It was six o'clock in the afternoon. Twilight was gathering, and Sunshine City, filled with high-rise buildings everywhere, could not let in much sunlight; the sky turned dark very quickly, and by six o'clock, it was basically pitch black.
In District C, the street lamps on both sides of the road near the new property development lit up one after another, spilling out a uniform and gentle orange light. The lights in a few households on the top floors of some buildings also turned on; they were ablaze with light, sparkling like diamonds, much brighter than the street lamps, twinkling and charming in the night, enticing Yuan Guang and Shi Qian, who were sitting by the street, to look up.
"It's so bright," Shi Qian sighed. "The lights on these top floors are all so bright; I didn't see such bright light during the day today."
"That's natural," Yuan Guang said, holding a bag of bread and a bottle of mineral water, looking up at those top floors. "That's where the richest people in District C live, and the units there are usually sold by the entire floor."
"One floor is over 320 square meters, and even after subtracting the shared area, it's still over 300 square meters," Yuan Guang said.
Shi Qian gasped in amazement: "A house of over 320 square meters (3,444 sq ft)? Based on the calculation of five people living in 25 square meters here, this could accommodate at least 52 people!"
"And the top floor is the most expensive floor; the price for one floor is up to 370,000 to 400,000." Yuan Guang muttered the information he had picked up from the salesperson, then paused suddenly. "Calculating it this way, one floor is about 130 million or so…" (about $18,925,607).
Shi Qian, who had been entangled and educated by the salesperson, Xiao Dong, about [Sunshine Seedlings] all afternoon, subconsciously began to convert: "They have a child here who can be mortgaged for 500,000 to one million. At 130 million, fully calculated, that's about 130 children…"
This place could accommodate at most 52 people, but it required 130 children to mortgage and exchange for it. It was very obvious that these extra children could not possibly continue to live in the house after they grew up, because there was no living space reserved for them in the house, and their names were not on the property deed.
According to the salesperson Xiao Dong, these children who were mortgaged by Sunshine would be asked by their parents to move out of their houses to live independently once they grew up to the age where they could work. While repaying their parents' loans over the next few decades, they would work even harder and more desperately to save money to buy their own houses.
In other words, they would live their whole lives under the pressure of two mortgage loans.
Thinking of this, Yuan Guang and Shi Qian could not help but feel a sense of suffocation, and they both fell silent simultaneously.
Yuan Guang looked down at the discounted bread in his hand that cost 10 yuan, his fingers gripping the greasy packaging bag tightly: "Without using the [Sunshine Loan], based on the average salary level of 4,500 here, to live in a house on the top floor, not counting loan interest, even if you don't eat or drink…"
Shi Qian paused, then laughed twice with difficulty: "It seems you would have to work for two thousand years to afford this three-hundred-square-meter house…"
Yuan Guang looked down and chewed a mouthful of bread, saying nothing. As he chewed, this discounted bread filled his mouth with a sour, rotten taste from being close to expiration, making him feel nauseous and want to vomit. He held it back with difficulty before swallowing.
"This bread has expired; don't eat it anymore." Shi Qian had already stopped eating it; she was just holding it.
Yuan Guang looked down: "But this bread is a hot-selling product in the convenience store. I see other people lining up to buy it to eat."
"Because it's cheap, I guess," Shi Qian sighed softly. "We ate too late; the eight-yuan instant noodles were sold out. A skewer of oden here costs 16 yuan. Apart from the 10-yuan discounted bread, people here can't afford to eat anything else."
Shi Qian cheered up and patted Yuan Guang on the shoulder: "It already tastes bad, so don't eat it. I lost a point of vitality just from eating one bite; let's throw it away."
Yuan Guang took a deep breath, said "hmm," and stood up, supporting himself on his knees. He turned and looked at the buildings that looked like a steel forest in the night; only the top floors emitted that mesmerizing, soul-stirring, beautiful light.
"That salesperson said that the houses on the top floor are the places closest to the sun in Sunshine City, so they have always been easy to sell, and rich people scramble for them."
Yuan Guang whispered in a trance: "It's only after six o'clock, and it's as bright as the sun in the night, while other places are in total darkness. Only the top floors are bright; no wonder everyone wants to buy a house here."
Shi Qian walked to the trash can. She looked back, following Yuan Guang's gaze, her expression complex: "Maybe it's because only the residents of the top floors get off work at six o'clock and turn their lights on."
"The other floors are inhabited by ordinary residents; at this hour, they should still be working overtime."
Yuan Guang was startled, his thoughts quickly pulling back: "Right, they basically work all day without days off…"
As he said this, just as Yuan Guang was preparing to throw the bread into the trash can with Shi Qian, a person suddenly rushed out from the side, looking at the bread in their hands with glowing eyes, startling Yuan Guang and Shi Qian.
That person said in a low voice: "Can you give me the bread in your hands if you aren't eating it?"
Yuan Guang saw the woman, who was dressed appropriately and even wearing light makeup, clearly by the faint light of the street lamp, and couldn't help but raise his voice sharply: "Xiao Dong?!"
