Restart life

Chapter 255 0252 [Guo the Madman, Xie the Sao Bang, and the others have all bought houses]

When flying back to Beijing, Chen Guiliang, like his employees, flew in economy class.

His bodyguard, Yang Shuo, was sitting next to him.

Chen Guiliang was dozing off with his eyes closed when he vaguely heard Xu Fengyin's voice from the back row: "Is this your first time on an airplane?"

“Yes,” Ding Beili said, “I’ve never left Shanghai before.”

She came from an ordinary family in Shanghai. Her life wasn't too bad, but it wasn't exactly wealthy either.

When she announced her intention to work in Beijing, her parents almost had a fight. Her father objected, while her mother agreed, and the argument dragged on.

Ding Beili pulled her parents to the computer, opened the school's intranet, overseas intranet, Youke platform, and the official website of the card game "Three Kingdoms Kill," pointing to those sites and saying that the boss had made them all. She also searched for some web pages related to Chen Guiliang on Baidu, letting her parents slowly read the news.

What ultimately convinced his father to agree was not Chen Guiliang's net worth of hundreds of millions, but rather the interview article by China Youth Daily that was reprinted by NetEase.

That report was very comprehensive, covering everything from Chen Guiliang's childhood to his time at Peking University.

Extremely inspiring!

Game Science hasn't even been fully operational yet, and Ding Beili is already famous.

A few old perverts who came specifically to photograph Xu Fengyin also took pictures of Ding Beili as well.

They also noticed that Ding Beili didn't smile at all during the entire CJ Electronics Show; she was the only showgirl who didn't smile at all.

Even Ding Beili's Renren (校内网) account was dug up; her last three blog posts were:

"I still can't find a formal job, but I applied for a part-time job on Renren.com and have been selected by Game Science. Does anyone know how to be a showgirl? I've only ever handed out flyers before."

"My boss said I have a good image today and asked if I wanted to work in Beijing. I've never been far from home before, so I'm a little excited but also a little scared."

"I'm taking a plane tomorrow. I've never been on a plane before."

Numerous comments appeared under all three blog posts.

Those who can access the school's intranet are either current students or graduates who have previously registered on the intranet.

Unfortunately, Renren.com only allows adding friends, not following strangers.

"Girl, hurry up and register a HaiNei.com account. I'll definitely follow you!"

"Damn it, Chen Guiliang takes away every beautiful woman he sees. Is he trying to keep her as a mistress?"

"Absolutely. By hiring beautiful women into the company, he can take advantage of his proximity."

"So you were really selected through online application? You Ke always has a good eye for picking beautiful women. Xu Fengyin from last year was even prettier."

"Xu Fengyin was originally the art designer at Youke. Do you understand the value of being the chief artist of 'Three Kingdoms Kill'?"

"Haha, it's a pity that Lao Xu's dark history has been dug up, and he hasn't replied to netizens for a long time."

"Hey, this is Ding Beili's account. Can you please stop discussing other girls here?"

"Everyone, quickly check out Xu Fengyin's photo album on Haiwainet! One of the photos is a picture of Old Xu and Ding Beili together. What a dream collaboration!"

"..."

Xu Fengyin's HaiNei.com account inexplicably attracted a large number of viewers again.

Beautiful women certainly attract attention and can bring more interest to a game.

Last year, Xu Fengyin's cosplay of Zhen Ji went viral, prompting a large number of passersby to inquire about the character. Upon learning that Zhen Ji's design was based on the game "Three Kingdoms Kill," many netizens subsequently went to play the game.

This year it happened again, and even more directly.

Because Ding Beili was wearing a strapless tank top with a very obvious Three Kingdoms Kill logo printed on the front.

The plane takes off.

Xu Fengyin said, "It's not easy to rent a place near the company right now. You can look online. I'll also ask around in our neighborhood for you."

"Thank you, Sister Fengyin." Ding Beili felt a little relieved. It would be best for a girl to have an older sister to help her when she's all alone in a foreign place.

When Chen Guiliang first started his business, the company only had a few employees who could temporarily live in Changchun Xinyuan. But last year, they could no longer live there, and even those who had already moved in had to move out and find their own housing.

Most of the second batch of employees rented accommodation in Yandongyuan.

Yandongyuan is a faculty and staff dormitory area, owned by Peking University, and is strictly prohibited from being rented to non-university personnel. Faculty and staff members have been illegally subletting the property to employees within the Peking University Science Park, and the university administration has turned a blind eye to this.

The problem is that someone reported it!
Some faculty and staff members' family members were very unhappy about outsiders appearing in the community. After repeated complaints, Peking University had no choice but to send people to clear the area and ask all the tenants to leave within a specified period.

Now, many employees of various companies in the Peking University Science and Technology Building have moved to old and dilapidated apartments in the Zhongguanxi District.

That area is the residential area for families of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and other institutions. The oldest buildings are half a century old, almost as old as the People's Republic of China itself...

Xie Yang is currently renting an apartment that used to belong to a professor from Tsinghua University. The professor's parents live next door. The elderly couple are also retired professors from Tsinghua and often chat with Xie Yang.

Executives at ByteDance and Youke are now thinking about buying houses.

Xie Yang has his eye on a property development. It's not far from his company, so the prices are high. The average price is 2 yuan per square meter. A 100-square-meter apartment would require a down payment of around 50 yuan.

Xie Yang's current annual salary is 28 yuan—it increased after the Series B funding round, and he earned less last year. But with the year-end bonus, he can earn a little over 40 yuan.

He saved up for a year and a half, which was just enough for a down payment.

