"Oh my goodness, it’s only been a short while, and the little guy has gotten fat again." Mrs. Wang cradled her tablet, staring pitifully at Egg on the screen. "Is it because there’s no one over there to dance and exercise with him? That won’t do. Not exercising will not only make him fat, but he’ll also get sick easily. Bin, you have to have a serious talk with Sakai."

"He dances every day over there, too. If you don’t believe me, just switch to the next video." Shen Yibin tapped his finger on the tablet, and the screen immediately switched to a video of Egg dancing at the Honjin Raccoon Shrine. The surrounding crowd seemed to be dancing along. ’It looks like Egg has spread the gospel of plaza dancing to Japan,’ Shen Yibin thought. ’I wonder if this counts as Chinese cultural infiltration.’

"Ooh, I haven’t seen these moves before. They look pretty interesting, though." As she spoke, Mrs. Wang began imitating the dance moves on the terrace. Shen Yibin could only watch awkwardly from the side. ’Sigh. If it were Officer Bai or Sun Qian dancing in front of me, I could at least enjoy the view, but Mrs. Wang...’

After practicing a few times and committing the new moves to memory, a very pleased and accomplished Mrs. Wang said, "I’ll go teach the ladies at the plaza tonight. We’ve all gotten sick of the old routines these days!"

"So, what did you want to see me about today? Are you a bit tight on cash and can’t make rent for now? Don’t worry about it. It’s understandable you’re a little short after the renovations. Just pay me whenever you have the money. I won’t rush you." Mrs. Wang seemed to be in a very good mood, waving her hand magnanimously and deferring Shen Yibin’s rent.

’I really don’t want to pay rent anymore,’ Shen Yibin thought. ’But not because I don’t have the money. It’s because I want to buy your storefront outright.’ Since she was being so generous, Shen Yibin felt it would be rude to beat around the bush. He got straight to the point. "That’s not it, actually. You see, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, so I was thinking of building an indoor pool for Hah’Er. That way, he can go for a swim to cool down whenever he likes. But the store is completely full right now, so I wanted to ask you about the storefront next door."

"You’re expanding again?" Mrs. Wang was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected Shen Yibin to move so quickly. This didn’t seem to follow the normal rules of business, so she tried to reason with him. "Bin, it’s not my place to criticize, but I’ve been in business for a long time. The commercial space you have now is more than enough. Getting more space won’t bring you higher revenue; it’ll just add a lot of costs. The rent alone would be a hefty sum each month. It’s just not worth it. I know you dote on Hah’Er, but there has to be a limit, right? You want to build him a pool because it’s hot now. What happens when it gets cold? Are you going to build him a heated brick bed? I can’t rent any more space to you."

’How cold can it even get in Yunzhong City in the winter? At worst, it might drop to around ten degrees Celsius. Hah’Er’s thick fur can handle that just fine. Why would he need a heated brick bed? Besides, where in Yunzhong City would I even find someone with that kind of skill?’

"Mrs. Wang, I don’t want to rent the storefront next door. I want to buy it," Shen Yibin quickly interrupted. If he let her keep rambling, there was no telling when she’d stop.

"Hm? Buy it?" Mrs. Wang was even more astonished. While real estate prices in Yunzhong City weren’t as high as in the Capital City or Shanghai, the price per square meter for her storefronts was still over twenty thousand yuan. You’d need at least ten million to buy them, wouldn’t you?

"Yes. Not just the store next door, but the two I’m currently using as well. I plan to buy all of them. Seeing as we know each other so well, could you give me a fair price?" Shen Yibin quickly and quietly explained the contract he’d signed with Director Kong, then showed Mrs. Wang his bank account balance. That was enough to dispel her doubts.

"This is a big deal. I can’t give you an answer right now. I need to go back and discuss it with my husband and children," Mrs. Wang said seriously. "But they’ve been nagging me about moving to the provincial capital, so it probably won’t be an issue."

Things went just as Mrs. Wang had predicted. Her husband and children had wanted to sell the storefronts for a long time, but they hadn’t found a buyer because of the high total price. The moment they heard Shen Yibin was interested, they immediately agreed. They offered a price based on the market rate instead of trying to jack it up—a little over thirty million yuan for the fifteen hundred square meters of commercial space. They also agreed to his request for installment payments.

The next day, their lawyer, Zhang Danxuan, came to the store with the drafted contract. Mrs. Wang and Shen Yibin each signed their names. Then, Shen Yibin directly transferred half of the payment to Mrs. Wang’s account, with the remainder to be paid within a year. From that point on, the storefronts became Shen Yibin’s own property.

’Who would have thought?’ After seeing them off, Shen Yibin stood on the street, staring blankly at the row of storefronts. When he first opened his shop here just a few months ago, he never could have imagined this day would come. In less than a year, Shen Yibin had become a minor mogul with assets worth tens of millions.

That evening, they had a small celebration. He cooked a table full of delicious food, took out the fine red wine Sylvie had given him, and invited his old classmates and friends—Xu Ye, Qiao Wenqi, and Bai Yanni—to celebrate properly.

The next morning, Shen Yibin called Li Zhen and had him come over. "The shop next door is mine now, too. I’m planning to build a pool and a small hill. How long would it take you to draw up a proposal?"

"You want to build an indoor rockery and pool... here?" Li Zhen felt his brain short-circuit. This was a prime commercial district in Yunzhong City! You’re going to use a storefront in such a great location for *that*? ’Even if you’re rich, you can’t be this impulsive, can you?’

"Yeah, it’s getting hot, so I’m building a pool for Hah’Er so he can cool off anytime." Shen Yibin answered truthfully. He found the pictures he’d collected over the past two days on his tablet. "You can use these as a reference and then make changes based on the actual space."

"Alright. I’ll go take some measurements. I can get you a first draft within three days." After his initial shock, Li Zhen quickly agreed. ’It’s not my business what the client wants to do, as long as I’m getting paid.’

"Okay. Do a good job, and if I have more business in the future, I’ll come to you again," Shen Yibin said encouragingly. He had a feeling that day wouldn’t be too far off.

"No problem! Have we ever let you down the past two times you’ve hired us?" Li Zhen puffed out his chest and guaranteed. He then asked a series of detailed questions about the requirements, jotting each one down in his notebook. This was all information he needed for the design.

"Oh, right. If we start construction, will there be a lot of noise? It could affect the store’s business and Hah’Er’s rest," Shen Yibin suddenly remembered as he was finishing up. Last time they renovated, the shop had to close for business.