Chapter 39: Where Is the Beauty?

“Show-off!”
Gu Bin couldn’t stand his swagger and kicked him from behind.
“Jealous!”
Wang Fan patted the dirt from the footprint on his pants, provoking him deliberately. “You’re just jealous, can’t bear to see me stealing the spotlight in front of a beautiful girl.”
“Where’s the beauty?”
Gu Bin scoffed in disdain.
“Class rep, he says you’re not a beauty.”
Wang Fan seized the opportunity and quickly stirred things up.
“In his eyes, I’m certainly not a beauty.”
Lin Xiyu was suddenly overcome by a wave of discomfort. “Who can compare with Zhang Xiaoqian? She plays the violin, looks gorgeous, comes from a wealthy family—even the homeroom teacher jokes that she and someone here are a golden couple, a match made in heaven.”
“Where’s that sour smell coming from? So bitter.”
Gu Bin chuckled, his laughter full of meaning.
“No one’s being sour, it’s just the truth.”
Lin Xiyu’s ears turned red as she glared at him, thinking herself fierce, though it was hardly intimidating.

Her embarrassed and annoyed expression was anything but threatening.
Gu Bin teased her, watching her closely and laughing with genuine enjoyment.

—

No. 9 Donghua Street.

The production team had left, and the courtyard fell quiet. Aunt and Uncle took advantage of the absence of outsiders, heading to the noodle workshop to discuss the house purchase with Grandpa Wang and his son.

“Director Zhang from the neighborhood committee said Yan Hao is really something, stubbornly sticking to his twenty-thousand price no matter what anyone says.”
Grandpa Wang sighed heavily, “Twenty thousand is no small sum. Just the three families, we can’t possibly afford it.”
“And the resettlement houses are all apartment buildings, which isn’t convenient for our small business. Even if we move back, we’d have to find another shop.”
Grandpa Wang’s son looked apologetic. “So my father and I talked it over. Since there’s no hope for resettlement, there’s no point dragging things out. Better to rely on ourselves—rather than waiting on his mood, we should use this time to look around for a suitable place. As long as the price is right, we don’t mind if it’s farther away.”
Aunt’s face changed, unable to hide her anxiety. “If your family isn’t buying, just us and Dashan’s family have even less hope.”
“Don’t worry just yet…”
Uncle patted her shoulder to comfort her. “Dafen’s fiancé works for the provincial government—he might have a way to deal with Yan Hao, stop him from being so arrogant.”
Aunt sighed, her worry only deepening. “It was easier before, but a few days ago I quarreled with Dafen. Asking her for help now—I really can’t bring myself to do it…”

“Buying and selling is a matter of freedom.”
Grandpa Wang wasn’t hopeful. “Even if her fiancé works for the provincial government, he can’t use authority to force a sale. That’s illegal.”
“We certainly won’t do anything against the law.”
He hadn’t finished speaking when the door of the noodle workshop was pushed open from outside. At that moment, Zhang Dafen’s fiancé entered the courtyard, appearing before the two families. “But their asking price is too high, it’s already disrupted the market. The demolition office won’t agree to such a high compensation.”
“Oh, Chief Xu, you’re here!”
Uncle’s eyes lit up and he greeted him with a smile.
Zhang Dafen’s fiancé, Xu Wei, was thirty-two years old and worked as a department chief in the provincial government.
Though Uncle was forty-four, a dozen years older, his demeanor was respectful, as he needed a favor.
“Brother Liu, don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”
Unexpectedly, Xu Wei was polite as well, completely different from a few days before. “Yan Hao is taking advantage of the situation, asking an outrageous price, but he won’t get what he wants. I’ve already checked—the city government has set the compensation at six hundred per square meter. Old Huang’s house, including the yard, is about two hundred ten square meters at most, so thirteen thousand. If we split the cost among our three families, there’s still hope we can buy it.”