Ye Zhao always believed that he was innocent of buying too much land.
It's like some women who like shopping and buy a skirt or a lipstick. If the price is right and they like it, they can't help themselves. But what she likes is the land.
This piece of land only costs one hundred thousand yuan, how could I resist
After reaching an agreement with Zeng Laojiu, I went to the village committee to complete the formalities that day.
His wallet was emptied in an instant, and so was his heart. Ye Zhao sighed, took the soda from Brother Xiang, and drank it all in one gulp on the cold street. It was so refreshing!
Regarding the subsequent land allocation, because an additional piece of land was added, the boss asked for more money.
We were chatting in Zhaohua's office at noon that day. Ye Zhao disagreed with the increase in the price. "Don't apply for it separately. Just apply for it as a complete plot..."
"The land is allocated based on the square meter. If you add more than one thousand square meters, I will have to spend at least five thousand yuan more. This cost cannot be given to me. I have to run errands in vain and still have to pay the cost, right? Boss Ye." Lao Kai sat opposite her, crossing his legs.
Ye Zhao couldn't believe it: "Five thousand yuan is that expensive?"
"What else? It will cost me 5,000 yuan to do it, and if someone else does it for you, it will cost at least 10,000 yuan. I'm not bragging! Your uncle Kai has some connections. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to take on this matter with you."
Ye Zhao immediately picked up the phone and called Wu Aimin, "Hello! Xiaomin... Is your father home? Please ask him how much the land grant fee is now... Oh, so... 3 yuan per square meter?"
Uncle Kai's face suddenly fell. He didn't expect that Ye Zhao had this kind of relationship.
"Are there any other expenses... No more, right? OK!" After hanging up the phone, Ye Zhao glanced at Lao Kai, this old fox who plunders others' wealth!
Lao Kai had no choice but to grin. He was thick-skinned. After you hit him on the left side of the face, he would still hand you the right side.
Ye Zhao quickly calculated in her mind: 1,205 square meters, 3 yuan per square meter. She wrote on the note: 3,615 yuan.
She tore off the paper and gave it to Uncle Kai, "I'll give you the money when it's done."
He really didn't make any money. Lao Kai gritted his teeth and had no choice but to remind him with a smile: "There is still my 50,000 yuan."
"Don't worry, you'll be there."
"Hurry up and give me the drawings. I'll get them approved for you!"
Ye Zhao asked Xiao Baisi to introduce a designer. The designer asked her what architectural style she wanted. Ye Zhao actually had no idea yet. She followed Lao Kai's previous request and said, "Just draw a few buildings and add some green space!"
"No other requests?"
"Not yet. This is a topographic map with the area shown on it. Next time when we really need to build a building, I'll come back to you to draw it."
It turns out that this designer is also an amazing person. He directly copied the sketch of a foreign shopping mall for the basement. The whole style can be described in three words: high-end!
The name has been decided, it is called Zizhulin BoBoPark!
Ye Zhao only wanted to build a small residential building for rent, which was... simply a blueprint fraud!
Because Lao Kai had said before that she could draw it however she wanted, and the designer was busy and had no time to revise it, so Ye Zhao had no choice but to give the drawing to Lao Kai as it was.
The approval came down very quickly. It was said that the leader liked the design very much after seeing it. Since English was not allowed on the approval drawings, the leader personally gave it the name: Zizhulin Commercial Street!
What is going on
When Lao Kai handed her the land grant document, he told her: "It doesn't matter! When the time comes, you can just use the three words Zizhulin. You can build it however you want."
Ye Zhao was skeptical: "Are you sure it's okay?"
"I can keep it safe!" Lao Kai guaranteed, patting his chest.
No matter what, Ye Zhao finally felt at ease after getting the land approval documents!
She was one step closer to her great dream of becoming a landlady.
The schools here have already started, but those in Hong Kong haven't. I returned home with the land grant documents and schoolbag. The mute was making a kite in the yard, and Zeng Xiang was standing by to reel in the string. He and Ye Zhao planned to go out to fly a kite later.
Ye Zhao went upstairs to put her things away. After coming down, she asked, "Where are we going to fly the kite?"
Zeng Xiang had already thought about it: "Let's go to Lotus Hill Park. There is a large downhill meadow over there."
