Tang Yuanyue responded with confidence, “Zhaohui seems to know Miss Xia well, but opportunities are created by people. Why make conclusions so early?”

As the young master of the Yuhua Group, how could he fail to pursue a woman he was truly interested in?

Although Hong Kong no longer allowed polygamy, wealthy men still kept mistresses despite the prohibition. Too proud to be a mistress? The more Du Zhaohui said this, the more interested Tang Yuanyue became.

The women he favored naturally couldn’t be as ordinary as others.

Du Zhaohui was right – Xia Xiaolan was a rose both fragrant and spicy, awakening Tang Yuanyue’s desire to conquer.

Beautiful women were everywhere. While beauty was a scarce resource for society at large, it was readily available to wealthy men. But beautiful and intelligent women – even Tang Yuanyue didn’t encounter them often.

His interest in Xia Xiaolan wasn’t just for casual entertainment.

She is qualified to be his official girlfriend.

As for his arranged marriage, wealthy families’ arranged marriages typically came with an unspoken agreement not to interfere in each other’s private lives. If Xia Xiaolan truly satisfied him in every way, Tang Yuanyue wouldn’t mind having his arranged match step aside.

Seeing Tang Yuanyue’s seriousness, Du Zhaohui was secretly alarmed.

Xia Xiaolan was truly peculiar – alluring yet coldly professional with men.

Yet some people fell for her act – Tang Yuanyue had developed a genuine interest in Xia Xiaolan!

Du Zhaohui found it particularly amusing. Men like him and Tang Yuanyue had seen countless women. Cute ones, beautiful ones, innocent ones – whatever type they preferred was available. After enough experience, one learned that “true feelings” between men and women were nonsense!

Yet Tang Yuanyue had developed feelings.

Even if not deep, it was enough to shock Du Zhaohui.

He held his wine glass lost in thought – Xia Xiaolan was truly capable, completely fooling Tang Yuanyue and even making him fall for her.

…

Being liked by a playboy from a wealthy family wasn’t something to be proud of.

Xia Xiaolan preferred today’s situation – discussing business as equals at the same table with someone like Tang Yuanyue, rather than enjoying Young Master Tang’s “pursuit.”

Today’s lunch meeting had gone extremely well.

She hadn’t expected Du Zhaohui’s intervention to add fuel to the fire, letting Director Pan see how sought-after Jinsha Pool was.

What could Xia Xiaolan say?

That annoying Du Zhaohui occasionally proved helpful, though his subjective intention wasn’t to help – he probably meant to cause trouble.

But that was fine – in fact, Du Zhaohui’s appearance greatly boosted Director Pan’s confidence.

Liu Yong was overjoyed and drank quite a bit with Director Pan:

“Xiaolan, the limit is 15 million – Jinsha Pool is worth so much!”

Without witnessing it himself, Liu Yong wouldn’t have known such a profitable business existed.

Property speculation wasn’t illegal – making over ten million in a single transaction had truly opened Liu Yong’s eyes.

Xia Xiaolan was equally happy with her success, “If the bank can loan Qihang 15 million, I can develop the Jinsha Pool project according to my vision!”

Fifteen million could accomplish quite a lot.

She could immediately repay the project funds from Nanhai Hotel, including the initial one million borrowed for company registration.

She could also repay Zhou Cheng, Kang Wei, and Bai Zhenzhu.

The remaining amount would still exceed ten million.

With ten million in hand, how could she not manage a 23-mu property development?

She could prepare the foundation, build the model units, and follow the modern real estate practice of dividing into phases one, two, and three – using phase one’s sales revenue to build phase two. All real estate developers operated this way, and Xia Xiaolan had always excelled at learning from others’ successful experiences.

She would build premium apartments.

The value of this land had to be realized – anything less would fail to live up to Jinsha Pool’s current reputation!

With the loan process paved, Xia Xiaolan left the rest to Ying Jinchuan’s handling. He had been introduced by Tang Hongen, so she wasn’t worried about him running off, and she wanted to see Ying Jinchuan’s capabilities.

Taking advantage of the weekend, she met with Mao Kangshan and Wang Houlin to discuss specific plans for Jinsha Pool.

“Hmph, I thought you were going to outsource the architectural design!”

Mao Kangshan’s words made Xia Xiaolan feel guilty – truthfully, she had considered it.

But doing so would disappoint Mao Kangshan.

After some thought, Xia Xiaolan decided she shouldn’t pass up this opportunity.

Even as Mao Kangshan’s apprentice who had participated in architectural creation seminars, given her age and experience, nobody would hire her to design buildings for years to come! Colleagues in architectural firms spent their lives drawing countless building plans, but very few ever saw their designs become reality. With Xia Xiaolan using her own money and drawing her plans, she could build however she wanted – who could interfere?

After consideration, she decided to roll up her sleeves and do it herself.

Facing Mao Kangshan now, she absolutely couldn’t reveal her previous thoughts, “Teacher, you jest. With you here, how could I pass up such a great learning opportunity?”

Wang Houlin smiled without interrupting – it wasn’t his place to intervene in the master-apprentice banter.

“Miss Xia intends to preserve Jinsha Pool?”

Xia Xiaolan planned to build five-story buildings while preserving Jinsha Pool, which occupied a considerable two mu of land. This would reduce the buildable area by two mu – could Qihang’s project still be profitable?

Wang Houlin had to consider Qihang’s interests.

Six hundred yuan monthly jobs weren’t common – if the company failed, he would lose his position.

Having received his salary, people like Wang Houlin were very responsible – it was their generation’s professional ethic.

Xia Xiaolan drew a rough sketch on paper, placing a circle in the center:

“Yes, we’ll preserve Jinsha Pool. It’s quite famous now, and I think buyers attracted by the feng shui treasure spot wouldn’t want to see concrete buildings over the pool. We’ll keep the pool but reduce its size to about one mu, filling in the extra space to reinforce the pool’s edges. It will serve as a natural courtyard landscape – Jinsha Pool’s location is perfect, right in the center of the plot.”

Courtyard landscape?

In these times, residential buildings didn’t emphasize courtyard landscapes.

Only tourist hotels in recent years have started focusing on architectural scenery.

Wang Houlin’s previous residential projects were mostly tube-shaped buildings – in small spaces, his main consideration was how to minimize costs while maximizing the number of units.

As for having a view from the windows… such luxury was unheard of. Getting assigned any housing was the people’s primary concern, even if the units were as small as pigeon coops, even if the buildings were so close together they blocked all light. These living conditions, unacceptable to Xia Xiaolan, were the norm for people in the 1980s.

As Wang Houlin listened to Xia Xiaolan’s entire concept, his jaw dropped progressively lower.

“Director Xia, building this way will result in too few sellable units!”

It would be a huge loss – huge. Hong Kong merchants were willing to pay 14 million for this land – how embarrassing would it be if Qihang couldn’t turn a profit in the end?