Reborn in 1977

Chapter 612: Partner

Huashan Road, a villa in a manor.

Accompanied by Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili, Zhou Yali was inspecting an old and dilapidated Western-style house.

At the entrance of the house, Chen Fan was smoking with Section Chief Wang from the Housing Management Office and Section Chief Ma from the United Front Work Department. Section Chief Wang was the one who had previously introduced the house to him and An Quan.

Section Chief Wang sat on the low wall of the eaves gallery and said with a smile, "In my many years of housing management, I have only sold one Western-style house, which was the one you bought. I didn't expect that this second one would also be bought by you."

Chen Fan immediately shook his head in denial, "No, no, no, I can't afford this place. It's for my relative."

He turned his head and glanced around. Even with his extensive knowledge, he couldn't help but be a little surprised.

This old Western-style house from the Republic of China era was the third one they had looked at.

Let's not talk about the previous two, which were the ones Chen Fan had left over. It had been more than half a year and they still hadn't been sold.

And this one was newly vacated some time ago. The owner was in Hong Kong and heard that the policy had changed, so he entrusted a lawyer to come with the property deed to handle the old house, which was actually a kind of test.

After research, the higher-ups decided to spend a lot of money to attract talent and return the house.

As a result, the owner had already made up his mind. If you return it, I will sell it, so it was listed for sale.

Compared to this, No. 3 Baoqing Road, once known as the "First Private Garden in Shanghai," was not until 2002 that the descendants of the original owner, Zhou Zongliang, came back with the property deed to request its return.

Previously, Zhou Zongliang's grandson, Xu Yuanzhang, had been living there. Even in those ten years, he had been living there as the owner. At that time, many old Shanghai residents would come to gather, making it their haven.

However, when Zhou's descendants came with the property deed, the court still ruled the property deed valid, and Xu Yuanzhang could only move out of the old Western-style house where he had lived for most of his life.

At that time, it was already the new century, and the property deed was still considered valid, let alone now, which is a critical period for the United Front Work. It is only natural to return the house.

The Western-style house itself covers an area of more than 500 square meters, with 4 floors and a large terrace on top. The total construction area exceeds 2,000 square meters, and it also includes a large garden of more than 30 acres and two auxiliary buildings.

Although a part of the large garden has been occupied now, the remaining land is still about 18 acres, and the two auxiliary buildings, each covering 80 square meters, are also there. The front garden even has a large swimming pool.

It's really luxurious!

Including the house and the garden, the Housing Management Bureau quoted 500,000 yuan, which is the lowest price and cannot be reduced by a penny.

Well, this is what the owner requested, which is also reasonable.

In fact, this is a difficult problem that the owner has given to the government, which is to say, he intends to let the government pay the bill.

But the current government is also short of money, especially with the shortage of housing. Many people are waiting for housing assignments, so they can only list it for sale.

Moreover, this house was recovered from a certain unit, and many facilities inside have been damaged. Even the floor and wall skin need to be renovated, and this renovation fee must be paid by oneself.

In addition, the swimming pool has been abandoned for decades and has now become a large pond. If you want to restore it to its original state, it will be another large sum of money.

With such a high price, how many people in China can afford it or dare to buy it?

Chen Fan can't afford this house price alone. Counting the 380,000 yuan in Master Zhang's hand and the 70,000 yuan in his own hand, the total is still 50,000 yuan short. It's really expensive.

What's more, he doesn't dare to buy it.

It's understandable to spend 30,000 yuan to buy a small Western-style building, but if you dare to buy this, do you really think the world is peaceful now?!

You will definitely try and die.

Only those wealthy overseas Chinese or foreigners who are abroad have the money and dare to buy such a house.

Faced with Chen Fan's repeated denials, Section Chief Wang smoked and said with a smile, "I have seen many overseas relatives like this. Many people who buy houses in China are actually living for their relatives.

Your relatives are the same, aren't they? They won't be settling in China all year round, will they? When they are not here, you can live here as you please."

Chen Fan shrugged, "But I don't live in Shanghai all the time either. Besides, it's not like I don't have a house. I can't even finish living in my own house."

Section Chief Wang and another comrade looked at each other, and they could both see the speechlessness in each other's eyes.

They both sighed in their hearts, isn't this the same as it was more than ten years ago, where the drought-stricken die and the flooded drown, and the rich have made a comeback.

But they dare not say this out loud.

