Back to 2008: I Helped My Dad Become the Richest Man

"Hello, Miss." Luo Xiyuan walked up to the saleswoman who had been aloof earlier and smiled sweetly.

The saleswoman was looking down at her phone when she heard the voice. She lazily looked up and said, "Is there something you need, little sister?"

"We'd like to know if there are any units still available in that building over there, Building 12?" Luo Xiyuan asked, pointing to the building in the corner of the model.

The saleswoman glanced in the direction she was pointing and looked somewhat surprised. Usually, people looking at apartments prefer the best lakeside units, the penthouses. Why did this young woman choose the one furthest out the corner?

"Building 12? Yes, there is." She stood up and introduced it somewhat perfunctorily. "That building is the cheapest in our complex, 1481 yuan per square meter. The apartments are all 120 square meters, three bedrooms and two living rooms. What? You want to buy?"

Her tone was clearly skeptical.

"Yes, we want to buy it." Luo Xiyuan nodded, then said, "We want to see which floors in this building are still available."

"You want to see the floor?" The saleswoman paused for a moment, then curled her lips as if she had heard something amusing. "Little girl, where are your parents? Buying a house is such a big decision, it's not something a child like you can make. You should have your parents come and talk to me."

She didn't take Luo Xiyuan seriously at all.

"My parents are there." Luo Xiyuan pointed to Luo Xinde and Li Minxia, ​​who were still studying the model. "However, when it comes to buying a house for our family, I'm the one who makes the decisions."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it silenced everyone in the sales office.

Another saleswoman who was showing the house to the wealthy couple stopped and looked over curiously. The couple, too, were observing the "outrageous" young girl with great interest.

Luo Xinde and Li Minxia heard this too and quickly came over. Li Minxia tugged at her daughter's sleeve, a little embarrassed, "Xiyuan, don't talk nonsense."

"I'm not making this up," Luo Xiyuan said earnestly.

The saleswoman was somewhat embarrassed by Luo Xiyuan's actions. Her face darkened, and she said irritably, "Fine, you decide. That building still has all the floors available except the top and first floors. Which one do you want to see?"

She just wanted to see how this little girl would handle things.

"We don't look at any particular floor." Luo Xiyuan shook her head and then said something that shocked the saleswoman.

"We want to buy all the remaining apartments in this building."

"Wh...what?" The saleswoman picked at her ear, wondering if she was hallucinating. "What did you say? Say it again?"

"I said, we want all the remaining apartments in Building 12, except for those that have already been sold," Luo Xiyuan repeated clearly, word by word.

The entire sales office fell silent.

Everyone, including the wealthy couple, looked at Luo Xiyuan as if she were crazy.

Luo Xinde and Li Minxia were also dumbfounded. Before they came, they had discussed buying one or at most two apartments. How did it become buying a whole building in their daughter's mouth?

"Xiyuan! What nonsense are you talking about!" Li Minxia raised her voice and pinched her daughter's arm hard.

"Mom, I'm not lying." Luo Xiyuan winced in pain, but her expression remained calm.

"Hahaha..." After a brief moment of shock, the saleswoman suddenly burst into exaggerated laughter. "Little sister, you're really joking! Do you know how many apartments are left in this building? Do you know how much it would cost to buy them all? Do you think this is like buying cabbages?"

She laughed so hard tears almost came to her eyes. She felt like she had really met a lunatic today.

"I know." Luo Xiyuan looked at her calmly, holding up two fingers. "Building 12, 18 floors, two elevators serving four apartments per floor, a total of 72 units. 15 units have already been sold, leaving 57. Each apartment is 120 square meters, at 1480 yuan per square meter, so each apartment costs 177,600 yuan. The total price for 57 apartments is... 10,123,200 yuan. Miss, am I right?"

She not only gave the accurate figures, but she even calculated the total price in her head.

The saleswoman's laughter abruptly stopped.

Her mouth was agape, and the expression on her face changed from mockery to shock, and finally to disbelief.

She herself needs a calculator to figure out the numbers, yet this little girl can just rattle them off off like that?

"How...how do you know so much?" she stammered.

"I did my homework before I came," Luo Xiyuan said casually.

The sales office fell silent once again.

Everyone realized that the little girl in front of them might not be joking.

"Ahem!" A middle-aged man's cough broke the silence.

