Dragon's Origin

Chapter 621: Real Estate Profiteering (Part 1)

The residences in the inner city of the Imperial City were only for people with status and titles. Even the various vassal lords could only buy a few per family. Currently, apart from those who had already come to seek refuge and temporarily bought residences, more of those with titles were still fighting everywhere and had not holed up in the capital.

Originally, there were plenty of vacant properties, but these residences near the moat were built too beautifully. In Wang Sheng's words, relayed by Mei'er, they were called 'Waterside Mansions.' Not only were they exquisitely designed, with various carved beams and painted pillars, but Wang Sheng had also given some pointers to the grandmaster builders, incorporating elements of 'shifting scenes with each step,' 'delicate and refined,' and all the characteristics of Suzhou gardens.

Small bridges and flowing water, willow-lined banks with gentle breezes, reflections of the pond and clouds—various extremely delicate scenes. Mei'er even went to great lengths, in full view of everyone, to transplant over a thousand giant trees, each over a hundred years old, into the inner city. All of them were transported from the Thousand Absolute Land by experts from the Old Monarch Temple. This grand gesture alone astonished countless people.

The entire bank of the moat was renovated, with various well-arranged segmented scenes, all divided into each residence.

The moat was already wide, and Wang Sheng directly told Mei'er about the Qinhuai River setup. Without a word, Mei'er immediately summoned the madams of the major brothels and asked them to bring out their best girls, the ones they were saving for their own retirement. As long as they had enough fame, each would be given a large, comfortable, and elaborately carved pleasure boat, definitely not the low-class kind. Each pleasure boat owner had to be a talented courtesan who would later be famous throughout the capital and the world.

There were also rules for boarding the pleasure boats. Without several days of exchanging knowledge of琴棋书画 (the four arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting) and satisfying the pleasure boat owner, one wouldn't even have the qualification to board.

Mei'er didn't forget the moat's banks either, arranging various eating, drinking, and entertainment establishments, of course, all on the outer city side of the moat. As long as one was on the boat, one could have whatever one wanted.

Once such a prospect was described, how could those madams resist? They couldn't wait to bring out the hidden aces they had secretly trained. In just half a month, dozens of talented women emerged, all waiting for the construction here to be completed so they could get on the pleasure boats.

This made living in this place ideal. If one wanted peace and quiet, one could have it; if one wanted excitement, one could have it; if one wanted prosperity, one could have it. Which of those big shots who came to seek refuge wouldn't like this kind of arrangement? And what kind of resolute people could come to seek refuge? Seeing such a situation, wouldn't they quickly sink into it and forget about returning?

Just imagine, in the future, if one boarded a pleasure boat and said that one was from such-and-such residence on the inner city's waterfront, wouldn't one immediately be treated as a guest of honor? Among a group of wealthy patrons, only oneself enjoyed this privilege. Just thinking about it felt extremely prestigious.

When Mei'er started selling, those big shots who came upon hearing the news immediately fell in love with it after just one look. Many people immediately placed orders, eager to move into these exquisite gardens today.

Instantly, those who had already bought residences all regretted it and quickly ran to Mei'er, asking if there was any way to buy. Even an exchange would do.

Mei'er didn't make things difficult. Buying was possible, but exchanges were not. However, to buy a new one, one had to sell the old one, after all, the Emperor had decreed that one title could only buy one residence.

Those people had rushed to buy before, but at that time, the city walls hadn't been torn down, and this land simply didn't exist, so they could only buy in the city. But now that the city walls were torn down, coupled with Mei'er's grand gesture, each Waterside Mansion was at least dozens of acres in size, much better than what they had bought in the city.

So what was there to say? Sell! Quickly sell the residences they had bought and built before, and then come here to buy. Some of the ones they lived in were indeed well-built, but compared to Mei'er's, they were completely outclassed.

Now, inner city real estate, even if one wanted to sell, could only be sold to those with titles. Those without titles couldn't buy! The problem was, those who were qualified to buy all had their eyes on those Waterside Mansions surrounding the moat. Who would like the ones inside?

Thus, everyone could only bite the bullet and sell to Mei'er. Fortunately, Mei'er didn't try to rip everyone off on this. Whatever the original purchase price was, whatever the construction cost was, whatever the decoration cost was, report a number, and Mei'er would buy it back at double the price.

This time, all parties had no reason to refuse. Coming to the capital for a trip, earning double the gold coins they had spent in a few months, they could justify it anywhere. Sell! What was there to say? Sell it!

However, they hadn't even seen, let alone touched, the gold coins from selling the residences and gardens. Not only that, but they also had to make up the price difference between the two, which was not a small amount of gold coins. After all, the price of Mei'er's residences was directly a hundred times the normal land price.

Very good, very much in line with Mei'er's consistent style of doing business. Li Zhen Workshop didn't disgrace Mei'er, inheriting the consistent style of Qian Sheng Yuan Runzi Workshop Dream Workshop and Ya Yun: expensive! Exceedingly expensive!

Expensive as it was, it was definitely worth the price. Not to mention the exquisite scenery and surrounding arrangements, just the protective array in each residence, once activated, was comparable to the protection level of their respective national capitals' palaces. This alone was worth that many gold coins. Besides, what location was this?

Buy! The big shots waved their hands, and a large amount of gold coins was sent to Li Zhen Workshop. Then, one by one, they took over the Waterside Mansions, reported to the government, paid taxes, and changed the property to their respective names.

Those with titles directly bought one for themselves. Seeing that there were still many remaining, thinking of those in their families who also had titles, they bought one for those who were not present but had titles without saying a word. They all came from large families, and who couldn't see that these Waterside Mansions were scarce resources? Once this opportunity passed, there would be no more. They had to grab them first.

Seeing this situation, the residences in the capital would only rise and not fall in the future. Buying them and holding onto them, enjoying them on weekdays, and selling them at a profit when necessary, this deal was worth it!

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In less than a day after Li Zhen Workshop released the Waterside Mansions, the hundreds of Waterside Mansions along the inner city of the moat were sold out, with not a single one remaining. There were still people beating their chests and stomping their feet, regretting that they were a step late, regretting it immensely!