CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 42: TWO ORANGES

Liu Chen moved very quickly.

Afraid that if he were a bit slower, Chen Yiyang would be gone.

"Let’s transfer now, I’ll wire 400k from my private account to yours," Liu Chen said, and as soon as he verified the authenticity of the lottery ticket, he transferred 400,000 to Chen Yiyang.

"If you come across anything good like this again in the future, you have to think of your big brother here. No matter what price others offer, come to me and I’ll add an extra 10,000 for you."

Chen Yiyang tactfully didn’t question Liu Chen about why he was buying lottery tickets at a higher price.

He figured it was best not to ask as it would only bring trouble.

After dealing with the lottery, Chen Yiyang continued, "I have a school district apartment under my name that I need to handle, do you have any connections for that, big bro?"

"Don’t even mention property," Liu Chen said, declining without hesitation as soon as he heard it was about a house. "I’ve still got unfinished buildings on my hands. Do you want to buy them at a low price?"

"Is there any debt?"

"If it didn’t come with debt, it wouldn’t fall to me to handle."

"Then forget it," Chen Yiyang declined.

The headache with unfinished buildings isn’t just about lacking the funds to complete them, but that the already constructed parts come with all sorts of debts.

Debts to workers, debts to material suppliers, debts to construction teams.

All sorts of debts.

If you touch the building, people will come to collect their debts. Without paying up, you can’t continue work.

After chit-chatting a bit with Liu Chen, Chen Yiyang left the room with him.

"I don’t think I settled last night’s tab,"

Chen Yiyang hinted at the front desk to Liu Chen.

"Consider it my apology for the parking spot issue last time." Liu Chen, seeing that Chen Yiyang had no intention of paying, just sighed and went over to settle Chen Yiyang’s expenses from the previous night.

This place wasn’t cheap, and Liu Chen grimaced as he paid, using cash he had in his bag.

After saying goodbye to Liu Chen, Chen Yiyang returned to his apartment to rest for a while.

Then he waited until before the afternoon auction started to register an account and pay a deposit.

Once the auction began, he kept watching for the apartment he wanted to be put up.

Though it was an online auction, this time the Jin City court’s auction wasn’t bustling at all, with very few bidders.

Even though the items here were priced 20-30% lower than in regular markets.

But the biggest issue with court auctions is that the court isn’t a professional auction house.

All their auction items come with a caveat that they don’t guarantee authenticity or usability.

Previously when online auctions just started, a lot of jewelry and diamonds were auctioned.

But soon, some of these were halted.

Because with online auctions, you can’t verify the authenticity of items in person, many would buy what they thought were valuable jewels only to find they were cheap counterfeits from Pinduoduo once received.

The process from authentication to auction to delivery to buyers involved too many steps and no one could assure no issues would arise.

If any chain of the process went wrong, buyers would end up with mismatched goods.

And unfortunately, court auctions don’t support returns.

So now people participating in online bidding usually check out the items on-site beforehand.

Soon, it was time for the school district apartment Chen Yiyang was eyeing.

The 50-square-meter property was priced at 600,000.

The price was quite low, but no bids were made.

Because most of the apartment’s value was in its attribute as a school district property.

But currently, there’s an elderly person in their 80s who can’t be evicted.

It’s hard to say if this elderly person could live another decade or so.

By then, with the current birth rate, you might not even need a school district property to get into any school.

Chen Yiyang bid 600,000 in the last ten minutes before the auction deadline.

Then someone followed up with a bid of 610,000.

Chen Yiyang felt like this person was just driving the price up, so he waited until the last moment to outbid them by another 10,000.

So now it’s 620,000. The other bidder didn’t follow up, and the property went directly to Chen Yiyang.

Actually, you can finance a court auction property as well.

If you purchase during the first or second auction, you can apply for a bank loan and pay the auction price after the loan is approved.

But if all three auctions are passed with no sale, the court will start selling at a rock-bottom price, and then total payment must be made.

Having just received 400,000 from Liu Chen, Chen Yiyang was flush with cash and chose to pay the full amount to the court.

Once the court confirmed receipt, they sent Chen Yiyang a text.

Telling him to come to court tomorrow to collect the auction completion confirmation, ruling, and enforcement documents.

With these three documents, Chen Yiyang could directly go to the transaction center to transfer the property without a seller present.

But those things were tasks for tomorrow.

Earlier, the pawnshop manager called, mentioning an evening event where people from the pawnshop, Jin City’s art association, and Zhang Yuling would be present.

They needed Chen Yiyang to help network for the pawnshop.

So Chen Yiyang tidied himself up and then drove his car to the venue nice and early.

"Long time no see." After arriving, Chen Yiyang saw that Zhang Yuling and the people from the pawnshop were already chatting.

"This is our boss," the pawnshop manager introduced, pointing out their elusive boss to Chen Yiyang.

