What could you do with a million yuan?
For Qin Lin, it was more than enough to pay off his family's debts and make a down payment on a house, so he could bring Zhao Moqing home.
Of course, someone with lofty ambitions would think about using that million to do something big. They might already be drawing up all kinds of plans in their head, with the next goal of making a hundred million.
But he wasn't particularly ambitious. Until he had a clear goal, he'd rather be free of debt and let Zhao Moqing know she hadn't chosen the wrong man.
After receiving the transfer of 650,000 yuan, Qin Lin promptly sent Lin Sheng his 13,000-yuan commission.
He'd made a fortune this time, so there was no reason to keep the middleman waiting. Making sure both sides were happy was the basis for working together again.
Who knew when Ani, the little dwarf in the game, might come looking for another fishing contest and give him another fish? He'd need Lin Sheng for that.
Lin Sheng could tell this was Qin Lin's first time selling an ornamental fish. After receiving the money, he smiled and reminded him, "Mr. Qin, remember to file and pay your taxes within a month. Ornamental fish sales don't have a specific tax category, but for now, they fall under the special agricultural products tax category."
"Someone once sold an ornamental fish for 500,000 yuan and forgot to declare it because he'd never done this before. He was reported soon afterward. Not only did he get fined double, he also spent some time enjoying free meals in jail."
"Thanks for the reminder, Boss Lin!" Qin Lin said with a nod.
Of course he wouldn't forget to pay taxes. What worried him more was getting caught for failing to pay—he didn't want anyone finding out about his secret.
After saying goodbye to Lin Sheng, Qin Lin returned to his shop on Market Street and logged on to the tax bureau's website to file taxes on the sale.
Though ornamental fish fell under the agricultural products category, they counted as a special value-added transaction. The tax rate was 9%, including 3% value-added tax. That meant he had to pay 78,000 yuan in taxes on the 650,000 he'd made.
After filing and paying online, his fortune as a millionaire had taken a hit. He had only 953,000 yuan left in his account.
By evening, the strawberries and okra were ripe. Qin Lin harvested them right away, planted new seeds, and sent the ripe strawberries to RT-Mart, earning another 42,390 yuan.
He also took ten pounds of Quality 2 okra to Manager Chen. At 400 yuan a pound, Manager Chen happily paid 4,000 yuan and told him to bring all of it to him whenever he had more.
He'd earned 46,390 yuan in total that day. Once it hit his account, his bank balance had passed a million again.
He was a millionaire once more.
That night.
After dinner, Qin Lin took a shower, carefully picked out an outfit, and styled his hair before heading to pick Zhao Moqing up from work.
When he arrived at the tax bureau, the employees who'd been working overtime were filing out one by one. Chen Hao was among them, so it looked like quite a few people had been working late.
Chen Hao spotted Qin Lin again. This time, he walked toward his Audi without so much as a smile. Damn it, he didn't want to see a guy like that pretending to be poor while hiding his wealth.
"Qin Lin!" Zhao Moqing came out with Li Jiahui, holding a folder. She spotted Qin Lin and happily jogged over, then hopped onto the back of his electric scooter.
Seeing them, Li Jiahui couldn't help feeling envious. How romantic!
What woman wouldn't want a husband who rode an electric scooter to pick her up after work?
Qin Lin started up the scooter and headed for the hotel. After picking up the room key and going upstairs, he waved it in his hand. "I booked the best room in the hotel today. I heard the bathtub in there is amazing..."
"You want to die? We're in the hallway!" Zhao Moqing said, embarrassed. She pinched Qin Lin hard in the waist with two slender, pale fingers.
Qin Lin grinned and used the keycard to open the room.
"I'm going to shower first!" Zhao Moqing went into the room, set down her bag and documents, and hurried into the bathroom.
Qin Lin wasn't oblivious. He hurried after her.
An hour later.
Qin Lin saw Zhao Moqing in a bath towel, sorting through the documents she'd brought with her. He asked, "Moqing, what's so important about these documents that you had to bring them home and work on them after hours?"
