Chapter 311: Greed Is Never Satisfied

'Beep-beep-beep~'

'Come in.'

'Teacher Mu, I'd like to take a day off. Here's my leave slip.'

Li Ye smiled and placed the leave slip in front of Mu Yunning.

Mu Yunning frowned, struggling to speak: 'Why are you taking another day off? The exam is just days away—what if you anger the teacher again? What if something happens?'

If your grades are poor this year, it'll affect your chances of being recommended as an active member next year.'

Li Ye chuckled awkwardly: 'It's just a small matter, just one day—it won't affect my exam results.'

'Take responsibility for your own affairs.'

Mu Yunning stopped urging him, took the leave slip, and waved him off.

She wasn't angry—she was worried about Li Ye.

Before summer vacation, Li Ye submitted his application to join the Party; Mu Yunning helped him fast-track the process, and now he's already an active member—if things go well, he could enter the reserve list next year, with every step tightly linked.

But not everything depends on ability or contribution—if you have even a minor flaw, someone might oppose you at the selection, and all your efforts could collapse.

Li Ye knew this, but right now he truly had an urgent matter.

After leaving Mu Yunning's office, Li Ye rode his bicycle out of campus at full speed; his sister Li Yue was already waiting for him in her car.

The renovation project on Xiushuijie was finally completed a few days ago; yesterday, the rental rates were posted and leasing began.

But this morning, Li Yue said something had happened.

After getting in the car, Li Yue said: 'After the rental rates were announced, nothing happened—but this morning, our shops were all blocked by people. Jin Peng called Wen Guohua, and his side was blocked too.'

Li Ye asked: 'Why are they blocking the doors? Because the rent is too high?'

Li Yue nodded: 'Exactly! In Beijing, renting a sihe courtyard costs only two or three yuan!

Rent for a single shop on Xiushuijie starts at fifty or sixty yuan, and goes up to hundreds—ordinary people say they're heartless, and they're not wrong.'

'.'

Li Ye blinked, then cursed: 'A bunch of idiots.'

Li Yue slammed on the brakes, stopping the Volga by the roadside, and glared coldly at Li Ye: 'Who are you calling an idiot?'

Li Ye waved his hand: 'Of course I mean those greedy merchants—how would I dare call you one? Haven't I been beaten by you enough these past years?'

'Hmph~ You haven't been beaten since you were twelve, but this is Beijing—Grandma isn't here to protect you.'

Li Yue snorted, then shifted gears and accelerated again.

But then she thought again—it didn't make sense. Even she thought the rent was high!

In fact, the Xiushuijie renovation had always faced heavy pressure because the scale was too ambitious.

A small street that once held only a few hundred shops now had commercial buildings lining both sides, creating over a thousand individual storefronts.

And when setting the rental rates, Wen Guohua adopted Li Ye's suggestion and raised the rates by another thirty percent above the original.

This wasn't because Li Ye was heartless—he actually thought the rates were already dirt cheap.

Besides, Pengcheng Seventh Factory was a participant in the renovation and held nearly a third of the Xiushuijie storefronts; even if they didn't use them all, they had to rent them out.

The state pays eighty yuan monthly—you pay one hundred twenty. The contradictions piled up. Beijing people didn't care about civility when they complained—they had to push the blame onto the authorities.

Of course, if individual vendors truly found it too expensive, they could set up stalls in a designated area outside, paying only ten or eight yuan per month.

But no one expected so many people to be so clueless.

Before the Volga even reached the entrance of Xiushuijie, Li Ye saw a crowd blocking the street—at least two hundred people.

Pengcheng Seventh Factory had always had a shop on Xiushuijie; after renovation, it still occupied its original spot at the street entrance, so leasing was handled there.

But now the entrance was completely blocked—no one could get in. If not for the dozen retired soldiers standing guard, something bad might have happened.

Li Yue had never faced such a scene and asked her brother: 'Xiao Ye, what do we do?'

Li Ye said: 'Easy—find a public phone up ahead.'

At this moment, Li Ye deeply missed his past life's mobile phone—communicating was truly difficult.

Li Ye found a public phone and called the Pengcheng Seventh Factory shop on Xiushuijie, asking for Jin Peng.

'Hey, Brother Peng, what are you planning to do?'

'What do I do? I want to raise the rent—these ungrateful bastards.'

Hearing Jin Peng's laughing curses, Li Ye smiled.

In two years, Jin Peng had matured—he no longer feared pressure, and could see the right direction.

Li Ye ordered: 'Brother Peng, don't rush to raise prices. Notify every sales point and every bank you know—send money to the management office immediately, as fast and as much as possible.'

Jin Peng paused, then laughed over the phone: 'Xiao Ye, are you trying to buy up all of Xiushuijie? Won't that make everyone hate you?'

'Hate me? Pfft,' Li Ye laughed. 'When they realize what's happening, they'll envy you for having the vision to grab more golden geese—and then scramble to beg you for better locations. They won't have time to hate you.'

'Hehe, you're still the sneaky one, Xiao Ye. I'll do exactly as you say.'

Li Ye returned to the car and told his sister Li Yue to drive through the northern entrance and park in front of the management office.

Many people had gathered outside the management office, but they were restrained—no one blocked the entrance. Clearly, the authority of the state still carried weight.

