When Xia Xiao Lan asked about how the golf course would make money, Secretary Peng became reluctant to speak.

There were certain matters that Secretary Peng felt he couldn’t disclose to Xia Xiao Lan.

Xia Xiao Lan was genuinely curious. Harold wasn’t just an ordinary paying player – his investment was exactly the kind of “foreign exchange” the local government loved. As long as Harold wasn’t too greedy and didn’t push the municipal government into a corner, he could easily outmaneuver the internal test accounts.

Regardless of who had their eye on the land around Xiang Mi Lake before Harold, whether an individual or an organization, their attempt to acquire it through administrative allocation meant they lacked funds. Being short on money wasn’t wrong, but hindering foreign investment was unacceptable.

The municipal government would likely give the land beside Xiang Mi Lake to Harold. The ‘Pengcheng Golf Course’ that Xia Xiao Lan remembered from her previous life would either need to relocate or switch to a different project entirely.

Dissatisfied? Heartbroken?

Even if dissatisfied, they’d have to swallow it.

If heartbroken, they’d have to piece themselves back together.

The market economy was born alongside the Reform and Opening Up policy.

While ordinary citizens had to gradually adapt to Reform and Opening Up, those with special privileges also needed to experience how formidable the power of capital could be under the waves of the market economy.

Secretary Peng’s keen interest in Harold’s potential golf course investment proved that Tang Hong En wasn’t joking when he said he’d been following this matter closely.

Secretary Peng’s skills were somewhat specialized, and not entirely focused on economic development. Although he had learned much working alongside Tang Hong En, he still only partially understood how Harold planned to profit from the golf course.

He couldn’t possibly ask Tang Hong En about this, so he unexpectedly placed his hopes on Xia Xiao Lan, asking her many questions instead.

It seemed Tang Hong En truly intended to put Secretary Peng in charge of Harold’s golf course project, but why? Was Tang Hong En trying to avoid suspicion?

“It’s difficult to profit from a golf course alone. With such high membership fees, how many people could afford it? Golf isn’t a sport for ordinary people – wage earners neither have the leisure time nor can they afford the membership fees. It attracts Pengcheng’s high-end consumers: Hong Kong residents in Pengcheng, foreign businessmen, and private business owners like my uncle who desperately need to expand their social connections. What subsidizes the golf course is the residential property beside it. Harold’s project proposal to the municipal government likely isn’t just for the course land… Think about it, Secretary Peng – if Harold develops high-end residential properties, people who can afford to play golf can naturally afford to buy houses. The target customer groups for the course and residences completely overlap.”

Secretary Peng couldn’t reveal the specific contents of the project proposal.

But judging by his expression, Xia Xiao Lan must have hit the mark.

She didn’t pressure Secretary Peng to disclose Harold’s project plans.

Suddenly, a possibility occurred to her:

“Secretary Peng, are you leaving Uncle Tang to take up a position elsewhere?”

Secretary Peng’s sudden change in attitude toward her and his new responsibility for such a major project led Xia Xiao Lan to this conclusion. As Mayor Tang’s secretary, he was Tang’s right-hand man and naturally didn’t fear petty people’s slander.

But leaders’ secretaries eventually had to be assigned to other positions. Even favorite secretaries couldn’t stay forever – that would hinder their career advancement.

Secretary Peng’s expression changed briefly, though he quickly composed himself and denied it:

“That’s not the case.”

Xia Xiao Lan didn’t believe him!

She found it both amusing and frustrating that Secretary Peng saw her as a petty person, thinking she would try to drive a wedge between him and Tang Hong En after he left Tang’s side.

Just how poor was her image in Secretary Peng’s mind!

Secretary Peng only wanted to extract information from Xia Xiao Lan but wouldn’t be honest with her in return.

The conversation couldn’t continue this way.

So Xia Xiao Lan changed the subject:

“I know you can’t tell me how much per mu Harold is paying for the land around Xiang Mi Lake… Let me ask you something else – if I wanted to acquire some commercial residential land, not too large, under 100 mu, do you think that would be feasible?”

Secretary Peng stared at Xia Xiao Lan.

Was this something a university student should be saying?

Yuan Hui had only recently received the South China Hotel renovation project, and already the renovation business couldn’t contain Xia Xiao Lan’s ambitions – she wanted to build commercial residential properties!

In the past, Secretary Peng would have politely but distantly told Xia Xiao Lan not to daydream. Now, needing to adjust his attitude toward her, he couldn’t flatly refuse.

Secretary Peng chose a more diplomatic approach:

“Construction is different from renovation. If you’re taking on projects from others as a contractor, that’s not a big problem. But if you want to acquire land and build yourself, leaving aside how you’d solve the funding issue, how would you meet the qualification requirements?”

Xia Xiao Lan smiled, “You don’t need to worry about that. Whether through a partnership or independent operation, I’ll start with small projects. Studying at Hua Qing’s Architecture Department, I can directly or indirectly get to know some people.”

Secretary Peng was left speechless:

“When you chose your major for university last year, were you already aiming to build houses?”

Xia Xiao Lan nodded frankly.

Secretary Peng, having no more excuses, gave Xia Xiao Lan a vague response:

“For just under 100 mu of land… it shouldn’t be a big problem.”

The land value was determined by location and purpose.

Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t specified which location she wanted, but seeing her interest in Harold’s investment, Secretary Peng suspected she wanted to follow Harold’s lead and pick up the leftovers. If Xia Xiao Lan managed to acquire land near Harold’s golf course, that would be quite advantageous!

They say your enemies might understand you better than your friends.

While Secretary Peng wasn’t Xia Xiao Lan’s enemy, he had always been wary of her and studied her character.

Using the golf course as a hook to build houses was already quite a mild approach. A more underhanded method would be to occupy a few dozen mu in the center of Harold’s desired land first, then act as a nail household to extort a large sum from Harold.

However, such methods were too harmful and didn’t align with Xia Xiao Lan’s long-term plans.

She wanted to create wealth through harmony, not through thuggish one-time gains.

Taking such an approach would be self-destructive, provoking a billionaire. As the aggressor, being crushed by Harold once he caught on would be Xia Xiao Lan’s fault.

…

In Pengcheng.

Harold was also discussing the Xiang Mi Lake land.

With so many people under his employment, planning a project happened quickly – Harold’s moves were always swift, precise, and decisive.

Butler Allen waited until the discussion was nearly finished before gently knocking and entering:

“Sir, George and the others have arrived in Pengcheng. Would you like to see him? This time, I think George is truly angry.”

George, in his forties, seemed like a naive child in Butler Allen’s words.

And he truly was naive – how else could Harold shake him off so easily?

No matter how many times George was deceived, he never learned.

Foolish people naturally deserve to be deceived. As for getting hurt – don’t joke around, U.S. dollars don’t hurt anyone!