sbdcsierra Chapter 1806, Building 1
Chapter 1806, Building 1
Chapter 1806 A Building
Lin Dongxue came back that evening and said that if it was convenient, she would visit him the day after tomorrow morning and make preparations for him the next day. However, she would have to see if the couple was available. If they were not available, she would postpone it for another day.
The two of them naturally said they were free, so they only took half a day to come out and greet people. In the afternoon, they could do whatever they wanted.
The next morning, Ye Yaodong and his wife drove to Director Zhang's real estate agency.
Director Zhang received his call the day before and had already had someone compile all the eligible property information a day in advance, so he immediately came out to greet him as soon as he arrived.
"Wow, Mr. Ye is awesome, driving a Mercedes-Benz W140?"
"My wife drives it; I haven't driven it yet. I haven't even taken my driver's test."
"The proprietress is amazing too! You two are both so capable. Please come in."
The two shook hands and exchanged pleasantries as they walked inside.
When Ye Yaodong went to the shipyard, there weren't many cars that could drop him off. If they did, they would only drop him off at the main gate, and then he would have to go inside to find someone himself. Director Zhang didn't actually see his Mercedes-Benz.
"Director Zhang, how have you been? You seem to be even more blessed after the New Year."
"Haha, Mr. Ye, you still know how to talk. I just ate too much during the Chinese New Year and gained several pounds."
"This isn't called being fat, it's called being blessed. You can only be fat when you're living a comfortable life and have no worries."
"I really enjoy talking to Mr. Ye. If your factory wasn't located in Shanghai, I would go to your place for tea every day."
“If there’s a chance, I’ve set up Dongsheng Freight Transportation Department here, and also an office, which I’ve handed over to my wife to manage.”
Director Zhang, with a look of surprise and a smile, congratulated him, "Boss Ye's business is really growing bigger and bigger! You have a processing plant, an office, and a transportation business. It's becoming more and more successful. Congratulations!"
"Haha, you're the same. Look at your shop, it's expanded and renovated. You've even replaced the tea table with a new one."
"We're thinking about starting the new year with a fresh look. We can't stay in this shabby little house forever. We need to fix up the facade, or we'll fall behind others."
"Once you make money, you should try to make some money to gain people's trust."
Ye Yaodong wasn't in a hurry. Seeing that he had brewed tea, he sat down and waited to drink it. It would be good to have some tea to refresh himself early in the morning.
"As soon as you called, I immediately had someone compile all the suitable listings. Let me tell you about them first."
“Okay, let’s talk about this property over tea. I don’t know as much about it as you do, so you can tell us about it first and then we can decide where to look first.”
"Okay, actually there are mostly new houses available now, and very few employee housing units are for sale..."
Those were the result of decades of hard work by veteran workers, many of whom lived in small houses of only 30 to 50 square meters.
Even if they are for sale, they are usually consumed by relatives and friends and do not circulate to outsiders.
"There are indeed some newly completed residential complexes available now, and I recommend that you buy these new houses. After all, they're newly built, and houses that are 10 or 20 years old can't compare to new houses. These developments are mainly concentrated in Xuhui and Baoshan districts of Puxi, and some are also in Pudong, as well as Jiading and other areas. The prices vary quite a bit..."
Ye Yaodong and his wife didn't interrupt him, letting him speak first while they drank tea to get to know each other.
After he had learned about the situation, he gave his opinion and asked Director Zhang to take him to see apartments in the nearest residential area, starting from the nearest and gradually moving to the farther ones.
They weren't in a hurry to make a decision immediately; it wouldn't be too late to visit several neighborhoods, understand the location and environment, and then decide.
We drove their car there, which was convenient and quick.
"Your car is so comfortable, it's really high-end, amazing! Mr. Ye, your business is growing bigger and bigger at such a young age, and you're even driving such a nice car now."
"I'm not young anymore, I'm almost 40..."
"What? You're 40? You must be kidding me..."
"Do I look like I'm joking? We've known each other for five or six years, I can't still look like I'm in my twenties or thirties, can I?"
"That's true, but I haven't seen any change in you in five or six years..."
