After hearing what Teacher Wang said, Hong Dali rubbed his chin and said, “This… How about this? You stand in as the Principal first. That should not be a problem, right? If you feel like it, you can announce the time, or you can just take a nap in the communications room. Do whatever you feel like doing. You are single with no dependents, so it doesn’t matter where you stay, right?”
Teacher Wang gave it some careful thought. “That’s true. Let’s do it this way, then. I’ll put my old self on the line and temporarily stand in as the Principal. Keke, Young Master Dali is a good man, you will definitely have good fortune.”
Are you giving me the good guy card?
Regardless, the New Lanxiang Vocational School had a responsible and good Principal now. Hong Dali was satisfied with the appointment. He snapped his fingers and said, “Come, let’s go take a look. Come to think of it, I have not taken a look at the school since construction started.”
It was a procession with a group of people, a few cars, followed by Big Turtle the Black Tortoise and ending with more than a hundred security officers. They made for quite a majestic sight on the way, much like a Head of State surveying his country. Soon, they reached the location of the school.
Hong Weiguo found a rather good location for the New Lanxiang Vocational School that Hong Dali wanted to build. It had the outer area of Tianjing Mountain at its rear and covered a land area of tens of thousands square meters. The workers worked fervently and had already completed a few of the main buildings. The place was growing in size. The outer circumference was made of a very long wall, with canteens and dormitories further in.
To be honest, Hong Dali’s father had been more than generous. This school was about as grand as Tianjing College where Hong Dali was currently studying. However, Hong Dali still felt that it was not enough.
It was his own land, after all, why should he not build it as majestic as he wanted?
Hong Dali stretched out his hand and touched his chin. He asked Ling Xiaoyi, “Xiaoyi, how much have we spent on this school to date?”
Ling Xiaoyi replied, “Young Master, we have only got the foundations and the basic structures of the various buildings ready. It’s just the teaching building that’s progressing quicker than the rest. To date, we have spent about four million yuan. We spent around 800,000 on the surrounding wall and have not actually started on the rest yet.
In actual fact, the most expensive things in building construction were firstly the land, and secondly the interior. The building itself was not that costly.
If it were a normal person, the most important thing would be to conserve capital. Hong Dali, however, possessed the Great Prodigal System, and saving on capital was the last thing he wanted to do. He still had a Main Mission to complete. If he failed, it would mean ten points off his sexual capability. That would be terrible. Heaven knew if it would still increase after it got taken off. Hong Dali shook his head decisively and said, “Not enough, it’s still not enough!”
Tang Muxin, who still had the kitten in her arms, asked curiously, “Err. Dali, what is still not enough? This place is already not bad. Our Tianjing College is only about this size, this is still not enough?”
Hong Dali continued shaking his head. “Not enough, it’s still not enough! This is our own school. How can it only be of this size? Xiaoyi, ask everyone to stop work first, we need to rebuild. Right, bring me the building plans as well, I need to take a good look at them.”
Upon hearing what Hong Dali said, Teacher Wang twisted his body and asked in a trembling voice, “Young Master Dali, Don’t tell me you intend to demolish and rebuild the entire school? That would waste a lot of money…”
Hong Dali scratched his head and said, “Yes. If I want to do it, it must be the best. I’ve even got the advertisement slogan for New Lanxiang ready. Learning how to flirt… Ah no. Learning technical skills, come to New Lanxiang. Eight thousand stainless steel beds, three thousand skilled female juniors!”
Teacher Wang was so shocked by Hong Dali’s words that he fell on the floor on his bottom. He said dejectedly, “This is your slogan for the technical school? It’s hopeless, hopeless!”
Hrm, eight thousand stainless steel beds, three thousand skilled female juniors…
That did sound rather improper…
Teacher Wang was a frugal man. He pointed at Hong Dali and shouted angrily, “What do you think you are doing, aren’t you being a prodigal son now?” Then he pounded the floor and cried out, “I must have been out of my mind. How could I have thought of approaching a prodigal son like you… You have never wanted to set up a proper school from the very start. All you want to do is waste some money since you have way too much of it!”
It was understandable that he would behave as such. Almost five million had been spent on the school so far, and Hong Dali was going to abandon it on a whim. No one would be able to take it. It was especially hard for Teacher Wang as he was of an older, more conservative generation. He was an intellectual, and the greatest amount of money he had ever seen was probably less than tens of thousands. He was probably in relatively good health if Hong Dali’s flagrant disregard for millions of dollars did not give him a heart attack.
Hong Dali did not get angry. He said passionately, “Teacher Wang, look, I’m sincere about setting up a school so that the children who come from afar have a good place to learn. I have already decreed that they will have free food and lodgings, as well as fees. I will even help them find jobs in the future. This school has to be well planned! Appearances, correct? Don’t worry yourself over this.”
