Chapter 170: There's a Mole!
"You… bargained the price down?" Pei Qian asked.
Assistant Xin chuckled.
"I was planning to, President Pei. But before I could even open my mouth, Manager Zhang offered the discount on his own."
Pei Qian felt a little dizzy.
That made sense—no matter how good Assistant Xin's negotiating skills were, there's no way he could have brought a 4 yuan rate down to 1.5 yuan just by haggling.
There was definitely more to this!
Manager Zhang was just the property manager for the Shenhua Real Estate building. How could he possibly have the authority to waive deposits and cut rent like this?
If 4 yuan per square meter was the standard price, then cutting it to 3.5 would already be quite generous. Dropping it to 3 yuan would be a huge discount—but they just went all the way down to 1.5?
Who are you trying to fool?
This kind of deal would instantly reduce expenses by tens of thousands per month. If Manager Zhang really had this kind of power, he'd be flying high by now—not just managing a single building!
There was definitely something shady going on here.
Anyone else would have happily accepted this without a second thought.
But not Pei Qian.
Saving money wasn't the main issue—he could always find other ways to spend it before the next system settlement. The real danger was the potential hidden risks!
This time it was a rent reduction. What about next time?
What other unexpected "favors" might pop up?
Pei Qian had to find the root of this, to identify the mole or the force behind it. Know your enemy and you'll never be caught off guard. If he didn't factor in these uncertainties when calculating his losses, one small misstep could ruin everything.
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian said, "Take me to see Manager Zhang."
Assistant Xin nodded, "I was thinking the same thing. We should go."
Apparently, Assistant Xin also sensed something fishy—truly, great minds think alike!
Pei Qian couldn't help but feel a bit pleased.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. A young admin girl handed a bag of fruit to Assistant Xin.
Pei Qian: "?"
Assistant Xin explained, "Since Manager Zhang waived so much rent for us, I thought it'd be proper for you to visit him and express your gratitude. So I arranged for someone to buy some fruit."
Pei Qian: "???"
Is that what I meant when I said go see Manager Zhang?!
Who said anything about thanking him!?
But seeing Assistant Xin holding the fruit and looking expectant, Pei Qian was momentarily speechless.
He could only sigh and say, "Let's go."
The two of them headed straight to Manager Zhang's office.
The door was open. Manager Zhang was busy working inside.
Pei Qian was just about to knock to get his attention when Manager Zhang had already noticed him. He instantly stood up, "President Pei! What a surprise! Please, come in!"
Pei Qian was stunned.
Yup—something was definitely wrong!
Manager Zhang hadn't acted like this last time.
Back then, although he was polite, his attitude was more of a professional courtesy, the same tone he used with all the other business owners in the building.
This time, Manager Zhang's attitude was noticeably more respectful, almost as if he were addressing a superior.
Pei Qian, full of suspicion, sat down.
"Manager Zhang waived a significant amount of rent for Tengda, so President Pei came over specifically to thank you," Xin Hailu said with a smile, placing the fruit basket on the table.
Pei Qian forced the corners of his mouth into a smile.
"That's... right."
Manager Zhang quickly responded with courtesy:
"Ah, President Pei, you're being too formal! Tengda moving into Shenhua Prestige is our honor—this is the least we can do. How could I accept your gift? I should really be the one visiting you."
Pei Qian: "..."
Something's off. Way off.
He was now even more convinced that something serious was going on behind the scenes, something he wasn't aware of.
Pei Qian decided to get straight to the point.
"Manager Zhang, let's not beat around the bush. Dropping the rent to 1.5 yuan—that's not something you could decide on your own, right?"
"Regarding this matter, I'm sincerely grateful. I just want to know—who's the big shot behind this helping hand to Tengda? If I get the chance, I want to return the favor."
Pei Qian spoke with genuine sincerity.
"Uh… well…" Manager Zhang hesitated.
Indeed, this kind of discount definitely wasn't within his authority. It had to be approved by upper management.
