When it came to making money, Xia Xiaolan was swift and decisive.

She borrowed 50 million from Du Zhaohui, who himself could only scrape together another 10 million. As a shareholder of Chengrong Group now, raising money was a bit easier for him.

Du Zhaohui was quite shameless in his dealings. On one hand, he distrusted Yu Shihua—when she reminisced about old times, he thought her a complete fool.

On the other hand, when urgently needing money, Du Zhaohui shamelessly approached Yu Shihua for a loan.

Since she was his mother’s friend, surely lending 10 million to her friend’s son wouldn’t be difficult?

Du Zhaohui called her “Aunt Yu,” leaving Yu Shihua speechless, and eventually borrowed the 10 million.

Du Zhaohui then borrowed another 10 million from Tang Yuanyue.

Of the 50 million he had previously given to Xia Xiaolan, 20 million had come from Tang Yuanyue.

Borrowing a total of 30 million from Tang Yuanyue in such a short time, Tang Yuanyue had every reason to suspect Du Zhaohui was addicted to gambling.

Or there was another possibility—Du Zhaohui had a new project—

Tang Yuanyue was extremely interested:

“Zhaohui, why not make money together?”

“No can do, your wife gets jealous. Xiaolan said you’re not invited to play!”

“…”

Living life so straightforwardly, you’re bound to get beaten up sooner or later!

Explicitly saying Tang Yuanyue wasn’t invited made him even more curious, but he couldn’t force his way in. As Du Zhaohui said, He Zhitong was very sensitive about this, and Tang Yuanyue didn’t want to cause trouble for Xia Xiaolan.

At least not now. Once his marriage to He Zhitong was stable, like after they had children, He Zhitong probably wouldn’t overthink things.

Never mind, money could always be made later. Tang Yuanyue didn’t push it and still lent money to Du Zhaohui.

Meanwhile, Xia Xiaolan went to find Huo Chenzhou.

After completing that office building project, Huo Chenzhou had been promoted at Dongfeng Holdings and indeed had more influence.

Hearing that Xia Xiaolan planned to establish an investment company with the immediate goal of profiting from the Hong Kong stock market, Huo Chenzhou was quite interested:

“What made you decide to play the stock market?”

“I’ll do whatever makes money. Can’t be confined to fixed paths—that’s just limiting yourself, don’t you agree?”

Xia Xiaolan’s words were grandiose.

Huo Chenzhou asked how much money she needed, but Xia Xiaolan waved him off:

“I’m not short on money, I’m just asking if you want in.”

Dongfeng Holdings had significant backing. Guan Huie had mentioned that the Huo family in Shanghai were major merchants before the founding of the People’s Republic, with connections in the banking system. Huo Chenzhou was a Huo family descendant and Old Song’s grandson.

Xia Xiaolan had met many Song family members. Huo Chenzhou’s mother was Song Nanzhen, formerly the third Miss Song, a strong-willed woman who stayed primarily with her maiden family.

Such a woman wouldn’t allow her only son to take just any job… Huo Chenzhou’s career path must have been carefully planned, and Dongfeng Holdings had deep connections. Xia Xiaolan didn’t care how much funding Dongfeng Holdings could provide; she only cared whether they were willing to join!

Huo Chenzhou was very tempted.

Usually, when people wanted to cooperate with Xia Xiaolan, she might not even bother with them. This rare initiative from Xia Xiaolan was an opportunity Huo Chenzhou couldn’t miss.

He didn’t care about how much money he made—Dongfeng Holdings wasn’t his private company.

But if he could create benefits for Dongfeng Holdings, his position would naturally rise!

“Let me think about it for two days!”

He didn’t even mention whose approval he needed—he now had considerable autonomy over funds within certain limits.

Two days later, Huo Chenzhou gave Xia Xiaolan his answer:

“Dongfeng Holdings can provide 10 million!”

“Good! Once all funds are in place, we’ll confirm the share proportions.”

Ten million wasn’t a small amount.

Xia Xiaolan was quite satisfied.

Huo Chenzhou was curious, “Can you reveal how much funding you have now?”

“80 million, plus Dongfeng Holdings’ 10 million makes 90 million. I’ll see if I can push a bit more to reach 100 million—a round number is easier to manage.”

Huo Chenzhou: “…!”

This was getting quite big—was she going all in?

Huo Chenzhou couldn’t help advising: “You should still be careful. Your Qihang Company is developing well; there’s no rush to make money.”

“Thanks, I know my limits. I won’t waste your money.”

She couldn’t waste others’ money or her own—Xia Xiaolan’s 50 million was all borrowed, and she had to repay 100 million to Du Zhaohui the next year.

For the remaining 10 million, Xia Xiaolan thought of her friends.

They hadn’t gathered since the building materials store’s dividend distribution, so it was a good time to meet.

Except for Liu Yong, friends who had previous financial dealings with Xia Xiaolan quickly arrived in Shenzhen upon her call.

Chen Xiliang, Shao Guangrong, Kang Wei, and Bai Zhenzhu.

Chen Xiliang and Kang Wei’s group rarely interacted, but this special situation brought them together.

“Sister-in-law, I’ve almost finished setting up the Beijing branch, next is Tianjin. I haven’t been taking dividends these past few months for nothing.”

Opening Anjia Building Materials branches in Beijing and Tianjin was the development goal set during the third dividend distribution before the new year. Shao Guangrong only had 4% shares left in the building materials store, earning about 160,000 annually. Although half remained in the account for operations and wasn’t distributed, Shao Guangrong felt guilty about receiving 80,000 without contributing much that year. Wanting to do something concrete for the store’s development, he volunteered to handle the Beijing branch’s preparation and opening.

The Beijing branch opened in late May. Xia Xiaolan was absorbed in museum design then and only heard about it without visiting personally.

Of course, as her business grew larger, she couldn’t personally handle all these small matters.

Shao Guangrong kept looking around, and Xia Xiaolan mercilessly exposed his showing off:

“Stop looking, Little Yu isn’t in Shenzhen.”

“I know, she went to Hainan Island…”

It had been quite a while, and she hadn’t returned. Who knew what she was doing in Hainan?

Kang Wei glanced at him, “Sister-in-law called us here for serious business. If you miss Little Yu, you can buy a ticket there yourself.”

Post-heartbreak Kang Wei was someone Shao Guangrong dared not provoke.

After Kang Wei’s rebuke, Shao Guangrong immediately settled down to listen.

Xia Xiaolan clapped her hands, “I called everyone here because I have something to tell you. Let’s discuss this first, and put other matters aside, okay? It’s like this—I plan to establish another investment company. There’s still a 10 million funding gap. If you trust me, could the four of you try to raise some money?”

Bai Zhenzhu slammed the table, her eyes sweeping across the others:

“I owe my success today to Xiaolan teaching me business. Including me, all four of us here have similar experiences. Xiaolan needs to raise 10 million—I can’t provide all of it, but I should be able to contribute 4 million. The rest is up to you!”

Bai Zhenzhu didn’t know the details about the investment company yet. Xia Xiaolan had been vague, so she assumed Xia Xiaolan needed to borrow money.

If it was borrowing, she had to take a stand first.

Fearing others might have selfish thoughts, Bai Zhenzhu deliberately made her words harsh!