Ye Yaodong was smug. He was originally fair-skinned, but after going to sea a few years ago, even though he took protective measures such as wearing a mask, he still got a bit tanned.
After not going out to sea for the past two years, my skin has become fair again. It's true that fair skin makes you look younger, while dark skin makes you look more mature.
"Not much has changed in the past five or six years, and I don't think you've changed much in the past five or six years either."
"Things have changed. You must have made a fortune in the last five or six years, getting into the boat business every year."
"Speaking of the ship, I'll need Director Zhang to keep an eye on it and urge it on. Ideally, it should be delivered in the first half of next year. Once the house issue is settled, I'll go to the shipyard to take a look."
"I'll definitely keep an eye on your ship, don't worry. I'll stay with you for the next few days."
Lin Xiuqing interjected, reminding us, "Let's take a look today. We definitely can't see all the houses in one day. We're busy tomorrow morning, so we'll come back tomorrow afternoon."
"No problem, you told me in advance, so I'll definitely make arrangements to accommodate your schedule. You're my saviors; if it were anyone else, I wouldn't even need to ask, I'd just just hand them over to the shop assistants."
"Thank you so much, Director Zhang, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to accompany us to see the house."
"Isn't this what I should do? I've already said, you're my benefactor..."
The two of them flattered and praised each other, spending the entire day praising each other while looking at houses.
After finishing dinner and returning home, Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing were so exhausted that they didn't want to move a single finger. They slumped their heads together on the sofa, then slid down and lay flat.
"I'm so tired, I've never been this tired even when I'm at work."
"You still have the strength to speak, but I don't."
"You've been flattering Director Zhang all day long, no wonder you're too tired to talk, you've already said everything."
"They were so kind to me, I had to reciprocate. It's about keeping up the good relationship. The more we talk, the better we'll get."
"I'm not going to talk anymore. I need to catch my breath. There are elevators everywhere, and I didn't climb many stairs, but I'm still exhausted."
Ye Yaodong stopped talking and lay down to rest and recover his strength.
After a long while, he asked Lin Xiuqing, "How many neighborhoods did you look at today? Did you find any you liked?"
“I think Xuhui is pretty good. It’s close to our apartment in Jing’an, and it’s also in the center of Shanghai. There are also hospitals and schools nearby, so it’s quite convenient.”
"Of course it's good. It's one of the first batch of commercial housing projects. How could it not be good?"
"But it's not cheap. I just asked and the cheapest one is over 3000 yuan per square meter, and the more expensive ones are five or six thousand. If you want to buy a 70 or 80 square meter apartment, it would cost three or five hundred thousand yuan."
“There’s a reason why it’s expensive. We also went to look at a staff apartment, which was only a little over 1000 yuan per square meter. They even have apartments that are 30 to 50 square meters. Do you like them?”
"It's not that the staff housing is bad; the locations are all very good. It's just that we've seen good ones before, so we'll definitely make comparisons."
"I'll go to Pudong again tomorrow afternoon. There's development going on there too. I'll decide after I see it."
Lin Xiuqing turned over, propped her chin on her hand, and looked at him. "How many sets do we want to buy?"
"What do you think?"
"I don't think five or six sets are too many, right?"
Ye Yaodong shook his head with a smile, "We currently have at least 40 to 50 million in readily available cash assets. We earned quite a bit last year because of the Canton Fair, and we also have fishing boats. Although we spent a lot, it's nothing compared to what we earned."
"Then let's buy ten sets? Each set costs three to five hundred thousand, so ten sets would be three to five million. My goodness, all that money going towards buying houses? We already have way too many houses!"
"I saw a building in Xuhui with only 52 units..."
Lin Xiuqing's eyes widened, and she stammered, "One...one building after another?"
Ye Yaodong stroked his chin. "I estimate the price will be around 2000 million? Or maybe a little less? How about we use half the money to buy it?"
Lin Xiuqing couldn't utter a word as she opened and closed her mouth.
"So? No objections? If no objections, then it's settled?"
Lin Xiuqing quickly grabbed his arm, "No, you're kidding, right? Buy an entire building? Who buys a whole building?"
"You only spent a few million yuan to buy land in Zhoushan and build a fishmeal processing plant, including all the robots and workers. This one building, 20 million..."
