Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 1260 Class Reunion

Many idlers stood by the roadside, pointing and gossiping. Ma San'er stood at the entrance of his general store, holding his large palm-leaf fan.

The side of the courtyard wall facing the street has been demolished, and only the lower half of the low wall remains of the house inside the courtyard. The dismantled bricks, tiles, and wood are neatly stacked at the base of the wall.

Seeing Xiaowei and the others arrive, Ma San'er smiled and came over: "Come and see?"

Xiao Wei nodded and pointed to Qin Xuemei: "This is my sister. She'll be using this place from now on."

Ma San'er glanced at Qin Xuemei, a look of amazement flashing in his eyes, then immediately looked away and said to Xiao Wei, "I was thinking of talking to you about that half-finished item, but I can't find anyone. I heard that the buyer is a foreigner who is basically not in the country."

"In this area," he gestured with his palm-leaf fan, "all the way to Ya'er, many houses were bought by foreigners, and no one lives there. They've hired people to clean and maintain them. Foreigners are really damn rich."

Chen Hui said, "That's normal. What we see as a backward tenement, they see as Eastern culture. How's yours going?"

Ma San'er said, "Almost there, everyone's interested. Everyone needs to discuss it with their whole family, so there's no rush. The contract with the manager hasn't been finalized yet."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "No rush, it's better to be cautious."

Qin Xuemei went into the courtyard, but Commander Hou tugged at her sleeve and pulled her out, saying, "My dear aunt, don't get hurt! What are you going in there to see?"

Qin Xuemei smiled shyly and said, "I want to see what's inside."

Xiao Wei said, "The original houses were all well-maintained, but most of them were in bad shape. We demolished and rebuilt them, so you can't see anything now."

Qin Xuemei asked, "How long will it take?"

Xiao Wei said, "You'll be quick, it'll only take two or three months. Most of the structural components can be finished and brought over. We got to know everything about this house when we were repairing it, so if we were to do that house again, it would take several times longer than before."

Ma San'er said, "It seems that Manager Jing has negotiated a deal with that lakeside restaurant for 165,000."

Xiao Wei didn't take it seriously, saying, "Fine, let's buy it. Have you discussed it with your family yet?"

Ma San'er said, "We've discussed it, so I'll come over. My sister will be back in a few days, and I'll start working there as soon as she gets back. I've also submitted my wife's documents; they said the background check will take a few days."

Ma San'er is now beaming with joy; he has a house, a job, and his wife has a job too. Everyone in old Beijing knows how prestigious a job that requires political vetting is; the political awareness of the people here is the highest in the country.

Xiao Wei said, "Once things come down over there next year, I'll help you get a counter or storefront there for your sister to run. I'm afraid this stall here won't be able to operate anymore; all the storefronts outside the yard are going to be torn down. You should tell them about this too."

Ma San'er said, "Everyone knows what's going on. Once the people are gone, the houses will be given to you, so it's no big deal. Only two houses in this area are rented out; the rest are all running their own businesses, so it's fine. I have a few childhood friends, and I've been having them do some digging these past few days. We're trying to get a whole bunch of houses demolished."

Xiao Wei said, "You should pay attention to this matter and make the arrangements. We won't let them help for nothing. Once the houses are settled, I'll give them a small allowance for their hard work, and anyone who wants to come can come to work on business."

Ma San'er thought for a moment and asked in a low voice, "I don't understand. This area definitely can't be demolished, so what's the point of building so many houses? In your eyes, this isn't worth much money."

Xiao Wei said, "Our company has hotel and tourism businesses, and I think the feng shui of this place is quite pleasant. Let's just treat it as a vacation; we won't lose money anyway."

……

The next day, Xiaowei, Chen Hui, and Qin Xuemei went to Renmin University to attend classes, checked in with the teacher to confirm their absence, and retrieved the lesson plans for those two classes.

The other students in the class seemed to have gotten to know each other quite well, and they had formed three small cliques.

Xiao Wei, Chen Hui, and Qin Xuemei count as one, as do the two bosses from Beijing and the three state-owned enterprise executives from other places.

These three were of a lower rank, so the higher-ups didn't associate with them. Instead, they became close to two locals, whose families seemed to have some influence in Beijing. State-owned enterprise cadres might not be good at much else, but they were masters of interpersonal relationships, and they flattered the two local rich kids to their hearts' content.

The two men who invited Qin Xuemei to dinner were high-ranking members of that group. They were both over forty years old and kept a reserved demeanor while holding their bellies, but their dull eyes betrayed them completely.

Xiao Wei was a little surprised. He originally thought that the two locals would be the ones flirting with Sister Qin Xuemei, but it turned out to be this group of old guys.

During the break, those two old men came over again: "Little Qin, hehe, you're getting prettier and prettier. How about it? Have you thought it over? We'll arrange for you to be a section chief first. You can definitely become a full-fledged director in three to five years. As for the rest, it depends on your efforts."

Qin Xuemei frowned and ignored them.

"Who are these two? Xiao Qin, won't you introduce them to us?" The other one looked Xiao Wei and Chen Hui up and down and said, "They're all classmates, it's fate, let's see if there's anything we can help you with, don't be shy."

"Yes, yes, don't be so polite. It's fate that we met. Although the country is now advocating the development of the private economy, our national conditions are what they are. State-owned enterprises are still the main force, and that will never change. It's part of politics, after all."

Making money isn't that easy. What do you all do? Let's see if there's any way we can collaborate. We're all classmates, so you can come find me later, and I'll sign your papers. No problem, right? Haha, I have high hopes for Xiao Qin."

A few more people from their circle sat down: "Our alumni association could expand a bit and bring in some young blood."

Xiao Wei and his two friends were sitting alone in a relatively far back spot, which had become the liveliest place.

"Young man, this is a great opportunity. Our charter only accepts members who are at the deputy director level or above and have influence."

"Have you heard of the Taishan Club? What about the Tsinghua University Alumni Association?" A state-owned enterprise executive surnamed Qi sat down next to Xiao Wei and asked.

Xiao Wei shook his head: "Never heard of it. What do they do?"

President Qi chuckled and patted Xiao Wei on the shoulder: "You're still young, which is good, but it also means you don't know much. These are all well-known organizations in China, full of successful people. Everyone shares their knowledge and supports each other."

We got together for the fun and discussed setting up an alumni association. For now, it's just the group of us, but it will grow and expand in the future. However, we will only admit members who are at the department level or above and have significant influence.

Old Wang said he could bring you in, which is a real opportunity for you, so seize it. Making money in business is easy with the support of people like us; a few approvals will all be taken care of.

(End of this chapter)