Daily Life

Wang Yan was woken up by his mother, Zhang Xia.

He got up and saw it was only eight o'clock, rubbed his face, then got out of bed to wash up.

He sat down at the table to eat; the meal was dumplings left over from yesterday.

Just as Wang Yan was about to pick up his chopsticks, Zhang Xia, who knew him exceptionally well, looked at him with a strange expression: "Huh?"

Attracted by her voice, Wang Yan stopped his movements and looked at his mother in confusion.

Zhang Xia looked at Wang Yan carefully again: "You haven't lost weight. Why do I feel like you're a bit different?"

This wasn't strange. In the world of Dying to Survive, as Wang Yan's experience grew, his knowledge accumulated, his wealth increased, and his status rose, combined with having managed a company with tens of thousands of employees and possessing high self-confidence, he naturally exuded a certain aura. We usually describe this kind of thing as "temperament."

Speaking of temperament, this thing is truly damn mysterious. When we know someone's status and wealth, we feel more or less oppressed when facing them. But when we don't know these things, such people still give us a feeling of standing out from the crowd, making us feel that this guy is no ordinary person.

And Wang Yan was exactly in this situation.

Hearing this, Wang Yan felt a tremor in his heart: She really is my own mother; her intuition is spot on.

He explained: "Oh, you must be seeing things. Is it because you look at your phone too much? I told you, don't look at that thing so much. If it's not working, go get your eyes checked or get some glasses."

Hearing Wang Yan say this, Zhang Xia doubted her own intuition a bit. She didn't dwell on it anymore and scolded him with a smile: "You little brat, you've got some nerve, even starting to lecture your own mother."

Wang Yan just chuckled foolishly, didn't say anything, and kept his head down to eat.

Afterward, Zhang Xia started nagging Wang Yan.

It wasn't that Zhang Xia wanted to ruin Wang Yan's mood on the first day of the Lunar New Year; they barely saw each other throughout the year, so now that she had the chance, she naturally had to give him a piece of her mind.

The nagging had no other reason than Wang Yan's lifelong affairs.

Wang Yan was 28 this year. Many of his friends were already married with kids, let alone Zhang Xia's friends.

Zhang Xia was anxious to hold a grandchild, and she hadn't arranged few blind dates, but he just hadn't found anyone he liked, which really worried her.

On this point, Wang Yan's father, Wang Dong, did a good job. Although he also wanted to hold a grandchild, he never said much. Wang Yan guessed it was mainly because Zhang Xia's combat power was stronger, and he admitted he couldn't compare.

Compared to a mother's love, a father's love is not as obvious, but it is exceptionally heavy.

Wang Yan only became sensible after graduation, and only then did he gradually start talking more with his father. I believe many people are like this; only when one truly matures can they understand a father's painstaking efforts.

As for why, Wang Yan had discussed it with his friends. They felt it was just because of the beatings; there was no other special reason.

Nowadays, parents born in the 80s and 90s mostly rely on preaching, focusing on teaching through entertainment, so many children have good relationships with their parents, often like friends.

But the generation of Wang Yan's father mostly consisted of uneducated, rough men. Their method of education was beating, which led to Wang Yan feeling some fear toward his father. Now that he had grown up, become sensible, and learned to understand, he no longer got beaten. Wang Yan believed this was also the beginning of his parents growing old.

Zhang Xia kept talking on the side, and Wang Yan was experienced in dealing with her; he had been trained since he was a child. On this point, Wang Yan's father was even more experienced, after all, they had been together for over thirty years.

Wang Yan just responded with "uh-huh" and "yeah," letting it go in one ear and out the other. Seeing Wang Yan only nodding and not saying anything, Zhang Xia stopped talking after a while, though she still felt she had more to say.

As for getting married and having children, Wang Yan did want to. The key was that this thing wasn't easy to find; the difficulty was too high.

Not to mention anything else, Wang Yan's conditions were right there: he looked ordinary, his income was average, and his family was just an average family. His parents were ordinary people who did manual labor, and their income wasn't high. Wang Yan hadn't asked, but he estimated they only had two or three hundred thousand in savings. The only thing that gave Wang Yan peace of mind was that although his parents had been doing manual labor for years and had some minor ailments, they had never had any major illnesses, which saved Wang Yan a lot of worry.

