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CH 076 GOD IS REALLY UNFAIR
As early as after the transfer of ownership of the house in Wugu Village, Jiang Chen entrusted Chen Fang to help him find someone to renovate it because he was simply too busy. Except for the initial design drawing and renovation plan, he rarely went to the site. Everything was reported and photographed by Chen Fang remotely.
Now that the development notice had become public, all residents of Wugu Village needed to sign a cooperation contract. So Jiang Chen took this opportunity to ask Li Nanfeng to find a professional inspection team to check the renovation efforts.
Chen Fang waited at the entrance of the village early. He couldn’t help but take a second look when he saw a luxury car coming, but unexpectedly the car stopped in front of him, and Jiang Chen and two young men got out of the car.
“Mr. Jiang, you’re here.” Chen Fang glanced at the two handsome men behind Jiang Chen. While secretly feeling startled, he couldn’t help adding weight to his guess about Jiang Chen’s identity. He asked with a smile: “Are these two going to see the house with you?”
“Yes.” Jiang Chen was a little exasperated. After Li Nanfeng learned that he was going to find someone to inspect the house, he was very enthusiastic to help him find an inspection team, and even called Shi Fengyue over to take a look together. All with the excuse that he was too young and easily fooled, but with the two of them around, there would be a deterrent to those who wanted to cheat him. Then, without waiting for Jiang Chen’s objection, he arranged everything properly, and even drove to wait downstairs at his house early this morning.
“Jiang Xiao Chen, the scenery here is not bad.” Li Nanfeng took off his sunglasses and took in the colorful flowers on both sides of the road. Now that it was late autumn, it was rare to see such a scene.
“Because of the large number of hot springs in Wugu Village, and the annual temperature kept at around 20 degrees Celsius, the surrounding vegetation and flowers are different from other places in Yan City. If you go further in, you can see more differences.” Chen Fang laughed. He said: “Mr. Jiang, and these two gentlemen, this way please.”
Jiang Chen smiled and briefly introduced Shi Fengyue and Li Nanfeng. After exchanging greetings, Chen Fang led the three inside and introduced the future development area while walking: “Mr. Jiang, you can rest assured that in order to maintain the original ecological environment to the greatest extent and not disturb the residents here, the part where you live will be strictly protected. Even if plank roads or other constructions are being built on the mountain, it will not affect the living conditions here in the slightest.”
All the way up, from the flowers full of wild beauty to the endless flower fields and then to the village with the faint scent of sweet-scented osmanthus, Li Nanfeng sighed sincerely: “Jiang Xiao Chen, why didn’t you tell your Brother Li when you bought the house, it’s such a good environment here, even if they don’t develop it, it’s comfortable as it is to buy a house here to live in.”
Jiang Chen: “I didn’t know you at that time, Brother Li.”
Shi Fengyue sneered. Li Nanfeng turned his head, and crossed his arms over his chest: “He didn’t know me, but did he know you back then?”
Jiang Chen: “We knew each other.”
Li Nanfeng staggered. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Shi Fengyue’s obvious mockery and trace of pride at the corners of his eyes and mouth. With a cold snort, he walked around Shi Fengyue, and leaned into Jiang Chen’s ear: “Listen to your Brother Li’s advice, and spend less time with Shi Fengyue in the future. He’s not a good person, and ow, ow——Shi Fengyue! My fingers are going to be broken by you! Let go!”
Shi Fengyue let go of Li Nanfeng calmly, and inserted himself between the two of them naturally. He patted Jiang Chen on the shoulder, and explained lightly: “All the dirt on his hands has rubbed off on your shoulder.”
“Where are my hands dirty——” Li Nanfeng held his hand in aggrievance, but stopped abruptly when he saw an obvious gray mark on Jiang Chen’s white sweater. He seemed to recall that he had been skipping stones just now.
The traces on his shoulder were wiped clean, and Jiang Chen raised his head and said with a smile, “Thank you.”
Shi Fengyue lowered his eyes and smiled slightly: “You’re welcome.”
Li Nanfeng rubbed his fingers, swallowed the foul words on his tongue, and followed behind angrily.
After walking for about twenty minutes, Li Nanfeng, who was lagging behind, suddenly paused, then quickened his pace to catch up with Jiang Chen and the others. He pointed to a small building not far away: “That house is not bad! Whose house is it?”
Chen Fang smiled and said, “That’s Mr. Jiang’s house.”
Just as they were talking, the several people had already walked to the opposite side of the small building. This position happened to be able to see the entire three-story house clearly.
According to Jiang Chen’s description and the plan drawn by the designer, this small building was practically demolished and then rebuilt anew.
