Chapter 1304 - 1306
"Alright, let’s tally up the houses we’re buying." While Zhao Xuran was roasting his own little brother together with Gong Jiaming, he was also cheering him on in every possible way.
As for his baby brother’s fragile little heart, sorry, Zhao Xuran really didn’t have that kind of "United States time" to worry about it.
If he hadn’t tried to scheme people like that before, how would things have turned out like this.
Since they already had a bunch of third wheels, what’s the big deal about a few more.
"Actually, if there were a whole building for sale around here, that’d be perfect." Gong Ruini felt that wouldn’t be a bad idea.
A whole building for sale? He rolled his eyes. Zhao Guangran was helpless that Gong Ruini could say something so dumb.
"Ni Zi, this is the United States, not back home."
"Even back home, it’s not that easy to buy places like this anymore, right."
"Watch that attitude—what’s with your attitude." Zhao Xuran was very displeased with how rude Zhao Guangran was being to Gong Ruini.
"There’s so many of us, we don’t even know how many units we’ll end up needing." Zhao Guangran felt utterly wronged—what on earth had he just said.
Forget it, don’t argue with big bro; in the end he’d only piss himself half to death.
"You can’t even buy such nice, contiguous properties in Beijing, let alone in New York."
"And don’t be fooled by how foreigners seem cold and distant and barely interact. Once they hear some rich Chinese are coming to buy in bulk, I can guarantee the prices will shoot up."
"Even those who are in a rush to sell will suddenly slow down," Zhao Guangran knew these people way too well.
"We go through an agent hoping he’ll find us good listings, but while he’s scouring the market, he’s also basically broadcasting our moves to everyone."
Yeah, this really was a big problem. They did have some cash on hand, but in New York, trying to act rich like that would just make people laugh themselves to death.
If someone really decided to deliberately jack up prices and play games, there was no way their scrawny arms and legs could stay in that game.
"I remember there’s some abandoned factory buildings nearby; we could renovate those." Gong Jiaxin had originally planned to set up a studio, but after she got an opportunity to study and work in Europe, she dropped the idea.
"Quite a few people bought up land over there and did some conversions. Don’t look down on those factories—they’re only three or four stories high, but because they were factory buildings, the ceiling heights are actually pretty good."
The more Gong Jiaxin talked, the more doable it sounded. She pulled out some photos she’d taken while scouting locations back then. "Here, take a look."
Gong Ruini honestly hadn’t considered this before; in her mind, buying an apartment right here was obviously better, since it was so convenient.
But the photos Gong Jiaxin showed her really appealed to her. "What do you think?"
After Zhao Xuran took a look, "Not that great."
Guang Ran curled his lip. "It’s fine for a studio; you can just partition it into offices. But how are we supposed to live there."
"At the very least, you’d have to turn it into a bright, open space."
"You brighten up the rooms on both sides, sure, but what about the middle."
"And the renovation costs won’t be low, either." What he was really thinking about was how he’d end up stuck supervising all the work again.
The moment he thought about how all that work would fall on him, he felt like crying.
Isn’t it just a matter of money? If throwing money at it can solve the problem, why not just do that.
Once she thought about it, Gong Ruini had to admit this really wasn’t a simple matter.
In the United States, renovating a building is a huge hassle. You have to jump through layer after layer of approvals; just that alone would run her ragged.
Even if an agent helped you handle it, the process would still drag on forever.
Dai Liren hadn’t meant to interrupt, but he felt there was a piece of news he could share with them.
"There’s someone in another part of Manhattan who wants to buy up a factory and convert it into a family residence. You know what the housing stock is like here—even if it was built really well at the time, by now it’s way behind the times."
People say the houses here are amazing, and Liren agreed with that, but if you asked him how comfortable it is to actually live in them, he really didn’t think so.
You can do that? Of course Gong Ruini and the others had never heard of this, so they all turned to look at Zhao Guangran.
He could only give a helpless look. "Lower District, right? I heard someone mention it before, but I didn’t pay much attention."
After all, he truly never imagined there’d be so many people wanting to buy property. If he’d known, he definitely would’ve tried harder to get more information back then.
"You... I actually think this is a good idea. It keeps things separate, but if we need each other, we’re still close by." Zhao Guangran knew that wanting to live like back home, with everyone in one big siheyuan, was just not realistic.
But they could still think about putting up a building and living together. After all these years under the same roof, their bonds really had grown strong.
"I think it works. We could do three bedrooms, one living room, and two bathrooms, plus a small kitchen."
"Then we add a shared reception room, dining room, a big kitchen, a gym, a study—what do you all think?" Even though Zhao Xuran had never designed a house himself, he’d been involved in real estate, so he knew the basics.
"Sounds good. Make the first floor a garage, and add a proper entryway." Of course Gong Ruini was totally on board with whatever her man suggested.
"Second floor can be a shared reception room—throwing parties there would be perfect—and a dining room plus the gym."
"Third floor is the study and guest rooms, and from the fourth floor up, it’s everyone’s private bedrooms. How’s that."
The more he listened, the dizzier Zhao Guangran felt. He’d just casually brought it up, and somehow they were all this hyped about something that didn’t even exist yet.
He was muttering nonstop in his head, but he could only complain silently. On the surface he still had to look especially sincere, with the best possible attitude. Otherwise big bro would definitely tear into him again for having a bad attitude.
"Well?" Zhao Xuran turned his head to look at him.
If he had the choice, of course Zhao Guangran would’ve said no—but did he dare? Absolutely not.
"I think this plan is great. We can even put a pool on the roof, plus a garden."
"That way it’s super convenient for parties, and of course for BBQs too."
A pool, huh—that was actually a great idea, but, "Let’s drop that. What if it leaks? That’s no joke." The last thing Zhao Xuran wanted was for their New York base to turn into some kind of Water Curtain Cave after just a few stays.
Heh, at least he knew that was a bad idea. After griping twice in his heart, Zhao Guangran briskly took the task on. "I’ll go talk to John and run it by him."
He could already see John crying. All those nice, separate units he’d lined up for them—the commission alone would’ve been huge.
He wouldn’t say John was about to strike it rich, but just this batch of deals was basically a whole month’s workload for him, and now...
Even though Zhao Guangran worried John might have opinions, he still called him without hesitation. This was the sort of attitude the service industry should have, right.