Chapter 1056: I don't want to be an accessory

The look of shock on Shen Ci's face was undisguised, and she nodded lightly.

Although she hadn't known who she was coming to see from the very beginning, the current situation was completely beyond her expectations.

So, the person behind Zhou Dafu was actually this woman in her fifties.

The look on the grandmother's face was very kind; she didn't look like she was here to talk business at all, but instead warmly greeted Shen Ci and the other: "You two go inside and sit down first, I'll be done in a moment."

Then, she didn't forget to confirm their preferences in advance: "You can both eat seafood, right? Any allergies?"

Facing such a warm grandmother, Shen Ci and Cheng An were both imperceptibly infected by her, and both shook their heads to indicate they could eat anything.

The grandmother smiled: "That's right, if you couldn't eat seafood, what would you be doing coming to 'Yahai'? Go inside and wait."

Aqi greeted them from the side: "Follow me inside. My mom likes to busy herself alone when she cooks, so we'll just wait to eat."

Doing as the locals do, Shen Ci obediently followed Aqi into the house, her gaze curiously looking around of its own accord.

Seeing this, Aqi couldn't help but introduce: "We built this house ourselves. In the village, villagers build their own houses on their own land. The bays in 'Yahai' are expensive, but the land in these peripheral villages isn't."

Cheng An couldn't help but mutter: "Isn't this a tourist city?"

Aqi explained with a smile: "It is a tourist city, but it doesn't even rank in the country. At most, it's a third-tier city. Moreover, the focus here is on bay economics, and the land economy is mainly concentrated in the city center. This place is too remote, and its development value is very low."

"Furthermore, 'Yahai' has always been committed to developing bay economics. Most of the people here are local indigenous residents, and the land belongs to the residents. The development value wasn't high to begin with, and if you wanted to develop it, you'd have to pay compensation to the residents, which isn't cost-effective when you do the math."

While they were talking, Aqi had already thoughtfully poured them some herbal tea.

"This herbal tea was also brewed by my mom; it's very cooling."

The two quickly thanked her and reached out to take it.

Looking at Aqi, who was tanned dark and dressed very casually, she looked at a glance as if she were perfectly integrated into this small village.

But as soon as she opened her mouth, listening to her standard Mandarin and crisp, elegant manner of speaking, one could tell she must be a highly educated woman.

"Where are you two from?"

After sitting down, Aqi also expressed curiosity about the two, her bright, sparkling eyes looking at Shen Ci, her tone filled with surprise: "Little girl, you look so young, you must be just over twenty, right?"

"Yes, I haven't graduated from university yet," Shen Ci said truthfully. "We came from Longcheng. Originally, our chairman was supposed to come personally, but we didn't expect him to come down with a fever."

"'Zheyuan Group,' I know it." Aqi nodded with a smile: "When I'm traveling or on business trips within the country, I prefer to choose hotels from your group."

Hearing this, Shen Ci's eyes lit up with surprise: "Really? Thank you, Sister Aqi, for your trust and support in our group."

Aqi smiled, then said bluntly: "Recently, because of the Golden Bay matter, the whole company has been very busy. It's quite surprising that my mom took the initiative to invite you to our home."

Having said that, she gestured with her chin toward the table by the window: "Look, that pile of stuff. My mom and I have been looking at it together for several days, and we haven't even finished looking through it."

Shen Ci took the opportunity to get up and walk over, discovering that the table was covered in various white-covered documents, filling the entire surface.

Beside them was another stack that showed absolutely no signs of having been flipped through.

Aqi walked over and said: "The ones that haven't been touched are the original documents; they are all project proposals from foreign groups, entirely in English. My mom doesn't know English, so the company has them translated before bringing them over for her to look at."

Shen Ci frowned, asking in confusion: "They want Golden Bay, and they know this is a Chinese bay. Since they want to cooperate, why don't they make bilingual documents? Giving them to you and having them translated again just adds an extra, tedious procedure in the middle, pointlessly wasting everyone's time."

Hearing this, Aqi also said with annoyance: "This is the international big group style. They seem to be fawning and flattering you to get a piece of bay land, but in reality, you can see their inherent arrogance in every detail."

Aqi looked directly at Shen Ci, her tone serious: "Actually, we don't want to cooperate with foreign groups. They're troublesome, and because of cultural differences and differences in land and commercial laws, the time spent negotiating is always very long."

"But we can't make the final decision entirely. The positioning and future development plans for the bay are all done by the relevant departments, and there are many factors to consider. International well-known hotel brands can raise the overall tone and grade of the bay; this is indeed something domestic brands cannot do."

Shen Ci nodded in understanding: "So, in fact, from the very beginning, the priority of these big international brands is higher than that of us domestic Chinese brands?"

"Yes." Aqi admitted without shying away: "Let alone your 'Zheyuan Group,' even 'Huazhu,' which has the largest global store layout, doesn't have enough competitiveness in resort bays. A few years ago, there was a piece of seaside land in 'Jiusawan,' and 'Huazhu' wanted to take it down to build a new 'Songpin' resort hotel under their banner, but in the end, they didn't get it."

Hearing this, Shen Ci couldn't help but knit her brows: "'Songpin' is already the most luxurious hotel brand under 'Huazhu'."

"It is." Aqi sighed: "It's a pity that the one competing with them at the time was the top international luxury brand, 'Four Seasons' hotel. In the end, the relevant departments still decided to introduce 'Four Seasons.' Whether it's the luxury positioning of the brand or its international fame, 'Songpin' is far behind."

Shen Ci pursed her lips lightly, but thinking about it carefully, the relevant departments in 'Yahai' were doing the right thing, because their starting point was to raise the overall tourism tone of the local area.

There were also affordable hotels, they just couldn't get such good locations.

Aqi also said: "Domestic groups do have hotels listed in various bays here, but the locations aren't that ideal. To put it bluntly, they are picking up scraps; they only get a turn at places the big groups don't want."

This "they," obviously, also included "Zheyuan Group."

Shen Ci hesitated for a moment, then tentatively asked Aqi: "Sister Aqi, Golden Bay is currently the best bay in 'Yahai,' and the competition must be the most intense. Do we have no hope at all of getting a location in the core area?"

Golden Bay got its name because the sea surface and the beach are golden at dawn and dusk, but the most beautiful section is the core area, and not all locations have such beautiful scenery.

So if they couldn't get a core location, Shen Ci felt it would be better to have nothing at all, because they also wanted to list the group's luxury brand here, but they didn't want to be an accessory to other hotels in a remote location.