Before Li Yue could react, the old man from inside the house rushed out like a gust of wind, nearly tripping over himself in his haste while descending the steps.
Then a familiar figure emerged from the car. Li Yue had just been wondering inwardly whether it could really be such a coincidence.
That person then opened the rear car door.
First came a foot wearing leather shoes, followed by the figure that surprised Li Yue the most.
It was none other than that strikingly handsome man she'd been frequently running into lately.
"So it was him," Li Yue muttered under her breath.
"What's wrong, Xiao Yue?" Gu Huaichuan looked somewhat confused.
Following the girl's bright gaze, he discovered it was actually him.
Li Yue sighed. "Let's go. They came by car, so they must be quite wealthy."
It was obvious the house would definitely be sold to them. There was no use in them continuing to wait around.
"Alright."
Just as the two were about to leave, the old man called out to them: "Hey—don't go, you two. Wait a moment."
Seeing them preparing to leave, the old man grew somewhat anxious. He wasn't certain whether this big boss from Hong Kong City would actually buy his house, so he wanted to keep these two young people around.
His shouting caught the attention of Jiang Lian and Nan Si.
Jiang Lian hadn't originally planned to come today, but Nan Si insisted he come take a look and get some fresh air.
He never expected to encounter "acquaintances" here—after all, they'd run into each other three or four times in just the past few days.
Twice they had spoken, and twice he had seen the two of them from a distance, wandering around the neighborhood.
Actually, those were times when the two were searching for housing under the scorching sun.
"Hehe, boss, don't misunderstand. Those two young people wanted to rent this place. Originally I was going to rent it to them, but if you want to buy it, then I won't rent it out," the old man said with an ingratiating smile.
Nan Si's mouth twitched, thinking to himself that this old man had quite the scheme going. He wanted to keep those two around so that if their master didn't like the place, he could still rent it to them.
If those two stayed, they might even help drive up the price.
Tsk, mainlanders are really shrewd.
Hearing the old man's call, Gu Huaichuan stopped in his tracks and rolled his eyes at him. "We're not renting anymore. Whoever deals with someone as untrustworthy as you is bound to have bad luck."
Growing angrier the more he thought about it, he turned his gaze to Jiang Lian and Nan Si. "You should keep your eyes open. This old man isn't honest. If you buy his house, make sure he doesn't go back on the deal after you've paid."
"Hey, you little brat! Who's not honest? Come over here and see if I don't teach you a lesson!" The old man made a show of taking off his shoe to intimidate Gu Huaichuan.
But Li Yue grabbed Gu Huaichuan and directly pulled him across the street. "Why bother getting angry with him? Let him sell it. Let's go to the other side. Given the current situation, we'll have to change our plans. Let's go check out that Grain and Oil Shop again."
"Xiao Yue, stop pulling me! I haven't said enough yet," Gu Huaichuan complained as he was dragged away, still struggling.
"Better to leave quickly. If this place doesn't work out, we'll need to search along that other street," Li Yue said rapidly as she walked.
Only then did Gu Huaichuan give up on his intention to continue cursing at the old man.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lian watched the slender retreating figure, feeling that she seemed different from when he'd seen her before.
He wasn't quite sure exactly what was different though.
Seeing his master continuously staring at the girl, Nan Si called out softly, "Master, master, let's go."
"Mm." Jiang Lian withdrew his gaze and responded indifferently.
The old man, seeing them look across the street, thought they had taken that young fellow's words to heart, and quickly extended another invitation: "Young boss, come take a look at the house. I'm not as bad as that brat says. Think about it—I, Zhao Dahe, have been around this area for over sixty years and have never been dishonorable. You can ask anyone around here—they'll all tell you I'm righteous and kind-hearted. I wouldn't do anything bad. Once it's sold, it's sold…"
"Let's go." Jiang Lian couldn't be bothered listening to the old man's nonsense and headed straight for the steps.
Nan Si followed closely behind.
The old man wasn't offended by being ignored. He pursed his lips and cheerfully followed them.