The small building in front of them was square as a whole, but it was not a rigid square at all. Four rectangles with different lengths, widths and heights formed a staggered floor height, which added a sense of modern geometric design to the exterior of the house. Therefore, there were balconies and large terraces extending from the walls. The main color of the small building was white, with dark gray cuboid extending from the walls and large floor-to-ceiling windows. The collision of colors and visual harmony formed a more three-dimensional and more modern design as a whole.
The three of them crossed the road and came to the entrance door of the courtyard. The periphery of the courtyard integrated the overall design of the house. The entrance door, garage door and small flower bed that were not in a straight line distinguished the functions of the house and avoided mutual interference. Except for the old wall bricks of light wood color on the front, the other three wall sides were black, and there were two black metal doors of the same material as the frame of the floor-to-ceiling windows on one-fourth and two-thirds of the front wall. One was the entrance door and the other was the garage door. In addition, there were two small flower beds with different heights but leaving enough space to enter the house beside the door. Green plants were planted inside, allowing the house and the courtyard to correlate with each other, and also provide a little more warmth and liveliness.
From the outer appearance of the house alone, the look of this house was even better than the renovation plans that Jiang Chen saw before.
Jiang Chen sincerely thanked: “Brother Chen, thank you for your hard work.”
“This is what I should do.” Chen Fang didn’t take credit for it: “I took the initiative to take on this job back then, and you put your trust in me, of course I can’t let you down.”
Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow and smiled. He walked to the outer black metal door in a familiar manner, touched a piece of protruding metal lightly with his finger, and a blue smooth surface passed over the metal surface, a touch electronic screen appearing. After the original password was entered correctly, the door clicked automatically open.
“Is this what you were working on in our mobile phone screen research and development laboratory during that time?” Li Nanfeng moved to the door, touched the metal screen, and whistled: “Jiang Xiao Chen, what else can you not do? This screen is much cooler than the touch-screen mobile phone we are about to launch, any plans to sell this technology?”
“The raw materials cost more than 100,000.” Jiang Chen pushed the door open with a smile: “If you install this screen, how much will your mobile phone be sold for?”
Li Nanfeng’s hand on the door froze, and he laughed dryly: “We can discuss this matter later. Yes, later.”
Jiang Chen took the lead to enter the door, and Li Nanfeng followed behind him. After walking in and seeing the high and transparent entrance hall, he eagerly tpred the place by himself. After looking around, he only had one thought: “Who is the designer of your house? Introduce them to me immediately, my villa in the northern suburbs is in a hurry to rennovate.”
Chen Fang had been silent since he entered the door. Hearing what Li Nanfeng said, he laughed and said: “All the designs here are done by Mr. Jiang, and all the design drawings made by our designer are done according to Mr. Jiang’s requirements, so Mr. Li, you want to find the designer, you can only discuss it with Mr. Jiang.”
Li Nanfeng was silent for half a minute, and then asked in a very slow voice: “Master Jiang, besides giving birth to children, what else can’t you do?”
Jiang Chen chuckled lightly: “This house is not designed by me, it’s all the efforts of the designer, you can find him if you want to do a renovation.”
He was telling the truth, all he did was just describe the house he lived in in the interstellar era. It was the designer’s amazing comprehension ability that made this house take on a 60% similarity to the house he lived in at that time.
Shi Fengyue pointed to a black metal surface in the corner of the wall: “What do you plan to use these boxes embedded in the wall for?”
“Isn’t that just a detail that matches the overall design?” Li Nanfeng pushed open the floor-to-ceiling windows, and exclaimed in surprise, “A hot spring! Dang! Jiang Xiao Chen, you sure know how to enjoy life!”
Jiang Chen didn’t expect Shi Fengyue to observe so meticulously, and he didn’t hide it: “I’m going to design a security system that can monitor the entire house, these boxes will be useful at that time.”
“Security system?”
“Yes, there is already a prototype, but it may take a few years for the final result to come out.”
Shi Fengyue was very interested and wanted to ask some more, but Li Nanfeng squatted by the hot spring and shouted at them from a distance: “Let’s have a soak together!”
Shi Fengyue’s eyes flickered slightly, and he looked at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen smiled: “If you don’t mind not having a change of clothes, you can take a dip if you want.”
Li Nanfeng couldn’t wait to soak in the hot spring, so he ran back inside like the wind, took off his coat, put on slippers, and then asked formally, “Jiang Xiao Chen, can I soak in your hot spring?”
“Of course you can.” Jiang Chen repeated what he said to Shi Fengyue, and said, “I still have to go upstairs to communicate with the inspection team, you guys have a soak first.”
