"I don't sell anything; I just rent out houses. When people want to rent, they come to me to arrange a viewing. If they like what they see, they sign the contract and pay. It's really simple work," Yi Anguo explained with a smile. "Those two women, Su Meili and Wang Bing, are the ones responsible for taking tenants to see the properties. I just sit in the shop waiting for people to come in asking about rentals, and then I collect the money. There's also a computer, so I can surf the internet and play some games."
"Then you've got a great job! Just sitting in this air-conditioned office, sipping tea, and collecting money," his Third Brother-in-law remarked with a laugh.
"Right, what are your plans now that you've both come all this way?" Yi Anguo asked. "You didn't make a special trip just to check on me, did you?"
"Why would it be strange to make a special trip just to see you?" Third Brother-in-law replied. "Our eldest sister and her husband were worried about Huanhuan coming here alone, so we offered to bring her. We also wanted to see how you're getting on. Besides, your Third Sister and I have been working for others for years, and frankly, we're tired of it. We're looking to see if there's a business we could start. You can't get rich just by being an employee, after all. The main issue is that we can't take care of our kids while working far from home. We only see them a couple of times a year. Now that Dad has had another stroke and our parents are getting old, we don't feel completely at ease with them looking after the children. But working away from home makes it impossible to raise them, which is inconvenient for everything we want to do."
"Thinking about starting a business, huh? That could work. Opening a small supermarket is a decent idea, or a fruit shop. A fruit shop is a bit more demanding since you have to go to the market every day for stock, but the profits aren't bad," Yi Anguo said thoughtfully.
Just then, Li Sisi entered the shop. Yi Xinyi happily rushed over, calling out loudly, "Sister Sisi!"
Li Sisi smiled and lifted Yi Xinyi into her arms. "Xinyi, have you had breakfast yet?"
"I did! Daddy took me to have rice noodle rolls," Yi Xinyi answered. "Sister Sisi, this is my Sister Huanhuan. This is my Third Uncle, and this is my Third Aunt."
"Hello, everyone! My name is Li Sisi," she said sheepishly, not having expected Yi Anguo's Third Sister and her husband to be there.
"This is my eldest sister's daughter, Fu Huanhuan. I called her to come over and help take care of Xinyi," Yi Anguo explained. "My Third Sister and Third Brother-in-law brought her here and are taking the opportunity to see if there are any good prospects in the area. By the way, why are you here today? Don't you have classes?"
"Today is Saturday, so there are no classes. I knew you were busy, so I thought I'd come and help out," Li Sisi said.
"In that case, your timing is perfect. You can watch the store for me while I take my sister and brother-in-law around to get familiar with the neighborhood. It will help them decide what kind of business they might want to start," Yi Anguo said with a smile.
He wasn't comfortable letting just anyone handle rent and contract signings, but he knew he could trust Li Sisi.
"Alright then! As long as you trust me and aren't afraid I'll run off with the money," Li Sisi joked.
The daily intake of rent and deposits could be as high as one or two hundred thousand yuan. A greedy person might very well be tempted to abscond with it.
"Go ahead and run. I know where your school is and where you live. If I have to hunt you down, I'll just have to sell you to cover the debt," Yi Anguo teased.
"Daddy! I won't let you sell Sister Sisi!" Yi Xinyi pouted.
"Your daddy is just teasing you. How could he possibly sell a grown-up like me?" Li Sisi said, pleased that Yi Xinyi was defending her.
After entrusting the shop to Li Sisi, Yi Anguo led his Third Sister and Third Brother-in-law out to explore the area around the Blue Coast neighborhood, with Fu Huanhuan carrying Yi Xinyi.
"So, what's the deal with that Li Sisi? You haven't found yourself a new target so quickly, have you?" Third Brother-in-law asked with a grin.
"Of course not. She just worked a summer job for me, helping out with my daughter and the cooking," Yi Anguo explained. "She's a student from Shenzhen University—young, beautiful, and educated. I'm six or seven years older, with a three-year-old daughter. How could I possibly be a match for her?"
"What's wrong with that? I think she has a thing for you. As long as she thinks you're a good match, then you are," his brother-in-law laughed.
After a walk around the area, Third Sister and Third Brother-in-law felt it was much more prosperous and had more foot traffic than where they worked. However, when they inquired about the rent for storefronts, the prices were outrageous. An average shop cost over ten thousand yuan a month, with cheaper ones still going for five or six thousand. If business was good, the rent wouldn't matter. But if it was slow, the monthly rent alone was enough to give anyone a heart attack.
"What do you think of my shop space? Why don't you two give it a try there and see how much you can make in a month?" Yi Anguo suggested after a moment. "I don't need all that space anyway. Partitioning off about twenty square meters would be more than enough for my work."
"Your shop is right at the entrance of the residential complex, so it must be a great location," Third Sister said worriedly. "But doesn't the shop belong to your boss? Would he really agree to let us use it for a business? Besides, even if he did, he'd surely charge rent, and I imagine it wouldn't be cheap."
"Don't worry about it. My boss trusts me completely. I can make this decision," Yi Anguo said with confidence.
It wasn't that he was unwilling to tell his sister and brother-in-law that he owned a thousand properties. He was afraid of scaring them. If they knew he owed the bank five hundred million, wouldn't they worry themselves to death?
In the end, Third Brother-in-law wanted to give it a shot. The simplest and most convenient option was a fruit business. It didn't require much renovation, just some shelves to display the fruit. Plus, Yi Anguo had experience running a fruit shop and could teach them everything step-by-step, from sourcing goods to setting prices. Since it was just a trial run, there was no need for elaborate decorations. The partition would be simple, too; they could have the workers install some fire-resistant panels and paint them green when they came to set up the shelves.
That evening, they naturally had some wine to welcome Third Sister and her husband. The conversation turned to the national liquor, which sold for more than three hundred yuan a bottle. It was far too expensive for ordinary people to afford.
Three hundred yuan is considered expensive? Yi Anguo mused. In the future, three thousand will be a normal price. When I have the means, I should definitely buy some of the national liquor to collect. In twenty years, it could be worth five or six thousand a bottle. It's entirely possible.
But mentioning the national liquor reminded him of something else. Around this time, its stock price was about to hit a historic low, dropping to just over twenty yuan per share. All that money just sitting in the bank, earning paltry interest... wasn't that a huge waste? I should take it all out and buy shares of the national liquor company. If I need cash later, I can just sell the stock. The price will never fall this low again. If I hold it for ten or twenty years, it's guaranteed to increase a hundredfold, and that's not even counting the annual dividends.
That's a far better return than real estate. No matter how much property prices rise, they'll only increase by twenty or thirty times at most. There are plenty of other stocks with even higher potential returns, like Penguin, which is set to go public next year. The only problem is you have to go to Harbor Island to buy it, which is a bit of a hassle. But the growth is insane! Its lowest price was only 3.71 yuan, and its highest was over 766 yuan per share—and that's after a five-for-one stock split. That means one original share would be worth over 3,830 yuan, an increase of more than 1,000 times, not to mention the substantial dividends. Once I have more money, I should definitely go to Harbor Island and invest in Penguin stock. There are also plenty of promising stocks on the US market, but that's even more troublesome.
As everyone chatted in their hometown dialect, Li Sisi, unable to understand, began to feel a bit awkward. Noticing her silence, Third Sister smiled kindly at her. "Si Si, can you understand our dialect?"