Buying Houses and Shops
Chief Walker grew anxious. Finally, a God of Wealth had arrived, wanting to buy up all the unsellable properties. He had to treat her like royalty!
"Miss Evans, please don't go, the price is negotiable!" Chief Walker said with a forced smile. "So, what do you think of this price...?"
Lily Evans pretended to walk away several times, forcing Chief Walker to stop her repeatedly. She secretly observed the other property owners’ faces and saw their desperation—willing to sell even at a loss just to get rid of their houses.
After whetting everyone’s appetite, Lily finally sat down, looking thoroughly out of patience. “Shops, one hundred and fifty taels each; residential houses, thirty taels per set.”
“Uh...” Chief Walker hesitated for a long time, thinking that despite her young age, this Miss Evans was sharp—she’d bargained straight down to their psychological bottom line. No one expected her to be so ruthless with the price.
But seeing Lily Evans’s impatient expression, Chief Walker worried she’d leave. He glanced at the group of property owners, many of whom signaled him to go ahead and sell.
In the end, Lily Evans’s tactics broke down Chief Walker and the owners’ last defenses. They agreed to her price, and everyone eagerly signed the contracts to sell their properties.
Lily brought a total of four thousand five hundred taels of silver for the purchases, with nearly five hundred taels left at home for emergencies.
In the end, Lily carefully selected and bought twenty of the best-located shops and fifty of the finest single-entry residential houses.
With both the property owners and Chief Walker present, the deeds were exchanged on the spot—cash for contracts, all settled immediately.
Lily Evans held seventy property deeds in her hands, absolutely over the moon! Once Phoenix Academy was built, who knew how many times her property values would multiply? Heh, now she owned the best shops and houses in Tenmile Hill—she was officially the real estate queen of the area!
As for the property owners, they were all delighted to finally sell off their unwanted houses.
Everyone was happy with the deal. Chief Walker hosted a celebratory meal for Lily Evans and her group at a restaurant, and by afternoon, Lily rode her carriage back to the city.
As the carriage passed the pharmacy in the market, Lily saw Mark Hunter standing outside, looking rather upset.
Lily recalled Cynthia Wu’s odd behavior that morning and wondered if something had happened. She turned to Mr. Baker and said, “Mr. Baker, my husband and I want to stroll around the market. We’ll get off here.”
Mr. Baker respectfully helped them off the carriage. Lily, with Lucky by her side, walked up to the pharmacy. “Mark Hunter, why are you standing here? Where’s Cynthia?”
Mark Hunter’s face was dark as he pointed into the pharmacy.
Lily looked inside and saw several finely dressed young men sitting in the pharmacy, including Benjamin Zhang, whom she recognized.
Among them was a handsome, fair-skinned young man in an elegant teal robe, smiling and chatting with Cynthia Wu.
Cynthia Wu’s cheeks were flushed as she said to Howard Liu, “Mr. Liu, there are lots of snakes and ants this season. Didn’t you get bitten by a snake last time? My father says if you carry some snake-repelling herbs, you won’t get bitten again…”
“Oh? Thank you, Dr. Wu, for your concern.” Howard Liu replied with gentle elegance, while Benjamin Zhang kept making faces at Howard Liu and glancing mischievously at Cynthia Wu.
“Well, I just happen to have a pouch of snake-repelling herbs. If you don’t mind, Mr. Liu, you can take it, so you won’t have to worry about snakes.” Cynthia Wu blushed and pulled out a small pouch, her voice barely above a whisper. “Lots of people in our village use my family’s herbal pouches—they work really well. Last time, thank you for your gift to my father, so this pouch is on the house.”
Finishing her words, Cynthia Wu lowered her head and quickly ran out of the pharmacy.