Chapter 14 A few pictures
At this point in time, Professor Qiao's firm seems to have just been evaluated for qualifications and is not that famous yet.
Lin Ruoyan thought, if Professor Qiao truly respected traditional culture and excelled in Chinese style, then the courtyard house renovation design would surely appeal to him. To convince Professor Qiao to design for her, she had to clearly articulate her own needs in advance so she could better communicate with him.
Fortunately, she was considered an insider in the industry before she transmigrated into the book. Even if she couldn't draw, it would be easy for her to list the requirements clearly, and it would appear more professional.
After dinner, her son read the newly bought book obediently by himself while she sat at the desk in the bedroom and wrote and drew, and soon she had figured it out.
Computers weren't popular back then, so her desk was filled with nothing but plain paper and various stationery items. Having long since lost her habit of writing by hand, she'd have to look up words in the dictionary whenever she forgot them. It took her quite a while to think clearly, write them down, and then copy out the neat, tidy pages.
So when she finally finished, she found that her son had fallen asleep among the pile of books.
She moved her son to the bed and changed his pajamas. He didn't wake up, but seeing the smile on his face, she felt more relieved, happier than if she had accomplished something great.
After covering her son with the quilt, Lin Ruoyan took a look at the book her son had just read.
You wouldn't know until you saw it: it was a popular science book with both Chinese and English translations. It wasn't some picture book for children, but one of those hardcore popular science books with tons of specialized vocabulary, covering topics like acoustics, optics, electronics, the universe, nanomaterials, condensed matter physics, quantum mechanics... Just reading all those Chinese words made her feel dizzy.
When buying books at the Book Building, she hadn't paid much attention to it, simply helping to carry the books her son wanted. Unexpectedly, he ended up buying these. No wonder the salespeople looked at her so strangely when she was checking out, full of sympathy for her son. She had thought buying thousands of dollars worth of books was unusual, but it turned out that the books themselves were unusual.
This wasn't a book for normal children! She was probably considered a crazy parent with unrealistic expectations for her son to succeed. Luckily, when people asked her about it, she happily said she bought it for her son...
Oh, forget it. Anyway, she is misunderstood as a bad person by others. Isn't this consistent with the character setting of a vicious female supporting role?
The next morning, when Lin Ruoyan and her son went downstairs to eat, she heard that Lin Ruxu had left early in the morning to catch a flight for a business trip abroad. She was relieved.
Her brother had been persuaded by her last night. Now that she had a clear path forward for starting a company and buying a courtyard house, and had received support, she could just handle it herself. It would be best if her brother was always busy and didn't have time to ask about her affairs, so she wouldn't have to make up any more lies to explain to him.
That morning, after Wang Kui handed the first version of the kindergarten selection results to Lin Ruoyan, she gave some suggestions for revision and then asked Wang Kui to help her make an appointment with Professor Qiao.
Laymen may not understand it, but if you are in real estate and want to invite such a big-name designer, don’t ask what to discuss or whether the designer is really busy, you must make an appointment in advance to show respect.
After an appointment, she would visit the studio in person to discuss the requirements. If the other party was not interested, she would force the master to come and see the site. Then, with her understanding of the future of high-end courtyard houses, she could persuade the master to change his mind.
After making all these arrangements, Lin Ruoyan asked the driver to take her around the city to look for an office building that caught her eye. This time, she didn't bring her son with her. He was still engrossed in the new books he had bought yesterday and probably wouldn't go anywhere until he finished reading them.
While searching for an office building, Lin Ruoyan discovered the newly constructed Financial Street office complex, tucked away near West D. The buildings were quite impressive, with high-ceilinged lobbies and newly renovated offices, all they needed to do was add partitions, furnish the space, and decorate.
The entire building is managed by an international property management company, making it a modern office building even more upscale and luxurious than those in the CBD. They're also targeting headquarters or branches of large multinational corporations, primarily in the banking and finance sectors.
This building is surrounded by international five-star hotels and high-end shopping malls where anything costs four figures or more. It highlights the nobility of the area near the imperial city compared to the CBD in the east.
When the person in charge of leasing learned that Lin Ruoyan was only planning to open a new real estate company, he was a little hesitant. However, when Lin Ruoyan agreed to the expensive rent and property fees without blinking, and was willing to pay the rent annually, the other party immediately stopped talking about stupid things like having to be in the financial industry.
It's foolish not to make money. This new building is beautiful, but the rent, including property management fees, is a whopping 50 yuan per square meter per month. If you rent out an entire 1,500-square-meter floor, not just one, that's 900,000 yuan a year. That doesn't even include utilities like water, electricity, and air conditioning. It's really a bit expensive. At this price, you could buy an office floor a little further away.
Most people with such spending power have already settled down in CBD. It is rare to find a big boss like Ms. Lin who is so straightforward and makes the decision to rent on the spot.
Lin Ruoyan was certainly quick to make decisions. She was a bit annoyed by the low rent for the office building. Twenty years from now, the rent in this place would increase tenfold. Right now, the office building couldn't be sold, forcing her to pay such a low rent. The annual payment was a 10% discount, and she wished she could extend her lease for a few more years. There were buildings available for sale, but the transaction process was complicated, the exterior looked tacky, and they were a few minutes away from her courtyard. Better to have less than less. If she couldn't spend it now, she could use it to buy land in the future.
This time, Lin Ruoyan was accompanied by the agent Xiao Qin.
Although Xiao Qin is better at buying and selling second-hand houses, he still has the business ability to rent office buildings. He can draw up the lease contract and negotiate the payment schedule between the two parties. Lin Ruoyan only needs to watch from the side and pay the money at the appointed time. She doesn't have to worry about anything else, Xiao Qin will take care of it all.
After renting a luxurious office building, these data were immediately given to Wang Kui, and the company registration process could be expedited.
Coming out of this building and walking a short distance outside the Second Ring Road, you will find the street where many design institutes in Beijing were concentrated at that time.
Wang Kui also happened to have an appointment with Professor Qiao's office at 4:00 PM that day. Professor Qiao only gave him an hour, as he had to have dinner with an old classmate after 5:00 PM.
Time was a bit tight, but in reality, as a low-level worker, Lin Ruoyan had seen a lot and could find opportunities to report to her superiors. She immediately asked someone to drive to the door of the office and wait.
The appointment with Professor Qiao was at 4 o'clock. She arrived at 2:30 after lunch. She sat by the front desk, carefully observing the office of less than 100 square meters, and rehearsed in her mind how to make her decoration project sound more high-end.
Fortunately, at three o'clock, Professor Qiao angrily kicked one of the parties out.
Lin Ruoyan understood as soon as she heard it. The client in a suit and tie didn't want to spend more money at all. He thought it was just a matter of a few drawings, so why did he ask for hundreds of thousands of dollars in design fees? He could obviously rob the money, so why did he force the sale of the drawings? With so much money, he could have built the house.
Professor Qiao was so angry that he jumped up and down and cursed. He said that the client who was reluctant to spend money on design fees might as well build a pigpen. There was no need for blueprints. He could just find someone in the countryside to build it.
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