At six o'clock in the afternoon, dusk was falling. There was sunshine from the tall buildings everywhere, but not much sunlight could enter the city. It got dark quickly and it was basically pitch black at six o'clock.

In Area C, the street lights on both sides of the roads near the new buildings lit up one after another, casting an even and warm orange light. The lights in several households on the top floors of some buildings were also lit up. The lights were brilliant, shining like diamonds, much more dazzling than the street lights. In the night, they were as dazzling and charming as stars, attracting Yuan Guang and Shi Qian who were sitting on the street to look up.

"It's so bright." Shi Qian exclaimed, "The lights on these rooftops are so bright. I haven't seen such bright lights during the day today."

"Of course." Yuan Guang held a bag of bread and a bottle of mineral water and looked up at the top floors. "That's where the richest people in Area C live. Usually the whole floor is sold."

"The first floor is more than 320 square meters, and generally it is more than 300 square meters if the stalls are removed," said Yuan Guang.

Shi Qian was shocked: "More than 320 square meters for a house? If we calculate that five people live in this 25-square-meter house, then this can accommodate at least 52 people!"

"And the top floor is the most expensive floor. The price of the first floor is 370,000 to 400,000 yuan." Yuan Guang muttered the information he got from the sales department. He paused for a moment and said, "According to the calculation, the price of the first floor is about 130 million yuan..."

Shi Qian, who had been pestered by the salesperson Xiaodong for an entire afternoon to explain [Sunshine Seedling Cultivation], began to calculate subconsciously: "Here, almost one child can be mortgaged for 500,000 to 1 million. If it is 130 million, that means there are about 130 children..."

At most 52 people can live here, but it would take 130 children to mortgage the house. It is obviously impossible for these extra children to live in the house after they grow up, because there is no living space reserved for them and their names are not on the property certificate.

According to the salesperson Xiaodong, these children who have taken out Yangguang loans will be asked by their parents to move out of their own houses and become independent when they grow up and are able to work. While repaying their parents' loans in the next few decades, they will work even harder to save money to buy their own houses.

In other words, they will live under the pressure of two mortgages for the rest of their lives.

Thinking of this, Yuan Guang and Shi Qian couldn't help but feel suffocated and fell silent.

Yuan Guang looked down at his 10-yuan discounted bread, his fingers tightly grasping the greasy bag: "I don't need the [Sunshine Loan]. According to the average salary of 4,500 yuan, I can live in a top-floor house, not counting the loan interest. Even if I don't eat or drink..."

Shi Qian paused and forced a laugh: "It seems that I have to work for 2,000 years to live in this 300-square-meter house..."

Yuan Guang lowered his head and took a bite of bread, chewing without saying a word. As he bit the discounted bread, a sour and stale smell filled his mouth, making him feel nauseous. He forced himself to hold it in before swallowing it.

"This bread is expired, don't eat it." Shi Qian had stopped eating it and was just holding it.

Yuan Guang lowered his head and said, "But this bread is a hot-selling product in convenience stores. I see other people lining up to buy it."

"Because it's cheap." Shi Qian sighed softly, "We went too late, and the 8 yuan instant noodles were sold out. A skewer of oden here costs 16 yuan. Apart from the discounted 10 yuan bread, people here can't afford anything else."

Shi Qian cheered up and patted Yuan Guang on the shoulder: "It tastes bad, don't eat it. I lost a little health after taking a bite. Throw it away."

Yuan Guang took a deep breath, hummed, and stood up on his knees. He turned his head and looked at the building that was like a steel forest in the dark night. Only the top floor emitted such a beautiful and enchanting light.

"The salesperson said that the top-floor house is the closest to the sun in Sunshine City, so it has always been a good seller and wealthy people are vying for it."

Yuan Guang suddenly realized and whispered, "It's only six o'clock now, and it's as bright as the sun at night. There's no darkness anywhere else, only the top floor is bright. No wonder everyone wants to buy a house here."

Shi Qian walked to the trash can. She turned around and looked in the direction Yuan Guang was looking. Her expression was complicated. "Because only the residents on the top floor get off work and go home at six o'clock, so they turn on the lights."

"The other floors are occupied by ordinary residents. At this time, they are probably still working overtime."

Yuan Guang was startled, and his thoughts quickly returned to his mind: "Yes, they basically work all day without taking a break..."

As he was speaking, when Yuan Guang was about to throw the panel into the trash can with Shi Qian, a person suddenly jumped out from the side, looked at the bread in Yuan Guang and Shi Qian's hands with shining eyes, which scared Yuan Guang and Shi Qian.

The man whispered, "Can you give me the bread you have?"

Yuan Guang used the dim light from the street lamp to see the well-dressed, lightly made-up woman in front of him. He couldn't help but raise his voice: "Xiaodong?!"

