The wedding had a profound impact on Xiao Xiaolan. After the ceremony, instead of returning to Qiong Island, she stayed in Peng City.

Among all her business ventures, Xiao Xiaolan paid the least attention to the Qihang Architectural Firm. Initially, the firm relied on her funding. Later, it leveraged her reputation, but now it had grown beyond just depending on her.

By November this year, Qihang’s total staff approached one hundred people. Frank had become a partner, and Kong Yongquan and Hou Qi, the two senior architects who joined the firm earliest, had also become partners. Everyone’s income was tied to their performance, and the firm had achieved self-sufficiency. Not only did it no longer need Xiao Xiaolan’s investment, but she was also making some profit.

Well, it was somewhat embarrassing to admit, but Xiao Xiaolan had completely taken a hands-off approach with Qihang.

When Xiao Xiaolan visited the firm today, she happened upon Frank and Hou Qi in an argument. Both were veterans of the firm and partners. Although Hou Qi had joined Qihang before Frank, Frank was instrumental in expanding the firm’s business territory. With equal standing, neither would yield in their dispute, while Kong Yongquan, the modest one, could only try to mediate from the sidelines.

Of course, neither listened to him, and the argument continued.

Kong Yongquan spotted Xiao Xiaolan first, but she gestured for him to stay quiet, wanting to hear the reason for Frank and Hou Qi’s dispute.

It wasn’t a personal grudge but a business matter.

Frank had set his sights on the Jiangcheng International Airport project. This project received national approval in 1985 for building a new international airport in Jiangcheng, but to date, there was still no conclusion about who would design it.

Many design firms wanted to secure it, but their competition had created a deadlock.

Frank had somehow learned that the major airport project must begin next year, and with the design planning still undecided, it was a perfect opportunity for Qihang: “World-class architectural firms all have experience designing large infrastructure projects. We should pause our other projects and focus on securing this airport project!”

Frank wasn’t wrong. Take GMP, which Xiao Xiaolan knew well – its founder rose to fame through the Berlin Tegel Airport project.

Xiao Xiaolan nodded secretly, impressed by Frank’s dedication. She hadn’t even been aware of Jiangcheng’s plans for an international airport, despite its national approval in 1985, as her attention hadn’t been on Qihang these past few years!

Jiangcheng’s earliest international airport was Tianhe International Airport.

Xiao Xiaolan had traveled there several times in her previous life.

Tianhe Airport was one of China’s eight regional hub airports and a national first-class civil airport. She didn’t know exactly when it began operations – when she first graduated college, she was just a junior sales representative without flying privileges. She didn’t qualify for air travel until around 2005.

If it was Tianhe International Airport, Xiao Xiaolan was indeed quite interested.

But Hou Qi had her analysis: “China’s national conditions are different. Large infrastructure projects like airports won’t be given to private architectural firms. If Jiangcheng Design Institute can’t secure this project, there’s still the provincial E Province Design Institute above them. Our chances are practically zero. It’s irrational to mobilize the entire firm’s resources to compete for this project!”

Hou Qi thought Frank, as a foreigner, was being reckless.

Qihang’s success in growing and attracting many architects wasn’t just due to high salaries and good benefits, but mainly because they hadn’t encroached on the design institutes’ interests.

Before Qihang, China didn’t have architectural firms. All domestic architectural design was monopolized by various design institutes, and the best career path for architecture students after graduation was assignment to local design institutes and state-owned construction companies.

Regarding design fees, unlike abroad where they were calculated as a percentage of total cost, domestic practices were different.

For large infrastructure projects like airports, with costs in the hundreds of millions, design institutes didn’t charge by percentage, but their fees weren’t small either… A single Jiangcheng International Airport project could keep everyone at the design institute very comfortable. Why would they hand over such a project?

Hou Qi felt it wasn’t the right time to compete head-on with domestic design institutes. She preferred a low-profile approach of “building high walls, storing grain, and slowly claiming the throne,” wanting to wait until Qihang had a stronger foundation before competing for infrastructure projects.

Frank, as a foreigner, didn’t care about keeping a low profile – if you had the ability, you should compete for it.

Different countries, different cultures, different approaches – neither right nor wrong, but Frank’s approach matched Xiao Xiaolan’s personality better.

“Sister Hou, why can’t we compete?”

The two arguers finally noticed Xiao Xiaolan. Hou Qi called out “Director Xia,” and Xiao Xiaolan nodded: “Sister Hou, I understand your concerns, but I support bidding for Jiangcheng International Airport. If we fail, we’ve only wasted some time and lost some income… Even if we lose the bid, this experience will be valuable!”

Frank applauded, while Hou Qi, though not contradicting Xiao Xiaolan publicly, still looked doubtful.

“I want to join everyone in bidding for this project.”

The Director wanted to join.

Half of Hou Qi’s hesitation instantly vanished!

Though uncertain why Director Xia would leave Qiong Island, when she remembered her identity as an architect, it proved quite valuable – not because of overwhelming ability, but because “Xia Xiaolan” was more renowned domestically than Hou Qi and others!

If Xiao Xiaolan personally participated in or even led the design, Qihang would have been quite competitive in the Jiangcheng International Airport project… even though she had never done a similar project.

Where did this blind trust come from?

Hou Qi couldn’t explain it!

…

Qihang Architectural Firm’s participation in the Jiangcheng International Airport design bid!

This news surprised even Mao Kangshan, let alone others.

Though Xiao Xiaolan had won the “AIA Rising Star Architect” award and was considered a leader among the younger generation of domestic architects, bidding for Jiangcheng International Airport seemed too ambitious!

Meanwhile, Qihang’s office building development was selling well in Qiong Island. Making money from competitors proved lucrative – now there were thousands of “real estate companies” large and small in Qiong Island, not just speculating in land and buildings, but also learning from Hong Kong to speculate in pre-sale properties!

These companies, even with just one or two employees, needed office space. Qihang’s office buildings were prestigious enough – some bought them for their use, but more bought them for appreciation. These people would speculate on anything!

Sheng Xuan was extremely envious and wanted Zhu Suizhou to develop Yangfan Real Estate’s land too. Yangfan Real Estate had spent two years accumulating over a thousand mu of land, worth 400 million at the current average price of 400,000 per mu!

400 million!

Such an enormous figure, though achieved through repeatedly mortgaging land to banks for turnover, if Zhu Suizhou sold all of Yangfan Real Estate’s land now, in less than two years, he would have profited tens of millions-

Land hoarding was so profitable, why bother with development?

“Xuan, I’m different from Xia Xiaolan. She’s speculating in land too but insists on maintaining a facade. Wanting both profit and reputation constrains you. I only seek profit, not reputation. I just want to take advantage of Qiong Island’s momentum to earn wealth that our couple can never exhaust, so I can do what I like in the future, never again constrained by others…”