The inspection team was all men, so Li Nanfeng had no scruples: “Brother Shi, let’s go together.”
Shi Fengyue: “Not interested.”
In the end, Li Nanfeng soaked in the hot spring in the backyard alone, while Jiang Chen and Shi Fengyue went upstairs to inspect the house together.
Half an hour later, the inspection team finished up, handed the results to Jiang Chen, and said, “The quality of the house, including the materials used for renovation, is very good, and there will be no problem for people to live in immediately.”
Jiang Chen: “If it’s a pregnant woman, will the house need to air out a while first?”
“No.” The inspection team said: “Looking at the materials and decoration, one can tell that your home decoration must have cost a lot of money. The materials used in this house are very environmentally friendly. There is no formaldehyde detected in the house, and there are no other harmful substances at all. It is no problem for pregnant women to live here.”
Jiang Chen nodded his thanks, and saw the inspection team out. Li Nanfeng asked curiously, “That inspection team has seen many houses, and it isn’t often that they say that the renovation cost is high. How much did you invest in this house?”
“Three million.”
Li Nanfeng: “
..”
Li Nanfeng raised his head, looked around the house, and applauded: “Jiang Xiao Chen, even the second generation rich kids who spend money like water flows I have ever seen do not spend money as calmly as you. You are amazing, too amazing.”
Jiang Chen hadn’t thought that the renovation would cost so much money either. In fact, the rebuilding and hardware of the house plus the design made up less than one-third of the total cost. The real big expense was the hidden smart products and tailor-made furniture in the house.
Among the smart products, the cost of the touch screen lock for the gate and the fingerprint lock for the entrance door alone exceeded 200,000 yuan, and other seemingly insignificant details were even more expensive. This was because under the current science and technology, most of the materials that would be common in the future have not yet appeared at this time. Jiang Chen needed to invest more money to find suitable substitutes, and many of the technical aspects also required more professional people to design. Jiang Chen could design a program but couldn’t make a computer himself, so as long as it was related to the home security system, even the metal locks on the windows needed to be customized specially, so there was such a high renovation cost.
Fortunately, the end result was satisfactory. Jiang Chen believed that after installing the security system, this house would become the private house with the highest security level in the world, so he could rest assured about his parents living here.
Before entering the federation’s research institute in his last life, Jiang Chen had experienced two assassinations. Even at a venue like an artificial intelligence seminar, there was an incident where a researcher temporarily changed his ticket because his relatives were threatened. At that time, he was alone and had no scruples, but it was different now, Jiang Chen would never expose his parents to danger. He was very clear about what he would face in the future. Even if the times were different, there was not much difference between the huge benefits and the risks brought about by the reforms that promote the development of a country.
After brewing a pot of new tea from tea leaves gifted by a neighbor, the three of them sat on the second-floor terrace, chatting leisurely and enjoying the scenery.
Li Nanfeng crossed his legs and joked: “If I didn’t know the truth, I would really suspect that Jiang Xiao Chen is some prince hiding his identity and living among the common folks.”
Jiang Chen was pondering over some things, when he suddenly heard Li Nanfeng say this, and his gaze became confused: “Why?”
Li Nanfeng raised his eyebrows slightly, looked back and said, “Just two random points, the robot you gave He Qianyang, not counting the shell you made yourself, just the wheels, motor controller and other parts inside, are at least worth tens of thousands, and I haven’t seen many people who are so generous in giving gifts to a stranger.”
“Also when we signed the contract, I found that you don’t care about how much money is agreed on at all. Even if the authorization fee is squeezed down to the lowest within the range, you can still accept it.” Li Nanfeng laughed and said: “Jiang Xiao Chen, if at that time, our team only gave you one million a year, would you still agree?”
Jiang Chen didn’t take it seriously, and said indifferently: “I know how much my creations are worth. It doesn’t mean much to me to make more or less money. We are just a short-term cooperation. If it is not suitable, I can switch to another cooperative partner as soon as the time passes.”
Li Nanfeng swayed his crossed leg, and silently wiped off the sweat on his forehead: “Fortunately, I didn’t pass their plan to suppress your price at that time.”
Jiang Chen: “So we have a happy cooperation.”
Li Nanfeng held Jiang Chen’s hand: “We will definitely have a happy cooperation in the future.” After letting go, he thought for a while and then smiled: “Jiang Xiao Chen, if you start a company in the future, you can find me if you want investors, I guarantee it will be an even more pleasant cooperation. “
Shi Fengyue opened his eyes and glanced at him lazily: “He will not be short of money.”
