MING LAN

Chapter Eighteen: My Dad’s Project

   “Appa. Today we are going to see the piece of land. You can come along. Ming Lan has no school today.” Off we go in my car. I drive with my father sitting beside me and Ming Lan in the back seat alone. She is seven months pregnant.

    My two boys, Ong Teck Huat aged ten and Ong Teck Lee aged eight are at home with their nannies. They are active children and I am worried about their safety outside. They are clever children, good in their studies but a little naughty. Ming Lan however can keep them in control. 

    Today, we are dealing with landlords, with the presence of my lawyer.

    We arrive early at the promised spot and wait for those people to arrive. My lawyer friend arrives with his assistant, signalling me to wait on. Later two cars arrive with a few elderlies inside. My lawyer gets down to talk to those people, then asks me to follow them.

    We come to a vast piece of flat land by the roadside. Some old rubber trees are growing. Everyone gets out of the cars. Everyone introduces themselves. The three land owners are among them, selling their piece of land for some reasons of their own. One man is in his fifty and two of them are older than my Dad.

    They take out their original copy of land grants showing us their land spots. We take a walk to a stretch of land. From the far end of the land there is a lake and a small flowing river.

    I look at Ming Lan, taking her hand and she turns to me smiling nodding her head happily. Whispering to me, “Beautiful. The lake and river. Just great! Our house is over here!” She shakes my hand. I grin at her, seeing her eager face. I peck her cheeks, happy to see my future house spot. My Dad and the lawyer are talking to the land owners on our left.

    After identifying and confirming the location of the land in the grant, I hear the lawyer say, “Let’s talk about this at my office.” I see my father nodding his head, turning to me and smiling. All the six cars move leaving the place. I drive following them.

    After a week the land and money exchange hands. My lawyer and I accompanied my father to the three landlords’ house. My father bought all the land from the landowners. I never expect him to do that at all. Never thought that my father would buy all of the land and is still an ambitious man.

    “Are you becoming a developer, Appa?” I ask jokingly after hearing him telling me about the acres of land he bought, feeling happy himself.

    “Why not? You and I can be in charge of that. Hire an experienced engineer, an architect and a good contractor. We can make money.” He sounds cool.

    “Seriously, Pa?” I ask in disbelief.

    “Yes, son.” He confirms it smiling, patting my arm.

    “I never thought you'd get involved. It’s good anyway. You can call back your friends to invest in this project. There’s no need for bank loans then, if you can collect enough money for this project. We still have plenty of money and stocks.”

    We are talking in the living room. I see my father nod his head, agreeing. Ming Lan comes down from upstairs with my sons talking to them. I told her what father just said.

    She lets my sons sit next to me, sitting beside her father and asking, “Really Pa? Tell me in detail.”

    He slowly tells his idea of a housing project at his age. Who knows he is still ambitious at sixty-eight. Then writing down on a piece of paper. “We must have a name for our project. What do you think of our company’s name, Keong?” He raises a piece of paper for me to see.

    “No problem. It sounds fine. ‘SENG GEE HOUSING’.” I say the name aloud. Sounds like my finance company’s name, almost the same. I see Appa and Ming Lan smile looking at me. I smile back at them. “Pa, you have to be the manager. You’re always careful in managing. You can do it. I still have the business to take care of. I’ll try to help you manage it and make more money to support you.” I told my Dad happily. I see him nodding his head, smiling at me.

    We talk about my Daddy’s dream almost every night sitting at the sofa set. Never ending planning and talking. I help put it down on papers, in sketches.

    After a month, Appa begins hiring people for the jobs. He himself interviews those people. He knows the contractor, a middle aged man, famous for his good name and trustworthy, a man of his word, not talking much. The contractor knows an engineer who is quitting his job, not being happy with his irrational bossy boss. That engineer has an architect friend, making things easier. What a smooth plan for us.

    Too good to be true but things happened smoothly.

    Mr Ong Kee Teng, my father, makes a corner of his house as his starting office. Keong set up a corner closest to the main door, with a long wooden table and comfortable chairs, a cupboard and a small table for his personal seat. He picked all the furniture personally. Dad seems to still have the managing skills at sixty-eight.

    That is where his associates, contractor, engineer, architect and his three loaded friends come and go until the project begins. They sit and talk about things everyday. The architect has completed his work. The engineer and his team, the contractor, is ready to start the work.

    Mr Ong talks about suppliers with the contractor. He gets hold of factory managers he knew, for direct construction supplies on big scales for the contractor’s convenience.

    Choosing an auspicious date, the simple land opening is carried out on the spot. Mr Ong is going to handle the in and out of money himself. He gets his daughter Ming Lan and Akeong to take notes of everything he does from the beginning. Keeping clean and clear records of everything. It has been their main focus every night after dinner. He needs their moral support and commitment.

    Keong suggested to the contractor to build a model house, complete with everything inside as in the plan. It is for the construction office where they can sleep, rest, eat and bathe, since it is going to take years to complete the whole place beginning with phase 1, 2 and 3, other than temporary buildings for the construction workers. It is also going to be ‘a show house’ for the project in future.

    Ming Lan always pays attention to their conversation whenever she is at home. She knows well what is going on too.

    My father goes and comes back everyday with Ah Seng. Ah Seng and I sometimes stay there to see the work, advising my father not to go out so much as it is dangerous for him to walk on the uneven ground, even with his walking stick. He listens and sits watching the work under a big umbrella set up for him.

    In the home office he talks to the architect about his idea of the whole place, Phase 2 and 3. He intends to have a holiday house by the lake for his family, just as I had one in mind.

    The architect sketches a rough plan following my father’s idea. I added mine. A double storey bungalow with three rooms upstairs with a living room in the centre, a big bedroom downstairs and a small room next to it, spacious hall, a toilet beside a small wet kitchen at the back part of the bungalow. Just like Ming Lan and I talked about before.

    Our house backdoor will open to the backyard small garden. The front door facing the lake has a spacious yard for my boys to play around. I hope it turns out well for us. The flower and vegetables garden on the left. With parking space on the right. It is going to be a wonderful place for my family to live in. Worse comes to worse, I can turn it into our holiday house.