Siheyuan's Journey Through the Ages

Chapter 113: Experience in Purchasing a Property

The Peninsula Hotel, located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, is one of the most famous five-star hotels in Hong Kong. The Peninsula Hotel opened in 1928 and is world-renowned for its excellent service and luxurious facilities. The hotel has an elegant architectural style and exquisite interior decoration, making it the preferred place for many celebrities and dignitaries to stay.

Ma Qing lived in a room that cost 38 Hong Kong dollars a day. He was very satisfied with the decoration of the room, and then he went into his own space to relax. The reason why Ma Qing was willing to pay more was not because of the luxury of the Peninsula Hotel, but because of his safety.

As the last face of the British financial group in Hong Kong and the magnificent symbol of the 300 billion wealth of the Kadoorie family, the fourth largest financial group in Hong Kong, the four words "Peninsula Hotel" itself mean the best choice for those business travelers who like to appreciate history and culture, but for Ma Qing it means absolute safety.

Ma Qing was holding the newly bought Hong Kong map in his hand and thinking.

I decided to first buy a tenement building in Yau Tsim Mong District, Sham Shui Po District or Kowloon City District, keeping the price within 20 yuan, and then open a grain and oil shop to sell the things in the space. The most important thing is to solve my language problem.

In Hong Kong, a city where 80% of the population speaks Cantonese, it is very difficult to integrate into this place if you don't speak Cantonese. Opening a shop and welcoming customers is the best way to hone your language skills.

The most important thing is that I have just arrived and I am completely in the dark about this city. No matter whether I want to work in industry or finance in the future, I will not be able to start if I don’t understand this city first.

In the next few days, Ma Qing continued to hire Huang Hongtu's rickshaw and traveled around Yau Tsim Mong District, Sham Shui Po District and Kowloon City District. With Ma Qing's eagerness, he finally found the house he liked on Xintiandi Street.

This is a new building that is not in the Tang-style. It looks like a completely modern minimalist house with 4 floors. It is located in the middle of the street. Below is a street-facing shop of more than 90 square meters. Ma Qing looked at the sales information posted next to the door of the shop, said hello to Huang Hongtu, and walked into the store.

This is a grocery store that sells general merchandise. It seems that the business of this store is really bad. The hygiene in the store is also not good. It is obvious that there are no customers caring about it. No wonder they have to sell the store and leave.

"Is the boss here?" Ma Qing looked at the empty shop and shouted in his not-so-fluent Cantonese accent.

"Who's screaming?" A man's voice came from the partition behind the store, and the tone was extremely bad.

"I saw a sign outside saying this building is for sale, so I came in to ask who owns this building and where the boss is."

The voice from behind the shop disappeared, and after a long while someone answered: "I am the owner, please wait a moment, I will be right out." Then there was a clanging sound from behind the shop.

"Are you the one who wants to buy a house?" The middle-aged man who came out had a hapless look on his face, with no flesh on his cheeks. He looked as if he had been malnourished for a long time. No matter how Ma Qing looked at him, he felt that this man did not seem to be the owner of this building.

"Yes, I want to buy it. Of course, I will only buy it if the price is right," Ma Qing replied.

The man looked Ma Qing up and down and said, "Judging from your accent, you are not a local."

"Brother, what's your surname? My surname is Ma,"

"My last name is Zhang, and my name is Zhang the Archer."

"Hello, Mr. Zhang, you have a really good hearing. I really just came to Hong Kong, so I plan to buy a house here and settle down." Ma Qing said as he took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to him. The man surnamed Zhang took the cigarette, lit it with the match handed over by Ma Qing, and took a deep breath, "Is he from the north or the south? Could he be back from the west?"

Ma Qing also lit one himself. "I'm from the north. Mr. Zhang is selling a house. Do you think we need to investigate this? Money doesn't know which way to go, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes. In today's world, money is everything. It seems that I have said too much. Mr. Ma, don't mind it." People are like this. If you are tough, they will be soft. If you are soft, they will win.

"Mr. Zhang, this house is yours, right? How about you introduce it to me and show me around? Then we can talk about the price. What do you think?" Ma Qing suggested.

"Let me give you some basic information. This house was built around 50, and is now about 10 years old. But it is considered new in these streets. You should be able to tell that." The man surnamed Zhang walked around in the store, patting the wall from time to time.

"It's a fully reinforced concrete structure with solid red brick walls. It's very strong. Listen to the sound, is it thick?" The man surnamed Zhang patted the wall, making a series of muffled sounds.

Ma Qing looked around. The house was quite square and indeed nice. "Can we go upstairs and take a look? I wonder what's going on upstairs."

"Let's talk about the price first. Otherwise, if you don't like it, I'll have taken you up there for nothing." The man surnamed Zhang interrupted Ma Qing.

Ma Qing thought about it and said, "Okay, then you name a price and see if I can afford it."

"Two hundred and twenty thousand, no bargaining. My house is about 4500 square feet. This price is very fair now." The man surnamed Zhang made an offer.

Ma Qing calculated in his mind, it is almost 500 yuan per square meter, isn't this nonsense? It is only 63 years now, and this price is for a luxury house with sea view. Although the street-facing shop should be calculated according to the shop price, the apartment above should be priced at more than yuan per square meter at most.

"How about this, Mr. Zhang, I see that each floor is about 1100 square feet. I'll give 10 for the shop downstairs, and another 8 for the three floors upstairs. A total of 18 is okay, right?" Ma Qing has studied the nearby real estate market in the past few days, and the price he offers should be considered the market price.

"No, no, I can't sell it at this price. The most I can give you is a discount of 1 yuan, yuan. No more bargaining." The man surnamed Zhang looked very angry, but he still lowered the price.

Just as Ma Qing was about to speak, the phone in the store rang again. The man surnamed Zhang looked at Ma Qing, turned around and answered the phone. There was a lot of chatter in his conversation, and it was unknown what dialect it was. The man surnamed Zhang seemed to be getting more and more anxious, and his tone became quite worried.

"Mr. Ma, something happened to my family, so it's not convenient to talk to you now. Why don't you come back another day?" After the man surnamed Zhang finished the call, he came out and talked to Ma Qing while starting to close the door.

Ma Qing felt that he was unlucky and how could he encounter such a cruel thing? He had to say goodbye and leave, but before leaving, he left his phone number at the Peninsula Hotel.

"Okay then, let's not disturb Mr. Zhang for now. This is my phone number. Please contact me when you are free. Don't worry, your family will be fine." Ma Qing comforted the man named Zhang.

(End of this chapter)