For an average person like Wang Yan, wanting to get married and have children was not just ordinarily difficult. This wasn't something you could just do because you wanted to.

If you look for an average person, not to mention their past experiences or character, the conditions they usually set are not average. If you look for someone extraordinary, Wang Yan was just average and couldn't reach their level.

Another point was the trend in recent years; girls nowadays have quite high expectations.

Moreover, Wang Yan didn't want to use up all the money his parents had saved through a lifetime of hard work just to get married.

Wang Yan could only take it one step at a time and see who he bumped into.

After breakfast, he started visiting relatives one by one to wish them a Happy New Year, and made phone calls to those who lived further away.

The day passed in a chorus of "Happy New Year."

Starting the second day, Wang Yan began various gatherings.

All sorts of fair-weather friends and strange characters—today you host a table, tomorrow I organize a session.

These were the hardest days of the year: drinking one round after another. If you drank too much, you slept; when you woke up, you drank again. There was never a moment of sobriety.

This went on until the sixth day, when everyone had to go out to make a living, and only then did it come to an end. The New Year was officially over.

Accompanied by his parents' concern and reluctance, Wang Yan boarded the train to Lüda.

Wang Yan rented a room in a residential complex not far from where he worked. It was a three-bedroom apartment with one living room, one kitchen, and one bathroom, shared by three people. He lived in a south-facing secondary bedroom. The room was about ten square meters, which was enough; he just slept there and wasn't usually home anyway. The rent was 1,300 a month. The main reason was that his workplace was in a relatively prosperous area, and he didn't want to live too far away and deal with the early-morning and late-night commute. If it were an average area, a larger place would cost about 1,000.

The other two roommates were both men, and he didn't know what they did. Wang Yan hadn't seen them many times to this day, and their schedules were all different. In such a fast-paced society, no one had the leisure to chat nonsense with an irrelevant person, especially with other men. Not every shared apartment is like iPartment.

Returning to the rental, it hadn't been lived in for a long time. He opened the windows for ventilation and tidied up a bit.

He sprawled on the bed, thinking about his future plans.

Wang Yan hadn't thought about changing jobs. Before he had the system, he had thought about it, but now he actually liked his current job.

Besides, given Wang Yan's conditions, it was too hard to find a job other than sales. Just the education requirement alone would basically disqualify him. Although Wang Yan was no longer what he used to be, he still needed an opportunity to show it. If you don't even have the qualifications to get an interview, what's the point of talking nonsense?

In his current real estate sales job, if nothing else, just the freedom alone surpassed many other professions. As long as the performance was good, he could do whatever he wanted; he didn't need to sit in the office, and there was no boss nagging him all day long.

If there was no performance, that was another story, but how could Wang Yan, with his current level, have no performance?

After thinking about it, Wang Yan made up his mind.

First, sell houses, make money, pay off the tens of thousands he owed, and then talk about other things.

To make money, the first priority is to change cities and change companies.

As for why change companies, it is because we are in the internet age now, and selling houses has also started to go online.

The one that dominates the online real estate market is that one company; they share listings and even allow franchising. Previously, Wang Yan worked at the leading company among them. It was mainly because Wang Yan's skills were low back then, and that company had a large platform with a relatively good reputation that people recognized. Now, while these things still have some influence on Wang Yan, they are no longer the most important factors.

Therefore, Wang Yan planned to find a company that also uses franchises but offers higher commissions. Given Wang Yan's current level, while he might not compare to various top sales performers or TopSale, he has left a great many sales staff far behind. If his performance is good, the difference in earnings here is not just twenty or thirty thousand.

The next day at work, Wang Yan submitted his resignation to his manager. The manager offered a symbolic attempt to keep him before approving it; Wang Yan's performance hadn't been that great anyway, selling only one house every two or three months, so a perfunctory gesture was enough.

The following day, he ran to the headquarters office, and the procedures were completed very smoothly.

That same day, he packed his things, contacted his landlord to move out, and bought a plane ticket to Jingcheng for the next afternoon.

As for why Jingcheng, does that even need asking? The housing prices are high. And along with high housing prices, the customers buying them are naturally high-income earners. We won't worry about their character; high income doesn't necessarily mean high character, but generally, they won't be too terrible, and these are the resources Wang Yan needs.

