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

Before the commotion surrounding the acceptance letters had even subsided in the streets and alleys of Jiangyang County, a storm that could truly cause a magnitude 12 earthquake in the political and business circles of Tianshui City and even Jiangyang County descended without warning.

Less than three days later, an official document bearing the seal of the provincial party committee bypassed the city and was directly issued to the desks of all the core leadership teams in Tianshui City and Jiangyang County.

The document contains a lot of information, but its main core message can be summarized in just one sentence:

Following a province-wide coordinated plan, the wasteland south of the former Jiangyang County town was officially designated as a provincial-level high-tech industrial incubation park.

The news shocked everyone present.

The land south of Jiangyang County is a saline-alkali land that even dogs wouldn't urinate on. No matter what you plant, when you go there the following year, not to mention crops, not even a blade of grass will bother to grow.

Even building houses here is not the first choice, because building houses on saline-alkali land is much more complicated than building them on ordinary sandy or gravelly land.

If you want to build a building on saline-alkali land, you must first dig a deep foundation and replace the soil. If it is too shallow, it will not work. The salt in the soil will corrode the foundation. The anti-corrosion treatment requires several more steps than for ordinary sandy and gravelly land. The basic engineering alone can consume a large part of the budget.

Developers with a little experience would rather spend more money to acquire a developed plot of land in the east of the city than touch this barren, saline-alkali land in the south.

This resulted in the land remaining undeveloped; the county listed it for investment attraction every year, but no one showed any interest.

Old Sun from the Land Bureau once mentioned in an internal meeting that we should lower the price, but even after we did, no one wanted the property. Eventually, he didn't even bother to propose lowering the price anymore, and he stuffed the folder into the bottom of the filing cabinet, where it remained for several years.

Unexpectedly, it has now become a treasure trove where every inch of land is incredibly valuable.

Upon hearing this news, developers, building material suppliers, and property speculators from all walks of life sprang into action, eager to grab a share of the profits.

This is a key provincial project, and its significance is self-evident. A massive amount of policy support, financial assistance, and countless large infrastructure contracts are all beckoning you.

It was only then that everyone suddenly realized why even the Li family and Jianhui Real Estate coveted this land, and had even resorted to magic for it.

Although the situation was one-sided, with Jianhui Real Estate being forced to close down without even meeting the Li family, it still fueled everyone's curiosity about the land in the south of Jiangyang County.

Now that this official document has finally appeared, all the issues that I couldn't understand before have become crystal clear.

This can no longer be explained by simply receiving a rumor.

Which of these developers and building material suppliers doesn't have a few friends in the city or province who can put in a good word for them?

However, the first among them to hear the rumors about the High-tech Zone's planning was less than a week before the official document was issued. Unfortunately, by then it was too late to make a move. Apart from the piece of land in Li Xiao's hands, there was simply no time to acquire the other land.

When did Li Xiao make his move?

In early June, right after the college entrance examination, he had Zheng Hao sign off on that piece of land in the south of the city.

Two months, a full two months earlier than everyone else.

In the top-tier private room of the Grand Hyatt Teahouse, the same group of people who had gathered once before because of Wang Jianhui's downfall met again in the same place. However, the atmosphere this time was more oppressive than last time. Last time it was fear, this time it was regret, the kind of regret that makes you want to die.

Sun Dewang was still the first to arrive. He paced back and forth in the private room with his pregnant belly, glancing out the window every time he turned to it, as if someone would rush in and tell him the news was false.

But outside the window, people were already heading towards Jiangyang County. They were either developers or property speculators, their cars puffing smoke as they sped off faster than rabbits.

Just as Sun Dewang was still pacing around, Bald Liu, carrying a handbag and sweating profusely, burst in.

Before he could even sit down properly, he picked up the iced tea on the table and gulped down two mouthfuls. The tea dripped down the corners of his mouth, but he didn't bother to wipe it away.

"Dewang, guess who I just saw downstairs?"

He slammed his cup on the table and, before Sun Dewang could answer, preemptively gave the answer himself.

"People from Hengji in the provincial capital! Three Mercedes-Benzes, all with provincial A license plates, are parked on Jiangyang Avenue, circling around Zheng Guodong's building materials market. Hengji, they're one of the top five commercial real estate developers in the province. They usually don't even bother to look at projects in Tianshui, but this time they've come rushing over overnight because they smelled blood."

Upon hearing this, Sun Dewang stopped in his tracks, his chubby face jiggling slightly. He asked, somewhat puzzled, "What are Hengji's people doing here? Hasn't the bidding process for the primary land development in the High-Tech Zone even started yet?"

"So what if the bidding hasn't started? Old Sun, are you out of your mind? Bidding is for out-of-town investors and people without connections! With their connections, why would they need bidding?"

Sun Dewang only then realized that Henderson Land Development had such a background and status that they didn't need to compete with them for business. "Damn it, I was so confused!"

"So, this time we're really not even going to get anything. I spent all night calculating last night, and the core area of ​​the High-tech Zone plus its surrounding areas is only so big. This location, people were practically begging me to go there last year. Why didn't any of us even give it a second glance back then?"

"What's the use of looking? We know that land all too well. It's saline-alkali land; nothing grows there, and you have to dig deep and replace the soil to build a house foundation. Back when the county reduced the price to 30,000 yuan per mu, I even went to see it. I stepped on the salt crust twice and turned away, thinking I wouldn't even take this lousy place for free. Now look what's happened; they've turned the saline-alkali land into a gold mine, and I haven't even gotten a grain of salt."

As they were talking, the door to the private room was pushed open again.

Old Li, along with several other bosses, had all arrived by this time.

Sun Dewang glanced behind them; the doorway was empty, no one was there. "Where's Lao Zhao? Who notified Lao Zhao?"

"Don't wait anymore, Old Zhao isn't coming."

As soon as he entered, Boss Ma sighed, his tone mournful.

"Yesterday, regarding the Linjiang project, Jianhui's 70% stake was classified as a non-performing asset by the city, and the court rejected his application for property preservation. Thirty million yuan, not a single penny can be recovered. Then he couldn't catch his breath and suffered a stroke. He's still lying in the hospital receiving oxygen right now, and it's uncertain whether he can pull through."