Chapter 52: The Tale of the Spring Commander and the God of Pentakills

Although it was already late, Xiao Yang still arrived within ten minutes.

As a young man born into wealth, Xiao Yang actually had few vices. His only true friend was Shen Xian.

Tonight, Shen Xian had reserved a private room.

"Where's your girlfriend?" Shen Xian asked as soon as he saw Xiao Yang push open the door and walk in.

That long-legged girlfriend of Xiao Yang's from the other night had left quite an impression on Shen Xian, seriously challenging his views on love.

"Which girlfriend are you talking about?" Xiao Yang replied carelessly.

Shen Xian paused for a moment—so there was more than one? What a scoundrel.

"That's not important," Shen Xian said. "The main reason I called you tonight is to talk about your situation."

Xiao Yang gave a nonchalant grunt and began to complain, "What situation could I possibly have? It's just that my old man has truly lost his mind. He wants to tear down the sports arena in Jianping Town to build a pig farm. How much money can you possibly make raising pigs, anyway? Ridiculous. That's exactly how these nouveau riche types behave."

Xiao Yang's father was the quintessential parvenu. Over thirty years ago, he'd been subcontracting painting and plastering jobs in Deep City and Ocean City, never making much of a splash.

In the late 1980s, one of his clients ran out of money and couldn't pay him, so instead, the client handed over a few self-built houses in Deep City village and two more newly built in the Magic Capital as payment. Back then, they were worth only a few tens of thousands. Xiao Yang's father was furious, but there was nothing he could do—he had no choice but to accept.

Since he spent most of his time working between the two cities with a crew of twenty or thirty workers, he never thought to sell the houses. They were convenient to use as dormitories for his workers.

A few years ago, the self-built houses in both Deep City and Ocean City were demolished for redevelopment. The area of the Ocean City property is now called Lujiazui; the Deep City property sits in what is now Shenzhen Bay.

As for the compensation, Xiao Yang himself didn't even know how much it amounted to. All he knew was that, after receiving it, his father became convinced that real estate was the golden ticket and immediately spent a hundred million to buy the sports arena in Jianping Town.

The plot was eighty mu—roughly fifty thousand square meters.

At the time, the standard price for construction land in the county seat was about 1.3 million per mu for prime (first-tier) land. And that was prime land! This was just a small rural town, at best classified as fourth-tier land, which back then went for about three hundred thousand per mu.

Yet here was a rural plot, barely qualifying as fourth-tier land, being sold for 1.3 million per mu. It was an absurd windfall.

The town government seized the opportunity. When Xiao Yang's father came to buy, the deputy mayor in charge of land didn't really think the deal would go through, so he quoted the price for first-tier land in the county seat as a joke.

He thought Xiao Yang's father was just messing with him, so he played along. Who would've thought the man wasn't joking at all—he agreed to the price, one hundred million, no haggling.

The local government was overjoyed. Xiao Yang's father made the offer in the morning, and by noon the town held an emergency party committee meeting and a mayoral office meeting, completing the entire state asset transfer procedure in an hour—a process that would usually take more than a week was done in half a day. Even the required seven-day public notice was quietly added later, just in case the wealthy buyer changed his mind.

That very night, the deputy mayor responsible for natural resources drank himself under the table with Xiao Yang's father.

From that day on, the deputy mayor boasted of his impressive accomplishment: "I sold fourth-tier land at a first-tier price—who else can say that? Even the county mayor couldn't pull that off!"

That year, every staff member in the town government had a good year. Delayed bonuses and performance pay that had been held back for three months were paid out immediately. Even the county committee and government were envious.

To put it nicely, the place was a sports arena. More honestly, it was just a community fitness and cultural center built in the early twentieth century as part of a national campaign to improve public well-being.

After buying it, Xiao Yang's father fancied himself a real estate visionary, confident that his future was bright. He waited for a developer to come along, buy the place, tear it down, and build an apartment complex so he could make easy money.

Many in the family were opposed at the time.

He silenced them with one retort: "Damn it, if you were so capable, why didn’t you buy those houses in Shenzhen Bay and Lujiazui forty years ago?"

No one objected after that.

Who could have guessed that after more than ten years, the property would still be in his hands? At first, a few local developers inquired about the price, but the cost of over a million per mu scared them all away.

This year, the latest transaction price for prime construction land in the county seat was about 1.8 million per mu. But a rural fourth-tier plot going for over a million per mu? Forget it—let whoever wants it buy it.

With the collapse of big-name developers, property prices had plummeted, and even fewer people dared to get involved. And so, the property just sat there.

As for income? Forget it. The place was open to residents free of charge, but they still complained about the outdated facilities, the remote location, and inconvenient transportation. Charging even ten yuan for admission was out of the question.

Occasionally, the government would organize traveling theater troupes to perform there, but even then, barely more than a hundred people showed up—mostly elderly men and women. That was only because the local government, eager for good turnout, promised every attendee a bag of laundry detergent and a stainless steel washbasin.

Otherwise, no one would have bothered to go, and even those who went left as soon as they collected their gifts. Sometimes, there were more town and village officials in attendance than townsfolk.

Watching his dreams of becoming a real estate tycoon crumble, Xiao Yang's father decided to tear down the arena, overrun with weeds, and build a pig farm instead—at least some sort of agricultural business could make ends meet.

As for the KTVs, bars, and similar businesses he had acquired, he simply handed them off to Xiao Yang.

"I really have nothing left to say about this—I mean, how much money can you make raising pigs?" Xiao Yang complained. "I told him to stop messing around. Wouldn't it be better to just let a hundred million sit in the bank?"

Shen Xian could only smile wryly. "What about your mother? Won't she say something to him?"

Xiao Yang sneered, "My mom? Right now, she's helping my dad's mistress raise her children. That's right—he got me a stepmother, and she had a son and a daughter for him."

Shen Xian's eyes widened in disbelief. "Helping the mistress raise children?"

"My mom always said, as long as my dad paid her enough, she'd even take care of his mistress during her confinement. She kept her word," Xiao Yang said, utterly unconcerned.

Shen Xian was truly shocked. "So where's the mistress now?"

"My mom is helping raise her kids, so the mistress is free to roam the world looking for trouble with my dad's other women—numbers four, five, six—making sure he doesn't spread his seed around any more," Xiao Yang said, with a trace of admiration. "The mistress is fierce. The other day, numbers four, five, six, and their two girlfriends tried to extort a hefty sum from my dad. They met with him in a cafe to negotiate, but the mistress caught wind of it. She took them on, one against five, and didn't lose an inch—she even scored an epic five-kill streak, only losing a bit of health herself, and nearly stormed their strongholds too."

"In that team fight, my dad's participation, output, and damage taken were all zero. He hid behind the bar like a fountain commander, standing under the defense turret, spamming '666' and cheering 'nice' as our side carried the lane—he didn't even dare fart."

"Luckily, the mistress is so formidable, or who knows how many more stepmothers I'd end up with."

Shen Xian's hand trembled, nearly dropping the wine bottle. "I'd love to meet your dad and that five-kill war goddess."

Xiao Yang twisted open a beer. "Anyway, let's not talk about that. Why did you call me here?"

Shen Xian replied, "I'll pay a hundred million. Go ask your fountain commander if he'll sell the sports arena. If so, I want to buy it!"

"Are you serious?" Xiao Yang stared at him.

"I'm serious," Shen Xian confirmed.

"I'll go ask for the opinions of the fountain commander and the five-kill war goddess. But what do you want with that place?"

"In the future, there will be concerts there all the time," Shen Xian replied.