"Xiao Zhao!" Fatty Ying waved to Ye Zhao from inside the house, "Come here, I have something to ask you."
Xiao Zhao went in and found that Fatty Ying didn't play mahjong today. She was sitting at the door peeling peanuts to make glutinous rice balls.
"Let me ask you, are you still short of people in the cafeteria?"
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "What's wrong? Aunt Fuying, do you still need to come out to work?"
Fatty Ying pouted at her brother and said, "My brother! He used to work as a blacksmith for others, but now his blacksmith shop is closed and will never open again. If you are short of people, ask him to work for you."
Ye Zhao said: "Sure, I'll ask Aunt Qin later. Even if we don't need any staff now, we will need to add more staff in March or April."
"How do you calculate wages there?"
Since the end of the year, wages have generally increased. Ye Zhao said, "A chef makes about 200 yuan, and a cook makes 150 yuan."
This salary is not low, and Fatty Ying’s family is not short of money, but my younger brother cannot stay at home and do nothing.
A while ago, someone introduced a girl to a mute, but the girl disliked that he had no job and all the rent money was in the hands of her sister, so the girl's family asked a matchmaker to act as lobbyist.
The matchmaker told Fatty Ying that the girl would only agree to marry the mute if she agreed to separate the family property after marriage and the siblings would share the property equally. Fatty Ying thought that the girl was greedy for money, and in the end the two families failed to reach an agreement.
Others said that Fatty Ying was holding on to her brother's property and delaying the mute's marriage. Fatty Ying felt that the root cause was that the mute had no job and no stable income, and it was not her fault.
So she was anxious to find a job for her brother.
"He can't be a chef, but he can be a kitchen helper, doing odd jobs, cutting meat, washing vegetables, etc. That's fine."
"It shouldn't be a big problem. I'll give you an answer tomorrow."
Zeng Xiang called her, "Let's go."
"Alright? What kind of kite did you make? Is this a swallow?" Ye Zhao took the kite in his hand and looked at it, then gave the mute a thumbs up: "Uncle Fugui, you are so skillful!"
The mute smiled foolishly and gestured to them, asking them to go and play quickly, otherwise it would be dark before long.
They rode their motorcycles to Lotus Mountain Park to fly kites, but when they got there they found out that a murder had occurred in the park and it was temporarily closed.
Ye Zhao was unwilling to give up after making such a beautiful kite but having no place to fly it. She thought for a moment and said, "Should we go to the Purple Bamboo Forest to fly it?"
Zeng Xiang said humorously: "Flying a kite with smell?"
Ye Zhao smiled: "The south wind is blowing now, and there is no smell. Believe me."
They rode their motorcycles to the Purple Bamboo Forest and stood by the road. Ye Zhao asked, "Do you know that our land has been approved?"
Zeng Xiang obviously didn't understand, "What are you doing here?"
"The designer copied the design of a shopping mall abroad. It was so high-end that the leaders praised it highly and it was approved quickly."
"Shopping Mall?" Zeng Xiang had been to the big shopping mall in Hong Kong. He nodded and said, "Do you want to build one?"
"I can't! I don't have that kind of money. I just want to save money to build a few small buildings, build more stores downstairs for rent, and build residences upstairs, also for rent. I'll be a landlady." Ye Zhao smiled as he said this. What a simple wish.
Zeng Xiang believed her: "You can do it."
Ye Zhao also nodded: "When I make money, I will start building!"
"Have you seen a map of Deep City?"
"certainly!"
"Our Zengwuwei is in the center of the map. Although the city is now in the east, close to the Shenzhen-Hong Kong port, I've seen news reports that the Shenzhen city will move westward sooner or later. Who knows, it might move to our Zengwuwei!"
Isn’t this the future direction of Shenzhen
Ye Zhao sincerely admired: "Brother Xiang! You can predict the future!"
Zeng Xiang smiled, "This is my hometown, and I have confidence in it. Once the garbage dump and pig farm are moved away, this place will slowly become prosperous. Who knows, maybe we can actually build a building with a shopping mall by then."
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Then I have to hit the target!"
A building with a shopping mall requires too much money, which she cannot afford.
Looking at the leveled land, Ye Zhao sighed: "The future city center is now empty and I don't know what to do with it."
