As Tang Wei took Tian Xiaomeng away, Tang Xiu came to the backyard alone. He met several acquaintances on the way here, such as the Guangyang Province’s Bai Family’s patriarch, the Fukang Province’s Huang Family’s patriarch, and several familiar faces he knew in the business community. Certainly, there was also someone that made him feel interested, which was his future father-in-law, Mu Jianhua.

After greeting them and exchanging some pleasantries, Tang Xiu came to the main room and saw his grandfather, Tang Guosheng, accompanying several old men. He immediately came over and greeted. “Everything has been solved, Grandfather.”

“That’s great. I heard from Duanmu Lin that your performance was great this time too, Kid,” said Tang Guosheng happily. “Anyways, come here. I’ll introduce you to these elders…”

Chu Heng, the patriarch of the Chu Family. Song Gang, the Song Family’s patriarch. Mu Hongtao, the Mu Family’s patriarch. Bai Yichen, the Bai Family’s patriarch. And lastly, Li Shirong, the Li Family’s patriarch.

After Tang Xiu greeted each and every one of them, he then smilingly said, “Grandpa, please talk amongst yourselves first. I haven’t greeted Grandma yet, and I must go outside to welcome guests as well.”

“You’re exempted from receiving guests, Xiu’er. Yunpeng and Yunqing are enough to handle it.” Tang Guosheng waved and said, “Anyways, we have some issues to discuss here, and the elders want to talk to you as well.”

After hearing this, Tang Xiu pulled a bench and took a seat next to Tang Guosheng. Then, he curiously asked, “What’s the issue, though?”

Tang Guosheng exchanged glances with the other old men and said, “There’s a big project planned in the country recently, which is the opening and development of the Mang City in the western region. This is a big project with a total investment exceeding 100 billion yuan—and it could exceed hundreds of billions of yuan should there be any unforeseen events. No matter how good the national policy is, the country can’t afford the funds needed. Therefore, it’s been decided that a national tender for it is going to be carried out. We’ve just discussed it and we hope to obtain the right to develop it.”

“But there’s something I want to know first, Grandpa.” Tang Xiu furrowed his brows and asked, “What is there that makes Mang City worth developing?”

“There are three aspects.” Tang Guosheng began explaining, “First, the Mang City’s geographical position is very special—it’s at the junction point of the three Western provinces. If it can be transformed into a real metropolis, the country will invest some funds to build road connections that fully connect it to the three provinces. Second, there will definitely be an important tourist area in the country later since the place itself has an excellent natural environment with a large number of state-protected animal species. It will, therefore, attract a lot of domestic and foreign tourists, which in itself is worth the development. And the third…”

Tang Guosheng paused explaining as he got to that point.

Wearing a curious look, Tang Xiu felt that the first two reasons were somehow a bit forced. After all, for an investment project exceeding 100 billion yuan or even hundreds of billions, these two reasons were far from enough. After he gave it some thought, he asked, “What’s the third reason?”

“It’s due to mineral deposits,” said Tang Guosheng. “A huge copper deposit was recently discovered in the mountain near Mang City. The country will soon build a mine to exploit the copper deposit there. By then, the number of residents will substantially increase, and it will qualify to be a big city.”

‘A copper mine?’

A surprised look appeared on Tang Xiu’s face. Should the mineral deposit really that huge, the mining would indeed need a large number of workers, and they would even move their families there, while the development of the city would also attract more people to settle there.

Suddenly, Tang Xiu noticed other issues as he looked up and asked, “May I know the current participants or the leader of this Mang City project?”

Tang Guosheng exchanged glances with the other five old men and all of them nodded with smiles on their faces. The former then chuckled and smiled. “It’s the Mu Family, Mu Xinfeng.”

Tang Xiu instantly understood as he cast his eyes at Mu Hongtao, the Mu Family’s patriarch. He finally understood why Mu Hongtao was qualified to sit here today. It must be noted that this family was not on par with neither the Chus, Songs, Bais, or Lis. Frankly speaking, the Mu Family paled in comparison with each of these families.

“The investment for this project is rather big, and a serious loss problem would definitely arise should there be mismanagement. However, since the six major families have agreed to cooperate, I think we can avoid this situation. There are two other issues I’m most concerned about, however. But if we can tackle them, we can expect the project to progress smoothly.”

“Can you tell us what those two issues are, Tang Xiu?” asked Mu Hongtao.

“Firstly, who will be the leader of the six major families’ union? And how much funds can the six families afford to provide?” said Tang Xiu with a stern face.

‘The leader of the partnership?’

Tang Guosheng and the five other elders exchanged dismayed glances. After a long period of time, Mu Hongtao then broke the ice. “I won’t have any problem if the Tang Family takes the leader position, though.”

The other four Family patriarchs thought for a while and then nodded in approval one after another. The Tangs had been rising into prominence recently and would soon become the most powerful family in the whole of China. It was indeed acceptable to let the Tang Family lead.

A satisfied look flashed across Tang Guosheng’s squinted eyes. He then spread out his hands and chuckled. “That child, Tang Dong, has amassed quite the experience after so many years, so he should be able to preside over this issue. However, I’m sure everyone understands the circumstances of my Tang Family—we have limited funds at hand at the moment.”

