Chapter 45 Purchasing Land

August 25, Thursday.

Chen Guangliang and the Englishman Peter were about to sign a land purchase contract, achieving his first-ever acquisition of real estate property in his life.

The funds he used for this purchase basically came from the five thousand silver dollars provided by Zhou Xinggao, and Chen Guangliang had promised to convert them into shares of rickshaws by early next year at the latest.

Originally, Zhou Xinggao's idea was "sharing the spoils among those present," let alone the credit for the boss's "money laundering," so he only wanted 2,500 silver dollars, which amounted to roughly 8 licensed rickshaws or equivalent equity.

However, Chen Guangliang directly agreed to return him rickshaws or equity valued at 5,000 silver dollars. When it came to friends, Chen Guangliang had always valued personal bonds far more than money.

Because Chen Guangliang understood a principle: in this era, having money without power made it very difficult to protect one's wealth.

On the contrary, making more friends and helping the poor more often would always come in handy one day.

Even Du Yuesheng understood this logic, so how could Chen Guangliang not grasp it!

Inside the office, Chen Guangliang asked Li Chao, "Is there any problem with the English contract?"

He had specifically asked the real estate agency to prepare a "bilingual Chinese and English contract," also worrying that the English boss Peter might trip him up.

Although in terms of doing business, Westerners seemed to abide by the rules more, one could never be too careful against others.

"No problem, it means the exact same thing as the Chinese version!"

The Englishman Peter mocked, "Mr. Chen, you are being overly cautious!"

If he were not preparing to return to England, he wouldn't necessarily have sold this plot of land either.

However, he had already fulfilled the purpose for which he set foot on this land 8 years ago, so he was currently quite satisfied with everything.

Eight years ago, Peter had embarked on the journey to the East full of high aspirations, because at that time everyone was saying that the East was a place full of "gold," and going there could earn you a great deal of money.

Now, 8 years later, Peter also acknowledged this claim; coming to the East to do business, practically every Englishman, American, and Frenchman made a fortune.

Chen Guangliang said politely, "This is my entire net worth, I have to be cautious, please forgive me, Mr. Peter!"

He spoke in English. Over the past few months, with Li Chao's tutoring and Chen Guangliang's brilliant brain, his English proficiency had reached the level where he could communicate normally.

Of course, for matters involving an English contract, he still had to ask Li Chao to come along and incidentally put on the airs of a professional.

"It doesn't matter, I have time!"

"Alright, no problem, we can sign the contract now!"

Chen Guangliang was quite straightforward as well, subsequently signing his full Chinese name, and on the English contract, he signed both a Chinese name along with the English name "Victor."

With everything settled, Chen Guangliang proactively offered to treat them to a meal. Peter declined as he was not interested, but the real estate agent agreed.

Given Chen Guangliang's current net worth, he naturally no longer needed to eat at food stalls, and instead chose a decent restaurant.

He, Li Chao, and Wang Youdao sat together, and everyone chatted freely.

During the conversation, Chen Guangliang took the initiative to ask, "Mr. Wang, do you have any resources over in Zhabei? If you do, you can introduce them to me. Of course, I can't afford too large a piece of land."

He still had over 1,500 silver dollars in hand. Moreover, the Yangtze Rickshaw Company would also begin its first round of dividends in early September. Lastly, Chen Guangliang intended to continue mortgaging the land for loans.

Wang Youdao's eyes lit up, and he said, "Alright, I'll keep an eye out for Mr. Chen, there's bound to be suitable land for sale."

He hadn't expected that this person was also running a "big business"; after securing one piece of land, he was actually still not satisfied.

"Is Mr. Chen planning to invest in the real estate business?"

"Not really, the rickshaw business will always expand, and a single base might not be enough, so I'm making preparations in advance."

Wang Youdao nodded and said, "Making preparations in advance is good. Land prices aren't high right now, but they will definitely appreciate in the future."

Chen Guangliang smiled faintly and said, "I hope so."

Subsequently, everyone discussed topics related to land prices, rent, and the like, making Chen Guangliang feel that this meal was well worth treating.

From Wang Youdao's words, he gained a more intuitive understanding of the specific situation of land prices in Shanghai.

After the discussion concluded, a map had already formed in Chen Guangliang's mind, marked with varying shades of color to indicate the price gradient. The area around the Bund was so dark it appeared blackish, and the further out one went, the much cheaper the prices became.

The disparity was truly super huge; expensive places were exorbitantly expensive, while cheap places were also very cheap.

However, Chen Guangliang understood one thing: within these three or four years from 1927 to 1931, Shanghai would experience a massive "real estate speculation wave," which would drive land prices in Shanghai up to a terrifying degree.

Therefore, buying land now meant he would make a massive profit.

Of course, investing in the rickshaw business wasn't bad either; firstly, license plates might triple in value or more, and secondly, the business itself was generating profits.

...

After purchasing the land, Chen Guangliang brought Zhou Xinggao over there at the earliest opportunity.

"Brother Zhou, I didn't expect that your actions last time would actually end up doing me a huge favor now. I've bought this piece of land!"

Zhou Xinggao quickly said, "As long as I could help the boss, that's enough!"

He believed the boss would not treat him unfairly, especially since the boss was also his savior.

Chen Guangliang said, "Rest assured, by early next year at the latest, I will definitely convert 5,000 silver dollars into rickshaw shares for you, so your livelihood will be secured from then on. However, you must promise me one thing!"

Zhou Xinggao immediately said, "Don't talk about just one thing, even ten things would be no problem."

In his view, not only did the boss not take a single penny from him, but he also helped him launder the money and even saved his life twice.

If he had gone out to spend the money prematurely last time, Detective Gao would surely have managed to catch his handle.

Therefore, he was ready to go through fire and water for the boss!

To his surprise, Chen Guangliang merely patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't act so impulsively next time."

Compared to money obtained by taking risks, Chen Guangliang would perhaps rather not accept it.

There was no other way this time; at the moment, he had almost wanted to send him away, seeing that Zhou Xinggao was a ticking time bomb.

It didn't matter if development was a bit slower, the crucial thing was safety.

Zhou Xinggao said with shame, "Understood, I won't do it again in the future!"

Only then did Chen Guangliang say with a smile, "Alright, let's not dwell on past matters, let's talk about the future. I plan to hand this place over to you to build a decent rickshaw company headquarters base for me. Of course, it will still mainly consist of simple structures, just larger and neater."

It was roughly six times the size of the original Fanguagun base, and it could accommodate a large number of rickshaws.

Since this plot of land might be sold in three or four years, or possibly in eight years (1936), and moreover it was only meant to serve as a rickshaw company base, there was no need to construct reinforced concrete buildings.

"I understand. I will organize the rickshaw pullers to come and work as soon as possible."

Chen Guangliang added, "This time we can provide a meal for them, after all, our situation is much better now."

When the Fanguagun base was under construction, everyone provided voluntary labor. At the time, everyone also held shares, so naturally nobody minded.

Although even if it were voluntary labor now, no one would say much, Chen Guangliang still decided not to take advantage of the rickshaw pullers anymore.

"Alright."