Reborn as a landlord in Shanghai

Mao Xiaoyu had already guessed that her father would talk to her that evening when she got her second haircut at noon. After all, her father hadn't said anything during the day, so she assumed he would ask her something that evening. Therefore, she was already mentally prepared when she heard her father call her.

Mao Xiaoyu hadn't expected that her father would be so patient, only contacting her now.

…………

Seeing her father drinking, Mao Xiaoyu went over to him, sat down, and then looked at him calmly without saying a word, waiting for him to speak.

"Have you been opening the shop so early every morning just to get a haircut?" Looking at his son, who was taller than him, sitting in front of him, Mao Jun didn't scold Mao Xiaoyu, but asked softly.

"No, there aren't many people getting haircuts in the morning. Usually, most people are getting their hair washed and dried. I didn't initially intend to give haircuts; it was just an accident later," Mao Xiaoyu replied frankly.

"What's wrong? You're working so hard. Do you want to become a shaving master? Well, it's understandable. I saw your skills today, and I think you did a pretty good job. If you want to be a shaving master, your skills are already quite good. But as you know, the business in the shop is limited. If you become a shaving master, some of the daily customer traffic will have to be diverted to you, and the other shaving masters' wages may decrease at the end of the month. This will make it difficult to maintain unity. Therefore, I hope you can wait for a while."

Mao Jun didn't ask where his son's money from washing hair went. Instead, he talked about his son's promotion from apprentice to full-time employee. In Mao Jun's view, even if he earned 20 yuan a day washing two baths, it was nothing special. His son was getting older, and it was normal for him to want money. Besides, it's better to keep the money in the family. The shop was his, and it didn't matter if his son earned the money. After all, it was his son's hard-earned money. If his son really asked him for money, wouldn't he, as his parents, still have to give his son money to spend?

What's troubling Mao Jun the most right now is that his son's skills are already pretty good, but if he becomes a master chef, he's afraid the other four chefs in the shop will have objections. After all, if his son becomes a master chef, a group of customers will have to be diverted to him for haircuts, but there are only so many customers each day. If the customers are diverted to his son, the chefs' monthly salaries will definitely be reduced by several hundred yuan, and some of them will definitely feel bad about it.

So Mao Jun wanted to wait a couple of months, let his son help him shave customers for two or three months. After that, his son would have a group of regular customers, and then he could be officially hired. The four master barbers would have nothing to say, since his son's skills were already mature and he had regular customers. He would definitely get a salary commensurate with his skills.

"Actually, Dad, I'm not interested in being a head chef in the shop at all." Mao Xiaoyu waved her hand to express her attitude as soon as her father finished speaking.

Hearing his son's words and seeing his actions, Mao Jun frowned, thinking that Mao Xiaoyu was dissatisfied with his arrangement. He asked unhappily, "You don't want to be a master stylist in this shop? Do you want to go to another shop or work as a laborer? Don't forget, you're too young. Even if your skills are good, it won't be easy for you to work in another shop. Actually, the best way for you to develop is to work for me in this shop for two or three months. Then the whole shop will know that your skills are already good enough. Then I'll make you a full-time employee. That way, no one will gossip."

"Dad, you didn't understand what I said. That's not what I meant. What I meant was that I don't want to work as a hairdresser. I think it's really hard to make money as a hairdresser. After all, hairdressing is just a skill, not a way to get rich."

If I ever go hungry in the future, this skill can provide me with food. However, I think it's very difficult to make a lot of money with this skill. So recently, I've been thinking a lot about where my next step will be.

I don't want to stay in the hair salon all the time, so I go to the salon early every morning to blow-dry people's hair to earn some money. Then I take some money with me and go out for a stroll every day. After all, I get hungry while walking around, and sometimes I want to drink some water and eat something.

My purpose in going out was to see if there were any more ways to make money. After all, this barbershop is yours, and you're at this age. You know, you're only in your forties, and you can still work in this barbershop for another 20 years.

If I worked in this barbershop, I wouldn't be the boss. I would only get a small salary, about the same as the other barbers, maybe three or four thousand dollars a month, maybe a little more during the Lunar New Year.

But honestly, seeing the employees in the shop reminded me of myself. I felt like I could see the end of my life ahead, so I didn't want to live like that. That's why I got my hair cut in the shop; I really didn't want to be in the shop.

Moreover, with you and Mother here, with you two as my strong support, I feel I can go out and try my luck. After all, I'm 18 now, and I still yearn for the outside world. Even if I end up battered and bruised, I think when I come back, you, as my parents, will definitely give me food to eat.

When that time comes, I can simply take over the family business. After all, in a few years or a decade, I can go back home and work in the barbershop. By then, you'll be almost 60 years old. I believe you'll be willing to let me gradually take over the family barbershop.

With a serious expression, Mao Xiaoyu finally spoke what was on her mind.

Hearing Mao Xiaoyu's words, Mao Jun didn't say anything, but frowned, picked up a cigarette from the table, lit one, and after taking a drag and exhaling, asked, "Since you said you've been out looking for opportunities to make money lately, let me ask you, where have you seen any opportunities to make money?"

When asked this question, Mao Jun felt that his son was being a bit presumptuous. He felt that there weren't that many good opportunities to make money in the world. If there were good opportunities to make money, how could a teenager like him have discovered them? After all, other people aren't stupid; they would have already given the good opportunities to others.

"Dad, you know what, I've actually found a great opportunity while I've been running around for the past month. And I feel that if I really do this right, it could earn me more than you would from opening a barbershop." Hearing her father's question, Mao Xiaoyu knew that she had piqued his interest, so she quickly spoke up.

"Oh, what opportunity? Tell me about it, and I'll give you my opinion and see if it works." Hearing his son's words, Mao Jun asked with interest.

