[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-romantic-path-to-success":3,"chapter-the-romantic-path-to-success-the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-534":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Romantic Road to the Top",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},2146725,3567,"Chapter 534","the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-534",534,"\u003Cp>The two went to Zhongming Lake. In the car, Xu Haimin told Su Xinghui that the person selling the house today was a friend of his from the Industrial and Commercial Bank. Their bank had recently built dormitories, and he had been allocated an apartment. Because it was a bank dormitory, the conditions were quite good, and the area was large—a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment of over 160 square meters. Therefore, his whole family had moved there.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>After he moved, the private house he originally lived in became vacant. It had been empty for more than half a year. Su Xinghui had entrusted Xu Haimin to help him inquire about private houses by Zhongming Lake, so Xu Haimin found this friend and asked if he was selling. Naturally, he wanted to sell.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>These days, living in an apartment was much more stylish than living in a single-story house. He didn't feel the private house was of any use, and the money from the sale could be used to buy some good furniture and appliances.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Xu Haimin had long called Su Xinghui to tell him about this, but Su Xinghui had been quite busy, and on top of that, he didn't have much money on hand, so he hadn't gone to look at the house. Now that he had sold his paintings and had money, he finally dragged Xu Haimin to go look at the house.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Before long, Xu Haimin drove the car to the edge of Zhongming Lake and stopped in front of a private house. He called out \"Old Gao,\" and heard someone answer from inside the house. A middle-aged man in his forties came out. As soon as he saw Xu Haimin, he said happily: \"Manager Xu is here! Come in, come in.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Xu Haimin took Su Xinghui into the courtyard and introduced him to Su Xinghui: \"This is Gao Qiyuan, Deputy Section Chief of the Deposit and Remittance Section at the Industrial and Commercial Bank, and the owner of this private house.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Xu Haimin then introduced Su Xinghui to Gao Qiyuan: \"This is Su Xinghui, the Town Mayor of Pengjiawan Town. His father is Su Wenjun, the Deputy Dean of the County People’s Hospital.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan quickly extended his right hand: \"So it’s Town Mayor Su! I’ve long heard of you. I’ve even seen your father for medical treatment; he is a good doctor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said: \"Thank you, Section Chief Gao.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan said: \"You’re welcome. So you’re the one who wants to buy my house? Let’s go inside and take a look.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan went into the house first. Su Xinghui looked around the courtyard. It was about thirty or forty square meters—not large, but not small either. There were a few trees in the courtyard, full of fallen leaves.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The house itself was quite dilapidated. The exterior walls were covered in mottled marks, and the wall plaster was peeling off severely; it looked like it had quite a history.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>However, the house was not small in area; by visual estimation, the building area was at least over a hundred square meters. Moreover, the location was good—right on the north bank of Zhongming Lake. There were some other private houses nearby, and further west was the office building and dormitory of the Fisheries Bureau. It wasn't remote at all. In a year or two, the Shangjun County seat would inevitably develop toward the north bank of Zhongming Lake, and by then, this place would become lively.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui still remembered that in his previous life, many residential areas were developed on the north bank of Zhongming Lake, all using the concept of \"lake-view housing.\" In his previous life, a very capable County Party Secretary built a Zhongming Lake Park about two hundred meters east of this private house, which greatly improved the environment and prestige of the area, making the lake-view houses here the most expensive residential area in all of Shangjun County.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>By that time, the price of this private house would rise to an astronomical figure.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>After looking around for a moment, Su Xinghui walked inside. The house was very messy, scattered with trash left over from the move. Gao Qiyuan said with some embarrassment: \"I’m sorry, Manager Xu, Town Mayor Su. I meant to come and clean up, but I didn't expect you to come so quickly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said: \"It’s fine. I’m looking at the house; as long as the house itself is fine, that’s all that matters.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan nodded: \"Then please feel free to look around, Town Mayor Su.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui walked around the house. The layout was the old-fashioned type: upon entering, there was a main hall, with two symmetrical bedrooms on either side. After passing through a door behind the main hall, there was another bedroom. The kitchen was outside; a small room had been built separately as a kitchen. There was no bathroom.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>This was very normal. For houses of this age—decades old—no one would build a bathroom inside the house, because the toilets were the old-fashioned kind. If you built one inside, wouldn't it stink to high heaven? They all used public toilets outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Of course, this old-fashioned layout was not a problem for Su Xinghui. Since he was buying it and didn't lack money, he would just spend the money to rebuild the house. Naturally, the bathroom and shower room would be built inside the house; using a toilet outside was too inconvenient.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan didn't have much confidence. In his view, his private house was old, the layout was outdated, and the condition of the house was very poor, especially after being empty for half a year; it looked very dilapidated. He felt that with Su Xinghui’s status, he probably wouldn't like it.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui remained expressionless, looking at the house inside and out, front and back. He asked Gao Qiyuan: \"Section Chief Gao, what price are you asking for this house?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan hesitated for a while before saying: \"Town Mayor Su, I won't ask for much. How about thirty thousand yuan?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui looked at Xu Haimin. Xu Haimin understood and said to Gao Qiyuan: \"Old Gao, your price isn't very sincere. This house of yours is at least thirty years old, right? The wall plaster has peeled off like this, and the bricks on the wall are starting to rot. If Town Mayor Su buys this house, he’ll have to spend at least ten thousand yuan just to renovate it so it’s livable.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan also knew that his asking price of thirty thousand was a bit high. He hesitated for a long time before saying: \"Then twenty-five thousand. This price should be very fair.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Xu Haimin wanted to say something else, but Su Xinghui said: \"That’s fine, Section Chief Gao. Twenty-five thousand it is. When can we go to the Real Estate Management Office to handle the transfer procedures?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Gao Qiyuan was overjoyed. In fact, twenty-five thousand wasn't even his target price; he would have been willing to drop another one or two thousand. But Su Xinghui had actually agreed immediately. He couldn't express how happy he was. He gave a thumbs up: \"Town Mayor Su is generous! We can handle the transfer procedures anytime.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said: \"Then let’s do it today.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Xu Haimin drove the car, taking Gao Qiyuan and Su Xinghui to their respective homes to get their various documents, and then they went to the Real Estate Management Office together. Xu Haimin was well-connected at the Real Estate Management Office, and Su Xinghui was now a big celebrity in Shangjun County. When the staff at the office heard he was the one buying the house, they couldn't have been more enthusiastic. They helped the two of them complete the transfer procedures with the fastest possible processing, and thus, Su Xinghui became the owner of the private house.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>After the transfer procedures were completed, Gao Qiyuan shook hands with Su Xinghui warmly to thank him, and then left first.\u003C\u002Fp>",1336,"2026-06-16T17:50:43.208Z","2026-06-17T08:56:06.694Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","a4736011d4edc8c523966d82a9a9e748603c4c5b96742bcb0801b5c404e4c74a","the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-535","the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-533",572,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-romantic-path-to-success-cover.jpg"]