The contract was written in detail.
If Yuan Hui’s proposal was accepted, it would mean that Dong Feng Holdings would control both the renovation project and hotel management. Naturally, Huo Chen Zhou could then allocate the 4-million-yuan project budget to Yuan Hui.
If rejected, Dong Feng Holdings would lose completely, and the contract would be void. Huo Chen Zhou was ruthless enough to specify in the contract that if the proposal wasn’t accepted, Dong Feng Holdings wouldn’t even pay Yuan Hui for the design fee… Xia Xiao Lan thought to herself, was this meant to completely bind Yuan Hui to Dong Feng Holdings’ war chariot? Or in other words, was it to make Tang Hong En commit fully to supporting them?
This Huo Chen Zhou wasn’t a fool after all.
Xia Xiao Lan carefully reviewed all the clauses, including the payment schedules. The 4 million would be paid in five installments. Upon proposal acceptance, they would first pay 500,000 yuan. The remaining four payments would be 500,000 yuan when construction begins, and 500,000 yuan in the first month… The first 2 million would be paid upfront, while the remaining 2 million would wait until after the project inspection.
Xia Xiao Lan frowned, “Manager Huo, this is an unusually large amount to withhold.”
Huo Chen Zhou raised his eyebrows, “Miss Xia, you might misunderstand our company. You seem to think we have ulterior motives in cooperating with Yuan Hui as if we’re taking advantage of Yuan Hui’s initiative. To ease your concerns, I believe this final payment amount is reasonable. While Yuan Hui has a good reputation, you’ve never worked in a five-star hotel before. We’ll see the final quality during the inspection.”
Huo Chen Zhou delivered a subtle jab, returning Xia Xiao Lan’s delays these past few days.
Under normal circumstances, for Yuan Hui to get involved with a project like the Nan Hai Hotel, Liu Yong and Xia Xiao Lan would have to grit their teeth and accept even if they withheld more than 2 million, let alone this amount.
With Dong Feng Holdings taking the initiative to approach them, Xia Xiao Lan was indeed very cautious.
Seeing Huo Chen Zhou’s pettiness, Xia Xiao Lan felt he seemed more human. She handed the contract to Liu Yong, who trusted his niece completely and signed without hesitation.
“Manager Huo, we don’t take on tasks we can’t handle. Here’s hoping for a pleasant cooperation.”
Huo Chen Zhou had expected Xia Xiao Lan to negotiate, but she had Liu Yong sign promptly instead. He couldn’t figure out her thinking, feeling her actions were erratic and unpredictable, which irritated him.
“Miss Xia, did you notice that the contract specifies Yuan Hui must submit the revised design proposal by May 17th…”
“No need for Manager Huo to worry about that. Now that the contract is signed, please give us the original design plans.”
One week.
Just Xia Xiao Lan and Gong Yang wouldn’t be enough.
But Xia Xiao Lan had found a powerful ally – with Ning Yan Fan came all his students.
Xia Xiao Lan was willing to give up claiming credit for designing the Nan Hai Hotel, gladly letting Ning Yan Fan have it. Her experience was limited; she didn’t need to fight for recognition. Based on a minimum 15% profit from the 4 million, she would get half the profits – 300,000 yuan in just a few months, using bank money to make money. What was there to be dissatisfied about?
“Manager Huo, I have one final question: how much did you pay Professor Ning for the Nan Hai Hotel design proposal?”
“20,000.”
“You mean US dollars, right?”
Huo Chen Zhou looked at her as if she were an idiot. “Of course it’s yuan.”
How stingy.
Foreign architectural firms would charge way more than 20,000 US dollars for a hotel design proposal, whether calculated as a percentage of the Nan Hai Hotel’s total cost or by building area, as was becoming common practice in China.
Domestic architects’ compensation was far too low.
20,000 yuan – and the design wasn’t done by Ning Yan Fan alone. After splitting it with his assistants and students, how much could Professor Ning get?
Of course, by domestic wage standards, Dong Feng Holdings might think they were paying Ning Yan Fan generously – 20,000 yuan was twenty years’ salary for an ordinary worker!
After leaving Dong Feng Holdings, Xia Xiao Lan asked her uncle:
“Dong Feng Holdings is both exploitative and bloodsucking, but they’ve given us an industry benchmark – only 20,000 for Professor Ning’s hotel design… We won’t address this now, but when we eventually enter the architectural field, we should raise prices a bit.”
Liu Yong was confused, “You mean renovation work?”
“Uncle, you don’t think I had you go to Peng Cheng just to do renovations forever, do you? We’re doing renovations because we lack capital now, and national policies don’t allow us to acquire land and build houses ourselves…”
Liu Yong listened in astonishment.
He had been thinking about buying houses to settle down, while Xia Xiao Lan was thinking about acquiring land to build houses.
Liu Yong sensed that Xia Xiao Lan wasn’t talking about building houses like in the countryside, but rather constructing high-rises like those in Peng Cheng.
“You studied architecture—”
“Of course, it’s for plans.”
Liu Yong’s heart pounded like a drum.
Building houses—who would buy them?
Follow Liu Tian Quan’s example and build residential properties to sell to Hong Kong people.
Or sell to mainland residents?
Liu Yong wanted to say that mainland citizens weren’t that wealthy yet, but he suddenly paused.
While the masses weren’t rich yet, the bold entrepreneurs he knew now – Kang Wei, Bai Zhen Zhu, Chen Xi Liang, and others – weren’t they all ten thousand yuan households?
Several ten-thousand-yuan households, with wealth beyond counting.
He had bought a quadrangle courtyard in Beijing for 60,000 yuan.
Bai Zhen Zhu had bought a rundown house in Peng Cheng for less than 20,000.
Investing in property after making money was an old Chinese tradition. Before liberation, wealthy people kept buying land. Now all land belonged to the state and was distributed to farmers, couldn’t be bought and sold freely. If land couldn’t be bought, wasn’t buying houses the only option?
Not everyone liked quadrangle courtyards and single-story houses.
Liu Yong and Bai Zhen Zhu bought such houses because they had no choice.
Post-liberation apartment buildings were all state-built and belonged to work units, private individuals couldn’t buy or sell them. Tradeable apartment buildings had to be privately built, like Liu Tian Quan’s.
Liu Yong grew interested:
“Xiao Lan, explain this carefully to your uncle. My mind doesn’t work as fast as you young people’s.”
Xia Xiao Lan shook her head, “Just keeping this concept in mind is enough for now. It’s too early to discuss details. While we can get bank loans, trying to acquire land for construction in Peng Cheng would be too conspicuous.”
She couldn’t put Tang Hong En in a difficult position.
Even Liu Tian Quan’s commercial housing project had operated in a grey area.
But Liu Tian Quan was from Hong Kong, classified as a foreign investment in Peng Cheng, giving him an advantage over Xia Xiao Lan. She preferred to accumulate capital first, watch how policies evolved, and then enter the real estate industry.
The next day was Saturday. Xia Xiao Lan brought Gong Yang to the Ning residence, dragging a large box containing design drawings and cash.
Gong Yang’s legs were shaking. Xia Xiao Lan slapped his back:
“What are you nervous about? We’re not here to challenge anyone!”
Gong Yang trembled even more.
Not here to challenge?
Modifying someone’s design in front of Ning Yan Fan – Gong Yang felt this was exactly that. Before joining Yuan Hui, he was just an art student at the Business College who switched to interior design. Now he was about to modify an industry master’s design… Gong Yang feared his hands would shake too much to draw.
Xia Xiao Lan ignored him and dragged the box through the gate.
Zhen Wen Xiu approached, her eyes hiding countless daggers.