The woman standing by the trash can was Xiaodong, the one who had just introduced the real estate sales to them with a smile.

Xiaodong didn't feel embarrassed at all. He stared at the bread that they were about to put into the trash can and said, "If you don't want to eat it, can you give it to me?"

Yuan Guang and Shi Qian looked at each other hesitantly. After Shi Qian nodded, Yuan Guang handed the bread over and asked in confusion: "Xiaodong, you work in real estate sales, your salary is not low, right? How come..."

Yuan Guang paused and looked at Xiaodong with mixed feelings as he finished a piece of bread in two big bites and even drank a sip of water.

...This thing had already rotted to the point where he and Shi Qian had eaten up all their health points. Xiaodong ate it without any reaction, as if he was used to this kind of food.

Xiaodong clapped his hands after finishing his meal and gave Yuan Guang that very standard business smile: "I'm just a salesperson, just like a receptionist. There are people willing to come here. I'm just lucky. I'm good-looking and can talk well, so I was chosen by the recruiter."

Yuan Guang asked: "Would you mind telling us how much you earn a month?"

Xiaodong didn't mind at all: "Three thousand and five."

Yuan Guang's expression was indescribable after hearing this. In this world, you can't even afford to buy a house when it's for sale... It's really too magical.

Shi Qian asked: "Normally speaking, after you buy a building, you can get a commission, right?"

"What is the commission?" Xiaodong seemed a little confused.

After Shi Qian explained this and that to Xiao Dong, Xiao Dong suddenly realized: "You are talking about this thing, this thing is for the agent developer to make money, he can get 27% commission for every building sold, we can't get this profit, we are just working for the agent developer."

Yuan Guang frowned and asked, "Agent developer?"

In the real world, he could still understand the existence of agents for development, but now that the land is directly in private hands, is there still a need for agents?

Can't they set the price however they want and charge whatever they want? Why are there agent developers who take the difference in price?

"Yes, every new property has an agent developer." Xiaodong explained while wiping his fingers, "Agent developers are usually top developers, that is, the descendants of the five major developers who own all the land."

"The five major developers will subcontract the real estate projects to their descendants for development. The big developers never show up, and it is the agent developers who do the real estate projects. For example, I know that the agent developer of this new real estate project in District C is the grandson of one of the five major developers."

Xiaodong said: "The agent developer is mainly responsible for researching the housing needs, desires, and affordable prices of Sunshine City residents, allocating floor space, and designing various apartment types suitable for residents."

"An affordable price?! An area suitable for residents to live in?" Shi Qian couldn't help but swear, "Fuck, this is also called affordable and suitable for living?!"

Yuan Guang's eyes moved and he asked, "That means the ownership of the new property is in the hands of this agent developer, right?"

Xiaodong nodded: "Yes."

"Do you know where he lives?" Yuan Guang asked carefully, "Or, Xiaodong, do you know if the agent developer of the new property in District C behind us will show up tonight?"

Xiaodong turned around and pointed to the brightest rooftop floor in Area C in the night: "Yes, that's where he lives."

"He will definitely show up tonight." Xiao Dong pointed it out to Yuan Guang and then turned to look at him, "Because this new property has not been put on the market for pricing tonight, we have to wait for him to come and give the pricing."

Yuan Guang repeated softly: "Price?"

Xiao Dong said, "Yes, it's about the price per square meter of the house. He should be on the top floor discussing with other agents and developers now. He will come over around 7:30 to set the price of the new property."

Half past seven.

In the bustling and magnificent sales hall, the light of the crystal chandelier suddenly dimmed. Accompanied by the melodious violin music that sounded at some unknown time, a circle of hazy white light hit the door, and a middle-aged man wearing loose sportswear and sneakers, with slightly wrinkled and flat features, appeared in the center of the light.

Everyone fell silent, respectfully and nervously making way for this person to enter the hall. This person smiled and bowed to the people on both sides, then walked leisurely inside with the halo falling on him, until he reached the high stand opposite the gate, turned around and bowed slightly to everyone:

"Good evening, everyone."

Xiao Dong whispered in Shi Qian's ear, "He is the general agent developer of Area C. We usually call him Director C."

Shi Qian and Yuan Guang looked at each other and felt something strange.

This Mr. C... looks like a normal person and is quite polite.

The so-called Mr. C stood on a red wooden stand more than one meter above the ground. Behind him hung a huge embossed staircase painting. On the painting, there were wooden boards rising one by one, all the way up to a place that people below could not see. These wooden boards protruded from the picture, like stairs. There were numbers next to the wooden boards, ranging from 300,000, 305,000, to 580,000.

