After breakfast, Xia Zhi wanted to go check the water and electricity meters for the remaining three buildings.
The children tried to stop her. “Mom, you just got discharged from the hospital, do not push yourself. Rest for a few days before going. Our family does not lack that bit of money anyway.”
“It is not about the money,” Xia Zhi said seriously.
“Then what is it?”
“It is that I want to go check the meters.”
The children, “…”
They simply could not understand her excitement at becoming a landlady. To her, checking meters was not tiring at all, it was something enjoyable. More importantly, she wanted to go see her buildings.
The three buildings that Assistant Song had left for her were nearby, about a twenty minute drive.
Xia Zhi casually picked a car from the row of luxury vehicles that looked like an auto show and set off.
However…
She could understand why the four children insisted on following her out of concern.
But boss, why are you coming along too?
As if he could read her mind, Wen Shihan lifted his eyelids slightly and said through gritted teeth, “I’m going to check on my money.”
Xia Zhi, “…”
Her boss had given all his money to her, and she had used that money to buy buildings. So those buildings were essentially his money.
Wen Shihan said, “What, not allowed?”
“Allowed.”
Fine, fine, boss, whatever you say.
Xia Zhi quietly withdrew her gaze, not daring to meet Wen Shihan’s dark eyes again. She felt that one more second of eye contact might increase her chances of being strangled.
A boss with no money was truly terrifying.
The car soon arrived at the location of her properties.
These three buildings were located in Huangxia Village, specifically Building 6 in Lane 3, Building 8 in Lane 3, and Building 5 in Lane 4. Each building was seven stories tall and equipped with elevators. Since she did not arbitrarily raise rents or overcharge for utilities, the tenants living in her buildings were generally very stable and had stayed for a long time. According to the children, there was even an elderly lady who had lived there for eighteen years.
While Xia Zhi was checking the meters in the stairwell, tenants occasionally passed by. Whenever they saw her, they would greet her as “landlady.” Although she remained calm and composed on the surface, nodding politely in response, inside she had already turned into a screaming fan.
They called me… landlady!
She had dreamed of being called that, but for twenty years she did not have the means, and could only call others landlady instead. Now, finally, someone was calling her that. She was so happy.
After finishing the meter checks for the three buildings, Xia Zhi took the opportunity to look around at her nearby properties. That’s right, aside from these three, Wen Yu had said she owned many more buildings.
“Mom, this building is yours, and that one too.” Wen Yu pointed in two directions as he spoke.
Within just a small area, there were already eight buildings.
“And that one as well.” Wen Le pointed at an office building not far away.
“That one is mine too?”
That was an office building.
“Yes.”
Xia Zhi, “!!!”
She had thought her properties were only residential buildings, but she actually owned office buildings as well.
Her gaze swept across each building that belonged to her, and she felt both shocked and amazed.
All of these… were her buildings.
“Hey, landlady, what brings you here?”
A puzzled voice suddenly sounded beside her. Xia Zhi looked up and saw a woman in her thirties carrying groceries, holding the hand of a five year old girl eating an ice cream. They seemed to have just come back from the market.
Now that she was calling her “landlady,” she must be a tenant living in one of her buildings.
“Just came to take a look,” Xia Zhi said.
The woman gave a soft “oh,” her gaze sweeping over Wen Shihan and the four children beside Xia Zhi. She could not help but feel envious. The landlady already had so many buildings and so much money, and on top of that, she had a loving husband and four beautiful, adorable children.
Xia Zhi was very familiar with that look in the woman’s eyes.
She herself had once looked at landlords her own age the same way countless times, envying how they could inherit multiple properties from their parents without effort, go wherever they wanted, eat whatever they wished, and live their whole lives without worrying about making a living.
The woman gently patted her child’s shoulder. “Say hello to the landlady.”
The little girl took the ice cream out of her mouth and obediently greeted Xia Zhi, “Hello, landlady auntie.”
“Ah.” Xia Zhi responded with smiling eyes.
Perhaps because she now had four children, Xia Zhi had grown especially fond of kids.
After greeting Xia Zhi, the little girl also greeted Wen Shihan, Wen Yu, Wen Lun, Wen Le, and Wen Yi, “Hello, landlady’s husband, hello big brothers and sisters.”
Wen Shihan gave a slight nod.
Wen Yu, Wen Lun, Wen Le, and Wen Yi waved back at her.
The woman then asked Xia Zhi, “Landlady, do you have any one bedroom apartments available?”
She was currently renting a studio. Recently, her husband had been promoted, and her daughter was getting older. She wanted to move to a larger place so the family could live more comfortably.
Xia Zhi had only just arrived in this time and was not very familiar with the status of her properties. Still, she said warmly, “I will go back and check first. If there is a one bedroom unit available, I will call you right away, okay?”
“Alright, alright.” The woman agreed with a bright smile.
With Xia Zhi’s promise, the woman left contentedly, holding her daughter’s hand.
