Du Zhaohui accompanied Xia Xiaolan to Qiong Island, still pursuing the goal of buying land.
Not only was he a shareholder of Qihang Capital, but also the Chairman of Cheng Rong Group. Having heard that policies on Qiong Island were loosening and the government would resume land approval processes, Du Zhaohui wanted to try his hand at some operations.
Xia Xiaolan supported his decision because she knew she couldn’t make all the money alone. What was the point of having either Qihang Real Estate or Qihang Capital buy up all the land released by the Ye City government? As the saying goes, the bird that sticks its head out gets shot – Xia Xiaolan just wanted to make money steadily!
If Du Zhaohui came to Qiong Island under the name of “Cheng Rong Group,” that wouldn’t be an issue.
If Cheng Rong Group didn’t come, other Hong Kong companies would. After all, Ye City’s land prices had risen from an average of 40,000 yuan per mu to 140,000 yuan per mu. Businesspeople had keen instincts – wherever money could be made, they would swarm in.
Not only had Cheng Rong Group arrived, but anyone with some capital was willing to try their luck on Qiong Island. In the next three to four years, Qiong Island would become even hotter than Peng City Special Zone. This was because Qiong Island’s foundation had been so poor that land prices rose incredibly fast… When Peng City established its Special Economic Zone in 1979, not everyone was optimistic. Many didn’t trust the investment environment in China, believing the Special Economic Zone wouldn’t last long.
Unexpectedly, China persisted for nine years, supporting the Special Economic Zones without wavering from the Reform and Opening-up policy.
Now that Peng City’s residential land prices had soared to 400,000-500,000 yuan per mu, some people who felt they’d missed the easy money-making opportunity in Peng City didn’t want to miss out on Qiong Island.
After all, Ye City’s land prices on Qiong Island were still only 140,000 yuan per mu – there was still room for growth!
Except for Xia Xiaolan, no one could predict that Qiong Island’s most expensive land would rise to several million yuan per mu. Everyone based their predictions for Qiong Island’s land prices on Peng City. It took Peng City nine years after becoming a Special Zone for land prices to reach 400,000-500,000 yuan per mu. Since Qiong Island was a provincial-level Special Economic Zone, it should catch up in less than nine years.
When Du Zhaohui got off the plane, he found Ye City quite desolate.
Was this the center of a provincial-level Special Economic Zone?
It couldn’t compare not only to Hong Kong but even to some mainland cities.
The only advantage it had over mainland county towns was that Ye City had an airport.
Besides this sole merit, Du Zhaohui was quite disdainful of this provincial capital.
“What’s with that expression? Think this place is too barren? The less developed a place is, the more opportunities there are to make money.”
Even the number of flights to Qiong Island had increased – such changes in less than a year spoke volumes.
Du Zhaohui quickly shook his head, “I’m not looking down on it. I’m just thinking that a year ago, I wouldn’t have come to such a shabby place even if invited. But with one change in planning, these dirt patches have turned into gold bricks.”
On the road from the airport to the city, there were vast stretches of farmland – it looked like one big rural village.
Thinking of how Tang Yuanyue, with his young master’s airs, would have to roll up his pants to wander around in such rural fields, Du Zhaohui couldn’t help but laugh:
“Now that Qiong Island is about to relax land approval restrictions, that deadbeat Tang Yuanyue will come.”
“Is Yu Hua getting into real estate too?”
Since washing away Madam Tang He Zhitong’s private savings in the Hong Kong stock market crash, Xia Xiaolan hadn’t dealt with Tang Yuanyue for a long time.
When she married Zhou Cheng, there hadn’t been a big wedding banquet. Tang Yuanyue had sent wedding gifts through Du Zhaohui, and they hadn’t had any contact since.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Yu Hua participated in Qiong Island’s real estate boom.
Du Zhaohui sneered:
“As you know, when those people talk about diversified development, they just mean investing wherever they can make money. Yu Hua will come. They might not develop the land right away after acquiring it, probably waiting to see how things go!”
