Chapter 192: I’ll Take Them All
Li Houliang gave a simple, honest smile and said nothing.
This was precisely about positioning both sides correctly.
In ancient times, so many people attached themselves to imperial power or to the powerful—it was the same principle. It’s no different now; this is called personal dependency. You tie your life and fortune to one person, sharing wealth and hardship alike.
Manager Zhao was out for quite a while this time.
There was no helping it—something this big wasn’t his call to make. From a cost-accounting perspective, they were losing money every day now. If they could offload it early, even at a fair price, it would still be a gain.
Manager Zhao came back with a flushed face. When he’d reported to headquarters earlier, he’d received high praise. They insisted he must close this deal—no more delays. That way, when they went public, they could spin it well.
Big sales for the development!
“President Zhou, I just reported to headquarters. We’ve got 15 units left in total, with various layouts and floors. Take a close look later. Fixed price: 7,000 per square meter, and each unit comes with an extra parking space thrown in.” Manager Zhao didn’t dare pause for breath this time and laid out the bottom line directly.
Zhou You was fairly satisfied with this price. Last year when he bought, the listed price was already 10,000. Still, he had some complaints about the sales office.
“Manager Zhao, I won’t haggle with you over the sales office price, but the parking spaces are too few. With my kind of space, if a few friends drop by, 20 spots will fill up fast. Where am I supposed to park then?”
As private cars became more common over time, many people could afford a car but not a parking spot!
In the provincial capital, parking spaces basically cost over 100,000, and in better neighborhoods, you couldn’t even get one for 200,000. A car might only cost a hundred-something thousand, but parking it on a spot worth one or two hundred thousand—even the car would feel embarrassed!
And since this place was going to be a high-end venue, the training center crowd would have money and leisure. They’d definitely drive here. Twenty parking spots—how could that possibly be enough?
Manager Zhao fell into deep thought at this. When they’d built the sales office, the surrounding area was pretty open, and people could park anywhere. Now that everything was constructed, the parking was indeed a bit tight.
“President Zhou, you’re right. Our community’s parking ratio is 1:1.2. With your large area, it’s definitely going to be insufficient for later use.” Manager Zhao was now echoing everything Zhou You said.
Zhou You didn’t respond, just kept looking at him. So, give me a solution—what’s the point of just stating the problem?
Seeing that Zhou You wasn’t biting, Manager Zhao had to keep going: “The community has some visitor parking spots near the sales office. We’ll connect them—there are 30 spots over there.”
“And what about the community’s visitor parking then?” Real estate developers and property managers were masters at shifting blame. If later the property company or developer claimed the visitor spots were given to someone else, wouldn’t Zhou You be stuck dealing with the fallout?
Manager Zhao gave a few awkward chuckles: “President Zhou, rest assured. We’ll build another batch across the street. We’ll absolutely guarantee your independence and privacy here, and we won’t pass the buck.”
Real estate companies sell houses; property maintenance cleans up the mess.
They push things back and forth between them.
They spin the owners around in circles.
Many people only later realized that the property company and the real estate firm were actually the same entity, just under different names.
This era wasn’t too bad yet—no large-scale unfinished projects or absconding developers.
Otherwise, it really would be:
Profits privatized, Costs socialized, Risks nationalized.
Think back to the green hills and clear waters—how did they all vanish?
Why is it called a limited liability company?
Back when Zhou You worked in sales, he met a rich second-generation kid who, drunk at a dinner table, was bragging to everyone:
“My dad said our family’s money won’t run out in three generations.”
The crowd cheered: “The young master’s awesome!”
“My dad also said our family’s debt won’t be paid off in six generations.”
Everyone was stunned, not knowing how to respond, staring at each other wide-eyed.
“My dad finally said, no big deal—just go bankrupt and shut down, then we don’t have to pay it back!”
The crowd roared with applause: “The old man’s awesome!”
Zhou You couldn’t calm down for a long time back then.
They all say running a company is tough and being a boss is exhausting, but how many bosses have you seen go back to being employees?
Can’t figure it out, really can’t.
Someone must be lying.
Too bad Zhou You didn’t play Werewolf—he couldn’t tell who was bluffing.
Zhou You stood there in a daze for a while, and Manager Zhao didn’t dare speak, the atmosphere growing silent.
When he snapped out of it, he realized, why think so much? The seat I’m sitting in now is different. So he smiled and said, “Alright, let’s do it that way. Go prepare the contract. We’ll sign tomorrow. I’ll pay half upfront, and once you finish the handover and fix the parking spots, I’ll pay the rest.”
“Got it! The contract will be ready tomorrow.” Manager Zhao happily saw Zhou You out.
This deal, though the commission percentage was low, had a high total price. All told, it was a huge win.
Manager Zhao had even braced himself for another price cut, but all Zhou You asked for were a few extra parking spots—what were those worth?
Now he had something to report up and down the chain. Everyone was happy.
After they left, Li Houliang was a bit puzzled: “Brother You, I feel like we could’ve gotten it cheaper. We could’ve just stalled a bit.”
Zhou You smiled. No need for that. He’d made a killing too.
A whole building this big for just over 20 million, in a prime location with great surroundings—even sold as a villa, it wouldn’t go for this price.
And on top of that, they threw in 50 parking spots. By later standards, that alone would be worth five or six hundred thousand.
In later years, there were all sorts of shady tricks with parking spots.
One developer priced parking spots too high, and the owners refused to buy any.
The developer got tough too—only sold, never rented.
They bundled the spots and sold them to a third party, then washed their hands of it. The third party bought them up and rented them all back to the owners at high prices—no payment, no access to the garage.
Thousands of owners kicked up a huge fuss, eventually filing a collective lawsuit.
But there was no precedent, and no one knew how to handle it.
In the end, it was only through the owners sticking together that they clawed back their legitimate rights.
So many things are won bit by bit.
Like work hours, like vacation time.
Too bad most people carry too heavy a yoke to resist or fight for anything.
As they say online:
Too many vulnerabilities!
“Brother Liang, keep the old place running. This one’s for the high-end stuff—like annual memberships, long-term training. Everything else stays at the original location.”
“Alright, I was struggling with how to handle it too. No ideas yet.” Li Houliang was also at a loss, but Zhou You’s words snapped him out of it.
“The share split stays the same, just like before.” Seeing Li Houliang about to speak, he waved a hand and continued, “The building’s mine—I’m just not charging rent. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for a few loyal people. We’ll give them some shares later. That’s a bit different from the swimming pool.”
Li Houliang thought it over for a long time, then understood what Zhou You meant.
“Got it, Brother You. I’ll pick the loyal ones for sure.”
If you’re counting on the boxing gym to make money, you’d be better off hoping the swimming pool does. As long as it doesn’t lose money, that’s fine.