Chapter 117 - 94: They’re Actually Building Overnight

Chapter 117: Chapter 94: They’re Actually Building Overnight

Chen Hu’s words made the other construction team bosses pause for a moment. They then recalled how Kailin Investment had rushed them over, promising to cover their costs.

It looked like another opportunity to cash in.

’So what if we have to start right away?’

’As long as the price is right, we’ll start immediately and put on a good show.’

So, they all chimed in:

"President Zhao, if you want to set a new deadline, that’s possible, but you’ll really have to pay more!"

"That’s right. If the construction period is shortened, the labor costs are completely different."

"..."

Zhao Neng felt a surge of frustration. ’I already paid extra to get you all here ahead of schedule, and now you want more money?’

But one glance at the bustling construction site at Li Yuan Farm was enough for him to grit his teeth and say, "Fine. Kailin Investment can pay more, but you must start work immediately. On top of that, the current construction timeline has to be shortened by at least one-third."

"That’s no problem," Chen Hu said instantly. "As long as the money comes through, we can find more workers."

The other construction bosses exchanged a look and quickly voiced their agreement.

They were all in the construction business, so they naturally understood all the little tricks of the trade. As they agreed, they even exchanged glances, their eyes glinting with the happy prospect of another payday.

But it also made them more and more curious. Kailin Investment was just building a campground. Why the mad rush?

Clearly, just as Zhao Neng knew nothing about construction, they knew little about the business pressures he was facing.

Having made his decision, Zhao Neng wasted no time. After seeing Chen Hu and the others get the workers started, he left his assistant to supervise and took Chen Hu and the other team bosses back to the company to sign the new contracts.

Li Yuan Farm’s online popularity was soaring, and it reached a new high after the launch of the Bamboo Culture Park.

Furthermore, online promotion for projects like the Bamboo Culture Park, which combined elements of traditional culture, was considered politically correct. The higher-ups in the Capital City had issued directives supporting cultural tourism, so Tiao Yin was more than happy to boost its traffic.

So, amid all this hype, when a few tourists discovered that Li Yuan Farm was starting to build a campground, filmed it, and posted it online, it naturally attracted a great deal of attention.

The lack of lodging at Li Yuan Farm had long been a point of contention for visitors.

With more than 10,000 visitors a day, how could the hotels and inns in You City possibly accommodate them all?

As a result, B&Bs had started popping up all over You City. But since these were thrown together in a hurry, the quality was predictable, and the complaints were understandable.

Some would-be visitors from farther away were frustrated to find they couldn’t book a room at all, adding to the chorus of complaints.

Many relevant bloggers even began to criticize Li Yuan Farm for its lack of lodging, predicting that its next move would surely be to launch an accommodation-related project to cash in on its own hype.

Now that Li Yuan Farm was actually building a campground, their predictions had come true. Naturally, they jumped on it at the first opportunity to continue riding the wave.

And so, despite the Li Yuan Farm campground construction having just begun—Zhang Lin had only just had Liu De put up a sign—it was already generating massive buzz online.

This was a perfect example of the saying, "traffic is king."

As long as you have the traffic, you never have to worry about a lack of attention.

The involvement of these bloggers fanned the flames, making the campground an even hotter topic and bringing it to an even wider audience.

Even Fu Yao saw the news. She was one of the people most invested in Li Yuan Farm. After all, she had been involved in so many of its projects, so she felt a sense of pride whenever she saw good news about the farm.

Of course, she had also benefited greatly from her association with Li Yuan Farm; she had gained a considerable number of followers just because of it.

And the news about this campground really caught her attention.

Because she was the one who had designed it.

Seeing so many people paying attention to the Li Yuan Farm campground gave her a great sense of accomplishment, so she watched every single video about it she could find.

"Based on my predictions, all of Li Yuan Farm’s previous projects have been a hit, so this campground is sure to be a hit too. According to my inside sources, Li Yuan Farm hired a top-tier master designer for this campground. The design fee alone was several hundred thousand.

