Reborn as a landlord in Shanghai

Chapter 15 Buying a car and looking for a bed are minor matters; Mao Xiaoyu's ultimate goal is.

Mao Xiaoyu looked at these old electric vehicles in front of her and wondered what to say.

It's a bit too old-fashioned!

People are probably reluctant to replace their old bikes too early these days. Usually, they only bring their bikes in to exchange for new ones when they can no longer be ridden or when there are major problems.

This is why the old cars Mao Xiaoyu sees are nothing compared to the old cars she saw in her previous life. The cars nowadays are at most 40% new, most are only 30% new, and many are so dilapidated that they can't be driven on the road at all.

Of course, the boss was thoughtful; he didn't comment on the cars that couldn't be driven on the road, but instead priced the cars that could be driven on the road.

"How's it going, young man? All the cars I quoted you are roadworthy. Take a look, which one do you like?" the shopkeeper asked after explaining the prices.

"Boss, you can recommend one. Which one do you think is more suitable for me, or which one can last longer? After all, they all seem about the same to me. But from the perspective of you car sellers, you'll definitely have a choice: which car is better and which one is not?" Mao Xiaoyu felt that the cars were all similar, so she handed the choice over to the boss.

Hearing Mao Xiaoyu's words, the shopkeeper was also a bit confused. He looked at several vehicles and finally pointed to a scooter, saying, "This one will do. I checked it out the day before yesterday, and the condition is pretty good. It's just that it's a bit slow. If you don't drive fast normally, there shouldn't be any major problems. I'll fix it up for you in a bit. It should last for at least a few years. And this scooter is so big, it can easily seat two people. It's much better than those small scooters. However, it's a bit pricey, 580 yuan. Of course, we'll replace the battery, but we only cover the battery for one year and the scooter for six months."

Hearing the boss's words, Mao Xiaoyu stepped forward and carefully examined the car. Well, it was a bit dirty, but it should look better after a wash. It looked about 30% new, and even after washing, it would be at most 40% new. The front tires and wheels were gone, and the battery had been removed. It would be fine to replace the battery with a new one, but if she wanted to sell the tires and wheels to him, he might have to take the old ones from another car.

Of course, this is normal. After all, electric vehicles don't need license plates to be driven on the road now, so the electric vehicle market is a bit chaotic, and that's just how these vehicles are.

"Boss, I won't haggle anymore, 580 it is, no problem. Just check the tires on the front and rear of the bike later and try to replace them with tires that are less worn. It's not worth it if the tires tear after a month or two of riding the bike and you have to replace them all over again." Mao Xiaoyu pointed to the tires that were still on the back of the bike and said to the boss.

Although the car still had rear tires, the treads on the tires were worn out, and cracks were visible in some places. Mao Xiaoyu was worried that she would have to replace the inner and outer tires after driving the car home for only a few days, which would be troublesome. It would be better to have the boss fix it all at once.

The boss saw the tire Mao Xiaoyu pointed to, then looked at the row of old cars parked nearby, and pointed to the back of one of them, saying, "Take a look at this tire; it's obviously been replaced a year ago. I'll take it off and install it on your rear tires later, just like the front ones. I'll try to get you a better one, what do you think?"

"Okay, boss, you're so agreeable. This is the only car left. Pull it out and fix it." Hearing the boss say this, Mao Xiaoyu immediately agreed.

"Alright, have a seat in the front. I'll get someone to come and get the car out of here and fix it for you," the boss said readily.

Then the boss and Mao Xiaoyu returned to the shop entrance. The boss specially prepared a chair for Mao Xiaoyu to sit on, and then called two workers to the back of the shop to drag out the old car for me, and then started assembling the car.

It took the boss and his apprentice nearly two hours to tidy up Mao Xiaoyu's electric scooter. To make the scooter look better, the boss even had his apprentice wash it.

