The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead
Chapter 197 - 191: Grandpa Xue’s Foresight

Chapter 197: Chapter 191: Grandpa Xue’s Foresight

Lu Jingqiu asked, "Grandpa Xue, how much are they planning to sell the house for?"

"They are in a hurry to sell, four thousand yuan, even a few hundred yuan cheaper than ours, and it also has three tiled rooms, plus a storeroom next to the kitchen. All were built just a few years ago. I think the house is quite decent, so I immediately sent a telegram to Niannian. After dinner, I’ll go ask about it myself, and I’ll take you to see the house tomorrow."

"Okay." Lu Jingqiu wasn’t particular about the location or what the house was like, as long as there was a property deed and it could be transferred to her name.

After dinner, Grandpa Xue went out to inquire about the house.

Xue Jianian helped Grandma Xue wash the pots and dishes, and Lu Jingqiu also wanted to help, but was turned away.

In Yangcheng City, the winter weather meant just wearing a long-sleeved shirt with an overcoat.

Although her place could be considered the South as well, she still preferred the snow in the North.

After Xue Jianian finished helping, he suggested they go out for a walk. After telling Grandma Xue, he pulled Jingqiu out the door.

This area, although it was the residential area for the textile factory’s workers, mostly consisted of private houses, with a few tube-shaped apartment buildings occupied by senior factory employees.

But the roads here were truly wide.

Xue Jianian intentionally led her past the courtyard Grandpa Xue had mentioned. They couldn’t see it very clearly, but the courtyard wall and gate looked decent.

"Jingqiu, I’ve always been confused as to why you’d come so far to buy a house, and especially why you’d buy a house here. There are many places in the city much better than here, and with a more bustling location."

Lu Jingqiu laughed, "If the location is bustling and the house is good, how could it be our turn to buy?"

"True," he replied.

"Actually, I’m not buying this house to live in. I’m waiting for its value to increase," she said.

"Increase in value?" Xue Jianian pondered and then commented, "Indeed, it can increase in value... When I bought this house for my grandpa, it was a bit over four thousand, but my grandpa said, if it had been five years earlier, the houses here would have only been a bit over three thousand. In five years’ time, it went up by a thousand. That’s equivalent to the wages of a regular worker for five years, assuming they saved without spending on anything else."

Lu Jingqiu hadn’t expected Xue Jianian to understand so well and laughed, "It’s different now compared to a few years ago. Nowadays, various places are implementing open-door policies. In the future, many people will flock to the cities to develop their lives. Not to mention far-off places, just take the educated youth in the countryside; in the next few years, they will definitely return to the city. When so many people do so, the first issue will be food and shelter. By then, housing will become even scarcer, and with the increased demand, housing prices are bound to rise quickly."

Xue Jianian nodded, showing he had learned something, "Then why don’t you buy in West City, why come here?"

"West City doesn’t have the rapid development that this place has. Look at your Yangcheng City, it has attracted so many people from different areas to wholesale goods, and there’s also such a large port that brings in many novel things from outside. I think that when the country opens up, it won’t just be internally but also externally.

So this city will develop faster than other cities. I have some money and can afford to buy a house, so I thought of holding on to it from the time when the prices start to rise."

Xue Jianian said, "Jingqiu, do you know why I like being friends with you? Because every time we talk, you always have different perspectives from others, somewhat like my grandpa. I really enjoy that."

"Grandpa Xue?"

"Yeah. Don’t think just because my grandpa is from the countryside, he wouldn’t be sharp. Sometimes, his ideas are unique and unlike others. Sometimes, my grandpa does things that people in the village would consider foolish, but I know, everything he does eventually turns out right.

It’s like when he suggested I study with my foster parents. At first, it was his idea, thinking it would be useful someday.

Look at me now, not only have I gained a set of foster parents, but the knowledge they taught me also helped me get into university."

"Later, I suggested that Grandpa Xue should stop earning work points in the fields and come out with me; he agreed."

"Now that the land in the village is privatized for each household, my grandpa didn’t claim his share, but rented it to our village chief. He said, ’You can earn more money in the city than in the countryside. Once you’ve earned money, you can afford to buy food. And food will only become more abundant, so there’s no worry about not having enough to eat—the real concern is not having money.’"

Lu Jingqiu nodded in admiration, "Grandpa Xue is absolutely right." Jingqiu’s own perceptions were formed from living two lifetimes and witnessing the development of later generations.

For a moment, she even suspected that Grandpa Xue might also be a time traveler or reborn.

Feeling proud of her grandfather being praised, Xue Jianian lifted her head arrogantly, "Well, my grandpa had no sons, just my mother, his only child, but he raised my mother well. It’s a pity about my mother... let’s not talk about that.

"In any case, every step I take now is guided by my grandpa."

"Your grandpa really has great foresight."

The two of them chatted as they walked and unintentionally reached the end of the road.

"Where are we?"

"This is a stinky ditch. There are even fish in it. However, every rainy season, the water overflows from here. Look at those houses nearby—some are flooded, and others are so damp that they’re uninhabitable."

Lu Jingqiu’s eyes lit up, "Are those houses still owned by people?"

"Yes, the family we just passed used to live here. They moved out later. Nobody wants these houses, even for five hundred yuan."

"Ah, five hundred? Isn’t that an exaggeration?"

"Not at all. The last time I returned, I heard Grandma Xue going on about how the family up front wanted to sell their house because their son was getting married. They thought about re-leveling and renovating the place, but the new daughter-in-law didn’t agree. Building a new house was too expensive, so they thought about selling it. The price dropped from over three thousand to over two thousand, then to over one thousand, and in the end, for just over five hundred yuan, it almost sold. But when it was time to pay, the buyers took one last look and saw that the house was no longer stable, so they dared not buy it."

"So that means their house hasn’t been sold?"

"Yeah, it looks like it hasn’t."

Lu Jingqiu said, "What do you think about me buying over here? I won’t live in it anyways; I’ll just wait for its value to appreciate. The houses here are cheap."

Xue Jianian frowned, disapprovingly, "You might not live here now, but what about the future? This place has that big pond; it floods when it rains. It won’t be easy to sell later on."

Lu Jingqiu laughed, knowing that Xue Jianian definitely wouldn’t agree. Anyone living here would certainly think she was foolish.

It was like when she bought Aunt Li Qi’s house in Capital City; it was a hopeless situation as the house couldn’t really be reclaimed, yet that was exactly how she acquired it.

Jiang Nanzhou might not have said anything, but he definitely felt it was imprudent. Yet he went along with her, helping her to buy it, probably thinking that if it came to the worst, they’d only lose over a thousand yuan, which he could recoup by translating a few articles.

Xue Jianian would think she was silly for wanting these silt-filled houses.

But how could she explain the later events to Xue Jianian?

Because she knew that the development project planned for next year was centered precisely around that pond. Unfortunately, she only had just over five thousand yuan on her, and if she bought the house that Grandpa Xue had inquired about for her, the remainder wouldn’t be enough.