Each wooden board corresponds to a number. On the board corresponding to [320,000] there is a blue flag with four large golden characters [Today's Property Price] embroidered on it.

Director C slowly took the small flag off the wooden board of [320,000]. Shi Qian heard the people around her taking deep breaths in unison, and everyone stared at the small blue flag without blinking.

A child in the crowd whispered:

"Mom, you pinched my shoulder."

Shi Qian looked over and found that it was the couple who had consulted with them about housing this morning. The mother squatted down and hugged her child tightly. There seemed to be tears in her eyes. She patted the child's shoulder and whispered:

"I'm sorry, it's mom who treated you badly and brought you to this place."

The child held his mother's hand in a daze, still smiling happily: "It's okay, Mom, we are here to buy a new home, there's nothing wrong with it."

The mother took a deep breath, buried her head in her child's shoulder, and hummed softly.

The father next to him lowered his head and didn't dare to look at this child. He was shaking a little as he held the hands of the other two children.

Shi Qian withdrew her gaze and slowly clenched her hands.

But this CEO C did not put down the flag directly. Instead, he put the flag behind his back in a mysterious way and smiled at everyone in a friendly manner: "I believe that everyone came here for a home."

"It is our common pursuit to provide a warm home for all those who come to Sunshine City. The housing price is also the issue that everyone is most concerned about. For this reason, I have been discussing with the agent developers of several other districts for an entire afternoon without even drinking a sip of water, just to lower the housing price of 320,000 yuan per square meter."

Everyone's eyes began to light up, even Xiaodong excitedly stood on tiptoe in her high heels, trying to see the scene in the front row.

Someone couldn't help but ask, his face flushed with excitement: "Boss C, are you really going to lower the price of new properties?"

Director C smiled and nodded. He spread his hands helplessly and said, "Of course. I already live on the top floor of Sunshine City and can earn tens of millions a month. Is there any point in me making money from you guys?"

"If I earn more, can I buy a house on the sun?"

Mr. C's joke made all the nervous homebuyers laugh. The atmosphere became relaxed involuntarily, and some people in the audience started to make a noise:

"Mr. C Dong, a good man!"

"I will definitely work hard to get a job in Director C's company in the future!"

The couple was also very excited, and they whispered to each other with their heads close together:

"If the reduction is too great, we shouldn't use our children as collateral. We can earn it back by working a few more jobs."

The man nodded in agreement: "This new building is hiring construction workers, and the salary is quite good. I will go and move bricks. If the housing price drops to more than 200,000 yuan per square meter, you and I can work 20 hours a day and maybe we can break even."

Xiaodong was so excited that she almost cried, but Yuan Guang and Shi Qian felt something was wrong the more they looked at each other, and they saw the same doubt in each other's eyes.

Now that you have a guilty conscience, what were you doing before?

Director C raised his hand and pressed down, then laughed: "Personally, I really think that there is no need for house prices to rise any further. I still hope that everyone in Sunshine City can work hard like me and live in a top-floor suite in Sunshine City."

"So with my efforts," Director C took out the flag from behind and slowly lowered it to the bottom of the 300,000 square meter grid. "The price of this new building has been reduced to 260,000 per square meter."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was silent for two seconds, and then everyone started shouting excitedly as if they had gone crazy.

"Oh my god! This is the price of the house two years ago!"

"Pinch me, am I dreaming?!"

The couple hugged the child tightly, the man breathed a sigh of relief, and his wife burst into tears of joy. They raised three children in a small home with great difficulty. Although they wanted to take out a loan to have children in the beginning, they have feelings for them now.

I kept putting it off until now, when the house prices have gone too high and a new building in District C was launched. Only then did I bring my children to ask about [Sunshine Seedlings].

How could you be so willing to throw a child you have raised for several years into the fire?

"But." Director C frowned sadly, and the small blue flag in his hand slowly rose. "Although the house price has dropped, my actions have made the agents in other districts very dissatisfied. They demanded--"

Director C raised his friendly face and said, "—Increase the commission from 27% to 40%."

"So even though the house price is 260,000, plus the 40% commission, the total is—"

Director C slowly raised the blue flag and placed it next to the wooden grid corresponding to [370,000], and sighed to everyone: "I did my best. The final price is 370,000 per square meter. You won't blame Director C, right?"

Everyone stared blankly at the small blue flag on the [37]thousand. Xiaodong staggered back two steps, suddenly covered his mouth and ran to the trash can nearby and vomited with a pale face. His stomach was full of expired and moldy bread.

The couple sat on the ground in despair, hugging their children tightly in a trance. They held the contract paper of [Sunshine Seedlings] in their hands, and there was no light in their eyes. They murmured to themselves: "Don't blame, don't blame Director C..."