Li Nanfeng opened his mouth to refute, but when the words came to his lips, he felt that Shi Fengyue was right. The two of them, Jiang Chen and Shi Fengyue, were both basically treasuries. If they lacked money all they needed to do was shake themselves, and perhaps the money they dropped would be even more than how much he earned through sweat and tears.
He gulped down his tea and said bitterly, “God is so unfair.”
After these words fell, the doorbell rang, and at the same time there was a call in a local accent: “Is there anyone inside? Young man, are you there?”
Jiang Chen stood up, walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down. After seeing clearly the person standing at the door, he was stunned for a moment, and his brows furrowed slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Jiang Chen’s expression, Shi Fengyue asked.
Jiang Chen turned around and said calmly, “He Qianjian is downstairs.”
“I saw just now as well.” Li Nanfeng still sat with his legs crossed leisurely: “I am guessing that he accompanied the elders of the He family to say hello. The houses here are said to not be for sale, but in fact, most of them had been confiscated by the government in private. It’s not surprising that the He family elders are allocated a house.”
Shi Fengyue asked Jiang Chen, “Open the door?”
Jiang Chen nodded. Although he didn’t want to see He Qianjian, let alone let him enter this house, he couldn’t shut the two elders out.
Downstairs, after waiting for a while yet no one opened the door, the villager muttered, “Could he have left?”
He Qianjian asked, “Didn’t you say that their car is still parked at the foot of the mountain?”
“They came in three cars.” The villager said: “Just now only two cars left. I wonder if that young man has left with them.”
Old Mr. He said lightly: “Since they are not at home, let’s visit again next time.”
“Grandpa, let’s wait a little longer. Since there is still a car, the family should still be here. Maybe they didn’t hear just now.” He Qianjian persuaded half-childishly. He took a fancy to this house as soon as he went up the mountain and saw it. After so many years in the He family, he had seen countless high-end villas, grand courtyards, and buildings of different styles in various countries, but there was no house that aroused in him a desire to take for himself after just a look from a distance. Since the villager said that this family was not allocated a house here by the government, their background should be very simple. Although it was clearly stipulated that no sale was allowed here, he could operate it and add more money. It was not impossible to exchange houses with this family.
Old Mrs. He made a final decision: “Then we wait a bit longer.”
He Qianjian rang the doorbell twice again, and said loudly, “Is there anyone inside?”
Right afterwards, the door opened with a click, and a handsome boy like orchids and jade trees appeared at the entrance, saying in a clear voice: “Excuse me, is there anything you need?”
As soon as Jiang Chen’s last word sounded, He Qianjian’s expression changed, and he blurted out, “Why are you here?”
Old Mr. He’s eyes fell on Jiang Chen’s face, and a sharp look flashed across his slightly cloudy eyes. He turned his head and asked He Qianjian: “Do you know each other?”
“I
..” He Qianjian didn’t expect Jiang Chen to be here at all. With how much he looked like He Qianyang, his grandpa would definitely be suspicious when seeing the other. At this moment, he was a little panicked and didn’t know what to say.
“So you’re at home, young man.” The villager stood at the back and was unable to see He Qianjian’s expression, he only thought they knew each other already, and said with a bright smile: “These two elders will be moving to a house near yours in the future, so I brought them here to say hello. I didn’t expect you and their grandson to be friends, it’s really fate.”
Jiang Chen’s expression remained unchanged, he nodded slightly and said, “Sorry for the trouble, Uncle Duan.”
Uncle Duan didn’t expect Jiang Chen to remember his name, and he smiled more delightedly as he looked at him with the gentleness towards his own children: “What’s the trouble, after you move here in the future, come eat at Uncle’s house more often, after your Aunt Duan saw you last time, I don’t know how long she has been talking about you.”
Jiang Chen’s eyes curved in a smile, “Then I’ll thank you first, Uncle Duan. Last time after eating Auntie Duan’s noodles with fried sauce and pork ribs with roasted beans, I couldn’t forget it for a long time. When I move here, I must try it again.”
“I’ll go back later and tell your Aunt Duan, she will definitely be very happy!” Uncle Duan finally realized that he seemed to have become a little distracted, so he said with a smile: “Since you know each other, Uncle won’t bother you, if you won’t be going back at noon, come to Uncle’s house for lunch.”
Jiang Chen: “Okay, thank you Uncle Duan, see you later.”
“Later, later.”
When Uncle Duan left, Jiang Chen stepped aside, introduced himself politely, and then said, “Mr. He, Mrs. He, please come inside.”
When Jiang Chen was speaking, old Mrs. He kept looking at his side face. Seeing him smiling and looking over, she was in a daze for a moment, and nodded quickly: “Good, good, good.”
