this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
Xu Yao turned to look at Lu Ye and He Fan. “Is there a problem?”
Holding their professional rental collection tablets, the two of them replied calmly, “Miss Yaoyao is absolutely right, this is indeed all one building.”
The netizens were bewildered, suddenly feeling a sense of being battered in the wind. They previously thought their unit of measurement for properties differed from Xu Yao’s—they used “units” while Xu Yao used “buildings”—but now, they realized their standards for what was considered a building were also drastically different.
Xu Yao calls the entire commercial area one building? Just because they are connected? No way!
The livestream announcement Xu Yao posted yesterday was already shocking enough.
Since Xu Yao was going to collect rent from a building in Xinyi Trade City, countless rental bigwigs on Weibo immediately began to analyse the situation, ultimately coming to the conclusion that this move of Xu Yao’s was to reassure all her tenants—after all, she still owned a whole building in Xinyi Trade City!
What is Xinyi Trade City? Don’t be fooled by it just being a wholesale market. Its business is thriving, with many small businesses travelling thousands of miles just to stock up on their goods here.
For Xu Yao, owning a building here is akin to possessing a gold mine. Even if she doesn’t have enough properties for now, she still has money! In this day and age, having money makes solving problems much easier.
This is the signal given by Xu Yao Rentals’ team to her tenants, with the result being: Xu Yao’s building is the entire thirteen districts of Xinyi Trade City!
How big is Xinyi Commercial City? Professional content creators calculated that it would take several months just to finish visiting all the shops in Xinyi Trade City.
[…Mom asked me why I was kneeling while watching the livestream… Is this what Sister Yao means by “building”?]
[Those worried about Xu Yao’s property issues can all rest easy now; this is a woman who owns an entire trade city!]
[But I’ve heard that ever since online shopping has developed, the business in these offline wholesale markets hasn’t been as good as it used to.]
[That’s true, the offline market business really isn’t doing as well as before, but that has little to do with the landlord, and Xu Yao will still collect the rent as usual.]
[I suddenly feel that although being a landlord really is quite unambitious, it’s actually a rather stable job.]
[?? Are you saying that my Sister Yao lacks ambition? Say that again! Which landlord in the world works as hard as my Sister Yao? She even personally goes to collect her rent!]
Nowadays, most landlords collect rent through online transfers, with landlords and tenants rarely needing to make contact with each other, sometimes without seeing the other party for a whole year or two.
Xu Yao didn’t expect her fans to have such low expectations of her—just personally collecting rent was already considered diligent for them.
Xu Yao waved her hand. “Let’s go, let’s go inside and take a look.”
Xu Yao was quite interested in this wholesale market. In the original novel, this wholesale market would become as impressive as Yiwu1 in a few years, not only selling its products nationwide, but also globally.
Xu Yao had worn a sun-protective jacket today, casually entering the trade city wearing a pair of denim shorts and flip-flops.
The air conditioning was cranked up high inside the trade city, and although the foot traffic inside didn’t seem to be particularly high, the variety of goods was dazzling.
Xu Yao guessed that she had walked into the jewelry section, as all she could see was various kinds of jewelry.
“Can I try this on?” Xu Yao asked the astonished shop owner, who nodded vigorously in response.
Taking off her earrings that were worth over a million yuan, Xu Yao casually set it down on the counter before leaning over to pick up a pair of diamond-shaped earrings to try on.
Although the items were affordable, the pieces were still quite beautiful, with the earrings shimmering under the lights, making Xu Yao look particularly breathtaking.
[So pretty! As expected, beautiful people look great, no matter how cheap the earrings are.]
[Did you see the boss’s excited look? His sensor for sensing the upcoming profit from sales is skyrocketing, haha.]
[Hahaha, once Xu Yao wears these, they’re definitely going to become a bestseller. The factories can start ramping up production, I’m waiting to buy the same style as her!]
[You can always trust Xinyi Trade City—give it five minutes, go search on the “orange app2,” and Xu Yao’s earrings will definitely be there.]
Xu Yao often casually wears earrings worth over a million yuan, making it hard for fans to follow suit and buy the same style as her, but now that she’s wearing these inexpensive versions? Don’t underestimate them!
