novelraw Chapter 359 - 281: Living Muscle
Chapter 359 - 281: Living Muscle
Ningyuan City, Haitian Bay Villa upscale community.
"Ink, Tang Dynasty, Style... Honey, which of these renovation companies’ design plans do you like?"
"They’re all pretty mediocre, their designs are so tacky, and yet so expensive. We might as well design ourselves and hire workers to renovate."
"Expensive, of course, these renovation companies make at least 30% profit from the renovation fee. If we do it ourselves, then honey, you should start drawing the plans now."
"Mm, let’s go with an off-white palette, a mix of modern and Nordic styles..."
Li Qiyuan wrapped his arm around Yu Huizhi’s shoulder as they walked out slowly, discussing the layout and color schemes of the new house, furniture purchases, and various renovation topics.
That’s right, they bought a new house.
They used the 2.2 million given by their precious son Li Peifeng, plus the couple’s own savings of 100,000!
And they haven’t spent it all.
The house price in Haitian Bay Villa is 8,000 yuan per square meter. Li Qiyuan’s parents bought a 150-square-meter one for a total of 1.2 million.
They paid 30% down payment, with the rest paid through their housing fund, requiring no extra monthly payments. This means;
"There’s still 1.84 million left from Fengfeng’s money. After the calculations just now, if we design and hire a construction team ourselves, including furniture, 400,000 should be enough, leaving 1.44 million plus our savings of 100,000..."
While calculating, Yu Huizhi got into the passenger seat, looked at the old interior of the car, feeling inexplicably happy, turned her head expectantly towards Li Qiyuan: "Honey, there’s still over 1.5 million left, how about we check out some cars this weekend? Hurry and buy a big Jeep, I really want to drive it!"
Li Qiyuan didn’t respond immediately, silently turned the car key, started the car, shifted the gear and drove slowly forward.
So far, this ten-year-old second-hand eighth-generation Accord has had no major issues. Since it came into Li Qiyuan’s hands, it hasn’t been in any collisions. The car’s paintwork, although old, is still the original.
Except for some interior rattles when driving on bumpy roads, and the noise being relatively high at high speeds, the engine is still in good condition, reaching up to 150 km/h on the highway.
Li Qiyuan vaguely remembered, ten years ago, they had a disagreement over buying this second-hand car with Yu Huizhi. His wife wanted to buy a new SUV costing more than 200,000, bigger and better looking.
Most importantly, Yu Huizhi wanted a new car.
This is human nature, especially as both Li Qiyuan and Yu Huizhi are university teachers, most colleagues around them aren’t badly off, many drive BBAs, but they bought a second-hand car, inevitably attracting some gossip.
Teachers, you see, have a lot of free time, and the tendency to compete among women is strong.
Moreover, Old Li and Old Yu are one of those rare, very handsome couples, looking super well-matched at first glance. They are considered an ideal couple at school, attracting the attention of coworkers and leaders alike.
Especially Yu Huizhi, who would often inadvertently boast to female teachers and classmates about how great her husband is, showing off their love. This caused some female coworkers to envy this naive girl for having such a handsome husband and a happy marriage. Some were even jealous.
Although Yu Huizhi is pretty simple, she could imagine how sour her female coworkers would be if she bought a second-hand car, so she was very firm on buying a new one.
What’s more, considering their economic situation, buying a new car costing more than 200,000 had no financial pressure.
As university teachers, their salaries are high compared to the cost of living in Ningyuan City, which is a small county town, and besides their regular salaries, they have other sources of income.
For example, Li Qiyuan occasionally gets invited by other universities or enterprises and organizations for reviews, grading, and giving lectures, all paid work with quite decent fees.
Yu Huizhi often teaches students painting at art institutes, earning some extra tutoring fees.
With their teaching salaries combined with these part-time jobs, ten years ago their annual income reached over 200,000.
Spending a year’s household income on a car was completely doable, not to mention they could pay half of it initially and take a loan for the rest to relieve some pressure.
But Li Qiyuan, thinking about their son, although Li Peifeng was only thirteen at the time, Old Li, being a responsible father, already started planning for his future.
His son’s high school tuition, tutoring fees, university tuition, wedding dowry, wedding car, wedding house... all these required money!
Considering all these issues, after careful thought, Li Qiyuan suggested to his wife to opt for a more economical second-hand car, to save more money for supporting Li Peifeng’s future big life events.
When Yu Huizhi heard her husband’s reasoning, she instantly understood and agreed without hesitating, putting pride aside.
Dong people, or rather people worldwide, are like this. After marriage, they strive for their family, for their offspring.
Even if they’re in their seventies or eighties, they work tirelessly, ’living while crying’, earning more money for their children’s social mobility, not to hold them back.
But Li Qiyuan and Yu Huizhi were lucky, because less than a year after buying this second-hand car, their son Li Peifeng started writing online fiction at fourteen.
At fifteen, Li Peifeng earned his first manuscript fee from online stories; 560 yuan, spending 160 yuan to treat his high school classmates to a meal, and using the remaining 400 to buy gifts for his parents.