Of course, once it was washed, it was just that, after all, an old car is still an old car. However, Mao Xiaoyu didn't care about the appearance of the car. After the boss finished cleaning the car, Mao Xiaoyu tried it out. It was not bad. Although it didn't look as good as a new car, it was not much different from a new car in terms of riding experience. It's just that the speed of the car seemed to be a bit slow. At its maximum speed, it could only reach 30 or 40 miles per hour. But that speed was enough for Mao Xiaoyu.

After all, riding an electric bike too fast is too dangerous. Mao Xiaoyu had finally been reborn, and she didn't want to die again because of riding the electric bike too fast. After all, even Mao Xiaoyu herself didn't know if she could be reborn after dying.

"Boss, the car is nice. I'll be going now." Mao Xiaoyu had already paid for the car while she was waiting, so after the test drive, she felt there were no problems and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute, here's a safety helmet for you, safety first." The shopkeeper saw Mao Xiaoyu about to leave and quickly called her back, then handed her a summer safety helmet.

"I didn't expect the boss to be so agreeable, thank you." Mao Xiaoyu was stunned when she saw the helmet the boss handed her. After all, nine and a half out of ten people riding electric bikes don't wear helmets these days, so people don't really care about safety knowledge. But Mao Xiaoyu didn't expect the boss to actually hand her a helmet.

"Safety first. Even though the car you bought from me is a used one, I still want to ensure your safety." As the shop owner said this, he handed the helmet to Mao Xiaoyu.

"Thank you, boss." Mao Xiaoyu put on her helmet, said goodbye to the boss, and then left.

As Mao Xiaoyu rode along, she glanced at the sky. She didn't plan to go to the bank to withdraw money anymore. After all, even if she went to buy a bed and furniture now, she wouldn't have time to transport them back. So, Mao Xiaoyu decided to take advantage of the little time she still had to go shopping first and buy the bed and furniture tomorrow or the day after.

As for the money for the car, it was all the money Mao Xiaoyu had earned in a month. After paying 580 yuan, she didn't have much money left. Even if the bed and furniture she bought were secondhand, they would cost at least two or three thousand yuan, and possibly four or five thousand. After all, you can't be sure what will happen.

And so, Mao Xiaoyu rode towards the secondhand market, following the route she had asked for while chatting with someone during the bike repair.

…………

There are many secondhand markets in Shanghai. Mao Xiaoyu had visited quite a few during her month-long trip, but this time she chose the nearest one and even asked the people there if it was a secondhand market selling furniture and appliances. After all, there are many types of secondhand markets, such as those selling antiques, used clothes, and old books, which Mao Xiaoyu didn't need.

The secondhand market I asked about this time sells used furniture. I heard they have a lot of chairs, stools, and tables, and beds too, though not many.

Mao Xiaoyu didn't care about this. At least she would go and take a look. It didn't matter if there were few beds. At least these people who sell used furniture would definitely have information and know where to buy used beds. At worst, they could become secondhand dealers and earn 10 or 20 yuan per bed. After all, she wanted a lot of beds this time. Even if she only earned a little from each bed, she would still earn a lot from a dozen beds.

And so, Mao Xiaoyu rode for more than twenty minutes before finally arriving at the secondhand market.

I must say, this flea market looks pretty big. There are several stalls selling secondhand goods, but it seems that most of them sell secondhand furniture, and there are so many stools and chairs that they are piled up like mountains outside.

Mao Xiaoyu first parked the car outside and locked it, then strolled leisurely into the secondhand market.

"Young man, what do you need? Why don't you come over here and take a look?" Mao Xiaoyu had just stepped into the flea market when he heard someone warmly greeting him.

Hearing the shopkeeper's call, Mao Xiaoyu hesitated for a moment, then turned a corner and actually went over to take a look.

"Young man, feel free to look around, I have all kinds of furniture here! And the prices are very cheap." Seeing that Mao Xiaoyu had actually come to the store to look at things after he had greeted him, the shopkeeper greeted him warmly.

"Boss, do you have a single bed that's one meter wide and two meters long?" Mao Xiaoyu asked as she entered the shop and saw that the whole room was full of stools, tables, chairs, and cabinets, but she couldn't see a bed.

