From a long-term perspective, building houses is more cost-effective than renting.
If fellow disciples from the same sect trickled in one after another, the current courtyard would not be able to accommodate all of them, even if all the small yards around were rented. Building houses has become an extremely cost-effective option.
With just some expenses on construction materials, the labor costs can be minimized.
To open a school, some formal buildings are necessary. When parents come to visit and cannot even find an office space, they would surely think this is an unreliable cram school.
Therefore, building a school is a must.
Shen Feixian was a very capable executive. He signed the land lease contract with Song Jixing the next day. With Song Jixing’s identity as a college student, there were also some preferential policies supporting his entrepreneurship, saving quite a lot of money.
Located in the suburbs, the steel factory had a short-lived glory in the last century. As times changed, the workers and their families living here gradually moved away, and the place became desolate.
Within a few kilometers of this area, there were no supermarkets or vegetable sellers, only occasional farmers carrying poles to sell their produce.
Fortunately, there was a subway station a few kilometers away, with some bus stops around it. In addition, the nearby old-fashioned tube buildings were cheap, so some migrant workers lived here to save money.
The migrant workers went to work during the day and slowly returned home after the evening rush hour. Some farmers lived a little further away, but the surrounding land was state-owned, so they could not farm it at will and thus would not gather here.
This land was not only cheap but also very quiet. It would be easy to build houses here without being discovered. It was simply the most suitable place.
Song Jixing drove Shen Feixian back in the company car and saw truckload after truckload of building materials being unloaded, with outer disciples busy working.
Song Jixing rolled down the car window and glanced at Shen Feixian in the passenger seat, sighing: “So fast?”
Shen Feixian was also looking at those trucks.
"Yes, it has to be fast! These are the cheapest sources I could find online! The prices of building materials have been fluctuating wildly recently. Many materials have fallen, so I bought them all at the right time. Otherwise, when the prices rise again, it would be too late."
"Senior brother, are you trading stocks?" Song Jixing suddenly asked.
Upon hearing this, Shen Feixian turned his head, "Junior sister, why do you ask that?"
Song Jixing said, "Senior brother, how did you know these building materials hit rock bottom?"
What Song Jixing knew was that ever since Shen Feixian crossed over, he had been fiddling with things on the Internet and seemed to have made quite a lot of money.
Her ID and various certificates were with Shen Feixian. It was easy for him to open an account on her behalf.
So Song Jixing suspected that her senior brother went to trade those materials, manipulated the stock prices of relevant companies downward, bringing down material prices as well.
Shen Feixian shook his head. "No, that's not the case. But I do know something about the stock market. Recently I've been collecting data. Some of the data collected is quite interesting, so I released it. As for the falling material prices, that was inevitable..."
Shen Feixian shared some insights based on the information he had collected.
Song Jixing: ...
Why does this seem even more dangerous than trading stocks?
Seeing Song Jixing's unease, Shen Feixian reassured her with a smile, "Don't worry, junior sister. Fluctuations in prices are normal. The prices of these materials are indeed the lowest in half a year, but they may not remain so by the end of the year."
Ding Ling Ling — Shen Feixian's cell phone rang.
"Hello, this is me. I'm right here. Please give me a moment, I'll be right there." Shen Feixian hurriedly answered the call and hung up, saying to Song Jixing, "Junior sister, I need to get something."
Three minutes later, Shen Feixian came back to the car holding a cardboard box and put it on the back seat.
The box was huge and barely fit through the door frame.
Judging from how much the back seat sank, this box was heavy.
Before Song Jixing could ask, Shen Feixian explained on his own initiative, "It's some tools I ordered, including a video camera that we can use to shoot videos later."
"Junior sister, I'm also planning to buy several dozen computers for these outer disciples, but as they are currently squeezing several people into one room, there probably won't be space. Let's wait until the new building is built and then buy them. We can set up a special place for the computers to make it look like an office..."
Although it sounded a little like a pyramid scheme, Song Jixing was still willing to buy infrastructure. "Senior brother, just buy whatever you think is needed. Let me know if you're short on money."
At worst, she could take on more commercials to earn a bit more.
Decent cameras cost at least hundreds of thousands. Adding a few dozen computers, even with squeezed prices, it would still be a significant sum.
Upon hearing about lacking money, a confident smile appeared on Shen Feixian's face. "No need to worry about money, junior sister! I plan to buy all these items second-hand at very cheap prices..."
The horns of trucks sounded as another truck full of wooden furniture arrived.
Song Jixing took a look. The furniture on this truck was old, so the price would be cheaper too.
The houses next to the steel factory were readily available, but aside from being mostly empty inside, any valuable items had either been taken away when people moved out or stolen by thieves.
The furniture in Song Jixing's house was moved from the neighborhood. Although some daily necessities had been supplemented for the other houses, they were still largely empty.
After living there for some time, refurnishing could not be put off. Buying new furniture would be expensive and cost a fortune. Buying used furniture was just right.
Song Jixing could not help but admire to herself that her senior brother was such a diligent and thrifty homemaker!
With the truck's arrival, Shen Feixian went busy again.
Seeing this, Song Jixing bid Shen Feixian goodbye and drove the car to the front yard first.
She had to put the documents handled today and the camera in the backseat into the house. The car belonged to the company and had to be returned tomorrow.
When putting the documents in the drawer of Shen Feixian's room, Song Jixing discovered some other things inside.
Estimates and detailed breakdowns of the costs to build dormitories and a school...
However, Song Jixing noticed a problem. Apart from a small amount spent on building materials,
the subsequent costs of interior decoration and furniture were all zero.
There was also an information fee of 5,000 yuan.
How could this be?
Song Jixing immediately messaged Shen Feixian and asked what was going on.
Shen Feixian called back with a voice message. Construction site noises could be heard in the background. "Junior sister! It's like this! Apart from some money spent on buying materials, things like furniture were picked up by me, or rather I paid people to pick them up... "
Shen Feixian got increasingly busy on the phone and hung up after just a few sentences.
Looking at the materials expenditure at the top, Song Jixing thought, were materials the only thing that couldn't be scavenged?
