The next day was New Year's Day!
Early in the morning, Fang Bai was awakened by the noisy sound of firecrackers.
He had just pulled the covers over his head when his younger sister knocked on the door, entered the room, and shouted for a New Year's red envelope. Fang Bai frowned like a resentful woman, grumbling as he opened the door and scolded his sister, "You're so noisy early in the morning! I never see you wake up this early. Did you turn into a rooster today?"
"Big Brother, I didn't want to! Mom woke me up, but she didn't come to wake you up. That's preferential treatment!" Fang Tingting pouted her small mouth, clutched her messy hair, and extended her right hand for a red envelope. "Brother, happy New Year, may you get rich, may your college entrance examination go smoothly this year, and I wish you and Sister-in-law an early birth of nephews."
Fang Bai rolled his eyes at his sister, turned around, went back into the room, threw her the prepared red envelope, and told her to scram.
His sister took the red envelope, made a face at him, then cackled and scampered out of his room as if on fire wheels, shouting that he absolutely had to have twins.
After seeing his sister run off, Fang Bai closed the door, lay on the bed, pulled the covers over himself, and continued to catch up on sleep.
He didn't get up until seven-thirty.
There were no more TV repairs at home, but the electronics shopping mall was open for business today.
At nine o'clock, Fang Shi lit a long string of firecrackers in front of the shopping mall, wishing for prosperous business in the new year.
Fang Bai went to the shopping mall, walked around, wished every employee a Happy New Year, and gave each a red envelope containing ten yuan.
The employees who received the red envelopes were very surprised, not expecting to get red envelopes on New Year's Day, and became even more motivated to work.
Fang Bai strolled around and then went home to read.
There were only a few months left until the college entrance examination, and he had been busy with the shopping mall's opening recently, leaving little time for studying.
On the second day of the New Year, Fang Bai was reading in his room when Qin Shuyu unexpectedly came to find him, saying that her father had given her money to buy a BP machine.
"Haha, then just use the one I gave you, and I'll keep the money."
"Fang Bai, it doesn't seem right to deceive our parents."
"This is a white lie. If your parents knew about our relationship, I wouldn't be able to stay at your dad's company. He'd be chasing me with a hammer every day!" Fang Bai feigned fear, which made Qin Shuyu laugh, covering her small mouth, not wanting Fang Bai to see her pearly white teeth.
"Uh, hehe, alright then, I'll listen to you."
Fang Bai liked to look at her neat, pearly teeth, especially her smooth, plump cheeks. While she wasn't paying attention, he lightly pecked her beautiful cheek like a dragonfly touching water.
As a result, Qin Shuyu closed her eyes, waited for a while without any further movement from Fang Bai, and then whispered, "Fang Bai, it seems like there's something dirty on my eyelid."
Fang Bai paused when he heard that, then chuckled, of course understanding what she meant. This little girl, ever since last time, had learned to use indirect language.
He wrapped his arm around her slender waist, lowered his head, and kissed her.
A moment later, the two separated.
Qin Shuyu blushed, looking shyly at Fang Bai, a sweet smile on her lips.
Fang Bai gently pinched her cheek and said softly, "It seems like there's something dirty on you."
"Oh, no, not here, not here." Qin Shuyu covered the front of her clothes with both hands, looking very scared, like a startled little squirrel.
Fang Bai smiled and picked off a long hair from her collar. "It's just a long hair. Hmm, what did you just say?"
"It seems like... I didn't say anything, did I?" Qin Shuyu looked left and right, pursing her small mouth and smiling. She had misunderstood just now and was a little embarrassed.
"No, I heard it." Fang Bai glanced at the shy Qin Shuyu, then Domineeringly picked her up and sat her on his lap.
Suddenly, a warmth spread from her body to his leg.
Qin Shuyu quickly wrapped her arms around Fang Bai's neck and affectionately rested her chin on his shoulder.
Fang Bai just held her quietly, but made no further moves, leaving Qin Shuyu both nervous and expectant.
"Hehe, I'm just teasing you." Fang Bai smiled mischievously, watched Qin Shuyu let out a sigh of relief, and then said seriously, "When I go to Shanghai for university, then we'll build our own little nest."
Qin Shuyu's eyes darted around, then she nodded.
A while later, Fang Bai took Qin Shuyu to visit his family's shopping mall. Fang Bai's parents saw her and each gave her a red envelope.
