With money in hand, the city government’s efficiency was remarkably high.

Thanks to Secretary Peng’s mediation, the process moved much faster. Since they had decided to give the Stinky Bamboo Gully plot to Qihang Real Estate and the land payment had been received, there was no reason for further delays.

All financial matters were handled by Ying Jinchuan, making Xia Xiaolan’s role as boss quite comfortable – she only needed to sign documents.

Her right hand had finally signed contracts worth millions.

For the South Sea Hotel project, Liu Yong was the signatory.

But for Qihang Real Estate’s projects, Xia Xiaolan had to sign. Liu Yong had refused to become a shareholder in Qihang Real Estate, making it Xia Xiaolan’s wholly-owned company.

After signing “Xia Xiaolan” and pressing countless fingerprints on the contract, the Stinky Bamboo Gully land finally belonged to Qihang.

“A 50-year land use right is enough.”

There were always trade-offs – if you wanted cheaper land prices, you couldn’t expect lengthy land use terms.

Xia Xiaolan had hoped for 70 years, but she wasn’t a foreign investor buying over 2,000 mu of land. This was just a small 23-mu project – how could she bargain with the city government?

Don’t be greedy when you’ve got a good deal. At 120,000 per mu, the price had greatly eased Xia Xiaolan’s financial pressure.

Leaving the city government after signing, Xia Xiaolan felt refreshed.

Even someone as reserved as Ge Jian offered a “Congratulations, Miss Xia,” as everyone knew this was a momentous occasion for her.

Mao Kangshan snorted: “You kept it well hidden. Now that you have the land, you should at least show me around.”

Xia Xiaolan nodded vigorously, “I wasn’t keeping secrets from you specifically. It’s just that your status draws attention. I barely dared visit myself, fearing someone might snatch it.”

Even with such caution, Harold had still gotten wind of it.

But events proved that caution had paid off.

Xia Xiaolan also met Wang Houlin.

He was a middle-aged man with a limp, though still quite robust, and his limp wasn’t severe.

With a dark complexion and sturdy build, he spent lots of time on construction sites.

“Engineer Wang, I’ll be troubling you from now on!”

Wang Houlin was overwhelmed by the courtesy.

With a monthly salary of 600 yuan, he had worried the boss might be difficult to work with.

Talk of trouble was unnecessary. With Old Mao standing nearby, Wang Houlin didn’t dare act proud. He quietly followed behind to survey the Stinky Bamboo Gully site.

To determine how to build houses, one had to examine the site.

Sandy soil, soft soil, hard soil, and rock layers – each type of geology had different foundation requirements. Drawing building designs without visiting the site would be highly irresponsible.

Mao Kangshan inspected the gully thoroughly, with Wang Houlin assisting.

After a while, Mao Kangshan straightened up:

“This pool has living water. Once you clear the garbage, you’ll see I’m right.”

Living water?

That indicated special geological conditions.

“Teacher, will it affect house construction?”

Mao Kangshan responded to Xia Xiaolan’s question with an eye roll, clearly disdaining to answer.

Wang Houlin smiled amiably, “It might affect others, but it’s no problem for Teacher Mao. He’s tackled many challenging geological conditions.”

Wang Houlin was straightforward, and his sincere flattery pleased Mao Kangshan.

Liu Yong stamped the ground beneath his feet, “Xiaolan, calling this place Stinky Bamboo Gully sounds awful. People will be put off just hearing they’re buying houses in Stinky Bamboo Gully!”

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “Of course. Stinky Bamboo Gully is just what local villagers call it. This plot has no official name. The Luo family said golden sand once sprang from the ground here. Whether true or false, it’s a good selling point. I plan to rename it Golden Sand Pool.”

Fuding Golden Sand Pool – it was an auspicious name, and anyway, the buyers wouldn’t be ordinary office workers but mostly business people.

Mao Kangshan looked carefully again, “Who told you there was golden sand in this pool?”

“It’s just a rumor. They say the old village chief of Ganquan Village saw it when drunk, but no golden sand was ever found. Still, Village Chief Luo considered it a feng shui treasure and swore to pass it to his descendants. Otherwise, foreign investors would have bought it long ago.”

Mao Kangshan pondered:

“This pool has living water, and where there’s living water, there’s sand. Gold mines are rare, but finding gold in sand is quite normal. This might not be just a rumor.”

Mao Kangshan wouldn’t talk nonsense – when he spoke, it was usually eighty percent certain.

Xia Xiaolan was dumbfounded. The first project wasn’t starting quite right – she wanted to build houses, not mine gold! What good was mining gold? If this land had a gold mine, private mining wouldn’t be allowed. She didn’t want to hand over to the state the place she’d worked so hard to find.

Building houses were better. Success in real estate could bring profits no less than those from an uncertain gold mine!

Xia Xiaolan had approval for residential land development, not mining qualifications. She didn’t want this place producing gold.

Everyone present was trusted, so Xia Xiaolan expressed her concerns. Mao Kangshan sneered:

“How can you compare gold sand to a gold mine? Don’t get carried away!”

If there was a gold mine here, it wouldn’t have fallen to Xia Xiaolan to buy the land.

They wouldn’t have even waited for foreign investors – when building Xiangmi Lake years ago, they would have surveyed all the surrounding land.

Mao Kangshan gave Xia Xiaolan another lesson. She learned that gold in the sand was quite common – some gold was actually collected by prospectors sifting riverbed sand. For sand mining operations, sifting sand to find small gold particles was extra income.

Sometimes sand mining operations didn’t even bother doing it themselves, outsourcing the sifting to professional gold panners.

“If we clean up this stagnant pool, finding even a little golden sand would be wonderful!”

Golden Sand Pool would live up to its name – Old Village Chief Luo was right, this truly was a feng shui treasure spot.

Not the Luo family’s feng shui treasure, but Xia Xiaolan’s!

With this land, she had to make good money – there was no other way… Xia Xiaolan smiled until her eyes narrowed, already thinking of excellent promotional slogans.

For someone as unscrupulous as Xia Xiaolan, whether there was golden sand didn’t matter. Once she grabbed this promotional angle, after clearing the garbage, she would create her sensational effect.

How much was gold per gram anyway? Just dozens of yuan. If they couldn’t find golden sand, Xia Xiaolan would dare buy two jin of golden sand to pour into the pool herself!

It would only cost a few tens of thousands – compared to a real estate project worth hundreds of millions, this promotional expense was trivial.

While Xia Xiaolan was surveying Golden Sand Pool with her team, news of the land sale reached the Luo family in Ganquan Village, blowing the roof off their heads.

The Fuding Street Office cadre frowned:

“Government land acquisition always includes compensation. What are you howling about?”