A portly man in a suit emerged from the manager's office in the back. He had clearly heard the commotion outside.

"Xiao Wang, what's going on? What kind of behavior is this, shouting like that!" He first scolded the saleswoman.

Then, he turned to Luo Xiyuan's family, forcing a professional smile: "Hello everyone, I'm the sales manager here, my surname is Chen. I just heard this young...young student say that he wants to buy all the remaining apartments in our Building 12?"

His tone carried a hint of probing.

"Yes, Manager Chen." Luo Xiyuan nodded. "However, we have one condition."

"Oh? What are the conditions?" Manager Chen's interest was piqued.

"Since we're buying the entire building as a package, shouldn't you give us a discount?" Luo Xiyuan began negotiating. "1480 per square meter is the retail price. This is a multi-million dollar order; you can't possibly sell it to us at the retail price, can you?"

Manager Chen narrowed his eyes. He carefully examined the young girl in front of him again.

He'd worked in real estate for so many years and seen all sorts of clients—rich, poor, straightforward, and indecisive. But he'd never seen anything like this before: a teenage girl asking for a multi-million dollar deal and negotiating the price with him without batting an eye.

He glanced at Luo Xinde and Li Minxia, ​​who were at a loss beside him, and realized that the one in charge of this family was indeed this little girl.

"Well... I wonder what kind of price Miss Luo would like?" he asked, changing his address to "Miss Luo".

"One price," Luo Xiyuan said, holding up one finger. "One thousand yuan per square meter."

"What? One thousand?" Before Manager Chen could speak, the saleswoman, Xiao Wang, shrieked, "Impossible! Our land acquisition cost was more than that! You're just trying to cause trouble!"

"Xiao Wang! Shut up!" Manager Chen shouted sternly to stop her.

He looked at Luo Xiyuan, shook his head, and said with a wry smile, "Miss Luo, your price is really putting me in a difficult position. I simply can't make a decision on a thousand yuan. How about this, I'll give you a fair price, 1,300 yuan per square meter. This is the best I can offer."

"Manager Chen, we've come with good intentions." Luo Xiyuan remained unmoved. "As far as I know, your development has been on sale for almost a year, and sales haven't been ideal. Building 12, in particular, is the most remote and has sold the worst. Your company is urgently seeking to recoup funds to develop the next project. Am I right?"

Manager Chen's expression changed slightly.

Luo Xiyuan's words hit his sore spot. Their company was indeed facing a tight cash flow situation and was worried about not being able to sell these houses.

"Now, there's an opportunity that will allow you to recoup nearly seven million yuan in one go (57 units of 120 square meters each, at 1000 yuan per square meter = 684 million yuan). Although the price per unit is a bit low, it saves you the subsequent marketing costs and time costs. You're a smart person; you should be able to do the math."

"1,100 yuan per square meter." Luo Xiyuan relented. "This is my bottom line. If you agree, we can sign a letter of intent now and pay a deposit of one million yuan on the spot. If you don't agree, then let's go and take a look at 'Bishui Yuntian' next door. I heard that their boss is also short of money lately."

She even investigated her "competitors next door".

Manager Chen's forehead began to sweat.

Looking at the composed young girl in front of him, he felt as if he were facing a seasoned negotiator.

He knew that he had finally met a real person today.

He gritted his teeth, quickly calculating in his mind. 1,100 yuan, although the profit margin was thin, could clear out a huge burden in one go and bring back nearly 8 million yuan in cash, which would undoubtedly be a timely help for the company.

"Fine!" He slammed his hand on the table, making up his mind. "Miss Luo! Just 1,100 yuan! I agree! But can you really pay a deposit of one million yuan on the spot?"

He still couldn't quite believe it.

Luo Xiyuan didn't speak, but turned around and glanced at her father.

Luo Xinde's mind is still blank. He only heard his daughter talking back and forth with the manager, and it seemed that they finally reached a deal that he didn't understand, but which seemed very impressive.

Seeing his daughter's gaze, he instinctively took something wrapped in newspaper from his black shoulder bag.

He unfolded the newspaper layer by layer.

Inside were ten neatly bundled, brand-new one-hundred-yuan bills.

When that million-dollar cash was slapped onto the bright marble table in the sales office, the whole world fell silent.