Chapter Ninety-Two: Misunderstanding

Since tomorrow is Monday and I need to make a push for the rankings, I’ll only be updating this chapter during the day. To make it up to everyone, I’ll be posting two chapters in a row around midnight; readers who stay up late can come back and read them.

Back in the early years of the century, a BMW 730 could be called a luxury car. The kind of people who could drive one usually had fortunes of tens of millions, while those worth only a few million would generally not spend more than a million on a luxury item like a car, unless they were unusually fond of showing off.

Real estate agents had seen a great deal of the world. They had dealt with all kinds of clients, from high-ranking officials and wealthy magnates to ordinary people at the bottom of society. It was not unusual for them to see someone driving a BMW, but even so, when they laid eyes on the elegant lines and splendid exterior of a BMW 730, they could not help but admire it a few times over.

Young women, in particular, seemed to have an inexplicable fondness for BMWs. Whenever they saw one, they could not help but feel a twinge of envy. Perhaps it was simply a woman’s love of beauty, or perhaps they had heard too many stories of princes on white horses as children, and the fairytale steed had quietly been replaced in their hearts by a BMW.

The appearance of the black BMW 730 interrupted the morning meeting that was underway. Everyone at the Zhongtong branch was looking at the car. Out of professional instinct, their first thought was that the person inside might be looking to buy or rent property; otherwise, he would not have driven right up to the front entrance of a real estate agency.

Though it was only a guess, a single extra question might mean one more wealthy client. No agent would sit idly by, and since the client had not yet entered the store, there was no need for the front-desk agent on duty to handle him.

Whether it was one branch with two teams or a single branch with a single team, everyone wanted to close more deals and make more money. Whenever a client came into the store, it was inevitable that agents would scramble to serve them. To avoid such disputes, the manager would assign agents to take turns at the front desk, and the agent on duty would be responsible for receiving clients who came in. That way, there would be no quarrel over who got the customer.

But outside the store, there were no such clear rules. Usually, whichever agent spoke to the client first would be the one to handle them, and the others would not be allowed to keep chatting them up. That, too, was an unspoken rule in the real estate brokerage business.

Now all the agents in the branch were holding their morning meeting outside, and with a rich man who might be a client suddenly appearing, a scramble was inevitable. At a time like this, no one cared whether a meeting was in progress. At worst, they would simply be scolded afterward by the manager, and it would amount to nothing.

In the brokerage world, strength was everything. So long as you had ability, so long as you could close deals, the company would turn a blind eye even if you made a few mistakes. Besides, this now concerned their own interests. Whoever snatched the client first would own the client.

Just as the agents at Zhongtong were all eyeing the BMW with keen anticipation, the driver’s door opened, and a foot in a pair of designer leather shoes stepped down from the car. At that moment, all the agents looked as if they were about to sprint a hundred meters.

Shy agents might hesitate for a moment, but those with a stronger competitive spirit were already hurrying toward the BMW. Guo Bin moved first and fastest, while Fang Wenjun was the closest, so the two of them inevitably became rivals.

Because Guo Bin and Fang Wenjun had the advantage, the other agents felt too awkward to compete further. They stopped and watched the two of them, their eyes filled with envy. Su Ning and Xu Ming, the two managers, also watched with obvious concern.

Fang Wenjun and Guo Bin had suddenly interrupted the morning meeting to rush forward and receive the client. On the surface, that might have seemed disrespectful to the managers, but under the larger premise of competition between the two teams, neither manager felt the slightest displeasure. On the contrary, each hoped that their own people would be the first to speak to the client, because then the client might be theirs.

Even if the man who got out of the BMW was not a client, it would only mean asking one extra question, with no real loss. But if he was a client, and the other side had received him instead, then the manager whose team had failed to secure the customer would lose face.

Competition in real estate was just that fierce. There was competition not only between different agencies, but also between agents in different teams at the same branch, and even among agents within the same team. It was, without question, a jungle where the strong preyed on the weak.

The man who had gotten out of the BMW was dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, with a pair of polished leather shoes on his feet. On his left wrist was an expensive watch, and in his right hand he held the BMW key. With dark sunglasses on his face and a brand-new BMW key dangling beside him, he gave off all the airs of an urban high-earner.

Guo Bin was arguably the best at snatching clients from Xu Ming’s team. He was not the closest to the BMW, but he had been the fastest to react and the quickest to move, so he was now the nearest to the man.

Seeing the BMW owner step out, Guo Bin strode forward, blocking Fang Wenjun behind him. Just as he was about to speak first, he suddenly stared at the man’s face and froze. His mouth hung half-open, yet not a single word came out.

Fang Wenjun had thought that because Guo Bin had cut in ahead of her, this customer was surely going to be snatched away. She felt a pang of disappointment and cursed Guo Bin in her heart for lacking gentlemanly manners. Then she suddenly saw him stop in his tracks and fail to speak to the customer at all.

Although Fang Wenjun did not know why Guo Bin had acted so strangely, she had no time to think about it. She was ready to speak first and claim the client for herself.

“Hello, sir. Are you looking to rent or buy?” Fang Wenjun stopped in front of the BMW, caught her breath, and asked with a bright smile.

After she had spoken her first sentence to the BMW owner, Fang Wenjun completely relaxed. Whether he was a potential customer or not, at least she had made the move. If he was, that was naturally ideal. If not, it did not matter; at worst, he would simply move the car away from the front of the store.

“You’re Fang Wenjun, one of the Five Golden Flowers, aren’t you?” The BMW owner removed his sunglasses, looked her over, and a strange smile appeared on his face.

“You know me? Were you one of my old clients?” Hearing him call her by name in one breath, Fang Wenjun was taken aback. Her pair of bright, lovely eyes studied the man before her.

The man looked to be in his twenties. He was not especially handsome, but he could certainly be called good-looking. Everything he wore was from well-known brands, clearly indicating very comfortable financial circumstances. Fang Wenjun found him somewhat familiar, but she could not recall where she had seen him before.

She also began to wonder. This man was quite presentable, and his financial ability was not bad either. Among men, he was considered fairly outstanding. If she had met him before, he would surely have left a deep impression; there was no way her memory of him could be so vague.

This BMW owner was none other than Zhang Wei, who had come all the way from Baocheng City to the capital. Seeing that Fang Wenjun no longer remembered him, he shook his head and said, “I do know you, but I’m not your client.”