Tang Hong En’s words made Xia Xiao Lan’s heart flutter with anticipation.

But after reaching Yang Cheng, he wouldn’t say more.

“You can discuss it with Secretary Peng. He’s been handling all of Harold’s interactions with the city government.”

Talk with Secretary Peng?

Secretary Peng, sitting in the front passenger seat, made an effort to show Xia Xiao Lan a friendly smile.

Strange – why was Secretary Peng accompanying Mayor Tang to Yang Cheng?

Usually in such situations, Secretary Peng would stay in Peng Cheng to guard the base and handle emergencies. Xia Xiao Lan noticed something odd about Secretary Peng – when had his attitude toward her started to change?

It was particularly obvious during the banquet, in how he addressed her uncle, and now.

Secretary Peng was already Tang Hong En’s highly trusted aide. Even if her mother and Tang Hong En weren’t together yet – even if they did get together – Tang Hong En’s personality wouldn’t let private matters affect public affairs. Secretary Peng’s position would never be threatened. If Tang Hong En could be considered a regional power, Secretary Peng was his ‘imperial confidant’ – so why had he suddenly become warm toward her?

Xia Xiao Lan had some suspicions but kept them to herself.

When they met Liu Fen at the train station, Xia Xiao Lan immediately understood Mayor Tang’s strategy. Liu Fen maintained her distance when she saw the mayor.

But with her daughter present, Liu Fen couldn’t remain aloof.

“Xiao Lan!”

After greeting Tang Hong En, Liu Fen focused all her attention on Xia Xiao Lan.

“You’ve only been in Peng Cheng for half a month, how did you get so tanned?”

Running around construction sites daily made tanning inevitable. Xia Xiao Lan had always been very fair-skinned; getting two shades darker only brought her to a normal skin tone. She knew that photoaging was skin’s biggest enemy and had been very careful about sun protection, but Peng Cheng’s UV rays were fierce. Even using both sunscreen and physical protection couldn’t prevent tanning completely.

Liu Fen wasn’t concerned about the tan itself, but how quickly it had happened – it showed how hard Xia Xiao Lan was working in Peng Cheng.

“Mom, I’m fine. I was just busy with my Uncle helping with renovations these past few days. It’s not busy anymore – that’s why I could come pick you up. Uncle was busy, so I had to catch a ride with Uncle Tang.”

“Mr. Tang, you really shouldn’t have troubled yourself…”

Liu Fen wanted to say Tang Hong En didn’t need to make time every time she came to Yang Cheng.

Tang Hong En pondered briefly, “It’s no trouble at all. Xiao Lan, didn’t you say you had investment matters to discuss with Secretary Peng? Since he’s free now, you should take care of business. Your mother needs to go exchange goods at the wholesale market – I’ll accompany her.”

Xia Xiao Lan’s mouth fell slightly open.

Tang Hong En could lie without even blinking.

How could he maneuver like this?

Calling her to Yang Cheng was just to use her as a wingman, to lower her mother’s guard.

Now that they’d met, he found her presence inconvenient and wanted to openly set her aside.

First reminding her that she’d have less time to accompany Liu Fen in the future, then bringing up Harold’s investment in Peng Cheng, specifically targeting her interests – Xia Xiao Lan really wanted to send Tang Mayor a “respect to the boss” emoji.

Seeing the question in Liu Fen’s eyes, Xia Xiao Lan had to pretend to hesitate:

“I do need to consult Secretary Peng about something…”

Liu Fen always put her daughter’s affairs first.

If Tang Hong En wanted to accompany her to exchange goods, the street was wide enough – how could Liu Fen refuse?

Little Wang had already swiftly loaded Liu Fen’s clothes for exchange into the car.

As the car puttered away, Xia Xiao Lan stood in the sun, feeling melancholy. Secretary Peng, clutching his briefcase, was another abandoned party, but somehow managed to smile through the awkwardness:

“Shall we find a place to talk in detail?”

Xia Xiao Lan nodded, consoling herself that at least Tang Hong En hadn’t lied – Secretary Peng did understand Harold’s investment intentions.

They went to the guesthouse where Liu Fen usually stayed and sat in the ground floor lobby to talk. As soon as they sat down, Secretary Peng got straight to the point:

“Mr. Harold wants the land beside Xiang Mi Lake. In his proposal to the city government, he wants to build a golf course, saying it would closely integrate with the existing resort projects. While not part of the resort, it would complement it. He believes Xiang Mi Lake Resort’s current entertainment offerings are all mid to low-end consumption. If Peng Cheng wants to become a tourist city, Xiang Mi Lake alone isn’t enough – it lacks high-end entertainment facilities. If this investment materializes, it would be an important achievement during the leader’s term.”

Harold wasn’t building a factory.

Not constructing housing.

But building a golf course?

Harold was truly ambitious!

An international standard 18-hole golf course typically occupies 900-1200 mu of land, with 600 mu just for the lawn. Less than 1000 mu wouldn’t work for a golf course – and where was Xiang Mi Lake? It was in Peng Cheng’s Fu Tian District.

In Xia Xiao Lan’s previous life, in 2017, Fu Tian District’s second-hand housing averaged around 60,000 yuan per square meter.

Among Peng Cheng’s districts, while Fu Tian’s housing prices weren’t the highest, they were among the top. Harold wanted to encompass over a thousand mu at once – Xia Xiao Lan could only admire such a wealthy move.

At current land prices, it was like picking cabbage for Harold. Xia Xiao Lan’s heart ached with envy.

“Then surely there’s no problem.”

Peng Cheng had the land, Harold had the money – wasn’t it a perfect match?

But Secretary Peng shook his head:

“No, there is a problem.”

Xia Xiao Lan was immediately puzzled.

Secretary Peng lowered his voice, “Harold’s investment plan is perfect in every way except one – it conflicts with another project. The city government already planned to build a golf course at Xiang Mi Lake. Harold is intervening midway, and some people are very unhappy about it.”

The city government was already planning to build a golf course.

Xia Xiao Lan pondered.

She seemed to remember something.

In her previous life, she hadn’t been of golf-playing status, only hearing about Peng Cheng’s golf courses.

There was indeed a large golf course beside Xiang Mi Lake, simply called “Peng Cheng Golf Course.” Xia Xiao Lan remembered it clearly, not because she’d played there, but because in 2015 when the 30-year sports land use rights expired, Peng Cheng’s Land Commission reclaimed the golf course land without compensation. The coursing club had illegally built and sold 70 villas, leaving the villa owners in an extremely awkward position. The villas they had paid for could never get property rights certificates – with even the land reclaimed, what could they do?!

It wasn’t the golf course that left a strong impression on Xia Xiao Lan, but those 70 villas.

Calculating the timing – land expiring in 2015, 30-year sports land use rights – indeed, Peng Cheng Golf Course had obtained the land and started the project in 1985!

Xia Xiao Lan asked curiously: “When two projects conflict, how can the free one beat the paying one?”

Remembering those 70 villas made her recall more.

For instance, when reclaiming the land, it was mentioned that the course land had been obtained for free through administrative allocation in the 1980s. After expiring in 2015, the land would naturally be reclaimed without compensation, with only some compensation for ground structures… With Xia Xiao Lan’s butterfly effect now adding Harold’s desire for a golf course, it seemed the paying VIP player couldn’t compete with the internal test account!