Not only Yang Sisi, but I also had the same doubts about Phuket. It looks like a big village, yet it's full of entertainment and extravagance... After thinking about it, I replied to Yang Sisi, "We can't judge a place's prosperity by how many skyscrapers it has... Although Phuket doesn't have skyscrapers, it's full of villas and luxury apartments, which in itself symbolizes a high quality of life... Since it has a higher quality of life than other places, how can you say it's not prosperous?"

"That's true. If this were really just a big village, why would you come here to speculate on real estate..."

After a brief pause, Yang Sisi tentatively asked me again, "Michael, will you take me home for the New Year?"

"Go if you want to."

"The key is not whether I want to go or not, but whether you want to go... If you ask me, of course I really want to go. I just want to see what kind of environment can nurture someone like you."

“Our place is very beautiful... If you don’t have such a strong desire for fame and fortune, living there for the rest of your life would be a great choice.”

So, do you want to or not?

“Go ahead… You grew up in a big city, going to a county town to see a different view might help you relax a bit… Where we live, as long as the roads aren’t under construction, there’s never any traffic jam; the most precious parking spaces in Shanghai are everywhere in the county town, so you won’t feel crowded at all.”

Perhaps recalling that scene, Yang Sisi smiled subconsciously, then suddenly turned cold and said to me, "Are you complaining that I'm petty?"

"No... I've lived in Shanghai for almost four years, I know what it's like there... There are too many temptations there, so people's hearts are narrow-minded..."

"You're still saying I'm petty!"

“You’re different from them… those tempting things can’t tempt you… I just want you to see different scenery. Beautiful scenery can relieve the tension in people’s hearts.”

Yang Sisi ignored my argument that "the scenery changes your mood" and said to me again, "So you're talking about Lu Jia... what did she do to you?"

I looked at Yang Sisi in surprise; she was like a mind reader.

Seeing that I didn't answer, Yang Sisi asked again, "Did Lu Jia go to see your parents again? Your dad called you about this."

I let out a soft sigh of relief and replied, "She did go to see my parents, but this time it wasn't to make things difficult for me... She returned the apartment in Chengdu to me."

"Really? Is that true?... When did she become so benevolent?!"

“It’s true, the house has already been transferred to my mother’s name… She said she found a boyfriend in Shanghai, and they were aiming to get married. The man asked her to move back to Shanghai, so she threw everything away in Chengdu.”

Yang Sisi looked at him with disbelief for a long time before replying, "Then you're really miserable! You've even lost Lu Jia, your backup plan... You'll be alone for the rest of your life."

"Why is your thought process so different from normal people?"

Ignoring my complaints, Yang Sisi laughed and said, "It's not a bad thing. After being a good-for-nothing for so many years, you finally have a house of your own."

“Many things, you have to look at the inner workings... Don’t you think Lu Jia is a very contradictory woman?... I always thought she valued material things more than anything else, but when she left, she returned the house to me.”

"Whether she's conflicted or not is none of my business..."

"Yes, it's none of your business... If we're talking about contradictions, you're the most contradictory woman in the world!"

"Hmm... I'm the most contradictory person in the world... I want to buy a knife and stab you to death every day... But on my way to buy the knife, I remember you love apples, so I buy a bag of apples instead, but then I forget to buy the knife... But that doesn't mean anything, I still want to stab you to death... I'll just wait until my memory gets better someday."

"You can stab me to death now."

"No, you haven't finished the apples I bought for you yet."

...

Back at my place, I had dinner with Yang Sisi and her father. During the meal, we didn't talk about anything too sensitive, just some details about the house transfer. Yang Sisi's father shared the same idea as her; he wasn't very interested in Vice President Wu's offer. He wanted to use the villa as their family's vacation home in Phuket. He even praised Yang Sisi for her good taste, and the two of them talked about whether they should buy a yacht.

I was a little depressed. I felt that the business deal with Vice President Wu was off. Brother Ping was even more heartbroken because we had invested too much in Vice President Wu. Just the car rental alone cost tens of thousands of RMB.

...

In the open-air swimming pool, Vice President Wu and I sat in the corner where we could surf...

At this point, there was no need to hide anything, so I told him frankly, "Brother, it's not that I don't want to sell this villa to you... it's just that I already sold it to a friend of mine before you came. The price you offered wasn't low, but my friend really didn't intend to resell it... I had no choice... If you really think that villas in Malaysia have more investment value, then I won't try to persuade you."

Vice President Wu looked at me with obvious surprise. He was clearly very confident in his offer, but he didn't expect to be rejected...

I said to him again, "Even if we don't make a deal, we can still be friends... If you like this villa, you can stay here for a few more days."

"Dude, you're not kidding me, are you...? The price I offered you is significantly higher than the market price!"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!