

Qiao Xin, keeping watch over Qiao Yi’s movements, saw her fall asleep and silently approached from behind.

Seeing that Mr. Feng, on the other side of Qiao Yi, was completely unaware of her presence, Qiao Xin reached over to swap the bidding document next to Qiao Yi with another one swiftly.

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Seeing that Qiao Yi was oblivious, Qiao Xin retreated back to her original seat.

As soon as she sat down, Qiao Xin saw Lu Ming beside her looking at the bidding document in her hand.

Qiao Xin offered no explanation to Lu Ming about why she swapped the bidding documents, and surprisingly, Lu Ming didn’t ask either, only giving a few extra glances before returning to his oblivious demeanor.

His reaction puzzled Qiao Xin, but him being taciturn was for the best; with him being sensible, he might be of some help to her.

The speeches went on for nearly an hour before they concluded. Qiao Yi was awakened by Mr. Feng, rubbing her eyes only to realize it was time for the bidding.

The envelope for the bid documents was well-sealed. As soon as Qiao Yi took the envelope, her complexion seemed off.

“What’s wrong?”

Mr. Feng, listening to the names on stage and keeping an eye on Qiao Yi, saw her change in complexion and quickly turned to ask.

“Nothing, let’s go.”

The bid document in her hand was definitely problematic – it wasn’t the same envelope as her bid document.

However, Qiao Yi didn’t know who had swapped her bid.

Her gaze swept across the faces of representatives from several companies nearby, finding no suspicious person, and walked up to the stage as if nothing had happened to submit the bid book in her hand.

After descending from the stage, Qiao Yi brushed past Lu Yanchuan, neither giving the other a second glance, as if they didn’t know each other at all.

“Did you and Mr. Lu have a fight?”

Back at the seat, Mr. Feng couldn’t help but ask. Qiao Yi gave him a sidelong glance – such a gossip for a grown man.

“No.”

“Then why did you two act like strangers, not even greeting each other?”

“What’s there to greet for? We have to go back to the hotel together later. There will be plenty of time for greetings.”

Mr. Feng was at a loss for words due to Qiao Yi’s response and closed his mouth.

After the bidding ended, the bid-calling session began, and unrelated people like Mr. Feng were cleared out, and Qiao Xin also returned to sit next to Qiao Yi.

“You’re not worthy of Mr. Lu. This time, I’ll show you the gap between us can’t be bridged by mere parental favoritism.”

Qiao Xin whispered threatening words in Qiao Yi’s ear with a smile. Qiao Yi turned her head sharply to face her, a guess emerging in her mind.

“The bid book, you swapped it!”

Qiao Xin was extremely satisfied with Qiao Yi’s reaction. Her smiling face needn’t be feigned as she arrogantly tilted her head, looking down on Qiao Yi with her chin.

“So what if I did. Do you think your bid document is perfect just because Mr. Feng is helping you? Such garbage, I’m surprised you’re not embarrassed bringing out something that would disgrace the Qiao Family.”