Zhang Ying thought Lai Xiaodong was a brute who only knew how to swing an excavator and swear.
Lai Xiaodong thought Zhang Ying was an ivory-tower academic who only knew how to talk theory and had no idea how ordinary people suffered.
It wasn't until an priceless old map brought them together, and a stormy night nearly caused the foundation to collapse, that they finally understood:
In this jungle of steel and concrete, street smarts can keep you alive, book smarts can help you thrive, but only by combining the two can you fight your way through the battlefield of real estate.
To meet the deadline, she dared to lie in a freezing excavator bucket to stop a forced demolition. To secure the land, he dared to sell his luxury home and sports car to raise enough cash to stay afloat for a week.
They entered a sham marriage, shared a bottle of water at the construction site, and plugged the same leak in the pouring rain.
Everyone called Nianchu a “miracle.” Only they knew it was a “race against death” won by risking everything.
But when skyscrapers rose from the ground and capital turned ravenous, their ideals collided with the need to turn a profit.
He said, “We need to go public. We need profits.”
She said, “We need a conscience. We need principles.”
Will this battle end in court, or will they fight side by side to reclaim the top?
From a handshake among the ruins to standing guard over countless homes,
this is more than a story about houses. It is about two lonely souls building an unshakable city for themselves and everyone else in a restless age.
