Chapter 19: A Careless Word May Be Important Information to An Attentive Listener

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

His mother’s room was very tidy, the bed was short, and there was a special wooden handrail on the head of the bed.

With its light on, the virtual helmet on the head of Mo Lanhu was working.

Li Xiaonian reached out and was about to press the call button on the virtual helmet, but his arm hung in the air, and he hesitated.

“It’s rare that Mom is so happy. Just let her continue playing. I’ll call her when I finish packing.”

He went out of his mother’s bedroom.

Watching his sister gobbling the food gave him an appetite and he sat down to eat.

After making sure that his sister was full, Li Xiaonian said seriously, “Go and pack your clothes when you’ve finished eating. Unless something unexpected happens, we’ll move today.”

“Move?”

“Yup, we’ll move out of the Xinyue Community today.”

“Why? Where are we moving to?”

“I have money now, so we can find a better place so that Mom can live more comfortably. As for where to move, you’ll find out later.”

Li Xiaoyue looked reluctant. “But… but I don’t want to move. If we move away, I can’t play games with Lina and Lele again.”

Li Xiaonian rubbed his sister’s hair. “You can still come back and play with them. Besides, you have a virtual helmet now. You can study with them in the library area of “Star Wind”. Be good, go pack your clothes.”

If the funds were sufficient, he could have just bought a villa, without having to move around, but now, he couldn’t wait and dared not continue to live here.

Now his life trajectory had changed, and no one could guarantee that the gangsters wouldn’t launch an attack and kidnap the entire community in advance.

The other side.

Ling Baifei hung up Li Xiaonian’s call.

Instead of calling his father’s assistant, he called his cousin sister Luo Wen. “Cousin, have you sold that villa?”

Luo Wen was a bit confused but still muttered, “Not yet. Now every rich person puts their money into “Star Wind”. Who has the money to buy a villa? If I had known that, I shouldn’t have invested money in the villa.” As she said, she seemed to think of something and said excitedly, “Xiaobai, do you have a friend who wants to buy the villa? You can rest assured that I will definitely give your friend a fair price. For your sake, I can offer a 20% discount and only charge 16 million yuan. Although the price seems high, my villa is well-decorated, and all the furniture is brand-name.”

“…”

Ling Baifei didn’t expect his cousin’s villa to be so expensive. In his eyes, wasn’t the villa just a house? It was nothing more than steel and concrete, wasn’t it? At best, it would be worth two or three million yuan.

Knowing the price of the villa, he was a bit embarrassed. Li Xiaonian’s family was so poor that it was almost impossible for them to buy such a villa.

Luo Wen thought that her cousin thought the price was too high, so she continued. “Xiaobai, the price of the villa is already cheap. If your friend can’t make the payment in a lump sum, I can accept payment by installments, and the down payment is only 20%.”

“Sister, my friend didn’t want to buy the villa. His family is experiencing some difficulties and needs to rent a house for a period of time. Her mother’s legs are paralyzed and it may be inconvenient for them to live in a high-rise building. Your villa is vacant anyway. So I thought maybe they could rent it for some time, but since your villa is so expensive, then forget it.” Ling Baifei explained hurriedly.

When Luo Wen who was originally excited heard her cousin’s words, her attitude changed abruptly. “Xiaobai, I don’t mean to offend you, but I guess it’s one of your bad friends, right? Did he ask you to help find a house? Are you sure he’ll pay the rent himself instead of making you pay for him?”

Renting a villa was so expensive that Li Xiaonian’s family definitely couldn’t afford it. Ling Baifei did intend to pay the rent first and then rent the villa to Li Xiaonian’s family at a low price. Unfortunately, his plan was seen through by his cousin.

“Sister, don’t talk about my friend like that. Who said that my friends are all ‘bad friends’? This friend of mine is my classmate, a straight-A student. In this year’s college entrance examination, he got 553 points, only 10 points less than the minimum passing score of second-tier universities. No… Listen to me, you may think 553 points is too low, but he missed the Chinese-language exam. If he hadn’t lost his admission ticket, he would definitely have been admitted to a first-tier university.”

Luo Wen pondered for a long time but still refused. “Maybe your friend is good, but I still refuse. My villa is new and has never been occupied. Once someone has lived in it, it will depreciate and become more difficult to sell. If he truly regards you as a friend, I think he will definitely reject your kindness.”

“I was just asking casually. I didn’t know your villa was so expensive.”

Ling Baifei gave up the idea of helping Li Xiaonian rent the villa, and instead called his father’s assistant, asking him to find a few suitable houses.

Confirming that there was no omission, Ling Baifei immediately called Li Xiaonian.

Li Xiaonian was sorting his clothes, and when he saw this incoming call from Ling Baifei, he quickly picked up the phone and asked with joy, “Xiaobai, have you found a house for me?”

