Thanks to Xiuxiu’s excellent driving skills, the two of them arrived before the landlord did.
Yang Hao looked around at the bottom of the building, noticing that although the neighborhood was quite old, it was nonetheless well-maintained. The garbage bins in front of the unit door were neatly arranged, and some elderly were rummaging through them, looking for recyclable bottles and cardboard boxes that could be sold for cash.
Wang Xiuxiu parked the electric bike, and then sneakily sized up the impressive figure of Yang, who was wearing a Fila tracksuit, with a noticeable bulge around his waist, a dozen or so centimeters below.
A faint blush tinged her cheeks as she reminded herself that she hadn’t meant to look there on purpose.
“Yang, even though the apartments in this neighborhood are 22 years old, the property management company was replaced a few years back. The infrastructure maintenance and cleanliness are quite decent, and the property fees are very cheap, only one yuan per square meter…”
Xiuxiu started describing the neighborhood’s situation, taking advantage of the fact that the landlord had yet to arrive.
“Mm.”
Yang Hao nodded, although those details were not of his concern.
After waiting for a while, a middle-aged woman in her forties approached them.
“Miss Xu, this gentleman here is Mr. Yang, the buyer.”
Wang Xiuxiu introduced Yang Hao.
Miss Xu unconsciously sized up Yang Hao, and upon glancing at his waist, a smile immediately spread across her face: “Yang, right? Let’s look at the house first, then we’ll talk.”
Yang Hao felt that Miss Xu’s smile was a bit odd, but couldn’t quite put his finger on what was strange about it, so he didn’t give it much thought.
The three of them entered the building together. The apartment was on the third floor, which, for these older six-story buildings, was considered prime real estate.
The interior decor of the home was basically consistent with the photos, and it came furnished with essential appliances. As Wang Xiuxiu had said, the actual area inside this 65 square meter old apartment was akin to that of a new apartment that was over 80 square meters, and even the balcony was quite spacious.
“Yang, let me tell you, if it weren’t for the divorce settlement, I wouldn’t sell this apartment. Even if I didn’t live here myself, renting it out would be a great value for money.”
Seeing that Yang Hao hadn’t said anything since entering, Miss Xu took the initiative to speak up.
“780,000, cash.”
Yang Hao made his offer directly. The listing price for the apartment was 830,000, and he felt that cutting 50,000 wasn’t excessive. Moreover, it was a buyer’s market, and old apartments like this one were indeed hard to sell.
Despite average housing prices in Jiangcheng hovering around 15,000 per square meter, these older apartments were essentially unsellable at that rate. The actual transaction price was about 12,000 or 13,000 per square meter, even just over 10,000 at times.
Miss Xu’s expression changed slightly when she heard the offer. Frowning, she said, “Yang, you can’t cut the price like that. The whole place is only worth a little over 800,000, and you’ve slashed 50,000 just like that, it’s killing me!”
“Miss Xu, I’m sincere about buying, and I can pay right away.”
“You know better than I do what the market is like right now. The price is final, so maybe you should think it over.”
Although it was Yang Hao who was the more anxious one, naturally, if he could save some money, he would prefer to do so.
Hearing this, Miss Xu displayed a troubled look. Her apartment had been listed for over two months; initially, it was priced at 880,000 but didn’t attract any attention. Gradually, she reduced it to 830,000, but even then, before Yang Hao, there had only been two potential buyers—one offered 750,000, the other didn’t even make an offer.
“It’s not that I’m taking the buyer’s side, Miss Xu, but there’s not just your apartment for sale in this community. There are three others with asking prices creeping up to around 800,000. The advantage your unit has is newer decor, but some buyers want to renovate themselves, so to really close the deal, the price has to be competitive.”
Wang Xiuxiu spoke up, attempting to mediate.
“Yang, let’s talk privately on the balcony for a moment,” suggested Miss Xu, giving Yang Hao a cue with her eyes.
“Uh?”
“Sure.”
Yang Hao was initially taken aback, not understanding why Miss Xu would need to speak with him privately, without Wang Xiuxiu. However, he agreed.
Xiuxiu, on the other hand, was utterly confused. With the buyer and seller interacting alone, were they looking to bypass her as an intermediary?? She wanted to intervene but felt too embarrassed to speak up, so she could only watch helplessly as the two stepped onto the balcony, with Miss Xu carefully closing the sliding door behind them.
“Yang, the price you mentioned is fine, I’ll sell it to you, but could you do me a favor?” Miss Xu started the talk.
“Let’s hear it.”
Yang Hao wasn’t sure what Miss Xu was getting at, so he kept a respectful distance.
“Could you pretend to be my boyfriend for a few days?”
“I want to give my ex-husband, who I just divorced, a bit of a shock.”
While speaking, Miss Xu deliberately thrust out her chest, as if to emphasize her assets, as though that might prove her attractiveness. Despite her efforts, her belly was still more prominent than her chest, which was likely one of the reasons her husband had divorced her.
“Miss Xu, I can’t help you with that, I’m afraid my wife might divorce me.”
Yang Hao flatly refused with a face full of dismay. He was known in the area as a decent man and certainly wouldn’t engage in such affairs. He made up an excuse on the spot.
After speaking, Yang Hao promptly opened the sliding door and stepped back into the living room, thinking, buying a house and having to deal with something like this was utterly absurd.
“Xiuxiu, let’s go to the next place,” he said loudly to Wang Xiuxiu, then started heading for the door.
“Okay, Yang,” she responded quickly, then turned to Miss Xu, who had just stepped out of the balcony, “Miss Xu, I’ll be going now; I’ll contact you if there’s another buyer.”
“Wait a minute.”
