Xia Xiaolan’s suggestion greatly appealed to Meng Guanchao and his group.

After detailed discussions, the agreement became this: if Meng Guanchao’s group wanted to sell their land next year, Qihang would have priority to purchase at market price. If they regretted selling too cheaply, they would have one chance to buy it back from Qihang. Of course, they would have to wait until the year after next for this opportunity.

Xia Xiaolan’s reasoning was: that if Qihang couldn’t develop the land throughout the next year, it would indicate ongoing funding gaps. There was no point in holding idle land, letting it go to waste, so it could be sold back to Meng Guanchao’s group.

Meng Guanchao praised Xia Xiaolan’s fairness, and his praise was genuine, without a trace of pretense!

“Director Xia, you’re an outstanding woman, a role model for us all!”

“So straightforward!”

“Such a grand way of doing business – Director Xia, you can’t help but make money!”

Meng Guanchao’s friends kept praising Xia Xiaolan, who humbly accepted their compliments. The dinner ended with everyone in high spirits.

After the gathering, only Xia Xiaolan and Liu Yong remained.

“Uncle, do you have something to say?”

Liu Yong scratched his head, “What can I say? You always have your ideas about everything. I can see those Meng fellows are gambling, betting that Qiong Island’s land prices will rise next year. But they lack confidence, fearing the prices won’t increase and their millions will be trapped… You’re willing to take over their land, giving them an escape route, so naturally, they’re grinning from ear to ear.”

Liu Yong paused briefly:

“What I don’t understand is, after buying the land from them, why sell it back to them the year after next?”

“That’s because land prices will rise next year and continue rising the year after. Meng Guanchao’s group will regret selling and want to buy back when they see the upward trend. We don’t want to hold that much land – we can’t afford the development costs. But we can develop some while buying and selling others.”

Both purchases and sales were normal market trading, not malicious land hoarding.

Scraping together 50 million yuan to buy 1,000 mu of residential land would be too conspicuous – no one would believe she wasn’t hoarding and speculating.

It wasn’t even certain if the Yecheng local government would approve so much residential land.

Unlike Harold with his foreign capital, who could acquire so much land in Pengcheng – not all residential, and paid in dollars – Xia Xiaolan needed to prove she was serious about real estate development, or at least make others believe so.

One thousand mu exceeded Qihang’s development capacity. Three to four hundred mu, spread across different locations, wouldn’t draw as much attention.

Meanwhile, Xia Xiaolan would continuously buy and sell idle land parcels to profit from price differences. She had to maintain the right balance, ensuring each transaction followed market economic principles and aligned with Qihang’s development needs, rather than just frantically chasing profits!

Xia Xiaolan believed she could maintain this balance.

Because only she knew the peak of Qiong Island’s real estate bubble.

She knew when to hit the brakes.

Even if Xia Ziyu was also “reborn,” judging from her previous actions, Xia Xiaolan deduced she hadn’t lived very well in her past life.

Xia Ziyu knew some major historical trends and might remember some historical details, but what she remembered clearly wasn’t very useful. Anyone reborn from 2017 would know property prices would rise.

But would ordinary people understand the reasons behind the rises and falls in property prices?

Xia Xiaolan created a profile of Xia Ziyu.

In the previous life, what was Xia Ziyu’s living situation in the late 1980s to early 1990s?

Her name was Xia Chunhua then.

Without a university education or the ability to find work in the city, Xia Chunhua would have married early in the countryside.

Between 1987 and 1993, the southern migrant work wave probably hadn’t reached places like Dahe Village. Between the ages of 24-30, Xia Chunhua was likely experiencing marriage, childbirth, and farming while caring for children.

Or perhaps she married slightly better, moving from the village to a county town like Anqing or Hedong, but still in places where information was scarce.

Those who speculated in Qiong Island’s real estate weren’t from villages or small counties, but from big cities – people with courage and access to information.

In her previous life as Xia Chunhua, she might have heard about the rise and fall of Qiong Island’s real estate, but such matters were typically of more interest to men. Women’s experiences were often constrained by children and family, limited to a palm-sized view of the world!

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t arrogant in assuming Xia Ziyu had struggled and been short-sighted in her previous life – these were traits Xia Ziyu herself displayed.

A worldly, capable woman who was reborn wouldn’t make her first priority stealing her “cousin’s husband” from her previous life.

How to put it… Wang Jianhua from their previous life was probably the most promising person Xia Ziyu could access.

She wanted to firmly grasp this shortcut.

Subconsciously, she knew she couldn’t achieve better or climb higher on her own!

Just from this, Xia Xiaolan had Xia Ziyu figured out.

She lacked experience. While she might have heard about Qiong Island’s real estate bubble, she couldn’t truly understand its causes unless she was like Xia Xiaolan in her previous life – still anxious despite being a senior executive, fearing inadequacy, feeling unworthy of her position, never daring to stop learning. Any training, class, or continuing education that suited her, she would make time for.

That’s why she clearly understood the rise and fall of Shangdu Yaxiya.

Knew the details of Qiong Island’s real estate bubble.

Understood Shanghai Pudong’s development.

These were all classic cases from China’s nearly 40 years of reform and opening up – the failures and successes, the twists and turns on the path to prosperity!

If Xia Ziyu were that impressive, having been reborn several years earlier, she wouldn’t have given Xia Xiaolan any chance to rise and would have completely overshadowed her instead of playing petty tricks to monopolize the Xia family’s resources for education while scheming to steal Wang Jianhua… Her vision was truly too small.

Xia Xiaolan understood; Xia Ziyu didn’t.

So Xia Xiaolan wanted to drag Xia Ziyu onto this Qiong Island battlefield.

She wasn’t afraid of Xia Ziyu following the trend to invest – she was afraid she wouldn’t!

If Xia Ziyu wanted to come for easy profits, Xia Xiaolan could trap her in Qiong Island – even with Du Chengrong’s help, the outcome would be the same. So many major real estate companies couldn’t escape, suffering heavy losses before cutting their losses and fleeing.

Not just real estate companies – even banks were trapped in Qiong Island’s real estate bubble.

Heh, let her come if she wants.

Xia Xiaolan walked lightly. Over the next two days, she and Liu Yong visited all the places Ge Jian had previously seen. Between uncle and niece, they could gather 20 million in funds. Xia Xiaolan had Liu Yong buy scattered parcels, avoiding large blocks. Individual land parcels shouldn’t exceed 60 mu – this was the standard for negotiating with the Yecheng government.

It was like selling houses – large second-hand properties take a long time to sell, firstly because there aren’t many buyers who can afford them, and secondly, such buyers have more choices – why wouldn’t they buy new houses instead?