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Su Pingnan signaled the waiter to leave, then pointed to the casual henchmen of the ringleaders.
Seeing Su Pingnan so serious, the men obediently had those people leave.
Su Pingnan had Su Wenwen stand guard at the private room door, then calmly spread the map of Changyang County across the table.
“All the towns and townships in Changyang County add up to 3,540 square kilometers.”
He glanced at the puzzled men and continued, “Do you know what’s the most valuable thing in Changyang?”
They all shook their heads. Changyang had no energy-type minerals, no star enterprises—only hundreds of thousands of farmers and mountains full of stone.
Su Pingnan smiled, “What do we have the most of?” Li Bing, who was in the goods transportation business, thought and said uncertainly, “Rocks and stones. Our Chinese bluestone mountains are famous. When the roads in Tiannan Province were built in the ’60s, almost all of it was made with our bluestone.”
Su Pingnan smiled mysteriously, “And who says there’s no more construction these days? Who says there’s no more demand?”
Once he said that, the men—sharp as seasoned veterans—instantly had fire in their eyes.
Su Pingnan pointed to Changyang with his finger and said, “Thirty-seven large open-pit mines, forty-two medium mines—not to mention the smaller ones—now belong to various brigades as collective assets. They’re frighteningly cheap. If we can get the county machinery working for us, it would be like getting a mountain of gold.”
Calling it a gold mine wasn’t an exaggeration: in Su Pingnan’s later life, the stone industry alone produced dozens of multimillionaires from Changyang. But internal fighting had eaten profits thin. Su Pingnan’s gaze was sharp—by entering early, he intended to pull these people into devouring the fattest portion of that pie.
The most seasoned and well-connected, Master Hong, studied the map carefully before slowly looking up and saying, “Little Red Robe, are you sure something as classified as this is true?”
Su Pingnan looked at Master Hong, leisurely lit a cigarette, and blew out a smoke ring.
“Seventy-nine mines is huge—I can’t take it all alone. That’s why I chose you guys. Whether you believe me or not, I don’t care and I won’t explain myself.”
Li Bing stared at Su Pingnan and asked, “You mean… ?”
“First option: I put up 7.5 million, you five put up 2.5 million. Register a stone company worth tens of millions, take control of these seventy-nine quarries. I take 65% of the shares, you take 35%.”
“And the second option?”
“I take fifty of them, the rest will be divided between yourselves. I’ll handle sales, you handle all the paperwork and formalities.”
Master Hong looked at the tiger-like young man before him and said softly, “Bold move—you have the capital to take it all. Why share the pie with us?”
Su Pingnan laughed heartily, “Sometimes, eating a big pie all by yourself will get you killed.”
Master Hong stared at Su Pingnan in silence for a long while. Su Pingnan wasn’t anxious either. He calmly locked eyes with him, his gaze firm and fierce.
“Second proposal. You take half.”
Su Pingnan’s lips curled up slightly, his tone icy, “Are you sure?”
Master Hong sighed. The young man could get violent, so it was better to explain things clearly.
“This information is valuable, Little Red Robe.”
“Go on—let me hear your reason for daring to lowball me,” Su Pingnan said calmly, the cruelty in his words plain to see.
“But by next March or so, word will leak—such a big move can’t be kept secret.”
“Continue.”
“Your foundation is too shallow. Even if we don’t do anything, once the news spreads, how much can you grab in a short time?”
Su Pingnan smiled inwardly—older ones were truly wiser. Despite having control of the whole conversation, this wily old fox still saw the holes in his plan.
“The most crucial point: you can’t eat it all alone. Neither can all of us here. Those people need to be left something.”
After saying that, Master Hong pointed to the sky and quietly awaited Su Pingnan’s decision.
Su Pingnan called out, “Wenwen, come in and pour the wine.”
Su Wenwen entered expressionlessly and filled the cups in order.
Su Pingnan laughed openly, “Pleasure doing business—I’ll return in three days to discuss details.”
Master Hong, Li Bing, and the others secretly breathed easier. They couldn’t help it. Little Red Robe was too domineering. Even older hands in the business like themselves felt a bit overwhelmed.
Su Anxi suddenly thought Xi Nannan was so annoying—she had already asked her more than ten times when her second brother would come over.
While politely chatting with Old Ninth Uncle, Su Anxi secretly rolled her eyes at Xi Nannan.
Did you think you could snatch my second brother away? Su Anxi felt increasingly that she’d made a wrong decision to let her come along.
“Girl, you’ve grown thinner.”
Su Anxi turned to see her brother just quietly smiling. For a moment, she didn’t know why but she felt like crying.
……
The bill had been settled even before they walked out of the restaurant. Su Jianguo, unwilling to waste any food, packed the leftover dishes into bags with a satisfied smile. After seeing Su Anxi off in the Mercedes, Su Pingnan’s face was calm as he looked at the snowflakes rushing by.
“Wenwen, find someone suitable to take your post in Ertai Town. In a few days, you will be the one to negotiate with them.”
“Okay.”
“Changyang County is too small. With us here, there’s no room for so many people to fight over a single bowl of rice.”
“I understand,” Su Wenwen nodded seriously.
Su Pingnan turned back to look seriously at Su Wenwen. “When the seas surge and the world convulses, true heroes reveal themselves—surviving these ordeals is what makes a hero.”
Su Pingnan’s wolfish nature had begun to be etched onto each of his followers. He believed Changyang County would be the best whetstone for them.
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