Spending so much money...
She couldn't breathe.
"I just wanted to buy it quickly because it was cheap, otherwise I wouldn't be able to buy it at this price later."
"This is cheap? It costs three to five thousand per square meter. You call this cheap? Most people can only afford one or two square meters with a year's salary, right?"
“That’s how it is for ordinary workers, but you’re underestimating the senior staff here. Director Zhang said that some technical personnel earn several thousand yuan more a month, especially in foreign-invested enterprises.”
Lin Xiuqing's heart was still trembling. To think that a house would cost 2000 million just by asking for money was something she had never even considered. She had never imagined spending millions of dollars.
I thought buying 10 sets was already a big deal, but I never expected there would be something even crazier.
"Would you like to reconsider this?"
"Want to think about it some more? Then let's consider it and see what's going on in Pudong tomorrow afternoon before making a decision."
She quickly nodded, "Yes, yes, let's look at the ones in Pudong before deciding. They'll definitely be cheaper there. They're under development now, so there will definitely be more properties to choose from in the future."
“Pudong is under development, and there will be more options. We can buy in Pudong in a couple of years. Shall we buy that building in the XH district first?”
Lin Xiuqing clutched her chest. "Let's wait until tomorrow afternoon to see the Pudong area before making a decision. We can also ask if there are any discounts for buying more, or if it would be cheaper to buy directly from the developer?"
"Not necessarily. Their agents can definitely get a lower price than us."
“Let’s put all the funds we have together, it’s probably only around 40 or 50 million, and you’ve already spent half of that…”
"There's still half left, what's there to be afraid of? Several factories are making money, fishing boats are making money, and I'm worried about having so much cash in the bank. Wouldn't it be better to just exchange half for houses? House prices are bound to go up in the future."
"It's already three to five thousand per square meter, how much higher can it go? Ordinary people can't afford this price anyway."
"Ordinary people can't afford it anyway, but rich people can. Does the world need more rich people?"
"There's no shortage of rich people..."
“We’re already among the wealthy. There are so many rich people in this world, and we’re just one of them, and an unknown one at that. There are many people richer than us, and of course they need to buy houses too.”
Lin Xiuqing still felt a pang of heartache, as half of her family fortune was about to be spent.
"It doesn't seem like we need to buy so many houses, we can't possibly live in them all..."
"There's definitely not enough room for everyone. There are only a few of us, and even one apartment per person wouldn't be enough. We bought so many apartments to rent out, just like those two rows of rental houses in Pudong. The whole building is our own, so we don't have to run around looking for apartments anymore. It's much more convenient to collect the keys from each apartment with just one bunch of keys."
"Collecting rent for an entire building, that sounds pretty tiring..."
Ye Yaodong couldn't help but laugh, "Taking money is tiring?"
Lin Xiuqing smiled too.
Just then, the sound of the front door opening came from inside. The two looked towards the door and saw Lin Dongxue returning with large and small bags.
Lin Xiuqing chuckled and joked, "Did you bring back the gifts the groom is supposed to give you for his visit tomorrow?"
"No, I bought all of these myself. I bought my uncle an electric shaver, my aunt a silk scarf, Chenghu sneakers, Ye Chengyang an Ultraman toy, and Ye Xiaoxi new sneakers."
Everyone in the family received a gift.
Ye Yaodong took the razor and started shaving to test it out.
Lin Xiuqing also held a silk scarf in her hand, stroking and wrapping it around herself. She smiled and said, "Why did you suddenly buy us gifts?"
"It's never a bad thing to be polite. Last time I came, I was in the hospital, so it wasn't appropriate to buy any other gifts. I could only bring something for visiting. Of course, I have to make up for it this time. My uncle-in-law is so good to me."
Ye Yaodong touched his chin. "Not bad, it shaved pretty clean."
"It was recommended by Wei Songyuan. I don't know much about it. I just happened to accompany him to buy gifts for tomorrow's visit, and I also picked out a few items."
"Don't spend so much next time. We're all family here. You'll be receiving gifts on behalf of your parents tomorrow."
"So you guys even helped me make an assessment."
Lin Xiuqing smiled and accepted the gift. "Have you eaten yet? Would you like me to cook you some noodles?"
