Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 84 (Part 2)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 84.2 Jingzhe’s Hair Growth Serum!
However, while Mother Zhou was talking, she suddenly couldn't hold herself any longer, with trembling lips, she threw herself into Lin Jingzhe's arms and started sobbing.
Her hand slowly thumped at Lin Jingzhe's chest. Lin Jingzhe sighed and did not dodge her assault. He just raised his arm and placed it on her back, patting her softly.
"You damn kid——"
Mother Zhou's sobs came from the position where she buried her head in his embrace, and Lin Jingzhe continued to console her with soft sorry’s.
"What is there to be sorry for?" Mother Zhou had cried enough and broke away from Lin Jingzhe's arms. Her eyes were red and there were tears on her face, but her expression was very fierce. "Who are you sorry for? Who dares to let you feel sorry? Don't think about all this nonsense all day long, I’ve already said I’m just crying tears of joy!"
After a pause, she sniffed, then turned away from Lin Jingzhe's smile, glared at the worried family members around her, and strode ahead in large steps.
As everyone walked out of the restaurant, they bumped into Gao Sheng and Zhou Haitang smoking at the door. Gao Sheng turned around, the moment he saw Xiao Chi, his eyes turned red. He seemed to have forgotten his previous fear of the other person's majestic appearance and rushed towards him, as if looking for a fight, "You——"
Zhou Haitang stood on the side, motionless, without any intention of stopping him. Lin Jingzhe wanted to stand in front of Xiao Chi, but Xiao Chi's arm firmly held him behind him. Seeing that the young people were about to start a conflict, Mother Zhou suddenly raised her sobbing tone, "Gao Sheng, come here this instance!"
Gao Sheng's tottering reason was stopped momentarily by her call. He stood there and heavily panted. Mother Zhou simply came up, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the other side. While pulling, she turned around and said to Lin Jingzhe in a warm voice, "Go back, don't drive, let... let Xiao Xiao drive, and call us when you get there."
After she finished speaking, she turned around and scolded Gao Shen, who was still trying to get away, "What are you doing? Why are you being so noisy? There are so many people outside watching, but you wanna throw hands? You don't think it's embarrassing enough?!"
Gao Sheng was quite afraid of this aunt, but when it came to Lin Jingzhe's matter, he still didn't want to give in easily. "Then you’re going to let them be together like this? They’re both men... Aunt Zhou, from the time I spent in Hong Kong Island, I came to realize how more open and accepting they are compared to people from here. However the major stars who are under suspicion of being homosexuals and are scolded by paparazzi and magazines on the daily. Do you know how much pressure they will face in the future?"
"So?!" Mother Zhou turned to look at Lin Jingzhe's back before suddenly turning back to question, "So you want us to be the first people to make it difficult for them?!"
Gao Sheng's explosive flames seemed to be extinguished by a basin of ice water. His ferocious expression blanked, and then was gradually replaced by confusion.
Hu Yu was worried that her friend would not be able to hold back her strong son, so she sighed and said, "I'll see you off."
Lin Jingzhe was also in a bad mood. He nodded silently, and before getting into the car, he stopped and looked back at Hu Yu.
Hu Yu seldom expressed her opinions. After learning about the news that they were together, compared to Mother Zhou, she seemed almost without any reaction. Therefore, it was easy for the rest of the family to ignore her opinions, but Lin Jingzhe sincerely felt sorry. He felt that he had failed the expectations of the most important teacher in his life. "Teacher Hu, I'm sorry."
Hu Yu was stunned for a moment, then laughed in Lin Jingzhe's guilty eyes. She raised her hand and caressed the youth's cold face, almost needing to stand on her tiptoes.
She no longer dressed as plainly as when she did back in Liyun Town, but her stature remained thin and short, and her voice was as gentle as when she was teaching high school. "Jingzhe, you have to remember what your Aunt Zhou said. You have nothing to be sorry for in this matter."
