novelraw Chapter 265: High Property Prices, Change of Plans
Chapter 265: High Property Prices, Change of Plans
Chapter 265: High Property Prices, Change of PlansAs luck would have it, just as Chu Mingcheng finished two days of rest at home and had stocked the Poseidon with daily necessities, a typhoon was on its way.
The new boat hadn't even been taken out for a spin, and now it was about to be tested by a storm.
Fortunately, the boats docked on either side were of a similar size, and a row of large tires along the sides prevented collisions. Chu Mingcheng didn't stay idle. He joined the other boat owners in tying down and securing the vessels with ropes to welcome the impending typhoon.
The typhoon's landfall was also conveniently timed—set for the very day the fishing ban was lifted.
According to the local fishermen, however, this was a good omen. A typhoon was often followed by a bigger harvest.
After all, the fierce winds and massive waves didn't just affect the fishermen's work; fish would also flee to deeper waters to escape the disaster, going hungry for several days. Once the typhoon passed, the starved fish would come out to feed en masse, making for a much better bite than usual.
But Chu Mingcheng had no plans to go out to sea just yet, so he wasn't concerned.
He had converted all the money he'd earned in Australia to RMB. Combined with his previous savings, he now had nearly 6.5 million yuan.
After factoring in the investment for the club and the costs for his sea trips, Chu Mingcheng had about five million to spend on a house.
So he excitedly drove to Jiang Luoluo's studio and found her in the middle of a dance practice.Seeing him arrive, the dance instructor tactfully left the room.
Jiang Luoluo stopped dancing and sat down to rest. "Why are you here so early today?"
"Well, I've finished up with everything else, so I thought we could go look at houses."
"How much did you make in Australia?" Hearing him bring up buying a house again, Jiang Luoluo couldn't help but ask curiously.
"About five million."
"Is that in Australian dollars? That's so much!"
"Uh, RMB!"
"Ohh~!" Jiang Luoluo shrugged. "In that case, I actually wouldn't recommend you buy a house in Xiamen."
"Why's that?" Chu Mingcheng was a bit curious, not quite understanding her attitude.
"You want to buy a house, but you haven't even looked at the local property prices?" Jiang Luoluo sighed helplessly.
"..." Chu Mingcheng felt a little embarrassed. He really hadn't looked, mainly because he'd been busy stocking the new boat since he got back. Now that he had some free time, he'd come straight to find Jiang Luoluo without getting a chance to check.
He then went online and searched for property prices in the Siming District. When he saw the average price was 72,000 yuan per square meter, a curse immediately escaped his lips. "Holy shit, are the property prices here that ridiculous?"
He was looking at new properties in good locations. Seeing the high price, he checked some second-hand properties and was floored to find they were still over 65,000.
He had originally been thinking of buying a villa or a large flat. At these prices, his five-million-yuan budget would barely cover a down payment.
And then a loan of over ten million—how much would the interest be?
With his earning speed, taking out a loan was a bad deal.
Even if you paid off a mortgage early, there were usually all sorts of restrictions, like having to pay for at least a year or paying a certain penalty fee. It varied from bank to bank.
The banks were in it to make money from interest; they weren't going to make it easy for homebuyers.
So, even if Chu Mingcheng could pay in full later, he probably wouldn't buy here now.
Seeing his reaction, Jiang Luoluo couldn't help but chuckle. "Still planning to buy?"
Chu Mingcheng immediately shook his head. "Wouldn't I be an idiot to buy at such a high price? It would be better to buy in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou. Even buying in Hangzhou would be better than here!"
However, these words made Jiang Luoluo's face darken, and she gave him a light smack. "What do you mean, an idiot? Watch your mouth."
Chu Mingcheng froze, then remembered she owned a house here and grinned sheepishly. "Hey, I wasn't talking about you!"
Jiang Luoluo rolled her eyes and didn't bother explaining that her father had bought the house, though she was the one paying the mortgage, so it did involve her.
She hadn't planned on buying a house either, but when Jiang Bo learned that his daughter was determined to stay and develop her career in Xiamen, he was worried she'd encounter some creepy male landlord while renting and decided to buy a place for her.
Although Xiamen was nice, its development was really only concentrated on the island. Moreover, it couldn't retain young people who wanted to build a career; it just had a lot of tourists every year.
So, just as Chu Mingcheng had said, with that kind of money, it would be better to buy in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou.
After a moment, Jiang Luoluo offered some advice. "I think you need to consider your career first."
"In the future, if you're based in Xiamen, you could buy a pickup truck and install a crane. That would make it convenient to transport and sell large fish like tuna."
"Also, Shanghai has a professional tuna trading market. If we have a lot of catch from the deep sea that we can't sell off in Xiamen, we can go straight to Shanghai to sell it on our way back. Since we'll be passing by Wenzhou, we might as well buy a big house in your hometown."
"Every time we come back, we can either go to Hangzhou to visit my parents or go back to Wenzhou to visit yours, right?"
Chu Mingcheng nodded, thinking it made a lot of sense. His new boat could hold at least twenty-plus tuna.
If he returned from a trip without filling the refrigerated hold, the high costs would make it a bad deal; he might even lose money if the catch was too small.
And the tuna trade in Xiamen wasn't mature. Selling to a tuna hunter wasn't worth it; their commission was usually as high as 10%.
Other shops might not be able to handle so many tuna, so he might have to go to Shanghai often.
However, Chu Mingcheng would still prioritize trying to develop sales channels in Xiamen. After all, it was a coastal city with so many restaurants; the demand for tuna couldn't be small.
It was just that most restaurants didn't have professional tuna butchers, and their dishes only used certain parts of the tuna. So whether he could develop some customers was still uncertain.