Don’t doubt my sources. I’ve been in this business for so long, of course I have my channels. Naturally, the specifics are a trade secret, so I can’t say more, or else they’ll send me a cease and desist letter."

When Fu Yao saw this video, she truly wanted to call out the nonsense.

’When did I become a top-tier master designer? And a design fee in the hundreds of thousands?’

’This blogger is just making things up.’

She couldn’t resist commenting under the video: "You’re just making this up to fool people! That’s not what happened at all!"

But to her surprise, her comment was immediately met with several rebuttals:

"What the hell do you know? Don’t talk crap if you don’t know anything!"

"The blogger is an industry professional, he’s been in the game for ages."

"Yeah, you’re the one who’s clueless, aren’t you?"

"..."

’???’ Fu Yao’s mind filled with question marks. ’Are these paid commenters or something?’

Before she could reply, quite a few netizens jumped in to defend her.

"Are you guys paid bots? Didn’t you see whose account this is?"

"This is Yaoyao’s account, the model for Li Yuan Farm!"

"Seriously. How can you say she doesn’t know what she’s talking about? I doubt the blogger knows more than her!"

"..."

Fu Yao smiled at this. She didn’t even need to argue back herself.

But a moment later, she noticed her comment had vanished. She clicked and saw a notification: Your comment has been deleted.

’???’ Fu Yao was left speechless. ’This blogger is lying to people, and he won’t even let anyone call him out on it?’

She couldn’t stand by and watch this person use Li Yuan Farm’s name to deceive people. She was about to comment again, but a new notification popped up. She had been muted!

Fu Yao sighed.

This was also the reason why she hadn’t taken advantage of the popularity to become an internet celebrity.

The internet was so fake.

Take this video, for example. The content was completely fake, yet the comment section was filled with praise, making anyone who watched it later believe it was true.

’But can’t anyone see through it?’

’Someone must have.’

Anyone who questioned it probably ended up just like her—comment deleted, and then muted.

That’s the internet for you.

Her mood was instantly ruined. As she exited Tiao Yin, she saw that Lin Xin had @’d her in a family group chat.

Her father was no longer in this family group chat. It was just her, her older sister Lin Xin, and their mother.

Lin Xin: "Fu Yao, your exams are over. Come visit me in Shanghai for summer break. I’ll show you all around Shanghai. I’m sure Mom will sponsor our travel expenses."

Mom: "Okay, show your little sister a good time."

Fu Yao saw these messages and immediately refused, texting back: "I’m going to Li Yuan Farm for a summer job. Besides, Uncle is using my design to build the campground, and I want to check on the progress."

Lin Xin: "A campground?"

Mom: "The one they’re talking about online?"

Suddenly, the group chat fell silent.

Lu Hua, in particular, grew uneasy. She hadn’t previously opposed her younger daughter working as a model for Li Yuan Farm. It was good for a girl to see more of the world, as long as she didn’t get taken advantage of.

But now, she felt something was wrong.

She knew all about Li Yuan Farm. The recent news only confirmed that the farm was an extraordinary enterprise.

She had just been scrolling and seen the news about the Li Yuan Farm campground herself.

’That campground is something like 2,000 mu, isn’t it?’

Her younger daughter might not grasp the scale of it, but she knew very well that such an investment had to be upwards of 50 million.

’With such a huge investment, why on earth would they use a design from a high school girl?’

’Is it because she’s so talented?’

’Absolutely not.’

’She hasn’t even studied the subject, for goodness’ sake.’

Thinking of her younger daughter’s innocent and stunning looks, she decided on the most likely reason.

’These days, rich old men love preying on young girls like my daughter.’

She knew all about these kinds of schemes.

Her older daughter had foolishly gotten into a relationship too early in high school. She couldn’t let her younger daughter be tricked too, especially by some old geezer trying to rob the cradle.

So, she immediately sent a message in the group: "Yaoyao, you are forbidden from going to Li Yuan Farm. As soon as you’re done with school, go find your older sister immediately."

"Why?" Fu Yao bristled at her mom’s domineering tone.