"Teacher Hu has been teaching for so many years, and you are the most promising student I’ve ever had. Without anyone’s help you got admitted to Yan University, started your own business, and even established an institution supported by an endowment. You will definitely become a very great person in the future." Hu Yu's seemingly ordinary smile extruded a tenderness that even the most unruly students found irresistible. "It is a teacher’s duty to teach and educate people, but what we care about the most is to guide the future generation with a proper sense of morality. You have good grades and outstanding capabilities, but you also love to help others, and a sense of social responsibility. Jingzhe, your relationship is your own choice; you are an adult now, and Teacher Hu is proud of you for it."
Lin Jingzhe never thought that he would hear such words from Hu Yu. His constantly on guard and valiant heart seemed to have been hit by some soft force, and began to collapse from the most vulnerable place.
Hu Yu patted him, and then calmly looked at Xiao Chi, who was standing by the driver’s seat and looking at her blankly, "My child, your name is Xiao Chi, right?"
Xiao Chi nodded subconsciously, "Yes, Teacher Hu."
"Feel free to visit us at our house in the future." Hu Yu took two steps back and said, "Drive slowly and carefully on the road."
In the slightly shaking car, Lin Jingzhe leaned against the passenger window in a stupor. Xiao Chi took a quick peek at him while driving, raised his hand, and rubbed his arm. "You have a very good family."
He felt a deep veneration for his family members.
Lin Jingzhe thought of his childhood experiences and the decades he spent with this group of relatives. He took Xiao Chi's hand and squeezed it, smiling in response.
Yes, he had a very good family. Perhaps the fortunate thing he had done in his life was to fall asleep in front of his grandfather’s cemetery that day.
Lin Jingzhe replied, "They are also now your family, and they’ll only get better in the future."
*******
The Yan City Municipal Administration may have some dark sense of humor. Every time they announce new policies, just like they had done in January, the announcements would always throw everyone off guard.
When this news was released, Lin Jingzhe and Xiao Chi were still selecting invitation cards and wedding suits styles with their families. The fourth draft of the suit sketch sent by the tailor was rejected once again. The invitations were relatively simpler. The guest list just needed to be checked over. After everything was confirmed, the wedding invitations could be sent out in a few days.
Lin Jingzhe believed that some of the intivees would not come, but the elders of the Xiao Family and the Shen Family begged to differ, "Seldom would people reject wedding invitations."
Xiao Chi was also quite optimistic. "We are inviting only our closest friends and relatives. If they don't want to come, then there is no need to continue to interact with each other in the future. Grandma and Tiantian’s grandfather have no objections, so under normal circumstances, no one would be so ignorant... "
As Xiao Chi was explaining, he suddenly received a phone call. His smiling face immediately turned serious, "When did this happen?"
The rest of the family immediately stared at him. After a while, Xiao Chi hung up the phone and explained, "Hu Shaofeng said that the city’s Municipal Administration has announced they have officially declared the plot by Wubao Mountain as a public cemetery."
Lin Jingzhe immediately perked up when he heard the news. Although he had known that this day would come, he was still surprised at this moment. The piece of land at the foot of Wubao Mountain has been in Xiao Chi's hands for some time. As the communion of development approached and unexpected events that followed, the valuation of this plot of land was slightly lower than the latest transaction price. There were more and more rumors outside, many people began to believe that Wubao Mountain was an ominous place, and that this business was bound to lose money. The two of them had many rivals in the business world, so there were countless schadenfreude voices gossiping behind their backs. The endless chattering was very annoying to say the least.
However, now that the cemetery plan has been issued, everything would become completely different!
Lin Jingzhe quickly put down the sample of the wedding invitation cards and stood up, "Has the application for the funeral and interment permit been handled?"
"Hu Shaofeng is already preparing. If everything goes well, it should get approved sometime this week."
This new batch of Municipal Administration plans was once again spread across the city. From public toilets to street parks, Wubao Mountain should be the biggest winner. It was originally a barren mountain with a low altitude, with barely any plantation covering the land. The most important thing was that it was located in the outskirts of the city. The Yan City Hall had pulled over this troublesome land for many years.
