Rent a Restaurant

At three o'clock the next morning, Zhang Han was awakened by a burst of knocking.

"What the hell?"

Zhang Han groggily opened his eyes, his brow furrowing slightly. He got up and opened the door to find Manager Ma, who had been among the first group to come yesterday, standing outside.

With two dark circles under his eyes, he said apologetically, "Mr. Zhang, I'm really sorry to disturb your rest. Could I invite you out for a sauna, and perhaps we could talk?"

"No." Zhang Han had not slept enough and intended to shut the door and go back to sleep.

A flash of anxiety crossed Manager Ma's face. "Mr. Zhang, please give me a chance. I've been waiting outside your door all night. If you go back to sleep now, others will come and disturb you before long anyway. Why not come out with me? I guarantee you'll get the best rest."

Zhang Han raised an eyebrow at that.

They said the early bird caught the worm, but this guy had spent the whole night waiting for a rabbit to come to him.

"Wait for me a moment."

Zhang Han rubbed his face, left the door open, and went straight to change clothes. Seeing this, Manager Ma breathed a small sigh of relief.

Five minutes later, Zhang Han went downstairs with him to relax at a high-end bathhouse and sauna nearby.

Less than twenty minutes after they left, another manager arrived, but the latecomer was destined to leave empty-handed.

Zhang Han slept until after eight in the morning. Once he woke up, Manager Ma treated him to breakfast, then took him to the head office, where the regional manager led them to the exchange to sign the contract.

By noon, all the paperwork had been completed.

Zhang Han's bank card now had an additional eighteen million. He immediately called Liu Meng, asked for his bank account number, and transferred two million to him.

By the time he finished dealing with all that, it was already afternoon.

There were now seventeen million six hundred thousand left on his bank card. After deducting the ten million cost of leasing the mountain, he had seven million six hundred thousand remaining.

Seven million six hundred thousand sounded like a lot, but there was not actually much he could do with it.

At one o'clock, Zhang Han drove his Jeep Wrangler around the New Moon Mountain area several times.

The matter of leasing the mountain was taking shape. Next, he needed to find somewhere to stay temporarily.

Although there was a pool of Spirit Water in New Moon Mountain, its only function was to turn the mountain's soil into Spirit Soil. It could not all evolve into Pure Yang Water, much less provide enough energy to transform every project.

So the renovation of New Moon Mountain would still follow the original plan. He would start with the back mountain area, while the residential area and the front mountain area could only be gradually improved.

"I still need to rent a place."

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Han took out his phone and called Manager Ma at the real estate agency.

Upon hearing that Zhang Han wanted to rent a house, Manager Ma became extremely enthusiastic. He had received a one-million reward from Zhang Han's property transaction, so his enthusiasm was only natural.

He asked Zhang Han to come to the company to look at some photos of properties first, and promised that he would not charge an agency fee once Zhang Han rented a place, indirectly expressing his gratitude.

Zhang Han said nothing and drove straight to his company. It was a small storefront on a side street, with a total of twelve or thirteen employees inside.

Manager Ma was standing at the entrance. When he saw Zhang Han arrive, he eagerly came forward to greet him.

"Welcome, Mr. Zhang. Come, please come in."

After they entered and sat down on the sofa, Manager Ma took a pack of twenty-yuan mint Zhongnanhai cigarettes from his bag, handed one to Zhang Han, and lit it for him. After lighting one for himself, he asked with a smile, "What kind of house are you looking to rent, Mr. Zhang?"

"A place in New Moon Bay. Something nicer," Zhang Han answered.

"Something nicer?" Manager Ma considered it for a moment before saying, "The nicer options in New Moon Bay include villas, which rent for around four million a year. Then there are apartments in scenic-view developments. Anything over a hundred square meters costs more than one and a half million a year as well. As for smaller houses and apartments, I don't think they'd be up to your standards, Mr. Zhang."

"Mm. Do you have photos?" Zhang Han asked.

"I do. Please come with me, Mr. Zhang."

Manager Ma stood up and led Zhang Han to his computer desk. He searched the agency's system for available properties in New Moon Bay.

They looked through everything, from villas to all kinds of family homes.

The decor came in all sorts of styles—some European and American, some modern—but very few caught Zhang Han's eye.

"Where is this villa located?" Zhang Han asked, pointing at one listing.

This villa was the only one Zhang Han found acceptable. Its decor was not extravagantly luxurious; white, blue, and grass green intertwined throughout the house, giving it a fresh, natural feel.

However, the rent was rather expensive as well—four and a half million a year.

"This villa is on Ever Prosperous Road. Ever Prosperous Road is in the central area between New Moon Bay and Zhukeng District," Manager Ma replied with a nod.

"That's a bit far..." Zhang Han raised an eyebrow.

His ideal location was somewhere close to New Moon Mountain, so he could go up the mountain at any time to tend to it. If it was too far away, going back and forth would be troublesome.

"Far?" Manager Ma was slightly taken aback. "What area would you like to rent in, Mr. Zhang?"

"Somewhere closer to New Moon Mountain," Zhang Han answered.

"Near New Moon Mountain..." Manager Ma began thinking. He searched several streets in the system, but there were no suitable properties.

"Will you be living there alone, Mr. Zhang?" With no listings available, Manager Ma was starting to feel stuck. He thought of solutions while chatting with Zhang Han.