After more than half an hour, Jin Peng's Crown car and Pengcheng Seventh Factory's 130 truck arrived, escorted by seven or eight retired soldiers who helped Jin Peng, Ma Qianshan, and several female accountants out of the vehicles.

Each female accountant carried a heavy bag—filled entirely with cash.

Li Ye told Li Yue: 'Watch, Old Sister! In less than an hour, these people will crack.'

Li Yue and Li Ye followed Jin Peng and the others into the management office; many hesitant individual vendors trailed behind them.

'That guy in front is Jin Peng from Pengcheng Seventh Factory. Why is he here instead of staying in his own shop?'

'No idea, but this guy's even more heartless than the worst capitalists. When we used to sell on Xiushuijie, no one cared—but now we have to pay dozens of yuan every month just for a legal status.'

'Actually, a ten-yuan stall would be fine—at least we wouldn't be called speculators. If all else fails…'

After the renovation, all vendors on Xiushuijie were given legal status—that was one of the reasons people hesitated. Otherwise, many would've fled at the price.

'You're stupid. If you sell the same item for eight yuan on a stall, do you think you can sell it for eight yuan in a shop? If everyone sold at eight, who'd buy from the stalls?'

'Then what do we do? Even the smallest shop costs seventy or eighty—more than my parents' combined salary!'

'So we demand they lower the rent. They must lower it—or we report it to the authorities.'

'Right! Lower the rent—or we write letters.'

Li Yue listened to the crowd's threats behind her and glanced worriedly at Li Ye and the men ahead—Jin Peng and Ma Qianshan.

But seeing their proud, upright postures, Li Yue suddenly realized: if she wanted to become a manager, she still had much to learn.

When she left Qingshui County, she'd come with the mindset: 'I'm worse than Jin Peng.' But after months of exposure, she'd calmed down and begun humbly learning.

After Jin Peng and the others entered the management office, the previously tense atmosphere shifted completely.

It was already past noon, and only twenty-some shops had been rented out—some to staff acquaintances. It was a disastrous opening.

Everyone's bonuses and benefits depended on this street's rental income—if they couldn't rent them out, they wouldn't just stop eating meat—they'd be drinking northwest wind.

So much money had been spent renovating this street—it had to be repaid.

But when Jin Peng tossed six large bags onto the finance office floor and said, 'I'll rent every unsold shop myself,' everyone fell silent.

One man taking them all? That made things easier for them!

'Can we just wait here? If he rents every shop, we won't get one…'

'How could he rent them all? Even if he's rich, how much money does one man have? A thousand shops mean tens of thousands in monthly rent—tens of thousands! How many clothes would Jin Manager have to sell to earn that?'

'Hard to say—Pengcheng Seventh Factory is booming in both East and West Beijing now.'

'Then why are you still talking? Hurry up and rent one! Why are you wasting time here?'

Li Ye and Li Yue stood aside, watching the vendors who'd been probing the situation—clearly, they were losing patience.

At that moment, Li Ye saw Wen Guohua appear at the end of the corridor, waving at him.

Li Ye walked over and smiled: 'Big Brother, you're sitting back like a fisherman?'

Wen Guohua smiled: 'I don't want to be Jiang Taigong—if I can't catch a fish in three days, I'll become a joke.'

Li Ye grinned: 'Why would you? If you guarantee Pengcheng Seventh Factory won't be labeled as speculators, wouldn't tomorrow's rent jump another fifty percent?'

Wen Guohua frowned: 'You're mocking me! If you really want to buy them all, I'll go talk and get the price lowered.'

Li Ye shook his head: 'Let's wait and see. I don't like hoarding everything—but when a big piece of meat lands right at your mouth, who turns it away?'

As they spoke, five or six men walked in carrying sacks, speaking with a southern accent.

'Excuse me, where do we pay? We want to rent a shop.'

'Over there. Did you see the rental rates?'

'Yes, yes. No problem.'

The five or six men entered the finance office, opened their sacks, and dumped cash onto the floor—Jin Peng was stunned.

【Someone even more aggressive than me, Jin Baimillion? 】

Jin Peng waved his hand, gathered his Qi, and bellowed: 'Everyone stop! I got here first!'

'.'

Li Ye quietly told Wen Guohua: 'Big Brother, you need to put up a new notice—or they'll riot again.'

Five minutes later, a large red notice written in calligraphy was posted at the management office entrance: Of the original thousand vacant shops, only four hundred remain.

'Rent while you can? Fourth Brother, what does that mean?'

'.'

'Don't ask—just rush and grab one!'

Hundreds of people who had been lounging outside smoking suddenly surged forward, flooding into the management office.

'I want Shop 106 in Zone 7!'

'Zone 7 is gone.'

"How could it be gone? It was still there this morning."

"It's almost noon now—will you rent it or not? If not, next person."

"."

Behind them, savvy private operators who couldn't squeeze in turned and ran toward the other end of Xiushuijie.

That end had the rental office for Pengcheng Seventh Factory, which also had shops for rent.

But when these people reached Pengcheng Seventh Factory, they found even longer lines and tighter crowds there.

"Oh no, I told you not to wait around! Now look—getting chased through the streets in wind and rain, what a miserable fate!"

(End of Chapter)