Xu Yao was quite satisfied and asked the shop owner, “How much?”
The shop owner seemed to have never seen a girl who could be more beautiful than a movie star, replying, “Thirty.”
Thirty yuan is a price many fans can afford, about the cost of a cup of milk tea, and you can get the same style as Xu Yao. The key point being that it’s not even a knockoff.
The shop owner noticed the livestream camera behind him and snapped back to his senses, quickly adding, “Don’t get it wrong—the wholesale price is thirty yuan per jin3, not thirty per pair of earrings.”
[Thirty yuan per jin? They sell jewelry by weight in wholesale markets? Consider my worldview refreshed.]
[Now I suddenly want to go stock up at Xinyi Trade City and start a street stall, how are these costs so insanely low?!]
[Business isn’t that easy. Plenty of shop owners in Xinyi Trade City have gone bankrupt too—don’t fall for overhyped nonsense.]
[This is basically a paradise for broke girls—30 yuan and I can get this much jewelry!]
So, Xu Yao spent thirty yuan and picked a jin of cheap jewelry to take home. Whether she would wear it or not was uncertain; her happiness was the most important.
Xu Yao’s livestream this time simply left netizens in awe. They witnessed her buy a jin of jewelry for thirty yuan, trendy T-shirts for five yuan each, and Christmas hats for five yuan for a hundred…
There’s no such thing as the cheapest, only cheaper and cheaper.
Even if the profit was only one cent, as long as the sales volume was large enough and discounts are given, business can still gradually pick up.
Xu Yao greeted the shop owners she encountered and quietly observed the situation while walking towards the property management office.
The property manager almost beamed when he saw Xu Yao, repeatedly telling the staff, “Miss Yaoyao, hello! Quick, pour tea for Miss Yaoyao!”
Xu Yao sat down on the sofa and raised her hand to stop them, saying, “Wait, there’s no need to rush to make tea for me. I’m just a bit puzzled. How come I didn’t see any shop owners doing livestreams on my way here?”
With the rapid development of online shopping, Xu Yao didn’t believe that these merchants couldn’t see the profit involved. Yet strangely enough, she hadn’t seen a single livestream sale along the way.
A shop owner who was watching from the entrance couldn’t help but interject, “Miss Landlady, do you still not know yet? Xinyi Trade City has explicit rules against livestreaming.”
Xu Yao gave the property manager an intriguing glance, raising her voice in surprise, “Oh? You don’t allow for merchants to livestream? Quite authoritative of you.”
Before Xu Yao could say anything further, the property manager felt a chill run down his spine from her gaze, and a thin layer of sweat broke out on his forehead.
The instance of Xu Yao replacing the property management for Tai’an Community still remains a legend in the industry to this day.
Back then, Xu Yao only owned one building in Tai’an Community, and though she was the landlord with the largest share there, she still needed collective consent from the other owners in the community. But now, if she wanted to change the property management, it would only take a word for her to change them and wouldn’t be that complicated.
She had the final say. After all, she was the landlord of the entire Xinyi Trade City.
Thinking of this, the property manager was terrified and quickly whispered to Xu Yao, “Miss Yaoyao, the economy isn’t doing well right now. Doing this is also for your rental income.”
The development of online shopping has directly impacted offline physical stores. The explicit rule against livestreaming in wholesale markets is to maintain foot traffic for physical stores as much as possible, thereby ensuring that rental income is not affected.
Xu Yao understood the property manager’s intentions, but wasn’t this just burying one’s head in the sand? Does this mean those merchants wouldn’t livestream just because Xinyi Trade City forbids it? Although this sort of rule might temporarily stabilise rental income, it would eventually be criticised and cause merchants to inevitably abandon the trade city after a few years.
Although Xu Yao does like collecting high rents, she still prefers collecting rent steadily over the long term. To drain the pond just to catch all the fish4? Better not; it’s simply too unethical.
Xu Yao smiled and looked at the shop owners that had gathered outside, saying, “Previously, my family entrusted the management of Xinyi Trade City to a property management company, so I only learned of the situation today when I came to collect rent for the first time.
“From now on, everyone can freely engage in livestreaming to drive sales.”