If I rent it to others to store their things, I won't get much money, so it's not cost-effective no matter how I think about it.
"The wind is blowing, let's fly the kite first." Zeng Xiang is a good kite flyer. He quickly found the wind direction, ran against the wind for a while, and then slowly let the kite go into the sky.
Afterwards, he handed the string to Ye Zhao and taught her some tips, "Don't pull the string too tight, nor let it go too loose. Why don't you try to pull it down and put the kite up yourself."
Ye Zhao said: "That's fine."
Zeng Xiang taught her how to collect the kite, and after collecting it, how to determine the wind direction and how to fly it.
After playing for a while, Zeng Xiuqun came running over. She stood on the side of the road and shouted, "I saw your kite on my way home from school. It's flying so high!"
Ye Zhao called her: "Do you want to come over and play?"
"I won't play, I'll just watch you play. Do you want some maltose? I'll go get some from Granny Liang."
"If you want to eat, buy more."
Zeng Xiuquan went to Liang Po to buy malt sugar, but she didn't come back for a long time. Ye Zhao looked towards the blue shed from time to time, and saw many people waiting at the door to receive the goods.
After at least ten minutes, Zeng Xiang and Ye Zhao both took back their kites, and then Zeng Xiuqun came running over with a small bag of malt sugar.
Ye Zhao asked her: "Why did it take so long?"
Zeng Xiuqun said: "There are too many people selling scraps. Granny Liang is difficult to deal with, and she quarrels with almost everyone."
Ye Zhao picked up a piece of maltose and ate it. "Brother Xiang, do you want to eat maltose?"
As she spoke, she picked up a piece and passed it to his mouth, "My hands are not clean, do you mind?"
Zeng Xiuqun smiled and said, "Brother Xiang doesn't like sweets."
Before she finished speaking, Brother Xiang had already opened his mouth, took the maltose and started eating.
Blame her for being too talkative! Brother Xiang is always flattering in front of Zhao Zhao... Ahem, Zeng Xiuqun didn't dare to say anything.
“Does it smell sweet like malt?”
"sweet."
After returning home and having dinner, Ye Zhao went to see Aunt Qin to see if he could arrange for the mute to work in the cafeteria. Aunt Qin said that two of the chefs who had gone back home for the New Year had brought their friends to work as cooks, and now the kitchen was full.
There was no other way. Ye Zhao couldn't force anyone in, otherwise it would be a waste of her money.
Before going to bed at night, Ye Zhao recalled the several times he went to Liang Po's place. Many people went there to sell scrap. Because Liang Po was difficult to talk to, some people would rather go to the next village to sell than come to her place. This shows that the market is still quite large.
Instead of leaving the place empty, it is better to suggest that the mute collect waste. This will kill two birds with one stone, solving both the problem of her place being idle and the mute's work difficulties.
After she told this idea to Fatty Ying, Fatty Ying fully agreed. Ye Zhao would provide the land and the mute would provide the labor, and the profits would be split 50-50. Normally, Ye Zhao would not be involved in the daily operations of the scrap yard. To her, she was just temporarily renting out the land in another way.
After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zeng Xiang started going to school in Gangcheng. He was in Form 6. Gangcheng School had two days off a week, so he went back to Zengwuwei every Friday night and back to the Luo family in Gangcheng on Sunday night.
Ye Zhao went to school normally, and his scores in every monthly examination were always very good, and he always ranked first in the district joint examinations.
She has become her father's pride for bragging to others.
Since Zeng Xiang started studying hard, his grades have gradually improved. In the second month after he went to Gangcheng, he was already among the top three in his class.
Fatty Ying couldn't believe it. Zeng Xiang, who was almost the worst in the class, got third place in the exam? She thought that the students in Gangcheng must be stupid. The exam questions in Gangcheng were easier. If she let her son Xiaotian go, he might get first place.
Of course, she didn't dare say it in front of Aunt Qiao.
Ye Zhao had to go to school on weekdays and had no time, so she and Huang Dongliang made an appointment to go there on Saturday. On Saturday, she skipped classes for half a day and rode Xiang Ge's motorcycle straight to Dongshan Town.
When we arrived in town, it was still early. We waited at the designated Xinhua Bookstore for a while, but Huang Dongliang had not arrived yet.
