Three more days passed, and after the last English test paper was distributed, Fang Bai's total score was also released.
563 points!
He scored 98 in Chinese, 105 in Math, 90 in English, 72 in Physics, 80 in Chemistry, 68 in Politics, and 50 in Biology, ranking third in his grade.
In the previous monthly exam, he scored 92 in Chinese, 100 in Math, 83 in English, 65 in Physics, 75 in Chemistry, 65 in Politics, and 50 in Biology, for a total of 535 points, placing him fifth in his class.
Fang Bai's score of 563 points stunned all his classmates.
He improved again!
+28 points!
Such a significant improvement!
And he climbed to third place in the entire school.
He frequently missed classes, yet his grades improved so quickly.
Not to mention the students, even the teachers couldn't understand it.
The school liked to publicize the top dozens of scores from the monthly exams to motivate students.
Fang Bai's name was on the third line, and now, his name was becoming somewhat well-known among the repeat students, though people didn't recognize his face.
In the office, several teachers were very curious.
"Teacher Zhan, your student Fang Bai's grades are improving so fast; is he getting tutoring outside?"
Zhan Feng also didn't understand: "No, Fang Bai said he mostly studies by himself, and when he has questions, he comes to us, as you've seen."
"That's strange then; such a situation is extremely rare."
"Hmm, I hope he can maintain it; he's a potential candidate for a key university."
Fang Bai also came to school these two days to receive his scores. Zhan Feng even specifically spoke with Fang Bai, encouraging him to keep up the good work and strive to get into a key university.
In the school office,
The principal saw the score report for the repeat students. He looked down from the top of the list, and Fang Bai's score indeed surprised him. It was hard not to pay attention to him.
Running a business while also focusing on his studies, this young fellow is truly impressive.
He originally thought that getting into a vocational college would be good enough, but now, seeing the situation, this young fellow is far from satisfied and is pushing towards a key university.
A key university student is certainly important to the school, but not critically needed, unless it's a top-tier university.
For the principal, what he was more curious about was how much money Fang Bai had recently earned.
If they met again, the principal wanted to chat with him.
Scores were released on Thursday and Friday. On Friday afternoon, the score list was posted. After Fang Bai collected his test papers, he didn't come to school that afternoon, so the principal couldn't find him.
At this moment, Fang Bai was looking for a storefront near his stall; he planned to open an electronics specialty store.
He could deal with second-hand televisions until 1992, when the subscription certificates began to be issued, giving him over a year to play around.
After the college entrance exam, he would have plenty of time to heavily dabble in second-hand electronics, using the period after the exam and before university to stockpile a large quantity of electronics.
Since his stall currently had great popularity, he might as well bring that popularity to his own storefront and boost sales of other electronics.
Even after he went to university, even if Fang Bai no longer dealt with televisions, his parents could still sell electronics.
Of course, if they stopped selling cheap televisions, the store's popularity would slowly decline, but by that time, the electronics specialty store would have already established itself.
This is what's called a "man-made internet celebrity store"!
Since he was going to open a specialty store, no, it should be an electronics city.
The storefront area couldn't be small; the construction area needed to be at least three hundred square meters.
He didn't find one near his stall. After some thought, he felt it didn't necessarily have to be on that specific street.
Across the street from the intersection of his current street, there was an empty plot of land where no houses had been built yet, but the foundations had already been dug, about four meters deep. A few days ago, it had rained, and there was still standing water.
For some reason, the foundations hadn't been built up yet.
Each foundation occupied an area of 70 square meters, with a five-meter frontage and a depth of 14 meters. There were about forty to fifty foundations in a row, but only a few scattered houses had been built.
Fang Bai had noticed this area of foundations before, but he had never considered building a house himself because the construction and renovation cycle was long.
Moreover, building a house now was too expensive.
If one wanted to buy a large commercial space with hundreds of square meters of building area, it was extremely difficult to find. Let alone in this area of Wen City, even in the city center, large commercial spaces were very rare.
Even if there were some for sale, the architectural layout might not meet his requirements, and he would still have to modify and re-renovate.
In that case, it would be better to buy land and build himself.
Regardless of whether he bought it or not, he should investigate first.
With the doubt of why no houses had been built on this land, Fang Bai visited the homeowners on this street.
He went to a hardware store, found the owner, and politely offered a cigarette: "Boss, your stuff is really good. I bought a hammer from you and used it for a long time."
Actually, Fang Bai had never bought a hammer there.
"Oh, my store doesn't sell hammers?"
Fang Bai was stunned for a moment. A hardware store without hammers for sale?