In the afternoon, Fang Bai finally sent Qin Shuyu home.
On the third and fourth days of the New Year, Fang Bai visited leaders and clients, taking two days to finish everything.
On the fifth day of the New Year, Fang Bai bought a Shanghai Xingfu 125A motorcycle, spending 9,200 yuan.
There were many domestic motorcycles like Nanfang, Chunlan Tiger, and Jincheng, with 70cc displacements only costing four or five thousand yuan.
Imported motorcycles were much more expensive. Fang Bai only planned to use this one for a year or two, as his family would definitely have a car by then.
On the sixth day of the New Year, this time, the family of four, on two motorcycles, went to Fang Bai's maternal grandmother's house to pay New Year's respects.
Fang Bai also had an aunt, his mother's younger sister, who was about two years younger than his mother and married a year later, moving to the neighboring small town.
Every year around this time, his mother and sister would arrange to visit their maternal home together.
Fang Bai's uncle was relatively short, only 157 cm tall, and his two sons were also short, just over 1.6 meters.
His eldest maternal cousin was the same age as him, dropped out after junior high, and went to work.
His second maternal cousin was two years younger than him, only studied until the second year of junior high, had poor grades, and also went to work.
In his previous life, both maternal cousins didn't do very well. Their family was poor, they were short, and women didn't look favorably on them, so they didn't get married until their thirties.
At that time, Fang Bai was at his lowest point in life and couldn't even think about his two maternal cousins.
In terms of filial piety towards elders, Fang Bai felt he couldn't compare to his two maternal cousins.
His maternal grandmother and grandfather developed various minor illnesses a few years later. His two cousins visited his maternal grandmother's house to take care of the elders more often than he did, which made Fang Bai feel ashamed.
His two maternal cousins' character was trustworthy; they were straightforward and loyal. The only downside was their love for eating and drinking, perhaps because they suffered from poverty in their childhood.
If he could help, Fang Bai was still willing to assist his relatives.
Fang Bai knew what Hu Shi said: "The greatest evil of human nature: hating your success, laughing at your failure, disliking your poverty, fearing your wealth."
This statement was correct, subtly containing wisdom for social interaction.
Crying poverty and showing off could save a person 90% of trouble. In front of relatives and friends, if your salary was 10,000, you'd say 4,000. In front of outsiders, if your salary was 10,000, you'd say 20,000. The former was to balance others'Mindset, while the latter was to earn others' respect.
But no matter what, Fang Bai felt that one should always be low-key.
Fang Bai and his parents were relatively low-key, but no matter how low-key, a family visiting relatives on two motorcycles—should they not ride their motorcycles? Should they not support his maternal grandmother's family if they were in difficulty?
They were family, so it was fine to say that their business made some money, just not to say they made too much, just a little profit would suffice.
However, over time, being in the same town, his aunt and uncle would eventually learn about their shopping mall.
If his family didn't actively contact his aunt's family, based on Fang Bai's understanding of his aunt's family, they wouldn't actively approach them. The large wealth gap would make them feel inferior and afraid of affecting them.
Relatives with very close blood ties generally hoped that you were doing well and could offer some support.
But some relatives were different; they would only fawn over you if they saw you doing very well and potentially able to help them. If you were only moderately well off, they would be very jealous. That's human nature.
However, Fang Bai felt that it was not yet suitable to help his two maternal cousins. They had only been working for one or two years, their arrogance hadn't been worn away yet, and they hadn't been sufficiently beaten by society.
Additionally, Fang Bai felt that what he said might not be heard by them at the moment.
It would be better to help them when the time was right and they had the idea themselves. Adding flowers to embroidery is not as good as sending charcoal in the snow.
On the seventh day of the New Year, Fang Bai and his parents sat on the living room sofa, summarizing the revenue situation from the first to the sixth day.
In six days, the total operating income was 800,000 yuan, and Fang Bai's personal wealth reached 1.97 million yuan.
The family's cash reached approximately 1.8 million yuan, locked in two newly purchased safes, with no time to deposit it in the bank.
After renovation, the second-floor structure had been modified. The windows and doors of the house were custom-made, making it impossible for thieves to enter. The safes were placed in a secret room, impossible to find if one wasn't careful.
When sleeping at night, family members would deadbolt the door from the inside and brace it with a crossbar. Even if someone could pick the lock, they couldn't open the iron door.
