Xia Zhi was so shocked that her mind trembled, unable to recover for a long time.
Three hundred buildings?
That many?
And not units, but entire buildings.
Was that not too exaggerated?
She would not even dare dream of something this outrageous.
Xia Zhi quietly pinched her thigh. “Ow.” It hurt. This was not a dream, it was really happening to her.
Her racing heart gradually calmed, her shock slowly turning into acceptance of this sudden windfall. A hidden excitement began to rise within her.
Twenty years later, she had truly achieved her original dream.
To become a landlord.
And not just that, she had exceeded it by far.
No need to be woken up by an alarm every day, dragging her exhausted body through more than two hours of commuting; no need to force herself to work through painful periods just to secure a full attendance bonus; no need to live in constant anxiety, caught in endless competition, afraid of being fired and unable to pay next month’s rent; no weekly reports, no performance reviews, no presentations, no meetings…
She no longer had to exhaust herself running around for a few taels of silver. All her time belonged to her, and she could do whatever she liked.
Everything became simple and beautiful.
Xia Zhi looked at the red property certificates inside the box. Her eyes reddened, and tears gradually welled up, slipping down like beads from a broken string.
When Wen Yu saw Xia Zhi suddenly start crying, he immediately panicked. The seventeen year old boy lost his usual composure, scratching his head anxiously. “Mom, why are you crying?”
If Dad found out he had made Mom cry, he would definitely get scolded again.
Xia Zhi had reached an emotional tipping point and could not hold back her tears. She did not expect to frighten the boy. She quickly wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I’m just happy.”
Happy that twenty years later, she actually owned three hundred buildings.
Seeing that Xia Zhi was truly crying from overwhelming joy, Wen Yu finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Why did I buy buildings one after another?” Xia Zhi asked.
“Mom, you thought collecting rent unit by unit was too troublesome, so you simply bought entire buildings instead.”
Xia Zhi thought, that does sound like something she would do.
Wen Yu continued, “All these years, you’ve never raised the rent, so our rental prices are lower than those around us. And whenever a tenant moves out, whether their lease has ended or not, you always return the full deposit. You once said that this deposit doesn’t mean much to our family, but for many renters it’s a large sum. You just wanted to enjoy being a landlady, not exploit anyone.”
Xia Zhi nodded.
When she was younger, she had imagined that if she ever became a landlord, she would never arbitrarily raise rent and would never withhold a tenant’s deposit. She had suffered too much when renting. The rent would increase by several hundred every six months, unscrupulous landlords would tamper with water and electricity meters to make them spin wildly, being two days late with rent could get her utilities cut off and force her onto the streets, and there were endless excuses to deduct her deposit, sometimes even demanding extra compensation, squeezing every last penny out of her.
Thinking back on those days, Xia Zhi still felt lingering fear.
“Mom, do you want to take a look at the keys to these buildings?” Wen Yu suggested.
He knew his mother had always been interested in real estate, so he had intentionally brought the amnesiac Xia Zhi to see the property certificates as a way to stimulate her memory, hoping she might recall something.
“Yes, where are they?”
With so many buildings, there must be a lot of keys.
She also wanted to see what a wall full of keys looked like.
“Mom, follow me.”
Xia Zhi followed Wen Yu to a room on the first floor. The door was three meters tall, made of metal and gleaming gold, like the entrance to a bank vault.
“You mean the building keys are inside?”
“Yes.”
Isn’t this a bit exaggerated?
However, when Wen Yu opened the door, Xia Zhi realized her imagination had been lacking. There was no such thing as too exaggerated, only more so.
The room was like a massive museum. All four walls were fitted with countless transparent glass cabinets. Each cabinet was filled with hanging keys, glowing softly under the indoor lights. To distinguish them, every cabinet was categorized and labeled.
“Mom, these are your properties in this city.”
Following Wen Yu’s pointing finger, Xia Zhi shifted her gaze. Rows of cabinets were labeled “S City” with entries such as “Linhe Garden, Building 12,” “Mingxia New Village, Lane 3, Building 8,” “Mingxia New Village, Lane 3, Building 9,” “Mingxia New Village, Lane 6, Building 2,” “Lehe Residence, Building 6,” “Hongwan, Building 2”…
Xia Zhi counted, there were about one hundred buildings.
“Over there are your properties in other cities across the country and in other countries.”
Altogether, there were around two hundred buildings scattered across the nation and the world. Everywhere with beautiful scenery had properties purchased, and not just one at a time. At each location, five or six buildings were bought in one go, one kept for personal use, and the rest rented out.
Xia Zhi was stunned with amazement.
This was practically buying buildings all over the world.
So lavish.
Utterly extravagant.