The crematorium and funeral parlor that were previously developed had blocked and nearly killed the surrounding commercial properties. This had devastated many developers into tears, but now as soon as the news of the public cemetery was announced, the surrounding land began to warm up immediately. Although the average house prices were much lower than that of real estate in other locations, it was still much higher than before, with the transaction volume also slowly increasing.
The commercial land that Xiao Chi took over from Dominion Properties totaled more than 400,000 square meters. It was a large area of land, and it was located just right at the foot of Wubao Mountain; it was the closest plot of land to the crematorium and funeral parlor. The latest industry estimate put this land at a little over 30 million, they had viewed this land to be completely worthless.
But this was no longer the case now.
Before the entire real estate industry in Yan City had come to their senses, another piece of explosive news dropped right after the selection of the public cemetery site—
New Beginnings Real Estate and Flux Realty collaborated again to jointly establish Yan City's first cemetery company, ‘Peace Garden’. At the same time, their new company’s first project was officially announced.
The land at the foot of Wubao Mountain, which covers an area of more than 400,000 square meters, had officially been approved for the right to develop a cemetery!
It was a tremendously difficult task for private individuals in China to be approved for cemetery development. Cemeteries were almost always owned by public institutions; development by private entities, especially during the application and acquisition stage, required ten times more energy than that of ordinary real estate. More than ten times more energy. Peace Garden's success was the outcome of grasping the most optimal time, as well as favorable geographical and social conditions. As long as they take a successful first step, the road ahead for this company will only become smoother.
The huge profits of urban commercial cemeteries surpassed that of ordinary real estate projects. This news caused the eyes of every businessman in the entire Yan City real estate industry to turn red from jealousy. They rushed to the south of the city to fight for a piece of the land. Even the original Wubao Mountain residential real estate developers, who had completely constructed their communities, wished to demolish the depreciated buildings and convert them into cemeteries.
However, the Yan City Hall immediately came around and restricted their approval of commercial cemetery development. In just a few days, the value of the 400,000 square meters of land in Peace Garden's hands tripled, approaching the 100 million yuan mark, but Xiao Chi never relented. On the contrary, none of the other speculators who flocked over were lucky enough to obtain a piece of the pie.
The previous chirping voices outside seemed to have been slapped in the face, completely disappearing overnight. The sneering and mocking crowd all stopped talking and all fell into a sour and envious mood. Flux Realty was just too blessed, as if it were God's favorite son. Every land had brought them endless profits, whatever project they commenced always led to success.
The residential real estate they had developed, Dongtai Community, was still ranked as the No. 1 high-end residential complex in Yan City. People would wave their wads of cash to their agents, but the housing there was always difficult to acquire. Their collaborative commercial project, the Mixed-Use Building on 2nd Middle Road, had a nearby art gallery and was in the center of the CBD planning project. It may even be connected to underground transportation in the future; its location in the northern district was second to none. They then randomly bought a piece of land at a low price from a near bankrupt company, seeing that the land was continuously depreciating in value, a cemetery project suddenly popped up, allowing them to make a lot of money before development even began. Now, even if Flux Realty sold this land undeveloped, the net profit would still be at least double their initial purchase price!
New Beginnings Real Estate, which established a cooperation with Flux Realty in the creation of Peace Garden, had its status risen as if a boat on a high tide; its valuation had increased by more than 20 million. Coupled with the fully completed Mixed-Use Building on 2nd Middle Road, after the Mixed-Use Building opens for business, the market value of the New Beginnings Real Estate should be estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.
New Beginnings Real Estate only started about a year ago, right? Even companies in Yan City that have been in operation for three to four years and had a richer background could hardly compete with this. What kind of f*cking luck was this!?
However, no matter how jealous they were, on the opening day of the Mixed-Use Building, the bosses still had to gather their emotions and reluctantly attend the celebration.