The woman standing by the trash can was none other than Xiao Dong, the salesperson who had just been introducing real estate to them with a smile.
Xiao Dong didn't feel embarrassed at all; her eyes were fixed on the bread they were about to put into the trash can: "Can you give it to me if you aren't eating it?"
Yuan Guang and Shi Qian looked at each other hesitantly. After Shi Qian nodded, Yuan Guang handed the bread over and asked in confusion at the same time: "Xiao Dong, you work in real estate as a salesperson. Your salary shouldn't be low, right? How could you…"
Yuan Guang's voice stopped. He watched with mixed feelings as Xiao Dong finished a piece of bread in two large bites, without even taking a sip of water.
…This thing had rotted to the point where he and Shi Qian lost vitality after eating it, but Xiao Dong didn't react at all, as if she were accustomed to this kind of food.
Xiao Dong finished eating and patted her hands, showing Yuan Guang that very standard professional smile again: "I'm just a salesperson, similar to a receptionist. There are plenty of people willing to come here; I'm just lucky that I'm good-looking and can talk, so I was chosen by the recruiter."
Yuan Guang asked: "Then, do you mind telling us how much your salary is a month?"
Xiao Dong didn't mind at all: "4,500."
After hearing this, Yuan Guang's expression was indescribable. It was truly magical that even a real estate salesperson in this world couldn't afford a house…
Shi Qian asked: "Under normal circumstances, you should be able to get a commission after selling a building, right?"
"What is a commission?" Xiao Dong looked slightly confused.
After Shi Qian explained it to Xiao Dong this way and that, Xiao Dong suddenly realized: "You are talking about that thing. That thing is eaten by the agency developer. Every time they sell a building, they can get a 27% commission. We can't touch that profit; we are just working for the agency developer."
Yuan Guang frowned and asked back: "Agency developer?"
In the real world, he could understand the existence of agency developers, but now the land was directly in private hands; was there still a need for an agency?
Wasn't this just pricing it however one wanted and slaughtering people however one wanted? How could there still be an agency developer in the middle taking a cut?
"There is," Xiao Dong explained while wiping her fingers. "Every new property development has an agency developer."
"The agency developer is usually the top-tier developer, which is the descendant of the five major developers who hold all the land."
Xiao Dong said, "The five major developers will package the property development to their descendants to act as agency developers. The major developers never show their faces; it's always the agency developers who handle the property developments. For example, as far as I know, the agency developer of this new property development in District C is the grandson of one of the five major developers."
Xiao Dong continued: "The agency developer is mainly responsible for researching the home-buying needs and desires of the residents of Sunshine City, the pricing they can afford, allocating the area of the property development, and designing various layouts suitable for the residents to live in."
"Pricing they can afford?! An area suitable for residents to live in?!" Shi Qian couldn't help but curse. "Fuck, this is what you call affordable and suitable for living?!"
Yuan Guang's eyes flashed, and he pursued the point: "Then that means the ownership of the new property development is in the hands of this agency developer, right?"
Xiao Dong nodded: "Yes."
"Do you know where he lives?" Yuan Guang asked carefully. "Or, Xiao Dong, do you know if the agency developer behind this District C new property development will appear tonight?"
Xiao Dong looked back at the brightest unit on the top floor in District C's night skyline: "See, he lives there."
"He will definitely appear tonight." Xiao Dong looked at him after pointing it out to Yuan Guang. "Because this new property development hasn't been priced yet tonight, we have to wait for him to come over to set the price."
Yuan Guang repeated softly: "Set the price?"
Xiao Dong said, "Right, that is, how much one square meter of the house costs. Right now, he should be on the top floor discussing it with other agency developers. He will come over to set the new property price at about 7:30."
7:30
In the bustling and glittering sales hall, the light from the crystal chandelier suddenly dimmed. Accompanied by the sound of melodious violin music that had started playing at some point, a circle of halo-white light hit the side of the door. A middle-aged man wearing loose sportswear and sneakers, with somewhat shriveled and flat facial features, appeared in the center of the light.
Everyone quieted down, and they moved respectfully and nervously to make a straight path for this person to step into the hall. This man smiled, clasped his fists, and bowed to the people on both sides in greeting. He walked inward leisurely with the circle of light falling on him, walked to the towering platform directly opposite the main entrance, and turned to bow slightly to everyone:
"Good evening, everyone."
Xiao Dong whispered in Shi Qian's ear: "He is the general agency developer of District C. We usually call him Chairman C."
Shi Qian and Yuan Guang looked at each other, feeling very strange in their hearts.
This Chairman C… looked quite ordinary, and quite polite.
This so-called Chairman C stood on a red wooden platform more than a meter above the ground. Behind him hung a huge stepped embossed carving. On the carving were wooden boards rising step by step until the people below could no longer see them. These wooden boards on the carving protruded outside the picture, just like steps. Next to the wooden boards were numbers, arranged from 300,000, 305,000, and so on, until 580,000.
Each wooden board corresponded to a number. A blue flag with the four golden characters [Today's Housing Market Price] embroidered on it was placed on the wooden board corresponding to [320,000].