Seeing that they were about to leave, Miss Xu suddenly became anxious. She cast a somewhat aggrieved look at Yang Hao: “780,000, I’ll sell it to you, consider it a deal between friends.”
“Can we complete the transfer today?” Yang Hao asked.
“As long as you have enough money, yes,” Miss Xu replied.
“Then there’s no problem!”
Yang Hao shrugged, then turned to Wang Xiuxiu: “Let’s proceed with the formalities.”
“Alrighty!”
“Let’s head back to the agency to sign the contract!”
Wang Xiuxiu was beaming, not expecting things to have gone so smoothly.
The three of them headed downstairs, with Miss Xu going home to get the property deed and her ID card.
Wang Xiuxiu drove Yang Hao back to the store.
When they arrived, the door Wang Xiuxiu had locked when she left was now open, and two men in work uniforms were chatting inside.
The older man, seeing Wang Xiuxiu enter the store, immediately frowned and said, “Xiuxiu, do you know you’re on duty today?”
“How come you’re so late!”
This man was the manager of the real estate agency. When he got to the store and found that Wang Xiuxiu, who should have been there, had not yet arrived, he felt somewhat annoyed. Of course, that was not the main reason. The main reason was that Wang Xiuxiu had refused to go to a motel with him to play cards.
“I went to show a property to a client!” Wang Xiuxiu replied righteously, already planning in her mind to quit her job and switch to another agency once she received the commission from this transaction.
Goddamn it, even a real estate agency wants to play by the unwritten rules of the workplace – she couldn’t bear it!
It’s not like it’s a job worth its weight in gold!
Some people just like to wield their little power like a commanding baton, always looking for ways to make life difficult for others and secure benefits for themselves.
“Xiuxiu, do you think I have a face that’s easy to fool?”
“There are no clients looking at properties so early in the morning!” Manager sneered back in disdain.
At that moment, Yang Hao, who had just finished a call with Liu Zifeng, walked into the store. His childhood friend had invited him out for drinks the next day, but Yang Hao wouldn’t have the time, so they had agreed to meet on Sunday instead.
“Xiuxiu, can the property transfer be completed by noon?” Yang asked.
“I’ll pay extra for a rush service,” he added.
Yang Hao just wanted to complete the task as soon as possible to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.
Upon seeing Yang Hao enter the store, the manager, who had intended to ask whether Yang Hao was there to rent or to buy, was taken aback to see him discussing a property transaction with Wang Xiuxiu. He looked at Yang Hao with surprise; this person didn’t seem familiar and probably hadn’t visited the store recently.
In other words, Wang Xiuxiu had just taken him to see a property, and he had bought it!
“Sir, it’s no problem to expedite the process. Two thousand yuan, and we at the store can find a proxy for you, guaranteeing you get the property title by lunchtime!” Manager Liu Qiang said, beaming, eager to get a piece of any profitable action.
However, Yang Hao didn’t pay him any mind and instead looked at Wang Xiuxiu: “Is that true?”
Turning her back to Manager Liu Qiang, Wang Xiuxiu then held up a finger towards Yang Hao and whispered, “Yang, it is possible to expedite it.”
Understanding her, Yang offered, “Two thousand is too expensive, one thousand is more like it.”
“Sir, there’s no such price,” Liu Qiang shook his head.
“Then let’s just go through the normal process.”
Having said that, Yang Hao sat on the guest sofa and began playing with his cellphone, looking completely indifferent.
In truth, whether it was one thousand or two thousand was not important to Yang Hao; his main issue was that he found the store manager a bit unpleasant.
“Sir, here’s the thing: out of the two thousand yuan, one thousand five hundred goes to the clerks at the government service hall. Our store would only make five hundred.”
“In this case, we won’t make anything off of that; you just pay one thousand five hundred,” Manager Liu Qiang persisted, still smiling.
Yang Hao waved his hand dismissively, “Nevermind then. I don’t want to trouble you for nothing; let’s do it by the book.”
“Uh, well…” Manager Liu Qiang’s mouth twitched, thinking to himself that Yang was bizarrely considerate.
Wang Xiuxiu was secretly delighted, barely able to contain her smile; after all, she wouldn’t make a cent from the expedite fee—it was all orchestrated by Liu Qiang.
Seeing Yang Hao’s attitude, Manager Liu Qiang felt awkward about lowering the price immediately, so he grumbled and said, “I’ll try negotiating again.”
He then pretended to make a phone call in the back.
A little while later, Miss Xu arrived at the store with the necessary paperwork.
After signing the contract, transferring the funds, and going through the property transfer at the government service hall, by eleven o’clock, Yang Hao had already received the property title that bore his name.
Of course, he had paid a thousand yuan as an expedite fee.
Manager Liu Qiang eventually lowered the price because even with a thousand, he’d still make two hundred—and naturally, he wouldn’t let the money slip away.
Ding!
Congratulations, host, for completing the time-limited mission [The Tycoon’s Property]
Time consumed: 3 hours and 12 minutes!
Rewards distribution in progress…
Ding!
Congratulations, host, for obtaining a property blind box.
[Yes][No]Open it now?
Yes!
Yang Hao made his choice immediately.
Ding!
Congratulations, host, for a suite, a storefront, and two parking spaces.
Please come to the Star Cloud Bay sales office to claim them after one o’clock in the afternoon.
A series of system notification sounds rang out in his mind, and upon hearing the final reward, Yang Hao couldn’t help but excitedly pump his fist.
Star Cloud Bay!
One of the most expensive neighborhoods in Jiangcheng!
Back when he owned five hotpot restaurants and had bright aspirations for the future, one of his dreams was to own a property in Star Cloud Bay.
And now, that dream had actually come true!