"Alright, alright, Mom, you're right. Let's go home! When we get home, I'll have the chef cook you a nice meal! How about we eat the famous Peking duck?"
Lin Huowang smiled and led his family out of the train station.
Outside the station, two black Hongqi sedans had been waiting for a long time.
This car was specially arranged by Liao Gong from the ministry for Lin Huowang to use in Beijing.
After all, although Lin Huowang is nominally a college student who came to register, he is actually Kobayashi Tianwang, the richest tycoon in Hong Kong right now, and he can easily drive a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow in Hong Kong!
...
The car drove smoothly all the way and soon turned into a quiet alley area.
It's very close to Peking University, and the surrounding area is full of old, quaint buildings.
"Bro, where are we going? Aren't we going to the school dormitory?"
Lin Xiaoxue pressed her face against the car window. Everything here was so new to her. She looked at the gray-walled and blue-tiled buildings outside with great curiosity.
"dormitory?"
Lin Huowang chuckled upon hearing this, "How could such a small place accommodate our whole family? Besides, I'm loaded now, I can buy as big a house as I want. Haha! If it weren't for the fact that we couldn't buy the Prince Gong's Mansion where Heshen lived, we would have moved there..."
The car finally stopped in front of a magnificent, antique-style gate.
The stone lions at the entrance were incredibly majestic, and the copper nails on the vermilion gate gleamed in the winter sun.
"We've arrived, get off the bus."
Lin Huowang got out of the car first and pushed open the gate.
"Oh my god..."
As soon as Lin's mother got out of the car, she looked at the gate and her legs almost cramped up. "Awang, this...this used to be a prince's mansion, right? Can...can we live here?"
"Mother, this is our home."
Lin Huowang helped his mother walk inside, explaining with a smile, "This is a three-courtyard siheyuan (traditional courtyard house) that I asked a friend to buy for me."
It's not quite as extravagant as a prince's mansion, but it used to be a wealthy family's residence. It was confiscated, and recently, with the implementation of new policies, it was vacated. I bought it because it's close to the school and the environment is nice.
To be honest, in those days, courtyard houses in Beijing were not as expensive as they are today, with some fetching hundreds of millions of yuan.
Especially these newly vacated mansions, which are often in disrepair and have complicated property rights, are so unwanted by many organizations that they find them too troublesome!
But for Lin Huowang, who had a large amount of foreign exchange in his hands and had Liao Gong's help to smooth things over, taking it down was incredibly easy, even a "dirt cheap" deal.
The other party knew that Lin Huowang had US dollars and could openly trade them at the street management office, so they were eager to sell to Lin Huowang.
The initial asking price was $5,000, but Lin Huowang eventually got it for $3,000.
Of course, after the deal was finalized, both parties felt they had gotten a huge bargain.
The original owner of the house was a member of the Eight Banners. His family had all fled abroad, and he missed out on the opportunity while he was indulging in brothels. Later, the remaining family property was confiscated, and the ancestral home became the office of a certain ministry. In the last two years, the house was vacated and returned to his hands.
But why would he still yearn for his old house in Beijing? He made a tough decision: he would sell the gold bars, then exchange them for US dollars, and go to America to find his family.
It just so happened that Lin Huowang was also looking for a house in the capital, and the two sides hit it off immediately and reached a deal.
The group entered the courtyard and immediately felt a sense of openness and tranquility.
The screen wall, the corridor, the hanging flower gate... Although some places still show the marks of time, after Lin Huowang urgently hired people to clean and do some simple repairs in the past few days, it has been restored to some of its former glory.
In the courtyard, several old jujube trees with bare branches stretching towards the sky look particularly charming.
"This...this place is too big..."
As Lin's mother walked, she sighed repeatedly, not daring to touch anything carelessly for fear of damaging some treasure. "There are only a few of us living in such a big courtyard. Won't we get lost?"
"Bigger is better!"
Gong Xue quickly adapted to her role as the lady of the house, her eyes darting around as she began to plan in her mind:
“Mother, you live in the main room, it's warm and sunny. Xiaoxue lives in the east wing. Awang and I... cough, Huowang lives in the west wing, it's bigger there, we can use it as a study and office.”
The rear-facing rooms are perfect for the guards and the nanny we'll hire later. There are also various other rooms for storage; all divided up, it's not actually that big.
Seeing Gong Xue's well-organized arrangements, Lin's mother was increasingly satisfied. She took Gong Xue's hand and said with a smile, "Good, good, Xue girl, we'll listen to you. You're such a thoughtful girl. From now on, you'll have to take care of this household."
Gong Xue blushed and stole a glance at Lin Huowang. Seeing him smiling at her, she felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey.
After all, what daughter-in-law doesn't want to be recognized and praised by her mother-in-law?
However, Gong Xuexin felt her heart sink again. In the end, the only woman in this house with a proper title was Mengmeng.
...
After settling in, the long-silent courtyard quickly came back to life.
Although Lin Huowang has not yet officially reported to Peking University, this place has already become the de facto command center of "Longpai" Industry in the north.
The business on Hong Kong Island was being handled by Liu Rumeng, Gao Qiaohao, and others, with Huo Sheng also helping out. Everything was on track, and Lin Huowang only needed to listen to some important briefings over the phone every day, without having to worry much.
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