Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 944 Tianpeng Drinking Water Bureau
July 6th, Sunday, the 24th day of the fifth month of the Gengshen year in the lunar calendar.

Hmm, the Year of the Monkey? Did you forget to buy a few sheets of monkey stamps?

Chen Fan glanced at the calendar, pulled himself back to reality, and smiled at the group of people in front of him, "This is a good day. It's auspicious for breaking ground, praying for blessings, and holding sacrifices. It's a good day to hold a foundation-laying ceremony."

Mr. Huo immediately laughed and said, "If Master Qinglian says it's an auspicious day, then it must be an auspicious day."

Beside him were more than thirty wealthy businessmen who had come from Hong Kong, including Gordon Wu, Li Ka-shing, Lee Shau-kee, Kwok Tak-seng, Peng Guozhen, Fung King-hei, Yip Hon, Li Mingze, and Wong Kau-kin.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Pengcheng Hotel was held, and Mr. Huo, as the major shareholder holding 10% of the shares, was naturally among those invited. Moreover, unless there were other important matters, he was obliged to attend.

As for the other Hong Kong businessmen, Ye Yufeng sent out polite invitations. Those who were willing to come were warmly received, while those who were too busy were not forced to come; it was just a token gesture.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Huo arranged a boat and brought all these people over.

In addition to those who received invitations, there were more than a dozen uninvited guests.

The reason, surprisingly, was that he wanted to meet the legendary "Qinglian Zhenren".

These wealthy businessmen had visited the mainland several times and even went to Beijing. However, they knew about Master Qinglian not on the mainland, but in Hong Kong, where they saw the calligraphy and painting personally created by Master Qinglian at Mr. Huo's home.

Those who understand art and those who don't, all fell silent after seeing that painting and calligraphy.

"Remembering Qin'e: Loushan Pass" is a timeless masterpiece by Mr. Li. The first stanza describes the scenery, while the second stanza expresses his feelings. The scenery contains feelings, and the feelings contain scenery. The scene and emotions are integrated and blended together. From the inside out, it outlines a magnificent and grand picture of a winter night march. It can be described as majestic and tragic, with a rainbow-like momentum. With just a few strokes, it has a lot of "weight". It is like a simple painting by a master.

This Qinglian Zhenren incorporated poetry into his painting, presenting the poem directly on paper. Coupled with his cursive script, which deeply embodies the essence of Mao Zedong's calligraphy style yet forms its own unique style, he brought the artistic value of this painting to its peak.

Whether you understand calligraphy and painting or not, you can clearly feel the artistic conception where the painting and the words complement each other.

This is what it means to be a master of both calligraphy and painting.

If that were all, it would be fine; at most, one could say it has high artistic value.

However, after hearing about it, a master and a Taoist priest from Hong Kong went to visit the Huo family together. Upon seeing the calligraphy and painting, they couldn't help but respectfully worship, and they both said that the person who wrote the painting was definitely a master of his generation, whose cultivation was far above theirs.

This painting and calligraphy possess a majestic and imposing presence. Mr. Li's artistic conception, combined with the brushwork of Master Qinglian, is enough to subdue an entire mountain. With this painting present, evil spirits cannot invade, and ghosts and gods will shun it; it is more powerful than any feng shui arrangement.

In other words, if the inscription on the calligraphy and painting clearly states that it is a gift to Mr. Huo, it may not have the same effect if it is left in someone else's home; otherwise, there is no doubt that someone might be tempted to steal it.

But on the other hand, if it can suppress an entire mountain, does that mean the houses next to the Huo family's house are also effective?

Almost overnight, property prices around the Huo family mansion at 33 Sassoon Road skyrocketed. It's only because the people around them are all very wealthy and have plenty of money that the volume of property transactions in the vicinity could have increased several times over.

Qinglian Zhenren also became famous in Hong Kong's high society.

Although no one except Mr. Huo has ever seen him in person, it does not diminish the high regard those in the know have for him.

Unfortunately, Master Qinglian's works were never leaked to outsiders, and they were unable to purchase them even with a large sum of money. They also had no suitable reason to visit him before, so they could only grit their teeth and secretly envy Mr. Huo.