While Qiong Island had indeed become a provincial-level Special Economic Zone, its exact direction of development remained uncertain.
Different planning orientations would attract different investments.
For Yu Hua, buying and holding onto land parcels would work too.
Xia Xiaolan knew what Qiong Island would rely on later – after the real estate bubble burst, Qiong Island would find a new path for itself by vigorously developing tourism… The best place for Yu Hua to buy land wasn’t Ye City but Lu City, since Yu Hua’s main business was hotel operations.
But why should she tell Tang Yuanyue?
Telling Tang Yuanyue would bring her no benefit, only trouble.
Xia Xiaolan was willing to help friends make money, get rich, and have fun together, but not when those friends’ wives treated her like a thief.
Come on, was Tang Yuanyue the only man in the world? Did every woman throw herself at Tang Yuanyue?
She loved her Cheng Zi dearly!
With Yu Hua’s scale, even if Tang Yuanyue bought land randomly, he could still make money as long as he didn’t get stuck on Qiong Island. Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t worry about that.
The influx of big capital like Du Zhaohui and Tang Yuanyue into Qiong Island would benefit Xia Xiaolan – how could you play musical chairs without other players?
However, this would likely have quite a negative impact on Zhu Suizhou!
Zhu Suizhou had already acquired 300 mu of land but wasn’t satisfied. He had finally waited for Qiong Island to open up land approval, but after the relaxation, Zhu Suizhou wouldn’t just be competing with Qihang or small private investors like Meng Guanchao – he would be facing competitors on the level of Cheng Rong and Yu Hua!
Moreover, with not just these two Hong Kong enterprises coming, Zhu Suizhou’s grand dreams would inevitably need to be scaled back.
When the car reached its destination, Xia Xiaolan stopped worrying about what Zhu Suizhou would do.
“This is Qihang Real Estate’s development project in Ye City?”
Du Zhaohui was looking at the already-built “Haitian Garden.”
Previously, Xia Xiaolan had been busy in Shang City countering several state-owned department stores, so the opening date for Haitian Garden had been repeatedly delayed. Knowing that housing prices would rise, Xia Xiaolan simply didn’t rush, waiting until Haitian Garden was complete before selling!
Now, Haitian Garden was almost finished – this was the first time Qihang Real Estate hadn’t sold pre-construction units.
“Yes, it’s Qihang’s first project on Qiong Island. You don’t think it’s good?”
“It’s good, but isn’t it too small…”
Du Zhaohui muttered.
Xia Xiaolan ignored him. A good project was about selling well, not about size.
Short construction time, low investment costs, quick capital recovery, and still profitability – what more could you want?
“For this plot of land, the price didn’t exceed 50,000 yuan per mu. If we opened sales now, competitors would laugh at me for being foolish if I priced it below 1,300 yuan per square meter.”
Xia Xiaolan explained after walking around, and Du Zhaohui nodded absently.
“Yes, it sounds like a profitable project…”
Before establishing the provincial-level Special Economic Zone, land prices on Qiong Island had been as cheap as cabbage!
Even if Haitian Garden was truly priced at 1,300 yuan per square meter, it would certainly make several million in profit, but construction had tied up considerable capital. If that capital had been used to buy land early on, from last year until now, it would have brought in tens of millions just sitting there doing nothing.
Sometimes Xia Xiaolan was very bold, very cautious, not even willing to go all out in making money. What would have been wrong with hoarding more land? Everyone else was doing it.
But Du Zhaohui couldn’t say Xia Xiaolan was wrong.
Since he first met her, this was how she operated.
She truly wanted to build something, not just increase the balance in her bank account, just like when she refused to sell the Jinsha Pool land plot for that reason…
Du Zhaohui suddenly fell silent. Xia Xiaolan hadn’t noticed anything unusual, but if she knew what Du Zhaohui was thinking, she would probably jump up:
“Dog, don’t put such thick filters on – my not buying all the land wasn’t some noble principle, it was purely because I was too timid!”