Chapter 61: Desert Ventures and New Horizons

The cost for claiming the grass lattice?

Zhu Qiang and Luo Peng exchanged puzzled glances.

The grass lattices stretching for several hundred meters along the outskirts of Shadou were only recently laid down by the labor company’s workers. They hadn’t even had time to plant the saxaul saplings inside—how could they be claimed? “Yeah, that woman helping out in the pavilion has already claimed thirty-five grass lattices, marking them with her own tag,” someone noted.

A couple pointed toward Xu Hao and Han Xiaoqing in the distance and quickly said.

They had seen the claim tags and automatically assumed it was an initiative launched by Mingsha Tourism.

They especially loved this sort of activity—it seemed far more engaging and meaningful than desert archery or off-road racing, and a slightly higher cost was completely acceptable.

“Oh, I see. This is still a pilot project of ours that hasn’t been finalized yet,” he explained.

After a thoughtful pause, Zhu Qiang finally asked, “Are you guys leaving today?”

“We’re leaving tomorrow!”

“Alright, tonight our guesthouse will provide an exact plan. Then you all can choose based on the details—how does that sound?”

“Okay then, we’ll wait until this evening.”

After a few tourists left, Luo Peng turned to Zhu Qiang and whispered, “Did Brother Hao give that woman special approval?”

“Whether it was special approval or not, this idea is definitely worth pushing forward. It not only helps green the desert but also boosts our revenue. Most importantly, the tourists seem to love it! If we run things well, our guesthouse will never lack repeat customers—after all, once a tree is planted with someone’s name, they’re bound to come back to water it.”

Zhu Qiang’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Makes sense,” he agreed.

“Let’s do it. We’ll finalize this matter when we report to Brother Hao tonight,” he continued.

“Alright!”

Time flew by and soon the sunset had arrived. After a long day’s work, Xu Hao joined Han Xiaoqing for dinner at the restaurant, dropping her off at her room before returning.

At that moment,

Zhu Qiang and Luo Peng had already amassed a thick stack of documents.

To facilitate their discussion, Zhu Qiang had arranged for a small private booth in one corner of the restaurant.

“Brother Hao, what would you like to drink?”

Seeing Xu Hao arrive, Zhu Qiang immediately stood up to pour tea for him.

“No thank you! We just finished eating—how about you?”

Xu Hao waved him off, pulled a chair over, and sat down.

Interestingly, although Zhu Qiang and Luo Peng were curious about the stunning beauty, neither asked a word—and Xu Hao didn’t offer any explanation. Everyone simply understood.

“Brother Hao, we’ve just eaten too.”

“Alright then, what’s the situation outside?”

Xu Hao nodded and got straight to the point.

Although today had been hectic, the painting work was meticulous—only over half was done, and it would take most of tomorrow to finish.

Zhu Qiang and Luo Peng were handling everything happening outside.

“Brother Hao, the road being built by the leaders of Mingsha County is already underway. Their pace is amazing—they deployed over fifty machines today for round-the-clock work. At this rate, the five-lane road will be finished in no more than ten days!”

Zhu Qiang blurted this out in a rush.

The county’s swift actions were truly impressive—the progress was extraordinarily fast.

“Ten days? Great! Even though it’s only five kilometers, it’s a huge help,” he remarked.

Xu Hao couldn’t help but smile wryly.

In truth, he wished the road could extend all the way to the edge of Shadou, but with the current funds, further expansion would have to wait.

“By the way, how are the tourist numbers?”

After a pause, Xu Hao continued, “And what about the tourists?”

“Brother Hao, we’re here today mainly to discuss this with you. Ever since our pavilion was set up yesterday, our customer service has been getting hundreds of calls every day for guesthouse bookings.”

“Hundreds?”

“Yes, and it’s not just hundreds of tourists—our system can only handle that many calls daily. With all the missed calls, the actual number must be even higher.”

At the mention of tourists, Zhu Qiang couldn’t help but shake his head in regret.

If all these tourists showed up, it would be a tremendous boon for both the company and Mingsha County. Unfortunately, our current capacity can’t keep up.

“So you’re suggesting we upgrade our capacity?”

Xu Hao looked at Zhu Qiang, his unspoken meaning obvious.

“Exactly!”

“Let me think this over!”

Xu Hao leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. After a moment he asked again, “How much money does the company have in its accounts right now?”

