Chapter 28

“In the past two years, more and more educated youth have been returning to the city, and these returning youth all need to rent houses, so there’s no need to worry about the new building being vacant,” Qian Ke explained to Qiao Xinyi.

He did the math aloud for her: “If you keep one floor for your own family, and rent out the other four floors with small rooms charging five yuan each, and the bigger ones six or seven, just look at how big the land is. If each room is about 30 square meters for the bigger ones, each floor could have about five rooms.”

“At the lowest rent of six yuan per room, that’s 20 rooms over four floors to rent out, which means 120 yuan a month in rent,” Qian Ke said, getting excited himself.

“That’s 1,440 yuan a year in rent alone. In other words, the cost of buying this house could be recouped in less than a year.”

Of course, Qian Ke was referring to the purchase price of the house, not the total investment. Renovating and building a five-story building would require a lot of additional money for materials and labor. But as long as the building stood and no uncontrollable disasters happened like before, the rental income would continue, and it would only take a few years to recover all the costs.

After the costs were recovered, the profits over the next few decades would be pure gain.

Qian Ke thought to himself that since Qiao Xinyi even went to see the Western-style house, she must have enough money to renovate and build a multi-story building. If it were someone else without their unit’s connections to approve a five-story building, Qian Ke wouldn’t recommend buying here.

Listening to Qian Ke, Qiao Xinyi felt her heart race again. The Western-style house was definitely a must-buy! She also wanted this place. But if she bought the Western-style house, she wouldn’t have enough left to build a five-story building and still keep some living expenses.

After thinking for a moment, she asked, “If I get the permit to rebuild a five-story building, is there a time limit on how long it’s valid? If I don’t have enough money now, can I just lay the foundation and build the frame first, then add floors one by one as I get the money?”

“Absolutely,” Qian Ke nodded. “If you have the money, build it floor by floor, take it slow. That’s actually a great approach!”

His eyes lit up. “That’s a really good idea of yours!”

Hearing this, Qian Ke’s own thoughts started stirring. He had wanted to renovate these rundown houses before, but after talking with his family, he knew they could only afford to buy a smaller house, so rebuilding was off the table. But Qiao Xinyi just gave him a very good idea.

“Fu Qingshan, your friend really is a talent! So smart!” Qian Ke couldn’t help but praise. “How come I never thought of building the frame first and then adding floors gradually?”

“She really is smart,” Fu Qingshan smiled quietly.

Seeing Qian Ke’s happy expression, Qiao Xinyi knew he was tempted by the idea of buying a rundown house.

“I want both the Western-style house and this place. How do I contact the owners to buy?” Qiao Xinyi decided immediately.

“You want both?!” Qian Ke was dumbfounded. “That Western-style house costs 2,800 yuan, and this house is 780, that’s over 3,500 yuan total—are you buying them both?”

Qian Ke said, “Even if I try to bargain with the owners, I doubt I could knock off more than 200 yuan.”

“I want both,” Qiao Xinyi nodded. “The Western-style house is my true love, and the plans you just mentioned for this house really appeal to me.”

She calculated that after buying these two properties, she would still have enough left over to pay for the foundation and framing of the new building.

Before she had any new income, she needed to keep the remaining money for living expenses and emergencies.

“Collecting rent really is tempting,” Qian Ke laughed along. Qiao Xinyi was such an honest and straightforward girl—thinking something, she just said it, and her words were especially witty.

“Well, let’s head back to my workplace first. We’ll contact the owners, negotiate a price, and arrange a time for the transaction,” Qiao Xinyi decided decisively. Qian Ke noticed Fu Qingshan didn’t try to persuade her at all and was just standing there smiling at her, so Qian Ke didn’t say much either.

The three returned to Qian Ke’s workplace after about an hour. Qian Ke was even more excited than Qiao Xinyi and immediately used the office phone to contact the owners, bargaining the price directly over the phone on her behalf.

Since it was an office, Qiao Xinyi and Fu Qingshan, being outsiders, couldn’t go inside, so they waited outside. Qiao Xinyi glanced at Fu Qingshan several times. She was so excited about buying the property that she could hardly sit still. She moved closer and quietly asked, “Why didn’t you try to persuade me to calm down and think it over more?”

“I think you’ll be really happy after buying these two properties, so I didn’t think it was necessary,” Fu Qingshan replied. Couldn’t he tell? On the way back, she was sitting on the bike’s backseat, secretly shaking her feet happily in small movements, humming the whole way home.

A decision that made her this happy—and for this long—he didn’t see the point in persuading her otherwise. Besides, she had enough money to buy the houses and was very planned, not intending to spend all her money at once. She already had plans to first lay the foundation and build the frame, then gradually build up as money came in.

So Fu Qingshan didn’t think buying these two properties was an impulsive move. Some people need a long time to make decisions, but some are naturally decisive and quick.

Even if at first Fu Qingshan didn’t understand why she wanted to buy so many houses, after hearing Qian Ke’s explanation about rebuilding and collecting rent, he thought it was a good plan.

Since ancient times, rural people buy land for farming as an investment; city folks buy houses for investment. Qian Ke was definitely more knowledgeable in this area than Fu Qingshan, who spent all his time in the military.

Moreover, Fu Qingshan was sure that with Qiao Xinyi’s idea, Qian Ke himself would also buy property.

Half an hour later, Qian Ke came out of the office beaming.

“I’ve talked to both owners. Tomorrow at 9 a.m., bring your household registration and money to our office to handle the transaction,” Qian Ke said happily. “I got the price for the Western-style house down by 100 yuan, and the bungalow by 80.”

That saved Qiao Xinyi a total of 180 yuan.

“Thank you so much! I’ll treat you to a meal after we finish the paperwork tomorrow!” Qiao Xinyi thanked him repeatedly.

“Eating your treat won’t make me feel guilty at all,” Qian Ke whispered, looking around to make sure no one else was nearby, “The owners and our unit originally agreed that for selling the Western-style house, they’d give us 100 yuan for the hassle, and 50 yuan for the bungalow.”

“You’re friends with Li Jun and Fu Qingshan. That 150 yuan was supposed to be yours. I love money, but I don’t make money off my brothers,” Qian Ke explained.

“But to get approval from the director, I have to…” Qian Ke didn’t finish the sentence, but Qiao Xinyi understood and nodded quickly.

“I know. You’ll have to run around and put in effort for me. Is that money enough? If not, I can give you some more…”