Chapter 24 Investing in Courtyard Houses
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Su Wantang woke up.
The man beside me was breathing evenly and sleeping soundly, but it was a kind of alert sleep unique to soldiers.
Su Wantang got up quietly without disturbing him.
Opening the wardrobe, besides Lu Jingyan's uniform military attire and civilian clothes, there were also several brand-new clothes that he had prepared for her in advance.
She didn't touch those.
Instead, he rummaged through the bottom of his suitcase and found a set of the most inconspicuous gray cotton clothes.
She bought this in a small county town for convenience on the way; it's the kind of thing you wouldn't even notice if you threw it in a crowd.
After changing her clothes and casually tying her hair back with a strip of cloth, the radiant Shanghai heiress in the mirror instantly transformed into an overly plain urban young woman.
She walked to the bedside, and Lu Jingyan had already opened his eyes. His dark eyes were not at all confused from just waking up; they were frighteningly clear.
"I need to go out for a bit," Su Wantang said, making it a notification, not a discussion.
Lu Jingyan sat up, his tall figure exuding a sense of oppression. He glanced at her, but didn't ask where she was going or what she was going to do.
He only said one word: "Hmm".
He then added, "Will you be coming back for lunch?"
"uncertain."
"Understood." Lu Jingyan nodded. "Be careful."
Su Wantang carried a few things and walked out of the military compound alone.
The sentry at the gate only glanced at her and didn't question her further. He probably already gave her permission when Lu Jingyan brought her in yesterday.
Without that conspicuous "Big Red Flag" car, Su Wantang mingled with the commuting crowd and squeezed onto a clanging public bus.
She leaned against the car window, watching the scenery rushing past outside.
Instead of heading towards the most bustling department stores like Wangfujing Street, the car drove further and further off the beaten path, heading deeper into the old city.
Finally, she got off the bus at a place with a sign that read "Beixinqiao".
The scene before my eyes was completely different from the tourist-filled scenic area of later generations.
The narrow alleyway, the dusty walls, the piles of honeycomb briquettes at the door, and the tangled wires overhead like a spider web, with colorful clothes and bed sheets hanging from them.
A faint smell of coal smoke and toilet lingered in the air.
In most people's eyes, this place is synonymous with backwardness, dilapidation, and overcrowding.
But in Su Wantang's eyes, beneath this devastation lay shovelfuls of gold.
She wandered through the alleyways, and finally, in an inconspicuous corner, she found a small storefront with a sign that read "Real Estate Trust Service Center".
Pushing open the door, I saw a middle-aged man wearing reading glasses, as thin as a bamboo pole, dozing off on the table.
Hearing the noise, he looked up and asked sleepily, "What are you doing?"
"Buy a house," Su Wantang said bluntly.
The man paused for a moment, adjusted his glasses, and then recognized who it was.
A young woman, quite pretty, but dressed too plainly.
"Buy an apartment?" he asked lazily. Even getting a unit allocated by the work unit is impossible without waiting in line; buying one yourself would be a huge waste of money.
“No,” Su Wantang shook her head and uttered three words, “courtyard house.”
"puff--"
The man spat out the mouthful of tea he had just taken a sip of.
The way he looked at Su Wantang instantly changed from looking at an ordinary person to looking at a fool.
"Girl, are you kidding me? Buying that thing?" He pointed out the window, "It's all broken bricks and tiles, dozens of families live there, you have to run all the way to the alley entrance to go to the toilet, what are you after?"
"I just like it." Su Wantang's reason was simple and straightforward.
The man was amused; these days, there really are people who don't know what's good for them.
He immediately perked up and stood up enthusiastically: "Alright! Since you're so keen to buy, I, Old Qian, will show you around! We happen to have a few families here who are in a hurry to sell and upgrade to new apartments, and I guarantee they'll be cheap!"
He was calculating in his mind. This wasn't a customer; this was practically a walking example of someone who was stupid and had too much money!
Old Qian took Su Wantang to see some of the most dilapidated places first.
Either the roof beams are crooked, or half of the courtyard wall has collapsed, and there are more rats than people.
"How about it, girl? This courtyard is spacious and bright! And the price is negotiable!" Old Qian boasted enthusiastically.
Su Wantang glanced at it once, then turned and left without saying another word.
I looked at three or four places in a row, and it was the same everywhere.
Old Qian was a little unsure of her methods; this girl looked young, but her eyes were sharp.
“Master Qian,” Su Wantang stopped and took out a crookedly drawn map from her pocket, pointing to the circles drawn on it, “I don’t need to look at it anymore, just these few places, take me there.”