"No need, I ate before coming back."
"Then sit down and rest for a while, and have some fruit."
"How did your house hunting go today? When did you get back?"
Lin Xiuqing glanced at Ye Yaodong but didn't elaborate, vaguely saying, "I got back half an hour earlier than you. I looked around, but I haven't decided yet. I'll go take another look tomorrow afternoon. There's no rush."
"Yes, although you have money, buying a house is a big deal. You need to think it through carefully and make a decision slowly. You can't be too impulsive."
"We really can't be too impulsive; we need to think it over carefully."
Spending 2000 million yuan at once is impulsive. They need to think it over carefully, and maybe even recalculate the accounts and the business volume for the year to see how much revenue it can generate.
"Will Wei Songyuan come over at 9 a.m. tomorrow? I'll clean the house first."
Lin Xiuqing came back and slumped down. The house wasn't cleaned at all. Guests were coming soon, so she had to wipe and mop everything. The cleaning was done before the New Year, and now there's probably dust on the TV.
"No rush, you just got back too. Take a break, and we'll do it together later."
"It's okay, you rest. I'll go to the kitchen to tidy up first, and then see what groceries to buy tomorrow. I need to get up early to go grocery shopping."
"I'll have to trouble my aunt to make arrangements again tomorrow..."
"No trouble at all, don't be so polite." Lin Xiuqing said as she walked back to the kitchen, first tying on an apron and preparing to wipe everything down.
Ye Yaodong asked her curiously, "Why don't you tell us about the man's family situation first? So we can learn more about him."
“Okay, I just learned about it too, Auntie, you should listen to it too.”
Lin Xiuqing was called out by her again.
"He has four siblings, three brothers, and he is the third oldest. He also has an older sister. His older brothers and sisters are all married, but he is not, so his parents are quite anxious. His family lives in Huangpu, but they are just an ordinary working-class family, and their housing is quite cramped, only about 60 square meters."
"His older brother and sister-in-law moved out three years ago when their work unit allocated them apartments, so they have more space now. I heard that his previous girlfriend also broke up with him because his family didn't have another house for them. Back then, the whole family lived together, and his older sister wasn't married yet, so the relationship fell apart."
"Later, his younger brother got married, but his older sister didn't, so they each had their own room. For the past two years, he could only sleep in the living room. Now that his sister has gotten married, he has a room to live in."
"Now his older brother and sister-in-law have moved out, his younger brother and sister-in-law have rented a place after getting married, and his older sister is also married, so the house isn't crowded anymore. Actually, I don't know much about it, but I'll go to his house in a couple of days and see for myself."
"Almost everyone in his family has a job, except for his sister-in-law and his sister. Anyway, his sister is already married."
"Then he seems to have quite a few uncles and aunts, but they don't live together. They all live far apart. They probably only go back to the countryside together for the Chinese New Year. I don't know much about that."
Lin Xiuqing listened attentively before saying, "That's alright. It's like the family has separated. The eldest brother and sister-in-law have their own house, the younger brother and his wife have rented their own place, and the older sister has gotten married and moved out. So now he lives with his parents."
"Yes, that's it."
"That's alright. It's peaceful for you two to live with the old couple. If you can't get along, you can rent a place outside, and no one will say anything."
"Yes, there are three brothers, so we can take care of each other in our old age. Our daughter will also help take care of us when we get old."
Ye Yaodong nodded. "Now that you've said that, we understand. It's good that we don't live together. If the whole family lived in that 60-square-meter space, it would be a disaster. Even a fart would be heard from the living room to the bedroom, and no one would be spared. Everyone would have to smell it."
The two women chuckled.
Lin Xiuqing glared at him. "What kind of analogy is that?"
"That's true. Even a fart in one room can echo in another. Life is full of friction."
Lin Xiuqing added, "Now that you're married, you can live with your parents or move out."
“That’s what I think too. If you get along well with his parents, it’s fine to live together. If you don’t get along, it’s also fine to rent a place outside, like his brother’s family. You can come back to visit during holidays and be there whenever they need you.”
P.S.: I'll add another one tomorrow during the day.
(End of this chapter)