Chapter 249: Chapter 249: Choosing a Location
Huang Jingping returned home happily, and immediately heard Feng Yiping mention that Fang Yingzhi had come to the house. Feng Yiping still finds it funny when he thinks about that expression.
'Oh, she's here?' Huang Jingping tried her best to act nonchalant, but her cheeks were puffed out with anger on both sides, which she could not hide. She tried to force a smile, but failed. Feng Yiping felt that the small flames of anger in her eyes could definitely set a mountain on fire right now.
'Those are the apples she brought,' Feng Yiping said, pointing at the small cardboard box still sitting at the base of the wall.
'Things like this are nice to look at, but there might be some rotten ones inside.' It seems that in these matters, girls naturally say things with double meanings, and it never seems out of place.
'Yes, I didn't even look at it. I let her sit at home for just over ten minutes, and then I said I had something to do and sent her out the door. She's been staying in the warehouse ever since.'
Feng Yiping's subsequent experience has taught him that in these matters, it's better to say something than not say anything, and it's better to say it sooner rather than later.
Sure enough, after she finished talking, Huang Jingping's face immediately thawed, and she happily started taking things out of her bag. 'This is pumpkin seeds my mother fried, these are the cloth shoes she made for you, and the shoe insoles my cousin knitted. Look, aren't they nice!'
This thing is a practical item, but because it takes a lot of effort to knit and you have to buy all kinds of coloured threads, it's generally only the older unmarried girls in the countryside who make a lot of it when preparing their dowry. A pair like this was definitely made by her cousin before she got married. It's light, but the sentiment is heavy.
'They look good,' says Feng Yiping, turning the handmade insoles over in his hands. What can you say about them? The patterns are all very traditional, with a strong rural flavour. As for whether they really look good, well, Feng Yiping finds them very homely.
And the thing is, they don't actually absorb sweat, and they're a bit hard. Feng Yiping thinks their biggest use is just to look at.
In fact, this is one of its main functions. Newlywed wives often show off their needlework to the young girls who visit their homes, subtly conveying the message, 'Look, I'm so dexterous.'
Huang Jingping had not finished showing off her treasures yet. 'This is dried fried chili peppers that Grandpa made himself,'
which is also considered a specialty snack in their area. The chili peppers are chopped into fine pieces, mixed with flour, either plain or glutinous rice flour, seasoned with salt, then cut into strips, dried, and fried in oil. They are crispy, spicy, and can be used in dishes or sometimes as a snack.
For example, when I was in junior high school, some classmates brought this to school. Although they knew it was a dish, they would take a few pieces out to chew on whenever they felt like it. Then, in less than two days, they had eaten the entire week's worth as snacks.
Since my parents went to the provincial capital, Feng Yiping hasn't eaten this since. At this time, he smelled the spicy aroma and wanted to praise it, but before he could speak, he sneezed.
'And, this is four catties of lard, let's boil the oil ourselves,' she offered a white, meaty roll.
This is also a good thing. In the countryside, even if a family is short of money, after they have sold their pig, they usually won't sell this. It is especially good for stir-frying vegetables, such as the young vegetables that have been damaged by frost.
'There are also peanuts, dried sweet potatoes, dried pumpkin, tea...' Huang Jingping took them out one by one, and Feng Yiping put them away in the kitchen cupboard one by one. 'Why did you take so much?'
'My family knew that a car would be picking me up, so they wanted me to bring everything. Some things I saw for sale outside, but I was too lazy to get them, otherwise there would have been even more.' Feng Yiping felt as if she was going home to her parents' house when she returned.
After finishing the preparations, Huang Jingping gave Feng Yiping an envelope. 'Why did you bring it back?'
'My parents said that I can't accept this, and there's an extra thousand yuan inside, which they gave to me.'
'Just leave it for now, and give it to them together later.' To be honest, Feng Yiping was quite happy about it. He had been a little worried about giving too little, and had been thinking of increasing the amount, but then he was afraid that her family might become too demanding. He had settled on 500 yuan a month, but not only did they refuse to accept it, they also gave Huang Jingping 1,000 yuan. It seemed that her parents were very sensible.
After evening study, Huang Jingping still followed the usual routine and squeezed into Feng Yiping's arms to watch TV. 'She's not allowed to come to the house anymore!' Hee hee, Feng Yiping knew that she hadn't let go of this.