"Being a landlord, Dad, is a great opportunity to make money," Mao Xiaoyu said.

"What kind of good opportunity is this to make money? Of course, being a landlord is profitable, but you don't know that our 32-square-meter apartment only rents for 6500 yuan a year. Are you going to live on 6500 yuan a year? Even if you wanted to, that's not enough to live on. Besides, if you want to be a landlord, where are you going to get a house? We don't have any houses for you to be a landlord with. What kind of good business is that?"

Mao Jun asked somewhat speechlessly, after all, the old house was a one-bedroom, one-living room house. Because they bought a new house here, the old house was vacant. However, Mao Jun's family thought that since they had moved out of the old house, it was definitely not good to leave the old house there to collect dust.

So Mao Jun's family rented out their old house. And you know what? Although it's only 32 square meters, the location is great, so the annual rent is 6500 yuan. Of course, considering the price, it's not much, but it's not little either, considering there's not even a toilet. Generally, wealthy people wouldn't want to live in that kind of house.

Therefore, when Mao Jun hears his son say that he can make money as a landlord, he thinks it's nonsense. Everyone knows that renting out houses can make money, but the question is, where do the houses come from? If there are no houses, how can you make money?

"Dad, that's not what I meant by making money as a landlord. I've been going out a lot lately, wandering around the streets. I was walking around Changhai Road in XX District when I saw that the whole street was full of hospitals, and there were a lot of people renting out rooms in front of the hospitals, so I did some research there."

"I observed there for two days and realized that those who rent out their houses earn much more money than us every month. So I also want to buy a house on Changhai Road and become a landlord to rent out houses. If I do well at first, I'll expand and strengthen my business later." Mao Xiaoyu quickly explained.

"People who rent out rooms?" Mao Jun didn't understand what that meant.

"Yes, as you know, the top-tier hospitals in Shanghai are much better than those in smaller cities. Moreover, some of the famous top-tier hospitals are ranked among the best in China. This has led to many people who have serious illnesses in their hometowns not being able to get treatment there, so they come directly to Shanghai for treatment."

Therefore, well-known top-tier hospitals receive patients from all over the country every day. However, these patients are all there to treat serious illnesses. Although they bring a lot of money, it is mainly for raising money for treatment. So, if the family members of these patients want to rent a house, they generally will not stay in a hotel.

After all, a standard hotel room costs over 100 yuan a day. Although it's comfortable, hotels don't cook, so you have to buy food outside for all three meals, which is too expensive. Therefore, many landlords near the hospital rent out their houses. These landlords put 2 to 4 beds in each room, and rent out a bed for 60 yuan a day.

Moreover, the rent includes water, electricity, and gas, allowing patients' families to cook for themselves, which saves them a lot of money. I've calculated that this kind of landlord actually makes a lot of money, and you don't have to work hard yourself; it's like making money while lying down. So I want to be a landlord like that.

I've also done some research. There's a retired doctor on Changhai Road who's planning to sell his house for around 45 yuan. It's about 110 square meters. Although it's an old house that's about 10 years old, it's all renovated. If I can get the house, I can easily fit at least 10 beds in it.

I don't need many people each day. If I find eight tenants to live here, I can earn 480 yuan a day, which adds up to 15,000 yuan a month. After deducting utilities, I can easily make 13,000 yuan a month. That's much more than what I could earn here for a month of haircuts, making three or four thousand yuan.

"And if I do this for a long time and build up a base of regular customers, I can buy one or two more houses to rent out. Then I can earn about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a month, not to mention that these landlords can also make extra money." Mao Xiaoyu said this in a low voice to her father, pretending to be serious.

"Profits?" Mao Jun asked, puzzled. After all, in Mao Jun's view, being a landlord was just being a landlord, how could there be any profits to be made?

"Yes, there is profit to be made, and sometimes it's even more than the rent," Mao Xiaoyu said earnestly.

"I don't believe it at all. What kind of profit can you make from renting a house?" Mao Jun asked with a puzzled look.

"Listen to me, you see, these houses next to the hospital are rented to patients and their families. Many people travel long distances to see a doctor, but the hospital doesn't have any beds. What can they do? They are unfamiliar with the area and can only stay in our houses while waiting for a bed. But if they spend a little money, we landlords can help them find someone to stay in the hospital sooner so they can see a doctor sooner."

And then there's the registration process. Do you know how difficult it is to get an appointment at a famous top-tier hospital? A specialist only sees patients one or two days a week, and there are only 30 to 50 specialist appointments available each day. Patients and their families might wait for 10 or 20 days and still not be able to get an appointment. If you're sick and can't get an appointment, isn't that a huge hassle? But don't worry, just contact our landlord! For a little money, you can register for any day and any number of appointments you want.

And then there's surgery. Since they've come to Shanghai for medical treatment, it must be a serious illness. If they want to see a doctor, they definitely want to find a highly skilled and experienced specialist to perform the surgery. But what if these out-of-towners come here and don't know where to start? That's easy, just ask us landlords. We landlords work in hospitals all year round and deal with these kinds of people. We know all the ins and outs. We can help them find a good specialist to perform the surgery. As long as they have the money, it's no problem.

As for other things, as long as the patient's family has money, we can help them get the best service. Think about it, sometimes patients want to give gifts but don't know how. After all, it's troublesome to not know the right way to give gifts. It's okay, we landlords are here. We can help them with these things.

That's why I said being a landlord is really lucrative. If you're lucky, you can easily make tens of thousands of yuan a month. That's much better than working as a hairdresser every day. So, Dad, how about we buy that retired doctor's house on Changhai Road and let me go out and try my luck? What do you think?" Mao Xiaoyu finally revealed her true intentions after talking for a while.