Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

Chen Nian felt that recently, question marks had been popping into his head a lot more often.

For example, right now, he has absolutely no idea what Li Zhao is planning to do.

The old man had deep nasolabial folds and a large bunch of keys hanging from his waist. He had just thrown a bag of trash aside, turned around, clapped his hands, and said:

"Little brother, I don't sell sweet soup anymore. Didn't you see we're closed?"

"Why is it closed?"

The old man pulled over a bamboo stool, dusted it off, and sat down. "This shop was originally something I started out for fun because I had nothing else to do. You know this road is going to be renovated, right?"

Li Zhao nodded.

"The government came to assess the shops along the street and said that mine was a dangerous building. They forcibly erected a structure for me and said that I could not open for business unless I invested money to repair it."

"Oh, so that's why you're preparing to transfer it."

The old man was still engrossed in his own story and didn't expect the elementary school student to understand, but when Li Zhao said this, his eyes lit up.

"Yes, I don't want to repair it, nor do I want to open a shop again. It's not a good idea to leave it here. Once the government finishes repairing the pedestrian street, probably no one will come here anymore since it's in an alley. I might as well sell it as soon as possible to avoid the neighborhood committee bothering me every day."

"Wouldn't it be better to rent it to someone else?"

The old man frowned as he glanced at Li Zhao, wondering if the child's gossip was a bit strange.

Shouldn't the response be something like, "I don't care when you sell mung bean soup"?

"You'll have to manage it even if you rent it out, kid." The old man's attitude softened a bit. "My son is abroad. If I don't run this shop, I might as well move in with him. If I sell this place, I'll have to sell the house too."

"The old man's son is abroad; he must be making a lot of money, right?"

Upon hearing this, the old man burst into laughter, his face crinkling with embarrassment. "Sigh, that brat, he used to be somewhat educated. I supported him through university, and after graduating with a master's degree, he went abroad to study. But look what happened—he married a foreign woman and stayed there... He's made a lot of money, but he left me and his mother here. Luckily, he still has some conscience; these past few years, he's asked me to come and live with him over there every now and then..."

Li Zhao knew how to offer emotional value; if he wanted to get information out of the old man, he had to give him a treat first.

His praise was entirely restrained, yet every word was brimming with pride.

Chen Nian was already fantasizing about studying abroad and making a lot of money.

"The old man is so lucky."

"Hey, kid, you should study hard too. You're only in elementary school, it's still early."

"Hey, sir, how much does your shop sell for?"

The old man was completely off guard at this moment. "Six hundred thousand."

Chen Nian simply exclaimed "Wow!"

Li Zhao looked bewildered. "Is this number high or low?"

The old man pointed to the shops along the pedestrian street, "Those shops cost between 25,000 and 40,000 per square meter. My two floors, totaling 45 square meters, only cost 600,000."

"Oh, you just said that no one comes here from the alley."

The old man's smile froze on his face.

"Is it because the price is too high that no one is buying?"

The old man touched his nose.

"Are these also the old man's houses?" Li Zhao pointed to two shops side by side next to each other, but with their iron gates tightly closed.

"No, cough, these two were stockpiled by the government."

No wonder, he remembered that the shop was quite large in his previous life; it seems that the adjacent store was rented from the government.

"You little rascal," the old man, still stung by the child's innocent words, regained his guard, "Why are you asking these questions? Go home, go home."

"My uncle has been saying he wants to open a shop on the pedestrian street, but he only has a few hundred thousand yuan. He told my dad last time that he definitely couldn't afford a shop, so I came to ask you for advice."

"Oh?" The old man's interest was immediately piqued. This was the first potential customer after hanging up the sign for two months!

Chen Nian over there exclaimed "Wow!" again.

"I was thinking that if he could buy this shop, I could have mung bean soup again."

The last trace of wariness on the old man's face vanished instantly, and he laughed loudly, "Okay, little friend, write down my phone number. It's on this piece of paper. If your uncle wants to buy it, come find me, okay?"

"No way." Li Zhao shook his head helplessly. "Uncle isn't prepared to spend too much money. You told me that the house needs to be repaired and then renovated, and he'll have to pay for all of that. That's why he's not willing to buy it."

