Chapter 66: Rivals, Construction, and Unexpected Moves

“Yang, here’s his live stream recording. Look!”

Liu Qing didn’t know how to respond, so he promptly took out his phone, tapped a few times, and handed it over to Yang Yuan.

“How can the foundation be so huge?”

Taking the phone, Yang Yuan’s frown deepened as he immediately spotted the crucial detail.

“Exactly. We thought he was only preparing about 500 to 600 square meters, but he ended up using heavy machinery to cover 7 to 8 thousand square meters.”

Liu Qing murmured.

In that moment, Liu Qing couldn’t bring himself to look Yang Yuan in the eye.

All along, he had been offering advice to Yang Yuan—only to see each plan backfire. He even felt like a stereotypical backseat strategist, more of a hindrance than a help!

“Mingsha Tourism really isn’t stingy about investing in Xu Hao!”

After a long pause, Yang Yuan leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar.

At this point, it was obvious why Liu Qing had come to the office.

“Yang, the key is that Mingsha Tourism is now generating a steady cash flow. Besides claiming the grass lattice, they’ve opened another 100 guesthouses today.”

Meanwhile, we’ve been pouring money in.

Liu Qing muttered under his breath.

Ever since Qi Haoyong rejected our claim over the grass lattice, it felt like we were always one—or several—steps behind.

Before anyone noticed, Mingsha Tourism had transformed from an obscure startup into a mid-sized enterprise.

A former investment firm employee even ran a valuation on Mingsha Tourism. With real estate and everything, its overall worth now exceeds 50 million.

“Qi Haoyong is such a useless partner!”

Mention Ning An Cultural Tourism, and Yang Yuan’s irritation was unmistakable.

“Yang, what do we do now? Today, countless netizens have flooded Zhang Chi’s live stream, ridiculing the completed foundation.”

Moreover, Xu Hao even declared a showdown with Zhang Chi’s ancient building courtyard—the challenge was crystal clear.

After a pause, Liu Qing quietly added.

A few days ago on a live broadcast, Zhang Chi touted a 1,000-square-meter ancient building courtyard, expecting to outshine Xu Hao. But as soon as the foundation was revealed, it backfired, leaving him red-faced.

“What else can we do? Call Zhao Fei from the antique architecture company! Increase Zhang Chi’s courtyard to 9,000 square meters! Even if the guesthouses cost 15 million, throw in another 10 million or so. In short, we must not lose this time!”

Yang Yuan forcefully stomped his cigarette butt into the ashtray.

With no room for retreat, he had no choice but to match Xu Hao’s pace—otherwise, all previous investments would vanish and Tianchen Culture’s reputation would suffer.

He refused to believe that Xu Hao could suddenly expand an already leveled foundation.

Once the 9,000-square-meter ancient building courtyard is completed, it will easily outclass Xu Hao. Looking on the bright side, knowing his final building area isn’t entirely a disadvantage.

“Alright, Yang, I’ll call Zhao Fei immediately!”

“Mhm!”

“Also, keep a close eye on Xu Hao. If you notice any movement over there, report it to me right away.”

“Understood, Yang.”

Days passed, and soon another five days flew by.

During these five days, Tianchen Culture and Ning An Cultural Tourism launched another round of promotions. Zhang Chi even announced during his live stream that the ancient building courtyard had expanded from 1,000 square meters to 9,000.

Brick, timber, cement, and steel reinforcements steadily arrived, and the foundation was completely leveled—some sections had even begun to be built up with blue-brick walls.

Overall, Ning’an’s progress had completely outpaced Xu Hao’s.

Xu Hao’s fans were furious, yet powerless. With the Shadou area foundation already completed and unchangeable, they could only hope Xu Hao’s construction was of higher quality than Zhang Chi’s. But when it came to ancient courtyards, there was no universal standard—at the end of the day, it all came down to area.

That said…

Every move by Zhang Chi sent Xu Hao’s fans into a frenzy. Some even started tagging Xu Hao’s live stream online, but he neither responded nor returned to streaming, leaving his fans anxious and helpless.

Online, two factions of fans clashed fiercely, while in reality, Xu Hao continued at his own pace, unfazed by the online uproar.

In just five days, although progress in Shadou area appeared minor, significant changes were underway.

The 5-kilometer road from Hongsha Gang Village’s entrance to plot 256 was nearing completion after nonstop work around the clock; in another two to three days, it should be ready.

As for Oasis 1, aside from a noticeable increase in visitors compared to a few days ago, its biggest change was the leveled foundation.

Since the original Tengwang Pavilion was built in a corner of the ancient city, Xu Hao hadn’t altered the plan below. A 12-meter-high pedestal symbolizing the ancient city wall was completed overnight by stone masons and bricklayers.

The pedestal was built in two tiers.

The larger base sat below with a slightly smaller top tier; the eastern steps connected to the blue-brick path before the guesthouses, while the western steps led to the wooden boardwalk heading to Shaji.

Originally, the foundation was on the hillside of Shadou, but with the 12-meter pedestal in place, the ground level now seemed even higher—as if it might soon surpass Shaji.

One could imagine that once Tengwang Pavilion is completed, its height will far exceed that of Desert Pavilion on Shaji.

By then, Oasis 1 would boast two iconic landmarks, and along with the ancient guesthouses, its overall presence would rival even the top-rated attractions in the country.

At 10 AM,

Xu Hao pushed open the window and stretched lazily.

After five hectic days, he had finally finished all the blueprints and components needed for Tengwang Pavilion.

At that moment…

The sketches on the coffee table had piled up to three or four centimeters thick.

Ding-a-ling! Just as Xu Hao planned to brew another cup of tea and relax, his personal phone suddenly rang.

He walked over to his bedside, picked up his phone, and saw that Zhu Qiang was calling.

“Brother Hao, are you up yet?”

“Just got up!”

“Oh, my last batch of cypress components will reach Shadou before noon. If we don’t get any new blueprints for further parts, do you think we can start constructing the courtyard as early as tomorrow or the day after?”

Zhu Qiang’s voice echoed once more.

In recent days, both outsiders and visitors assumed nothing was happening on Xu Hao’s end, but only insiders knew that the activity at Hongsha Gang Village was far more intense than in Ning’an.

At the makeshift carpentry workshop at the entrance of Hongsha Gang Village, nearly fifty carpenters were busy processing cypress lumber according to blueprint numbers—down to the piled shavings, the scale of work was evident.

“Tomorrow or the day after?”

After a moment’s thought, Xu Hao replied,

“No need—we’ll begin construction this afternoon!”

“This afternoon? So soon?”

Zhu Qiang hesitated slightly.

“It’s fine—today is an auspicious day for groundbreaking!”

Xu Hao glanced back toward the pedestal and declared so.