Zeng Xiang locked his motorcycle outside the bookstore, and the two of them went to the beef kway teow shop next door to eat kway teow soup.
The stove for making kway teow soup is placed at the door of the store, and the beef soup is steaming.
Ye Zhao asked Zeng Xiang: "Brother Xiang, do you want beef or beef balls?"
"Beef, any is fine."
"Then I'll order beef balls, and we'll eat them together. Boss, one bowl of beef, one bowl of beef balls..."
The boss heard them speak Mandarin and knew they were from other places. "How much do you want?" Zeng Xiang: "Five yuan."
"Okay!" The boss responded enthusiastically when he heard it. This was a wealthy customer. It was already very good for ordinary customers to spend 50 cents or 1 yuan, and it was extremely rare to spend 5 yuan.
There were quite a few customers in the kway teow shop. They found an empty seat and sat down. It was a bit hot in the shop, so Ye Zhao took off his coat and put it on the stool next to him.
"It took us less than two hours to get here this time. How fast were you driving?"
"Between 100 and 120."
"Cars can't drive that fast, and trucks are even slower." Ye Zhao was considering the issue of transporting vegetables in the future.
Two more people came in. They looked like they were from the village. They each ordered a bowl of beef noodle soup which cost 50 cents. There were no seats available, so they had to share the table with them.
A man wanted to sit next to Ye Zhao, but was stopped by Zeng Xiang who was originally sitting opposite him, "You can sit in my seat."
Zeng Xiang gave his seat to that man and sat next to her. She had no place to put her coat, so she just put it on his legs.
The boss brought two bowls of rice noodle soup filled with meat. Zeng Xiang took out two pairs of chopsticks from a bamboo tube and handed one pair to her.
The two men opposite started chatting, and one of them said in the local dialect: "Anyway, our village will not be chosen. The mayor's aunt lives in Changling Village. I heard that Changling has already been chosen."
"The soil and water in Changling are far inferior to those in Hongbao Village. Why don't you choose Hongbao?"
"Hongbao is poor, who can afford to pay those leaders? If you don't have connections, you have to be willing to give money. If you don't have both, you will always be poor. There is nothing you can do about it."
Ye Zhao listened silently. There were a few more slices of beef in the bowl, which Zeng Xiang had brought over. She also gave him a few meatballs.
After they finished eating, they came out and found Huang Dongliang squatting next to the motorcycle waiting for them.
Huang Dongliang stood up and greeted them when he saw them. His family had recently built a house and he had to help Ye Zhao with various chores, so his hair had grown a little longer and he had no time to shave it.
Huang Dongliang asked: "Isn't Sister Sun here?"
Sister Sun is Sun Qinfang, a technician at Huicheng Vegetable Base, and Ye Zhao poached her with a high salary.
Ye Zhao said: "She took a bus from Huicheng and should be here soon."
Huang Dongliang: "Then let's go to the town government first. The mayor and his men are waiting for us. Just walk over here and turn a corner and we'll be there."
"Let's wait for Sister Sun. She came to investigate last time, so we have to listen to her."
Zeng Xiang handed her her coat and said, "I'll ride my bike to the station to take a look."
This is fine. Ye Zhao took the coat and said, "Sister Sun has short hair and is a little shorter than me."
While waiting at the door of the bookstore, Huang Dongliang gave a general account of the conditions in several surrounding villages. Each villager group was very enthusiastic and hoped that a vegetable base could be built in their own village.
Ye Zhao asked him for his opinion on which village to choose.
Huang Dongliang said truthfully, "I think they are all about the same. Xiangxi Village is definitely the first choice. We have worked together before when harvesting small yellow ginger, so we are all familiar with each other. Hongbao Village has good soil, but there are more unruly people than Xiangxi Village, and the roads are not accessible, so I am not optimistic about it. The people in Changling Village are easier to talk to, but the soil and water are relatively not that good among the three villages. Overall, I still prefer Xicun, my wife's hometown."
Huang Dongliang chuckled as he spoke. He told Ye Zhao clearly his preference. Ye Zhao liked this kind of people. He was afraid of those who were scheming. It was tiring to be with that kind of people.
