The Happy Farmer Wanderer-Chapter 851 Lü Zong’s Forced Investment

Li Qing only remembered when he saw Tang Jianmin’s number that he had extensive connections in the village, even knowing clearly who had chickens, and perhaps even who was willing to rent. He said, "A friend is planning to open a shop in our village and needs to rent three whole residences. They plan to do some renovations and change the layout, but regarding the rent, you can rest assured that they won’t be underpaid."

"Qingzi, what do you think of my house? If you’re interested, as long as the price is right, I’ll sell my cow and clean up the cowshed to live in it myself. You know there are only two of us at home, and having a place to live is enough," Tang Jianmin said with a smile.

"Old Tang, you’re not short of money now, is it really necessary to do this?" Li Qing asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Money, who would think it’s superfluous?" Tang Jianmin replied. "I’m serious, why don’t you take a look first?"

"I have no objections to you living in a cowshed, but what about when your kid comes back?" Li Qing asked, "Be careful, your son might come back and break your legs, finally comes home only to find no house and has to live in a cowshed."

"That little brat turning against me? I’ve worked hard to earn money for his education, he wouldn’t dare to object. Besides, I still call the shots at home, it’s not up to those little brats yet," Tang Jianmin said loudly, "Moreover, my cowshed is quite spacious. I can clean it up and easily partition it into three rooms."

"That location of yours should be okay," Li Qing estimated and said, "But you should discuss it at home again, and once you’re sure about earning this money, call me. Also, I still need two more residences, could you help me look around?"

Tang Jianmin readily agreed, then asked, "Qingzi, what do you think about Cheng Yuhu’s house, that old bachelor? He’s all alone, and it’s easy to settle him. If you’re interested, I can ask him for you."

"His house is right behind the village committee courtyard, right?" Li Qing asked after giving it some thought.

"Yes, yes, right there," Tang Jianmin said, "It might be a bit off for opening a shop."

"It’s not too remote. Ask him first, any others?" Li Qing asked after thinking for a moment.

"Let me think..." Tang Jianmin muttered, then suddenly called out loudly, "Old Lin, come here for a sec."

Lin Qing heard him as if he was consulting with someone, so he didn’t rush to inquire further, waiting a little while.

There were quite a few people surnamed Lin in the village, and Tang Jianmin had several working for him; Li Qing was unclear which Old Lin he was calling.

After some murmuring over the phone, a different person suddenly asked, "Qingzi, how much is this whole residence rent approximately?"

Li Qing hadn’t had the chance to ask Lü Zong and Guan Ying’er about this, so he handed the phone directly to Lü Zong. "I’ve found a few residences, Lü Zong, you start with the general situation, particularly the price, and then we’ll go look at the locations."

Lü Zong nodded, took Li Qing’s phone, and said, "It depends on the specific location and area, but it’s about thirty thousand a year."

"Mainly we need to renovate and change the layout, you should be prepared for that."

"Are you shouting because it’s too expensive or too cheap? Oh... okay then, since there’s no objection, you should take us to see first."

After a few brief words, Lü Zong handed the phone back to Li Qing, laughing, "This guy suddenly yelled and almost caused me an ear problem; I thought he found it too little, but it turns out he thought our offer was too high."

"Thirty thousand a year for a whole rent, that’s indeed quite high," Li Qing said with a laugh. "Lü Zong, you really are willing to spend money. In the busy areas of the county town, three thousand a year is usually the most one could expect for a large residence, and for smaller ones, about twenty thousand. To offer thirty thousand off the bat in our village is bound to surprise anyone."

"I know, after all, a village house is not the same as a city house. We need someone to vacate their property to rent to us, and if we don’t offer a slightly higher price, there’s hardly anyone who would agree to move out," Lü Zong explained. "This is indeed slightly different from elsewhere."

Li Qing nodded, "That’s true, but I still think you’re too rich; around twenty thousand probably would have sufficed."

"Then should I lower it a bit?" Lü Zong said with a smile.

Li Qing chuckled softly, "That’s up to you. Although going back on your word is a bit hard to justify, I think setting our village’s rental starting point so high is not a good thing; it could affect development, Lü Zong."

"Let’s leave it as it is. I just announced it, it wouldn’t be appropriate to backtrack immediately," Lü Zong said, waving his hand. "It might affect others’ rental prices in the future, but not by much, considering our plan covers a larger scale and might not be comparable to others."

Li Qing nodded but said nothing more.

He is indeed happy to spend big.

But the impact of his casual pricing probably couldn’t be avoided.

In such a small village, if others wanted to rent a house in the future, they would definitely inquire about the rent of these residences; anyone offering less than thirty thousand might find no takers.

Of course, it still depends on the person. Li Qing could suggest this to Lü Zong but couldn’t make suggestions to others.

Perhaps some might even ask for more.

Li Qing and the others waited on the main road for a while before seeing Tang Jianmin and a middle-aged man wearing a hard hat hurriedly walking over.

Seeing the man, Li Qing suddenly remembered.

It was Old Lin.

Old Lin’s real name was Lin Hua, and he had been working on Li Qing’s construction project with Tang Jianmin for the better part of this year.

His son had already married and had children, and last year his spouse went to the city to help with the grandchildren, leaving Lin Hua alone at home.

Lin Hua simply rented out all his land and worked on the construction projects, completely transitioning from a migrant worker to a worker. Although his family was harmonious, he was like Cheng Yuhu, the old bachelor in the village, living alone.

Aside from holidays, his son hardly ever came back.

After a brief conversation and getting acquainted, Lin Hua led Li Qing and his group to his house.

His house was a bit towards the back, you’d have to walk to the end of the main road that entered the village and then turn down towards the ravine to reach Lin Hua’s place. His situation was similar to Han Mei’s, situated quite far from other houses.

Lü Changxi, seeing the neatly arranged and well-maintained house, loved it at the first glance, "This place would be perfect for a countryside bar, the location is just right. In the summer, we can set up some outdoor sheds, pure natural vibes!"

"We don’t need to look inside, that’s settled then, let’s sign the contract, rent it out for a year."

As Lin Hua was opening the door and heard this, he was stunned, "That’s it? Perhaps you should look a bit more. It’s thirty thousand, I’d feel bad if you didn’t take a closer look."