'Yes, I'm resolutely not going to open the door to her!'
'Seriously, you can find anyone you want, just not her,' Huang Jingping said to him seriously, "There are a lot of people after her at school, but she,'
'Only chooses the expensive ones, not the right ones, right?" Feng Yiping completed her sentence for her.
'Yes, that's exactly it. How did you know?'
'You think I'm like you, unable to tell right from wrong?'
'No, I didn't interact with her before. That time we went shopping, it was Xiaoqing who called her without telling me beforehand.'
It was another Saturday afternoon. A group led by Mei Yiliang, accompanied by several attentive government officials, once again surveyed the plot of land in the city centre. Feng Yiping mingled in with them, inconspicuous.
This piece of land is close to Renmin Road, about 20 mu in size, with the street in front of it and an old neighbourhood behind it, which is expected to be demolished in a few years.
The area is sufficient, but Feng Yiping is not quite satisfied. Later, the hotels in the city centre will be clustered together, and they will be very similar, so it will be difficult to make some special features.
The piece of land next to Airport Avenue is large enough, and the surrounding scenery is also quite good, but it is a bit on the edge. It is quite good for developing villas in this area, but it may be a bit self-satisfied to build a hotel here.
Feng Yiping liked the last piece of land as soon as he saw it.
It was actually a part of the land that jutted out into the river, a bit like a peninsula, with a piece of land of more than 100 mu sandwiched between the lake in the back and the river in the front. This piece of land was now a veritable wasteland, overgrown with weeds.
It was also troublesome to get here now, having to take a long detour from Yanjiang Avenue, enter from the back of the peninsula, and then come to the front. However, Feng Yiping looked at Yanjiang Avenue across the river and smiled, haha.
Later, a successful real estate developer loved doing this kind of thing: buying a relatively remote piece of land at a low price and then building a bridge to connect it to the main road, so that what used to take more than half an hour to drive to became a matter of minutes.
He almost immediately decided to buy the whole piece of land, build a hotel in the middle, and turn the riverside into a lawn that could be used as a venue for Western-style weddings. Yes, and there could be an outdoor swimming pool in the middle.
On the left, an auditorium could be built to host various banquets, and on the right, a comprehensive water park could be considered. Along this side of the lake, villas could be developed, and between the villas and the hotel, in addition to greenery, an open-air sports ground could be built, such as a tennis court, which is still considered high-end nowadays.
A very perfect blueprint for a comprehensive five-star resort hotel was thus sketched out in Feng Yiping's mind.
He was a little excited, and walked towards his brother-in-law, who was surrounded by a group of people. At that moment, another group of people came quickly from behind. The person walking in front of them looked at Feng Yiping, a young man who looked like a student, walking in the middle of the narrow road, and casually brushed him aside, 'Excuse me,'
and then smiled and said to a middle-aged man behind him, 'District Chief Sun, that's Jia Sheng's President Mei.'
They were about to say hello, but then they saw the group from Jiasheng, led by Mei Yiliang, all looking strangely in their direction.
Feng Yiping was standing next to him, and he signalled to his brother-in-law that he was fine, but it was inappropriate to tell him about it now, as these people nearby might also notice something amiss.
It was only then that Mei Yiliang enthusiastically extended his hand to greet District Chief Sun, 'District Chief Sun, why did you bother to come in person!'
'The God of Wealth has arrived on my turf, and if I, as the host, don't show up, how will that look? What do you think, is this place nice?'
'This side is too remote and desolate, with no one around, I'm afraid no one will find the hotel if it's opened here.'
'How could that be? Mei Zong, just look at the view here. Besides, the land is cheap.'
After returning home, Mei Yiliang did not agree with Feng Yiping's decision. 'That piece of land is too remote. You build a bridge, which will make it more convenient, but how much extra will it cost? How can it compare to the other two pieces of land?'
There was nothing they could do. If you told them now about the speed of development later, few would believe it. In the years since, the provincial capital has developed rapidly. The land along the lake and the river has basically all been developed into high-end residential areas. This plot of land will definitely become a scarce resource in the future, and the land price will not be cheaper than the city centre, and now, at most, it is only one-third of the city centre.
'Trust me, brother-in-law, this piece of land is definitely the best!'