Two days ago, many people received invitations to the groundbreaking ceremony of Pengcheng Hotel. At first, no one took it seriously until Mr. Huo said, "Master Qinglian will be present."

Then, those who received invitations, and some who didn't, shamelessly followed along. ...These were only those of high enough status; those slightly less prestigious weren't even qualified to hitch a ride on Mr. Huo's cruise ship.

With so many important figures visiting, it was only natural that Ye Yufeng put Chen Fan forward to be the receptionist for the day.

Unfortunately, if it were only these wealthy businessmen, Zhao Wanru's appearance wouldn't be considered impolite. However, in addition to them, many provincial and municipal leaders also came.

Ye Yufeng knew very well that if it were just a hotel groundbreaking ceremony, having two or three people attend would be considered "extraordinarily grand," but the number of people who came was several times more than expected.

If they weren't after the young master, she could eat the dozen or so shovels used for the foundation laying ceremony.

Oh, by the way, are a dozen or so shovels enough?
Thinking of this, Ye Yufeng quickly summoned Fang Xiaoying and asked her to prepare a few more shovels. If they weren't enough, she could borrow some from the Shunfeng Company next door. They often drove around and had to dig and fill potholes when they encountered them. They usually had shovels on their vehicles, so they had plenty in their warehouse. Going to them was definitely the right thing to do.

Fang Xiaoying was busy looking for someone to borrow a shovel, but she kept thinking to herself, "I can borrow a shovel, but there's only one foundation stone. How am I supposed to stand in it later?"
For a moment, they all felt that today's ceremony might be full of unexpected problems. Then they all looked at Chen Fan in the crowd and silently prayed in their hearts, "Young Master, you must hold on!"

Chen Fan smiled at Mr. Huo, who was there to support him, glanced at Jiang Lili, Zhao Wanru, Zhou Yali, and Ye Yufeng in the crowd, and then looked at the forty or fifty people surrounding him. He waved casually with a smile... oh, no sleeves.

It's very hot in Shenzhen in July; no one can wear a suit outdoors, not even long sleeves.

So today almost everyone is wearing short-sleeved white shirts, ...except for the ladies.

Distinguished guests would wear a small red flower on their chest, which Chen Fan considered to represent the five elements: metal, wood, water, and fire.

For the sake of our separation, let's not mention it.

He waved his hand, drawing a rainbow in the air, pointing towards the hotel model not far away.

This thing was made by a company in Hong Kong. Although it used the best materials, in Chen Fan's opinion, it was only about the same quality.

Due to the limitations of the era, we can only make do with what we have, but it's good enough for now.

"Please look this way, everyone. This is the model of Pengcheng Hotel."

Chen Fan walked to the model and waited for everyone to move over before picking up a 1.2-meter-long thin wooden stick and pointing to the 4-square-meter model plate, saying, "Pengcheng Hotel has one main building and two auxiliary buildings. Not counting the basement, the main building is 33 stories high, symbolizing the thirty-three heavens, and the auxiliary buildings are each 28 stories high, symbolizing the twenty-eight constellations."

As the saying goes, "The constellations are arrayed in the sky, and the stars are in the heavens," which is the celestial sphere.

With the main building as the body and the auxiliary buildings as the wings, doesn't it look like a great roc spreading its wings and soaring high?

The crowd gathered around the model plate, nodding in unison while whispering amongst themselves.

Hong Kong people value feng shui, especially the wealthy. As a result, these rich businessmen all know a thing or two about it and have something to say when they talk about it.

But the situation is different on the other side.

A secretary wiped his brow and whispered to the leader, "Is it inappropriate for Writer Chen to say these things in public?"

The leader's lips twitched slightly as he replied in a low voice, "You need to understand, he's not Writer Chen anymore, but a member of the National Taoist Association and the Qinglian Zhenren of Chaoyang Temple in Beijing. It's perfectly normal to see him now that he's in a different identity."

The secretary was slightly taken aback, her pupils dilating slightly. "Is that even possible?"