Li Yue and Gu Huaichuan went across the street and entered the clothing store next to the old Grain and Oil Shop.
The owner of the clothing store was also the landlord of the two buildings next to her shop. Those properties weren't for sale, but they were available for rent.
When the shop owner saw Li Yue coming again, she smiled and looked her over before going upstairs to get the keys.
She came down shortly after and gestured for them to follow.
Upon entering the room, they were greeted by the strong smell of raw beans, with several discarded oil barrels nearby.
"Boss, can this place be any cheaper?" Li Yue casually probed.
"Girl, you've come more than once now. If I could give you a better price, I would. Our location is excellent—no matter what business you run, there'll be plenty of foot traffic. If you continue running a grain and oil shop, you'll still have some regular customers. You can store goods both upstairs and downstairs—it's better to have more space. Look outside the window—that's currently the largest residential area in our county, Fujuyuan Residential Area. With so many residents, why worry about business not being good?"
The shop owner was the type who never spoke without smiling. Everyone called her Sister Yan. She had a straightforward and cheerful personality, and her clothing store had the best business.
Li Yue still wanted to try bargaining further—every hundred saved counted.
"Sister Yan, we really don't have that much money. Can you give us a better price? We're not continuing the grain and oil business and will need to renovate, which will cost additional money."
Hearing this, Hu Haiyan actually pondered seriously for a moment before gritting her teeth: "Then twenty-eight hundred, absolutely can't go any lower. If that doesn't work, you can look elsewhere."
"Deal, let's sign the contract."
Li Yue responded briskly.
She was satisfied with this price, so she decided to sign directly.
Gu Huaichuan pulled Li Yue aside: "Are you really going to rent this place?"
"Yes. That other place will definitely be sold. We can only rent here. If we go further east, it becomes too remote."
"Alright then, if you think it's suitable, that's fine." Gu Huaichuan felt happy just being able to be with Li Yue every day.
His father had supported this venture with five thousand yuan. If it wasn't enough, he could always go back and ask for more.
Hu Haiyan hadn't expected these two to actually rent the place, let alone be in such a hurry.
"Well then, please wait here for a moment. I'll go get my husband to come and sign the contract with you. I, uh, only finished elementary school." Her smile was somewhat strained—in reality, she could barely manage accounts and hadn't even attended elementary school.
"Okay, go ahead and get him." Li Yue expressed understanding.
After Sister Yan left, Gu Huaichuan asked puzzledly: "Xiao Yue, have you encountered some problem? Yesterday we were still saying we could take our time looking without rushing. Why are you suddenly in such a hurry today?"
Li Yue smiled self-deprecatingly, "I have to plan for myself. It's been so many days since I submitted the account books. I've noticed Lu Jianguo has been absent-minded lately—not even shaving his beard, leaving early and returning late. I suppose there must be some developments at the factory." She didn't intend to hide anything and spoke quite frankly.
After a brief pause, she continued, "If this matter comes to light, do you think we can still live in the house allocated by the Lu Family? Definitely not. I'll have to get a divorce sooner or later. That scumbag is always hanging around with his widow sister-in-law—it disgusts me just to see them. There's no way I could live with them."
Mentioning Lu Xiao inexplicably irritated Li Yue.
Noticing her sudden change in expression, Gu Huaichuan quickly asked, "Xiao Yue, do you have other concerns?"
Though she talked about divorce every day, she never actually went through with it. He felt it wasn't his place to ask too much.
"Lu Xiao has been avoiding me just to prevent the divorce. I don't know what to do anymore. I've made scenes, even called the police to have him detained for twenty-four hours, and slapped him—but he still refuses to divorce."
This was something Li Yue couldn't understand. In the past, Lu Xiao would have been eager to kick the original owner out of the house.
If the original owner had asked for a divorce back then, he probably wouldn't have waited until dawn to rush and get it done.
So why now? Could it be that after all the chaos she's stirred up in the Lu Family, he's fallen for her? That's absolutely impossible.