At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

That same evening, in a private room on the third floor of the Jiangyang Hotel, a room not open to the public and used for private conversations by some people.

There were four people sitting in the room. There was no secretary, no notebook, and even the waiter had been dismissed. In this kind of situation, no one would take responsibility for anything said after leaving the room.

Sitting in the main seat was Cao Weidong, the county party secretary, who was fifty-three years old. His hair was dyed jet black, but there were already white roots sprouting at his temples.

Opposite me sat County Head Ma Weiguo, a thin man with deep-set eyes. He had barely spoken since he sat down, mostly just smoking. On either side sat Liu Changhe, the deputy county head in charge of urban construction, and Sun Zhengming, the director of the county party committee office.

"The documents have been signed by the Provincial Development and Reform Commission. We're just waiting for the executive meeting at the end of the month to approve them, and the plaque will be officially put up as soon as the public notice period ends. The plaque for the High-tech Zone will be hung in the south of the city by October at the latest."

This isn't news; everyone here knows it.

The news that the province was going to build a high-tech zone had been circulating for more than half a year. They originally thought it would be Tianshui City, since there were more people there and the transportation was more convenient. But no one expected that this good thing would actually fall to Jiangyang County.

"The situation at the Hongqi Machinery Factory is outrageous today."

Liu Changhe picked up a peanut, threw it into his mouth, and chewed it with a crunching sound.

"Several groups of people went before dawn, carrying cash and knocking on people's doors, buying any house they saw. The old residential compounds in the south of the city, including the machinery factory, textile factory, and meat processing plant, were all searched. I had someone go and check it out in the afternoon, and there were cars with license plates from other provinces, such as Zhejiang C, Jiangsu E, and Guangdong B, parked on half a street."

"Who leaked the information?"

"Why would this need to leak?" Liu Changhe gave a wry smile.

"How many layers of government did it go through during the provincial review process? Development and Reform Commission, Land and Resources Bureau, Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau—which department doesn't have people involved? The documents went through at least dozens of eyes as they passed through the city and then the county. People from Wencheng set up an office in the city at the beginning of the year, specifically to keep an eye on these kinds of projects. Before our planning map was even stamped, their funding pool was already full."

"They're sweeping up old, dilapidated apartments, not the land. There's only so much existing housing stock in the south of the city; let them grab it, and that's it. The key is the land."

Sun Zhengming put down his chopsticks, pulled two sheets of printed paper from his briefcase, and spread them on the table. It was a land transfer details list, detailing all the land parcels transacted along Guangming Road in the south of the city from last year to the first half of this year. One line was circled in red, particularly eye-catching—Plot number JY-2026-017, area 107 mu, transferee: Jiangyang Lansheng Real Estate Co., Ltd., transaction date: June 5th of this year, transaction price: ten million yuan.

Twelve million, one hundred and seven acres, which translates to less than 120,000 per acre.

That was a saline-alkali land in the south of the city, where even crops couldn't grow well. White alkaline spots would appear on the ground during the dry season, and the county had been trying to sell it for three years without success. When Lansheng acquired it in early June, the whole county laughed about it.

But now, nobody can laugh anymore.

"June 5th." Ma Weiguo stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, grinding it twice forcefully, his voice laced with barely suppressed anger. "The provincial review meeting was held on June 20th, and the draft planning proposal for soliciting opinions was released on July 10th. He acquired the land on June 5th. A full fifteen days ahead of schedule."

"More than fifteen days."

Sun Zhengming pushed another sheet of paper over; it was a business registration information document for Lansheng Real Estate. "The major shareholder is Li Jianguo's son, Li Xiao, the minor shareholder is that kid from the Zheng family, and Zhou Yanhuai, the grandson of Old Master Zhou, also has a stake."

Sun Zhengming pushed up his glasses with a wry smile, pointing to the red circle on the map, "Secretary Weidong, the most troublesome thing now is that the 107 mu of land that Lansheng acquired is right in the middle of our high-tech zone's planning. If we want to proceed with the official expropriation and land swap as originally planned..."

"Expropriation? What are you going to use to expropriate? All their procedures are legal and compliant, and they've cleared all the money. Besides, given Wang Jianhui's bloody end, who in our county leadership would dare to touch the scheme orchestrated by Li Xiao and Zhou Yanhuai? Do they think they're too safe to wear their hats?"

"On June 5th, before the provincial review meeting even started, before the expert panel list was finalized, and before the provincial Development and Reform Commission's draft plan was even locked in a safe, he, a mere fresh-faced young man who had just finished his college entrance exams, took ten million yuan and bought that barren, saline-alkali land in the south of the city that nobody else wanted. Tell me, how did he manage that?"

Liu Changhe swallowed the peanut in his mouth and carefully asked, "Could it be Li Jianguo pulling the strings behind the scenes? Old Li has always been a steady businessman over the years. He bought that piece of land in the east of the city at rock-bottom prices back then. He has a very sharp eye."

"It doesn't seem like it." Sun Zhengming shook his head.

"I specifically checked Lansheng's shareholding structure. Li Jianguo didn't invest a single penny; he wasn't even a shadow of it. The actual controller of Lansheng is Li Xiao, and the source of funding was a ten million yuan loan from Li Jianguo to him—yes, a loan, with a formal IOU and interest calculated at the bank's prevailing rate. In other words, this deal was done entirely by Li Xiao himself from beginning to end; his father was just a loan shark. The Zheng family's kid was a shareholder without any investment, and so was Old Master Zhou's grandson. Li Xiao was the one who provided the money, the land, and the ideas."

"He acquired the land on June 5th, held a provincial review meeting on June 20th, released a draft for public comment on July 10th, and officially issued the official document in early August. He was ahead of the curve in every step of the policy. This wasn't luck; it was—never mind, I won't say anything more."

The unspoken word was understood by everyone present. Liu Changhe looked down at his teacup, Sun Zhengming took off his glasses and wiped them again and again, and Cao Weidong leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling.

"I had someone inquire about it discreetly. When the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection investigated Wang Jianhui, they also checked all the procedures for Lansheng's land acquisition—the bidding and auction process was compliant, the source of funds was clear, and there was no trace of any transfer of benefits. That kid from the Li family is truly capable. He used his ability to predict the policy direction in advance, invested real money, and won the gamble. What do you call that? That's called a market economy."

"So what do we do? His 107 acres of land are right on the edge of the planned boundary for the light rail hub station, and he's gradually taken over three surrounding plots of land as well. The core area of ​​the High-tech Zone is only so big, and the most valuable piece of land already belongs to Li. Our county can't possibly bypass him when it comes to primary land development, can we?"

"We can't avoid it, and we don't want to. I've been thinking about it all the way here. Lansheng acquiring this land might not be a bad thing for the county. Think about it from another angle—if this land were still in the government's hands, what would the situation be like now? Today, those people from Hongqi Machinery Factory weren't just targeting the old and dilapidated houses; they came directly for this land. Hengji from the provincial capital has already arrived, people from Wenzhou are walking around in the streets with two sacks of cash, and three vans have arrived from Suzhou. When the bidding opens, all this out-of-town capital will swarm in, driving up land prices to the sky, and our county won't have any initiative at all. But now? The initiative is in Li Xiao's hands. Behind Li Xiao is the Li family, and the Li family's roots are in Jiangyang County. No matter how we negotiate, it's still easier than negotiating with those out-of-town speculators who want to make a quick buck and run."

Ma Weiguo stubbed out his cigarette, looked up at Cao Weidong, and asked, "You mean, the county is taking the initiative to discuss cooperation with Lansheng?"