“It seems so. I just wonder, how many people are there in the city anyway? Who’s going to live in all those new buildings?”

“No matter who lives there, the housing prices will definitely go up.”

“Oh, come on, how much higher can they go? To the moon?”

Edward Clark showed utter disdain for housing prices. William Clark shrugged—if only you knew that in the future, the average price here would be 7,000, wouldn’t that scare you to death?

He reached out and flagged down a taxi—a little Alto, no meter, not even twenty years later. At first, a ride within the county was 3 yuan, later it went up to 6.

“To Xiaolan Village.”

“Fifteen!”

No need to haggle, it was always a fixed price.

The three of them got in, the car started slowly, driving down streets where private cars were still rare, passing by old city scenes that looked like frames from a film reel.

William Clark had been back for a few days, but still couldn’t get enough, or maybe he was still adjusting.

Adjusting to this rough and rapidly changing era.

Edward Clark sat in the back, still thinking about the earlier topic, and suddenly asked, “Xiaoyuan, how much are housing prices in Beijing?”

“It depends on the area and the community. Some are two or three thousand, some are over ten thousand.”

“Where’s the newspaper where you’re interning?”

“In, in, in Chaoyang…”

William Clark was a little excited. In his previous life, his parents had indeed mentioned buying a house in Beijing, but nothing ever came of it. One reason was that he didn’t stay in Beijing for work, and another was that people in this era really didn’t care much about houses.

Just like in this small city, you could buy an apartment for tens of thousands. As long as you had hands and feet, you could make it happen.

Things like mortgages! Rigid demand! Rat race! Wage slaves! Lying flat! All those soul-crushing concepts simply didn’t exist!

Linda Carter chimed in, “What are you thinking, buying a house for Xiaoyuan?”

“I’m just asking. If he ends up working in Beijing, he can’t rent forever, right?”

“Beijing is so far away. Wouldn’t it be better to come back and take the civil service exam, or find a job at a state-owned enterprise?”

“Even if he comes back, it’d be to Shencheng, not home. There aren’t any good jobs here… Anyway, it’s not urgent, we can wait a few years.”

“……”

William Clark leaned against the car window, tears streaming in the wind. Don’t wait, please! If you wait, the prices will really go to the moon!

It’s not that he had to buy a house right now—he’d been reborn, surely he could earn enough for a house! The key was, buying now would feel like an achievement! The thrill of getting a bargain!

If you spend 200 million on a piece of blue-and-white porcelain, maybe it’s nothing. But if you pick one up for 200 yuan, you’ll get a twisted kind of pleasure.

He rubbed his chin and made a mental note: missing out on a bargain feels worse than losing money.

Chapter Two: Relatives

William Clark had worked in print media, television, and the internet in his previous life—twenty years of dealing with the media. He’d been through a lot, but overall, he’d brought honor to the family.

On his mother’s side, the siblings were all doing well, but they were scattered across the country and didn’t keep in touch much. His father’s side was poorer, but they lived nearby.

Edward Clark had a younger brother, who was William Clark’s uncle.

He’d served in the army, but after retiring, never found a steady job. His aunt was from the countryside. The two of them had sold cigarettes, sold vegetables, raised foxes—one year’s harvest for one year’s living, never any extra money, and from time to time, they needed help from the eldest brother.

For a long time, William Clark was annoyed by his uncle’s family, but later he understood—family ties run deep in China, hard to sever. Besides, his uncle was just poor, not a bad person, and could be relied on in a pinch.

His uncle also had a son, named Brian Clark. Back then, after finishing elementary school, he didn’t plan to continue, but Linda Carter insisted: I’ll pay for the child’s education!

So he went to middle school, then high school, and eventually got into a university in Shencheng. The school wasn’t anything special, but it was still a university.

Just for that, Edward Clark and his uncle had great respect for Linda Carter.

The little Alto bounced along for twenty minutes, then turned into a village on the outskirts—Xiaolan Village.

The village roads hadn’t been paved yet. The main road was fine, but the side roads were all dirt. The three got out and entered a courtyard with three big tiled houses, the ground stained with blood, and a big wolfdog howling.

“Quiet!”

“Are you blind? Don’t you recognize your own family?”

Uncle shouted the dog away, coming over with a knife in hand, blood dripping from the blade. On the ground was a wooden block, and two rabbits had just been slaughtered. Aunt was cleaning them.

“You’re right on time, just finished.”

“These rabbits are really fat!”

Linda Carter looked them over.

“Of course meat rabbits are fat. A comrade gave them to me. I’m thinking of braising one and stir-frying the other.”

“Whatever you say, you’re the head chef anyway.” Aunt didn’t even look up.

“……”

Edward Clark and Linda Carter exchanged a glance—another argument.

“Uncle!”

“Aunt!”

Brian Clark came over to greet them, welcomed the three inside, poured water, brought out fruit, and sat down to chat.

He had dark skin, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and was a bit shy. He explained, “My dad’s comrade introduced me to a job at a performance company, setting up stages. It’s 600 yuan a month, with food and lodging included.”

“That sounds pretty good!”

“The thing is, I have to travel a lot. The company has business in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. There’s a special team—wherever there’s a show, we have to go set up the stage.”

“Oh, so your mom’s not happy about it.”

“It’s nothing, I’ll talk to her later.”

After hearing the story, the two went out to help, leaving the cousins alone in the house.