Not long after, Zeng Xiang came back on his motorcycle. His motorcycle rumbled along the cobblestone alleys of the town, and passers-by couldn't help but stop to take a few more glances at it.
Sun Qinfang jumped off the motorcycle and smiled at Ye Zhao, "Oh, I almost got lost today. I asked for directions. I couldn't understand what that lady said. Fortunately, you sent someone to pick me up."
Huang Dongliang: "If I had known, I would have gone to the station to wait for you."
Ye Zhao introduced: "This is my brother Xiang."
Sun Qinfang smiled and said, "Your brother is so handsome! He came here on a motorcycle, and he was so handsome."
Zeng Xiang felt a little embarrassed by the compliments, but luckily he was wearing a helmet so you couldn't tell that he was blushing.
Everyone walked towards Dongshan Town Government together.
The town government is still a dilapidated brick building, and it is obvious that Dongshan Town is indeed poor.
In fact, this place is very close to Shenzhen. Thirty years later, the entire district and county will be under the jurisdiction of Shenzhen. But the current Dongshan Town is close to the mountains but not the sea, with inconvenient transportation and extremely poor.
No matter how inconvenient the transportation is, the vegetables here can be shipped early in the morning and arrive at the Shenzhen-Hong Kong port in the morning. In addition, the soil and water are good, so it is still worth investing in.
The mayor and two town officials were already waiting at the door to greet them.
The mayor's surname is Wang. He is in his forties, skinny and thin. He stretched out his hand from a distance...
Before Ye Zhao reached out his hand, he found that Mayor Wang had already held Sun Qinfang's hand, "Comrade Ye, I have heard a lot about you! We have been waiting for you for a long time."
Sun Qinfang laughed: "My last name is Sun, and this is our boss!"
Huang Dongliang quickly introduced: "Mayor Wang, Mayor Wang, this, this is Boss Ye."
Mayor Wang was stunned when he looked at Ye Zhao. Although Huang Dongliang had reminded him long ago that the investor of the vegetable base for Hong Kong was a girl under 20 years old, this girl was too young and looked like a middle school student.
Mayor Wang was a man of the moment after all, so he was stunned for less than half a second and quickly apologized: "Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't recognize you! I didn't expect Boss Ye to be such a young and promising person."
Ye Zhao didn't care. She smiled and said, "Hello, Mayor Wang. Sorry for the long wait!"
Everyone politely made their way to sit in the room. They probably chose the best office, which had a desk with peeling yellow paint and five or six chairs with the same peeling paint. There was a small table between the chairs for everyone to put their cups on.
"I didn't invite the heads of the villages to come today, for fear that they would influence Boss Ye's choice. Now let Director Chen introduce the situation of each village."
Director Chen was also thin, and there were few fat people in the countryside in this era. He cleared his throat slightly nervously before starting his introduction.
A staff member brought in tea. Mayor Wang saw the tea stains on the cup and was so angry that he wanted to curse. He had assigned the reception work yesterday, but in the end, he didn't even clean the cups!
When he saw that Ye Zhao didn't drink the tea, he was anxious like an ant on hot pan, but he had to pretend to be calm on the surface.
He winked at the staff member next to him and muttered something. After a while, the man brought in a few new cups and replaced the old ones.
In fact, Ye Zhao was listening to Director Chen's speech and didn't pay attention to whether the teacup was clean. She just drank too much soup and didn't want to drink water.
After the old teacup was replaced, she realized that the mayor was a meticulous and particular person.
After Director Chen introduced the situation of each village, Mayor Wang concluded: "The three selected villages have relatively concentrated arable land, good water sources and good soil. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. It depends on how your team, Boss Ye, chooses."
Ye Zhao asked Mayor Wang: "What do you suggest?"
Mayor Wang guessed Boss Ye's intention. Boss Ye would definitely choose Xiangxi Village first. Huang Dongliang also revealed before that they had a very pleasant cooperation with Xiangxi Village last time.
But the town did not want to push Xiangxi Village. At least Xiangxi Village still had turmeric to sell, and was not so poor that it could not make ends meet.
Boss Ye’s second choice should be Changling Village. Changling Village has convenient transportation. Boss Ye is not here to help the poor, but to invest and make money, so he will definitely choose the one that is beneficial to him.
