Chapter 36: Buying Land 2

  "Right, mom," Zhou Hao asked Yan Tong: "This matter of money, you haven't told others, have you?"

  Yan Tong nodded, "No, Yu Qin told me that wealth should not be revealed to others. If people know we won several million in the lottery, it might cause trouble. I didn't even tell Shi Yun and her family."

  Zhou Hao glanced at Zhao Yuqin, seeing that she also smiled slightly at him. In fact, Zhou Hao thought to himself that the Lu Shiwen family was indeed someone he could tell, after all, they had been neighbors for over a decade, and he and Wang Xijun were in love with each other, so their families' relationship would only become closer in the future. Besides, compared to the Zhou Lichang family, the Lu Shiwen family was much better.

  "This afternoon I was thinking of going to take a look at what land is for sale, mom why don't you come with me?" Zhou Hao said.

  Zhao Yuqin said beside him, "Then I'll go too, I have a car, it's more convenient to come and go."

  "Zhang, you've already delayed many days for my sake. Your trading company and securities company need to be taken care of too." Zhou Hao didn't want Zhao Yiqin to neglect her own business just because of him.

  But then Zhao Yuqin smiled and shook her head, "It's okay, there are people below who are watching. If I have to deal with everything personally, then I'm not doing a good job as the boss." She paused for a moment, then said to Zhou Hao, "Speaking of securities companies, Little Hao, when do you plan on selling those stocks? The entire Chinese stock market has gone crazy. In the half month that you've been stuck here, the Shenzhen Index has risen by over 300%, and there are over a hundred stocks that have risen by more than five times. Especially the ones you bought, they've already risen nearly tenfold."

  Yan Tong heard this and exclaimed with delight: "Then the 10,000 yuan we invested earlier has now become 100,000?"

  Zhou Hao and Zhao Yuqin exchanged a glance, both seeing the amusement in each other's eyes. Yan Tong didn't know that Zhou Hao had invested not just 10,000 yuan initially, but by now, the $150,000 he put into the stock market had grown to over $1 million, which is over 10 million yuan when converted to RMB.

  If Zhou Hao sells all his stocks now, he will immediately become a multimillionaire. Adding the more than 40 million yuan he won, he can also be considered one of the wealthy in Xiangcheng City. This is also what Zhao Yuqin appreciates about Zhou Hao - even with so much money, he doesn't act like those nouveau riche who are arrogant and domineering, but instead treats old neighbors like Lu Shiwen with kindness and closeness.

  However, due to the stock market's surge this year, the central government is worried about creating a bubble economy. I received news that the central government plans to formally introduce the price limit system to curb the stock market. Zhao Yuqin frowned at Zhou Hao, "Once this system is introduced, the domestic stock market will likely plummet, so I think now is a good opportunity to sell. When Little Hao went missing earlier, I was already considering whether to help you guys sell your stocks, but I believed he would come back, so I persisted."

  Zhou Hao thought, fortunately you persisted. As for the price limit system, Zhou Hao also knew that it was officially launched on December 19, 1999, and immediately afterwards, the Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Component Index plummeted.

  It's now the end of November, so the stock market will still skyrocket for over a decade. According to Zhou Hao's plan, he would sell off his stocks before December 12th. So he said to Zhao Yuqin: "Sister Zhao, I plan to sell those few stocks on December 10th."

  Zhao Yuqin furrowed her brow upon hearing this, "Won't it be too late by then?"

  "In my estimation, the people operating in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets are not just numerous individual investors, but also many powerful individuals with deep backgrounds. They won't give up so easily, even if policies are introduced from above. These people will use their influence to maneuver for a while, so even if there is a need to intervene due to limit-ups or limit-downs, it will take some time."

  As for these insider information in the stock market, Zhao Yuqin was also aware of them. She herself was running a securities company and many people with official backgrounds invested in the stock market through her. Her father was even a high-ranking central government official, so she naturally knew a lot of unknown insider information. What puzzled her was where this teenager Zhou Hao had learned all these things from.

  "Alright then, I'll help you get rid of it on December 10th." Zhao Yuqin finally agreed to Zhou Hao.

  Then, Zhou Hao and Yan Tong left home with Zhao Yuqin to take a look at the land with development potential. Zhou Hao did see many plots in the city that would soon be developed, but since Xiangcheng was already planning to develop its urban construction, these plots had been targeted by many people with deep backgrounds. At this time, it was not appropriate for Zhou Hao to intervene, so he didn't focus on the city and instead asked Zhao Yuqin to drive the car to a suburb far from the city.

  Soon, Zhou Hao and his party arrived at the outskirts of the city and saw the wasteland that would be built into a large production base by the Japanese, as well as the nearby Suohua Village.