The shop owners outside the property office were stunned. Was it really… resolved so easily?
Since livestreaming was explicitly prohibited in Xinyi Trade City, many shop owners could only rent an additional basement elsewhere for livestreams, incurring additional rental costs.
A middle-aged boss wearing a big gold chain around his neck murmured, “No wonder those young people online all say they really like Xu Yao Rentals coming to collect rent from them…”
With this kind of approach, what sort of problem couldn’t be solved?!
[My good Sister Yao is so impressive! Truly embodying the meaning of ‘putting the tenants first’! Tell me, how could such a landlord possibly lack for tenants?]
[Sister Yao just took a casual stroll in Xinyi Trade City today, but ended up even giving them free advertising.]
[Actually, I can understand the property management’s approach. This way, they’re able to keep the landlord’s rental income stable and prevent them from dropping too drastically. Whether Xu Yao’s decision to loosen restrictions can actually allow her to maintain her current rental income in the future is still uncertain.]
[@Sister Yao, can you come to our community to collect rent in person next time?]
The obvious outcome for landlords coming to collect rent from their tenants should be a mild annoyance, yet on the contrary, Xu Yao’s tenants seem all the more eager for her to come to them in person.
Some tenants even went as far as to leave messages on the official website’s bulletin board, sincerely hoping for Xu Yao to come to their communities to collect rent.
Looking at the anxious property manager, Xu Yao just smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, “I know you just did it for my sake, so don’t worry, and just keep doing your job diligently.”
The property manager let out a sigh of relief. He was genuinely afraid Xu Yao would replace them too.
The property manager hesitated for a moment. “It’s just that the rent might be hard to stabilize in the next two years…”
Once the livestreaming takes off, you’ll be able to ship goods nationwide, as long as there is a warehouse, right? So why would merchants still bother paying such high rents to lease your shops?
Xu Yao laughed and said, “Then we can just target the overseas market and make money from foreigners.” Online shopping overseas isn’t as developed as it is domestically, especially in places like Africa.
The property manager was left speechless. He wanted to say that Xu Yao, being a young girl, was too naive in her thinking, but then he thought about how easily she made money. However, he still thought her idea of expanding into overseas markets still seemed a bit far-fetched.
Xu Yao didn’t say much more to the property manager, but instead, had Lu Ye and He Fan coordinate with him to confirm what the rent collection situation would look like moving forward.
Yes, previously, the Xu family had entrusted the property management to collect the rent for Xinyi Trade City.
The spreadsheet on the computer was clearly just a plain black-and-white Excel sheet, yet the more netizens looked at it, the more envious they became.
[Holy crap, even the cheapest shop here costs tens of thousands! Xu Yao really is rich.]
[Being a landlord is simply my dream job! Why on earth did I want to be a doctor when I was a kid? Help!]
[Apparently there are over ten thousand shops in Xinyi Trade City. You guys should take your time to think about it. [Dog head emoji]
[Those who are worried Xu Yao has no properties to rent out can calm down now. She can still find listings for you, no matter the rent.]
Seeing them seriously calculating her rental income, Xu Yao looked at the long string of zeroes and immediately felt a headache coming on; the more she looked, the sleepier she felt.
Xu Yao stood up and yawned. “You all continue calculating the rent, I’m going to take a walk outside.”
Lu Ye immediately looked up, his eyes immediately snapping to Xu Yao’s receding back with anxiety, clearly wanting to follow her out.
“What are you so worried about? We have bodyguards with us.” He Fan pulled Lu Ye back down to sit, both of them surrounded by professional accountants, all focused on calculating the rent with their laptops.
Xu Yao walked ahead, with several bodyguards following her from behind.
They seemed to have turned into the toy section, with all kinds of plushies filling the screen, from tiny keychain-sized toys to giant teddy bears taller than a person, making countless girls in the livestream squeal with excitement.
A person carrying a life-sized pure white stuffed bear walked over. Because the stuffed bear was so large and fluffy, the person wasn’t able to see in front of them clearly and was just about to collide with Xu Yao.
The bodyguards quickly shielded Xu Yao within their protective circle, and the leader immediately flew into a temper. “What are you doing? Can’t you watch where you’re going?” If Brother Lu found out, he would definitely be furious with them.
