Qin Xiangnuan naturally saw the potential in this vegetable market, but her interest wasn’t in how much money the market could make. Rather, it was because in less than half a year, City S was going to welcome its first batch of foreign investors. Coincidentally, they took a liking to this patch of land, planning to build a commercial high-rise here—a building that would stand unchallenged in City S for nearly a century. Qin Xiangnuan had her sights set on this as well. Of course, this high-rise would be constructed right over the vegetable market.
She remembered how the villagers talked about it at the time. They were full of envy and jealousy.
They said that if they had known that a high-rise would be built on the market site, so many people would have wanted to take up the contract for the market. The lease payment alone was tens of thousands of dollars, which back then was a considerable sum. Millionaires, what did they feel like.
"Brother, I need money," Qin Xiangnuan rushed into the house and tugged at Qin Xiangyang’s sleeve as she spoke.
"Okay," Qin Xiangyang put down the homework he was doing, and without asking why, he took out the passbook, "Here’s our family’s savings book, you can use it."
Qin Xiangnuan took the savings book. Indeed, there was quite precisely over ten thousand yuan in it.
"Brother, do you trust me with this?" Qin Xiangnuan blinked. So much money, could it be, her brother really trusted her, a little girl with no experience?
"Why wouldn’t I trust you?" Qin Xiangyang said with a smile, while playfully tugging at the braids on top of his sister’s head. "This money was originally earned by you. Besides, brother believes that you’re not the type to misuse money. So, go ahead and take it, buy whatever you want."
Qin Xiangnuan placed the savings book in her chest pocket and made a secret vow to oneself to seize this opportunity at all costs.
Taking the whole day, Qin Xiangnuan and Qin Xiangyang both put on their nicest clothes. Dressed up, the two really looked like kids from the city. They left the shop to Wendi for the day, and the siblings made their way to the market contract office.
At the time, this office was still of the old style.
A desk that had been used for over a decade, all four corners had paint peeling off.
On top, there was a set of white porcelain cups which had turned somewhat yellow, also showing their age. Greeting them was the vice manager of this place, who was actually quite pleased, finally having found someone to take over the market. The vegetable market was part of the factory, but it didn’t really make much money. Recently, the factory decided to lease out the market. With the money received from the contract, everyone could get a share. However, contracting out this vegetable market wasn’t a small amount of money—it cost five thousand yuan.
This five thousand yuan was an amount not many in City S could afford outright. The typical family brought in a salary of about thirty yuan per month; it would take twenty years of not spending a dime to save up five thousand yuan. They had been looking for so long and nobody had come forward to take on the lease. He had thought the factory manager’s idea was already a lost cause. Who in their right mind would want such a dilapidated vegetable market?
But unexpectedly, someone really did come to lease it.
Actually, in his own opinion, anyone who took on leasing this market either was a fool or had something wrong with their head. Even if they charged two yuan per stall for a month, in a month they would collect at best ten to twenty dollars. When would they ever earn back those five thousand yuan?
Still, he couldn’t just point at their noses and insult them, calling someone an idiot.