Just as Li Chu arrived at the hospital in the morning, put on his white coat, and was about to go to the outpatient clinic, Xu Damao and his father-in-law showed up at the door.
There was nothing he could do but call the front hall and tell Wenxuan to take his junior sister and junior brother slowly and not to rush.
"I'm so sorry, Xiao Chu, I disturbed your work." Lou's father felt really bad after hearing Li Chu's phone call.
"It's alright, Uncle Lou, Wenxuan is fine now."
After asking them to sit down, he asked, "What time did you talk last night? I went to bed after 10 p.m. and Jia Dong still hadn't come back."
"It ended around that time."
"So, are you going to rent that shop or not?"
"Rent it? Of course we'll rent it. Xiao Chu, you're quick on the uptake. We've been eyeing that shop for a while now, but we didn't expect you to snag it in the end."
Lou's father shook his head and said with a wry smile.
“I didn’t know that there were other people who wanted to buy it, and I didn’t know that you had been in contact with me. I bought it because a friend helped me make the connection.”
"We just couldn't raise enough US dollars in cash, and he wouldn't take the money we offered him." Lou's father gestured towards the south.
Li Chu understood that he was referring to the money in Hong Kong.
“They’re going to the other side of the ocean. If you give them money from Hong Kong, they definitely won’t agree.”
"He's going to transit through Hong Kong anyway, so he can just exchange the currency there. We actually gave him more than he should have."
"That's the problem. You have access to the exchange rate, but he doesn't. So how can you expect him to trust you? What if he can't get the amount he needs when he goes there to exchange his currency?"
Hearing this, Lou's father's face was full of helplessness; this is what happens when information is asymmetrical.
"You got a great deal this time."
"It's not a matter of getting a bargain or not. If we're talking about the market price, I'm definitely overpaying now. As for the future, who knows?" Li Chu shrugged.
"No, I don't believe you didn't notice. Let's not talk about the houses we live in. Take the shops, for example. Almost all the shops around here are in the hands of the government. There are very few private shops with clear property rights that can be traded."
As for the government-held properties, you can forget about them. So, anyone who wants to do business and has some spare cash can only focus on these shops. And the one you just acquired is the largest known one, so its price will only go up; it's impossible for it to drop.
"Hey, that's a pretty good analysis!" Li Chu raised an eyebrow.
But no matter how thorough the analysis, it was useless. Once the item was in his hands, he never intended to leave it again; he was born under the sign of the mythical creature Pixiu.
"Hey, Uncle Lou, let's not worry about whether it goes up or down. Since you're here today, just give us a figure. If it's reasonable, we can draft a rental contract."
"Okay, I won't waste any more words. The rent is one hundred per month, but you have to sign a ten-year contract with me."
"One hundred?" Eight rooms, three stories, with a courtyard in the back. That's about what you'd expect these days.
"A ten-year contract is fine, but the rent cannot be fixed."
This year it's okay, but once wages rise next year, this rent won't be much, and in another two years it will be dirt cheap.
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To be honest, Li Chu doesn't know if Lou's father and his restaurant will be able to afford the rent here on Qianmen Street ten years from now.
However, once Tan Family Cuisine gains fame, there will be absolutely no problem for them to bring it here.
"Xiao Chu, how do you plan to raise the rent?"
Lou's father understood that rent increases were normal; no one could expect rents to remain unchanged for ten years.
"The rent will increase by 10% each year, until ten years from now."
Holy crap, that's way too ruthless.
Xu Damao and Lou's father both wanted to say something, but Li Chu stopped them by reaching out his hand.
“I know you think I’m a bit too dark-skinned, but I have another plan here, listen to it.”
Seeing that they were both looking at him, he continued, "You will definitely need to renovate this shop before you can use it. I'll give you two months. These two months will not be rented, but since this is our first contract, we will only sign a one-year contract."
Seeing that the two were about to say something, he reached out and pressed down again: "Don't rush, let me finish. We can sign a supplementary agreement. When the lease expires next year, as long as you pay the rent at the market price, I will continue to rent it to you."
If I break this promise, I will not only refund the renovation costs but also this year's rent.
Lou's father and Xu Damao both fell silent. The two men exchanged a glance and understood each other's meaning.
"Brother Chu, are you so sure the rent will go up next year?"
"How can I be sure? I'm just gambling."
Xu Damao curled his lip. Based on his understanding of Li Chu, this guy was absolutely certain.
"Forget it, let's stick to what we agreed on at the beginning. Ten percent it is, but you still have to give us the time for the renovation."
"Xu Damao, you're trying to cut a radish in half!"
"Hehe, that's what happens when I call you 'brother'."
"Forget it, I'll just take the loss, considering our friendship of over twenty years."
"Thanks, Brother Chu!"
"Thank you, Xiao Chu!"
"No need to thank me." Li Chu shook his head and picked up the letter on the table: "Let's draft the contract."
The three of them spent more than half an hour getting the rental contract ready. After Xu Damao signed and pressed his fingerprint, Li Chu said, "Wait, I'll go find Qiu Nan to sign and press her fingerprint."
"Brother Chu, isn't this house yours?"
“It belongs to our family. The house is registered under Qiu Nan’s name. Uncle Lou, please have a seat for a while.”
Lou's father suddenly realized that after dealing with Li Chu for more than 20 years, he still couldn't understand him.
He and Lou Ma have been husband and wife for life, and all their family assets are still in his name.
All of Xu Damao's family assets are registered under Xu Damao's name.
But how could Li Chu so easily put this property, worth tens of thousands of yuan, into a woman's name?
They would probably be even more surprised if they knew that Li Chu's family didn't own a single thing in his name.
He didn't even know how much money his family had.
Within minutes, Li Chu came up with two lease agreements, which Ding Qiunan had already signed and fingerprinted.
"Here you go, Da Mao, keep this one."
After that, he took a bunch of keys from the drawer of his desk, removed two keys from it, and threw them over.
"This is the key to the main gate. As for the back gate, we don't have the key. You can just break the lock and replace it yourself."
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