The person froze for a moment, finally managing to peek their head out from behind the stuffed bear, revealing a handsome yet youthful face. The boy’s bewildered face instantly turned bright red as he repeatedly apologized, “Huh? I’m sorry, I’m sorry, the stuffed bear was too big and blocked my view.”
Xu Yao then noticed that this boy was about the same height as the two-meter-tall life-sized plush bear, with even her bodyguards falling short of his height. She estimated that he was probably around Lu Ye’s height.
Xu Yao curiously asked, “Are you going to sell that?”
“No, we’re actually planning to take it off the shelves,” the boy said, and with that, he dashed into a nearby plush toy store a few meters away to help his parents.
Knowing that livestreaming was no longer prohibited, a nearby shop owner quietly told Xu Yao, “The Liu family isn’t doing quite well. An order worth tens of millions has suddenly vanished into thin air. I heard even after they sold their house, they still owe a large sum. Not to mention, their son was also expelled from studying abroad and sent back home to Hua Country. Tsk tsk.”
That’s just what it’s like to do business. Sometimes, money can be made easily, but once something goes wrong, the losses can be as terrifying as a flood that can’t be stopped.
The sound of frantic shouting suddenly came from the middle-aged man inside the plush toy store.
“I told you, stop meddling in these things! Just focus on your competition. Why are you worrying about all this?”
“Liu Feiyang, who’s the parent here—you or me? Your mom and I have been in business for decades. What’s this little setback worth? There are still plenty of chances for us to make a comeback. You go back to school and keep training. We’ll definitely make sure to scrape together the money for your trip back to E Country.”
Xu Yao silently withdrew the foot that she was about to step out with. Liu Feiyang?
“Our family has already fallen to the point of needing to rent a house now. So tell me, how can I still be in the mood to participate in some ridiculous competition?” Liu Feiyang looked down at his parents, who were nearly losing their temper. “Don’t listen to those competitions, always bragging about being a world-class global competition. Who on earth knows about that competition besides the host country?”
Besides the Olympics and the World Cup, the attention on other competitions outside of that is honestly not that high.
Not to mention something like this so-called “New Youth Games”—aside from the host organizers hyping it up, what ordinary person has even heard of it?
Their family started in the plush toy business, with Liu Feiyang growing up as a wealthy second-generation heir from childhood, never having to worry about food or drink. His parents even had the means to send him abroad for study.
But who would’ve thought the winds would change so fast, and that their long-time business partner would suddenly run away, leaving them tens of millions in debt?!
His parents had always been honest in their business dealings, so who would have thought they would encounter such a thing? Selling their home, borrowing money from relatives—it still wasn’t enough to cover the deficit. The situation was so dire that they might even need to give up their stall in Xinyi Trade City, which they had already been leasing for many years.
This is Xinyi Trade City; once the shop area was transferred, it would be hard for them to regain the rental right to it later on, especially since their original location had been a prime spot.
Given the current situation at home, whether he could still afford to go to E Country for the competition was still questionable; but how could he possibly even think about going now?
He was just an amateur athlete, without the means to train under a professional coach, yet they really expected him to win an award?
“Dad, enough about this, let’s hurry up and get the house secured first.” Liu Feiyang didn’t want to continue on this topic with his parents anymore, so he changed the subject, making his father so angry he nearly had a stroke.
Liu Feiyang sat down on a stool, clumsily scrolling through various rental apps on his phone. At nineteen years old, this was his first time having to think about renting a place.
At that moment, a girl’s clear and cheerful voice came from behind him, “Returning tenants get discounts on renting!”
Liu Feiyang and the others were taken aback for a moment and quickly turned to look.
Xu Yao leaned against a hanging Paul Frank monkey plush by the doorway, only poking her head inside as she smiled brightly at them.
The viewers in the livestream were incredibly envious. Look, another lucky person had appeared!
Although your family is currently experiencing misfortune, your fortune is yet to come!
[My Sister Yao is about to step in again! My beautiful sister is practically a living bodhisattva—she really can’t bear to see others suffer QAQ]
[Kid, you’re in luck! Once Sister Yao makes a move, at least your family won’t have to worry about your housing anymore!]
