During his trip to America, Zhou Cheng also planned to inquire about suitable doctors for Jiang Yan. For scar repair, they hoped to find better medical professionals. Zhou Cheng had already learned his lesson with Wei Juanhong’s case. Rather than searching for doctors himself, he thought it better to inform Xiaolan and let her make inquiries. This matter was difficult to explain over the phone, and since it involved Jiang Wu, international calls weren’t entirely secure. Given that Jiang Wu’s situation wasn’t appropriate for public discussion, Zhou Cheng decided to wait until he reached America to explain in person.
In China, Zhou Cheng had graduated early, received a promotion to deputy group leader, and joined the American investigation team. He was working hard to narrow both the career and physical distance with his wife.
Meanwhile, in America, Xia Xiaolan remained unaware of Zhou Cheng’s planned “surprise.” She had bought him a watch and mailed it to China. Given the current speed of international mail, it was anyone’s guess when Zhou Cheng would receive it.
Afterward, Xia Xiaolan threw herself completely into designing the electronic commerce plaza. Through countless discussions, revisions, and redrawing, the four-person team divided the work. Not only was Xia Xiaolan giving it her all, but Daisy and the other two were also putting in maximum effort.
As time passed, they quickly approached the competition submission deadline. Xia Xiaolan photographed the work for documentation, filled out the entry form with the assigned number, and submitted it.
This submission could have been given directly to Du Zhaohui, who was overjoyed. Last month after returning from America, he asked Mao Kangshan to design the plaza. Meanwhile, Xia Xiaolan’s team had also been racing against time. Whether to use the teacher’s work or the student’s work was naturally Du Zhaohui’s decision. If he chose to use Xia Xiaolan’s design, Mao Kangshan likely wouldn’t object – what teacher wouldn’t be proud of their successful student?
Du Zhaohui very much wanted to make another trip to America himself, but with countless matters requiring attention in Pengcheng, he couldn’t get away. He could only express his regret: “I’ll send someone to Ithaca to collect it!”
Since Xia Xiaolan wasn’t charging for this design, Du Zhaohui viewed it as a gift from her, which he deeply treasured.
Once the land was secured and loans obtained, with such a large-scale project underway, it would be impossible to keep it secret. Xia Xiaolan was right – merely developing real estate wouldn’t be enough. The investment needed to align with the Special Zone government’s planning and maintain foresight. Only then could they achieve maximum influence with minimal investment.
Du Zhaohui has recently become a hot topic among Hong Kong merchants in Pengcheng. Some outsiders didn’t believe Du Zhaohui could handle the project alone. Some said Du Qingrong wasn’t being fair, and that the Qingrong Group was monopolizing the opportunity. They suggested that if they were invited to collaborate, this electronic plaza could aim beyond being merely the largest in Pengcheng or even China – it should be positioned as the largest in Asia.
Du Zhaohui’s move had brought great honor to the Du family. Though Du Qingrong verbally dismissed his son as incompetent, he was quite pleased and felt Du Zhaohui was truly his offspring. However, the competition between the Du brothers continued, so Du Qingrong couldn’t show his support too early. Not only did he refrain from praising Du Zhaohui, he took the opportunity to scold him, warning that he was expanding too quickly and should be careful not to break the capital chain and destroy himself.
When Du Zhaohui related this to her, Xia Xiaolan smiled: “What excellent scolding! It seems Chairman Du has high hopes for you. Once the electronic plaza is successfully built, you’ll leave Du Zhaoqi completely bewildered.”
The harsher the criticism, the more it showed that Du Qingrong was starting to take Du Zhaohui seriously. If he hadn’t carefully studied the project, how would Du Qingrong know about the risk of capital chain breakdown?
Xia Xiaolan thought that if Du Zhaohui were to borrow money from the group in his capacity at this point, Du Qingrong would likely agree.
“Are you serious?” Du Zhaohui was skeptical. If the old man truly cared for him, he would have already handed over the Du family business instead of arranging this competition.
Xia Xiaolan was confident: “It’s true. Although Chairman Du only gave you 20 million, he never said you couldn’t borrow more, right? Whether you borrow from banks or the group company, it’s still borrowing. The main point is that your 50 million Hong Kong dollars can leverage 100 million yuan in loans – the banks in Pengcheng won’t dare lend you more than that.”
But Du Qingrong would dare. If the assets couldn’t cover the debt, the project would remain in Du’s family hands. Moving money from one pocket to another – what was there to fear?
Du Zhaohui must have thought of something as he chuckled to himself: “You’re right, Xia Xiaolan. I’ve discovered you’re quite crafty.”
Not bad at all, quite to the young master’s taste. So crafty indeed – surely not the offspring of that blockhead Xia Dajun!
Xia Xiaolan was speechless. “Du Zhaohui, are you thinking that it would be great if you could borrow the money, and if you lose to your brother and can’t inherit the Du family business, you’ll use the pretext of borrowing to take several million more?”
This was the behavior of a scoundrel who had no intention of repaying loans.
Whether it was Du Qingrong or the future heir Du Zhaoqi, how could they force Du Zhaohui to repay? Would they risk becoming tabloid fodder, with stories of a father forcing his son or a younger brother forcing his elder brother to repay loans? Such news would surely be referenced in Hong Kong gossip magazines’ coverage of wealthy family inheritance disputes for decades to come.
Du Zhaohui naturally wouldn’t admit this: “You’re talking nonsense. I’m someone who wants to do legitimate business. How could I do such things? Anyway, I’m quite busy here, so I’ll hang up… Wait, I forgot to say something.”
It was rare for Du Zhaohui to initiate ending the call.
“What else is there to say? Just have your people come to the Wen family house to find me.”
Xia Xiaolan was certain she had figured out Du Zhaohui’s intentions, but it was Du family money – let Du Zhaohui scheme however he wanted, it wasn’t her concern.
Du Zhaohui hemmed and hawed before finally squeezing out: “Xia Xiaolan, thank you!”
He immediately hung up with a click – it was too embarrassing, he had thanked Xia Xiaolan.
This wouldn’t do, his heart was racing. He needed to borrow a few million from the old man to develop the business. How else could he calm his nerves without several million Hong Kong dollars?
“Thank you?”
Xia Xiaolan was quite dissatisfied.
A mere thank you was nothing compared to cold hard cash, and she had just provided Du Zhaohui with another strategy. If Du Zhaohui could swin… no, if he could borrow several million, giving her a commission would be most practical.
However, if Du Qingrong was willing to lend Du Zhaohui 50 million Hong Kong dollars, this electronic components commercial plaza, while perhaps not comparable to the future 70-plus story SEG Plaza, would still be far superior to the old SEG Plaza!
This investment would be far more impressive than the office building Huo Chenzhou had built.
Both Huo Chenzhou’s project and Du Zhaohui’s electronic plaza were commercial complexes.
However, Huo Chenzhou’s focused primarily on office space, with other functions as supplements.
Du Zhaohui’s plaza aligned with the Special Zone’s planning, focusing on electronic products.
The projects had some overlap but different emphases, one in Luohu District and the other in Futian, creating a competitive relationship.
As soon as Du Zhaohui’s plaza project was approved, it caught the attention of numerous electronics manufacturers.
When the plaza is completed, countless electronic product distributors will be willing to pay premium prices for shop space!