On August 20th, 1985, Qihang Real Estate was quietly established.

Two days later, Xiao Lan submitted her investment letter of intent to the Futian Street Office.

“You want to buy land?”

The Futian Street Office official was very surprised.

Although Futian had just sold over two thousand mu of land, that was to foreign investors, not domestic companies.

What background did Qihang Real Estate have?

Something wasn’t right – that entire area had been taken up by Xiangmihu and the golf course. What vacant land was left, unless it was…

Facing their look that suggested she was crazy, Xiao Lan remained composed:

“That’s right, I want to buy the Chou Zhugou plot.”

The Street Office Director choked on his tea.

“…That’s a garbage dump.”

Setting aside whether this land purchase could even happen, shouldn’t one have better taste in choosing a location?

Chou Zhugou was 23 mu of land, a dumping ground for nearby villagers’ garbage. Besides bamboo, nothing grew easily on this wasteland. Any businessman with standards wouldn’t be interested in a garbage plot.

While Xiao Lan was pretty, her taste was peculiar – no wonder the Street Office staff looked at her strangely.

Xiao Lan thought to herself, what did it matter if it was a dump? They could just hire workers to clear it.

Workers’ wages were negligible compared to high land prices.

Seeing Xiao Lan’s unwavering expression and genuine interest in buying, the Director pondered: “This land, I believe, is private property belonging to Luo Degui’s family from Ganquan Village.”

Xiao Lan smiled, “Regardless of whose private property it is, it’s still state-owned land. Ganquan Village falls under the Futian Street Office’s jurisdiction. On a small scale, they must follow Street Office management; on a larger scale, they must comply with city planning. Look at Futian Street Office – you already have Xiangmihu Resort, and soon you’ll have the thousand-mu foreign-invested golf course. Future visitors to Futian will surely increase. A smelly garbage pond there is an eyesore. Even if you don’t sell this land to me, Futian Street Office would have to spend money to deal with it anyway.”

This made sense.

Imagine when the golf course was completed – having a stinking garbage pond nearby would be an unbearable sight. The foreign investors in the golf course would surely be displeased.

Moreover, someone from the city government had previously inquired about Chou Zhugou, and soon after, a real estate company came asking to buy the land.

The Futian Street Office Director seemed to understand.

This Qihang Real Estate wasn’t without backing.

Xiao Lan’s argument hit the Director’s sweet spot:

“Naturally, all individuals and collectives must cooperate with unified city planning, prioritizing Shenzhen’s economic development. Regarding your interest in buying the Chou Zhugou plot, our Street Office will discuss it.”

Why block someone’s path to wealth?

After all, Qihang Real Estate couldn’t sell any houses built on Chou Zhugou without the city government’s approval and authorization.

Whether the city government would approve wasn’t the Street Office Director’s concern.

The Director found Ganquan Village’s Luo Degui somewhat strange. During land measurement, this plot could have been included – foreign investors wouldn’t care about 20 mu more or less. Why specifically keep Chou Zhugou separate? Could it lay golden eggs?

Could it be that Luo Degui wanted to sell the land himself?

Perhaps he thought the compensation of 10,000 yuan per mu was too little and grew greedy.

The Street Office Director smirked – Luo Degui was being too optimistic. If this land was bought by Qihang Real Estate, the money definitely wouldn’t go to Luo Degui. Even this young lady knew that land belonged to the state; selling decisions and prices were determined by the state.

Of course, such a small plot wouldn’t cause much stir.

Just the price per mu needed careful discussion.

The Street Office Director was reasonable enough, and having no conflict of interest with Xiao Lan, there was no need to make things difficult for her now.

When dealing with government officials, Xiao Lan dared not be as lavish with gifts as before.

Especially when seeking favors, gift-giving could instantly become bribery.

So she left her letter of intent at the Futian Street Office without doing anything inappropriate.

After leaving the Street Office, Ge Jian returned from scouting around Ganquan Village:

“The Luo family has locked up Luo Yaozong. Village people are all talking about it. Luo Yaozong was eager to sell the Chou Zhugou plot, but his family disagreed. Even his grandfather, who usually indulged him, advocated locking him up this time. His grandfather was also once Ganquan Village’s chief.”

“Two generations of village chiefs… Even this cowardly family counts as a local power in Futian. Except for Luo Yaozong, all the Luo family members oppose selling the land. What do you think they’re planning?”

Xiao Lan wasn’t surprised – the smaller the grassroots official, the more likely positions were to be “inherited.”

This was especially common in rural areas, where local clan power sometimes superseded regulations.

Ge Jian lowered his voice, “Because Luo Yaozong kept making noise after being locked up, neighbors inevitably heard some news. His grandfather insists Chou Zhugou is a feng shui treasure spot that can bless the Luo family’s descendants with official success. He also claims to have seen golden sand spring from the pond in his youth. This land was in the Luo family’s possession before the founding of the People’s Republic. After land reform and various changes, it ended up back under the Luo family’s name.”

Xiao Lan pondered.

Was refusing to sell merely due to superstitious beliefs?

For the older generation, it was quite possible.

But that was Luo Yaozong’s grandfather’s thinking – what about the coward’s father, current village chief Luo Degui?

Xiao Lan had just inquired about the land compensation – private land was worth 10,000 yuan per mu.

Chou Zhugou was 23 mu, meaning if Harold bought it, the Luo family would receive 230,000 yuan in compensation.

230,000 yuan would be difficult to produce immediately even for someone as successful in business as Xiao Lan.

This wasn’t a small sum, yet the Luo family somehow remained unmoved.

Though she didn’t believe Chou Zhugou was any feng shui treasure spot, this information sparked an idea.

Whether she believed it didn’t matter – as long as homebuyers believed it, that would be…

“Don’t mind the Luo family for now. Let Luo Yaozong continue making noise. Once we buy the land, I’m even willing to pay Luo Yaozong to cause a stir. We must let everyone know about Chou Zhugou being a feng shui treasure spot!”

Selling houses built on a feng shui treasure spot sounded much better than selling houses built on a garbage dump.

Xiao Lan resisted the urge to take another look at Chou Zhugou and had Ge Jian drive her back.

She thought her actions were discreet enough, but Harold had been trying to understand her intentions and had people watching her moves.

When Xiao Lan left the Futian Street Office, Harold received the news.

Xiao Lan’s frequent meetings with Secretary Peng hadn’t escaped Harold’s notice either.

“What is she trying to do?!”

No one could answer Harold’s question.

Bill even found it strange – what Miss Xia wanted to do in Futian had nothing to do with Boss. Boss hadn’t bought all of Futian, and Miss Xia had no intimate relationship with Boss – she was free to do as she pleased.