Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

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Li Zhao, lying in bed, looked very energetic.

He had intended to prepare for negotiating the price with the old man tomorrow, but his mind was completely out of control.

138,000.

There are already 18,000.

If you invest 18,000 into the system and then multiply it by 5, you'll have 90,000.

This is already much higher than the 3 that Li Zhao initially expected.

It's definitely a dream start.

Exchange it.

Unable to sleep, Li Zhao chose to activate the system in his mind.

So the 10,000 yuan was directly deposited into the bank card that Li Zhao had linked to the system. As long as Li Zhao redeemed the loan five times, it would become 50,000 yuan.

So easy...

So relaxing it felt unreal.

Li Zhao still remembers how he felt when he received his first paycheck.

At that time, Li Zhao was probably interning in his mentor Wang Zhi's studio. He was incredibly hardworking during his university years. Although his learning philosophy differed somewhat from Wang Zhi's, Wang Zhi still appreciated Li Zhao's workaholic nature.

The urban and rural planning program is a five-year program. Most students start their internships in their fifth year, while a small number start as early as their fourth year.

Li Zhao started his internship in the second semester of his junior year. He studied while interning, and made rapid progress by completing assignments and projects.

However, because he was too frivolous, he wasn't very popular.

Although Wang Zhi only offered him an internship salary of 1,800 yuan, it was already more than what his graduate students earned.

That was the first time Li Zhao had ever received a proper salary.

Before this, he had done some small projects and received scholarships, but the salary still had some special significance.

He can now earn money on his own.

You don't have to go to your family for money under tremendous pressure.

Li Zhao was definitely happy to receive his first 1,800 yuan.

Later, my salary went from 1,800 to 6,000, then to 15,000, then to 30,000, then to an annual salary (not monthly), then to an annual salary of 600,000, and finally to an annual salary of 2 million.

His work status also kept changing, from wanting to get off work as soon as possible, to having to work overtime, to voluntarily working overtime, and finally to no longer having the concept of "overtime".

Looking back, Li Zhao was happy with every salary increase in the early stages. He felt a sense of reward for his efforts and a thrill of getting closer and closer to his ultimate goal.

But since my annual salary reached 600,000, the increase was clearly higher than before, and my feelings at the time were somewhat hazy.

Along with it all, the "ultimate goal" also became blurred.

To say I'm unhappy would be too dramatic, but to say it was expected... wasn't it the same with every previous pay raise?

When his annual salary increased from 300,000 to 600,000, Li Zhao could still feel that his standard of living had improved, but after that, it was not so noticeable.

If you can't afford something with an annual salary of 600,000, you still can't afford it with an annual salary of 2 million.

He never had any obsession with those things.

So there's always this thought: if you make money and just hold onto it, it's really just a string of numbers.

Just now, money is becoming a numbers game, and the happiness derived from "acquiring money" itself is decreasing as the amount increases.

"What painstaking effort, System." Li Zhao patted his forehead and drifted off to sleep, still feeling drowsy.

The next afternoon, Li Zhao and his family arrived at the pedestrian street, ready to begin their first negotiation with the old man.

Surprisingly, the old man was very well prepared, with a briefcase full of documents, containing everything one could need.

They've shown the utmost sincerity.

The shop finally has a name in the records:

No. 12, Lane 6, Anning Street.

Li Zhao called him Shop Number 12.

After exchanging pleasantries, Li Changlin and Zhou Xiaoyun began to scrutinize the storefront with furrowed brows, constantly finding fault with it.

This was arranged by Li Zhao. From the old man's perspective, Li Zhao had always wanted his family to take over the storefront. After failing to persuade his uncle, he turned to his father, which led to the first meeting.

Therefore, he asked his parents to act as demanding clients, putting pressure on him from various aspects such as the location of the house, its current state, and the amount of investment required.

Zhou Xiaoyun was still unhappy, saying that she couldn't act.

Li Zhao said, "Just do what you normally do, that's enough."

Zhou Xiaoyun was so angry that she fried two fewer chicken wings on Sunday noon.

However, they both played themselves well and still accomplished Li Zhao's task very well.

It even exceeded the target.

After a few words and a look of disdain, the old man hurriedly pulled Li Zhao outside the door.

"Kid, didn't you tell your parents about the situation in this store? Maybe you shouldn't let them look any further; it seems less and less likely to succeed!"

Li Zhao confidently raised his head: "Don't be nervous, old man, I'll do the talking."

Then the old man stood anxiously at the door watching Li Zhao go over and whisper to his parents.

Actually, the old man has been trying his best all these years.

He then used Li Zhao's situation as an example to tell others that his house was still in demand, and repeated the same trick by raising the price.

However, this store has far too many debuffs.

Old, dilapidated, dangerous building, deep in the alley.

People who aren't planning to do business have no demand, so why don't those who are planning to do business compete for popular store locations?

Moreover, the old man consistently made the same mistake throughout the communication process:

"Renovation and refurbishment are very simple and don't cost much."

Many people lost their smiles upon hearing this.

So, he could only rely on the elementary school student in front of him.

Not long after, Li Zhao came out of the house. "Uncle, I tried my best to persuade my parents. I told them that your bottom line is 40 yuan, but they think it's a bit expensive."

The old man's eyes widened immediately. "Young man, who said my bottom price was 40? Wasn't that what you said?"

But he didn't dare to retaliate, because Li Zhao had previously said that if the price was higher than 40, he should just leave.

Seeing the disgusted looks on his parents' faces, we can't let this last customer slip away.

"40 is already very low, kid," the old man said patiently. "It's practically a bargain. I'll talk to your parents directly."

So the four of them walked to a small park not far away and found a stone table to sit down.

What was rather strange was that after exchanging pleasantries, the three adults looked at Li Zhao.

"The main issue is the renovation of dilapidated houses," Li Zhao said.

"That's very simple, you won't need many..."

"Look," Li Zhao suddenly took out design plans from his small backpack. "These are sketches drawn by a designer. They're based on the simplest approach. The minimum cost for both renovation and decoration is 8 yuan."

Zhou Xiaoyun couldn't help but glance at Li Changlin, who scratched his eyebrow.

80,000? Son, you said 60,000 when you were discussing it. Is it really that bad?

This makes your parents seem like complete novices when it comes to business.

The old man clearly hadn't looked into it, otherwise he wouldn't have kept saying "it's not much money."

Although he wanted to argue, he didn't dare to speak when he saw the professional design drawings in Li Zhao's hand.

"But, you two, and the child, I've already lowered the price considerably, naturally taking into account renovation costs... Let's reduce it by another 8, bringing it down to 32. This is a shop in the old town of Qingqiao, a two-story, 45-square-meter space, selling for 32 is simply unreasonable..."

"Mom and Dad, the old man is right. It's already quite cheap. How about we reduce it by 3, making it 37?"

The old man over there was taken aback, and his eyes lit up slightly.

Zhou Xiaoyun, oblivious to Li Zhao's meaning, continued to play her usual nitpicking customer: "3? That's not even half of 8..."

"Alright, alright..." Li Changlin was about to interrupt when the old man slammed his hand on the table and stood up:

"370,000 it is, a fixed price, no negotiation!"