’If she wasn’t like this, Dad would never have divorced her.’

Lin Xin understood completely and chimed in, "My silly little sister, do you think you’re that talented or that capable? They’re using your design for a 2,000-mu campground? Let me be blunt: they wouldn’t even necessarily use a design from a top-tier university graduate, so why on earth would they use yours?"

"..." Fu Yao saw this and could only reply with an ellipsis, unsure of how to respond.

’Uncle was just so good to me about this.’

Lu Hua spelled it out bluntly: "The boss of Li Yuan Farm wouldn’t be using your design if he wasn’t interested in you! And you call him ’Uncle’? He must be at least in his thirties, right? How much older is he than you? That bastard!"

Lin Xin: "Fu Yao, I told you you were naive. The guy is an old man trying to rob the cradle!"

"Huh???" Fu Yao was taken aback by these messages. She was just stunned, nothing more, and finally managed to type one sentence into the group chat: "Uncle isn’t in his thirties!"

Seeing this message, Lu Hua and Lin Xin felt it was a lost cause.

’We said all that, and her only reply is that he’s not in his thirties?’

’Is she dense or what?’

’Can’t she get the point?’

Lin Xin: "In his forties, then? That old? That’s so creepy."

"No!" Fu Yao replied.

Lu Hua: "Don’t tell me he’s over fifty? What a shameless old man!"

"Uncle is only in his twenties. He’s very young, not much older than me!" Fu Yao sent another message to the group.

’I have to clear this up for Uncle,’ she thought.

’How is he creepy or shameless?’

Lin Xin: "..."

Lu Hua: "..."

The group chat fell silent again.

Suddenly, Lin Xin sent a message: "Mom, actually, it’s pretty good for Fu Yao to have a summer job at Li Yuan Farm!"

Lu Hua: "Then let’s leave it at that. Just don’t let him take advantage of you too quickly!"

Lin Xin: "Yaoyao, when are you going to take me to Li Yuan Farm to hang out? You should be able to get me an inside discount, right? And let me meet your ’Uncle’!"

"???" Though Fu Yao was only about to become a high school senior, she was more mature than most girls her age. She seemed to grasp the reason for the sudden change of heart from her mother and her opportunistic sister, and couldn’t help but spam the chat with a series of eye-rolling emojis.

’I can’t be bothered with them.’

...

「Time passed.」

Back at Kailin Investment Company, Zhao Neng finished renegotiating with Chen Hu and the other construction bosses in the conference room. They agreed on the new fees for shortening the schedule and signed the new contracts. By the time it was all settled, the sky was already growing dark.

To show his generosity and to ensure Chen Hu and his men would give it their all, he had specially booked a private room at the best restaurant in the county to treat them to a good meal.

’After all, it’s hard to criticize a man who’s buying you dinner, right?’

’With this show of good faith, they ought to put in their best effort for me, right?’

’I’ve already sunk a few million more into this. I have to get this campground finished before Li Yuan Farm, no matter what.’

But just at that moment, his assistant’s call came in.

He immediately answered, asking, "Is everything okay at the construction site?"

"Boss, the site is fine. It’s just that the construction crews have already stopped working for the day," his assistant’s voice came through.

Hearing this, Zhao Neng said, "What time is it? Isn’t it normal for them to stop work and rest?"

The assistant quickly explained, "Boss, I know it’s normal to stop work at this time, so I was about to head back to the office. But I just noticed that Li Yuan Farm hasn’t stopped working! They’re still at it!"

"What? Are you serious?" Zhao Neng exclaimed, causing Chen Hu and the other bosses next to him to glance over.

"It’s true! They’re still going at it full-steam right now!" the assistant said urgently.

"Gentlemen, could you come with me to the construction site?" Zhao Neng said hurriedly to Chen Hu and the others after hanging up.

He was on the verge of a breakdown. He had just paid a premium and signed new contracts with these teams specifically to keep pace with Li Yuan Farm. And now Li Yuan Farm’s crew was doing what?

’Still working late into the night?’

’Are they planning to work around the clock or something?’