[Xu Yao really does give rental perks to long-term tenants. I heard the best deal can go as low as 20% off for three months.’
[An international competition in E Country? What competition? I’ve never heard of it.]
[Wild guess: it’s probably the “New Youth Games” E Country is hosting… yeah, hardly anyone here knows about it.]
Liu Feiyang hadn’t been in the best mood earlier and hadn’t taken the chance to take a closer look. It was only now that he suddenly realised that the girl he had almost bumped into turned out to be that famous landlady on the internet—it was Xu Yao!
Liu Feiyang immediately shot to his feet, his eyes filled with excitement. “Is there really a discount? Thank you so much!”
As he got to his feet up, Xu Yao, who was already 170 centimetres tall, appeared extremely petite when standing next to him, and had to crane her neck up to look at him.
Xu Yao sized up Liu Feiyang, her eyes sparkling. “There is a discount. I’ll give you a special code. Make sure you go to the official website and fill out the rental application for existing tenants.”
Isn’t this the future swimming legend who would dominate the international swimming scene?
Swimming has never really been one of China’s strong events, but this person would go on to dominate the global swimming scene, win countless gold medals, and be hailed as a miracle of the sport—so outstanding that even people from many island nations took pride in him as an Asian, regarding him as almost godlike.
Incredible, incredible, just look at what sort of treasure she has uncovered!
Yet now, this national treasure is still troubled over finding a place to rent.
Seeing that he was much taller than Xu Yao, Liu Feiyang simply sat down on a stool so that Xu Yao wouldn’t have to constantly look up at him. He quickly took out his phone and logged into the official website of Xu Yao Rentals.
Xu Yao provided him with a special code, and Liu Feiyang immediately went in to fill out the application form.
Mother Liu suddenly thought of something and hurried over to tell him, “Make sure to write clearly that it would be best if we could rent near a swimming pool. If you don’t want to write it, I’ll fill it out for you.
Liu Feiyang had no choice but to fill in the rental requirement with “preferably close to the swimming pool.”
After filling in and submitting the form, Xu Yao smiled at him and said, “Our rental team will contact you within the next twelve hours.”
Father Liu came over with red-rimmed eyes, hands clasped together as he repeated over and over again, “Thank you, thank you so much, Miss Xu. This is the best news I’ve received in a long time.”
It’s easy to add flowers to the brocade, but hard to send charcoal in the snow. Facing those relatives who had avoided him like the plague had truly caused him to experience the coldness of human nature these past few days.
The only thing Father Liu was worried about now was his son. How could he give up such a hard-won opportunity to compete abroad?
Although it may not sound as grand as competing in the Olympics or the World Cup, not everyone can immediately step onto the Olympic stage, right? Who doesn’t work their way up, step by step?
Every competition is an opportunity, and opportunities should not be wasted.
Xu Yao subtly observed Liu Feiyang, while her peripheral vision stole glances at the plush toys in the store. The workmanship of the toys didn’t seem to be cheap, and its quality actually seemed to be quite good.
[Yeah yeah, my Sister Yao really should have more than one man! The super tall younger brother in front of her is totally my type! I heard he’s a swimmer, so his physique must be amazing.]
[Yaoyao, you’re still so young—why get engaged to a “pretty boy” so fast? There’s a whole forest out there, you know? (earnest)]
[If I were Xu Yao, I’d definitely be tempted by this brother. Didn’t you see how tall he was when he stood up? Even Sister Yao, who’s over 170 centimetres, looked small and delicate next to him, like a little bird—so cute! Ahhh I’m dead!]
[An engagement isn’t marriage anyway. Who knows, it might get called off. (I refuse to admit this is because I can’t accept Sister Yao being engaged)]
The livestream chat was full of chaos, with a bunch of viewers talking about things like, “the cutest height difference.”
Liu Feiyang brought out the plush toy that had almost caused him to bump into Xu Yao earlier, and said, “Here, this is for you.”
This toy would cost no less than several hundred yuan if sold outside.
The pure white fluffy bear plushie, standing at over two metres tall, almost crushed Xu Yao with its sheer size. Just then, someone came from behind her, reaching out and lifting the bear off her. “Miss Yaoyao, let me.”
