A leisurely life starting in a bar after being reborn

Fu Yan returned to his office and sat for a while. Suddenly remembering something, he called He Wei in.

"He Wei, go do me a favor."

"Brother Fu, you say it."

"Go talk to the landlord about this office space and see if he'll sell it."

He Wei pushed up his glasses: "Aren't we renting it now? We signed a three-year contract."

"Renting is renting, and buying is buying. There are two different things: renting means it's always someone else's property, while buying means it's yours. If the company hires more people in the future, we can also connect the neighboring units for easy expansion."

He Wei nodded: "Okay, I'll go ask about the price."

"Don't be too stingy, but don't be a sucker either. If their offer is reasonable, then negotiate; if it's outrageous, then forget it. This location isn't that rare."

"Understood."

After He Wei left, Fu Yan leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment—the location of this branch office was indeed excellent, right next to Houhai Lake, a seven-minute walk from the bar, and with complete surrounding amenities. If the company grew bigger in the future, this place would be more than enough to serve as its headquarters.

It's only a matter of time before we buy it.

There's no rush now; let He Wei scout ahead first.

……

Days passed by, and before they knew it, it was time for Fu Xiao to start school.

To be precise, it's not the start of school—it's an internship.

In the second semester of their senior year, the school stopped arranging classes and instead assigned students to various internship units. Of the four people in Fu Xiao's dormitory, Zhao Yu returned to her hometown of Pengcheng, Lin Xiaoxi returned to Chengdu, leaving only Fu Xiao and Chen Shiwen, who were unwilling to return to Bincheng and insisted on staying in Yanjing.

The school arranged for them to intern at TZ District Experimental Middle School—a key district school, not top-tier, but considered a good school in Tongzhou. Fu Xiao teaches English, and Chen Shiwen teaches math; both are in the first year of junior high.

Fu Xiao was fairly satisfied with the arrangement—although Tongzhou was a bit far, at least it was a proper school, not some rural village school. And she was with Chen Shiwen, not a stranger, which made her feel at ease.

The only thing that bothered her was that Tongzhou was too far from Houhai. Taking the bus required two transfers and took an hour and a half; even without traffic, a taxi would take forty minutes. This wasn't commuting to work; it was like learning a lesson.

On the morning of their departure, Fu Yan picked them up in his A8.

Fu Xiao stood at the entrance of the courtyard house, pulling her suitcase, with two large bags and a small bag behind her. Chen Shiwen stood beside her, with only a suitcase and a backpack, quiet and still, like Fu Xiao's shadow.

"You brought so much stuff?" Fu Yan looked at Fu Xiao's pile of luggage.

"I'll be staying over there for my internship! I won't be staying here anymore! Of course I need to bring more things!"

"Your internship isn't like moving house, is it really that big of a deal?"

"What do you know, you idle guy who runs a bar? We girls have so much stuff!"

"Okay, okay, load it onto the truck."

Fu Yan helped them stuff their luggage into the trunk—the A8's trunk was really big; even after putting all of Fu Xiao's stuff in, there was still more than half empty. Zhao Gang stood beside them wanting to help, but Fu Xiao stopped him: "No need, no need, my brother has the strength."

Zhao Gang glanced at Fu Yan, who shrugged at him—meaning, "Don't try to reason with my sister; it won't work."

-

The car got onto the Jing-Tong Expressway and headed east.

In 08, Tongzhou was a completely different world from the urban area of ​​Yanjing (Beijing). Although it had been incorporated into Yanjing's territory, the city's appearance remained at the level of a "rural-urban fringe area." On both sides of the road, there were buildings of both old and new, with newly built residential complexes and old bungalows that had not yet been demolished crammed together, looking like two generations of people fighting.

Fu Xiao sat in the back seat, leaning against the car window to look at the scenery, muttering, "Why is it getting more and more desolate..."

"That's just how Tongzhou is," Fu Yan glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "It'll be better in a few years. When the subway opens, the property prices will multiply several times over."

"Here we go again," Fu Xiao rolled her eyes. "Do you want to invest in everything you see?"

"I didn't, I was just saying it offhand."

"You casually mentioned last time that housing prices in Yanjiao would rise several times over, and Zhao Gang is still thinking about buying a house."

"It's good that Zhao Gang is thinking about this. Having something to think about gives you motivation. Keep it up!"

Chen Shiwen chuckled softly beside her, but didn't say anything.

-

The car was parked in front of the Experimental Middle School of TZ District.

The school is small, with three teaching buildings, a playground, and a row of bungalows—it looks like a typical district key school, not as good as those famous schools in the city, but it's not shabby either.

The security guard at the school gate stopped the car: "What are you doing here?"

"I'm an intern here to report for duty," Fu Xiao said, leaning out from the back seat.

The security guard glanced at her, then at the A8, his expression a little complicated—this was the first time he'd ever seen someone drive an Audi A8 to work as an intern.

"Go in, the office is on the second floor of the administration building."

-

Fu Yan didn't go inside; he sat in the car and waited.

Twenty minutes later, Fu Xiao and Chen Shiwen came out of the administration building, each holding a stack of documents.

"How is it?"

"It's all arranged. I'll teach English to Class 3 of Grade 7, and Shishi will teach math to Class 5 of Grade 7." Fu Xiao glanced at the materials. "Classes will officially start next Monday. This week, we'll observe some classes taught by experienced teachers to get used to it."

"fine."

"But..." Fu Xiao's face fell.

"But what?"

"The school doesn't provide dormitories! We have to find our own places to live!"

Fu Yan frowned: "The school doesn't provide accommodation for the internship?"

"They said the dorms are full, and there's no room for the new teachers." Fu Xiao slammed the documents onto the roof of the car. "Isn't this a rip-off? Where are we supposed to find housing in Tongzhou?"

Chen Shiwen stood to the side, silent, but her expression was also somewhat worried—she wasn't afraid of finding a place to live, but rather of spending money. Her internship salary was only eight hundred yuan a month, and renting a room in Tongzhou would cost at least five or six hundred yuan. After adding food and transportation, there would be practically nothing left.

"Get in the car." Fu Yan started the car.

"Where to?"

"Looking for a place to live."

……

The three of them spent an afternoon wandering around the old town of Tongzhou.

In 08, the rental market in Tongzhou was relatively cheap—one-bedroom apartments cost four or five hundred yuan, and two-bedroom apartments cost seven or eight hundred yuan, which was practically dirt cheap compared to downtown Beijing. But the problem was that cheap apartments had poor environments, and apartments in good environments were not cheap. Apartments that were both cheap and good—didn't exist.

Fu Xiao looked at three or four sets and found them extremely unappealing.

"These walls are moldy!"

"This toilet is broken!"

"There's a wet market downstairs from this apartment, and the smell—are you trying to pickle me into a salted fish?"

Chen Shiwen didn't have any demands; after looking at the second set, she said "okay," but Fu Xiao grabbed her arm, saying, "What are you going to do? We're going to live here for a semester!"

Fu Yan followed behind, acting as a human ATM, driver, and advisor. He really wanted to just say, "I'll buy you all an apartment"—with his financial resources, buying an apartment in Tongzhou was about the same as buying a bottle of water.

But after thinking about it, I decided against it.

The two girls might not stay in Tongzhou to teach in the future; they might return to the city center after their internships, or they might go elsewhere. Buying a house in Tongzhou and leaving it vacant is a waste. Then there's the hassle of selling it, transferring ownership, taxes…isn't that a hassle?

Let's just rent it.

-