"A single bed that's one meter wide and two meters long? Most families wouldn't want a bed that small." The shopkeeper said, scratching his head, after hearing Mao Xiaoyu's request.

"What I need is a single bed, do you have one?" Mao Xiaoyu asked again.

"I'm sorry, we really don't have any. The smallest bed we have here is a 1.5m x 1.8m double bed. As for anything smaller, we really don't have any." The shopkeeper shook his head helplessly.

"Boss, do you know which stall in this secondhand market sells single beds?" Mao Xiaoyu asked, still unwilling to give up.

"To be honest, very few people come here to buy single beds, so I don't really know anyone who has one right now. But you can take a look at our stools and tables. Don't let their age fool you, they're really high quality. You can use them for 10 or 20 years without any problems." Although the shop owner didn't have any single beds, he didn't mind introducing his own products.

The problem is that Mao Xiaoyu doesn't want chairs or tables right now. What Mao Xiaoyu wants most right now is a bed. In Mao Xiaoyu's opinion, if the house is going to be a business, at least the bed should be bought first. Otherwise, where will people sleep?

Therefore, after learning that the boss didn't have a single bed, Mao Xiaoyu apologized, left the boss's place, and started walking inside.

Mao Xiaoyu wasn't in a hurry. She looked at each shop one by one, not just the beds, but also other things. After all, this was a flea market, selling not only old furniture but also other old items. Some of these things were things Mao Xiaoyu had never seen in her two lifetimes, so it was no wonder she found them fascinating.

It took more than an hour to walk around the flea market. And you know what? Maybe it's because single beds are less common, but there were no single beds in the whole market. However, there were double beds measuring 1.5m x 1.8m.

The problem is that these double beds aren't really suitable for renting. After all, most people who rent rooms, besides patients, also need someone to stay overnight. The actual person sleeping in the room is usually just one person. It's rare to find two people. If you bring a double bed home, it won't be as easy to rent as a single bed.

Fortunately, Mao Xiaoyu wasn't planning to buy anything this afternoon anyway, so she was just looking around. Besides, in Mao Xiaoyu's opinion, this flea market didn't have single beds, so she could just look somewhere else. There were other flea markets in Shanghai, so after looking around, Mao Xiaoyu felt there was nothing she wanted to buy and left on her electric scooter.

Next, Mao Xiaoyu rode her electric scooter aimlessly around, and after riding for more than half an hour, she unknowingly arrived at a place that was both familiar and unfamiliar to her.

It's hard to call it familiar; the scene before him is utterly unfamiliar, given that this entire area will soon be demolished, and these houses will simply disappear from his memory. Yet, it's also hard to call it unfamiliar; a few years later, this place will become a famous commercial street in XX district. Four years later, Mao Xiaoyu and his friends opened a barbershop here, where he met his girlfriend. Then, over the next few years, he was swindled out of everything and returned home dejectedly. In short, everything that happened to Mao Xiaoyu in the years following his departure from his home took place here.

It was precisely because of this place that Mao Xiaoyu was so deeply impressed. After being reborn, she thought about it again and again, and she felt that this was the first step in her rise to power. After all, Mao Xiaoyu was very familiar with this place. She knew that a large-scale demolition would begin here in August, and that the demolition would only be announced in July. Before July, the people here had no idea that this place was going to be demolished. Many people sold their houses here before July, and when they received the demolition news a month or two later, they were filled with regret. In order to catch up with this demolition, Mao Xiaoyu had to get a sum of money to buy a house here and wait for the demolition.

Since there are still three or four months before the demolition, and considering the previous discussion about selling the house, Mao Xiaoyu only has a little over two months left. Time is a bit tight!

Because time is of the essence, Mao Xiaoyu wanted her family to buy her a house, then take out a loan for it, and then use the house loan to mortgage the house in a cyclical manner, in order to get the demolition house she wanted in this area within the next two or three months, and then become one of the demolition recipients after the demolition is confirmed in July.

It's fair to say that buying a house or a bed near the hospital is a minor matter; Mao Xiaoyu's ultimate goal is to develop her career here.