Xu Changle had feelings for Shangdu.

Childhood memories gave him a sense of familiarity with the city.

However, the possibility of him spending money recklessly for this hometown where he’d only lived for five years was extremely low.

Before demanding that Xu Zhongyi and his son contribute to their hometown, what had their hometown done for them? Grandmother Yu, who had lived in Shangdu all along, hadn’t she endured many hardships? While the past criticisms occurred during a broader historical context and weren’t specifically targeted at her alone, her experiences… as descendants, they certainly couldn’t be happy about it.

Fortunately, they had returned the current house to Grandmother Yu.

The street office had arranged for Grandmother Yu to sweep streets – it was legitimate work that others would want if she didn’t.

If not for this, when Xu Zhongyi returned to China, he wouldn’t be building any museum – he would have simply taken Grandmother Yu away without lingering in Shangdu.

Xia Xiaolan was just giving Shao Limin a hint – these returnees weren’t foolish landlords with a foolish son coming back. If there were win-win opportunities, the Xu father and son might invest.

The chances of them agreeing to invest money one-sidedly were too slim!

Shao Limin wasn’t slow to understand. He seemed lost in thought but was quite satisfied with his meeting with Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan.

After leaving Shao Limin’s office, Xia Xiaolan took Zhou Cheng to Erqi Square.

When dating, even aimless wandering together brought satisfaction.

“Grandmother Yu transferred both this building and the land it occupies to me, but I haven’t decided what to do with this plot yet.”

Not too big, not too small – what could be developed here?

At most, tear down the current building and build something taller.

The main issue was the space was too small, limiting Xia Xiaolan’s options… unless the plot could be expanded.

Zhou Cheng was also thinking on Xia Xiaolan’s behalf:

“If you can’t think of anything now, just keep it for the time being. Aren’t you busy enough? This land isn’t going anywhere.”

The house and land were something Grandmother Yu had insisted on giving.

No matter its future potential, property in Shangdu wasn’t worth much money now.

To find her relatives, Xia Xiaolan had spent considerable money on private investigators in America and invested so much time and energy – she could honestly accept this as compensation.

While walking hand in hand around Erqi Square, they happened to run into Tang Hong’en and Liu Fen.

The couple was also out shopping. Tang Hong’en hadn’t involved himself in Grandmother Yu’s affairs at all, staying at the municipal committee guesthouse for two days while Liu Fen accompanied Grandmother Yu. Tang Hong’en had finally convinced her to come out, only to be caught by Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng.

“Mom, Uncle Tang, what brings you here?”

“Uncle Tang, Aunt Liu, what a coincidence!”

“Xiaolan, Zhou Cheng…”

Liu Fen seemed a bit embarrassed, but Old Tang remained completely composed.

He was legally married – there was nothing wrong with a legitimate couple taking a walk.

Zhou Cheng was the one without papers, holding hands in public. It was only because social attitudes had become more open in recent years – three years ago during the Strike Hard campaign, Zhou Cheng’s behavior would have been considered hooliganism!

Tang Hong’en stared at their joined hands, but thick-skinned Zhou Cheng wouldn’t let go even as his future father-in-law’s gaze nearly burned a hole through his hand.

“What are you two doing here?” Tang Hong’en asked.

Zhou Cheng stood straight, “Xiaolan brought me to look at this building. She said Grandmother Yu gave it to her as compensation, and she’s considering how to utilize the building and land.”

So they were here for legitimate business.

Liu Fen also knew about Grandmother Yu giving away the house.

“Xiaolan, are you planning to rebuild here?”

Liu Fen was somewhat concerned. The first Blue Phoenix clothing store opened here, and later when Blue Phoenix split in two, Liu Fen went to Beijing to start fresh while this Shangdu store was given to Li Fengmei.

Liu Fen and Li Fengmei had started from the same point.

But while Li Fengmei had a fiery personality, her business drive wasn’t as strong as Liu Fen’s.

Xia Xiaolan fully supported Liu Fen in developing her business, so the Beijing Blue Phoenix expanded rapidly.

Meanwhile, Li Fengmei used all the profits from Shangdu’s Blue Phoenix to support Liu Yong’s renovation company. Now that Yuanhui had grown so large, Li Fengmei had abandoned the Blue Phoenix store and gone to Shenzhen to join Luna instead.

The Shangdu store was temporarily being run by Li Fengmei’s sister-in-law.

Riding on its previous reputation, business seemed decent. Xia Xiaolan estimated that after another two or three years of profit-taking from this store, Li Fengmei would probably transfer it to her sister-in-law at a bargain price.

“Mom, are you worried about the clothing store? That’s not an issue. Even if I rebuild, it will likely remain commercial, and the store can still be rented to Li’s aunt.”

Family relationships shouldn’t be damaged.

This was a prime location – no other location would be as good for their business.

Of course, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t charge zero rent.

Money shouldn’t be wasted like that. It was one thing while Li Fengmei was running it, but if Li’s family took over, why should Xia Xiaolan charge nothing?

She had no connection to the Li family and couldn’t extend such consideration to distant relatives. Better to keep things clear to avoid turning small favors into big grievances.

Tang Hong’en surveyed the building:

“The clothing store is manageable. The difficult part is the upstairs residents – whether they’re willing to move out.”

“The upstairs residents are workers from State Cotton Mill No. 3, they’re just living there temporarily…”

Hearing Liu Fen’s explanation, Tang Hong’en just smiled.

He had extensive experience with grassroots work.

Liu Fen might think people would move out when reconstruction began, given her personality. But for ordinary workers, this was housing assigned by their factory. Unless State Cotton Mill No. 3 gave them better accommodations, they wouldn’t want to move.

Did State Cotton Mill No. 3 have housing to allocate?

As far as Tang Hong’en knew, housing allocation was difficult for any work unit.

For large enterprises like State Cotton Mill No. 3 with good benefits and thousands of workers, even building many dormitories wouldn’t be enough for everyone.

No one would easily give up what they already had.

Xia Xiaolan was unnerved by Tang Hong’en’s smile: “Surely not? Director Yuan Honggang of State Cotton Mill No. 3 clearly said the workers were just temporary residents.”

So it was easier to invite guests than to see them off – had she taken on a bunch of hot potatoes?

Forcefully evicting people wasn’t an option, especially since some residents were workers who had been previously hurt by Ding Aizhen. Those who hadn’t been allocated dormitory space at the factory and had to be transferred to this building weren’t doing particularly well at the cotton mill… To ruthlessly drive them away would make Xia Xiaolan feel like a heartless capitalist.

However, Zhou Cheng had a different perspective:

“This issue can be resolved. While the Xu father and son are still in the spotlight and the city wants their investment, they can make demands. Solving this building’s legacy issues all at once shouldn’t be difficult.”

Tang Hong’en couldn’t help but glance at Zhou Cheng.

His quick thinking and typical mindset made Tang Hong’en think that if Zhou Cheng hadn’t joined the military, he could have done well within the system.