Chapter 80: Building a Private Seaside Villa? What could be so mysterious!

Chu Lin sensed Li Qian’s bashfulness, which made him even more pleased. Wasn’t it said that to truly understand a girl, you must travel all four paths of intimacy with her? Of course, some girls are rather flat, so there are only three paths. He and Li Qian had already traveled three, but she had always refused to compromise on the last one—today, it seemed he would finally have his wish.

“Let’s swim a bit longer, then rest on the beach chairs. Afterward, I’ll make you some fresh juice,” Chu Lin said. He didn’t try anything indecent with Li Qian in the water; after all, she was his woman, and he had invited her to swim, not to some wild party. When it was just the two of them, it was fine, but Huang Bin and Liu Yan were nearby.

After swimming for a while, the four of them retreated to the beach chairs to rest. Chu Lin went to the juicer to make fruit juice. Seeing this, Huang Bin followed him.

When only he and Huang Bin were at the juicer, Chu Lin glanced curiously at Liu Yan. “So, tell me, what’s going on between you and Yan?”

Huang Bin answered candidly, “She gathered enough evidence to file for divorce. The court mediated yesterday, and the man, afraid of losing everything, signed on the spot. She cried after leaving the court and asked me if I’d be her boyfriend. I agreed.”

“You’re serious?” Chu Lin was astonished; it was the first time he’d seen such a seamless transition.

Huang Bin smiled at his words. “The truth is, Yan is beautiful, has a great figure, and a mature charm—she’s exactly my type. The less honest answer is, I had no idea her family runs one of the biggest engineering and design companies in Min City, and she wants to buy a villa for me to live in.”

Chu Lin was momentarily speechless. So, this Yan was a bona fide wealthy and elegant older sister?

Huang Bin went on, “Yan said I have a year to decide. If I’ve had enough fun, I can marry her, but if I mess around after marriage, she’ll castrate me. She doesn’t want to be betrayed again. If I’m still undecided after a year, she’ll give me half a million and tell me to get lost.”

Chu Lin stared in amazement at Yan. Was this elegant lady really so fierce?

After a moment, he laughed and said, “If that’s the case, apart from her divorce, Yan really is a perfect older sister.”

“Chu Lin, can we not be so shallow?” Huang Bin disagreed, “In today’s society, what’s the difference between a new car and a used one? A new car may be new, but you never know how many people have taken it for a test drive, or how many repairs it’s needed because of those test drives. Yet people still pay hundreds of thousands for them. Some used cars are different; at least you know they’re used, and with luck, you might find a premium one that’s only been driven by one person, barely used, and with boxes of cash inside. And what’s the point of a new car anyway? You drive it for three years in high school, only for someone else to take it away, and then you find it listed in the car-sharing market!”

Chu Lin couldn’t help but jest, “Huang Bin, impressive—using metaphors now.”

But it was true. Huang Bin even used Lin Nian as an example; clearly, he still had grievances over that car he drove for three years. Comparing the art college to a car-sharing market was actually quite fitting.

The two finished juicing and returned to the beach chairs, handing the drinks to Liu Yan and Li Qian.

“Mr. Chu, this place is so much better than those coastal resorts that just focus on scenery,” Li Yan couldn’t help but praise. She’d visited many seaside resorts, but none matched this place for water quality or views.

She sighed, “If one could build a villa here by the sea, it would be an indescribable pleasure. Too bad this is aquaculture land and residential construction isn’t allowed.”

Chu Lin’s eyes lit up at her words. Building a villa in front of this bay would truly be extraordinary, unrivaled in style. Wealth calls for houses, cars, women—he was only missing the house. As for not being able to build a residence on aquaculture land, a bit of cleverness could solve that.

So he turned to Liu Yan, “Yan, hearing you say this, I really want to build a villa here. Since I don’t serve two masters, I’ll entrust this matter to you.”

Liu Yan was clearly taken aback and quickly reminded him, “Mr. Chu, I was just speaking casually. Building a residential villa on aquaculture land is against regulations.”

Chu Lin grinned, “Yan, am I building a residential villa? I’m constructing an office area for the farm. The contract allows for office construction, and there’s no rule against making the office a bit nicer, is there?”

Liu Yan paused, understanding his meaning. Many people did this; for example, the bustling Qinglin Resort in Youcheng, where the owner built a private estate within the contracted resort area.

She felt compelled to remind him, “Mr. Chu, though you have a solution, there won’t be any property certificate for such a building.”

“Yan, that’s not a concern. I’ve thought it through, so I’ll trouble you with it,” Chu Lin replied, unconcerned. Tomorrow, he’d visit the Fisheries Bureau to have Director Wang amend the contract to a twenty-year lease. For those twenty years, would property rights matter? He might not even live here for twenty years. With his game system, he might move on in a few years, and Pingjiang District would beg him to stay.

“Alright, then, do you have any requirements for the villa’s design?” Liu Yan nodded. She’d only offered initial advice because Chu Lin was her boyfriend’s friend; since his attitude was firm, further warnings would be impolite.

Now it was a business matter. She asked, “If you like modern style, I’ve designed a model I intended to enter in a seaside villa innovation competition. I can show it to you.”

“Thank you, Yan,” Chu Lin said, not refusing. A designer’s competition piece would be crafted with care, and offering it to him was surely influenced by Huang Bin’s affection for her.

Soon, Liu Yan took out her phone and showed him the design. He had to admit, it was impressive—just the concept drawing made him fall for it.

The design was a stylish two-story villa with a large terrace and a platform on the first floor, offering ample activity space. The platform was designed to extend directly over the bay’s waters. Once built, he could sit on the beach chair and gaze at the bay and the seagrass below.

He could enclose the entire five hundred acres of bay within the villa’s domain, build a floating walkway for isolation, and have a private kingdom. Of course, the actual construction would have to be tailored to his bay, and the villa and farm separated, with a separate access road.

That would be simple—even if the villa covered a thousand square meters, it would only require three acres.

Li Qian, curious, craned her neck to look at the design, so Chu Lin handed her the phone. “Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful!” Li Qian was instantly captivated by the stylish concept, though she felt a bit down, since even if it were built, Chu Lin would share it with his girlfriend. But then she thought, since Chu Lin brought her here, he’d surely let her enjoy it too. Besides, if Chu Lin broke up, she’d be the official girlfriend—he promised. With this thought, she felt much happier.

Chu Lin smiled and said to Liu Yan, “Yan, let’s use your design. Prepare the contract, and we’ll sign it soon.”

Liu Yan nodded, surprised that a casual outing with her boyfriend had led to such a big deal. Chu Lin clearly had real power; the seagrass alone was proof enough.

Liu Yan took her work seriously; after agreeing with Chu Lin, she began examining the surroundings.

Huang Bin remembered the main topic. “Chu Lin, didn’t you ask me to find clients? What’s that about?”

“I’ve come across something good recently. Let me show you,” Chu Lin replied, asking Li Qian to stay with Liu Yan as he led Huang Bin to his bedroom.

“What’s so secretive?” Huang Bin asked curiously.

“You’ll see in a moment.” Chu Lin entered the bedroom, took out some prepared ambergris, placed it on a bottle cap, and lit it.

Instantly, wisps of white smoke rose.

“Chu Lin, since when did you get into incense? Don’t tell me this is—” Huang Bin began, but stopped short, as a unique, enticing fragrance filled the air.

At first, he simply thought it smelled good, but after a moment, shock appeared on his face.