After a brief silence, I replied, "Cao Jinbo, these 16 shops were mortgaged to him by the developer of Jiulongju who owed him money."

Ping Ge looked like he suddenly understood, then exclaimed, "I've heard of this guy. He's incredibly powerful! ...A friend of mine used to own a really lucrative bar on Renmin Road, but he and the landlord took it over... I advise you not to associate with people like that... He's a real man-eating wolf!"

I laughed and said, "Brother, I really want to have a good deal with this wolf this time."

"Doing business isn't about competing! ...You and he already have a grudge, do you think he'll let you off easy?"

I smiled again and replied, "Let's not talk about that for now... The main reason I came here is to talk to you about your four shops. I really want to take advantage of this opportunity... If you don't mind that it's too little, I'll just give you one shop for four thousand yuan a month, okay?... If the shops I rent later cost more than that, I'll make up the difference for you."

After thinking for a moment, Brother Ping said, "Alright... Anyway, these shops aren't generating any money just sitting here. We might as well give them to someone with ideas. Maybe they can actually make something of it!"

...

After we reached an agreement, Ping Ge went to his house and took out the property certificates for the four shops. Then he drafted a short-term rental contract with me, and I efficiently transferred 20,000 yuan to him via WeChat. The extra 4,000 yuan was a deposit.

After the contract was signed, Brother Ping gave me the keys to his four shops and accompanied me to take a look. Overall, I was satisfied because the upper floor, where people could live, already had separate bathrooms. I only needed to renovate the walls and install water heaters in each room. As for the beds and bedding, I could move them over from the Seaview Inn after it closed down. However, if I were to rent Cao Jinbo's 16 shops as well, the investment would be huge. After all, the Seaview Inn only has ten rooms, and even if I moved all the beds and bedding over, it wouldn't be enough.

Therefore, I need to raise some money in advance.

Just as I was wondering where to get the money, Cao Jinbo's son finally replied to my message, but he was very rude. He said that he was not available and told me not to bother him with this kind of trivial matter.