“The Mus can provide 20 billion yuan in a month. More than that, I’m afraid it will affect our other businesses,” said Mu Hongtao.

“You can also expect 20 billion yuan in a month from the Chus,” added Chu Heng, the Chu Family’s patriarch. “We can still provide 20 billion yuan more if the funds are insufficient for later development, but we’ll also face difficulties if it’s more than that.”

“It’s the same with us!” added Bai Yichen.

“Mine too!” replied Song Gang, the Song Family’s patriarch.

“I concur with everyone else!” said Li Shirong, the Li Family’s patriarch, added smilingly.

“Each of the five families has taken out 20 billion yuan, so the total is 100 billion. But since our Tang Family is taking the leadership of this project, then we’ll provide 40 billion yuan, which adds up to 140 billion. This figure may seem like a lot, but developing a city will require more than that. However, we’ll also have continuous income after the development is carried out, so the following construction plan should be guaranteed. Should the late-stage of development be underfunded, each family can add additional funds to adjust the proportion of the profit share. Grandpa, I’ll take out 40 billion yuan. I’ll tell someone to transfer the money to you later.”

Tang Guosheng let out a satisfied smile and nodded. “Transfer it to Tang Dong directly. But he will have the authority to deal with the Mang City’s investment.”

“Understood!” replied Tang Xiu with a nod.

The other five family patriarchs were shocked. They never thought that Tang Xiu could actually provide 40 billion yuan. Everyone knew that Tang Xiu’s Magnificent Tang Corporation had been established for less than two years. Added with its rapid development and growth, his company has been burning its capital, especially with the construction of its own industrial park in Shanghai.

40 billion! It was an amount each family could also provide, yet it would also slightly affect their cashflow. If they had to cough up more capital than that, they may even fracture.

At this moment, only then did they realize why did Tang Guosheng decide to wait until Tang Xiu arrived to discuss the Mang City issue. They now understood why Tang Xiu could participate in this issue. It was because Tang Xiu had the capital and wealth!

Mu Hongtao grinningly said, “Well, it seems like my granddaughter has found a man with a good future! Tang Xiu, come visit my family more if you got time later. You and Wanying are not too young anymore, and I think you should plan your wedding date. Though it’s also fine if you two get engaged first if you think it’s too early!”

‘What an old fox!’

The other patriarchs cursed inwardly. Mu Wanying was famous as the First Belle in the capital and they had heard about it too. For her to be Tang Xiu’s lover made them somewhat envious. They secretly sighed inwardly as to why they didn’t have a granddaughter that could become the First Belle of Beijing—otherwise, they could marry her to the Tang Family, or better, have Tang Xiu as their granddaughter’s husband.

Tang Xiu didn’t want to participate in the discussion of the following steps of the cooperation content and details. Although Tang Guosheng usually valued his opinions, he didn’t have any concern about this issue. It had been a few days after he left the Nine Dragons Island. Although Mo Awu updated him every day, he still wanted to rush back to Nine Dragons Island to solve the problems there as fast as possible.

However, he was also afraid that he would likely be dirt poor after taking out 40 billion yuan. Despite his recent excellent income, be it from Kang Xia who sent him the profits from the New Metro of Star City, or the money he earned from selling medicinal pills, all the money he earned previously added together could only barely make up 40 billion yuan.

After leaving, Tang Xiu turned to the side room and saw a group of women there laughing and joking around his grandmother, Qin Changyue. A smile suddenly appeared on his face as he greeted several familiar elders and nodded to the unfamiliar ones. Then, his eyes fell on Mu Wanying.

“Tang Xiu!” called out Mu Wanying with a happy and surprised face immediately after she saw him.

“Anything interesting you talked about with Grandma?” asked Tang Xiu smilingly.

A flash of shyness flashed across Mu Wanying’s eyes as she whispered, “I didn’t say anything and just accompanied Grandma to chat about the family’s daily lives, you know.”

“Hehehe, you easily got shy, Wanying girl.” Qin Changyue smilingly said, “I just told her that you and Wanying are no longer that young, Xiu’er! It’s time for you both to consider marriage. I just spoke to your mother about it. Even if you still have to finish your studies, it’s fine for at least to get a wedding first, no? Besides, this old lady can’t wait to hold her great-grandson.”

Tang Xiu let out a few dry chuckles and perfunctorily replied, “I’ll give you a letter of approval for the engagement later, Grandma. But well, there are things I still need to tend to out there, so I’ll take Wanying out first. Please continue your chat, Grandma.”

How could Qin Changyune not able to see Tang Xiu being perfunctory? She shook her head and spoke to the nearby Su Lingyun with a smile, “Lingyun! You must convince Xiu’er that he’s no longer a young boy, got it? Don’t tell me you’re not anxious to hug a chubby grandson yourself!”

“I know that, Mom. That’s for sure,” replied Su Lingyun with a smile.

After taking Mu Wanying out of the wing room, only then did Tang Xiu sighed in relief and smilingly said, “Don’t listen to the drivel of those elderlies, got it? Besides, we got too many things at hand at this moment, so the marriage must wait. But if they keep pushing it, let’s just find the time to get engaged and do the formal ceremony first. What do you think?”

“Well, I’ll just listen to you about that.” Mu Wanying chuckled.