Chapter 95
95 Chapter 94, Renting A Storefront
As expected, at the end of July, the financial crisis began to gradually approach the mainland. For a time, everyone was in danger.
It was obvious that even Li Xu’s small business was affected.
Now, she could only earn 30 to 40 Yuan a day, which was less than half of what she had earned before.
The business was not doing well, so Li Xu’s thoughts of renting a storefront had mostly stopped.
No matter how Ji Yuanyuan tried to persuade her, she was unmoved.
Ji Yuanyuan could understand. After all, her family was not some rich family. Even if the house price had fallen, buying a storefront would still cost 10,000 to 20,000 yuan.
The slightly bigger ones would probably cost 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, or even 50,000 to 60,000 yuan.
Li Xu did not have that much money on hand right now. Even if she did, what if the storefront failed in her hands?
Li Xu was not like Ji Yuanyuan who knew that the price of the house would rise in the future, so she naturally did not dare to take the risk.
Ji Yuanyuan was not in a hurry. In any case, the price of the house would continue to fall in the next few years.
If she bought it later, it would cost less money. However, Ji Yuanyuan felt that buying it early and enjoying it early was better, the money was not that important.
The money would be earned back sooner or later.
Although she did not want to buy it, under Ji Yuanyuan’s persuasion, Li Xu still planned to rent a storefront and try to rent it for half a year first.
If it didn’t work, she would return to the market. Even if she lost money, she wouldn’t lose much anyway.
Just as Li Xu was looking for a suitable storefront, Qin Mucheng’s letter and gifts were sent from B City again.
This time, Qin Mucheng still gave her a lot of things. They were all miscellaneous items.
They were all things that Qin Mucheng usually wanted to share with Ji Yuanyuan when he saw something fun.
In this letter, besides Qin Mucheng’s daily sharing, there was another piece of bad news.
Qin Mucheng couldn’t come over to play this summer vacation.
There were two reasons. One was that Qin Haowen had been very busy recently and came back very late every day. Qin Mucheng complained in his heart that Qin Haowen hadn’t had dinner with him for almost a month.
Without thinking, it was obvious that he must have been affected by the financial crisis. Qin Haowen was busy trying to recoup his losses!
The second reason was that Qin Junshan’s health was not very good. He said that he had started coughing last month and was panting heavily every time he walked.
Seeing this news, Ji Yuanyuan’s heart thumped.
Could it be that Old Master Qin’s health was failing?
Although she didn’t know what year the old Master Qin had pa.s.sed away in her previous life, she vaguely heard Qin Mucheng say that he had pa.s.sed away when he was very young.
Maybe it was these two years!
Looking at this letter, Ji Yuanyuan fell into deep thought.
If Old Master Qin was by her side, she could still use the spiritual spring water to nourish him. Perhaps Old Master Qin’s body would be better.
However, they were separated by a thousand miles now. She had the heart but was powerless. She really could not help.
Perhaps, should she think of a way to get Old Master Qin to come over? Or should she go over by herself?
She was still so young, so she could only follow Li Xu wherever she went.
Li Xu’s business and the Li family’s greenhouse had just started. Naturally, it was impossible for Li Xu to leave S City.
Should she ask Old Master Qin to come to S City?
What reason should she find?
Ji Yuanyuan lay in front of her desk and thought for a whole day. She could not think of any reason, but there was a lot of waste paper on the ground.
After a busy day, Li Xu came back from the outside. When she saw Ji Yuanyuan’s appearance, she could not help but laugh, “What’s wrong? Is it so difficult to write a letter to your brother Mucheng?”
She had wasted so many pieces of paper, but she still could not write a satisfactory one?
Ji Yuanyuan scratched her head with the tip of her pen, her face full of distress, “There are so many things to say. I don’t know how to say it…”
Even if she said it, it was not certain if the Qin family would believe her!
When Li Xu heard this, she laughed, “In that case, when our family has a phone, you can call brother Mucheng directly and say whatever you want to say.”
Ji Yuanyuan turned around and looked at Li Xu in surprise, “Are we going to install a phone?”
A phone costs a lot of money, from the installation fee to the monthly rental and phone bill.
That was something that only rich people could afford. When did her mother become so generous?
“Today, your Uncle Zhang and I chose a store. The price has been negotiated and the deposit has been paid. Mother plans to install the phone in the store so that we can earn some pocket money!”
So that’s how it is!
Ji Yuanyuan gave Li Xu a thumbs up.
With the economic downturn, the shop owner finally found someone to rent the shop, and the price was very low.
The shop was more than 50 square meters, and the monthly rent was only 100 Yuan.
They temporarily signed a one-year contract, and the rent was paid in one go, plus a month’s deposit.
It was a total of 1,300 Yuan.
On the day of signing the contract, Ji Yuanyuan went to look at the shop. She was quite satisfied.
In 1997, the concept of a public stall had not yet arisen. The 50 square meters on the contract was the actual area of the inside of the house.
The entire shop was 7m x 7.5m rectangular shape. The s.p.a.ce was divided into three parts.
As soon as she entered the door, she was greeted with a 7m x 6m pa.s.sageway. On the left-hand side of the door was a small bathroom in a 1.5-square-meter house. It was very narrow inside. There was only a squatting pit and a faucet. On the right side was a long corridor. There was nothing inside.
Ji Yuanyuan stood inside the store and made a preliminary estimation. There were at least three rows of shelves in the corridor outside.
The long corridor inside could be used as a warehouse to store some vegetables. It could also be used as a kitchen.
The walls of the gatehouse were all painted, so there was no need to redecorate them. They only needed to buy a few rows of shelves and buy a table to put at the door. Li Xu could use it to collect money.
The shelves were also simple. Zhang Kun directly took Li Xu to the second-hand market and bought six shelves. The quality looked good, and it cost less than 100 Yuan in total.
One on each of the four walls, and two rows in the middle.
The table was also bought from the second-hand market. It cost less than 30 Yuan, and the seller even gave her a chair.
After everything was installed, Li Xu went to find someone to install a phone on the table at the door.
After the phone was installed, it was already past five o’clock in the afternoon.
Ji Yuanyuan couldn’t wait to call the Qin family. In the previous correspondence, Qin Mucheng had told her the number.
The phone rang three times, and a young voice picked it up, “h.e.l.lo, this is the Qin family, who are you looking for?”
Judging from the voice, it was not anyone from the Qin family. Ji Yuanyuan guessed that it was probably the Qin family’s nanny.
“h.e.l.lo, Sister. I am Qin Mucheng’s cla.s.smate, I am looking for Qin Mucheng.”
“Okay, wait a moment. I will go get him.”The woman said, and soon there was no movement.
Ji Yuanyuan waited for about a minute before a young voice came from the other end of the phone, “This is Qin Mucheng, may I know who you are?”
“Ahem, Student Qin, you can’t even recognize my voice, can you?” Ji Yuanyuan deliberately cleared her throat and said in a very rough voice.
He originally thought that Qin Mucheng would have to guess a few people before he could guess who she was.
However, what Ji Yuanyuan didn’t expect was…
“Yuanyuan, you are Yuanyuan, right?” Qin Mucheng’s voice sounded exceptionally excited.
Ji Yuanyuan blinked her eyes and looked confused.
Is my voice that easy to guess?