It was Lu Ye.
Xu Yao immediately felt a sense of relief.
Lu Ye looked at Liu Feiyang at eye level and followed Xu Yao back to the property office.
Lu Ye suddenly asked, “Miss Yaoyao, is he the new bodyguard?”
Xu Yao found it amusing. She would never recruit a swimming legend to be her bodyguard. “He’s an athlete. Don’t worry, you’ll never be out of a job.”
Xu Yao felt like her rental team had gotten a bit strange. While other companies were rife with internal competition and grinding to win the rat race, her team’s philosophy is to reject the rat race. Yet now, they seemed to take a different approach to compete over—competing over who is her most favoured employee.
Xu Yao walked beside Lu Ye and whispered, “Take good care of Liu Feiyang.”
Although most people experience explosive growth under the suffering of cruel setbacks, some hardships are unnecessary and can be avoided. Not every athlete needs to grow in such a harsh background; he can also be the treasured darling.
At the very least, she could let him continue being that darling.
*
The team behind Xu Yao Rentals really was quite efficient. Although Xu Yao told them they would definitely be contacted within twelve hours, Father Liu received a call inviting them to a house viewing just less than five hours later.
Father Liu confirmed with them repeatedly on the phone, “Are you sure it’s near a swimming pool? It’s okay if the rent is a bit higher.”
The sweet female voice on the other end confirmed with him once again, “Yes, we’ve already taken note of your rental requirements.”
Upon getting this answer, Liu Feiyang’s parents were finally satisfied.
After closing their toy store, the three of them hurried to meet the staff of Xu Yao Rentals at the agreed time.
Looking at Xu Yao’s employees, who could afford cars worth seven to eight hundred thousand yuan, Father Liu felt a little emotional.
They had ended up selling their family car too.
“Isn’t this the way to the Water Cube5?” Liu Feiyang sat in the passenger seat, staring in shock at the enormous swimming pool not far away through the car window.
Although there were many swimming pools in the city, Liu Feiyang never expected for his family to be arranged to rent a property near the Water Cube. He had heard that although this swimming pool was a private, top-tier VIP venue, it boasted a vast area and had exceptionally good water quality. Generally, only the top rich second-generation kids from the capital would come here, with ordinary people simply being unable to afford it.
The employee parked the car at the entrance of the swimming pool, and Father Liu couldn’t help looking around, asking, “Where are we renting?”
He hadn’t seen any residential complexes nearby…
“Please, come this way,” the employee said with a smile, leading the bewildered family of three into the Water Cube, “Miss Yaoyao has learned that you place serious importance on your rental requirement, so she has decided to rent this apartment to you. All the facilities of the swimming pool are included for your use.”
What?
The family of three stood at the entrance of the swimming pool, completely dumbfounded.
This… doesn’t it mean they rented the entire swimming pool to them?
The entire swimming pool… must be over ten thousand square meters…
“F-Feiyang, what did you set the maximum rent as?” Father Liu was almost frightened when thinking about the potential rent.
After all, their family still owed debts, and at most, they could afford to rent a place with a monthly rent ranging from a few thousand to ten thousand. So how on earth had they managed to rent an entire swimming pool?
Liu Feiyang was also startled and quickly took out his phone to check. “No? I just filled in ten thousand a month. They must have made a mistake!”
Right, they must have made a mistake!
The accompanying staff smiled and said, “There’s no mistake, you indeed filled in ten thousand for the rent, and this was indeed arranged by Miss Yaoyao.”
As they walked in, the family saw the Olympic-sized azure swimming pool with crystal-clear water, and they were left in a state of bewilderment, as if they had just been battered by a fierce wind.
Can you believe it? We rented the private top-tier VIP swimming pool in the capital’s Water Cube for just ten thousand yuan a month…
Liu Feiyang stared at the swimming pool, his DNA stirring.
He actually didn’t know how to swim before the age of seventeen. It was only after he happened to see a soldier diving in to rescue two children on his way to school that his intense interest in swimming was finally sparked, and from then on, it was as if his passion for it couldn’t be contained any longer.