They still want to carry out the United Front Work.

After smoking two cigarettes, Zhou Yali and the other two finally came out of the house.

Before she arrived, she shouted, "Old brother, I've finished watching."

Chen Fan turned around, "How is it?"

Zhou Yali chuckled and glanced at the two people next to her.

Section Chief Wang and Section Chief Ma immediately stood up. The two looked at each other, and Section Chief Wang said, "You guys talk, we'll go to the side and smoke a cigarette."

After speaking, the two walked away together.

After they walked away, Zhou Yali said, "Old brother, I think this place is very good. Although it needs to be completely renovated, the place is big enough and the location is very good. If you buy it, it will be good as a family residence or a company office in the future."

After a pause, she said again, "Didn't you say that the mainland will gradually open up and allow foreign investment to enter? And in the past two years, there have been constant news of allowing foreign investment to enter. Revlon opened its first store in the mainland in Guangdong the year before last. I think your judgment should be correct.

Although our Zhou family started out in trade, we have also been in the real estate business for decades. According to objective laws, after a region's economy begins to develop, the first and easiest thing to rise in price is real estate.

This house is very large and located in the center of SH. It will definitely appreciate greatly in the future."

After she finished speaking, she blinked and asked softly, "What do you think?"

Chen Fan hummed twice, spread his hands, "You have said so much, what else can I say?"

Then he smiled, "Besides, you are the one who wants to buy the house, so of course your opinion is the most important."

"Heh heh heh heh."

Zhou Yali laughed silly twice, turned her head to look at Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian, and then glanced at Section Chief Wang and Section Chief Ma who were far away. Then she said softly, "Anyway, there are no outsiders here, let me tell you something."

Chen Fan frowned slightly, "What's the matter?"

Zhou Yali gestured, ran over and sat next to him, and said softly, "It's like this, my dad transferred the part of the shares that belonged to my aunt and now belongs to you to me. In addition, the newly established technology company that makes Chinese character input method is also held by me, which means all your assets are in my hands."

Chen Fan smacked his lips and stared at her intently, but did not speak, but waited for her to finish.

Jiang's two sisters on the side couldn't help but look at each other, and then turned their eyes to Zhou Yali.

The two were guessing in their hearts, does this mean to turn Chen Fan into a capitalist?

Seeing that Chen Fan didn't say anything, Zhou Yali continued, "The part that belongs to you includes both shares and cash, so I was thinking, why not buy this house in the name of this company? That way, the house will be yours in the future. Anyway, my family is in America, and even if we come back, we can stay at your place."

Chen Fan looked at her, not knowing where to begin.

After several seconds, he shook his head and said, "There's no need for that. I made it very clear before that I won't take the Zhou family's money. As for the technology company, you can consider it as me contributing the ideas, and you contributing the money and effort. Just give me half the shares."

If Zhou Yali hadn't brought this up, Chen Fan had already decided that he would reduce cooperation with the Zhou family after the Chinese character card was successfully developed.

He hadn't forgotten that this relative was adopted, not a real one. Besides, even if they were real, he couldn't let others take advantage of him for nothing.

Now that the Zhou family was taking the initiative to give him the entire company, he felt that he could cooperate long-term, sharing several opportunities from the 80s through this company.

Anyway, he only provided project suggestions, while the Zhou family handled execution and investment. Each taking half the shares was reasonable.

However, Zhou Yali was very angry with his plan.

She immediately glared at him, "How can you do this? Are you trying to draw a line between us?"

Chen Fan was helpless, "Sister, it's you who insisted on stuffing money into my hands. If anyone's drawing a line, it's you."

Zhou Yali puffed out her cheeks, "That's different. There's an old saying that even close brothers settle accounts clearly. Even relatives with the best relationships need to clarify financial matters, especially close ones, to avoid problems. You're wrong if you don't accept it."

Chen Fan rubbed his face and looked at her, asking, "Then what do you want to do?"

Zhou Yali snorted, "Just do as I said. It's inconvenient for you now, so I'll hold the shares and assets on your behalf. I'll return them to you when the time is right. That's it."

Chen Fan rubbed his head, thought for a moment, and said, "How about this? Aren't you planning to invest in the mainland in the future? Why not use this company's name and have you manage it? You said it yourself, even close brothers settle accounts clearly. I'll only be responsible for the strategic investment direction, and you'll handle all the execution. Then we'll each have half the shares, how about that?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he added, "If you don't agree, then don't talk to me about economics or investment in the future. Let's just be ordinary relatives, drinking tea and playing cards. Don't mention anything else."