To say nothing else, as Wang Yan sells more and more and gets to know more people, these people are mostly elites from all walks of life. Even if they aren't elites, if they want to buy a house in Jingcheng at a certain age, their family members are also Wang Yan's targets.

As long as Wang Yan knows more people and makes these people recognize his value, then what Wang Yan does in the future will not be as simple as just real estate sales. Of course, not everyone can be maintained; if nothing happens afterward, most are one-off deals. But Wang Yan is confident that he will reach that stage.

That night, he gathered with some friends to say goodbye. The next day, Wang Yan flew straight to Jingcheng.

Wang Yan didn't tell his parents; he was an adult, why let his parents worry? Wang Yan didn't even need to think about it; if he told them, they wouldn't be able to sleep soundly until they were certain he had truly settled down.

After arriving in Jingcheng, he didn't rush to rent a place. Wang Yan found a hostel and paid for three days.

Then came the search for a suitable company. Two days later, Wang Yan found a branch in Xicheng. This was a franchised store that had joined a real estate website. In other words, the manager of this store was the boss, Boss Zhao, and he could make decisions on everything, which meant there was a lot of room for maneuvering.

After a long talk with Boss Zhao, Wang Yan—having been tempered over the past few years—found that, setting aside sales ability, the boss was still a notch below him in other comprehensive aspects. Therefore, the boss had a good impression of Wang Yan, and the conversation was very harmonious.

The final result was that Wang Yan would give the boss 5,000 yuan per month, and after the website's commission was deducted, he would keep the rest of his commission in full. Furthermore, Wang Yan didn't need to clock in and could do whatever he wanted. Five thousand yuan was acceptable; he had inquired about this in Lüda before, and the situation there was two thousand. Considering operating costs, housing prices, and other factors, Wang Yan felt five thousand was quite fair.

Both parties had no issues, wrote it into the contract, and processed his employment immediately.

After leaving, Wang Yan found a place further away and rented a single room for 3,000 a month, with a one-month deposit and three months' rent paid upfront. The surrounding environment was nice, and the layout was the same as before, though this one had a partition built directly in the living room. Four people were sharing the apartment, and Wang Yan lived in the partitioned-off living room. It was on the top floor, facing the sun, and the room was very bright, making it comfortable to stay in.

The next day, Wang Yan began his operations, focusing on Xicheng. Whether it was new homes or second-hand homes, wherever the houses were expensive, Wang Yan went to see them. The benefit of having high mental stats manifested once again; he could memorize listings faster and in greater numbers.

During this time, he researched various home-buying policies, residency policies, schooling policies, loan policies, and so on. He also had to understand in detail the pros and cons of various school districts, where the good lay and where the bad lay. He learned about the customer demographics for various real estate projects, what they did for a living, and so on.

Wang Yan was very anxious because the cost of changing cities to develop is high. His credit cards were almost maxed out, and if he didn't have some income soon, he would have to test his friends. Wang Yan didn't want to do that; whether sincere or not, being able to hang out together is fate, and he didn't want to test them casually.

It wasn't that he couldn't borrow money; anyone who doesn't have a couple of true brothers would be a laughingstock. It was mainly that it hadn't reached that point yet, and he could still hold on.

Wang Yan's life completely stabilized. Every day was waking up early to run and exercise, spending half the day looking at houses, half the day making cold calls, and in the evening, exercising, reading, studying, and sleeping.

Speaking of cold calls, Wang Yan really hadn't found any other effective method. Wang Yan had also opened online portals, but those were filled with fake listings, and customers were terrified of them, so the results were minimal. He could only keep making cold calls and have a good chat whenever he encountered someone interested. That was all.

This thing really depends on luck at the start; even if you brought in a top sales champion, it would be a waste. Unless they had profound hypnotic skills—perhaps those in pyramid schemes could do it? Otherwise, no one can make someone who doesn't want to buy a house buy one, especially under the various national policy restrictions.

Wang Yan kept making calls, kept scheduling viewings.

Heaven does not fail those who work hard. Finally, after more than 20 days of effort by Wang Yan, his luck arrived.