The leader glanced at him and said, "Then why don't you go and criticize him?"

The secretary shrank back slightly, then said firmly, "You're right. Freedom of belief was something the CPPCC made clear at the end of last year, and of course we must support it unequivocally."

The people around them exchanged glances upon hearing their conversation, then put away their strange expressions and listened to Chen Fan's serious-sounding nonsense.

Chen Fan waved his stick, pointing around in the model tray, "Look again, everyone, doesn't this roc spreading its wings look like a semicircle? And this seaside plaza in front of the hotel is also a semicircle. Add the two semicircles together, and this is another 'celestial sphere'. With the hotel entrance as the center point, draw horizontal lines of longitude and vertical lines of latitude. When the two lines intersect, they form the 'Cross Star Line'. Then, by rotating the two celestial spheres, a complete celestial sphere can be formed."

The roundness is the primordial chaos, just as the saying goes, "Dingshan Kui faces the south at 14 degrees, water in Kuizi cannot enter Chou." The roc is in the sky, coming from the west to fetch water from the sea. This is the Heavenly Roc Drinking Water Formation.

As we all know, metal is in the west and water is wealth. Metal from the west comes to the east and stops when it encounters water. Therefore, this formation is also called the Tianpeng Wealth Gathering Formation. Moreover, the water used in this formation is the sea. The sea is boundless and the seawater is endless, which means that wealth is boundless and endless.

Staying at a hotel naturally brings good fortune, which makes business go smoothly.

As soon as he finished speaking, a wealthy businessman clapped his hands and said in broken Cantonese, "Amazing! I can't wait to check in!"

If Chen Fan hadn't been fluent in Cantonese, he really wouldn't have understood what he was saying. He immediately smiled and said, "Mr. Zhu, you're too kind. We also hope that the hotel can be completed as soon as possible so that it can provide services to everyone soon."

Upon hearing that Chen Fan could speak Cantonese, everyone rushed over to chat with him.

Meanwhile, Zhao Wanru pulled Jiang Lili aside and whispered, "Xiao Fan's words sound so true, are these things real or fake?"

Jiang Lili was also a little dizzy and said, "I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard Xiao Fan say before that Feng Shui is actually just an ancient environmental science. It focuses on how to make people live comfortably. When people are relaxed and at ease, things will naturally go smoothly."

The same applies to ancestral graves. When descendants see that the environment of their ancestors' graves is beautiful, they will mostly feel happy and subconsciously suggest to themselves that their ancestors lived well. This is also an extension of the culture of filial piety.

In short, it's a kind of subconscious, gradual influence. As for these feng shui arrangements, he didn't mention them at all.

Zhou Yali muttered to herself, "I always thought my brother was a bit mysterious, but he always said he should believe in science. Today he's finally shown his true colors!"

Zhao Wanru slapped her on the back of the head. "Do you think Xiao Fan is a monster, showing his true form?"

Zhou Yali turned her head and glared at her mother with a wink, "Mom, this is a public place, aren't you afraid I'll embarrass myself?"

Zhao Wanru blinked, glanced cautiously left and right, and then nodded almost imperceptibly. "I'll let you off the hook for now, we'll talk about it tonight."

Zhou Yali's face stiffened. What did she mean by saying it would be discussed later tonight?
After exchanging views with the numerous Hong Kong businessmen, Chen Fan led them to visit the company's showroom. ...No, it should be Ye Yufeng's turn to appear here.

After all, she is the company's general manager.

Quickly call Ye Yufeng over and hand her the thin wooden stick in your hand.

However, Chen Fan did not take the opportunity to rest. As he said before, more than 80% of the people here today came for him. If he simply abandoned them and went to find some peace and quiet, it would be too impolite.

Fortunately, just following along wasn't too mentally exhausting.

After a series of activities, the auspicious time finally arrived.

Led by Ye Yufeng, the group boarded several minibuses and headed to the site of the groundbreaking ceremony.

Actually, it's just a little further east from Shunfeng Company, a flat construction site by the sea, with two rows of construction vehicles parked on the side, and hundreds of construction workers standing in two square formations, like soldiers waiting for inspection.