"My name is Yang He." This Boss Yang, in his forties, was impeccably groomed and had the demeanor of a successful businessman.

After exchanging names, Chen Yiyang felt that this Boss Yang looked very familiar.

So he took advantage of a trip to the bathroom to do a quick search.

Turns out he had appeared in the local newspaper of Jin City before, a model figure for civil servants who went into business.

It’s said his business ventures are numerous, but what exactly he does, the news didn’t specify.

By the time Chen Yiyang came out of the bathroom, this Boss Yang had already left.

"Our boss is too busy; he just made time to come today," the manager explained, "but he’ll surely attend once the art exhibition officially starts."

"Hmm hmm," Chen Yiyang nodded. He didn’t really have any intention of cozying up to this Boss Yang.

Bosses at this level only see benefits. How many times you have dined with him won’t affect his business dealings with you.

It’s better if everyone stays straightforward.

"By the way." The manager handed something over to Chen Yiyang.

Chen Yiyang looked; it was the house deed he had previously pawned.

"The boss said that I handled this matter incorrectly. When Boss Chen wants to borrow money, there’s no need for collateral."

"After all, we had just met back then." Chen Yiyang discreetly put the deed away.

He still remembered that when he pawned the deed, this manager had called Boss Yang.

Returning the deed now was likely also Boss Yang’s idea.

The reason might be that he had brought in Zhang Jiuqian and presented the stock for the pawnshop to act as an intermediary for information exchange.

Oh no, that Boss Yang probably thought of him as a go-between.

Chen Yiyang thought to himself, he still had no legitimate business in his name and didn’t look like a proper businessman.

Even Liu Chen had a shell company that made him look like he was in engineering.

He looked even less like a legitimate boss compared to Liu Chen.

As time passed.

Many people gradually arrived at the hotel.

Most of them were from the art and antique collection circles.

Zhang Yuling and the pawnshop people hurried over to engage in networking.

Meanwhile, Chen Yiyang found himself with free time.

When he tried to chat people up, all he got were business cards and contacts; further conversation wasn’t going to happen.

Because Chen Yiyang’s own shop hadn’t even opened yet, he didn’t even have a business card.

However, since he organized the collaboration between the pawnshop and Zhang Jiuqian’s studio for the art exhibition, everyone treated him like a professional broker and was quite courteous.

In the boring evening, Xu Xiaosheng arrived.

"Are you here to help your senior sister greet guests?" Chen Yiyang looked at Xu Xiaosheng, feeling that this silly girl didn’t seem suitable for the task.

"Nope." Xu Xiaosheng leaned closer to Chen Yiyang and whispered, "My senior sister told me to wait until ten o’clock, then go to her and say something to get her out of there."

"That’s a nice task." Seeing that Xu Xiaosheng was also idle like him, Chen Yiyang held her hand, and they hid in a corner to eat and chat.

Xu Xiaosheng particularly enjoyed sharing stories from ancient texts and cultural history with Chen Yiyang.

Chen Yiyang, due to his job, was happy to listen.

It’s just a pity that he could only hold Xu Xiaosheng’s hand while listening. After all, it wasn’t appropriate to hug this soft, adorable girl in public.

By ten o’clock.

Xu Xiaosheng quickly put on a worried look and ran over to Zhang Yuling, who was drinking with a group of older men, whispering in her ear.

After hearing her, Zhang Yuling apologized to the others and left with Xu Xiaosheng.

This trick was pretty good.

Chen Yiyang took note.

The best excuse is the one without an excuse. Xu Xiaosheng’s silly look paired with a worried expression would make anyone think something grave had happened.

That way, when Zhang Yuling left, others wouldn’t dare to ask. It might be a personal matter, after all.

With Xu Xiaosheng gone, there was no reason for Chen Yiyang to stay.

He had just eaten and thought the oranges at this hotel tasted nice, so he pocketed two.

Then he drove straight to Chang Yuning’s place.

"Can you find a normal time to visit next time?" said a gritted-teeth Chang Yuning, dressed in pajamas, as she opened the door for Chen Yiyang.

"Going to bed so early?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"You have classes tomorrow morning, I know. You don’t need to say it." Chen Yiyang successfully interrupted Chang Yuning, removing his coat while taking out two oranges from his pocket to hand to her.

"Bought on the way. The vendor only had three left. I tried one and thought it was particularly delicious, so I brought the other two for you."

With no suspicion of Chen Yiyang’s words, Chang Yuning peeled one and tasted it.

"It’s really sweet. Where did you buy it? I’ll get some tomorrow, too."

"Just from a street vendor. They left once they sold out."

"What a pity." Chang Yuning broke off a segment of the orange, meticulously removed all the pith, then instructed Chen Yiyang, "Open your mouth."

Chen Yiyang awkwardly opened his mouth, and Chang Yuning pinched the orange bit and placed it into his mouth.

Before he could close his mouth, she quickly withdrew her fingers.