Ying Jinchuan glanced at Xia Xiaolan and pondered how a 10-year mortgage for home purchases essentially meant working for the bank for a decade. Such arrangements might work overseas, but he wasn’t sure about the domestic market. Most Chinese people would lose sleep over owing money to a bank for ten years.

“Ten years was too long – the bank refused. They only agreed to three years, with a minimum down payment of 50%.”

To Ying Jinchuan’s surprise, Xia Xiaolan’s face lit up with joy instead of disappointment.

“Three years is fine! Having something is better than nothing. Though a 50% down payment is too high – it would be better if we could negotiate it down to 30%. For a house priced at 100,000, buyers could manage a 30,000 down payment.”

The remaining 70% could be borrowed from the bank. How buyers would repay that 70% over two or three years wasn’t Xia Xiaolan’s concern. If they couldn’t pay the loan, the bank would seize the house. If they really couldn’t afford the payments, they could sell the property and at least recover their down payment.

Ying Jinchuan didn’t understand why arguing between 50% and 30% mattered. Xia Xiaolan was using the land for the loan, allowing buyers to purchase through mortgages. The buyers would mortgage their homes to the bank and gradually repay the loan. The bank would give the total amount to Qihang regardless – whether the down payment was 50% or 30% didn’t affect Qihang’s earnings!

There was no shame in asking when one didn’t understand. When Ying Jinchuan inquired, Xia Xiaolan chuckled:

“It makes a huge difference! With a 30% down payment, our clients won’t necessarily exhaust their savings. The 20% they save on the down payment can be used for renovations!”

Even the easy-going Ying Jinchuan’s face twitched. He clasped his hands and bowed to Xia Xiaolan:

“Director Xia, I truly underestimated you!”

While there were plenty of businesspeople focused on profits, few were as thorough as Xia Xiaolan in taking everything. Not only did she profit from home sales, but she wouldn’t let go of renovation opportunities either! Of course, the renovation consideration was for her Uncle Liu Yong’s Yuanhui company. With several hundred households expected in the Jinsha Pool complex, if Liu Yong could secure over half the renovation projects, the work volume would exceed Yuanhui’s portion of the Nanhai Hotel project.

Ying Jinchuan finally understood why she was willing to haggle with the bank – another multi-million yuan business opportunity made the effort worthwhile. And it wasn’t even Xia Xiaolan doing the negotiating, but him.

After securing the 16 million yuan loan, Ying Jinchuan asked Xia Xiaolan for the first time: “Director Xia, I know everyone else’s salary but my own. May I ask what my monthly salary will be?”

Far from being annoyed by the direct question, Xia Xiaolan was delighted:

“How much would Manager Ying like? Name a figure, and we can discuss it.”

Though Xia Xiaolan called him Financial Director, Ying Jinchuan knew he was working alone. The title “Manager” sounded better than anything else. He realized he should train two financial staff for Qihang – once construction began, he couldn’t handle all the detailed accounting alone.

Currently, Wang Houlin had the highest salary at Qihang.

Ge Jian probably wasn’t far behind, though project managers’ main income usually came from completion bonuses rather than monthly salaries. In terms of base salary, Wang Houlin had the highest official rate.

“How about matching Wang’s salary?”

Without any hesitation, Xia Xiaolan replied: “Agreed!”

There was nothing difficult about discussing salary. Willingness to negotiate showed growing investment in Qihang’s affairs.

Though recommended by Tang Hong’en and seemingly casual, Ying Jinchuan likely possessed great abilities. Xia Xiaolan wanted him to gradually become more devoted to Qihang’s work!

After Ying Jinchuan left, Mao Kangshan resumed their earlier discussion. Unable to resist her teacher’s and Wang Houlin’s goodwill, Xia Xiaolan finally agreed to the modified new plan.

She also brought out her drawings: “This is the complex entrance with buildings on both sides. We should build these two buildings quickly. We need to show people in Pengcheng what the completed houses will look like, with a proper sales office!”

“Are those storefronts at the entrance?”

Xia Xiaolan winked, “Yes, they are! With Xiangmi Lake right next door and so many tourists, these shops won’t be hard to sell.”

Even if they didn’t sell, that would be fine – Xia Xiaolan could retain ownership and rent them out.

Her drawings were quite good.

The housing styles were clear, though the technical annotations made Mao Kangshan want to scold her.

Indeed, Xia Xiaolan got pulled aside for a lecture: “This lack of precision is dangerous – what if the houses collapse?”

“That’s impossible! With you and Engineer Wang supervising, we won’t cut corners. We’ve invested in quality cement, we’ll ensure proper wall thickness and solid foundations. It wouldn’t be easy to make these buildings collapse even if we tried!”

How difficult could building houses be?

It was natural for developers to make money.

As long as the houses sold had guaranteed quality, the selling price per square meter was up to the developer’s business acumen.

Xia Xiaolan certainly intended to profit, but not by cutting corners on construction costs.

This simple principle – was it that later developers didn’t understand it, or was it due to excessive land prices, developer greed, or weak oversight of outsourced projects? Perhaps it was a combination of factors that led to frequent problems with residential buildings!

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t control the trend of soaring housing prices – she was counting on price increases for her profit.

But at least the houses built by her company would provide quality assurance for buyers’ money. While she couldn’t predict how much influence this would have on the industry, she was willing to try.

The standards she listed were all key to residential quality. Mao Kangshan was taken aback, and just then, Madam Song called everyone from the workshed for mung bean soup, giving Xia Xiaolan a reprieve.

“Teacher, look at how Teacher’s wife spends all day at the construction site. Far from inviting you to enjoy yourselves, I’ve brought you here to work hard.”

Mao Kangshan and Madam Song had checked out of their hotel and rented a local house nearby.

From Mao Kangshan’s attitude, he didn’t plan to leave until the Jinsha Pool project was completed.

He’d left his job at the Hangcheng Provincial Construction Institute and was now a “consultant” for Guangdong Provincial Construction, though he spent more time at Xia Xiaolan’s site than in Yangcheng… Fortunately, Zhou Maotong handled the affairs, or Mao Kangshan’s “consultancy” wouldn’t last long.

Xia Xiaolan wanted to pay her teacher a salary but suspected she’d get thoroughly scolded for suggesting it.

She had a plan but needed to wait before bringing it up.

Mao Kangshan sipped his mung bean soup and glanced at her: “You think too much, wanting everything perfect. I’m quite content here, and your teacher’s wife is happy too. Don’t worry about so many things!”

Madam Song could tell who genuinely cared and who was just being polite.

Their rented house wasn’t far from the site, and Madam Song enjoyed coming by daily. The site had hired cooks, so she wouldn’t get tired. Xia Xiaolan thought she should send someone to Hangcheng again to handle Teacher Mao’s house matters, planning to give the elderly couple a surprise in a while!