Chairman C slowly took the small flag from the [320,000] wooden board. Shi Qian heard the people around her take a deep, tense breath simultaneously. Everyone stared at the small blue flag without even blinking.
A child in the crowd said in a low voice:
"Mom, you pinched my shoulder until it hurts."
Shi Qian looked over and found it was the couple who had consulted about the house with them that morning. The mother crouched down and hugged her child tightly, tears appearing in her eyes. She patted the child's shoulder and said in a low voice:
"I'm sorry. Mommy treated you badly by bringing you to this kind of place."
The child held his mother's hand, muddle-headed but happy: "It's okay, Mommy. We are here to buy a new home; there's nothing bad about it."
The mother took a deep breath, buried her head in her child's shoulder, and said "hmm" very softly.
The father next to her kept his head down, not daring to look at the child; his hands holding the other two children were shaking a little.
Shi Qian retracted her gaze, and she slowly clenched her hands.
But Chairman C didn't put the flag down directly. Instead, he pretentiously put the flag behind his back, looking at everyone with a very friendly smile: "I believe that everyone came here for a home."
"Giving all those who come to Sunshine City a warm home is a goal we all share. Housing prices are also the issue everyone is most concerned about. For this, the agency developers of several other districts and I discussed it for a whole afternoon, not even drinking a drop of water, just wanting to lower the housing price of 320,000 per square meter."
Everyone's eyes began to shine. Even Xiao Dong excitedly stood on tiptoe in her high heels, trying to see the scene in the front row.
Someone couldn't help but ask, flushed with excitement: "Chairman C, are you really planning to lower the price of the new property development?"
Chairman C nodded with a smile, spreading his hands as if helpless: "Naturally. I have already moved to the top floor of Sunshine City, and I earn billions a month. Is there any point in me making more money from you?"
"Could it be that if I earn more, I can buy a house in the sun?"
Chairman C's joke made all the nervous homebuyers laugh, and the atmosphere relaxed involuntarily. Someone below had already started to cheer:
"Chairman C is a good person!"
"In the future, I will definitely work hard for Chairman C's company!"
The couple was also extremely excited, whispering and discussing with their heads together:
"If it's lowered by a lot, let's not mortgage the children. We'll work a few more jobs ourselves, and we might be able to earn it back."
The man nodded in great agreement: "This new property development is hiring construction workers right now, and the salary is pretty good. I'll go move bricks. If the housing price is lowered to a little over 200,000 per square meter, you and I working 20 hours a day might be able to break even."
Xiao Dong was so excited she was about to cry, but Yuan Guang and Shi Qian increasingly felt that something was wrong. They looked at each other and discovered the same doubt in each other's eyes.
If you had a conscience now, why didn't you have it earlier?
Chairman C raised his hand to quiet the crowd and smiled: "I personally really feel that there is no need for housing prices to rise anymore. I truly hope that everyone in Sunshine City can live in a top-floor suite in Sunshine City like me."
"So, through my efforts." Chairman C took the flag from behind his back, slowly lowered it, and placed it below the lowest level of the 300,000 grid. "The price of this new property development has been lowered to 260,000 per square meter."
The moment these words came out, the whole place fell silent for two seconds, and then everyone went crazy with excitement, shouting and cheering.
"Oh my god! This must be the housing price from two years ago!"
"Pinch me, am I dreaming?!"
The couple hugged their children even more tightly. The man let out a long breath, and the wife was moved to tears. They had been struggling hard to raise their several children in a small home. Although they had initially considered mortgaging the children, they had developed feelings for them by now.
They had dragged things out until now, and housing prices had risen too much. It wasn't until the District C new property development opened that they brought their children to inquire about [Sunshine Seedlings].
They had raised the children for several years; how could they possibly bear to send them into the fire pit so decisively?
"However." Chairman C's brows knitted together sorrowfully, and the small blue flag in his hand slowly rose. "Although the housing price has been lowered, my approach has made the agency developers of several other districts very dissatisfied. They demanded—"
Chairman C lifted his friendly and approachable face: "—that the commission be increased from 27 percent to 40 percent."
"So, although the housing price is 260,000, plus the 40 percent commission, the total is—"
Chairman C unhurriedly raised the small blue flag and placed it next to the wooden grid corresponding to [370,000], then sighed heavily at everyone: "I tried my best. The final housing price is 370,000 per square meter. Everyone won't blame Chairman C, right?"
Everyone stared blankly at the small blue flag placed on [370,000]. Xiao Dong stumbled back two steps and suddenly covered her mouth before running to the trash can at the side, vomiting with a pale face, the contents of her stomach filled with expired and moldy bread.
The couple collapsed to the ground in despair, dazed, holding their children tightly once again. They clutched the [Sunshine Seedlings] contract in their hands, and there was no light left in their eyes at all. They muttered to themselves numbly: "Not blaming, not blaming Chairman C…"
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Author's Note:
I hope everyone remains clear-headed and focused when discussing issues. It is capital that drives up housing prices; it is capital that consumes people, consumes their blood, and drains them dry. Only when capital collapses can the act of consuming people cease to exist.