"My daughter and I will stay there temporarily. Mainly, I want to cook her some delicious meals." Mengmeng's adorable little figure drifted through Zhang Han's mind, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.

"Cooking?" Manager Ma's eyes lit up. "I think there may be a workable solution. Given your unique—particular—eye for decor, Mr. Zhang, I think you could rent a small storefront and renovate it yourself. When the lease ends, you could transfer it to someone else. Residential properties are not easy to renovate."

"Commercial storefront?" Zhang Han narrowed his eyes.

Open a restaurant?

That could work too. Mengmeng was only a little over three years old and ate very little. Any extra food made for each meal could be sold, and more importantly, if he was unhappy with the decor, he could renovate it however he liked.

Zhang Han cared quite a bit about that. He had always pursued a high-quality life and never let himself suffer unnecessarily. Now that he had Mengmeng, he certainly couldn't let his little princess suffer either!

So Zhang Han nodded and said:

"That works too. Do you have any photos I can look at?"

"Yes." Manager Ma chuckled and searched for commercial storefronts near New Moon Mountain.

At first, the listings were all small storefronts of sixty or seventy square meters. In Manager Ma's view, they would have been more than enough for Zhang Han and his daughter.

But Zhang Han kept shaking his head. "Too small. Show me some bigger ones."

Manager Ma searched for larger places. After looking through more than twenty listings, he finally found one that made Zhang Han nod.

"This is a two-story storefront. The first floor is a breakfast shop, while the second floor is the living quarters. It's run by an elderly couple, and it's the closest location to New Moon Mountain. I've been here twice in the past few days, and business was pretty good. If the old couple didn't have a grandson who needed their care, they definitely wouldn't be transferring it."

As Manager Ma introduced the place, he opened the photos and said:

"The first floor is fairly simple—one hundred and thirty square meters, with only a breakfast counter and some tables and chairs. The second floor is a home-style residence, and the decor is pretty good. It has two bedrooms and a living room, faces south, and gets plenty of natural light. Overall, there's a lot of room for renovation. I think it suits you quite well."

Zhang Han looked through the photos one by one, then finally nodded in satisfaction.

"This one will do."

"Is Mr. Zhang satisfied with the price? The transfer fee is four million, including one year and three months of rent. I think we can still try negotiating the price with them," Manager Ma said with a smile.

"No need to negotiate." Zhang Han shook his head slightly.

"Alright, then I'll take you over to have a look in person."

Manager Ma smiled, stood up, and led Zhang Han outside. He drove a black Honda Accord.

Here in Hong Kong, people with private cars generally lived fairly well. Cars themselves weren't expensive—much cheaper than on the mainland, after all, since there were fewer taxes—but keeping one was comparatively costly. Gas was nearly two dollars, and with parking fees and all sorts of other expenses, a professional had once calculated that maintaining a car cost at least five thousand a month. That came to sixty thousand a year, no small sum.

With Manager Ma leading the way, the two arrived at the restaurant on Liming Road that they had come to inspect.

Manager Ma had already contacted them on the way over, so when they entered, a couple in their early fifties was sitting in the living room talking.

Seeing the visitors, the couple greeted them and showed Zhang Han around the place. The upstairs layout was quite good as well. There was little furniture left, since most of it had been cleared out, and the place was very clean overall. The dining tables and other items downstairs were still there and were included in the transfer.

The space was one hundred and thirty square meters. The main hall had originally been quite large, but two partition walls had been used to create a kitchen, making it seem less spacious.

The layout was good, with plenty of room for renovation, so Zhang Han made his decision immediately. Manager Ma had both parties sign the transfer contract, and from that moment on, the restaurant belonged to Zhang Han for more than a year.

After the old couple left, Manager Ma and Zhang Han sat on chairs in the main hall.

"I'll transfer the agency fee to you as well."

Zhang Han spoke, but Manager Ma shook his head and declined.

"Mr. Zhang, I'm very grateful that you chose me to handle your property transaction, so there's no need to mention an agency fee."

Hearing that, Zhang Han smiled faintly and shook his head. "Do you know any renovation companies?"

"Yes. Shall I contact one for you now?" Manager Ma replied.

"Mm."

Manager Ma called a renovation company right in front of him. Less than half an hour later, two men in suits knocked on the door and entered.

One was a middle-aged man with a square face, while the other was a bespectacled young man of around twenty-four or twenty-five.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang. I'm Zhao Kai, a manager at Lanlu Decoration Company." The middle-aged man greeted him with a smile.

After looking around the place, he felt that the decor could not have been more than a few years old and was still in fairly good condition. He assumed that Zhang Han probably wanted some minor alterations or a renovation, so Zhao Kai asked:

"How would you like to renovate it, Mr. Zhang? Would you like to refurbish it based on the existing layout, or just alter the areas you don't like?"

However, Zhang Han's answer left him somewhat stunned.

"Tear it down and redo everything."

"Huh?"

Other than Manager Ma, both Zhao Kai and the young man froze.

"Demolish the entire first floor and renovate it from scratch. Renovate the second floor according to the existing layout," Zhang Han added.

What a big project!

Zhao Kai's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked:

"Then, Mr. Zhang, would you like a full-service contract or a partial-service contract?"

A full-service contract meant the renovation company handled both labor and materials, making it more expensive. A partial-service contract covered labor and auxiliary materials, while the main materials—such as floor tiles, wall tiles, boards, and so on—would be supplied by Zhang Han.