How could there be someone so utterly shameless in this world?

Secretary Peng screamed internally.

Xia Xiaolan quickly stood up to take the teacup: “How embarrassing to have Brother Peng serve us personally.”

“It’s nothing, you’re our guest, it’s only proper.”

Tang Hongen smiled too: “Xiaolan, sit down properly. You deserve to have Little Peng serve you tea. Among three people walking together, one can be your teacher. Little Peng has been with me for several years, and while he’s capable in many areas, he’s indeed weak in economics. This time, you’ve taught him something. That temporary land regulation you proposed gave me great inspiration as well.”

Secretary Peng no longer dared to curse Xia Xiaolan’s shamelessness in his heart.

If Futian District was established and he took a position there, with Xia Xiaolan building houses around Xiangmi Lake, they would be dealing with each other for a long time.

The leader was right – his understanding of economics wasn’t thorough, and even Xia Xiaolan could be his teacher.

Though this person was somewhat shameless, she truly had the ability.

Not just the ability to make small money – as evident from that land regulation, she had a grand vision.

Of course, this “grand vision” evaluation came from Tang Hongen’s private remarks, and Secretary Peng was just applying what he learned.

Anyway, the leader was better at judging people than him, so he’d just follow the leader’s lead.

After Xia Xiaolan exchanged some casual conversation with Tang Hongen, Secretary Peng’s tea delivery was a reminder that the Deputy Mayor was busy, and Xia Xiaolan didn’t linger.

“Uncle Tang, I’ll let you get back to work. When you’re free, I’ll come find you for dinner.”

Tang Hongen checked his watch, “Alright, you head back first. Weren’t you saying you’re studying with Old Mao? Then seize that opportunity to learn well. People like Old Mao have real skill – you’re lucky. Let Little Peng see you out, I won’t keep you.”

Xia Xiaolan agreed.

Secretary Peng accompanied Xia Xiaolan down to the building entrance.

Seeing no one around, Xia Xiaolan showed a pleading expression: “Brother Peng, you wouldn’t abandon me after crossing the river, would you? If Uncle Tang can’t tell me the land price, could you at least give me a hint?”

Secretary Peng felt helpless at her flattery.

This was also Xia Xiaolan’s skill. Given her relationship with Tang Hongen, she would only become closer to him than Secretary Peng in the future.

Even if Xia Xiaolan had demanded the details forcefully, Secretary Peng couldn’t have resisted.

But she deliberately chose this approach instead, making Secretary Peng feel comfortable.

“You previously mentioned wanting 100 mu of land. Looking at the prices around Xiangmi Lake, you could at most afford 20 mu… perhaps not even 20 mu. However, houses are sold by square meters – one mu is over 600 square meters. If you build on 100 mu, wouldn’t that be over 60,000 square meters?”

Secretary Peng made sense.

Even 30 years later, any residential complex with 100 mu would be considered a large development.

But it wasn’t as simple as Secretary Peng’s calculation. One mu equals approximately 666 square meters – could she just buy one mu and build houses to sell? Building your own house was one thing, but commercial housing meant apartment buildings. Multiple floors housing many families – how could a single lonely building be called a residential complex?

Even unit dormitories and family quarters had enclosed courtyards.

To give residents a sense of security, buildings needed proper spacing. How could people live in buildings built side by side, blocking each other’s light?

Space was needed for pedestrians and vehicles.

Considering that those who could afford commercial housing might have cars – if not now, then likely within the next decade – Xia Xiaolan would need to provide parking spaces!

Underground parking didn’t take up surface area, but building underground levels increased construction costs.

If land prices were cheap, it might be better to build surface parking lots.

Since she hadn’t actually acquired the land yet, these plans in Xia Xiaolan’s mind were constantly changing. Prompted by Secretary Peng’s reminder, her thoughts wandered further.

Secretary Peng stared at her unblinkingly, and Xia Xiaolan responded ambiguously:

“If land is cheap, naturally it’s better to get more. I’m worried if I don’t get it now, it’ll be more expensive later. If land is expensive, we’ll plan accordingly – it can’t be less than 10 mu, right?”

Secretary Peng internally bled.

This wasn’t just shamelessness – it was outrageous boasting. She could only afford 10 mu of land, yet earlier she casually claimed 100 mu.

He had worried needlessly, not considering that businesspeople’s words always contained padding – squeeze out the padding and you’d find their true bottom line. But while others’ padding could be squeezed to half, Xia Xiaolan’s squeezed to one-tenth!

Secretary Peng was left speechless by Xia Xiaolan.

He held up his fingers, showing “one” then “eight.”

Eighteen?

Was Harold’s land price 180,000 yuan per mu?

This price made Xia Xiaolan wince.

Even at 180,000 per mu, it was beyond her means.

“Thank you, Brother Peng. I won’t disturb you further. I’ll go look around Xiangmi Lake these days, choose a good location, then come trouble you again.”

Secretary Peng coughed twice, “Go ahead, but Mr. Harold and the city government have already signed contracts – those lands belong to him and should be marked.”

He worried Xia Xiaolan might set her sights on Harold’s purchased land.

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t do such a thing.

Ge Jian was waiting downstairs.

“Ge Jian, you’ll need to work hard these next few days, accompanying me to walk around Xiangmi Lake.”

Xia Xiaolan had originally planned to arrange for Madam Song to vacation at Xiangmi Lake, so her frequent visits wouldn’t raise suspicion. However, with Old Lady Song and Mao Guosheng leaving early, she had to go herself.

“Even if I frequently visit Xiangmi Lake, no one can stop me. Am I not allowed to like that place?”

Others weren’t worms in her belly – how could they guess her thoughts?

Xia Xiaolan secretly gritted her teeth. She hadn’t discovered Xiangmi Lake’s business potential any later than Harold. It’s just that others had strong capital – when they talked about acquiring land, it was a grand gesture of 2,500 mu.

The 180,000 yuan per mu Secretary Peng mentioned must be the price for residential land.

Excluding the sports land for the golf course, the planned residential land must be several hundred mu.

Even at 600 mu, the land price alone would be 100 million yuan.

The remaining 1,900 mu for the golf course’s sports land, at half the residential land price, would still be over 100 million yuan.

So Harold spent nearly 300 million yuan just buying land in Pengcheng. At the yuan-to-dollar exchange rate of 3:1, wouldn’t Harold’s initial investment reach 80-90 million US dollars?

Xia Xiaolan clutched her chest – indeed, people’s fates depended on their choice of birth.

Those born well only needed to engage in family power struggles, with the winner controlling vast family fortunes. Like Harold, like Du Zhaohui… the difference being that the former had already emerged victorious from family struggles, while Du Zhaohui was still struggling with family conflicts.

For someone like her who wasn’t born fortunate, starting from scratch was incredibly difficult!

Xia Xiaolan only felt momentarily depressed, clearly understanding that no one could achieve greatness in one bite.

Yet she didn’t consider that if someone like Mao Guosheng heard her complaints, they would be furious to death – in ’85, could someone who could produce 1 million yuan be called poor? If so, shouldn’t Mao Guosheng, who earned just over 100 yuan monthly, just go ahead and die?