Hong Dali said this sincerely. Teacher Wang looked up at him while seated on the ground. “You will really do that? You are not setting up a school just so you can burn more money?”
Hong Dali nodded vigorously. “Of course. I might be a prodigal son, but I’m still a reliable person.”
Teacher Wang glanced at Big Turtle standing behind the group. Finally, he rose slowly to a standing position and said to Hong Dali, “Don’t lie to me. If the kids’ future is ruined because of you…” His face and voice grew agitated as he said this. “I will haunt you even if I become a ghost!”
Damn, I had no idea you were versed in the mystic arts.
As they were talking, Ling Xiaoyi came over with an engineer in tow. The engineer had a safety hat on and was in his forties. He recognized that the man before him as Young Master Hong Dali and immediately asked subserviently, “Young Master Dali, you are looking for me?”
Hong Dali chuckled. “Yes, right. This, this school of ours, exactly how big is it? Are there any building plans? Quick, let me see them.”
“Building plans? Yes!” As an engineer, building a building without building plans was like eating rice without a bowl. He quickly took out the plans and found a place to spread them out. “This school of ours takes up a huge land area and has a strong surrounding wall. There’s one dormitory block now. With four people to a room, it can house five hundred people. There’s one teaching block that can hold one thousand six hundred students and one hall that can take up to one thousand students during student meetings with no problems.
“One student dormitory, two stories high. It will be able to feed two thousand people at a time without any issues. Rubberized track and field that’s four hundred by three hundred. It’s definitely spacious. Four basketball courts and an outdoor swimming pool—the pool is six hundred square meters. You can swim in it in summer, and in winter it can be an ice skating rink…”
To be honest, a school of such a scale would be an elite establishment no matter where it was built. It would definitely be more than enough to be used as a high school. That, however, would depend on who you were talking to. To some, this school was already lavish beyond imagination.
In Hong Dali’s eyes, however, it was not lavish enough.
“Yes, not enough. It’s still not enough!” Hong Dali rubbed his chin and looked around. This was the plains leading towards the outer area of Tianjing Mountain. There was nothing but emptiness all around. He thought about it and climbed onto Big Turtle’s back. He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked around. Then, he took another look and started chuckling. This laugh of his became increasingly strange. The more he laughed, the more it made one feel goosebumps rising all over.
He continued laughing while everyone below almost collapsed from shock. He finally came down and, when he spoke, everyone was stunned. “I suddenly have a great idea. Haha! Throw away all these building plans. Yes, stop the work for the time being. Wait for me to get new building plans.”
The engineer was thoroughly stunned. “This… The foundations we spent five or so million building, we are just going to abandon it?”
“Yes, no need to hurry, just leave it there. I will send some professionals over to deal with it.” As he spoke, Hong Dali tapped on the communication watch on his wrist. It was a gift from Lin Chuyin, the super technological geek. “Chuyin, hello, is there any sound? Can you hear me?”
Lin Chuyin’s voice came in over the watch. “Oh, yes. Is anything the matter?”
“Hmm, yes.” Hong Dali grinned while speaking into his watch. “I intend to build a high-end sci-fi town. Are you free now? Can you come here? Oh right, remember to bring your notebook. We’ll go all out this time!”
Hehe, now that the System has been upgraded, there are lots of things I can spend on. We might as well create a big sci-fi town. Wahahaha! That will be satisfying!
“Oh. Okay. Ten minutes.” Lin Chuyin terminated communications.
Tang Muxin stomped her feet. “Dali, have you gone crazy?! Sci-fi town? School?! You want to build a sci-fi town in New Lanxiang Vocational School? How much will that cost? This is a non-profit school!”
“I know. So what?” Dali asked, questioningly.
This time, everyone was stunned. Really stunned.
Sci-fi town, with Lin Chuyin, the technological geek’s aid in planning, this… without a few hundred million, it was unlikely that this would even be doable. Things were getting serious!
It was just as well Tang Muxin was well aware that there was no one on earth currently who could stop Hong Dali from trying to bankrupt his family. She didn’t bother asking him and just secretly pulled Ling Xiaoyi over, asking, “Big Sister Xiaoyi, this sci-fi town that Dali wants to build, what kind of returns do you think it will have? It’s not a small sum—hundreds of millions in all—and that might not cover it. If there is no profit to be had at all, then…”
This time, Xiaoyi really did not know how to calculate the cost. A sci-fi town was not a small project. She also had no idea what scale Hong Dali wanted it on. In the end, the two of them—three actually, including Li Nianwei—thought for a good while and concluded that they had better wait for Lin Chuyin to arrive before deciding on anything. From the looks of things, it would all depend on how generous Lin Chuyin was.
Soon, the low hum of a motor was heard. Lin Chuyin, with sky-blue colored hair tied in two ponytails, alighted nonchalantly from the car. She went to Hong Dali’s side and said, “I’m here. The sci-fi town that you were talking about, what is it?”
