Dawn of Life

Chapter 68 Real Estate Agents

Just then, Lin Yue saw a pair of feet slowly move in front of her. She looked up and saw Liu Cuiying with a calm expression, as if everything was within her expectations.

She sat down next to Lin Yue on the sofa: "It's okay, it's just that you lost your job. You still have this house. Sell it and go back to your hometown to live. I've noticed you've been getting off work very early lately, and you're always spacing out by yourself. I guessed it. Your dad even said I was overthinking it."

Lin Yue was momentarily speechless, unsure of what to say. She used to always find Liu Cuiying's fragile ego and sensitivity distasteful. But at this moment, Lin Yue couldn't help but admire her thoughtfulness. She recalled how, when she first got her period as a child, Liu Cuiying was the first to notice her embarrassment and panic, offering timely comfort and help.

"Mom, it's not that I haven't thought about selling the house and going back home, but I feel unwilling to go back now. It's not that my hometown is bad. But you have to admit that Hangzhou is much better than my hometown in terms of economic conditions, job market, and educational resources. I spent thirteen years establishing myself in this city so that Xiaoyu could be born here and enjoy the same growth environment and learning conditions as local children. If I take him back to my hometown now, will he have to start all over again here when he grows up?"

Liu Cuiying frowned, her face darkening. "I think it's because you don't want to go back. Over the years, you've only made a quick trip home during the Spring Festival. You don't know how things have changed. There's no difference between living in Mianyang and living in Hangzhou. There's a shopping mall just over 200 meters from our house, a vegetable market right outside, a hospital just around the corner, and a senior activity center. Mianyang Central School is less than 2 kilometers away, and many children from rural areas are sent there to study."

Lin Haifeng, who rarely expresses his opinion, suddenly spoke up: "Your mother is right. It doesn't really matter where you live, the important thing is that the family is together and healthy. Even if life is bad now, it's still better than when we couldn't even afford to eat. I watched you leave early and come home late every day for 10 months in Hangzhou. No matter how good the conditions are outside, you don't have time to enjoy them."

Lin Yue was suddenly speechless. In recent years, the economy has been sluggish and the employment environment outside has been getting worse and worse. Whether it was a voluntary choice or a forced choice, many people around her have chosen to return to their hometowns to develop.

After they returned, Lin Yue talked to them. There was indeed a period of adjustment difficulties at first. But as time went on, everyone gradually began to enjoy the slower pace of life there, without the cutthroat competition of the workplace or the pressure of pushing children to excel in school.

Liu Cuiying has always wanted to keep Lin Yue by her side. In the past, it may have been based on a strong mother's desire to control her daughter, but now it is more out of a feeling of pity for her.

Lin Yue had previously married far away against her wishes, and then divorced her against her will because she was unhappy with her own marriage. This had always been a knot in her heart, but after living together for so long, she had also witnessed firsthand the hardships her daughter had faced.

Lin Yue confessed to her family that after losing her job, she did relax for a few days, picking up and dropping off Xiao Yu in the morning and evening, tutoring Xiao Yu, watching TV with Lin Haifeng, and helping Liu Cuiying.

But soon she found that this could no longer distract her. In just half a month, she interviewed with several companies, each one more unreliable than the last. They were either too far away, too small, or, most importantly, offered very little money.

Lin Yue watched the money in her account dwindle day by day, and her heart clenched with worry. Especially in the quiet of the night, the choices she made and the path she would take in the future seemed like a series of knots that she couldn't untangle or resolve. As a result, she began to suffer from insomnia and stomach aches again.

Just then, she received a call from Gao Ming, who asked her to meet with a real estate agent to discuss selling the house.

She quickly tidied herself up and went out. When she arrived at 5i5j.com, she saw Gao Ming and Ma Hongli cuddling together. Lin Yue felt nauseous seeing the deliberately dressed Ma Hongli pressed against Gao Ming.

Gao Ming, Ma Hongli, and a real estate agent sat around a small round table. Lin Yue walked over and pulled the chairs back further.

Gao Ming looked up at Lin Yue and asked with interest, "Didn't your boyfriend come with you?"

Lin Yue snorted coldly, "You're really meddling."

The real estate agent sensed their tension and stepped in to smooth things over: "I've already explained this to both of you on the phone. The buyer's initial offer was 580 million, but we've negotiated several more times based on your requirements. Currently, the highest offer we can make is 590 million. There's another property in the same complex that's 10 cheaper, but it faces a better direction than yours. So he's considering both options now. If he's serious about selling, he should make a decision soon."

The agent then spent another half hour analyzing the market environment for them and showed them the transaction data in the system's backend on the computer. Gao Ming stared at the data and nodded repeatedly. He noticed that Lin Yue remained silent throughout the process, assuming she was still determined not to sell.

After sending the agent away, he said with a grim face, "Lin Yue, what exactly do you want? If you hadn't kept dragging your feet, it wouldn't be this cheap now. Don't forget, you have to move out in a little over a month. Even if you don't sell, I won't let you live here anymore."

Lin Yue turned her face away, not wanting to argue with Gao Ming. It was indeed partly her fault that she didn't sell when someone offered 600 million last time; at that time, her mind wasn't on that matter, and the concept that owning a house meant having a home was still in her mind.

These past few days she has been carefully studying the market and discussing it with her parents, and her mindset has indeed undergone a significant change.

However, she still hadn't figured it out. After leaving Gao Ming standing aside for a while, she finally said indifferently, "I'll think about it first and get back to you in a couple of days. I will abide by the agreement, you don't need to remind me." After saying that, she picked up her bag and left the agency.

On her drive home, the experiences of the past ten days since losing her job kept replaying in her mind. She thought about her resume disappearing into thin air, the depreciating property listings, and her parents' expectant eyes. Gao Ming's aggressive push to move out in a month was making her feel urgency.

Lin Yue finally made a decision: she would sell the house first. The house, which represented half of Gao Ming's assets, was no longer a home for her, but a commodity.

After selling the house, she planned to go back to her hometown first. One reason was to fulfill her parents' wishes, and the other was that she wanted to have more options in her life. She had been really tired lately, and rather than just sitting around in Hangzhou and wasting her life like this, she might as well go home and experience it. What if she really liked life in her hometown? That might not be a bad choice.

She calculated that the house price was 5.9 million yuan. After deducting the outstanding mortgage of 265 million yuan, as well as the agent's fee and deed tax, there was still about 3 million yuan left, of which she would receive 1.5 million yuan.

Putting 150 million yuan in the bank will definitely not keep up with inflation, but she can no longer afford a house in Hangzhou, so one solution is to buy in another city. Although it's a downgrade in life, at least she and Xiaoyu can have a home of their own.

Just as she was thinking about the message on her phone, she glanced at it while waiting at a traffic light. The moment she saw the WeChat message, her heart skipped a beat, and anticipation surged through her.

The message was from Qin Lan: "Lin Yue, are you free tomorrow at noon? My company is almost ready. Here's an address, come over in the morning."