He even discovered that he seemed to have some talent for swimming, learning much faster than others. Later, he even qualified for the New Youth Games, though that qualification wasn’t particularly hard to obtain.
Liu Feiyang’s eyes were fixed on the pool in front of him. This pool was much larger and more luxurious than the one at his school.
“Mr. Liu, if you need any assistance, feel free to call upon any of the staff at the swimming pool for help.” The employee smiled as they called over the staff working at the Water Cube.
Liu Feiyang was shocked that his mouth hung agape, completely unable to utter a word.
Is it really that exaggerated?
The family of three was still immersed in the shock of renting the swimming pool for ten thousand a month when Father Liu finally snapped out of his stupor, asking blankly, “Is this… included in the rent?”
The rental employee nodded. “Of course! All services are included in the monthly rent! Please have faith in us, the staff at Xu Yao Rentals! There are no extra hidden fees apart from the one-month deposit!”
Father Liu fell silent, and after a while, he managed to squeeze out a few words with difficulty, “Can we… can we… discuss the rent again?”
The rental employee said softly, “My apologies, but Miss Yaoyao originally agreed on the price of ten thousand a month for rent. If you want to negotiate for a lower rent, I would need to contact Miss Yaoyao again.”
The rental employee couldn’t help but size up this family of three in front of her, feeling that Miss Yaoyao might have misjudged this time. Their character didn’t seem very good.
It could even be described as insatiable.
A swimming pool of this size even included a housing unit, and this was the top VIP private swimming pool in the capital they were talking about! And they still want to negotiate a lower monthly rent?
Although the rental employee felt a bit displeased inside, they didn’t allow it to show on their face.
With tears welling up in his eyes, Father Liu quickly stopped them from saying any more, “No, what I mean is, how about we ask Miss Xu Yao to raise the rent a bit? Ten thousand a month is just too cheap, and my conscience really won’t allow me to accept it…”
The swimming pool in the Water Cube definitely costs more than ten thousand a month—even adding another zero at the end of that price might not be enough to rent it!
The rental employee was taken aback for a moment, and then their smile deepened.
So, they were proactively asking for a rent increase. Well, they’ve already seen many such tenants.
The employee smiled and said, “That’s not possible. Miss Yaoyao has said that ten thousand a month is the price, and that it can’t be raised any further.”
The family of three: “…”
Are you sure?
So, they really rented out the Water Cube for just ten thousand yuan a month?
Father Liu continuously flipped back and forth through the contract, even showing it to a friend that was a lawyer to confirm that there truly weren’t any issues before proceeding to sign it.
Looking at the massive swimming pool, Liu Feiyang asked, “So, can I practice here before I go to E Country?”
The swimming pool manager, who had been standing nearby, smiled and said, “Of course, Mr. Liu.”
Liu Feiyang gave Xu Yao a new evaluation in his heart: Bodhisattva Sister!!!
Liu Feiyang paced excitedly by the pool, his mind in a whirlwind. Did Xu Yao renting the swimming pool to him mean she had high hopes for his swimming? So if he didn’t compete, wouldn’t that be letting down Xu Yao’s hopes for him?
But what about his family?
“Mr. Liu, Miss Yaoyao has a letter for you.” The rental employee handed over a prepared envelope to Father Liu.
Father Liu quickly opened it to take a look. It was in Xu Yao’s elegant handwriting—
Uncle Liu, would you be interested in mass-producing the merchandise for the New Youth Games?
The New Youth Games is said to be a global event, but in reality, apart from the host country, it doesn’t attract much attention from other countries. He himself had only learned about this sports event because his son was going to compete in it.
Mass-producing merchandise for the New Youth Games would only be profitable if the event was popular.
Liu Zhentian looked at the letter and suddenly recalled all the previous investments Xu Yao had made that were constantly circulating about online. She had never once failed in an investment, with even the elderly dating show Hand in Hand in Our Later Years, which had initially been poorly received, turning a small profit.
His business acumen sensed something boiling underneath, and a thought immediately flashed through Liu Zhentian’s mind:
To make money, one must be bold!
Xu Yao was clearly extending an olive branch to their family! Oh my, could it really be that their fortune is turning around for the better?
