834 Bargaining
Xia Wen did not know what Qiao Mei was up to and just looked at her silently.
Qiao Mei calmly tapped the piece of paper on the table and said, “As you know, there’s another house that’s exactly the same as yours. It’s on the street next to yours. That house even has an extra storeroom compared with yours. The owner told me that she can sell it to me for 10,000 dollars.”
The owner of the house immediately panicked. Why was the deal suddenly in jeopardy? His family was in urgent need of money!
“My house is definitely better than hers! The location and the surroundings are definitely good!” the owner said as he stood up agitatedly.
Xia Wen stood at the side and held back his laughter. She was really a prolific actress. Where did this other house owner come from? This was clearly just a bluff.
“But I don’t intend to live in it. All these factors don’t matter if I’m just going to rent it out. Maybe you can reconsider the price. Otherwise I need more time to think about it.” Qiao Mei took up the backpack on the ground and gently pulled the zipper, revealing the money inside.
The owner would not be willing to reconsider so easily, but which person could reject so much money especially when it was being placed in front of them?
As Qiao Mei had expected, when the owner saw the money, he immediately corrected himself and said, “9,800 dollars! What do you think?”
Qiao Mei shook her head and said, “I don’t lack the 200 dollars. The amount of 200 dollars isn’t even enough for me to repair the main door.”
“Then… how about 9,500 dollars,” the owner said with a frown.
Qiao Mei still shook her head and sighed. “If this is how sincere you are, then I’ll look at the other house.”
“The lowest price is 9,000 dollars! No lower! This is my final price,” the owner said firmly to Qiao Mei.
Qiao Mei’s face instantly lit up with a smile. She happily took out the red stamp pad and said, “Alright! It’s settled then!”
When they were signing the agreement, Xia Wen quietly gave Qiao Mei a thumbs up. He did not expect that Qiao Mei would really buy it. This house was not much smaller than Xia Zhe’s front part of the courtyard house. Although the house was old and dilapidated, it was still worth more than 9,000 dollars. If not for the fact that the owner’s family business was not doing well recently and was in urgent need of cash, he would not be selling the house.
Satisfied, Qiao Mei stamped her fingerprint and sent the owner off with a smile. Now that another property belonged to her, she felt that the days of her sitting in the house and counting money were not far off!
“You, you. Aren’t you afraid that the landlord will insist on 10,000 dollars? What if you force him into a corner and he doesn’t want to sell it to you?” Xia Wen said helplessly.
Qiao Mei did not believe that a person would not be tempted by so much money being placed in front of him.
She had already done a background check on that person. The owner’s family business was a medium-sized one in the capital, but it had not been doing well in the past two years. In the beginning, the house was listed on the market at the sky-high price of 50,000 dollars and no one bought it even after a year. That was why they were forced to sell the house to her in the end.
After all, there were not many people who could afford to buy a house and pay fully in cash. In this era, workplace units allocated houses to their employees based on the number of years they were with the units. After a certain number of years, the employees would be able to own the houses they lived in.
Since everyone already had a house to live in, then what was the point of buying one?
“I’m not worried. At most, I’ll give him 10,000 dollars. It’s not like I’m not prepared. I just want to experience the joy of bargaining,” Qiao Mei said.
“Did the Tan family come to look for you after the previous incident?” Xia Wen asked.
Qiao Mei was silent for a long time before she smiled and said, “No, they didn’t. Xia He must have told you about it. They never came again, so don’t worry.”
Xia Wen did not expect things to turn out like this. No matter how much he apologized, it would not help with the situation. He decided to help Qiao Mei even more diligently in the future to make it up to her.
“It’s all my fault. I’ll make things clear to the Tan family when I get back. I’ll definitely give you an explanation,” Xia Wen said sternly.
Before Xia Zhe left, Xia Zhe had asked him to take good care of Qiao Mei. In the end, not only did he not take good care of her, but he also caused her a lot of trouble.
If Xia Zhe came back and found out about this, he would definitely pick a fight.
“I know the situation well. Eldest brother, let’s leave this matter at that. Anyway, the Tan family hasn’t come by again. If they do, I have my ways to deal with them,” Qiao Mei said with a smile.