But the fish situation wasn't urgent. Now that he wasn't buying a house, he planned to go buy a car that afternoon.
A pickup truck was a must, and he could also replace the hundred-thousand-yuan-plus car at home.
He had wanted to ask Jiang Luoluo to go with him, but she was unwilling.
She planned to shoot at least three videos during this period and then join him for the new boat's maiden voyage.
Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng didn't want to disturb her and could only go buy a car by himself.
Chen Yang and Zhang Wei were also busy with their new shop, so he didn't call them either.
In some cities in China, pickup trucks had travel restrictions. Chu Mingcheng specifically looked it up and found that Xiamen's management was relatively lenient; pickups could move freely.
Since that was the case, he was all for it. He went straight to a Ford 4S dealership and asked the salesperson directly for a Ford F-150 Raptor.
The price for this truck seemed to be quite uniform across the country. The all-in price was just over 760,000. After a test drive, Chu Mingcheng felt there were no problems and bought it outright.
Compared to his small sedan, the Ford had a better view.
But the truck was quite large, which made him feel a bit unaccustomed to it.
Especially on narrow roads, a little carelessness could easily lead to a scrape. He needed to drive it more to get familiar with it.
This was an inevitable experience when switching from a small car to a large one. It wouldn't be a problem if it were the other way around.
Originally, Chu Mingcheng had wanted to sell his old car right there, but then he thought of Zhang Wei.
Chen Yang had driven his own car over, but Zhang Wei didn't have one.
The car at his home was a mini electric car he used for fishing, and he couldn't possibly drive it all the way here.
Don't be fooled by the fact that he'd made a lot of money fishing for large yellow croakers at the end of the year. He usually commuted with Chen Yang and rarely needed a car, so he hadn't bought a new one yet.
Chu Mingcheng called him first. "Zhang Wei, I bought a new car. You want my old sedan?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I want something for free?" Zhang Wei replied.
"Get lost. I'm selling it to you cheaply. If you want it, give me fifty thousand. If not, I'll sell it myself."
Zhang Wei didn't hesitate. "Hurry up and drive it over here. It's just money!"
The moment he hung up, Chu Mingcheng received a transfer of seventy thousand yuan.
Seeing the amount, he shook his head with a smile, then transferred twenty thousand back. "I said fifty thousand, so it's fifty thousand. Do I look like I'm short on twenty thousand?"
"A car is a man's second wife. You sold your wife, so I had to give a little extra to comfort you, right?"
"Get lost. I only have one wife. A car is a mistress at best. If it's gone, it's gone. No big deal!"
"All right, since you're so generously giving your mistress to me, I'll treat you to dinner tonight. Bring your wife along!"
"You dare treat me to dinner? You don't know my appetite?" Chu Mingcheng shot back.
"Bring it on. See if you can eat me into poverty!"
"So arrogant? I'll definitely come with an empty stomach tonight and eat until you're trembling."
After some banter, Chu Mingcheng hung up and cheerfully called for a designated driver, gave him the address, and had him drive the sedan to Chen Yang's shop.
Then he drove his new car, filled up the tank, and cruised around the city streets.
Although the Ford Raptor wasn't as handsome as a sports car, it was domineering enough, so it turned a few heads on the road.
Of course, it wasn't women who were looking, but other men.
Feeling like he hadn't been driving for long, his phone suddenly rang in the car. Chu Mingcheng was startled. He picked up his phone and saw that it was already five in the afternoon.
Jiang Luoluo had been getting rides to and from work from him these past few days and hadn't driven, so it was her calling.
"Hello, Ah-Cheng, are you still buying a car?"
"Bought it, and I'm on my way back!" Chu Mingcheng replied. "I sold the old one to Zhang Wei for cheap. He said he's treating us to dinner tonight. I'm coming to pick you up now!"
"Okay, I'll wait for you on the street downstairs."
After hanging up, Chu Mingcheng realized he didn't even know where he'd driven. He was only familiar with the roads near the university and the route to the shipyard.
So he quickly turned on the navigation and followed it to turn around and head back.
When he arrived downstairs at Jiang Luoluo's studio, she was already waiting on the roadside, with Zhang Ruomei standing beside her.
Chu Mingcheng pulled up in front of them, rolled down the window, and smiled. "Hey, beauties, free tonight? How about a drink?"
"Sure!" Seeing it was him, Jiang Luoluo smiled brightly, then turned to Zhang Ruomei. "Want to come with?"
"No, no, I was just curious what car he bought. You two go on!" Zhang Ruomei waved her hand in refusal, then looked the car over. "Tsk tsk, I didn't expect you to buy a Raptor. Let me borrow it for a spin sometime!"
"You like this car too?" Chu Mingcheng asked, surprised.
"I prefer a Big G (G-Wagen)!" Zhang Ruomei said with a mischievous look. "Boss, when are you going to buy me one?"
Jiang Luoluo waved her hand magnanimously. "No problem. In a hundred years, I'll definitely burn one for you!"
"Get lost." Zhang Ruomei gave her a light smack, then waved to them. "Go on your date. I'm heading home from work, bye!"
"Mmm, bye!" After watching her leave, Jiang Luoluo went to the passenger side, opened the door, and got in.
She shifted in her seat, then leaned back to feel it. "This is pretty comfortable. Not bad!"
Chu Mingcheng started the car and headed toward Chen Yang's shop. "It's pretty good. I think this car is enough. No need to buy another private car."
"Yeah, this car is fine for daily travel, but it's a bit of a gas-guzzler."
"We're not short on that."
A fisherman with a cheat system is just that loaded!