Okay, he was a legitimate engineering soldier, the kind with military status, so calling him a soldier wouldn't be wrong at all.

At one point on the construction site, a large pit had been dug in the ground, with a stone tablet buried inside, awaiting only the filling in of the earth. Next to it were two rows of long tables, on which were placed shovels adorned with large red flowers, as well as various other ceremonial items.

Several minibuses stopped not far from the stone monument, and everyone got off one after another.

In the vast field, everyone looked up and gazed into the distance.

Mr. Huo nodded slowly and said to Chen Fan, "The location you chose is even better than the White Swan Hotel."

Chen Fan shook his head and laughed, "It's different, completely different. The place you chose was Shamian, which was one of the most prosperous places in Guangzhou back then. It had beautiful scenery and a rich cultural heritage, and it was truly a quiet oasis in the midst of the hustle and bustle. But here..."

He turned around and pointed around, saying, “It’s no exaggeration to call this a desolate wilderness. Moreover, this place used to be a rugged hillside with mountains and pits. It was only after the mountains were blasted and the pits filled that this flat land was created. The two are completely incomparable.”

At this moment, Li Zhaoji took a few steps closer and asked, "Mr. Chen, you yourself said that this place can be described as a desolate wilderness, so why did you think of building a five-star hotel here?"

As he spoke, he pointed in all directions, "And on such a large piece of land, three such tall buildings were built?"

Chen Fan smiled, and seeing that quite a few people had been drawn to the scene, he raised his voice slightly and asked, "Mr. Li, have you ever been to the Shekou Industrial Zone?"

Li Zhaoji nodded immediately, "At the beginning of the year, I went there at Mr. Huo's invitation."

Originally, Mr. Fok and other Hong Kong businessmen were not scheduled to visit Shekou for the first time until the end of this year. However, influenced by Chen Fan, Mr. Fok became a shareholder of the hotel and came almost a year earlier. He was accompanied by more than a dozen Hong Kong businessmen, including Li Zhaoji.

Chen Fan glanced at President Yuan who was walking over and asked with a smile, "How are you feeling?"

Li Zhaoji nodded immediately, "It's far beyond my expectations. I've seen old photos of this place, and I simply can't connect the current Shekou with what it used to look like."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "That's it. Mr. Li has a poem that goes: 'Erect a stone wall on the West River, cut off the clouds and rain of Wushan, and a lake emerges from the high gorge. The Goddess should be well, and will be amazed at the world's transformation.' If even a high gorge can produce a lake, what about an industrial park?"

Although this place used to be a desolate wilderness, I believe that after being selected by higher authorities, it will soon become a thriving region. At that time, let alone one hotel, even ten or a hundred might not be enough to meet the demand here.

Li Zhaoji's eyes gleamed as he stared at Chen Fan and asked, "Are you that confident?"

Chen Fan raised his head without hesitation, "I'm a hundred times more confident than you can imagine."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhaoji immediately understood what was going on.

Just as he was secretly pleased with himself, he suddenly noticed that his old friends were also calm and composed, clearly having already made up their minds. He immediately frowned involuntarily.

Chen Fan was initially puzzled when he saw his expression.

The next second, he suddenly realized.

Oh no! I was so light-footed that I accidentally fell into a pit.

Well, it's not exactly a scam.

That's right, I just inadvertently "revealed a secret," which gave these Hong Kong businessmen a lot of confidence in investing.

Imagine someone who is a big believer in fortune telling, and learns from a true person that a certain place will become a prosperous place in the future. What would they do?
Without a doubt, you can confidently and boldly invest your money!

Seeing the eager expressions on the faces of these Hong Kong businessmen, Chen Fan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Although it's quite unpleasant to have my "fortune telling" taken advantage of, I don't know whether to laugh or cry if it brings dozens of huge investments to Shenzhen ahead of time.
He secretly glanced at Ye Yufeng, who was chatting and laughing with the leaders, and prayed in his heart that she wouldn't associate the situation with him when she found out that so many big-name competitors had entered the game.

(End of this chapter)