After finishing filming the documentary, Liu Man started putting more attention into her business.
Since Zhang Pei had clearly confirmed Liu Chengyu didn’t need their help with paying the attorney fees, then Liu Man could use her small amount of fund to extend their storage space without having to worry about anything else.
This time, she didn’t tell Yu Zhan about her renting a new storage space. Yu Zhan was already extremely busy with his job and filming the documentary, so she didn’t want him to worry about her business.
Liu Man found that real estate agency near Capital University again so they could find a storage space for her.
Most clients rented houses to live in, and clients rarely needed huge warehouses to store things in. The agency didn’t have many resources.
However, they thought the Hanfu Goddess was quite an important client and guaranteed her an answer within two days.
After just one day, Liu Man received a call from the agency’s manager. He said that they’ve found a place that matched Liu Man’s requirements.
Liu Man required a warehouse that was big, empty, dry, and most importantly, it needed to be cheap.
An agent specially drove her to an old factory warehouse in the countryside. It was a dilapidated two-floors building built with red bricks. It had a row of flat workshop rooms and a yard.
The layer of dust on the window sills was as thick as the length of one’s pinkie nail, and there was trash everywhere. The weed in the yard had grown as tall as half a person’s height. Excluding the fact that this warehouse was dirty and messy, its other aspects did satisfy Liu Man’s needs.
However, for such a place, the landlord wanted 30k RMB a month, and he even thought his price was not expensive at all.
This landlord was not as friendly as Owner Wang and Mr. Zhang. The agent called him and invited him over, and he said he would arrive within ten minutes. As a result, Liu Man and the agent waited for a full 40 minutes on the hot summer day.
The landlord’s last name was Wu, and he was a middle-aged man that was in his 50s. He was a bit fat and had a wide stomach. His eyes were small, but they looked quite astute. His temperament made him seem full of experience from being in the society. Seeing that his client was a young lady, he immediately started manipulating.
Under the huge sun and with sweat all over his forehead, he hastily led Liu Man on a tour around and inside the warehouse factory so she could get to know every part and section of this place. As they toured around, he said, “This place is very fitting to be a warehouse. It’s in a location that’s convenient for transportation; if you go forward and turn right, you will see the freeway. This yard is large enough for three trucks to park here. It would be so convenient for you to unload your trucks.”
“The flat workshops are around 316 square meters, so it’s enough space. No matter how many products you need to store, it will be fine.”
“There are six rooms in total. If you clean it up a little and place new desks and chairs, they can be your new office rooms.”
“I know lots about you youngsters who are just establishing your business. You mustn’t have much money in your pockets, so I will offer you the lowest rent possible. If my client is a boss that has a big business going on, I would definitely ask for 50k. My place is just a bit more in the countryside and a bit too old. If your place is in the city area and has a huge building and yard, you definitely won’t be able to rent it without paying a few hundred thousand RMB a month.”
Boss Wu spoke rapidly, and his expression looked as if he was really looking out for her. Such an experienced man like him had a hundred ways to deal with youngsters.
Liu Man asked him, “How much is the deposit? How often do I need to pay the rent?”
“The ratio of your deposit and the rents should be 1 to 4. Pay me 30k as the deposit, and after we sign the contract, you can give me 120k at once.”
Boss Wu, seeing that Liu Man seemed to feel moved, waited for her to nod and accept the deal.
As a result, Liu Man said, “Let me think about it. Your place is the first one I’ve been to so far. Maybe the other houses will be better.”
Boss Wu was extremely disappointed. He glanced towards the agent, and the agent asked Liu Man, “What are you unsatisfied about?”
Liu Man, disgusted, told the agent, “There are too many aspects that I’m dissatisfied with.”
“Firstly, this place is way too dirty. There is so much trash, and I will have to pay lots of money just to find someone to clean these up.”
“Secondly, although there are lots of space, the rooftop of the workshops is too low. My products can not be put into tall piles, so this warehouse’s actual ability to store things is bad.”
“Thirdly, there are many holes on the yard’s ground. If there’s a rainy day, unloading trucks will also become a big problem.”
“Fourthly, I just looked at the map. The nearest subway station here is two kilometers away. To me and the other employees without cars, the transportation is inconvenient.”
“Number five, there is no air conditioning or heating here in the building. I’ve walked one full lap around inside, and it’s like I’ve entered the oven. It can be imagined that, if we get to winter, it will be freezing here.”
“Lastly, just now, when I spent thirty minutes waiting for the tardy landlord, I walked around the neighborhood. The residents around here told me that this place was a radio factory operated by the government. After the factory closed down, it got transferred to different owners many times. The last boss rented this place for knitting, but the business was not going well, and the boss abandoned this place early after getting their rent refunded. It has already been five months since that boss left, and this factory has been hung on the internet since then. Nobody has been interested in this place at all.”
Liu Man rebutted every one of Boss Wu’s exaggerations from before with evidence and reasoning, and her words were very believable. Even the agent felt that this factory was in the worst conditions; he shouldn’t have introduced her to this place, for it was just a waste of time.
Boss Wu regretted being late. He allowed this girl to learn about the actual conditions.
It was very hard for him to find a client who was willing to rent his warehouse, given its location and conditions!
Seeing how Liu Man was turning around and was prepared to leave, Boss Wu gave a huge sigh, “I give up. You are just a young girl trying to survive society. I’ll lower the price and allow you to only pay a rent of 28k.”
Liu Man, as if she didn’t hear his words, continued to walk. She had already reached the yard when Boss Wu, standing behind her, yelled at her:
“If you really want to rent the warehouse, 25k is as low as I can go. I won’t lower the price even more!”
Liu Man still wasn’t moved. She strode to the yard’s entrance.
Boss Wu caught up with her and asked, “How much do you offer?”
Liu Man’s footsteps paused for a moment, “At most, 12k.”
“My God! This is the capital, after all! Do you think I’m a vagabond, giving me only 12k? Ask around the neighborhood again and see what you can rent with only 12k! You won’t even be able to rent a good house with three rooms!” Boss Wu felt incredible.
“Then we have nothing else to discuss,” Liu Man said in a light tone.
She could take her time picking and choosing, and she would eventually meet a fitting one. However, Boss Wu’s factory might not be able to get rented. She wasn’t worried at all, and Boss Wu could be anxious however he wants.
Liu Man calmly walked out of the yard.
Boss Wu glowered at her silhouette. He asked the agent, “Does this kid really want to rent a warehouse? Are you sure she’s not playing around?”
The agent said, “It’s true. She’s doing business online and only wants a place to store her products.”
Landlords were most worried about their clients messing around and breaking parts of the warehouse, making it old, or making it dirty. Boss Wu’s last client was like that, which was why the warehouse was now so dilapidated and untidy.
Boss Wu really didn’t want to let such a good client go, “Tell her I’m willing to let her pay only 15k per month, but she has to reserve three years. This is my limit, and I can not go any lower. My factory is messy, sure, but it has such a large space. Even if you are renting a few acres of land from the farmers in the countryside of capital, you will need to pay more than 10k.”
Translated by: Sydney
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