"Hello, Aunt Yue. It's been a long time since we last met. I wonder if you still recognize me."
"Of course I recognize you, Ye Ling. You are getting more and more beautiful. Where is your wife? How old is your child?"
Ye Ling's face turned red immediately, Cheng Qiao quickly blinked at Qin Yue, and Qin Yue realized that this girl was not married yet.
"By the way, have you had breakfast? There's a breakfast stand next door that has tofu pudding and other things. Do you want to go and have some?"
"No, I've eaten at my uncle's house."
A few people chatted for a while before diffusing the awkwardness. Ye Ling changed the subject and said that she wanted to buy a courtyard house in the capital and a shop in a good location.
Qin Yue nodded. Although the reform and opening up had just begun, many people did not dare to invest even if they had money in their pockets, for fear that history would repeat itself.
But she was not afraid. Her man was now traveling far and wide, looking for investment projects. He had even exchanged several boxes of gold into coins and was buying houses and shops everywhere, preparing to make a comeback.
"I know there are two courtyard houses for sale in Qianjie Hutong. Both have three courtyards and are elegantly decorated. Unfortunately, they were badly damaged. The cost of repairing them is more expensive than buying the house."
The three-courtyard house his family bought cost 20,000 yuan, but it has cost 60,000 yuan to renovate it. It has not been completely renovated yet, and it will cost at least another ten thousand yuan.
"Auntie, has your clothing store hired a salesperson?"
"Yes, please. Don't worry. I will take you there when they come."
Ten minutes later, all the salespeople arrived. Qin Yue assigned them some tasks, and then took Cheng Qiao and Ye Ling to Qianjie Hutong, which was half an hour away from the Peking University campus.
Seeing the two empty and dilapidated courtyards, Ye Ling felt very distressed. The exquisite carvings and patterns, pavilions and terraces passed down by their ancestors had all been completely destroyed.
"Auntie, how much is this yard?"
"This is a good location. The owner wants thirty thousand dollars."
"I really want to take them all, but I don't have enough money. Cheng Qiao, how about we each have one set, and then open a moon gate in the middle, and then we can merge the two into one."
Cheng Qiao thought for a moment and nodded. She planned to leave this yard to Li Xiaonuan. This child loves beauty, so she could let her open a boutique or a beauty salon in the future.
Because the front entrance of the yard leads to the alley in the front street, as long as a door is opened on the back house of the front yard next to the road, it will be a ready-made shop, and there is no need to spend money to buy a shop.
Seeing that Cheng Qiao agreed, Ye Ling quickly took Qin Yue to find the boss. Qin Yue smiled and nodded, and asked the two of them to go into the courtyard to take a good look so as not to regret it later.
The two of them actually walked in hand in hand. The first yard had turned into a garbage dump, and the second yard was full of illegal buildings. It was clearly a garden, but it had turned into a path that was only wide enough for one person to walk.
The backyard was even more dilapidated. The red painted gate was so mottled that the color of the original wood was revealed. The main house was divided into five or six small rooms, and some waste was placed in a mess.
The landlord came. These two courtyard houses were his family's ancestral property. Seeing their ancestral property destroyed like this, he felt so ashamed of his ancestors, but it was not his fault.
So he decided to out of sight, out of mind, and simply sold all his ancestral property and prepared to move away. He didn't want to stay in this place any longer, otherwise it would be a torture to his soul.
"The one I like is 30,000 each. If you want both, you can take both for 55,000."
"Fifty thousand, maybe. We are still young and we are using our elders' money. We dare not spend it recklessly."
"Fifty thousand, wouldn't the two of you become two idiots? That doesn't sound good."
"It's okay. Idiots are idiots. Some people want to be idiots but can't do it."
When Ye Ling heard Cheng Qiao bargaining, she also joined in. However, the landlord didn't know how to respond to her words. Thinking of the plane ticket he had booked, he gritted his teeth and thought, it was only 5,000 yuan short, so he might as well sell it.
The transfer procedure went very smoothly, but when Ye Ling saw Li Xiaonuan's name on the property title, she was a little surprised. She thought the house was in Cheng Qiao's own name.
After buying the house, Ye Ling took Cheng Qiao and Qin Yue to a mutton restaurant to eat shabu-shabu. This was a mutton restaurant that had just opened and was doing incredibly good business.
Cheng Qiao always had the best luck. They grabbed the last empty seat and then leisurely began to brush the mutton:
"Cheng Qiao, why is Li Xiaonuan's name written on your property deed?"
"I have four children, and except for Xiao Nuan, the others all have properties under their names, so we can't treat Xiao Nuan unfairly."
Qin Yue nodded. Ye Jun's courtyard house had been transferred to Ye Jing, and Zhao Min's courtyard house obviously belonged to Xiao Chengli. Li Ming had a business in Chuncheng and his hometown, and even the land in his hometown was his.
The only person who does not have any property is Li Xiaonuan, so it is correct to put Li Xiaonuan's name on this courtyard house.
When Qin Yue asked Ye Ling and Cheng Qiao if they needed to find someone to renovate the courtyard house, they both shook their heads at the same time. They were using the courtyard house for business and only needed to redecorate it.
"What kind of business are you going to start?"
Qin Yue was a little nervous. Her clothing store business was booming and she really didn't want to have any competitors show up. Of course, this was unavoidable in the future, but if the competitors were relatives, then it would be hard to explain.
Ye Ling glanced at Qin Yue and felt a little disgusted. This Qin Yue was not comparable to Zhao Min at all. Forget it, there are different people in different worlds. Anyway, she might not do business with Qin Yue in the future.
"We haven't thought about it yet. Let's discuss it with Cheng Qiao after we go back."
There was no need to continue talking at this point. Cheng Qiao looked at her watch. She had taken too many days off during this period and she had to catch up with a class in the afternoon. She stood up and was about to leave.
Ye Ling nodded in understanding. She was also going to look for Ye Chengying's old subordinates. Her house needed to be renovated, and she didn't have much money, so she could only shamelessly try to make friends with them.
"Aunt Qin, I'm leaving now. Thank you for your help today. Cheng Qiao has already paid for the shabu-shabu. I'll treat you to the next meal."
Qin Yue was stunned, only then did she realize that Cheng Qiao had already paid the money when he left. This kid always did things that made people feel comfortable.
Ye Ling also breathed a sigh of relief. Aunt Qin was helping her find a house and a landlord, so how could she ask her to treat her to a meal? It would be too embarrassing. Fortunately, Cheng Qiao understood the ways of the world.
While riding his bicycle, Cheng Qiao was also thinking about what kind of business to start. It was not impossible to open a grocery store in Beijing, but it would be a waste of the land of the courtyard house.
If she doesn't make medicinal food, people nowadays are short of food and clothing, and many people are obviously malnourished. She just needs to add diluted well water to the food and use medicinal herbs as a supplement, which should help many people.