  Just as Zhou Hao had expected, the place was still desolate and overgrown with weeds, and the part near Shuohua Village had even become a dumping ground for the village.

  "Xiao Hao, why did you come here? Are you planning to buy land here?" Zhao Yuqin stopped the car and looked at the vast wasteland outside. "This barren land won't be developed even in ten years. If we buy land here, our money will be gone."

  Zhou Hao said: "Those places in the city have already been eyed by others, and I can't afford to provoke them with their wealth and power. In my opinion, Xiangcheng's development is very fast, and when the land resources in the city are gone, it will naturally expand outward. So I want to take advantage of this opportunity to grab as much land as possible here, and besides, these are wastelands, which can be bought back with a small amount of money."

  "What you said is not unreasonable." Zhao Yuqin looked at the wasteland outside the window, "I just don't know if this land belongs to which village or the municipal government, we need to ask someone about it."

  At this time, the villagers of Shuohua Village also saw Zhao Yuqin's Mercedes-Benz and curiously looked around. It is worth noting that even in the city, it was rare to see a Mercedes-Benz sedan of this level at that time, let alone in rural areas outside the city. They didn't even know what "Mercedes-Benz" was, thinking that being able to drive a four-wheeled car was already impressive enough.

  After Zhou Hao and Zhao Yuqin came down, the villagers were even more amazed. The current Zhou Hao is a handsome young man with an extraordinary temperament, while Zhao Yuqin was originally beautiful and moving, and she had a natural noble temperament on her body due to her prominent family background. Only Yan Tong's appearance was relatively ordinary, but in the eyes of those villagers, being able to sit on four wheels was not an ordinary family. Several villagers also rushed to find the village chief, saying that some extraordinary people had come to the village.

  Compared to Zhoujia Village in the city, Shuohua Village has a lower standard of living. Almost all the houses are tile-roofed and earthen, and most villagers make a living by farming. Apart from self-sufficiency, they sell their surplus agricultural products in the city. In Zhou Hao's memory, after that production base was built, it brought great development to Shuohua Village next door. Just providing rental housing for the workers in the base has already brought a large income to the villagers.

  As they approached the village of Shuohua, those sturdy and robust young men all cast their eyes on Zhao Yuqin. They had never seen such a beautiful woman before, and in their hearts, they thought that if they could get a wife like her, it would be worth dying for.

  "Zhao Jie, look at you, as soon as you enter the village, you become a star!" Zhou Hao whispered with a smile in Zhao Jie's ear.

  Zhao Yuqin gave Zhou Hao a glance and said with a pout, "A dog's mouth can't spit out ivory."

  At this time, a nearly fifty-year-old but still very robust man hurried over surrounded by several villagers. He was the village chief of Shuohua Village, Dai Zhong. Just now he heard some villagers say that big shots had come to the village and thought it was a government department coming down for an inspection, so he rushed over in a hurry. Now, however, he didn't see those pot-bellied leaders as usual, but instead saw a pair of very handsome young men and women, and an ordinary-looking woman.

  "Excuse me, which one of you is...?" Dai Zhong carefully asked as he walked up to Zhou Hao and the others. Although Zhou Hao and his companions didn't seem like leaders, Dai Zhong had also seen the car at the village entrance, and his knowledge was far greater than that of other villagers. He knew it was a Mercedes-Benz sedan, which even many city leaders couldn't afford to ride in.

  "You're the village chief of Suma Village now." Zhao Yuqin smiled faintly at Dai Zhongwei.

  Dai Zhong was taken aback for a moment, thinking to himself that this woman looked really beautiful when she smiled, but he only dared to think about it and didn't dare to say anything. The person in front of him looked extraordinary at first glance, and offending her would be troublesome. So Dai Zhong also smiled and said, "Yes, yes, I am indeed the village chief of Suohua Village, my surname is Dai, and my name is Zhong."

  "Hello, Village Chief Dai." Zhao Yuqin nodded, "We came this time to buy a piece of land." She pointed to the vast wasteland over there, "It's just there, I'd like to ask, does that land belong to your village or the municipal government?"

  "Where?" Dai Zhong scratched his head, he couldn't think of why these people came to the village to buy land. "That place belongs to our village, originally we wanted to plant some vegetables or dig a few fish ponds there, but our village doesn't have money and the government won't give us assistance, so it's been abandoned."

  He took Zhou Hao and others to that side, and saw that the wasteland had more than 10,000 mu. Zhou Hao thought that such a large area would indeed require a lot of money to open up. He asked Dai Zhongdao: "Village Chief Dai, if we want to buy a piece of land here, can the village decide?"

  "Of course it's possible." Dài Zhōngdào said: "This land is all within our village, so naturally we can decide whether to sell or not." He looked at Zhōu Hào with some doubt, "You can buy the land here too, but I'd like to ask, what do you plan to use it for?"