“Brother Hao, the company currently has over a million in its accounts.”

Zhu Qiang quickly pushed the reports on the table in front of Xu Hao.

“Over a million? That much?”

Xu Hao was taken aback.

Lately, they’d spent continuously on building pavilions and buying supplies—the only income being from tourists’ accommodation and meal fees.

During live broadcasts, he hadn’t funneled any of the tips from viewers and fans into Mingsha Tourism’s public account.

After all, Mingsha Tourism already has its own corporate structure, and its major shareholders wouldn’t be willing to inject endless funds.

“Yes, although there have been expenses these past few days, most of it has gone to worker wages. The cost for the windproof, sand-fixing wheat straw wasn’t too high, and our guesthouse is booked up for the next month.”

Mentioning the financial figures, Zhu Qiang couldn’t hide a hint of pride.

A company registered less than ten days ago achieving a cash surplus already outshines 99.99% of companies in Long Kingdom.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without Xu Hao’s efforts.

Without Xu Hao’s live broadcast that drove the traffic, the public account would have been completely depleted.

“Over a million? That should be enough to develop another oasis!”

Xu Hao glanced at the desert topography map hanging on the wall.

To better visualize the guesthouse project, he had Luo Peng create a detailed map of the plot, marking every oasis and their distances from the outside world.

“In that case, let’s start by developing Oasis No.2—your previous challenge plot,” he said.

Then he stood up,

pointing at the red dot closest to Shadou on the map, Xu Hao said,

The map had been updated to mark all the oases within the plot. Shadou was labeled as Oasis No.1, and within the 2,500-square-kilometer area, there were 36 oases of various sizes.

“Brother Hao, should we continue with the traditional-style guesthouse?”

Luo Peng glanced at the map and asked.

This oasis is located about five kilometers southeast of Shadou—not too far, not too close—just right.

The reason for prioritizing the oasis was simple: given our current capabilities, we can’t build underground pipelines or set up a stable reservoir and grid, so we have to rely on the oases.

“Yes, and let’s stick with the traditional-style guesthouse. It’s cost-effective and quick to build!”

Xu Hao nodded.

With the experience gained here at Shadou, the crescent-shaped guesthouse over there could be built even more rapidly. Besides the log cabins and the Desert Pavilion, everything from mobile restrooms to other facilities could be replicated exactly.

“Alright. I’ll arrange the labor tonight so that work on the grass lattice starts there tomorrow. The small lake at Oasis No.2 is much larger than our current one; building guesthouses around it could yield at least a hundred new rooms.”

Luo Peng nodded emphatically and immediately started taking notes.

“Brother Hao, isn’t this scale too big? Could it affect your plans to build the traditional mansion here?”

At that moment, Zhu Qiang hesitated.

A hundred-room traditional guesthouse sounded appealing, but the costs—wood, labor, everything—might drain all our funds.

“Traditional mansion? We can put the traditional mansion project on hold for now,” he suggested.

Xu Hao glanced out the window in the direction of the log cabin.

Building a traditional mansion near Oasis No.1 was mainly for his own residence, and it didn’t seem urgent.

“But wouldn’t that affect our popularity?”

Zhu Qiang added.

“Affect our popularity? How so?”

“Brother Hao, just this morning Tianchen Culture and Ning’an Cultural and Tourism Group issued a joint announcement. In response to widespread public demand, they’re shifting Zhang Chi’s desert survival challenge mode into a desert construction mode. Besides supporting Zhang Chi in building his own traditional mansion, the production team will also help construct traditional guesthouses to accommodate visitors from all directions.”

They even claimed that Zhang Chi would prove his ability in building a traditional mansion, rivaling even yours, Brother Hao.

At the mention of Tianchen Culture, Zhu Qiang’s face showed a trace of anger.

No matter how grand the announcement sounded, it was essentially imitating us and trying to ride on our coattails.

“They’re building a traditional mansion too—and they mentioned me?”

Hearing this, Xu Hao’s expression grew increasingly grim.

Ever since Yang Yuan took over Tianchen Culture, they’ve been targeting him at every turn—even in Ning’an.

Between the log cabins and pavilions, he could overlook it a few times during the company’s early development, but the more he tolerated, the more overbearing and insolent that guy became.

Does he really think he can get away with it without a counterstrike? I mean, is this what they call imitation?

“Fine! Let them imitate all they want—this time, the traditional mansion project is all yours to mimic!”