As the Lunar New Year approaches, many people who work in Shenzhen are returning to their hometowns one after another, making Shenzhen increasingly deserted. Many shops along the streets are also closed, with signs saying they will reopen on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.
The Xia family had just finished breakfast. Xia Jianguo went to wash the dishes, Xia Minmin wiped the table, and Li Chunmei sat on the sofa drinking tea. Besides a tea set, there was also a stack of hundred-yuan bills on the coffee table.
Xia Minmin cleaned the dining table, took her skateboard, and went to the entryway to change her shoes. "Mom and Dad, I'm going to play skateboarding with Mengmeng for a while."
"knew."
Xia Jianguo washed the bowls and put them away. He took a tissue from the dining table to dry his hands, picked up the money on the coffee table, counted out a thousand yuan, and put it in his coat pocket.
"Chunmei, how many do you plan to bring?"
Li Chunmei thought for a moment, "Two shop assistants get 300 each, the shop manager gets 500, that's 1,100 yuan. They work very hard every day as the year draws to a close, so we should give them a bigger bonus."
“The small supermarket is only busy in the early morning and evening, and they don’t help during winter and summer vacations. My plan is to pay the two employees 100 yuan each and the store manager 300 yuan each.”
Li Chunmei nodded in agreement. The job at the small supermarket was indeed much easier, and the wages were higher than those at similar shops.
Li Chunmei said, "After a busy year, I can finally take a break. I must rest well."
"Then let me massage your shoulders." Xia Jianguo's hands were very strong, and Li Chun cried out in pain.
"Be gentle!"
Li Chunmei turned to the side, looked up, and glared at Xia Jianguo. "You're not trying to give me a massage to relax, you're trying to kill me!"
"Okay, okay, I'll use less force!" Xia Jianguo said, straightening Li Chunmei's shoulders.
Li Chunmei closed her eyes, enjoying a rare moment of leisure. "This time it's not much."
The wall clock in the entryway keeps telling the time, it's exactly 8:00 AM.
Xia Jianguo patted Li Chunmei's shoulder with his right hand, "Let's go, it's time to go to the store and give the employees bonuses!"
Li Chunmei suddenly remembered her daughter who had gone out to play, "Xiaomin, did she bring her keys?"
Xia Jianguo walked to the key tray in the entryway but didn't find Xia Minmin's key pouch.
"There's no key in the plate. I'm at the small supermarket, so she'll go get it herself if she doesn't have it. Let's hurry, we need to go see my brother-in-law off at noon."
Xia Jianguo changed his own shoes, then took out Li Chunmei's shoes and arranged them neatly, waiting for her to come and change.
"You're taking the bus to the wholesale market today, right? Then I won't give you the motorcycle keys."
"Yeah, the temperature in Shenzhen has dropped recently, it's cold when riding a bike."
The two locked the gate and went downstairs until they left the community, but they didn't see their daughter and Tang Meng. They didn't know where the two of them had gone to play.
Xia Jianguo escorted Li Chunmei to the bus stop, watched her board the bus and take a seat, and then suddenly spoke up while standing on the platform, "Chunmei, I'll come pick you up to go home later."
Before Xia Jianguo even entered the small supermarket, he was spotted by Wang Aimin, who was standing outside chatting with someone. "Jianguo, I'm looking for you."
Xia Jianguo stopped and paused when he heard Wang Aimin's voice.
After apologizing to the person, Wang Aimin walked to Xia Jianguo's side and said, "Jianguo, I specially asked someone to match Xiaomin's and my birth dates. They said the twelfth day of the first lunar month is auspicious for us to become godparents. What do you think?"
Xia Jianguo said with a smile, "Brother Wang, you can decide on this. Chunmei and I are still young and don't understand these rules. We'll do everything according to your wishes. Just let us know if you need anything."
"Okay, how's the house you bought in Beijing a few days ago?" Xia Jianguo's straightforwardness comforted Wang Aimin.
"The price is good. It's 60 square meters, much cheaper than the apartment we live in now. It's a bare shell. We'll renovate it for Xiaomin when she goes to university in Beijing."
Xia Jianguo's eyes lit up with a smile when he talked about houses in Beijing. Before going to Beijing, he thought the house prices would be similar to those in Shenzhen, but he didn't expect them to be cheaper.
Wang Aimin looked thoughtfully into the distance.
"Brother Wang!"
"Brother Wang!"
Seeing that Wang Aimin was silent and staring blankly, Xia Jianguo waved his hand in front of Wang Aimin's eyes.
“Jianguo, I remember my friend telling me that houses in Pudong, Shanghai are very cheap, 180,000 yuan for 60 square meters. Do you want to sell? My group of friends is forming a group of 20 or 30 people to go to Shanghai in May to buy houses for investment. With more people, we can negotiate prices with developers. The country is now vigorously developing the Pudong area, and the prospects are very good. You definitely won't lose money if you buy it.”
Xia Jianguo had seen news about the development of Pudong in Shanghai, but he didn't know much about the housing prices there. He was surprised that the prices weren't expensive.
Xia Jianguo has now tasted the sweetness of buying a house. In addition, the currency has depreciated sharply in recent years, and interest rates have been declining year by year. He wants to buy a house whenever he has money in his hands. "Brother Wang, let me know before you leave. I want to go with you to buy a house."
Wang Aimin laughed and patted Xia Jianguo's arm, "Jianguo, I like young people like you. Listen to my advice! Look how well our country is developing now, and housing prices will definitely get more and more expensive in the future."
“Now that I have money to buy a house, I can rent it out in the future. Whether it’s for retirement or for Xiaomin, it’s better than putting money in the bank. My old friends use the rental income to invest in real estate in other provincial capitals every year. It has multiplied several times now, and it may increase even more in the future.”
Xia Jianguo was envious of Wang Aimin's current life, where he could receive rent every month regardless of drought or flood. "Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Wang. Let me know when the time is confirmed, and I'll definitely go."
"Boss!" a waiter in Wang Aimin's shop called out to him.
"Jianguo, I have to go now, we'll talk later."
Wang Aimin turned to leave, but stopped after taking only a few steps. "Oh, right, I'm buying a few boxes of the new dark chocolate for Xiaomin. Come back later and take them with you."
Before Xia Jianguo could reply, Wang Aimin hurriedly left.
The sharp-eyed employees of the small supermarket cheered as soon as Xia Jianguo walked in.
Xia Jianguo distributed bonuses to his employees and gave them a holiday without saying much. He carefully checked the small supermarket, locked the door, and posted the prepared holiday schedule on the door.
He was carrying the dark chocolates that Wang Aimin had brought for his daughter when he boarded the bus to pick up Li Chunmei.
Xia Jianguo saw Li Chunmei cleaning the shop alone from afar, so he quickly ran over to help. "Have all the employees gone home?"
Seeing that it was Xia Jianguo, Li Chunmei handed him the rag in her hand and raised her arm to wipe the sweat from her forehead. "Well, it's almost Chinese New Year, so let them go home early."
The two chatted and laughed as they cleaned the shop. If they weren't worried about Xia Minmin being home alone, they probably would have gone to see a movie and had dinner.
Xia Jianguo told Li Chunmei about Wang Aimin's suggestion to buy a house in Pudong, Shanghai, and asked, "What do you think?"
"I think it's great. The more houses the better. Just like Xiaomin said, being a landlady is quite interesting."
The two of them shared the same idea and planned to buy more houses in the future.
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