In fact, it wasn't just Fang Bai's family. Nearby businesses did the same. Regardless of street fights or strangers knocking on the door, they wouldn't open it; they'd pretend not to hear.
"Dad, I think we should buy all the vacant land around the shopping mall, buy both of the houses that block the continuous area, and also the land extending behind the shopping mall, connecting it all into one piece.
I've calculated that if we successfully buy it, plus our previous land occupation, it's a total of 40 plots of land, plus the extended land, totaling 4725 square meters." Fang Bai told his parents his plan. Land was cheap now, so the more they could buy, the more they should.
A shopping mall covering nearly five thousand square meters would definitely be large enough. It would certainly be the largest shopping mall in Wen City for the next fifteen years.
If they went to the urban area, they wouldn't find such a large plot of land, and the land prices would be much more expensive.
For the newly planned land, he could plan the second basement level for a garage and the first basement level for a supermarket.
As long as he could get bank loans, Fang Bai would use future development trends to rapidly expand and make money, not worrying about bank interest.
Before he went to university, he would slowly teach his parents how to manage it. If that didn't work, they could hire a professional manager, or just rent it out and sell it after the Wen City real estate speculation boom.
Fang Shi leaned back on the sofa, his eyelids twitching slightly, with some concern: "Oh! Son, isn't this expansion speed too fast?"
"If we can buy land, I agree to buy, buy, buy. Why keep so much money at home?" Liu Fengqing sat beside her husband, smacking her lips. She loved acquiring land; she wished she could buy the entire Wen City.
Fang Bai explained, "I think land will appreciate very quickly. If we don't buy it, in another two years, prices might increase tenfold.
I plan to talk to Mo Yang about this in a couple of days. County Leaders might come to inspect then. With these investments, it will be easier to build good relationships with the County Leaders."
Fang Bai's expansion of Xinghai Shopping Mall wasn't just about making money; there were two main reasons:
First, by increasing investment, he could quickly establish relationships with County Leaders, accelerating the accumulation of connections in Wen City. At least he would have a background connection in his hometown. In this era, doing business without connections was difficult and could easily lead to trouble.
Since Xinghai Shopping Mall opened, Fang Bai had become even more aware of personal safety hazards. If his family had connections with County Leaders and county public security departments, even the triads would have to consider these factors, and minor troublemakers wouldn't dare to cause problems for Xinghai Shopping Mall.
Safety issues were more urgent than Fang Bai's college entrance examination review.
Second, Wen City's land appreciation was incredibly fast, unlike other cities. Two years later, land prices increased nearly tenfold. In 2000, real estate speculation groups emerged. In just three years, Wen City's housing prices rose from 2,000 yuan per square meter to seven or eight thousand yuan per square meter, while Shanghai's housing prices were only two or three thousand yuan per square meter. It could be said that during that period, Wen City's housing prices were among the highest in the country.
There were too many small business owners in Wen City, and those idle aunties and old women, holding family wealth, loved to recklessly speculate on houses.
No matter how big Fang Bai's business became in Wen City, the history of real estate speculation groups would still repeat itself; they would only wake up after their downfall.
Before 2000, if you wanted to speculate on land, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were not as good as Wen City; this was a fact.
Hundreds of times profit in ten years, and it could be done using bank loans, without tying up capital.
It would indeed be a pity to miss out.
After Fang Bai went to Shanghai, if he lacked development funds, it would be easier to get loans from his hometown. This was a layout for the future.
It would take some time, but it wouldn't affect his college entrance examination studies; it was a carefully considered decision.
Fang Shi listened to his son's analysis and agreed, deep in thought: "To buy someone else's house, we have to see if they're willing to sell."
"They're all business people. As long as we offer enough money, they can just buy new ones on our street." Fang Bai said this, but people might genuinely be unwilling to sell, as it would affect their business. The offer might have to be very high.
But if they didn't buy it, the newly purchased land couldn't be connected, making it meaningless.
Unless the county agreed to plan new land, bypassing the already sold land, that would be even better.
He planned to first communicate his investment intentions with Mo Yang. Once Mo Yang confirmed it, he would then talk to those two families and find a way to buy it.
Thinking of this, he went back to his room, took out blank paper, and started drafting the investment plan.
Without a computer, he could only write by hand. He worked late into the night and finally completed a rough investment plan, somewhat similar to the Wanda Plaza complexes of later generations.