“President Xia—”
“Little Yu, have you booked my return flight to Shangdu?”
“It’s for 11 AM the day after tomorrow.”
“What about tomorrow’s schedule?”
“You have a meeting with Mr. Du tomorrow.”
Oh right, meeting with Du Zhaohui about the electronics plaza!
She had one month to help Du Zhaohui establish the electronics plaza’s reputation. There was one problem though—Du Zhaohui’s electronics plaza still didn’t have a name!
How was she supposed to promote it?
No, this had to be the first thing they discussed tomorrow.
Early the next morning, Du Zhaohui was already waiting at the electronics plaza. The main building’s exterior decorations were complete, matching the design renderings closely, though the supporting facilities were still under construction.
“The timeline is indeed too tight. If we could open next year mid-year, this plaza would be perfect.”
Du Zhaohui also wanted perfection. He’d watched over this plaza’s construction daily and had grown emotionally attached to it!
“There’s no choice. The old man set a hard deadline. He said February would determine the winner, not a day more. With only a month left, how should we handle the advertising?”
The advertising team was ready.
Hong Kong’s advertising industry was more developed than the mainland’s, which had only started exploring advertising a few years ago.
Having already used feng shui and charitable donations as promotional angles, Du Zhaohui was genuinely curious about how Xia Xiaolan would promote the electronics plaza this time.
Xia Xiaolan toured the plaza herself.
Du Zhaohui had prioritized finishing the lower floors’ department store areas and the exterior—the right sequence. The remaining floors could be completed gradually.
But the plaza entrance was still bare, looking quite uncoordinated.
“Still haven’t decided on a name? We can’t delay any longer. How can we promote it without a striking name!”
Du Zhaohui’s expression changed slightly, showing reluctance:
“I’ve decided—call it Chengxin Electronics Plaza. That would be best.”
Just like when he donated to universities up north, calling it the “Chengxin Scholarship,” Du Zhaohui knew what the old man liked. Previously, playing the role of filial son had been effortless, pleasing the old man came naturally.
Now, naming his personally developed electronics plaza “Chengxin” as well—Du Zhaohui was deeply unwilling.
Xia Xiaolan roughly understood Du Zhaohui’s dilemma.
For Young Master Du, the electronics plaza was his first independently completed project. Though the capital came from his family, he was reluctant to use the plaza to curry favor with his father—why? Perhaps while managing this project, Du Zhaohui had matured and was considering her suggestion about breaking away from the Du family.
After much internal struggle, Du Zhaohui still named it “Chengxin Plaza”—a compromise.
Sometimes compromise was a sign of maturity. After weighing the pros and cons, Du Zhaohui wasn’t willing to give up the Du family inheritance.
Xia Xiaolan couldn’t look down on that.
This was Du Zhaohui’s own choice. As an outsider with nothing at stake, she felt confident she could accumulate wealth by grasping the era’s pulse, with or without the Du family’s assets.
But for Du Zhaohui, the Du family’s wealth was rightfully his. His mother was Du Chengxin’s original wife, and he was the legitimate eldest son who should inherit the business. Why should he let the children of concubines benefit from the family fortune?
“Once you’ve decided, that’s that. Don’t hesitate to make your choice. Everyone must learn to make trade-offs. Don’t wish for both watermelon and grapes—you usually can’t have both appearance and substance. Get the characters for ‘Chengxin Plaza’ up quickly, and make them eye-catching!”
Xia Xiaolan spoke casually.
Du Zhaohui carefully studied her expression, relaxing when he saw no trace of contempt.
They toured the completed areas together, and Xia Xiaolan called in the advertising team to discuss the campaign.
Du Zhaohui listened as if hearing gibberish:
“Wait, say that again? Without a single signed tenant, you want to claim this is Asia’s largest electronic components marketplace?”
Xia Xiaolan looked at him as if he were an idiot:
“Once everyone knows this is Asia’s largest electronic components marketplace, do you think you’ll lack tenants?”
“But—”
But that was a future development goal. Presenting it as current fact now—what if the bluff was called?
Xia Xiaolan chuckled, “This method shouldn’t be unfamiliar to you. Hong Kong pioneered selling ‘pre-construction units.’ If they dare sell apartments before building them, why can’t you promote this as Asia’s largest electronic components marketplace when the plaza is built!”
This was the goal.
By announcing the goal to everyone now, the electronics plaza could develop steadily toward glory. If SEG Plaza could achieve it in the previous life, there was no reason Du Zhaohui’s “Chengxin Plaza” couldn’t.
This was Pengcheng.
This was Shennan Boulevard.
This was the future of Huaqiang North!
What couldn’t be achieved?
It was just following the historical trend.
Du Zhaohui mumbled, “Will it work?”
If they were closer and if he weren’t the playboy Young Master Du, Xia Xiaolan would have teased him—how could a man say “It won’t work”? At this point, they had to forge ahead whether it worked or not.
“If you’re unsure, I have another idea…”
This time, as soon as Xia Xiaolan explained, Du Zhaohui beamed:
“That’s a great idea!”
“…Glad you’re satisfied.”
Sigh, Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to do this consulting work again.
Teaching others how to do business was more tiring than doing it herself.
“If everything’s settled, I’ll give you a phone number. Have someone contact Chen Xiliang—he’s in the clothing business but can quickly produce what you need.”
“What about you?”
Xia Xiaolan glanced at him, “I naturally have my own business. Don’t worry, if anything changes, we’ll figure it out together.”
Indeed, with Xia Xiaolan’s personality, once paid, she’d see things through.
The old man at home said whatever day he chose for inspection was final, giving no one a chance to delay.
Xia Xiaolan was paid to do a job, committed until the agreed date, and wouldn’t abandon it early… Du Zhaohui had an absurd thought: if he lost this time, given Xia Xiaolan’s sense of responsibility, she might agree if he asked to extend their agreement another year to help him deal with Du Zhaoqi. She might even give him a 20% discount as a returning customer.
Du Zhaohui immediately became conflicted.
Should he deliberately lose to Du Zhaoqi this time?
He was quite reluctant to give up that 5% of group shares.
Fortunately, Xia Xiaolan didn’t know what Du Zhaohui was pondering, or she would have smacked him—they hadn’t even won yet, and he was already wondering whether to lose on purpose. It was like a poor student debating between attending Tsinghua or Peking University, damn it as if these prestigious universities would let such a student choose freely!
If Du Zhaohui deliberately lost, Xia Xiaolan would consider herself incompetent if she didn’t smack that stupid dog’s head until it was as round as a beeswax bead!