Cao Liu couldn’t tell if it was fate, but he knew that Xia Xiaolan was an extraordinary woman.

Boss Ke could manage construction sites and had numerous workers under him. He could even fight his way through if needed!

Xia Xiaolan, though a beautiful and delicate-looking woman, had a wild heart. Running a building materials store and a renovation company – which of these seemed like a woman’s business? She was even a university student. Why not just stay in school and marry someone powerful later? Instead, she insisted on making money herself.

In construction, you either needed to be from a big organization or someone like Boss Ke. With Xia Xiaolan’s trouble-attracting face, she still had to deal with all sorts of people – Cao Liu couldn’t understand it.

No wonder Boss Ke couldn’t forget such a capable woman.

In Cao Liu’s opinion, she would be perfect for Boss Ke!

Those families with backgrounds wouldn’t necessarily welcome a daughter-in-law who was too visible and wild-hearted. Xia Xiaolan and Boss Ke were both from grassroots backgrounds – neither could look down on the other. One in construction, one in renovation – if they opened a husband-and-wife business, others wouldn’t stand a chance.

Cao Liu genuinely agreed with Ke Yixiong’s words.

But Xia Xiaolan belonged to someone else, and that person was difficult to deal with. Cao Liu feared his boss might have the courage to steal her but not the fortune to enjoy her.

“Boss, let me be honest – force won’t work here. This matter needs your patient effort…”

Ke Yixiong glanced at him, “You think I’m willing to die for a woman? To get women, you need money and power. Look at Du Zhaohui – what woman can’t he get when he’s rich?”

The Du family’s eldest young master could probably have any woman with just a wave of his finger.

Cao Liu was confused.

If he didn’t want Xia Xiaolan, why investigate her?

Ke Yixiong showed a friendly smile, “You said her building materials store is partnered with Bai Zhiyong’s sister, proving she can’t manage alone as a woman. If she can partner with Bai Zhiyong’s sister, why not consider partnering with me!”

The Bai family martial arts school had long declined.

With Bai Zhiyong in the army, his sister couldn’t maintain the Bai family’s reputation.

Since arriving in Pengcheng, Ke Yixiong has already fought many battles over business competition. The Special Zone was indeed profitable.

But small ventures wouldn’t amount to much. Xia Xiaolan relied on the Bai family martial arts school’s reputation – she’d be better off cooperating with him. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t just beautiful; her university-educated mind was truly useful, and she picked profitable industries.

This woman was too clever – if she directly involved herself in construction sites, she would face various obstacles.

But by starting with building materials and renovation, whatever she did wouldn’t draw as much attention.

Ke Yixiong stroked his chin, wondering how he could cooperate with Xia Xiaolan and how to make her approach him first.

As for Xia Hongbing and his daughter being arranged to work at the construction site, Ke Yixiong didn’t need to appear personally. Who under his command would dare to slack off? Considering their relationship with Xia Xiaolan, Ke Yixiong gave Cao Liu one more instruction:

“Don’t make it too easy for them. Whatever others do, they must do too. I don’t support idlers on my site – my money doesn’t grow on trees!”

Except for second-generation rich like Du Zhaohui, whose money came easily?

Even Ke Yixiong had to humble himself to connect with Du Zhaohui! If he had to lower his dignity to earn money, how could two unrelated people think they could take advantage of him? That was purely dreaming!

Though unwilling, Xia Hongbing and his daughter couldn’t reject the job Xia Dajun found without even trying it.

Their previous excuse of not finding work wouldn’t work anymore.

If Xia Hongbing complained about the construction site being tough, Xiao Yu would look at him with misty eyes:

“When Dajun first came south to make a living, he slept under bridges, drank muddy water from puddles, and carried heavy loads at the docks – even tougher than construction work.”

After Xiao Yu’s words, Xia Hongbing noticed his second brother’s eyes had changed.

How could Xia Hongbing refuse?

His family of five depended entirely on Xia Dajun.

Xia Hongbing planned to pretend to try working at the site, then claim he couldn’t continue.

Father and daughter thought similarly. Even if working, Xia Hongxia wanted a decent job. How could she meet rich men at a dirty construction site? A foreign factory would be better.

They planned to endure for a few days, then tell Second Uncle they couldn’t stay at the site.

Their plans were nice, but under Cao Liu, even without Ke Yixiong’s specific instructions, Cao Liu wouldn’t tolerate idlers.

Getting in might be easy, but getting out… how could that be possible? Cao Liu’s thugs had ways to make Xia Hongbing and his daughter work obediently, controlling their every move without any freedom to slack off.

…

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know her uncle and cousin had ended up under Ke Yixiong again.

She didn’t even know the gang leader was actively transforming himself and now ran construction sites in Pengcheng.

Xia Xiaolan had no time to think about her family. At the party, Du Zhaohui had mentioned firing Xia Dajun, but Xia Xiaolan neither yielded to his threats nor was tempted by his conditions.

Her mind was full of thoughts about Harold wanting the land around Xiangmi Lake, wondering if it was for real estate development as she suspected.

Xia Xiaolan was considering the possibility of getting a bargain.

After using profits from summer clothes sales at the two Blue Phoenix stores in Xidan and Xiushui Street, plus her existing funds, Xia Xiaolan repaid the bank’s 200,000 loan. Within days, Manager Wu approved a new loan, which reached her hands.

A full 700,000 loan.

When Xia Xiaolan reciprocated by offering to buy government bonds, Manager Wu suddenly showed conscience:

“No rush for government bonds. Our branch’s assessment is at year-end, we can discuss it when you repay.”

The South Sea Hotel renovation would likely finish after National Day. According to the agreement with Dongfeng Holdings, the final payment would be made to Yuanhui after inspection approval. No matter how things went, she should recover her investment by December.

Manager Wu knew she wanted to increase the total loan amount. Without new collateral, he couldn’t raise her limit, but he did her a favor by giving her the full 700,000 without deductions.

Xia Xiaolan was grateful for this favor.

When the project payments came in, she would gladly continue supporting Manager Wu’s government bond sales quota.

She handed the 700,000 wire transfer slip to Liu Yong:

“Uncle, this is all I can invest.”

Without Zhou Cheng’s 170,000, she couldn’t even reach the previously agreed 800,000. Though the third store was almost finished with renovations, all her liquid funds were used to repay the first bank loan. To open for business, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t spare even a few thousand for inventory.

She could only wait another month, see if the Xidan and Xiushui Street stores could clear most of their summer clothes, and hopefully gather some working capital.

The two Blue Phoenix stores in Xidan and Xiushui Street wouldn’t expect much profit in July and August.

Summer clothing’s peak sales were in May and June. Sales would drop sharply in July, and August was just clearance time.

Liu Yong didn’t ask – 700,000 was 700,000. The contract signed with Dongfeng Holdings favored Yuanhui. No matter how pressured the project was or how much Huajian’s people looked down on them, one advantage outweighed everything: Dongfeng Holdings paid promptly. Whether it was 100,000 more or less didn’t make much difference to Liu Yong’s cash flow pressure!