The Ace Bigshot Becomes A Farmgirl

Chapter 1018: Chapter 1018: Creating an Institute from Nothing

Madam Liang saw that she had finished reading and hurriedly leaned over cautiously to whisper in her ear, ”Yu, what do you think?”

Shu Yu was just about to answer when she noticed the intermediary nearby suddenly perk up his ears. She slightly furrowed her brows and hesitated before saying, ”Hmm... the house is okay, but the price is too high. Aunt, this costs a whopping two hundred and eighty taels. At such a steep price, it’s not as good as the courtyard I introduced to you earlier.”

Madam Liang was stunned. What courtyard? When did Yu introduce a courtyard to her?

Shu Yu subtly gave her a meaningful look. Madam Liang suddenly understood—Yu was preparing to haggle.

She immediately nodded, ”You’re right, with two hundred and eighty taels, there are plenty of houses to choose from.”

Erniu, unaware of their silent exchange, took it seriously and quickly approached, asking, ”Sister Yu, where is the courtyard you introduced to Aunt? Does it really cost less than two hundred and eighty taels?”

Shu Yu nodded seriously, ”Yes, it only costs two hundred and fifty-five taels. If Aunt were to buy it, the price could still be negotiated. But Aunt thought it was too far away—Third Uncle’s daily commute to work would be inconvenient, and Dabao would struggle with school too.”

Lanhua said regretfully, ”That would indeed be inconvenient. Third Uncle doesn’t even have a mule carriage.”

As soon as she said this, Shu Yu clapped her hands together, ”Exactly, you could buy a mule carriage too.”

Shu Yu offered Madam Liang advice, ”Aunt, look at my mule carriage outside—it cost only a little over ten taels. You could spend two hundred and fifty-five taels on the house, then an additional ten or so taels on the mule carriage. Altogether, it wouldn’t even reach two hundred and eighty. That way, not only would you have a house, but also a carriage. Third Uncle could travel to work easily, and you wouldn’t need to rent transportation for outings anymore.”

Madam Liang was shamefully tempted, especially since Shu Yu’s words sounded so convincing that she almost wanted to drag Shu Yu back to finalize things immediately.

Luckily, the intermediary’s voice broke in, pulling her back to her senses just in time.

”Sister-in-law Lu, don’t rush. When it comes to price, we can sit down and discuss it slowly. If you think it’s too expensive, leave it to me—I’ll negotiate with the owner for you. How about that?”

Madam Liang hesitated, glancing at Shu Yu, ”Yu, should we let him negotiate the price?”

”Aunt, I fear this price might be hard to bargain down.”

The intermediary quickly raised a hand in assurance, ”Who says so? Leave it to me. Sister-in-law, you all stay here and keep looking around—I’ll go talk to the owner about it right now.”

Madam Liang wanted to follow along. If prices were being negotiated, wouldn’t it be better for her to talk to the owner directly?

But just as she took a few steps, Shu Yu pulled her back. After the intermediary left, she whispered, ”Aunt, let’s wait for now.”

”But I haven’t even told him my target price yet.”

”This gives us more room to maneuver.” Shu Yu raised her gaze and swept it over the house, ”Given the location and quality of this house, two hundred and eighty taels isn’t actually unreasonable. If you can negotiate it down by twenty or thirty taels, that’s about as much of a discount as you’ll get.”

As for whether it would be twenty or thirty taels, that would depend on the intermediary’s skill.

Madam Liang gave it some thought—saving twenty or thirty taels was still a savings.

The intermediary didn’t take long to return. In truth, he hadn’t needed to negotiate at all; the owner had already set a bottom price and would pay the intermediary a cut based on the final sale.

He went out merely as a show.

But as it turned out, in making this effort, he came back and revealed the bottom price.