Although the mayor's aunt's home is in Changling Village, he should have recommended Changling Village, but Changling Village is still one of the most affluent villages in the town. Among the three villages, he ranked Changling Village last.
The last place Boss Ye would choose is Hongbao Village. Hongbao Village has inconvenient transportation, is extremely poor, and is full of unruly people. The previous mayor had his hair turned white with worry, but he still failed to pull this village out of trouble.
But this was the first recommendation after several leaders in their town held a closed-door meeting!
What should we do? Mayor Wang must be brave enough to brag about himself. He said with a smile: "We must consider this from your perspective. When growing vegetables, water sources and soil quality must be given priority. This is the case in Hongbao Village."
Mayor Wang gave a thumbs up and said, "The water in Hongbao Village is sweet and you can drink it directly. Isn't that right, Director Chen?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Director Chen hurriedly agreed: "There is a lot of spring water over there, the soil is good, and the land is concentrated, which makes it very convenient to manage."
This surprised Ye Zhao a little, as the town leaders were not partial.
Ye Zhao looked at Sister Sun, who had just told Ye Zhao her opinion. "We chose Hongbao Village just like the town leaders. The soil and water quality in Hongbao Village are the best I have ever seen. I am confident that we can grow the best quality vegetables."
Upon hearing this, Mayor Wang and Director Chen clapped their hands in surprise and said, "That's great! We all agree! Great minds think alike!"
Ye Zhao said: "However, I heard that the villagers of Hongbao Village are not very cooperative?"
Mayor Wang said hurriedly, "It's hard to talk to them. They are all poor. Poor people have nothing, so they will definitely care about everything. You are here to lead everyone to get rich together. No matter how difficult a person is, he will not go against money. The villagers will definitely cooperate with you. You can rest assured about this."
Huang Dongliang: "There is also the problem of transportation."
Director Chen said: "Hongbao Village's transportation is indeed a big problem. It is far from the highway and the existing road is too narrow to facilitate transportation. I have discussed with the village. If Hongbao Village is chosen, the whole village will pool their manpower and resources to build a road next to the highway. I just don't know if it will be in time."
Mayor Wang said: "We can mobilize people from other villages to build roads together."
Director Chen: "This may be difficult. No other villages have been selected, let alone coming to help."
Mayor Wang: "Can't we think of a solution? Let the people of Hongbao Village mobilize themselves. They must have relatives in other villages. It's better for each family to bring their relatives to help than to fight alone."
"That's a solution."
Ye Zhao said: "Relying purely on manual labor to build the road is too slow. Can we hire a bulldozer and an excavator to do the construction? It may take at most ten days to complete the roadbed, and then we can use manual labor to do fine finishing, which will be much faster."
Mayor Wang smiled awkwardly: "How can we afford this? We have heard of it, but we have never seen it."
"How about this, I'll find a way to solve the problem of mechanical road construction, and I'll pay for it." Ye Zhao knew that the town government and the villagers couldn't afford it, "But we both have to agree in the contract that after the contract expires, Zhaohua has the priority to renew the contract. We can't build this road for nothing."
"That's no problem."
The meeting lasted two or three hours, and we had a home-cooked meal in the office at noon, and basically finalized the intention of cooperation in Hongbao Village.
Ye Zhao never thought that the construction of her vegetable base for Hong Kong would lay a solid financial foundation for her to buy land and build buildings in the future.
After the meeting, Sister Sun followed Ye Zhao back to Shenzhen to prepare for the subsequent work of setting up a technical management team for the vegetable base.
Sister Sun came to Shenzhen and temporarily stayed at Li Ruixiang's house. She got off the motorcycle at the small west building. Ye Zhao helped Sister Sun take the luggage into the room, and found that there was an extra luggage bag in the room where Gao Yueyue originally slept.
When Li Ruixiang came back in the evening, Ye Zhao found out that Gao Yueyue's mother had come and would stay here for two days.
Li Ruixiang pulled Ye Zhao into the room and muttered, "I heard Yueyue is sick."
"What disease?"
"I don't know. He's so secretive and doesn't want to tell me."
"Gao Yueyue's mother is here to take care of her?"
"No. Didn't Gao Yueyue's mother work in finance at the knitting factory? I heard the knitting factory was failing, so she came to Irene to work as an accountant."
(End of this chapter)