CHAPTER 249: CHAPTER 249: ONLY WORTH 1,000 YUAN

Chunya doesn’t understand all the twists and turns, but she listens to whatever Lin Xiang says.

Fifth Aunt still doesn’t let Lin Xiang work. She chats with Dong Sheng while eating an ice cream bar.

"I’ve already talked it over with your parents. Once the No. 1 School in September Town opens, we’ll send you there to study."

At Dong Sheng’s age, he should be in fifth grade now.

But after finishing third grade at the village school, he didn’t want to go to school anymore. At that time, his family was poor, and Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt didn’t have any strong ambitions for their child’s academic success, so they just let him stay at home and play.

Now, knowing that Lin Xiang has been admitted to Huaqing University with a bright future ahead, Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt have changed their minds. They want the two kids to study well, too, just like Lin Xiang, and aim for a good university.

Chunya is already nineteen and doesn’t have her mind set on studying. Plus, she has been out of school for so long that she doesn’t have the energy to sit in a classroom again. So, Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt set their sights on Dong Sheng.

Dong Sheng curled his lips, "I don’t want to go to school. Sis, isn’t the ultimate purpose of studying and going to university to get a job and make money anyway? But I can already make money now. I run to two factories and then the Welfare District, wholesale ice cream bars three times a day, making several bucks a day. By the end of the month, I’ve surely got nearly two hundred."

Even the best-paying cotton spinning factory in Mianyang Town pays only fifty or sixty bucks a month for a senior worker, right?

He makes in a month what they earn in three or four!

Lin Xiang disagreed, "What you’re selling are ice cream bars. Once we pass September and fall into winter, it gets cold, and the ice cream bar factory stops production. No one’s eating them. Where are you going to make money?"

"I can do something else!"

Lin Xiang: "Then tell me, what else can you do?"

Dong Sheng bit his lip, racking his brain, but try as he might, he couldn’t think of anything else he could do to make money besides selling ice cream bars.

Dong Sheng looked at Lin Xiang with longing eyes, "Sister Niu, you’re smart. Can you give me an idea?"

Lin Xiang wiggled her right index finger in front of him, "The reason I can think of ideas others can’t isn’t that I’m smarter than everyone else, but because I’ve read more books, so my mind is more active than those who haven’t read. Naturally, I have more ideas. As the saying goes, ’Books hold a gold house’, that’s pretty much what it means. Can you understand?"

Dong Sheng: So, all you say means I still have to study?

He doesn’t want to study.

"Indeed, after university, schools do assign jobs, and whether the salary is high or low, at least it’s stable and you won’t starve. Besides, studying is not just for getting a school-assigned job but to broaden your horizons and expand your worldview."

"When you’ve seen and thought more, in the future, you can pay others to work for you, while you stay quietly behind the scenes as a big boss, collecting money. Isn’t that better than working yourself to the bone for a few bucks every day?"

Lin Xiang thought Dong Sheng was still young, and telling him too many deep truths would be beyond him, so she used a more gentle way to describe it to him.

Dong Sheng really took it in.

He wasn’t as resistant as before and cautiously asked, "Sister Niu, is studying really hard to endure?"

"No road is without its hardships, but studying is the most convenient path for families like ours. It may be tough, but if you grit your teeth and stick it out, the future that awaits is wide and full of prospects."

Lin Xiang didn’t know that her depiction had painted a blueprint in young Dong Sheng’s mind.

He pondered for a long moment, then nodded vigorously, "I’ll listen to Sister Niu, and once the No. 1 School in town opens for enrollment, I’ll go to study."

"Good boy." Lin Xiang habitually raised her hand to rub Dong Sheng’s hair.

Dong Sheng moved his head closer to Lin Xiang, "Sis, let me get a bit closer so you can rub my head better."

A little past five-thirty, people started gathering around the stall.

In no time, Landlord Zhou came over, too.

He hesitated his way to the ice cream bar stall and straight away asked Lin Xiang, "If I sell it along with Zhuang Ji, can we still negotiate the price?"

"One flat price of a thousand bucks, no room for increase. Of course, if Uncle Zhou, out of kindness, wants to give us a discount, that’s also possible."

Seeing Lin Xiang’s smiling face, Landlord Zhou nearly broke into a tirade.

She knocked two hundred bucks off right off the bat, and now she wants him to discount more?

What a joke!

"How about this, let’s meet halfway; you give me a thousand one, and we can handle the paperwork tomorrow."

"I can’t buy it at that price." Lin Xiang pointed to Aunt Ge sitting on the side, "Do you know her? She’s your neighbor."

The town is small, and naturally, Landlord Zhou knows Aunt Ge.

"What do you mean?"

"I already negotiated with Aunt Ge earlier, nine hundred bucks for her house. The layout and size of her house are similar to yours. Buying it for nine hundred bucks isn’t a loss."

"But I’m someone who likes to see things through, and I hadn’t settled on a decision only because I wanted to talk to you first, waiting for your answer. Since you don’t want to sell, I’ll just go ahead and close the deal with Aunt Ge."

With that, Lin Xiang silently counted in her heart, one, two.

She didn’t even get to three when the landlord eagerly said, "Sell, I’ll sell, can’t I?"

His house had been listed for so long, and except for Lin Xiang, there hadn’t been a single buyer. Finally, someone wanted to buy it at a price within their acceptable range. Landlord Zhou was truly afraid that if he hesitated a moment longer, Lin Xiang would no longer want his house.

The landlord’s reaction was expected by Lin Xiang. She slowly smiled, "Alright. Then tomorrow morning at eight-thirty, we’ll meet at the housing authority entrance."

As soon as Landlord Zhou left, Chunya came over, "Niu, did you make the deal? A thousand bucks?"

"His house is only worth a thousand bucks."

Lin Xiang knew the course of history and knew that houses would become increasingly valuable, but since someone wanted to list their house for sale, she couldn’t possibly become a saint and persuade them not to sell, could she? Even if people didn’t think she was crazy, she’d be grateful!

And by not pressing the price beyond the house’s true value, it was Lin Xiang’s last bit of kindness.

The next morning, Lin Xiang first accompanied Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt to the housing authority, handled the transfer procedures with Landlord Zhou, and then rode back to Li Hua Team on her bike, which made noise everywhere except for the bell.

The Yang family was bustling today.

Yang Lihua’s father was a carpenter with decent skills. Neighbors sometimes needed to fix table legs or chair legs and only needed to supply the materials, which he never charged for. Plus, Yang Lihua’s mother was the women’s director of Li Hua Team, so the Yang family had a great reputation.

With Yang Lihua getting married, half the village came with wedding gifts.