“Director Xia!”
After spending a few months on Qiong Island, everyone turned into charcoal, and Ge Jian was no exception.
He called out but didn’t immediately continue. Xia Xiaolan nodded at him, “Just speak if you have something to say, Chairman Du isn’t an outsider.”
If it wasn’t particularly confidential, Xia Xiaolan didn’t mind Du Zhaohui hearing it.
Du Zhaohui’s entire being was soothed by this acknowledgment.
Hehe, Xia Xiaolan said he wasn’t an outsider.
Didn’t that make him an insider?
Du Zhaohui straightened his back and waved magnanimously: “Go ahead and talk, I’ll walk around by myself.”
Face-saving was mutual – Xia Xiaolan gave him face, so he would reciprocate by being considerate. Ge Jian probably needed to discuss important business matters with Xia Xiaolan. Although his business was intertwined with Xia Xiaolan’s, parts of it were still independent, so he should avoid any appearance of impropriety.
After Du Zhaohui walked away with his hands behind his back, Ge Jian said to Xia Xiaolan:
“Director Xia, Director Liu got the news that next week Ye City government will reopen land approval channels, releasing three plots at once through auction. Should Qihang Real Estate participate in the bidding?”
An auction?
Ye City government had indeed gotten smarter, no longer directly approving land grants.
“Is it a sealed or open bid?”
“Should be open bidding!”
Liu Yong was someone who did well wherever he went. Having bought quite a few plots in Ye City, he naturally had acquaintances in the government.
Many people knew about the Ye City government reopening land approvals, but few like Liu Yong knew the specific dates and methods – this information was quite valuable.
“Open bidding is good – transparent and prevents under-the-table dealings.”
Xia Xiaolan remarked.
Open bidding meant public price competition, like the antique auctions Xia Xiaolan had attended, where bidders kept raising their paddles to increase prices, with the highest bidder winning!
Sealed bidding involved participants submitting written bids, with all bids revealed at the end and the highest bidder winning.
Open bidding was harder to manipulate, while sealed bids were prone to under-the-table dealings… For instance, if both Cheng Rong and Yu Hua wanted a plot, and Cheng Rong bid 10 million, Yu Hua could obtain Cheng Rong’s and other competitors’ bids, casually add 100,000 yuan, and win as the highest bidder – unfair to other participants.
The Cheng Rong Group, having bid 10 million, would be particularly upset.
For the Ye City government, open land auctions were currently the best choice. The same plots would sell for more when people competed for them, and with so much capital flowing into Qiong Island for investment, the Ye City government didn’t want to offend anyone. They didn’t need to consider who to sell the land to – the highest bidder won, and no one could blame the government.
Failing to win a bid wasn’t the government’s fault – only blame yourself for not bidding higher!
Xia Xiaolan temporarily had no plans to acquire more land, but she didn’t want others to notice this intention. When Ge Jian asked if Qihang would participate in the bidding, Xia Xiaolan readily nodded:
“Register us. We’ll focus on participating without insisting on winning. Also, push Haitian Garden’s opening until after the auction!”
“Understood, Director Xia!”
Focusing on participation meant not wanting to win, just watching the excitement, and perhaps raising a paddle to push up land prices – not bad at all. If these plots released by the Ye City government sold at high prices, land prices across Ye City would rise again.
Land and housing prices influenced each other. When houses sold for high prices, land prices naturally rose with the tide.
The reverse was also true – with high land prices, housing prices couldn’t fall!
Xia Xiaolan’s original target price for Haitian Garden was 1,300 yuan per square meter. With the government planning land auctions, this shrewd businesswoman immediately raised her target by 50 yuan per square meter.
Well, if the auction prices were very high, raising it by 100 yuan would work too.
But not exceeding 1,500 yuan per square meter – that was Xia Xiaolan’s limit.
While Ge Jian went to prepare materials for the auction under Qihang Real Estate’s name, Du Zhaohui slowly wandered back:
“Where’s Uncle Liu?”
The “Uncle Liu” he mentioned was Liu Yong, who had been traveling between Peng City and Qiong Island this past year. He couldn’t neglect Yuan Hui’s business while watching over Qiong Island. He was currently in Peng City negotiating a major commission with clients and would come over in a few days.
“You’ll see him in a few days. Du Zhaohui, you’re participating in Ye City government’s land auction, right?”
“I’m thinking about it. Isn’t Qihang participating?”
Xia Xiaolan nodded, “Of course, we’ll participate, but Qihang is mostly going through the motions.”
Oh!
Du Zhaohui immediately understood – since it was just a formality, he wouldn’t need to consider Qihang when bidding.
That must have been what Ge Jian was being secretive about earlier with Xia Xiaolan, thinking Qihang Real Estate and Cheng Rong Group would be bidding competitors. Such petty thoughts… Well, considering Ge’s loyalty to Xia Xiaolan, Du Zhaohui decided not to hold it against him.
Sigh, his conscience was growing ever more abundant. How could someone as kind as him face this crisis-ridden society?
Du Zhaohui shared his worries with Ah Hua.
Ah Hua patted his chest, promising to protect his boss well.
If not for the high salary, Ah Hua would have wanted to shake his boss: was he too invested in his act, starting to believe it himself? What kindness? Before coming to Qiong Island, he had just packed off his three concubines! He only told Miss Xia he’d sent them abroad, but not to America, Europe, or even Australia – to South America.
What was so good about South America? With Ah Hua’s limited knowledge, he couldn’t say.
At least he wouldn’t go there – people away from home were looked down upon. When he originally smuggled himself from the mainland to Hong Kong, he thought at least Hong Kong was full of Chinese people, so he wasn’t leaving his homeland.
Then there was the Second Mistress.
She had escaped her fate by sheer luck – the boss had arranged destinations for the second family too, but she had voluntarily reduced her Asia shares, content to be a minor shareholder.
His boss’s “kindness,” when wrung out, probably wouldn’t leave even one part in ten.
Just like now, hearing Miss Xia was going to visit Mr. Zhou’s workplace, a flash of gloom crossed his boss’s face.
But they were legally married – wasn’t it normal for a wife to visit her husband?
Ah Hua dared not comment. As soon as Xia Xiaolan left, Du Zhaohui muttered to himself in the car:
“Waited a year already, why isn’t she a widow yet…”
Listen to that – this was his boss’s kindness, hoping daily for their divorce, hoping she’d become a young widow.
They say the boss used to be an extremely romantic playboy, and Hong Kong still circulated tales of his affairs. He went from one extreme to another, from playboy to avoiding women altogether.
Did Miss Xia know about all this?
Miss Xia didn’t know.
Miss Xia treated the boss as a friend, and could do business with him, but didn’t care about his private life at all.
If Miss Xia had paid slightly more attention to the boss’s private life, she would have discovered his recent scandal in Hong Kong – TVB’s new actress Ye Jiawen’s new drama had huge ratings, and Hong Kong media caught Du Zhaohui visiting the set late at night and going for supper. As this was Du Zhaohui’s first revealed romance after two or three years of silence in the gossip pages, the Hong Kong media both remarked that his taste hadn’t changed while speculating whether Du Zhaohui was planning to settle down.