As soon as he heard this, Chiang Songhai immediately disapproved, "Do you seriously intend to take five thousand yuan from him? Little, although you’ve already gotten engaged, you’re still not married. Meng Nian is a good, open-hearted guy, but you can’t just scam him like that. I remember Teacher Kuang said your painting was worth two to three thousand yuan, right? Then you should charge Xinian that amount. Overcharging him by nearly half isn’t right."
Chiang Xiao knew that Chiang Songhai and the others were very honest, so she didn’t argue with them much.
In fact, if it had been before, she might not have thought about accepting Meng Xinian’s five thousand yuan. But for some reason, after their last spat and the clearing up of misunderstandings, and after applying medicine to his hand for three days, there seemed to have been some change between them.
She began to feel deep down that it was alright to take his money first and not treat him like an outsider.
And she also knew that Meng Xinian definitely didn’t want her to treat him like an outsider either.
So, she decided to accept the five thousand yuan for now, knowing that if he needed money later, she would immediately return it to him. As for the painting, she now felt it was best to keep it for him.
Just like she was keeping it for herself.
"I sold another painting last night. It’s that Uncle Lee I told you about before; he wants a Welcoming Pine because I’ve won an award now, so the paintings are more expensive," Chiang Xiao tried to explain as plainly as possible, "Before, I sold one to him for a thousand yuan, but now it’s two thousand yuan."
Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao were both shocked and delighted when they heard this.
They hadn’t expected that after Chiang Xiao won an award and gained some fame, the price of her paintings would double. But being too honest, the elderly couple struggled to understand such high prices for a painting, so they didn’t truly believe that Chiang Xiao could earn much from her art in the future.
They were more concerned about advising her not to become arrogant or lose herself.
They feared she would feel sad if her paintings couldn’t sell in the future.
In their eyes, the best way to make a stable income was to sell local products, study hard, and find a good job in the future.
Chiang Xiao didn’t say much to them. How could she be angry with the elderly when they knew so little?
"That house, is it worth five thousand yuan?" Because Chiang Xiao mentioned those sums of money, Chiang Songhai felt compelled to suggest a higher value,
but of course, at the mention of five thousand yuan, his heart skipped a beat as he questioned himself if he dared buy a house for that price.
After much thought, he still didn’t have the courage.
Unexpectedly, Chiang Xiao gave him a figure that shocked him considerably.
"Nine thousand yuan."
"Nine, nine thousand yuan!"
The two elders were so frightened they jumped at her words.
However, they eventually heeded Chiang Xiao’s advice to go and look at the house first regardless.
When the appointed time came, Chiang Xiao led them to the house.
From afar, they could see Sister-in-law Zhang pacing back and forth at the doorway with a child in her arms, looking quite anxious.
Sister-in-law Zhang looked up sharply upon hearing Chiang Xiao’s voice, and seeing them, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh my, little sister, I was worried you wouldn’t come!"
Seeing that Sister-in-law Zhang was genuinely worried and uneasy made Chiang Xiao’s heart skip a beat too. Could it be that there was really a problem with the house?
If it was just Zhang Xiaomei trying to snatch the house, she wouldn’t be concerned, but if there were issues with the house’s paperwork itself, that would require reconsideration.