After dropping Yang Qiniang off at the company, Lin Feng immediately had Huizi come downstairs.
As Lin Feng had instructed, Huizi was holding the contract when she came down.
This was the contract that Li Cheng had signed earlier.
"What’s been happening with Dingsheng Real Estate lately?"
Lin Feng asked, sitting in the car.
Huizi had been keeping a constant watch on Dingsheng Real Estate.
So she knew exactly how chaotic things were over there.
"The Joy City project has been halted again..."
"They’ve also been frantically laying off staff. I’d guess they’re not far from bankruptcy!"
Huizi thought for a moment before adding, "And from what I can tell, it looks like Li Cheng has skipped town..."
"Skipped town?" Lin Feng hadn’t expected that.
Huizi nodded. "I’ve been trying to contact him about the contract."
"But it turns out I can’t find him anywhere. He’s changed his phone number and everything."
"And more importantly, Dingsheng Real Estate can’t find him either!"
Even though Huizi hadn’t found Li Cheng, she wasn’t worried in the slightest.
Lin Feng wasn’t worried either. "If we can’t find him, we can’t find him. He’s just a small fry, anyway."
The reason neither Huizi nor Lin Feng was concerned was the contract in their hands. In addition to Li Cheng’s signature, it bore the official seal of the Dingsheng Real Estate Company.
With that seal, Dingsheng Real Estate couldn’t possibly back out of it.
Besides, with this contract, finding Li Cheng wouldn’t be difficult if they really wanted to.
When Lin Feng arrived at the Dingsheng Real Estate office building, he saw a crowd gathered in the middle of the lobby.
"Give us our hard-earned money!"
As Lin Feng made his way through, he saw several red banners with similar slogans.
He glanced at Huizi, who immediately understood. "Dingsheng Real Estate must have stopped paying salaries... These people are here demanding their wages!"
Lin Feng grinned.
’Looks like this real estate company is in really bad shape.’
’They can’t even make payroll.’
But the worse things got for Dingsheng Real Estate, the better it was for Lin Feng.
The security guards’ attention was focused on the protesters in the lobby.
So no one noticed Lin Feng and Huizi slip into an employee elevator at the side and go up.
President Su, Su Ruoxi’s father, was currently holed up in his office.
There were too many employees demanding their pay.
They had President Su trapped in his office.
When Lin Feng arrived upstairs, he saw more security guards surrounding President Su’s office.
"You’re not employees, are you? Stay back!"
A security guard shouted.
With a faint smile, Lin Feng took out the contract and revealed the Dingsheng Real Estate seal on it.
"I’m a business partner. I have something to discuss with President Su."
After seeing the seal, the guards exchanged glances, then checked with President Su before letting them in.
After entering the office, Lin Feng saw President Su, Su Ruoxi’s father.
Although President Su wasn’t old, his temples were already streaked with gray.
It was clear that the recent events had taken a heavy toll on him.
"You must be the Mr. Lin that Li Cheng mentioned?"
President Su managed to force a smile when he saw Lin Feng.
Lin Feng watched the expression on President Su’s face with great interest.
Seeing President Su’s demeanor, Lin Feng and Huizi knew.
’President Su was probably still in the dark.’
’He had no idea how much trouble Li Cheng had caused for Dingsheng Real Estate.’
’If President Su knew that Li Cheng had now disappeared...’
’...he certainly wouldn’t be looking like this.’
"I’m Lin Feng. You must be President Su."
"I’m here today about the Joy City project."
Lin Feng got straight to the point.
President Su looked taken aback for a moment as he accepted the contract from Lin Feng.
"Li Cheng already showed me this project."
"And thank you for your help recently, Mr. Lin..."
President Su briefly skimmed the contract, his face breaking into a wide smile.
’President Su probably still thought he could get money from Lin Feng for this project.’
Lin Feng cut through the pleasantries. "I’m not here to discuss further funding. I’m here because you’ve breached the contract."
"I’m here to collect a debt, too."
Hearing this, President Su froze, then instinctively retorted, "Impossible! Li Cheng told me there were no problems with the Joy City project..."
"How could there be a breach of contract?"
Huizi stepped forward and turned the contract in President Su’s hands to one of the middle pages.
"President Su, you may not be aware, but the Joy City project has been shut down for three days now."
President Su’s gaze fell on the contract.
His eyes stopped on the third clause.
When Lin Feng had Huizi draft the contract, he had specifically added several clauses.
One of them stipulated that after the first payment was received, Dingsheng Real Estate was required to guarantee work progress for at least fifteen days without any unauthorized stoppages.
Any unauthorized work stoppage exceeding three days would incur a penalty equal to three times the value of the liquidated damages.
This clause was actually quite standard.
After all, investors need to protect their interests.
They have to ensure the project isn’t just a scam to secure funding.
The primary way to do that is to ensure the project they’re funding can actually proceed.
So there was nothing unusual about it.
Li Cheng had seen this clause at the time.
But since it was a standard clause, he hadn’t paid it much mind.
But after he got the money, debt collectors came flocking.
Li Cheng settled the most urgent debts,
...only to discover that the remaining funds weren’t nearly enough to keep the project running.
After work was halted for just one day, Li Cheng went looking for Lin Feng.
At that point, Li Cheng had probably forgotten all about that breach-of-contract clause.
Seeing the part about penalties, President Su quickly flipped further into the contract.
The base amount for liquidated damages was defined as eighty percent of the investment amount.
This meant that with the triple penalty, a breach would cost Dingsheng Real Estate a staggering 240 million.
Furthermore, another clause stipulated that Dingsheng Real Estate was responsible for ensuring the smooth progress of the project.
During the development of the Joy City project, Dingsheng Real Estate had to ensure no negative press or rumors surfaced.
This was also a perfectly normal provision at the time of signing.
After all, if a project like Joy City were plagued by negative rumors during its development, it would naturally affect the project’s outcome.
No investor wants the project they’re funding to be mired in scandal.
And a breach of this clause also required a penalty payment of three times the liquidated damages.
Those two breaches alone amounted to 480 million.
Seeing this, President Su hurriedly said, "Our project hasn’t been halted. Today must be a scheduled day off..."
Huizi, who was standing nearby, scoffed at his words.
"President Su, our company’s investigation shows that your project has been completely shut down for three full days."
"A complete shutdown. The kind where not a single worker can be found on site."
President Su’s expression darkened. "Wait a moment. I need to speak with the person in charge of this project."
Lin Feng wasn’t in a hurry. He and Huizi took a seat in the office.
’He knew perfectly well that there was no way President Su would be able to find Li Cheng now.’

Comments

Loading...