Chapter 173

The admission notice will not be sent out for some time, but Su Miao has already applied to the first high school through his class teacher to not enter the key class and to be in the same class with Ye Jiayin.

The leaders of the first high school also found this application unheard of. Usually, only those who wanted to get into the key classes used connections, and there were no people who could get in but didn't want to.

They discussed whether it was because she was young and would be afraid of being with other classmates of the same age, so she wanted to be in the same class with the older sisters she was familiar with. If that was the case, they could arrange for Ye Jiayin to be in the key class as well, after all, Ye Jiayin's grades were also very good.

The head teacher took great pains to introduce this special and talented student to them, and brought along the previous teaching plan for her and all her test papers since she entered No. 1 Middle School. In the end, Su Miao's wish was finally fulfilled.

Ye Jiayin went back to Beijing for the summer vacation. She told Su Miao not to slack off on sports and left her an exercise schedule.

Su Miao knew that Ye Jiayin was doing this for her own good, worried that her physical condition wouldn't be up to par and that she wouldn't be able to endure the high school entrance military training, so she insisted on exercising every day.

As for whether to follow the plan on the table, it depends on your mood on that day. After all, it is easy for people to develop a lazy mentality and fail to persist without supervision.

One day, she came back from her morning run and was about to go back to the yard to stretch when she happened to see a red paper with the words "Popular Shop for Sale" pasted on the shop next door.

Su Miao's eyes lit up. This shop was right next to his own shop. If he could buy it, it would be equivalent to doubling the size of his current shop.

At that time, we can ask Aunt Ye for consent to open a door between the two shops, which will be more convenient.

The layout of this row of shops facing the street is quite special. In addition to being able to enter the backyard from the front shop, there is also a separate entrance door next to the shop.

However, the entrance gate is not arranged in the order of one door per shop.

First, there was one shop with two doors, and then there were two shops with one door. Simply put, there were two courtyard gates next to each other, and two shops next to each other.

The shop to be resold happened to be adjacent to the Ye family, making it particularly suitable for them.

This shop was originally a tailor shop. An old tailor had been doing this for many years with his children and apprentices. His skills were very good, and many people were willing to cross half the city to have clothes made for him.

But the old tailor passed away two months ago, and the shop lost its living sign.

Su Miao had never made clothes in his house, so he didn't know whether the new master's skills were really not as good as the old tailor. In any case, the number of customers had dropped significantly.

The shops here are in great demand, and the rents are rising every year. Except for Su Miao's family, all the tenants of other shops complain.

The tailor shop probably couldn't hold on any longer and closed down.

But what puzzled Su Miao was that if this tenant couldn't continue, the landlord could always find another tenant! There had to be a reason why such a popular shop was being sold so suddenly. She had to ask the gossip squad about it.

The uncles and aunts under the banyan tree did not disappoint her. She just sat down with a bag of roasted melon seeds and hadn't said anything yet, but everyone told her everything like pouring beans.

Aunt Wu asked, "Miao! Did you know that the shop next to your house is for sale?"

Su Miao nodded: "I saw the sign. Is the previous tailor shop closed?"

"Oh no! I can't do this anymore. The rent has gone too high! One hundred and fifty a month. Business has been declining since the old master left. With the rent going up like this and still having to pay the workers, there's no profit at all."

Uncle Lin, who was still unaware of the situation, said, "One hundred and fifty? That's a bit high. The place across the street only rents one hundred and twenty. It's really not worth it. We should find a new place. The people who come to make clothes here are all regular customers anyway, so we don't need to open a place with a lot of traffic."

Su Miao asked sincerely, "If the tailor shop is no longer for rent, Uncle Zhang can rent it out to someone else. Why is it being sold? It seems that I rarely see shops around here being sold."

Several people were also curious: "Yes, yes, in our area, both houses and shops are in great demand. They can rent them at such high prices, so it's really not worth selling them!"

Aunt Wu lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "You really don't know?"

"Ouch! Why are you keeping me in suspense? Tell me now."

"The prodigal son of the Zhang family lost eight thousand yuan gambling! He had no money, so he borrowed from a loan shark! The interest is compounding every day. I heard they've issued an ultimatum: if he doesn't pay up by the end of the month, they'll take him away and send him to work in the mines up north!"

"Oh my God! I heard that the money in the mines is exchanged for life, especially those illegal mines. I don't know how many people have died!"

"What are you thinking! You're being captured and you still want to make money? You want to come back? You're basically giving your life away to someone else."

"No wonder we have to sell the shop. The rent alone is not enough to save our lives."

Su Miao asked, "We owe so much money. How much should we sell the shop for to make up for it?"

Aunt Wu said, "It wasn't just the money from selling the shop. I guess the old couple's savings were completely drained. They even went to their daughter to borrow money, but their son-in-law wouldn't let them. He said gamblers are bottomless pits and they've already dragged down their parents' family, so they shouldn't drag down theirs. Anyway, it's pretty unpleasant."

"What a sin! Life was so good, with a house and a shop. Every month, besides rent, we have a pension, and yet it has to be turned into this. It takes thirty years to build a fortune, but only three hours to destroy it."

Uncle Lin said, "We have houses and shops here that are easy to sell. They should be sold soon. At least we can save the Zhang family kid first! I'm just worried that if he gambles again, he'll have to sell his house and end up living on the streets."

Aunt Wu waved her hands. "It's not selling well! I don't know how word got out that they need money urgently, but those who come to the shop are trying to bargain down the price! Not to mention selling it at a high price, they're even selling it below the market price. There are two people who can offer the market price of 13,000, but there's no way they have to pay it off in three months. They can't wait that long!"

Su Miao thought silently, it wouldn't be easy if the news got out. They would know everything now, and those interested buyers would definitely ask about it.

After returning home, Su Miao discussed with his father about buying the shop from Uncle Zhang Er's family.

"Dad, if we buy Uncle Zhang's shop, our store will be doubled in size. And since it's our own shop, we can change it however we want. We can also build a kitchen. Then we won't need to use the one in the courtyard anymore, which will save us a lot of trouble."

Su Yuanzheng also thought it was a good idea: "It would be great if we could expand the space. Right now, there's not enough seating in the store. Even if we had more staff, the orders wouldn't increase. Uncle Zhang's shop is right next to ours, so they're the perfect fit for expansion!"

"Dad, I heard Uncle Zhang's son is in gambling debt, so his family needs money urgently. Many buyers are trying to lower the price. Those who don't lower the price are unlikely to pay in full before the end of the month. Can you talk to Uncle Zhang about this? If we can pay it all off in one lump sum, what's the minimum we can get for it?"

In the evening, Su Yuanzheng was carrying two boxes of braised food that he had reserved in advance and a small "briefcase", and went to knock on the door next door.