Chapter 20: Property Notarization

“Buy a residential plot in the village? What would you buy it for?” Old Man Liu stared at Chen Jin’s face, trying to find the truth in her expression.

The others couldn’t understand either. With so much money, wouldn’t it be better to buy a house in the city? Why buy a residential plot in the village? Did she want to build a house to rent out? Or did Chen Jin know something, and was trying to get a piece of the pie?

Thinking of the second possibility, everyone’s hearts raced. If Qiaoxi Village could be demolished, they wouldn’t be concerned about the money in Chen Jin’s hands—they had four buildings!

Chen Jin remained calm. “I’ve bought dozens of houses in the city to rent out. I think collecting rent each month is more profitable than putting the money in the bank for interest. But I don’t have enough left to buy many more houses, so I want to buy a plot in Qiaoxi Village to build and rent out, which would be more cost-effective.”

Bought dozens of houses? She doesn’t have much left? The relatives who were hoping to benefit felt disappointed; if they rushed over, they wouldn’t get anything from her!

“You must have at least five or six million, right? That’s almost gone?” Someone expressed disbelief.

“Five or six million doesn’t last long. I spent a million on a small villa, and a house in the city center costs a million too. I still haven’t bought a car,” Chen Jin thought to herself, chuckling inwardly: she actually got over eight million!

Everyone fell silent, wanting to curse her for being so showy!

She actually bought a house worth over a million?!

This made the others almost mad with envy.

Chen Jin then dropped another piece of news: “I’ve already gone to notarize my assets. If something happens to me, whether it’s man-made or accidental, all my properties will be donated to the state to support education in impoverished areas.”

As soon as she said this, Liu Shisheng’s anger surged, his veins bulging on his forehead as he gritted his teeth and said, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean anything else. I’m just preparing for the worst,” Chen Jin replied. In reality, she hadn’t gotten around to notarizing anything, but she wasn’t going to gamble her safety on someone else’s conscience. There are enough real-life examples of people being greedy over money, even among families that usually have deep bonds.

Liu Shisheng felt that Chen Jin was born to irritate him.

He should have expected this. Chen Jin had lived with Chen Fang for twenty years; she must have been taught to hate her biological father. It was impossible to get anything from her.

Since it was impossible, Liu Shisheng didn’t want to see her smug face any longer. He called Jiang Zijun and the two kids and directly left the old home.

Soon after, several aunts who had married out said they had things to attend to and left as well. The third aunt, considering that her daughter had a good relationship with Chen Jin, wanted to keep her around to strengthen their bond. However, Lan Meiying didn’t listen and didn’t even greet Chen Jin; she quickly slipped away.

Chen Jin pressed her lips together, having just noticed Lan Meiying giving her a knowing look, feeling relieved that there was at least one normal person among the relatives.

With everyone gone, the dishes prepared in advance felt like a waste. Chen Jin was only interested in the residential plots in the village, so no matter what Old Man Liu and the three uncles said, she just nodded along perfunctorily.

Old Man Liu straightforwardly said, “Residential plots in the village can’t be sold to outsiders. If you want one, I can talk to the village chief.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Jin sat up straight. “So what are your conditions?”

Old Man Liu was infuriated. Did he help her just to ask for benefits? Hmph, although Chen Jin received a lot of compensation, he had his own family assets. With four buildings rented out, he could live comfortably just on the rent; he didn’t need to rely on her money!

“If you weren’t my granddaughter, I wouldn’t bother with you!”

Chen Jin smiled, remaining silent: this old man, can’t he be clearer with his words?!

After thinking for a long time, Old Man Liu finally asked, “How big of a plot do you want? Are you really going to build houses to rent out?”

“Of course, what else would I do if I don’t build houses to rent out? I have houses in the city; I wouldn’t live here,” Chen Jin felt there was potential, so she said, “What size of residential plot do you have? If it’s not expensive, I’ll take as much as I can. If necessary, I can borrow some money from my uncles, and I can build more houses gradually.”

“Got it.”

Chen Jin was confused: “You got it? What do you know? Speak clearly, stop being so cryptic.”

Chen Jin also put on a nonchalant expression. “Then please help me ask around; I’ll buy it if it’s suitable.”

After her trip to Qiaoxi Village, Chen Jin felt she had made some gains, but the three uncles and aunts from the Liu family were not happy: they had wasted money and effort preparing a huge feast, only to receive a mere “thank you for your hard work,” without a single penny gained.

They were about ready to give up hope, realizing that relying on Chen Jin to share her money was futile. It was better to hope for the early demolition of Qiaoxi Village!

After eating, Chen Jin returned to the temporary housing and called her eldest uncle to explain the situation. She wasn’t sure if she could buy the residential plot; even if she could, the seller might agree to sell to her but not be willing to include her uncle and the others.

“It’s okay, if you can buy it, then just go ahead,” her uncle didn’t mind.

After that day, everyone in the family got busy.

In the end, her third uncle and aunt bought a large two-hundred-square-meter house near Rose Garden in the West District, spending nearly a million. Rose Garden and Hanlin Garden were close, only about a ten-minute walk apart, so they would move into Rose Garden.

After buying the house, her third uncle and aunt went out daily to look for furniture and order it, eager to set up their new home as soon as possible.

Cousin Chen Yongan was enrolled in a tutoring class, preparing for the college entrance examination in a year. Her third uncle followed her second uncle’s advice and spent a lot on one-on-one tutoring, aiming to at least get him into an undergraduate program, if not the prestigious NTU.

