Du Zhaohui couldn’t contain himself anymore.

Xia Xiaolan had struck a blow without even showing her face.

Du Zhaohui wasn’t the type to appreciate a designer’s talent – what use was talent anyway? How much money could you make from talent alone?

However, the “infinity pool” concept happened to spark Du Zhaohui’s imagination. Just thinking about that scene made his heart race.

If Gong Yang had come up with this design, Du Zhaohui’s excitement would have faded quickly. If the design could be converted to money, he would have agreed with Manager Meng about poaching Gong Yang.

But hearing that the infinity pool was Xia Xiaolan’s design made his heart flutter even more intensely.

Du Zhaohui didn’t even have time to imagine Xia Xiaolan in a swimsuit; she had not only secured the project remotely but also delivered him a metaphorical slap across the face.

He remembered meeting Xia Xiaolan at Huaqing University, where he suggested she should go to Hong Kong to become an actress because she had a natural movie star face.

Du Zhaohui had asked her what use studying architecture would be, saying there were barely any world-famous female architects.

“Was Xia Xiaolan doing this deliberately?”

Du Zhaohui grumbled to himself. It seemed Xia Xiaolan’s architectural studies had some use after all – at the very least, she had used her knowledge to snatch Tiancheng’s project, which greatly displeased Du Zhaohui.

Just like Tang Yuanyue’s earlier displeasure.

Du Zhaohui didn’t need the few million that could be earned from the Nanhai Hotel renovation.

He just couldn’t accept losing.

Losing was one thing, but losing to someone stronger was another. Tang Yuanyue couldn’t accept losing to an unknown small company.

Du Zhaohui felt equally uncomfortable – he had lost to a woman, and that woman happened to be Xia Xiaolan! She had always gone against his wishes, never once complying, and even without being present, she could make Du Zhaohui’s liver ache with anger.

The liver-aching young master no longer wanted to poach Gong Yang.

Gong Yang was just a figurehead put forward by Xia Xiaolan.

“Do you know about Huaqing University?”

The young master’s thoughts jumped so quickly that Manager Meng’s nodding became mechanical:

“Yes, I know Huaqing University. Young Master, you’ve even donated to them—”

Manager Meng was prepared to continue with flattery, but Du Zhaohui frowned – this Meng fellow couldn’t even grasp the main point.

“When you have time, go to Huaqing University’s Architecture Department and recruit some graduates to our company.”

In 1985, Huaqing University was just a top domestic institution, without a high global ranking. Although Du Zhaohui had donated to Huaqing, he only did it for their domestic reputation. He had no concept of their teaching quality or which departments were their strengths.

Now he had an idea – wasn’t Xia Xiaolan just a freshman?

Maybe it wasn’t that Xia Xiaolan was exceptional, but that Huaqing’s Architecture Department was particularly outstanding!

“Yes, Young Master!”

Manager Meng nodded vigorously.

There was no need to understand the reason – just following the young master’s orders was enough.

Du Zhaohui shuffled over to Huo Chenzhou and Liu Yong:

“Manager Huo, you’re hard to invite!”

“Mr. Du, we previously had different positions. Meeting before finalizing the proposal would have been inappropriate. If Mr. Du is still willing to invite me now, I would naturally be happy to accept.”

Du Zhaohui laughed coldly inside – what was the point of inviting Huo Chenzhou now? It wasn’t like he admired this pretty boy.

Du Zhaohui extended his hand, “Mr. Liu, pleased to meet you.”

Liu Yong was merely going through the motions, clearly distracted.

He was waiting to call Xiaolan with the good news. He had no interest in exchanging pleasantries with Du Zhaohui. While Liu Yong thought of Du as no good, Du Zhaohui continued smiling: “Mr. Liu, we should cooperate in the future. Today’s proposal from Yuanfei was truly stunning. The designer is Miss Xia Xiaolan, right? We’re old acquaintances – we’re not strangers here. We must get better acquainted.”

Liu Yong got a headache just hearing about cooperation.

He hoped Du Zhaohui was just being polite – he’d had enough of these Hong Kong businessmen’s tactics!

…

Ring ring—

The phone call Xia Xiaolan had been waiting for finally came.

Hearing Liu Yong’s laughter, she knew they had succeeded!

“Uncle, let me guess – it’s the 30 million budget proposal?”

“Yes! That Du Zhaohui was there too. Tiancheng proposed a 25 million budget plan, and we were at a disadvantage, but thankfully Manager Huo wasn’t foolish. He didn’t even mention the 18 million budget plan and went straight to your infinity pool proposal. You should have seen the scene – when Gong Yang presented the proposal, those Hong Kong businessmen were stunned speechless, haha!”

Liu Yong’s laughter came through the phone receiver, clearly showing his joy.

A 7.5 million project with a 15% profit margin would mean about 1.1 million!

If they were more aggressive and achieved a 20% profit margin, it would be 1.5 million!

As agreed, the uncle and niece had invested equally, so the project profits would be split evenly. By Xia Xiaolan’s calculations, after paying back the loan, she would pocket at least 500,000 this time.

500,000 in cash in 1985 might not mean much to Hong Kong heirs like Du Zhaohui, but it was very useful for Xia Xiaolan.

This money would be her capital for future real estate ventures.

With this money, she wouldn’t be worried about going to America either.

Most Americans didn’t have the habit of saving money. Even in 2015, not many could produce tens of thousands of dollars at once, let alone in 1985! People say American parents raise independent children who rely on loans for college… but that’s not what American kids prefer – they’re forced by reality to take student loans because their parents’ savings simply can’t cover tuition!

Xia Xiaolan was also delighted.

“Uncle, we must do this project well. It’s not just about making money – we need to ensure a good reputation. Once Yuanfei has experience renovating a five-star hotel, we’ll have much more confidence taking on other projects!”

Yuanfei might not be Shenzhen’s largest renovation company, but among privately owned businesses, it was definitely a leader!

This was because Liu Yong had entered this industry very early, taking advantage of first-mover opportunities.

“Not only will we profit from the project, but most of our building materials will come from our store. ‘Anjia Building Materials’ has guaranteed sales for the second half of the year. Uncle, do you know what this means?”

Liu Yong laughed heartily on the other end, “It means we can make money twice!”

They’d profit from the project once.

The building materials store wouldn’t sell at factory prices – the budget was calculated at market prices, and since Xia Xiaolan and Liu Yong were shareholders in the store, they would receive another dividend.

So Liu Yong appreciated his niece’s brilliance.

With the renovation company connected to the building materials store, they could profit twice.

As Xiaolan said, they would later build and sell houses, which would need renovation and building materials… Wouldn’t that mean making money three times from one business?

Xia Xiaolan was amused by her uncle’s way of putting it.

When business expands, it’s no longer confined to a single field – why else would there be so-called group companies? It was natural for those in building materials and renovation to enter real estate. Real estate companies even invested in making movies – that’s what you call cross-industry investment!

“You can let Manager Wu prepare the loan now.”

Xia Xiaolan needed to get moving too. Taking advantage of Kang Wei bringing the car today, she would drive the Citroën for Manager Wu to see. Manager Wu would approve the loan upon seeing the car – giving her a 200,000 loan for a car she bought for 80,000 wasn’t favoritism… it was because, in 1985, cars were appreciating assets, unlike in later years when they depreciated from the moment of purchase!