Oh?

Rushing to buy land?

Xia Xiaolan guessed Zhu Suizhou must have received some information, not wanting to miss this chance to make money, hence his hurry to Qiong Island.

If earlier Meng Guanchao and others were betting on half-true rumors, Zhu Suizhou’s sudden urgency to buy land in Yecheng now must mean he had received concrete information.

Qiong Island was going to become a province!

Though Xia Xiaolan knew this well, she shook her head at her Uncle Liu Yong:

“We should allow others to discover Qiong Island’s investment potential. The more people who see Qiong Island’s value, the more valuable our ongoing projects and purchased lands become, don’t you agree, Uncle?”

Liu Yong nodded vigorously: “You’re right!”

Whatever Xiaolan said was right.

If anyone thought differently from Xiaolan, they must be wrong.

Zhu Suizhou didn’t seem too foolish either.

Liu Yong scratched his head, “Discovering potential isn’t wrong, but hasn’t he come too late? Something’s happened in Yecheng, they’ve tightened policies since last month and stopped selling land. Even Meng Guanchao and others complained to me…”

Not selling anymore was good news.

Qiong Island was still an administrative region of Yue Province, and Yecheng had only been upgraded to a prefecture-level city under Yue Province in 1986.

Without Qiong Island Province, without a special economic zone, Yecheng wasn’t Qiong Island’s provincial capital.

With the economy underdeveloped here, the Yecheng government naturally welcomed investors developing real estate with open arms, selling land to increase fiscal revenue, and having ongoing projects to stimulate the local economy.

Xia Xiaolan and Meng Guanchao’s group came early, starting to buy land a year ago.

A year ago, the Yecheng government didn’t know about the upper-level policies, but by last month they weren’t completely in the dark. They weren’t deaf or blind, they must take action.

Perhaps the Yecheng government already regretted selling land too cheaply, losing substantial fiscal revenue.

However, they couldn’t comfortably take back already approved land.

Zhu Suizhou running here to buy land now would hit a wall.

Of course, this didn’t mean the Yecheng government would keep things completely tight forever, truly not selling a single acre. Even if they wanted to sell, they would wait a few more days, until Qiong Island’s provincial status was confirmed and announced.

The Yecheng government was also watching, not just for potential land price spikes, but also for specific policy changes from above!

Even with foreknowledge, one had to use it cautiously. Although Xia Xiaolan knew Qiong Island’s real estate trajectory, until the news of Qiong Island’s provincial status was announced, she had to keep quiet.

She hadn’t mentioned it even to her close uncle.

Nor to anyone else.

She couldn’t cause trouble for Old Tang.

Among her acquaintances, Old Tang was most likely to have inside information, yet heaven knows, he never told her these things.

Xia Xiaolan played this advantage very carefully, always maintaining reverence.

Thinking the news might break in these few days, Xia Xiaolan felt uneasy staying in Yecheng.

“Uncle, let’s go to Lu City!”

Liu Yong was confused, “What for?”

They were just talking about Zhu Suizhou, and Xiaolan’s thoughts jumped so quickly that he couldn’t keep up.

“Didn’t you and Zhou Cheng each buy a plot in Lu City? Now that I have time, I want to visit the site and plan how to design those two plots.”

Oh, they must go then.

Liu Yong bought a whole plot, with Zhou Cheng taking 12 acres, leaving half for Liu Yong.

If he couldn’t handle this matter, and Xiaolan offered to personally design it, Liu Yong wouldn’t ask anyone else.

What a joke – hadn’t those foreign magazines and architects acknowledged Xiaolan’s capability?

Having the most capable niece available but choosing to hire others for design would be completely pointless!

Liu Yong owned a decoration company after all. With ‘Yuan Hui’ handling so many commissions, Liu Yong as the boss was no longer stuck with farmers’ aesthetics – carelessly building houses would waste the scenery.

When Xia Xiaolan suggested visiting Lu City’s site, Liu Yong happily agreed, temporarily setting aside Yecheng matters.

The uncle-niece pair remained calm, not considering how anxious Zhu Suizhou must be.

Zhu Suizhou had been rebuffed by the Yecheng government.

With the new company not yet registered and the loan not approved, Zhu Suizhou had planned to talk his way into signing an intent agreement. If the Yecheng government insisted on seeing money before agreeing, he had a plan.

This time coming to Qiong Island, he had secretly moved 1 million in cash from Chaoyang Real Estate’s account.

After Du Zhaoqi left Shangdu to return to Hong Kong and take over the Du family’s smuggling business, Zhu Suizhou dominated Chaoyang Real Estate alone.

Now with Du Zhaoqi sentenced to death with reprieve and Second Mistress becoming the nominal boss, Zhu Suizhou was even more unrestrained, not fearing Second Mistress would discover his embezzlement.

This 1 million was just to show sincerity to the Yecheng government. If things went smoothly, it would quickly return to the company account, with no one discovering anything.

But-

Yecheng government wouldn’t sell land!

Not a single acre!

Zhu Suizhou’s show of sincerity was useless. Forget about using just 1 million in earnest money to leverage a bigger deal – even if he paid the full amount upfront, it wouldn’t work.

With an opportunity to increase fiscal revenue, why was the Yecheng government pushing it away?

Zhu Suizhou felt both happy and worried – happy that Sheng Xuan’s information wasn’t false, worried that although he knew a money-making opportunity lay in Yecheng, he couldn’t grab it.

Why must he buy in Yecheng?

Qiong Island had other regions.

Without more detailed information, Zhu Suizhou decided to follow Xia Xiaolan’s lead. Since she bought in Yecheng, he must buy there too, suspecting she had more detailed inside information!

Not only was Zhu Suizhou anxious as if his seat was on fire, but after a fruitless day of running around, he also had to seek help from his wife Sheng Xuan again.

“Xuan, please try to introduce me to some people in Yecheng quickly.”

“The kind who can make decisions…”

“If not, what about through your cousin’s connections?”

He hadn’t used the Song family’s connections until now, fearing their displeasure.

But at this point, should he watch the opportunity slip away rather than ask the Song family for help?

Take Sheng Xuan’s cousin, Second Madam Song – -Zhu Suizhou had maintained contact, and his perfectly measured closeness to the Song Zhicheng couple was deliberately cultivated. Now, Song Zhicheng must help him!

This time, Sheng Xuan agreed very reluctantly:

“Old Song has always forbidden family involvement in these matters.”

“Xuan!”

“…I’ll try my best.”

The same day, Hong Kong, Kowloon Walled City.

A lowly prostitute, eight months pregnant, gave birth to a male infant barely larger than a kitten.

Even full-term healthy babies struggled to survive in places like the Kowloon Walled City, let alone one born prematurely. Without careful care, this baby boy would likely meet an early death-

Fortunately, before his umbilical cord even fell off, someone came to take him away from Kowloon Walled City.

The weak mother grabbed the visitor’s hand, tears forming in her eyes:

“This is Master Du’s son, his son! Master Du may not acknowledge me, but he must recognize and raise his son…”