There were few neighbors in the temporary housing; others were also planning to buy houses in better locations outside, so there weren’t many people around during the day.

Tian Miao felt that Chen Jin’s small convenience store was meaningless and suggested that Chen Jin clear out the inventory. She also planned to look for a job at a big supermarket outside, as she needed to prepare for the convenience store that Chen Jin would open in the future.

In her view, a convenience store in the village is just that, but when it comes to the city, it becomes a supermarket.

Chen Jin was busy confirming the renovation plan with the renovation company for the small western-style house at NTU while also attending driving school every day. With just these two tasks, she was already too busy to handle everything, so she entrusted Tian Miao to help sell off the household items.

Occasionally, she received phone calls inquiring about rental properties, and Bai Xinping recommended a few more people, helping her rent out the remaining one-bedroom apartments. Meanwhile, Chen Jin told Bai Xinping that as long as the tenants he introduced stayed for at least six months, she would waive one month’s rent for him. This unexpected surprise made Bai Xinping eagerly promise to help keep the tenants.

Bai Xinping also introduced tenants to her uncle and third uncle. Once a deal was made, they would pay him a certain referral fee, which motivated Bai Xinping even more.

In the middle of everything, Chen Jin took half a day to visit the notary office to arrange her assets clearly. After handling everything, she informed her uncle and third uncle. Once they knew, basically all the relatives in the family were aware.

Aunt Chen Yun called her, but after just a few words, Chen Jin found her tone unpleasant and hung up the phone.

The money was hers, and how she handled it was her own business; it wasn’t for her aunt to interfere. She intentionally let everyone know she had done a property notarization and that after her death, all her assets would be donated to the country.

Her uncle praised her for doing well, saying, “Wealth can corrupt hearts. You hold too much money; it’s hard to guarantee that no one will have bad intentions.” Just like him, the demolition compensation in his hands was also being eyed by several of his children.

Chen Jin’s actions also made him feel a sense of crisis; he feared that in case of an accident, the children in the family would turn against each other over money. So, he planned to distribute what he could early on, leaving nothing for them to covet.

Every day, Chen Jin traveled back and forth between the rental properties, the driving school, the small western-style house at Nanda, and home, following this routine. She noticed that she had lost weight and her skin had tanned a degree.

But the effort paid off. Chen Jin thoroughly learned the traffic regulations and mechanical knowledge, and she practiced well with her parking skills. Her instructor, though quiet, was very responsible and took her out to drive almost every day. With a good coach and her own intelligence, she learned quickly.

The renovation progress of the small house at Nanda was also fast. The previous plumbing and electrical wiring needed to be redone, but the layout of the rooms did not require changes. Chen Jin decided to refresh the old doors instead of replacing them. She needed to check the details of the renovation daily, such as the height of the built-in sink and the custom wardrobes and furniture.

Since she planned to live there long-term, she wanted to renovate every corner of the house to her satisfaction.

The neighbor next door was also undergoing renovations. Chen Jin visited a few times and heard the foreman mention that the budget for the neighbor’s renovations was five hundred thousand.

Chen Jin was taken aback and found herself speechless: she had no idea there were so many wealthy people in the world!

On the other side of her house lived a retired couple of old professors who had previously been the vice president of the Chemical Engineering Institute and a professor in the Physics Department. When the two professors learned that their new neighbor was a student from NTU, they spoke about the history of Nanda extensively when she first visited with fruit, inviting her to come over often.

The children of the two professors did not live in Southern Province but were spread across the major cities of Beijing and Shanghai. They occasionally had relatives’ children and former students come to visit, but as they say, “distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors.”

Just when Chen Jin was about to forget about Qiaoxi Village, she received a call from her grandfather: “The village chief said you can get a 200-square-meter residential land plot for two million. Do you want it?”

Chen Jin was speechless. “Isn’t that highway robbery? In our village, the compensation for land acquisition is only about eleven thousand per square meter.”

Old Man Liu was frustrated. “Then tell me, how much would you be willing to accept per square meter?”

“Two thousand at most. Anything more than that is out of the question. I’m not a fool. If I had that kind of money, I’d just buy a piece of land in the suburbs instead.” But she figured her grandfather wouldn’t believe that. The land in the suburbs had long been sold out, and she wouldn’t even have a chance to buy it. There wasn’t much residential land in Qiaoxi Village that could be sold off.

Old Man Liu didn’t respond with a definite answer. “Then just wait a bit. I’ll see if I can negotiate further.”

Chen Jin didn’t trust his words. He was probably quoting her a high price on purpose. He wanted to take a cut for himself, which she was okay with; after all, he couldn’t be expected to work for free. But this amount was simply outrageous, and there was no way she would accept it.

She waited until the start of her senior year to hear back.

Although there were no scheduled classes in her senior year, she still had to report to school, do internships, write her thesis, and some were preparing for graduate school exams, etc.

Chen Jin brought a change of clothes to school. Her class had a meeting in the afternoon, and since she didn’t know what time it would end, she decided to stay overnight at school.

Just as she finished packing, the others returned from dinner.

“Chen Jin, you’ve gotten so much darker! You must have done a lot of fieldwork while you were home for the holidays.”

Chen Jin shot a sidelong glance at Qin Xuemei. “Have you finished all your credits?”

Qin Xuemei: “……”

Ahh,