"I can have 500,000 too." The old man was getting a little anxious. "Hey, kid, money is negotiable. Have your uncle come find me, and we adults will talk about the money. You can just wait to drink mung bean soup later, okay?"

"Oh, the bus is coming! Excuse me, sir, I have to go home!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Zhao pulled up Chen Nian, who was about to exclaim "Wow!", and quickly walked out of the alley.

perfect.

A business owner who plans to move abroad in the future, is in a hurry to sell, and believes the shop is not very valuable.

A shop that was identified as a dangerous building; even if you buy it, you still have to spend money to repair and renovate it.

The houses next door are still government property.

Without having a third eye, this is pure garbage; anyone who buys it is an idiot.

But Li Zhao opened it.

This makes it a high-quality asset that won't cause trouble for owners even if it becomes popular later, and won't attract much attention in the short term, making it very convenient and easy to operate in the future.

In the previous life, this shop was rented and probably remained unsold until the renovation was completed. Who knew that due to a change in planning, the shop, located in the alley, became the first node of the entire pedestrian street, and the demand for rentals exploded instantly, with rents skyrocketing.

And as the business became so popular that the rent increase made headlines.

Planning... If there were solid planning documents to analyze, it might be the breakthrough point for Li Zhao to persuade his parents.

The land resources website may have published information about the planning for the pedestrian street and the adjacent area; it's unlikely that there hasn't been a plan by now.

Regardless of whether the final solution is similar to or different from what he remembered in his previous life, as long as he gets the answer, Li Zhao has plenty of ways to make the answer he wants seem reasonable—this is one of his professional skills.

"Ah Zhao, your uncle wants to buy a storefront. I haven't heard you mention it before?"

"It's fake," Li Zhao said. "It's just trying to get the old man to agree on a certain price."

"Oh? Then, who wants to buy it?"

"I."

"You?!" Chen Nian took two steps back, his body spread wide. "Are you kidding me? You really did it for mung bean soup? Six hundred thousand! Ah Zhao, calm down..."

"Drinking mung bean soup? How could that be?" Li Zhao laughed. "That's called playing the Tang trick on him."

"?" Chen Nian didn't understand.

"You must keep this a secret," Li Zhao told Chen Nian. "Don't tell any adults."

Chen Nian nodded, thinking that if he went to tell the adults that Li Zhao wanted to spend 600,000 to buy a shop, he would probably only be laughed at.

He couldn't immediately piece together what had just happened logically, so he gave himself a comfortable answer:

Li Zhao was teasing him, bragging and role-playing.

So he quickly got into character, "Oh~ so you weren't continuing the conversation with the old man because you were playing hard to get!"

"That's right."

"Hahaha, as expected of Li Geliang! Next up is the seven captures of the old man!"

"His surname is Zhuge..."

Chen Nian scratched his head awkwardly.

"Chen Nian, can you use a computer at home?"

"No way, you know I need to take the junior high entrance exam, and my family has completely restricted me."

"I see." Li Zhao had just missed a bus, so he leaned against the bus stop sign to think of a solution.

"What's up? You want to play Grand Theft Auto too? Or CrossFire?"

Grand Theft Auto was all the rage among my classmates back then. Even though everyone was just running around, stealing cars, and speeding, I only realized when I grew up that it actually had a storyline and missions.

Needless to say, CF was in closed beta at the end of 07 and became incredibly popular in the second half of 08, with everyone in internet cafes owning a gun.

Switching weapons has a strangely satisfying feel to it, and the "Q" key on the keyboard is generally severely worn.

Li Zhao was quite playful in his previous life.

So Chen Nian didn't even need to wait for Li Zhao's response and continued, "I'm really itching to play, so I secretly go to internet cafes. Don't tell my parents, okay?"

"Huh? You can get in?"

"There's a place that's alright, the environment's pretty nice. I heard not many people go there, and it's expensive, so it's mostly adults going." Chen Nian said mysteriously, "But to get there, you need the right timing, the right place, and the right people. My cousin has to come over, then I have to pester him, my parents have to go out, and the owner has to be away, so I can go in and play."

Seeing Li Zhao remain silent, Chen Nian panicked.

"Ah Zhao, Brother Zhao, please don't tell the adults! I only went a few times. I just went to play games and have some fun..."

"Take me with you next time you go."