*
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
Xu Yao took a nice bath, gazing out at the view from her floor-to-ceiling windows, a silk nightgown casually draped over her figure. The summer heat was already quite intense.
Xu Yao glanced at her phone and couldn’t help but smile.
The Liu father and son had already added her on WeChat.
Although Landlady Xu enjoyed helping the unfortunate, she still wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to make money.
Just as Xu Yao had added them back on WeChat, she received another message from Ji Zhengqing.
[Ji Zhengqing: Yaoyao, do you like that “cutest height difference” thing?]
News of Xu Yao collecting rent at Xinyi Trade City had already spread far and wide today, with many screenshots circulating online, including a GIF of Xu Yao’s sparkling eyes as she stared at the younger man, who was Liu Feiyang.
Compared to the nearly 190-centimetre tall Liu Feiyang, Xu Yao appeared particularly petite, and when paired with her gaze, it instantly caused netizens to exclaim they were going crazy over it.
Ji Zhengqing couldn’t understand why these netizens, who scolded him daily for being a kept pretty boy, would think this was something to go crazy over.
“Assistant Li, do all women really like exaggerated height differences?” Ji Zhengqing asked with a frown.
Assistant Li really didn’t want to answer any of President Ji’s questions regarding this topic, but he had no choice. He thought about how his girlfriend always liked to snuggle in his arms and rub her face against his neck, and replied, “Well, some girls are like that. That way, it gives them a sense of security.”
Ji Zhengqing pinched the bridge of his nose, never having imagined in his life that he, who was 186 centimetres tall, could ever be considered short one day.
Ji Zhengqing suddenly thought of Lu Ye, who always followed Xu Yao around everywhere like a small mountain. He had heard that this person had been specifically requested from Xu Jing by Xu Yao.
So this is Xu Yao’s strange taste in aesthetics?
Ji Zhengqing frowned. “Then what should I do?”
There really didn’t seem to be a way for him to increase his height, with no technology currently existing that could make people grow taller after reaching adulthood.
Upon meeting Ji Zhengqing’s probing gaze, Assistant Li had no choice but to reluctantly squeeze out a few words, “Height-increase insoles?”
Ji Zhengqing replied flatly, “Little Li, don’t ever give me any more of your opinions about Xu Yao again.”
Look, this is how scary being “love-brained” is. He’s afraid of being led astray by Assistant Li’s romance-infested mindset.
Assistant Li, who had been about to say “money can make up for most shortcomings,” immediately swallowed those words back down.
This damn job—he didn’t even want to work another day anymore. He just wanted to go work for the boss’s future wife instead.
sometimes, when i read these destressing brainless reads, i almost want to laff at how unrealistic these business plans, etc are.
also, the africa comment about e-commerce was weird. it’s weird for me bc the world-building is clearly steering away from mentioning real countries, i.e. e country might be referring to england or europe, hua country for china, even the city names are left as hai city, shen city instead of shanghai and shenzhen etc etc. i checked the novel and it was uploaded in 2023, so i’m not sure what the e-commerce industry was like for africa during that time? africa is a whole continent and i’m sure all the countries in that continent aren’t monolithic in how developed they are either, so i’m assuming it comes from a place of ignorance for the author—maybe because of the way state news frames cooperation with africa as a still developing nation? idk, very dependent on if the author has access to vpn or not ig
would you guys prefer if i translate names of places to real-life places based on the context clues, or would you prefer for me to keep them in their censored versions?
please support the author on JJWXC if possible!
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any typos or broken links, pls comment or dm me on discord!
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- Yiwu, located in Zhejiang Province, China, is the world’s premier wholesale hub for small commodities, hosting the massive Yiwu International Trade City. Known as the “world’s capital for small commodities,” it supplies over 60% of global Christmas decorations and countless everyday items, attracting international buyers to its extensive, multi-district market. ↩︎
- Naming Taobao without actually naming the app due to copyright ↩︎
- Jin refers to 500g, a common unit of measurement in wholesale ↩︎
- Exploiting resources in the short-term at the cost of future gains ↩︎
- The Water Cube, fully known as the National Aquatics Centre, is a swimming center at the Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The Water Cube was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Wikipedia ↩︎
