The opportunity to cozy up to a powerful backer was being offered on a silver platter, and no one wanted to miss out.

Besides, if they failed to secure financing and other developers obtained ample cash flow, their future business prospects would suffer.

In the mainland market these days, the Su family name was worth its weight in gold.

Not only was it known for stringent quality control, but it also had the clout to take companies public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) through the operations of 5S International Financial Investment Bank.

After all, Su Yehao was the largest shareholder of the HKSE, owning a larger share than the Hong Kong government. Through a series of acquisitions in recent years, his stake had reached nearly 12%, almost double the government's holdings.

He swiftly settled matters with several real estate developers.

Although he didn't acquire land from them, he could still benefit from financing and equity participation.

It was the same plan as before.

Sihai International and Su Yehao himself mainly focused on high-end real estate, investing in luxury hotels, office buildings, and upscale residences.

While he didn't personally engage in ordinary residential projects, he could participate through equity investments. As long as the oversight was effective, it could save a lot of trouble.

After chatting over tea, Su Yehao agreed to consider locating some of his companies in Xiamen but made no firm commitments.

This was mainly because the area lacked an entrepreneurial atmosphere, with neither a large talent pool nor a cluster of developing industries. It didn't seem like a good place to do business but was well-suited for developing into a retirement and resort city.

This wasn't necessarily a disadvantage. On the contrary, it was a rare advantage, making it easier to achieve success in real estate, tourism, shopping, and leisure industries. With the rapid rise of the mainland economy, the homogenization of cities was becoming increasingly serious, resulting in a lack of competitiveness.

It was difficult to avoid uniformity in large-scale urbanization within a short period. Finding the right niche was more likely to lead to success. If there was a chance to turn Sanya into the "Hawaii of the East," then Xiamen had the potential to rival Miami. It was because of this investment value that Su Yehao valued the local real estate and tourism business…

……

Back at the hotel.

Su Yehao noticed a banner hanging at the entrance, welcoming the Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Industry Association, among others, suggesting some kind of exchange event was about to be held.

It was still raining outside, and the lobby floor tiles were slippery. As he walked and looked at the posters, he almost fell. Fortunately, he was supported by a bodyguard who reacted quickly.

The hotel manager, witnessing this scene, felt his hair stand on end, fearing he was about to lose his good job. He immediately rushed to Su Yehao to apologize profusely and ordered someone to call a cleaning lady.

Su Yehao didn't mind, only asking the manager to buy some non-slip mats to prevent guests from falling.

After interacting with the hotel lobby manager, he couldn't help but think that Su Yehao truly was a scion of an old-money family. His demeanor and way of handling things were far superior to others.

Due to the need for quiet in the guest rooms, the upstairs corridors were covered with thick, dark gray carpets, which were very comfortable to walk on.

When Su Yehao returned to his room, he saw his precious son watching cartoons, looking a little dazed, probably not yet accustomed to Mandarin.

Nong Qingying was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, holding the Apple iBook G4 laptop released last year. Even his own woman didn't support Huang鑽 (Yellow Diamond) brand laptops, indicating that the Huang鑽 Computer Company indeed needed improvement in its laptop business.

Seeing Su Yehao return, Nong Qingying immediately perked up and asked excitedly, "Why are you back so soon? Did you personally attend the mediation and scare everyone witless?"

"...More or less. They respect me to show me face, and we had a pleasant chat. My dad went to inspect their companies, and he might invest in a few more real estate companies. It seems like there were some property speculation groups here recently. Use Tot Browser to search for related news for me."

Su Yehao knew about the existence of property speculation groups but didn't know they were so active this early. He could only say that the market economy was indeed developing. Back in the early days, manipulating the market would have resulted in execution, but now, with tens of billions of Renminbi in funds, they had the power to drive up prices in a second-tier city.

Of course.

This required the cooperation of real estate developers and the media. Otherwise, this amount of money would be a drop in the bucket.

Many residents now had a decent amount of money in their hands, and their incomes were acceptable, but they hadn't yet developed the awareness to invest in real estate. Since they had a place to live, they preferred to keep their money in the bank and earn interest.

The property speculation groups' three-pronged approach was to first release news that prices were about to rise, then create the illusion of everyone buying property, and finally sell the properties at high prices, cashing out and leaving.

During this period, developers sold their properties, and the land auctions generated more revenue. Those who were fooled into buying properties at high prices... actually became lucky, truly embodying the saying, "A loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise."

Rather than seeing property speculation groups as speculators, it would be better to say that they were top-notch marketing teams.

If the developers didn't cooperate, how could these people so easily unload their properties? Most of the time, they only paid a deposit, essentially acting as high-priced sales agents for the developers' properties, earning the difference.

Su Yehao had just made himself a cup of tea.

Nong Qingying snapped her fingers and said to him:

"I found it! People are discussing property speculation groups in Xiamen on the forum. There are over two hundred replies in total, which seems very lively. Other posts only have a few or a dozen replies."

Referring to Baidu Tieba (Baidu Post Bar), Tot had also created a Tieba forum function. Combined with encyclopedia, Q&A, portal website and other functions, it left the mainland competitors far behind, and the user experience was no worse than Google.

Su Yehao sat down next to her and took the laptop.

After browsing, he found that someone in the post wrote that the price of a certain property was 2,999, which was incredibly high. As the property speculation groups left, the price would definitely collapse like the stock market in the previous two years.

In addition, someone asked if they would be ripped off if they had reserved a property in the island district for 3,100 yuan per square meter, asking how to cancel the purchase.

At the same time, someone also wrote that the construction cost of the house was a few hundred yuan, worth at most 1,500 yuan, waiting for Xiamen's property prices to return to rationality.

These netizens were seriously communicating with each other, and such comments seemed hilarious to Su Yehao.

In another post, Su Yehao also found that a netizen mentioned him, saying that he was met by his colleague when eating last night, and a large group of replies underneath said they wanted to kidnap him, get some luck, and help him carry his bag.

There wasn't much information about the property speculation groups.

The news mainly mentioned that the property speculation groups had arrived and that property prices were about to rise, or that the property speculation groups had left and that property prices might fall.

Su Yehao didn't need these people. He could sit back and reap the benefits. After roughly understanding the current state of local property prices, which were only half of those in Pengcheng, it was indeed very suitable to acquire more land for wealth management.

At this moment, Nong Qingying asked:

"I just went downstairs to buy yogurt for our son and saw many security guards, saying they were going to exhibit precious jade and jewelry. Shall we go take a look?"

Su Yehao jokingly replied, "Wouldn't that be terrible? It would be like a mouse falling into a rice jar. I'm afraid your wallet will be instantly emptied."

"The Bank of China gave me a credit line of 100 million Hong Kong dollars. Why would I worry about maxing out my credit card? You weren't like this before. When I said no, you insisted on giving me diamond jewelry."

"...You bring up old scores at the slightest disagreement. I'll go with you, okay?" Su Yehao said helplessly.

……