Chapter 405: Current Situation

"Not all flowing milk is called..."

After arranging the business in Pengcheng, Lou Xiaoe finally understood the meaning of this sentence on her first night back in Xiangjiang.

Early the next morning, Zhang Ping'an exercised and stretched as usual, and after he finished washing up, Wu Ma had already prepared breakfast.

"Ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling."

"Hello?"

"Master, news has come from Fen Lan."

"Oh? So fast?" It had only been half a month.

"Yes, it's hard to explain in a few words. Master, you should come over and see for yourself."

"Alright."

At nine-thirty, Zhang Ping'an arrived at the security company, and the security team brought back a thick stack of documents.

Only after reading them did Zhang Ping'an realize that Nokia's predecessor was a pulp mill, and now was exactly the critical moment for its transformation.

This truly refreshed Zhang Ping'an's worldview, but crossing industries to make mobile phones was indeed a brave attempt.

At the same time, it was also the moment when internal voices in the company were most controversial; while they hadn't yet abandoned traditional manufacturing, they had now acquired the joint venture Salora, taking too big a step and ending up in a bit of a bind.

This also allowed Zhang Ping'an to see hope; the struggle between the new faction and the traditional conservative faction had not yet reached its peak, so it was not yet the best time to make a move.

"Dahu, find connections to get our people in."

"Understood, Master."

They were still at a critical moment of transformation, and the twenty-five people from Zhang Ping'an's side were all skilled hands in the communications industry, so there was a high probability they would be hired.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of April, and the foundation of the Oriental Residential Complex in Pengcheng had already been laid, after which it was being built frantically at a speed of almost one floor every five days.

With the heavy investment of the Oriental Group and several buildings under construction simultaneously, the main structure of the residential complex had risen from the ground in just five months after the foundation was completed.

This speed was simply unimaginable; in later generations, just the approval process and a series of procedures would have taken several months.

"What kind of stunt is this Oriental Group pulling? Can they even recover their costs with such heavy investment?"

"Who knows? Probably trying to compete for the top spot."

"Hahaha, then they're in trouble. The residential complex I'm building is only two hundred mu, and the floors are low too. If it weren't for saving on labor, I would have finished long ago."

"Then hurry up, don't let them steal the limelight."

"Are you going to invest for me?"

"..."

"Hmph, it's about the same time anyway, but the Oriental Group is spending so much on labor; their costs are much higher."

"Exactly, and they want to build some garden residential complex. Do these Mainland bumpkins deserve to live there? I think the Tube Building is just fine."

"Hahaha, you're right."

A group of Xiangjiang investors were all preparing to watch the Oriental Group make a fool of themselves, but unfortunately, they were destined to be disappointed.

Zhang Ping'an's first demonstration residential complex was never intended to make money, but rather to set rules and create a gimmick.

In the words of later generations, it was traffic, making them recognize only the brand of the Oriental Group or residential complexes of equal quality.

"Brother-in-law, is it really going to be one thousand yuan per square meter? Then we'll only earn, um... thirteen million after working hard for a year?"

"That's only two hundred and fifty thousand earned per building on average. This is the most failed investment I've made since I started in the business," Lou Xiaoe said with a mournful face.

"Alright, didn't I say it? This is bait, bait to pry open the Mainland real estate market. What we earn later will be the big money."

"Besides, we didn't lose money, and what I said about not making a profit is also true. I plan to give away half of this ten-plus million to the people who buy the houses for renovations."

"Ah?"

Another month and a half passed in the blink of an eye. Except for the landscaping, all other work on the Oriental Residential Complex had been completed, and old men and women were wandering around the sales office every day.

They just wanted to see what a garden residential complex was at the first opportunity and wanted to secure a house of their own.

After all, the renderings of this complex were not only at the construction site entrance but almost on every major street in Pengcheng; it could be said that most people in Pengcheng were looking forward to the appearance of the garden residential complex.

By the end of December 1984, the landscaping of the complex was completely finished, perfectly replicating what was on the renderings. The complex allowed one thousand people to visit every day, and everyone who came out was full of admiration.

Consequently, there were even more people at the complex's sales office, all waiting for the prices to be released.

On New Year's Day of 1985, the sales office of the Oriental Residential Complex was surrounded by over a dozen banners on both sides, all displaying the sales prices of the complex.

One thousand yuan per square meter, and that was for the actual interior area. Once this price was released, it directly blew up both sides of the strait.

"Damn it, this Oriental Group is simply courting death."

"With them doing this, how are we supposed to play?"

"Damn, no wonder he wanted to accelerate and finish the first one. This is a dirty trick waiting for us."

"Do you think they might have cooperation with the Mainland authorities?" an investor said leisurely.

The merchants who came to invest were all startled upon hearing this, their faces looking grim. They had intended to make a big profit, but they didn't expect it to be over before it even began.

This price and configuration completely crushed all their peers. Their own configurations couldn't even keep up with the Oriental Residential Complex; if they wanted to sell in the future, they would have to lower their prices, otherwise, why would anyone choose them?

"No, that's impossible, right? The major shareholder of the Oriental Group is a foreigner; he shouldn't be able to..."

Everyone knew it was impossible, but the price was laid out in the open, clearly favoring the Mainland.

Unlike these people with their gloomy faces, the sales manager of the Oriental Residential Complex's sales office was grinning from ear to ear. One building a day—they had simply never done such an effortless business.

At first, it was just Pengcheng locals watching, and the one thousand yuan per square meter price still discouraged many people, until people from Xiangjiang came to snap them up; then they got anxious, stopped watching, and started buying one after another.

If it weren't for Zhang Ping'an restricting Xiangjiang people to only buying one unit, they might have bought out the entire complex.

"I want ten units, cousin."

"Cousin, give me ten units, my ancestors were from Guangxi, oh."

"..."

A big man held a Xiangjiang identity card in his hand, but his mouth was speaking the Guangxi dialect.

"No."

"Ah, cousin... I was confused for a moment..." As he spoke, he was about to start singing.

"Just one unit, are you buying or not? If not, then go back."

"I'll take it."

Facing the cold and stern security, his folk song could only come to an abrupt end, and then, with a roll of his eyes, he thought of bribing a local to buy it for him, and then transferring it to him.

This move of his not only failed to get anyone to help him, but instead further stimulated the locals, who bought them one after another.

"Sell him one more unit; I see this person is also a man of temperament."

"Very well, General Manager Zhang."

Zhang Ping'an mainly wanted to thank him for stimulating the enthusiasm of the locals; otherwise, many people would still be taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"Thank you, thank you, you are a good person."

Although this person had fled there, he hadn't done very well; with the high housing prices in Xiangjiang, he could only rent a place to live with his whole family.

Now, Pengcheng, separated by only a sea, had housing prices that were only a small fraction of Xiangjiang's, and the environment was not bad either, so it naturally became his first choice.

This person was also a portrait of many people who fled to Xiangjiang in the early days; although they had Xiangjiang status, they were still doing just average.

Half a month, in just half a month, half of the sixty buildings were sold; during this period, several investment representatives from Xiangjiang came to apply pressure, but unfortunately, they were directly dismissed by Lou Xiaoe with a single sentence about the decision of the group headquarters.