Old Mr. He originally only planned to say hello, and didn’t intend to enter the house as a guest, but now he changed his mind, and he said to the correspondent following them: “You wait outside.”
Jiang Chen looked back and smiled and said, “It’s okay, you can come in together.”
Old Mr. He nodded: “Then we’ll come together.”
Without saying a word, He Qianjian followed into the house. After seeing the decoration and design of the house, he finally calmed down a little. This house was definitely expensive, no matter whether it was the exterior or the interior decoration. Jiang Chen was a poor student, where could he have gotten so much money, so this should not be his house.
While he was thinking this, Li Nanfeng and Shi Fengyue came down from upstairs, and they greeted at the same time: “Grandpa He, Grandma He.”
Old Mr. He did not expect to see Shi Fengyue and Li Nanfeng here, he was a little surprised: “Why are you two here?”
He Qianjian was also surprised, and at the same time he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief——this was definitely not Jiang Chen’s house. Although no matter whether the owner was Shi Fengyue or Li Nanfeng, he wouldn’t be able to offer to exchange houses, but he was more willing and pleased to accept this result than if the owner was Jiang Chen.
However, Li Nanfeng’s next words shattered the result of his fantasy: “Feng Yue and I came to accompany Jiang Chen to inspect his house. We didn’t expect to meet you here.”
Jiang Chen led the two elders to the sofa, poured two cups of tea for them, and said with a smile: “Please have a seat, I have only new tea given from the neighbors, and there is no suitable tea set, the hospitality is not good enough.”
“How can there be a lack of hospitality.” Old Mrs. He said with a smile: “We don’t pay so much attention to this, and the old man likes tea the best, he definitely couldn’t be happier right now.”
Old Mr. He nodded and took a sip of his tea. He looked at the three people opposite him, and his gaze fell on Jiang Chen: “Xiao Jiang, you also go to school in Chenghua?”
Jiang Chen said, “I attend Yan No. 1.”
Old Mr. He was a little surprised. He Qianjian and Jiang Chen knew each other even though they were not in the same school: “Then how did you and Qian Jian know each other?”
Jiang Chen lowered his eyes, and the smile within faded a lot. Just as he was about to speak, Shi Fengyue had already answered for him: “They met during the joint practice college entrance examination and math competition.”
Old Mr. He also knew about He Qianjian’s forfeit of the exam. The hand holding the teacup paused, while old Mrs. He smiled kindly: “Then Xiao Jiang must have very good grades.”
“But of course.” Li Nanfeng said with a smile: “Jiang Xiao Chen has always been number one in the joint practice college entrance examinations. Before the math competetion was even held, Yan Uni and Hua Uni were already anxious to accept him. And once the results came out, both early admission notices came immediately, his home phone had been ringing off the hook. Old Mr. Xiang was even angry with me a few days ago because Jiang Xiao Chen chose Yan Uni.”
Old Mr. He did not expect that the child that his old friend had been talking about this whole time was the boy in front of him. Thinking of his praise and fondness for this child, he put down his teacup and said, “I heard that you are going to study computer science in the future. Professor Xiang’s student is teaching at Hua University, if you choose Hua University, with the appreciation of Professor Xiang and the recommendation of his student, it will be much easier to enter the National Academy of Sciences after graduation. In this case, why did you choose Yan University?”
Jiang Chen lowered his eyes and smiled: “Mr. He, maybe you think I’m young and arrogant, but to be honest, I believe I can easily enter all computer-related scientific research institutes in this world as long as I want to. Choosing a domestic college is because I am a native of country C, I want to contribute to the progress and development of this country, and I chose Yan Uni because I think the computer major courses at Yan Uni are the most suitable for me.”
When Jiang Chen spoke, old Mr. He’s cloudy but still sharp eyes kept staring at him, dark and unpredictable.
He Qianjian didn’t expect Jiang Chen to say such arrogant words. Thinking that what his grandpa hated the most was young people who didn’t know the heights of the sky and the earth, with lofty aspirations but low ability, and couldn’t see their own position clearly. His face couldn’t help but reveal a trace of glee. It was lucky they came today, as long as his grandpa came to dislike Jiang Chen, even if the truth of their identities were found out, Jiang Chen would not be able to cause trouble in the future.
The atmosphere in the room became so silent, so quiet that it was a little frozen. Li Nanfeng glanced at the old and young pair sitting opposite each other, counting silently in his heart. If ten seconds passed and still no one spoke he would then attempt to smooth things over.
However, before he counted down to seven, there was a burst of hearty laughter in the living room. Old Mr. He clapped his hands and said: “Old Xiang is right, the country is strong if the youth is strong, and if the country is handed over to young people like you, even if we really become old, we can rest assured.”