What the heck are you selling!
He had just blurted it out without thinking, not looking closely. Next time, he should look carefully before spouting nonsense to avoid embarrassment.
However, Fang Bai reacted quickly, casually pointing to an adjustable wrench: "This kind."
"This is an adjustable wrench."
"Oh, I said it wrong, it's an adjustable wrench. I use this as a hammer, and it works incredibly well for smashing holes."
The owner was amused by Fang Bai's words: "Young man, you're really interesting."
Fang Bai also smiled along, feeling the atmosphere was just right. He then probed: "Boss, why hasn't anyone built houses on the foundations on this street?"
"The foundations haven't been sold yet."
"This location is pretty good, why haven't they sold?"
"The location is just average, mainly because it's expensive. A 70-square-meter plot of land actually costs five thousand yuan. A few years ago, when they first started selling, it was only eight hundred yuan. It's risen too fast; other places aren't this expensive."
"Oh, I see, then it has indeed risen too fast." Fang Bai got the information he needed, chatted for a while longer, then left and went to another store to probe for information.
The information he got was all pretty much the same: it was expensive.
Was five thousand yuan for a 70-square-meter plot of land expensive?
If it were five years later, this type of land would sell for thirty to fifty thousand yuan. Wealth has depreciated very quickly in recent years.
By 2023, the land would be worth two million yuan.
Compared by purchasing power, it actually hasn't increased much in thirty years.
Selling for five thousand yuan now, it is indeed expensive!
So, should he buy it or not?
Fang Bai felt it was still worth buying. If he bought it a few years later, he would have to pay several times more, even if just as an investment.
In a few more years, after urban planning is mostly complete, this kind of small-area storefront foundation will no longer be developed, and it will be difficult to buy even with money.
If allowed to buy more, at least three connected plots would have investment significance.
After the inspection, Fang Bai went home and brought it up with his parents at dinner.
"Son, you want to buy land again? What for?"
Liu Fengqing wasn't at all against investing in land; in fact, she was very happy to get involved in such things.
"I want to buy a few plots there and connect them to build my own commercial shops. I think land prices will rise very quickly. After all, our Wen City is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on one, so land is limited. Even if we have money in the future, we might not be able to buy it."
Fang Bai analyzed that after real estate became popular, various real estate companies would compete for land, and land prices would rise very quickly.
Fang Shi agreed: "I agree with my son's idea. The land is ours; it can be passed down to future generations. Buy as much as you can."
It was the weekend today, and his younger sister was also home. She never imagined that their family had already bought two buildings, and now her brother wanted to buy land to build a shopping mall. Haha, after school, she could go shopping at their own mall. If there were snacks for sale, that would be even better; she could eat whatever she wanted and wouldn't even have to pay.
Thinking of this, Fang Tingting couldn't help but happily suck her index finger.
"Tingting, aren't you full yet? You ate most of the sweet and sour pork ribs; your brother only had one piece." Liu Fengqing looked at her daughter like this and thought she wasn't full.
Fang Bai glanced at his sister, seeing her eating so contentedly. In the past, their family couldn't afford meat. Crabs were a common dish on the dinner tables of ordinary families in Wen City.
Crabs in those days were still wild-caught and quite large. Due to inconvenient transportation and rapid reproduction, they were consumed entirely by Wen City residents, and their price was the same as vegetables; people were tired of eating them.
It wasn't like in later generations, when the transportation industry developed and crab prices rose.
"Oh, I'm full, I'm full."
Fang Tingting realized her impropriety and quickly removed her index finger from her small mouth.
She didn't know exactly how much money the family had earned, but she had seen her parents collect money. However, all the money was managed by her older brother. Her brother was a local tyrant. Thinking of this, she moved her stool closer, hugged her brother's arm tightly, and said with a fawning smile: "Hehe, big brother, should our family open a snack and general merchandise store?"
"We're selling electronics, not opening a snack and general merchandise store." Fang Bai had considered opening a general merchandise store, like a supermarket, but it wouldn't work. Sourcing goods was extremely difficult. Even department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives didn't have that much inventory; where would he get it?
Electronics were a bit easier to get.
"So, there won't be any food for sale?"
"How much money can selling food make? We're not selling it." Fang Bai was deep in thought and didn't pay attention to his sister's idea.
"Uh..."
Fang Tingting was slightly disappointed, frowning and sticking out her tongue. Then what was the point of her going to a shopping mall if it was all electronics?
Next, the family continued to discuss the land purchase. Since there were no objections, buying the land was decided. Now it was just a matter of how many plots they could buy and if there were any restrictions.