Zhou Yali frowned, "Invest using this company's name? What about my dad?"

Chen Fan smiled, "Your dad is your dad, and you are you. Don't you want to be independent and autonomous, and show your dad what you can do?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yali's eyes lit up, "Yeah, yeah, that works."

She thought for a moment, grinned, and said, "Okay, I'll have my dad invest some more money in me later. You and I will each own half of this company."

She reached out and patted Chen Fan's shoulder, laughing, "Little brother, whether your big sister eats spicy food and drinks fine wine for the rest of her life, or gnaws on steamed buns and drinks thin porridge, depends on you!"

Chen Fan was speechless, "What a mess, where did you learn all these phrases?"

Zhou Yali smiled, "From the Story Collection in your study. It has martial arts novels, although they're a bit worse than Jin Yong and Gu Long, they're still quite interesting."

Chen Fan, "…"

After a couple of seconds, he said, "Now that you've decided to buy this place in the company's name, why not buy the first villa we looked at as well? This place will be the company's future office, and the villa over there will be for personal residence."

Zhou Yali nodded without hesitation, "Okay, whatever you say."

The first villa was about the same size as Chen Fan's, with a 90% similar layout. Moreover, the location was good, on Hunan Road. When her parents came over in the future, they could live there, making it convenient for them.

What? Herself?

Of course, she'd live at her little brother's place. More people, more lively. What's the point of living with her parents?

Besides, she and her little brother would be partners in the future, living together would facilitate work communication.

After the two finished discussing, Chen Fan stood up, patted his butt, and led them towards Section Chief Wang, waving his hand at the same time.

When Section Chief Wang saw them coming, he immediately threw away his cigarette butt and greeted them.

As they got a little closer, Chen Fan said, "This one, and the first one we looked at, we want them both."

Section Chief Wang's eyes lit up immediately, and he quickly took two steps forward, "Really?"

At this time, the two sides had converged. Chen Fan took out cigarettes and handed out two, smiling and saying, "Of course it's true, I wouldn't joke about this."

Section Chief Wang laughed, "No, no, I just can't believe it."

These were the two most difficult old villas to sell, especially this one. He couldn't imagine who could come up with 500,000 yuan.

Even among the overseas Chinese who had returned one after another, few had this kind of financial strength.

Although overseas Chinese were richer than mainlanders, not all of them were rich. Most of them were small business owners running restaurants or shops, and many others lived by working.

He had also heard some good-tempered overseas Chinese say that being able to return to the country meant that their economic conditions were relatively good. Many people wanted to come back but couldn't afford the travel expenses and could only contact them by letter.

It was rare to encounter a few wealthy people, but they weren't necessarily willing to invest in real estate in the mainland. Even if they wanted to buy, they mainly focused on conventional housing.

To have money and be willing to buy such a large house was truly hitting the jackpot.

Chen Fan said with a smile, "Actually, buying this courtyard is mainly to prepare for future investments in the country."

Hearing this, the other Section Chief Ma also got excited and couldn't help but ask, "Are you willing to invest in the country?"

Of course, he was speaking to Zhou Yali.

Zhou Yali nodded with a smile, "Yes. Last time my father returned to the country, he also took the opportunity to inspect the domestic environment and felt that it had great investment prospects. So this time, when I came back again, he gave me several tasks, one of which was to scout out a few suitable houses, some for personal residence and some as company headquarters.

This courtyard is very large, and although the house is a bit old, the area is not bad, and it's perfect for use as a company headquarters.

The villa we looked at earlier is pretty good as a residence, so I decided to buy both."

Hearing this, Section Chief Ma and Section Chief Wang were overjoyed.

One sold a house, and the other successfully obtained a commitment to invest in the mainland. When they reported back to their superiors at the unit, they could be considered to have made great contributions, so of course they were happy.

Without saying much more, the group got into Chen Fan's van and quickly headed towards the housing management office.

Back at the housing management office, the leader learned the result and naturally gave the green light, completing the procedures for them as quickly as possible.

However, because Zhou Yali didn't bring the company's information, she could only buy the house in her own name first.

Coming out of the housing management office, holding the two property ownership certificates, Zhou Yali couldn't help but laugh, "I didn't expect my first house purchase to be in China, how amazing."