“There are a lot of houses for rent nowadays, so it’s easy to find one. I’ll send you a list of the houses available. You can select slowly, and tell me when you’ve chosen the one you’d like. I’ll help you fix it, and you can probably move in this afternoon.”

“Thank you.”

The two were silent for a moment, and Ling Baifei couldn’t help asking, “How is your family now? If you need help, just tell me.”

“My family is fine. I am starting to play “Star Wind”, and it feels good. If no surprise, I’ll play the game full-time and won’t be in school again.

“Damn, you started playing “Star Wind”? I wanted to give you a helmet before but you refused. But now you secretly started to play “Star Wind”? Did you join a game studio? Let me tell you, Nine out of ten game studios are swindlers.”

“No, I didn’t join a game studio.”

“That’s good. Hey, in fact, I also want to persuade you not to go back to school. For now, academic qualifications, while important, are not the only thing that matters. I talked to my dad and he agreed with me not to go to college, but I’ll need to work in his company, starting from the bottom and learning to manage the company. Well… when I take over the company, can you come to work in the company and help me? I trust your ability and character.”

“Okay, I will when you gain a foothold in the company.”

If he was still in his previous life, he would definitely refuse it flatly. However, with five more years of life experience, he had learned to be flexible.

Although he wouldn’t work for Xiaobai, he would give him a verbal promise so that Xiaobai would be motivated to learn to manage the company.

Ling Baifei was surprised to hear his words, “Really? Are you willing to come to work in my family’s company?”

“Sure, provided that your abilities are recognized by most people in the company, or else if I go to work in your family’s company, they will think you pulled strings to get me in.”

“Haha, remember what you said today. Isn’t it just about managing a company? It’s simply a piece of cake. Just wait and see.”

Li Xiaonian and Ling Baifei hadn’t talked for a long time, so this time, they chatted for a long time.

As they chatted, Ling Baifei talked about how he made a fool of himself just now. “I wanted to rent a villa for you just now. However, the villa of my cousin charges 16 million yuan. Oh my god, isn’t it just a place to live? Why is its price so high? It really opens my eyes!”

“Dream City in the South Ring?”

“Huh, how do you know it?”

Of course, Li Xiaonian knew it. In his previous life, when he became rich, he originally planned to buy a villa in Dream City, but in the end, he followed the advice of his psychologist and left Guangnan City, the city that broke his heart.

16 million yuan, the price was not high, even could be said cheap.

As “Star Wind” became more and more popular, there were more and more disputes. Players with deep grudges couldn’t beat their opponents in the game world, so they found their enemies in the real world, assaulted and even assassinated them.

Dream City was a high-end villa area with the best security, so it became very popular and its price had been soaring.

A careless word might be important information to an attentive listener.

Li Xiaonian asked curiously, “Can your cousin’s villa be paid in installments?”

He now only had more than 700,000 yuan, which was not even enough to buy a toilet of the villa, but it didn’t affect his determination to buy the villa. Among others, moving frequently would have a great negative impact on the physical and mental health of his younger sister. It would also be a problem if she needed to change schools frequently.

Besides, his mother’s legs were paralyzed. Living in a spacious villa, she could bask in the yard and do some gardening.

Ling Baifei replied very affirmatively, “Sure, the down payment is 20%. Even so, no one was interested in the villa although my cousin put it up for sale several months ago. That’s 16 million yuan. Only a fool will buy it. With that money, I’d be better off investing in “Star Wind”.”

Li Xiaonian hesitated for a long time and finally said, gritting his teeth. “Xiaobai, can you help me ask your cousin? May I pay a deposit of 600,000 yuan first, and pay the down payment and mortgage two months later in a lump sum? I know, with my family’s financial conditions, it’s impossible for us to get a loan from a bank, so I can only owe the money to your cousin temporarily, but you have my word. I’ll pay interest for the money I owe based on the highest interest rate of the bank loan. If I can’t pay off the mortgage, your cousin has the right to take back the house unconditionally.”

“Okay, no problem. Let me ask her for you.”

The next second, however, Ling Baifei was stunned and hurriedly asked, “Wait, you mean it’s you who want to buy the villa?!”

“Yup, I am the fool who wants to buy the villa.”

“Holy cow!” Ling Baifei yelled at the phone, “Hey, curve wrecker, what happened to you? One minute you asked me to help you find a house to rent. I thought your family’s house was forcibly auctioned by the court because your family could not provide for the mortgage. But the next minute, you told me you wanted to buy a villa? Are you kidding me?”

“No kidding. I’m serious.” Li Xiaonian said seriously, and after a short pause, he went on. “Don’t ask me where I get the money. I can only tell you that the money is not stolen. If you insist on an answer from me, I would say that I won several hundred million yuan in the lottery.”

“You are…” Ling Baifei could only utter a word in the end. “Awesome.”