186 – Dead Land

Rouxi woke up and realized she was in bed. Just a moment ago, she was sitting on the sofa talking to Li Yun, but she had uncharacteristically fallen asleep on the sofa.

Her hand shielded her eyes from the dim morning light coming in from the window. The grey and dead atmosphere of the season made everything feel colder than usual. Luckily, her fleece pajamas and comforter kept her warm, and the heat radiating from Li Yun’s body hugged around her. 

She turned around to face him. His eyes were closed, but knowing him, he was likely meditating or something. She snuggled her head into the hollow between his arm and chest to warm her cheeks.

Thinking about their conversation, a part of her was relieved Li Yun had accepted her past, but there were other memories that frightened her. Those memories were fading away as though her old life was nothing more than a dream. She felt his hands reaching up to massage her hair.

“Morning,” he whispered and kissed the crown of her head.

Rouxi felt her heart fluttered as she looked into his eyes. “Yun, will you m…”

Before she could ask, he kissed her. His lips were much more urgent and demanding, and she wondered if it was because he had repressed his urges the night before or if he didn’t want her to ask.

“Rouxi, I will make you breakfast,” Li Yun teased as he nibbled the column of her throat. “But you’re not allowed to ask me anything else.”

Li Yun got up and prepared to make an egg sandwich as she was dressing up. He had a strategy for cooking. 

His phone timer dinged and a simple instruction popped up. *ding* turn on the stove to medium heat.

He followed the instruction, 10 seconds later.

*ding* crack three eggs into pan

30 seconds later.

*ding* flip eggs

*ding* *ding* *ding*

......

*ding* plate the sandwich.

Reward: Kiss from girlfriend.

He followed the long list of commands before he smiled and nodded at the finished egg sandwich. The reward was definitely better than his system.

Rouxi walked out from the bedroom, wearing a cashmere sweater and jeans. She was surprised the egg sandwich looked edible. After quickly finishing the sandwich, it tasted a lot better than she thought.

“Yun, I think this is your first edible meal,” Rouxi tiptoed to reach his lips and kissed him.

He greedily picked her up and headed toward the bedroom, wanting a better reward.

****

The doorbell rang, and Li Yun opened the door. They were expecting Ning Xuxu to arrive to tour the outlining area of Magic City.

“Geez, you two aren’t ready yet?” Ning Xuxu teased.

“I’m ready, Rouxi is almost done,” Li Yun replied as he took the coat from the closet and slipped his arms into the warm synthetic fabric. He didn’t need to wear one, but it made him stand out if he didn’t have one on.

Rouxi ran out of the bedroom, wearing a different set of clothes, and Li Yun assisted her to put on her coat. “Ready!”

Ning Xuxu eyed them and returned a sickening growl. Even with her makeup on, Rouxi was glowing.

“Meilin, we need to renovate the apartment,” Ning Xuxu said during their car ride to their first destination.

“Why? It’s newly renovated,” Rouxi asked.

“Need more soundproofing.”

Rouxi frowned, immediately understanding what she was implying, but Rouxi wasn’t going to sit on it. “You’re right, I heard there are complaints from the neighborhood about our floor.” The only people on their floor were Ning Xuxu and Rouxi.

Ning Xuxu sneered back and quickly changed the topic. “Why are we going to see vacant lots?” 

“Yun wants to look into buying some property.”

“Why are you going into real estate all of the sudden?” asked Ning Xuxu.

“It’s not sudden, I’ve been buying land for awhile,” Li Yun knew he needed more property for future expansion. The best way was to enter the real estate market.

The market was risky, and bankruptcy was a big risk. Li Yun was planning to buy properties that matched his requirement based on its topography and proximity to the five elements.

“Are you really going to enter the real estate market?” asked Ning Xuxu.

“Development.”

Ning Xuxu was surprised. “That’s even riskier.”

“I know, I want to try construction,” Li Yun had been looking through different floor plans and trying to find reliable building contractors. During the process, he thought it would be easier to create his own work force of building contractors. While he was constructing the Shennong’s factory, he had worked with a lot of contractors. 

The problem was finding someone to manage the development side of the business. Ju De, Fatty Fang, and Bufu already had their hands full. He thought about Ersan.

“You’re going to ask Ersan to quit his job and become a developer?”

“I spoke to him about it after our dinner,” said Li Yun. “He’s considering it. Although it would be a lot more stressful for him, I told him to bring in Beibei as the assistant.”

Being an architect was a bit different than a developer. Architects were often more concerned with fitting all the pieces and parts together. Developers were more concerned about gathering money and investors to buy the parts and selling them after it was put together. The stress was equally demanding.

“I need to find someone to manage the developer team,” Li Yun thought to himself. He wanted land to experiment with building, but he also wanted to increase the land value and generate profit from it. “Maybe Fatty Fang.”

Now that the Shennong factory was more stable, he could shift Fatty Fang over to assist Ersan. Ju De could supervise the factory on his own.

“Fatty isn’t going to make it, how about a collaboration?” Ning Xuxu asked. “Have RoXu manage the development team.”

“Aren’t your plates already full?” asked Li Yun.

“I’m always hungry for more,” said Ning Xuxu. “Besides, I know more people in Magic City. When you head to Yide, you will need someone more reliable.”

Li Yun hesitated. If it was just Ning Xuxu, it would be fine, but having Rouxi connected to the project was tricky. Working with friends was already tricky enough, working with a lover carried a different sort of problem.

“Are you worried about working with your little girlfriend?” asked Ning Xuxu.

“Hey, I’m right here! I am not as tall as you, but I'm of standard height!” Rouxi complained as she turned to Li Yun. “I work mainly on international contracts, so I won’t interfere if you sign a contract with RoXu.”

“I’ll consider it,” Li Yun thought Ning Xuxu would be a good fit to help him manage WuXing Capital.

Li Yun pulled the car over to an open space and they got out of the car to look at the first plot of land. There were eight vacant lots they were visiting that day, all on the lower end of the price spectrum. Magic City real estate prices were the highest in the world, and to buy even a simple property required at least 4 billion yuan. 

The most difficult land to get rid of wasn’t the untapped land, but the dead land, land that was drained of all its resources. But in Magic City, even the most useless and ugly lot were precious to investors and speculators. 

Many of the dead lands had been once used for growing cash crops, manufacturing, and old oil rigs. Old farmlands weren’t too bad, but manufacturing plants were littered with environmental hazardous waste. Many of the sites looked like something out of a horror movie. According to the initial report, all the land required a lot of restoration work.

Li Yun was hoping to see if there were any hidden potentials. The first two sites were really dead, and even efforts to reclaim the land would not generate much profit.

The third site was an old farm. There were no nearby streams or water features and the morning sun was blocked by the adjacent hill. The changing weather had created a drought over the farm, and after five years, the village chief had to sell off the land, and many of the farmers moved into the city development. 

Li Yun hiked the hill and heard something. It sounded like trickling water from the corner of the lot. If he could hear it, then it wasn’t too deep underground like the report had stated. A simple modification could change the farmland into a more usable land. Unlike in the old days, terraformation was much more advanced.

With his top three sites in mind, they were ready to attend the Multi Auction.