Something was wrong. If it was a minor issue, the secretary wouldn’t have responded this way—they would have simply resolved it. This response could only mean one thing: the problem was too big for the secretary to handle.

The secretary hesitated, as the father and son from the Xu family hadn’t left yet.

Xu Changle smiled gently, “We’re not in a hurry today. What seems to be the problem? Is it that the property rights haven’t been transferred, or is it about my grandmother Yu Shu’s name?”

Fortunately, he and his father had mentioned it in passing.

Although this was just a “thank you gift” from Grandmother Yu, both Xu Zhongyi and Xu Changle felt it wasn’t enough to express their gratitude to Xia Xiaolan and her mother. Since they couldn’t give Xia Xiaolan money as thanks, they wondered if they could somehow expand this gift.

The plot of land, just over two mu in size, was awkwardly small. Xia Xiaolan had a real estate company in Pengcheng, and such a small plot would be useless to her.

It would be better to expand it a bit, using the small building as the center.

Now it seemed that even the originally promised small building had problems.

Though Xu Changle was gentle-mannered and Xu Zhongyi wasn’t intimidating, the secretary felt enormous pressure—foreign investors represented investment, foreign exchange, and political achievement.

Losing the leaders’ political achievements was no small matter!

“Since Young Mr. Xu wants to know, you might as well tell him straight,” the Deputy Mayor said resignedly. The father and son from the Xu family had made their stance clear, so there was no point in holding back.

“Number 45 Erqi Square isn’t registered under either Yu Shu or Xia Xiaolan. It’s the property of State Cotton Factory No. 3. Now, a real estate company wants to build a shopping mall there at Erqi Square. They’ve already submitted the project proposal to the city government, and it was approved in last week’s meeting…”

The secretary’s voice grew increasingly faint.

This was rather awkward.

Xu Changle hadn’t expected this situation. Having lived in America for many years, and though Zhang Jiadong wasn’t in real estate development, Xu Changle had enough common sense to know this was absurd! His grandmother had already given the small building to Xia Xiaolan and even had someone help complete the transfer registration. Now they were saying it was State Cotton Factory No. 3’s property.

And they wanted to build a shopping mall there?

Xu Zhongyi stood up immediately. “This is indeed no small problem. It seems Mayor Zhao will need some time to sort this out. We’ll have to take our leave for now. I trust the city government’s fairness and believe you’ll give us a satisfactory answer.”

Deputy Mayor Zhao could barely maintain his smile.

It was just over two mu of land and one small building—the Xu family’s father and son wouldn’t make such a grand gesture over anything. The house must be their returned ancestral property.

The awkward part was that neither the Xu family nor Mayor Zhao knew how the house had ended up belonging to State Cotton Factory No. 3!

Back at home, only Xia Xiaolan was present; Zhou Cheng was nowhere to be seen.

“There’s a problem with the small building at Erqi Square.”

Xia Xiaolan had been slightly worried, but now she was puzzled: “Uncle Xu, I haven’t even told you yet. How did you know?”

Before Xu Zhongyi could finish, Grandmother Yu had already heard the commotion and came out:

“Zhongyi, what’s happening with the house at Erqi Square? Why am I hearing from Xiaolan that someone’s building a shopping mall there? Bah! Everyone knows that’s the golden gateway—the most valuable land in the entire commercial district is in that area. That’s why when our ancestral property was returned, I didn’t ask for anything else, just picked that small building and our current house!”

The Yu family had plenty of ancestral properties. If they were to be precise, the Yu family used to be called “Half-City Yu”—how could they have only had one old courtyard and a lone small building at Erqi Square?

But everything else was from before the founding of the nation. With the change of dynasty, all land was nationalized. This wasn’t just the Yu family—everyone received the same treatment.

Later, when ancestral properties were being returned, why was Grandmother Yu able to get back two properties?

Because too many things that had been confiscated couldn’t be found anymore.

Except for the antiques and treasures that Xu Zhongyi had taken abroad, nothing else remained.

During the public-private partnership period, the Yu family had two large factories that were merged… Grandmother Yu was clear-headed and knew it was impossible to get everything back—that would be asking too much.

Worried that Xu Zhongyi wouldn’t have a home when he returned to the country, she asked for the courtyard where they currently lived.

She was also concerned that when Xu Zhongyi returned with his wife and children, they might be destitute. If he couldn’t even support his wife and children, the small building at Erqi Square, located at the Golden Gateway, could serve as a means of livelihood.

Policies, after all, were always changing.

Since ancestral properties could be returned, it proved that the state would allow private business!

Grandmother Yu had planned everything perfectly, but she kept waiting for her son to return. To search for her family, she gave the golden gateway property to Xia Xiaolan—not because the old lady didn’t know the potential and value of Number 45 Erqi Square. Precisely because she knew, she used the small building as a “thank you gift” to ask for Xia Xiaolan’s help.

Because at that time, it was the most valuable thing she could offer.

Now…

Now Grandmother Yu was so angry she wanted to hit someone with her cane.

This time, not Xu Zhongyi, but Ning Yanfan.

She had entrusted Ning Yanfan with handling the property rights and transfer of Number 45 Erqi Square, and it should have been completed before Xia Xiaolan went to America.

In the blink of half a year, today they were informed that Number 45 Erqi Square had somehow become State Cotton Factory No. 3’s asset.

Grandmother Yu knew in her heart that Ning Yanfan wouldn’t deceive her—someone must have interfered with this matter.

“Don’t be angry. There’s no use blaming Old Ning for this. The situation isn’t complicated—whoever has taken advantage, we’ll find them. The procedures Old Ning had people submit, how did they become State Cotton Factory No. 3’s assets? Even if we accept it as theirs, that makes it easier to find the responsible party. No one would dare build a shopping mall on their land without State Cotton Factory No. 3’s agreement! Zhou Cheng has already gone to gather information. We’ll have news soon.”

Xia Xiaolan knew better than anyone that the planned construction was likely the Asia Shopping Mall.

But she remembered from the materials she’d read in her previous life, that the general manager of Asia Shopping Mall, who was also its founder, was just an ordinary official who had gone into business. He had seen the commercial value of that area around Erqi Square and persuaded private capital to join in, raising funds to build Asia Mall… Damn it, truly believing everything in books was worse than having no books at all. How could a few simple lines in a case study reveal the truth hidden beneath the surface?

Now it wasn’t just about whether Xia Xiaolan could get the land.

It was about something that originally belonged to her inexplicably becoming State Cotton Factory No. 3’s asset.

Earlier, she had been worried about the factory workers living in the small building, never imagining that her interests had already been trampled!

Xu Changle had a different perspective:

“Surely the Shangdu city government wouldn’t try to attract investment from my father and me while sheltering others? I think this matter won’t be difficult to resolve.”

Xu Zhongyi shook his head, “Changle, you’re thinking too simply. You don’t understand the domestic situation. Money can solve some problems, but many things can’t be solved with money. The Shangdu city government might make what they consider a win-win decision after weighing their options!”

What kind of win-win decision?

One that neither disrupts the shopping mall construction plan nor offends Xu Zhongyi, the “foreign investor.”

If the property rights of that small building couldn’t be clarified, the government could compensate Xu Zhongyi’s loss elsewhere. Such compensation didn’t necessarily mean money—it could be something else… Just like when the Chinese inspection team wanted to buy production lines, Director Deng got information from Xia Xiaolan and bypassed Du Zhaoqi to negotiate directly with Du Chengrong!