Old Qian leaned over to take a look and almost popped his eyes out.
The places she pointed to were all such remote and desolate places. They were either next to stinking ditches or dilapidated factories, places even he, the real estate agent, would avoid.
“Young lady, are you sure? These places… aren’t very good.” He “kindly” reminded her.
"I only want these few places." Su Wantang's tone left no room for argument.
As it turns out, the courtyard that Su Wantang chose was indeed a hot potato in the eyes of the original owner.
The first house had a large yard, but there was a garbage dump right outside the back wall, and the smell in the summer was enough to kill a person.
The second place was in a decent location, but there were seven or eight families living in the courtyard who argued every day over trivial matters. Whoever bought it would be unlucky.
...
Su Wan-Tang, however, seemed to have found a treasure, nodding in satisfaction at every place she looked at.
She was particularly drawn to a large, three-courtyard house located deep within the alley, almost forgotten by everyone.
The yard is relatively well-preserved, but it has been vacant for too long, and the weeds have grown taller than a person.
“This courtyard used to belong to a high-ranking official, but it was confiscated later. Now the property rights are clear, and it can be sold at any time,” Old Qian explained. “It’s just too big, no one is willing to take it over, and… it’s a bit shady.”
Su Wantang ignored the rumors about "dirtiness." All she knew was that twenty years from now, this place would be the most exclusive private club in Beijing, where the cost of one night would be enough to buy the entire courtyard now.
"Name your price," Su Wantang asked directly.
After a brief discussion, the sellers, seeing Su Wantang's "naive" demeanor, gritted their teeth and quoted what they thought was an exorbitant price.
"This three-section one, eight thousand!"
"The one facing the street, five thousand!"
"And those five kids, I'll pack them up and give you ten thousand!"
A total of 23,000.
In an era when an average worker's monthly salary was only thirty or forty yuan, this amount of money was enough for an ordinary family to live on for a lifetime.
The vendors and Lao Qian watched Su Wantang nervously, afraid of scaring away this little lamb.
To everyone's surprise, Su Wantang didn't even blink.
"Can."
Two words, light and airy, yet they made everyone present's heads buzz.
You...you just agreed like that?
No bargaining?!
“However, I didn’t bring that much cash with me,” Su Wantang added.
Everyone's hearts skipped a beat; sure enough, they were just there to have fun.
Ignoring their disappointed looks, Su Wantang took out several items wrapped in old newspapers from her cloth bag and placed them on the table.
"Thump, thump thump".
The dull thud made everyone's heart skip a beat.
She slowly unwrapped the newspaper, and the golden light instantly dazzled everyone.
It's a gold bar!
Each and every one of these is a genuine large yellow croaker!
Old Qian's eyes widened, his hand trembled as he reached out, then hesitated to touch it, stammering, "This...this..."
"Is this enough?" Su Wantang asked.
That's enough! That's far enough!
The value of these gold bars is far more than 23,000!
This girl isn't stupid, she's genuinely rich!
The way the sellers looked at Su Wantang completely changed. They went from looking at her as a fool to looking at her as a money-making machine.
They were overjoyed and immediately made the decision, fearing that Su Wantang might change her mind, which also verified the authenticity of the gold.
Signing the lease and pressing my fingerprints went incredibly smoothly.
Holding the brand-new property deeds bearing her name, Su Wantang smiled with satisfaction.
In Beijing, the first cornerstone of her future business empire has been laid.
Old Qian and the other sellers, clutching their gold bars, felt they had gotten a tremendous bargain.
Su Wantang's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile.
idiot.
In less than twenty years, you will know what you are selling today.
In the evening, Su Wantang returned to the compound.
Lu Jingyan was practicing boxing in the courtyard, shirtless, with a thin layer of sweat on his bronze skin, his muscles smooth and full of explosive power.
Seeing her return, he stopped what he was doing, grabbed a towel to wipe his sweat, and casually asked, "Did it go smoothly?"
"It's alright," Su Wantang said, shaking the net bag in her hand, which contained two fried dough sticks she had just bought. "I bought a few small things."
Lu Jingyan didn't ask any questions. He took the fried dough stick from her hand, took a bite himself, and then offered one to her.
Just then, a strong shout came from the direction of the compound's gatehouse:
"Commander Lu—! Phone call! Someone wants to see your wife!"
The couple exchanged a glance.
Su Wantang has just arrived in Beijing, who would call her?
The guard added, raising his voice, "It's a man! His voice is weird, like he's speaking through a microphone covered by a cloth!"
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