Zhao Moqing explained, "Remember that township-owned company that got into trouble? It was serious. A few people went to jail, but some of the money couldn't be recovered, so they had to seize their assets and send them to the court to be auctioned off."
"That's what we were working on overtime today. My uncle asked me to check these documents, then take them to the court tomorrow to register the assets for auction."
Qin Lin nodded. Zhao Moqing's uncle was a section chief at the bureau. He was clearly looking out for her by giving her a few easy merits.
He'd heard about that township company, too. The story had spread all over Youcheng County on WeChat. After all, corruption was what everyone cared about most these days.
Curious, he took the documents Zhao Moqing had been reviewing and looked them over. They listed the people's cars, houses, stocks, and other assets. One item up for auction caught his attention.
It was an agritourism farm. Could it be the same place Moqing had mentioned before—the one where those corrupt officials had gorged themselves and bragged, only to be filmed and reported?
The farm was called Fuhai Villa. It covered a large area, around 500 mu, and included a fishpond and the right to use the reservoir beside the villa.
However, most of the villa's land had been poorly managed and was just wasteland...
And since Youcheng County was a small place and the assets were being auctioned through the court, the starting price for the lease and transfer of the property rights wasn't high: only 600,000 yuan.
The final price would depend on what the bidders offered.
"Moqing, they're auctioning off Fuhai Villa, too? Are there any lingering issues?" Qin Lin asked without thinking. He was clearly interested.
He'd majored in tourism management at university. Looking at the documents, he felt that Fuhai Villa might go well with the Story of Seasons game in his mind. He couldn't keep growing watermelons, strawberries, and okra to sell to RT-Mart forever, could he?
Now that the system guaranteed his income, he wasn't the kind of stubborn, old-fashioned person who'd refuse to change course. He could put off paying off debts and buying a house for a while to pursue an existing goal. Good opportunities didn't wait around.
If any of his creditors needed money urgently, he could pay them first. Otherwise, paying a few days earlier or later wouldn't make a difference. Debts of gratitude lasted a lifetime; there was no need to rush to settle them in the next few days.
Court auctions usually came with plenty of potential trouble, though. The former owners' relatives might refuse to leave and cause a scene, or there could be hidden debt risks.
Zhao Moqing explained, "One car and one house have potential problems, but anyone who dares to bid on those will have a way to deal with them."
"Fuhai Villa, on the other hand, has no issues at all. I went there to check it out. The environment is pretty good. The officials' fixer only cared about supplying them with extravagant meals and drinks, and never bothered to run the place properly."
Hearing that, Qin Lin felt reassured.
Early the next morning, Qin Lin checked out with Zhao Moqing. He still had to take her home to change, then drive her to work.
But just a day later, Qin Lin saw the auction listings appear on the Youcheng judicial auction website. Fuhai Villa was among them. The starting price was still 600,000 yuan, but the listing included an additional term: the lease could be renewed to its maximum term by mutual agreement, with no rent increase during the extended period, and the lessee would have the right of first refusal.
The villa's land belonged to the government. When the lease expired, it would have to be leased again, and the current lessee would have priority over other bidders if they offered the same price.
However, that wasn't enough to make the villa especially appealing. It was only a villa in a small town, and no one knew whether it could be run successfully. If it failed, all the money could be lost for nothing.
The main question now was whether anyone else would compete with him. If someone else had their eye on it, the price would surely go well above the 600,000-yuan starting bid. It could even exceed a million.
He wasn't the only one with an eye for opportunity.
In any case, Qin Lin promptly filled out the paperwork to register for the auction. It was scheduled for a week later.
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
Growing strawberries and okra had earned Qin Lin over 270,000 yuan that week, bringing his funds to more than 1.28 million.
Early that morning, he received a notice from the judicial auction website. The auction would start at 2:00 p.m. He needed to pay a deposit of 10% of the starting price to qualify for bidding.
Qin Lin promptly paid 60,000 yuan, then looked at the game and harvested the ripe strawberries and okra, planting new seeds.
As soon as he planted them, a notification appeared in the game.
His Game Character had leveled up again. He could develop new land, and he could upgrade one plot of level-three land.
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