Guo Feng, Ao Yanchen, Dong Qianqiu, and the others heard that Xie Yang was looking at houses, so they also decided to buy one.

Sigh, they've just graduated and they're already able to buy houses and settle down near Zhongguancun.

If word got out, people would be green with envy.

In the past two years, as college students who were admitted through the expansion of enrollment have begun to graduate, the salaries of college graduates from less prestigious universities have actually decreased.

Graduates from the worst universities, working in less developed cities, are earning less than 1000 yuan a month. This has even sparked heated discussions in the media, suggesting that college graduates are no longer all privileged individuals. The plane landed at the Capital Airport, where the company's large van had been waiting for some time.

Xu Fengyin is definitely a sucker for good looks; how much she talks depends on the appearance of the person she's chatting with, regardless of gender.

When facing Ding Beili, Xu Fengyin became more talkative, chattering away as she introduced the street scenes of Beijing.

Back at Game Science, Dong Qianqiu ran to Chen Guiliang: "Boss, a few of us have bought houses. We went to sign the contracts together yesterday."

"Where?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Dong Qianqiu said, "Huaqing Jiayuan."

“I knew it,” Chen Guiliang said.

The land for that dilapidated neighborhood was acquired back in 1994. After the houses were built, they couldn't be sold, so they were resold to China Resources Land for 4000 yuan per square meter. China Resources was ridiculed as a fool for taking over the property.

The third phase opened in 2000, renamed "Huaqing Jiayuan," with a pre-sale price of 5000 yuan per square meter. It was criticized by the public as being too expensive.

In 2001, it rose to 7000.

In 2005, it rose to 1.

Now it's even more amazing, it's doubled to 2!
Why is it rising so sharply?

Because the era of massive internet investment has arrived.

The housing prices in Huaqing Jiayuan were driven up by executives from internet companies like Dong Qianqiu, Guo Feng, Ao Yanzhen, and Xie Yang. Many of the homeowners in Phase III are prominent figures in the internet industry.

The neighborhood is bordered by Zhongguancun to the west, Wudaokou to the east, and Tsinghua University to the north. Children can attend Zhongguancun No. 2 Primary School.

“We’ve discussed it and decided that when we move in, we’ll all have a meal together,” Dong Qianqiu said.

Chen Guiliang said, "Okay. I'll come to congratulate you on your housewarming."

Dong Qianqiu said, "Why don't you buy one too, boss? We'll all live in the same building, so it'll be easier to see and contact each other in the future."

Chen Guiliang said, "I'll go take a look another day."

The property prices in this run-down neighborhood will skyrocket to 4 in two or three years.

After processing some documents at Youke, Chen Guiliang went upstairs to ByteDance, where the three guys also came to talk about buying a house.

"You guys, the Xiongnu haven't been defeated yet, how can you think about home! The company is still in its development stage, and you're already thinking about enjoying yourself," Chen Guiliang scolded and complained. "Damn it, they didn't even invite me to the group housing purchase. They signed the contract while I was away."

Xie Yang said with a grin, "Houses there are in high demand, I'm afraid if I'm too slow, it'll be too late."

Chen Guiliang said fiercely, "After the Series B financing, the company's operating costs have increased significantly, which means we're raising your salaries. From now on, I'll be holding a whip and whipping anyone who's slacking off!"

"Hahahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter.

It has to rise; that's the current standard for executive salaries at mid-sized internet companies.

After the Series A funding round, Chen Guiliang could still use the excuse of tight funds to reduce the annual salaries of senior executives. But after the Series B funding round, this excuse no longer existed.

Chen Guiliang added, "During the National Day holiday, you all have to accompany the boss to go shooting!"

"A shooting range?" Guo Feng's interest was piqued.

"Live-action CS, paintball shooting, a new activity in Beijing," Chen Guiliang explained.

Not only did the two men like it, but Ao Yanzhen, this tomboy, also had her eyes light up and couldn't wait to go and have some fun.

Chen Guiliang added, "Everyone will be watching the evening news tonight."

"What's going on?" Ao Yanchen asked.

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "The Three Kingdoms Kill College League is going to be on the news."

"My grass!"

"Depend on."

"Brilliant."

No matter the time, "Xinwen Lianbo" (the nightly news program on CCTV) is always a top-tier program.

If the coordination is good, following up with the "News Broadcast" for publicity will be a hundred times better than any kind of advertising.

Chen Guiliang said, "I've already spoken to Dong Qianqiu on the phone and asked him to upgrade the servers for 'Three Kingdoms Kill.' Otherwise, I'm afraid the servers will crash! Guo Fengzi, you need to make preparations on your side as well. There's a possibility that a large number of users will flood into HaiNei.com. How many we can absorb depends on how well Xie Yang promotes it."

Xie Yang said, "The news program 'Xinwen Lianbo' is reporting on the game 'Three Kingdoms Kill.' If HaiNei.com wants to take advantage of this opportunity to attract traffic, it must steer the topic towards you personally. I'll go discuss the publicity plan right away."

Guo Feng said, "I will arrange the server and bandwidth."

That evening, Chen Guiliang sneaked into the school's cafeteria and ate while watching the news broadcast.

There weren't many students in the cafeteria during the summer vacation.

But some people shouted, "Change the channel! Change to one that doesn't broadcast the evening news!"

Chen Guiliang stood up and cupped his hands in apology: "I'm sorry about today, but the event I'm organizing is going to be on the news broadcast, and I wanted to see for myself how many seconds it would be reported."

"I go!"

"Mr. Chen is awesome."

"..."

The students were all amazed.

Even those who had finished eating stayed there with Chen Guiliang, keeping watch.

(End of this chapter)