The sales still started at 8 AM on the 15th.

Today’s crowd seemed even larger than yesterday’s, but after the previous day’s chaos, the Qihang staff were clearly more experienced now.

It was the buyers who were anxious, not the sellers.

The process had become well-practiced: viewing the model downstairs, paying money to see the community, then going upstairs to the Qihang office to sign contracts.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t need to get involved in the sales process anymore. She let them handle it freely while she oversaw the big picture.

Zhou Cheng kept his word and came to take Xia Xiaolan to lunch after 12 PM.

The business needed attention, but so did romance. Before leaving, Xia Xiaolan asked about the morning’s sales and learned they had sold 28 units – she had no more worries!

She had a feeling today’s sales would exceed yesterday’s.

One shouldn’t underestimate the consumer market – 140 housing units weren’t much facing such massive demand.

If Xia Xiaolan had built a large development, she might have worried about how to sell it.

But small developments sold quickly – they were already running out of units.

“You seem happy?”

Xia Xiaolan held Zhou Cheng’s arm: “Aren’t you happy for me too? In less than two days, we’ve sold 76 units. I think Jinsha Chi will be sold out in at most two more days.”

Besides the 140 residential units, Xia Xiaolan hadn’t touched the street-level commercial shops yet.

If she needed capital, she could sell those shops; if not, it was better to keep them.

“I am happy for you. I always knew you were capable!”

When they first met, Zhou Cheng had seen Xia Xiaolan struggling with eggs and eels and asked if she wanted to deal in cigarettes together.

Cigarette sales were very profitable then, and even now, people still did that business.

But Xia Xiaolan had refused.

Zhou Cheng had thought it was just her pride.

Thinking about it now, it wasn’t just pride – his wife probably hadn’t been interested in the cigarette business. While profitable and quick money, it couldn’t be openly advertised… One might be called a “dealer” but wouldn’t gain respect.

What Xia Xiaolan was doing now could be called a “career,” and she herself could be called a private entrepreneur.

Fortunately, Xiaolan had refused then. With her intelligence, if she had gone into cigarette dealing, she could have built it into a huge business. The money would have come easily, just needing connections and relationships.

Over time, it would have worn down her will, and killed her drive, and his wife would likely have been stuck in the cigarette business, unable to achieve today’s business success.

Zhou Cheng shared his thoughts with Xia Xiaolan, making her laugh:

“I wanted to agree back then! Eggs break easily, and eels are slippery like snakes – I didn’t like either business.”

She had no choice though.

With her limited capital, besides eggs and eels, what else in the village could make money? Perhaps live pigs?

For Xia Xiaolan to buy butcher pigs to sell meat… she neither had the capital nor the butcher’s skills!

After finally saving her first pot of gold, she took what money she had to Yangcheng to deal in clothing – she really didn’t want to deal with eels and loaches anymore.

After making money selling clothes, she had considered selling electronics. In the 80s, both clothing and electronics were sure profits.

But electronics inevitably involved smuggling. It was said that later electronics sales tycoons initially mixed legitimate goods with smuggled ones – Xia Xiaolan didn’t want that.

Her boyfriend fought smugglers at sea, how could she make her fortune from smuggled goods?

After considering everything, real estate was the safest.

This industry could provide steady profits for 30 years – why wouldn’t she do it!

In the future, every developer will be cursed like a dog. Xia Xiaolan didn’t deny she developed properties for profit, but she would make money while ensuring quality… As long as Qihang was in her hands, this would be her principle!

Xia Xiaolan’s thoughts had wandered far, and Zhou Cheng saw her start grinning as she talked, making him smile too.

Ah, let her be happy.

His woman deserved his pampering. His wife did business with principles, maintaining her original integrity. Zhou Cheng trusted she couldn’t cause any real trouble.

…

“Zhaohui, what’s wrong with you?”

After just one night, Du Zhaohui looked dejected. Tang Yuanyue couldn’t help laughing: “Have you found your rhythm in Hong Kong’s nightlife?”

What rhythm did Du Zhaohui have in Hong Kong’s nightlife?

Nothing but nightly revelry, sometimes waking up to find strange women beside him.

Sometimes waking up to find more than one woman sharing his bed.

Tang Yuanyue wouldn’t be so wild, but for Du Zhaohui this was too ordinary.

Du Zhaohui yawned, “You think I was rolling around with women last night? In the middle of the night, Yangcheng police came to my door and took me to Yangcheng for questioning all night!”

Now Tang Yuanyue was truly surprised.

He suspected Du Zhaohui had done something wrong, given the Du family’s reputation.

Du Zhaohui was furious at his assumption: “I was implicated by some Yangcheng thug. Hope that bastard gets the death penalty. If he gets out, I won’t let him off either! Didn’t you find it strange yesterday that there were too many security personnel at Jinsha Chi? Even for queue-jumping home buyers, the houses aren’t going anywhere – why need so many guards?”

That was indeed strange.

But Tang Yuanyue had thought it was another of Xia Xiaolan’s marketing tactics.

The more people, the grander the scene, making the property seem more high-end.

Hong Kong celebrities did this – attending events with many bodyguards to look important!

But hearing Du Zhaohui’s explanation, there seemed to be hidden circumstances.

Du Zhaohui laughed coldly, “After returning from Yangcheng, I made inquiries. That arrested thug had conflicts with Xia Xiaolan. Some of his men had fallen to her, so he wanted revenge before Jinsha Chi’s opening sale. Not sure exactly what happened, seems there were casualties… So her boyfriend rushed over, and in just one day, that thug was completely taken down.”

So Zhou hadn’t even gotten out of his car – this was his grand gesture to win Xia Xiaolan’s heart.

Du Zhaohui sneered.

Tang Yuanyue was skeptical, “It might not have been his doing. What thug would dare offend Miss Xia? Don’t they know her relationship with Mayor Tang?”

True, ordinary people wouldn’t know – they had accidentally kicked an iron plate.

If it really was Xia Xiaolan’s boyfriend who had swiftly eliminated a threat, was this part of why Xia Xiaolan stayed with him?

Tang Yuanyue frowned.

Doing business in mainland China was like this – unless you were foreign investment, you needed some backing.

If he could help Xia Xiaolan, being in her position, she wouldn’t let go either, unless Tang Yuanyue could prove he could offer more help than Zhou Cheng!

Still too passive – their interactions weren’t enough, just superficial acquaintance. He was always learning about Xia Xiaolan’s situation too late. How could he be the timely hero?

Tang Yuanyue suppressed his thoughts and smiled at Du Zhaohui:

“Zhaohui, why do you sound so bitter? Do you also like Miss Xia? No matter, we can compete fairly.”

Du Zhaohui, cigarette in mouth, was so startled by Tang Yuanyue’s words that he coughed violently.