Because she had extra money on hand, she bought two units—one for herself and one to rent out.
Later, as foreign investment flowed in, housing prices rose considerably. Seizing the opportunity, she sold both units and made a net profit of 120,000 yuan.
With 200,000 yuan, plus the money she had saved over the past few years, she bought two larger units and also rented a storefront in a newly developed Wholesale Market.
For the two units and the storefront, she leveled and whitewashed the cement walls herself, bit by bit. She also carried the floor tiles upstairs from the ground floor herself, one load at a time.
Her back ached so badly she could barely straighten it, but as long as she could do something herself, she absolutely would not spend money hiring someone else.
After giving the units a simple renovation, she did not move in. Instead, she rented them both out, along with the storefront. She found a run-down Siheyuan and rented a single room with a kitchen.
It was not until her younger sister finally graduated from university—unhappy about being assigned to a small Chemical Plant in a small county town—and was about to come to the Pearl River Delta with the boyfriend she had met in university to find her sister, who was supposedly doing "very well," that she took back one of the units.
After thoroughly tidying it up, she moved in with her younger sister. It was the first time in six years that she had lived in a home of her own.
However, her younger sister, who had enjoyed a carefree life since childhood, had no idea how hard her sister had worked all these years. All she saw was the prosperous urban life of the coastal city;
all she saw was