Wen Yi looked at the ice cream in the little girl’s hand, licked her lips, and said to Xia Zhi in a coaxing tone, “Mom, I want ice cream too.”
“Me too,” Wen Le added.
It was the hot summer, and the children had been out with her all morning. It was such a small request, of course Xia Zhi would not refuse.
She turned to Wen Yu and Wen Lun. “Do you two want some as well?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
They answered in unison.
“Alright, what flavors do you want?”
“I want chocolate.”
“I want a three flavor one.”
“I want strawberry.”
“I want milk flavor.”
“Okay, wait here, I will go buy them now.”
Not far from where they were standing was a convenience store. At its entrance was a large freezer filled with all kinds of ice creams. In the summer heat, ice cream was especially popular.
Just as Xia Zhi was about to go, Wen Yu reminded from the side, “Dad, go with Mom to buy them, otherwise she will not be able to carry everything.”
Xia Zhi thought, it is just four ice creams, put them in a bag and it is done, what is there she cannot carry?
“I can carry them,” she said.
“No, Mom, you cannot.”
Xia Zhi, “…”
“Dad, hurry up and go with Mom.”
As Wen Lun spoke, he took advantage of Wen Shihan not paying attention and gave him a push toward Xia Zhi. Wen Shihan had no guard up against his children and did not expect Wen Lun to be bold enough to push him. The two of them bumped into each other.
Wen Shihan’s body was warm, the heat seeping through his shirt. Xia Zhi’s face instantly flushed red.
Wen Shihan stepped back slightly and shot Wen Lun a warning glance.
Wen Lun quickly hid behind Wen Yu.
Wen Shihan turned to Xia Zhi and said, “Let’s go.”
He seemed to have accepted the children’s suggestion.
“Oh, okay.”
Xia Zhi followed behind him toward the convenience store.
From behind them came Wen Le’s voice, “Mom and Dad, hold hands, hold hands.”
Wen Yi added gleefully, “Yes, hold hands together.”
Xia Zhi nearly twisted her ankle.
Xia Zhi thought, these four little troublemakers!
“Ignore them,” Wen Shihan said.
Xia Zhi thought, right, cannot pay them any attention, the more you respond, the more they will stir things up.
Suppressing her blush, Xia Zhi went with Wen Shihan into the store and bought the ice creams for the children. Just as she was about to close the freezer door, Wen Shihan asked, “You are not getting one?”
Of course she was.
Xia Zhi loved ice cream.
She immediately picked one for herself.
She then asked a little cautiously, “Boss, do you want one?”
“I never eat these things.”
Xia Zhi, “…”
Alright then, he was missing out on a simple pleasure.
When Xia Zhi carried the ice creams to the counter to pay, Wen Shihan habitually took out his phone and opened the payment code.
Beep.
“Insufficient balance.”
Xia Zhi, “…”
For a moment, the atmosphere turned awkward.
Xia Zhi looked at his phone in shock. The ice creams she was holding did not even cost fifty yuan. Had her forty five year old self become so stingy that she would not even leave him fifty yuan?
Wen Shihan put his phone away and said, “You pay.”
“Oh.”
Xia Zhi handed over her phone and completed the payment.
The children were unaware of this small incident and happily ate the ice creams Xia Zhi and Wen Shihan bought for them.
Watching Wen Shihan standing quietly to the side while they ate, Wen Lun could not help but say, “Mom, let Dad have a lick of your ice cream, otherwise he just stands there looking so pitiful.”
Xia Zhi, “…”
Wen Shihan narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice carrying a dangerous edge. “Wen Lun, are you asking for trouble?”
A scene instantly flashed through Wen Lun’s mind, of being whipped by Wen Shihan with a leather belt after making a mistake. His body trembled involuntarily, and he quickly shook his head. “Dad, I won’t say anything anymore.”
“Second brother, you’re such a coward.” Wen Le made a face as he spoke.
Wen Lun rolled his wrists and walked toward Wen Le. “Wen Le, are you asking for trouble too?”
Wen Le was not about to sit there and wait to be hit. He immediately ran, and Wen Yi joined in, helping Wen Le block Wen Lun. For a moment, the air was filled with the children’s laughter and playful shouts.
Watching the lively scene before her, Xia Zhi could not help but smile warmly. Her gaze followed the children as they ran around, and at one moment, it met Wen Shihan’s. He was also watching the children, wearing the same kind of smile as hers.
So… he could smile too.
In the past, she had only seen him at the company as stern, authoritative, distant, and cold. Seeing his smile now felt strangely unfamiliar.
In the end, Wen Le was still caught by Wen Lun. He called out to Xia Zhi and Wen Shihan for help, “Mom, Dad, come save me.”
Xia Zhi could not bear his pitiful look and was just about to step forward when Wen Shihan stopped her. “They are just playing, not fighting. Let them handle it themselves. If you step in, you might protect one and not the other, and showing favoritism would not be right.”
What the boss said made sense.
As expected of someone who had managed a company with tens of thousands of employees, he applied the art of balance even in family relationships.