And President Pei clearly wasn't clueless. If Manager Zhang just flat-out denied it, it would be obvious he was lying.
Besides, this wasn't a matter of personal grudges or anything shady—President Pei just wanted to express thanks and repay a favor. There wasn't really a reason to keep it a secret.
The problem was… he genuinely didn't know where the order came from.
Caught in a bind, Manager Zhang gave a wry smile and said:
"President Pei, I'm really just following orders. Please don't put me in a tough spot. Honestly, I don't even know the full story myself. This directive came straight from upper management at Shenhua Real Estate. As for which executive made the call… I really couldn't tell you."
Upper management at Shenhua Real Estate personally issued the order??
There really is something going on—and it's big!
Why would Shenhua Real Estate's top brass be aware of Tengda Games? Could they be playing Tengda's games?
No way. That's ridiculous.
Looking at Manager Zhang, Pei Qian could tell he genuinely didn't know who the directive came from. So he had no choice but to give up, exchange a few more pleasantries, and leave.
Manager Zhang repeatedly expressed his gratitude and emphasized that if Tengda ever encountered any issues at Shenhua Prestige, they should raise them right away—don't hesitate, and definitely don't put him in a tight spot.
Back at the office, Pei Qian quietly sat down in front of his computer and turned to Qiandu (a fictional version of Baidu) for help.
He learned that Shenhua Real Estate is a subsidiary of the Shenhua Corporation. In recent years, the real estate sector had been booming, and while Shenhua Corporation wasn't the top in the country, it had leveraged its vast resources to rise into the first tier of developers.
Shenhua Prestige was just one of many properties that Shenhua Real Estate owned in Jingzhou City.
The current president of Shenhua Real Estate was Lin Zhou, the second son of Lin Zhengnan, president of the Shenhua Corporation. Lin Zhou had only recently taken full control of Shenhua Real Estate and was now steering the company toward a high-end transformation, aiming to align more closely with young people's lifestyles.
"Lin Zhou?"
Pei Qian felt that the name sounded a little familiar. When he looked at a photo, those features did seem vaguely recognizable.
"Wait, don't we have a rich second-gen employee in the company... also surnamed Lin?"
Pei Qian's heart began to sink.
No way... right???
He searched for "Lin Wan" online but couldn't find any useful information.
But the more he thought about it, the more wrong it all seemed.
His impression of Lin Wan was that when she first came in for an interview, Assistant Xin had said she was wearing tens of thousands of yuan worth of designer clothes, and she looked like a naive rich girl with little work experience or real-world knowledge. Pei Qian, following his usual policy of "one more employee won't make a difference", had casually accepted her.
Later, Lin Wan had contributed to connecting with FPS veteran players because of her past experience working at Tianhuo Studio, and that indirectly helped promote Ocean Fortress during its initial push.
But that didn't raise any red flags for him. After all, anyone handling that job could've reached those players. He assumed she was just a regular rich girl, nothing too special.
After that, Lin Wan quietly carried out some basic tasks in the company—hard-working, low-profile, with no particularly outstanding performance—so he had more or less ignored her.
But now, he realized he had made a huge mistake.
Not all rich second-gens are created equal.
Some just come from well-off families.
Others can make a single phone call and wipe out tens of thousands in rent for him each month...
Pei Qian was starting to feel lightheaded.
There's a mole!
And one that had been embedded in the company for several months—without him noticing at all!!
What now?
How to deal with this?
Pei Qian thought long and hard but came up blank.
This is tough.
'Calm down. The reason I'm clueless is because I know absolutely nothing about her.'
'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Lin Wan didn't come to work here for no reason—there must be something behind it.'
'If I can figure that out, maybe I can convince her to give up and go back to inheriting her billions?'
'Even if not, I could at least gain some useful intel…'
With that thought, Pei Qian decided to call Zhou Muyan from Tianhuo Studio.
He must know something!
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