novelraw Chapter 652 - 654: College Students Are Indeed Impressive
Chapter 652 - 654: College Students Are Indeed Impressive
Gong Zhuang really felt like he was being driven to desperation by his own kids. Even though he knew how busy he was at work, they still wouldn’t let up and kept giving him more to juggle. He was seriously about to lose it.
"What are you talking about?" Gong Zhuang dug at his ear. He had just found out from his kids that his second brother, Gong Tao, had bought a courtyard house, and it was quite big too.
Gong Zhuang was pretty envious, but when he heard that the money was all borrowed, he really admired his second brother. Buying a house with no steady income was no small feat and definitely took guts.
Buying a house not in the hometown but in Beijing meant something — it meant his second brother probably never thought about returning home.
The surprising part for Gong Zhuang was that his own kids were pushing him to buy a house too. Although he didn’t know how much his brother had borrowed, it was definitely not a small sum.
"Do you even know how much a house in Beijing costs?" Gong Zhuang glared daggers at his foolish son. His son saw something someone else had and wished for it himself. He really wondered how such a mentality even developed.
"No idea." Of course, Gong Jiaming didn’t know. He wouldn’t even bother with such things, but he knew, "Dad, I know you can certainly afford it."
Well, his son’s faith in him made Gong Zhuang quite happy, but he had to admit, he genuinely couldn’t manage it, "No money. If I really had the money, I would’ve already bought a house back home."
Although his kids came to Beijing every year, it was really just a transit point. After meeting up with Gong Ruini and the others, they’d head to the Northeast. If that was the case, why buy a house here?
"If we’re not living there, why buy a house? To feed the mosquitoes?"
"Don’t you know a house that’s empty for a long time might collapse?" Even if his second brother was in Beijing, they couldn’t just ask him to constantly help air out the house.
Moreover, with a house left vacant for long, Gong Zhuang worried some local hooligans might squat in it. Evicting them would be a hassle, and Gong Zhuang didn’t want to keep worrying because of a house.
"You really know how to waste money. If your mom finds out, think you’ll get away with it?"
It wasn’t true that Gong Zhuang wasn’t tempted to buy a house in Beijing, but he genuinely couldn’t fork out that much money.
Ah, that’s the situation. Gong Jiaming was a bit unhappy, "If someone lived in it, it wouldn’t be like that, right? We could rent it out!"
Right, wasn’t Second Uncle’s house planned to be rented out? If it could be rented out, there was no reason his couldn’t. Since his second uncle was planning it that way, maybe he could help see if their house could be rented too.
Ah, renting a house out, how much money would that bring? And what if the tenant was a deadbeat? In this day and age, those looking to rent, you think their conditions are good?
What if the rent couldn’t be collected, "Who would rent?"
"Foreigners." Gong Jiaming assured him it was totally feasible.
What, renting to foreigners? Gong Zhuang was stunned. My goodness, he had never seen a foreigner up close in his life. Oh, he did see some Soviets years ago when he was little, and they were experts, but he hadn’t seen any foreigners since.
The question is, why was his son so casually saying something about renting to foreigners, "Do you think it’s that simple to communicate with foreigners?"
"Do you understand what foreigners say?" Gong Zhuang had forgotten what those few foreigners even looked like, but he remembered the translators were really impressive.
"Can you understand the gibberish foreigners speak?" To Gong Zhuang, it all sounded incomprehensible. Not understanding before didn’t matter, but now, to rent to foreigners, if you couldn’t communicate well, how were you going to take their money?
"I don’t understand, but we have Second Uncle. He can communicate with foreigners." Gong Jiaming claimed confidently, based on what Gong Ruwen had said, that this matter was absolutely manageable.
Ah, no way. Gong Zhuang was shocked. When did his brother become capable of communicating with foreigners? Wow, his brother was truly amazing, "Are all university students this incredible now?"
Gong Zhuang really wanted to know when his brother learned foreign languages. He could actually communicate with foreigners. Man, how did he end up with such an impressive brother.
Hmph, he should let Gong Zheng see this. Hasn’t that kid always been like, ’I’m really something’? If he found out someone was even more impressive than him, who knows, maybe he’d be furious enough to spit blood.
Gong Zhuang was stunned, and so was Gong Tao. He knew that after getting into Shangjing University, his siblings had all sorts of thoughts about him, but this kid, Gong Jiaming, looked up to him in every way, always thinking how awesome his Second Uncle was.
Gong Jiaming’s admiration made Gong Tao really happy. Who wouldn’t like being admired like that? It was an incredible feeling.
But no matter how great he was, he didn’t know much about foreign languages, let alone having fluent exchanges with foreigners. "I don’t know any foreign languages. I can’t exchange conversations with foreigners fluently."
Gong Tao was honest and upfront. He wouldn’t just stand by and watch as rumors about him spread wildly. That could lead to big trouble.
"Second Brother, you’re here." Hearing Gong Tao’s voice startled Gong Zhuang. After all, they were just discussing something related to Gong Tao. If he’d overheard, he might think they were plotting against him.
Though it seemed his brother hadn’t heard their earlier conversation, it was still best to lay it to rest, "Second Brother, you’re really incredible. You can even communicate with foreigners now. You should teach your nephews and nieces when you have time so they can exchange a few words if they ever meet foreigners."
Gong Zhuang didn’t expect his kids to master foreign languages, but he hoped they could at least throw out a few greetings if they ever bumped into foreigners — that would definitely impress a bunch of people.
"I can’t." Gong Zhuang’s self-assured chatter reassured Gong Tao it was crucial to dispel this misconception. That could lead to big trouble.
"I really can’t. When you were in school, we had a few Russian classes, but after a few lessons, they stopped. I didn’t even finish school properly after that, so how could I know?" Gong Tao didn’t feel embarrassed about his past; it wasn’t something he could ignore or deny.
Regardless of the past, Gong Tao made it clear that he got into Shangjing University and was a diligent student.
Remembering his brother’s past grades, Gong Zhuang knew Gong Tao wasn’t lying, but did he not pick up anything in university?
Gong Zhuang knew his brother as someone who was diligent, paying serious attention in class every day. For a student that serious, picking up a bit of another language didn’t seem surprising.