22: Chapter 22 New Home

An hour later, when Cao Xiao arrived at the entrance of the Biyuntian residential area where the villa was located, a middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes was already waiting there. This was Manager Wang from the real estate sales department of Biyuntian. When Cao Xiao appeared driving his Leopard, Manager Wang could hardly believe his eyes. A young man driving a car worth less than 300,000 yuan actually wanted to buy a luxury villa worth nearly 100 million yuan? Was this a joke? Despite his doubts, Manager Wang still received Cao Xiao warmly.

"Mr. Cao, I'm sorry to trouble you, but please wait a moment. Another gentleman is also coming to see the house; he'll be here soon," Manager Wang said.

"Oh? What a coincidence. Someone else has their eye on that villa? Manager Wang, what's going on?" Hearing this, Cao Xiao thought the sales manager had hired a shill to drive up the price, and he asked with some displeasure.

"Please don't misunderstand, Mr. Cao. That gentleman only contacted me just now," Manager Wang quickly explained, seeing Cao Xiao's misunderstanding.

"Then please inform him that he doesn't need to come. I've already decided to buy this house. The reason I came over was just to see if it matches the information online," Cao Xiao told Manager Wang firmly.

"This... that might not be right! Mr. Cao, that gentleman is already on his way, after all. He might not necessarily buy it after seeing it, so there's no harm in him taking a look," Manager Wang said awkwardly.

What Cao Xiao feared most was something going wrong at this stage. Out of all the listings online, he had only taken a liking to this one; none of the others were suitable. Therefore, even if it meant offending someone, he was determined to buy it. He asked Manager Wang bluntly, "Can you guarantee that he won't buy it? If both of us want to buy it then, who are you going to sell it to? Or are you planning to hold a live auction?"

Manager Wang hadn't expected Cao Xiao to be so blunt, but it was true. Everything should be first-come, first-served, yet today's situation was difficult to handle. Ever since the house was listed online, people had come to see it frequently, but it hadn't sold in over two months. He hadn't expected this Mr. Cao to say he'd buy it before even seeing the house. With the other viewer nearly there, he couldn't just tell the man to turn back halfway. It was truly a dilemma. However, he was a veteran real estate salesman and had encountered such situations before. Since he was bound to offend someone anyway, and he already had a buyer in front of him, he could only offend the other one. He would just have to explain things well and recommend other properties; the other person might not necessarily get angry. It was an unexpected event, after all—he just needed to find a proper excuse to decline him. Having made up his mind, Manager Wang took out his phone and called the other viewer, apologizing profusely while trying to pitch other properties.

"Let's go, Mr. Cao. I'll take you to see the house now," Manager Wang said with a sigh of relief after hanging up.

Manager Wang led Cao Xiao into the Biyuntian residential area. This community didn't just have villas; it also had commercial-residential housing. The landscaping was well-done, with flowers, trees, and decorative sculptures everywhere. To Cao Xiao's surprise, the community even featured a circulating artificial river and several scattered artificial lakes. There were even fish in the lakes. It seemed the developer had put in a lot of effort.

The villa Cao Xiao had his eye on was at the very back of the community, built on a low hill. There were no other buildings within fifty meters. The artificial river, less than three meters wide and half a meter deep, happened to pass by the front door. Not far away was a small lake about one mu in size, planted with lotus flowers. It wasn't the blooming season yet, but the graceful green lotus leaves already covered the lake's surface. It would surely be beautiful when the lotuses bloomed.

According to Manager Wang, when the community was being built, Huanghe City's urban development plan was laid out in this direction. However, by the time the developer was nearly finished, the urban development plan shifted in a different direction. Otherwise, the housing prices here wouldn't be much lower than the city center. The developer had built everything according to the highest standards. Although prices had been rising over the past few years, they still hadn't met the developer's expectations. The cost of investment had simply been too high, but they couldn't just keep the finished houses and wait for them to appreciate, or their capital chain would break. So, they could only sell them off slowly.

Cao Xiao's heart stirred upon hearing this. He had seen the development plan for Huanghe City. Unless severely affected by geology, urban development in flat regions generally followed certain patterns. Overall, the layout of urban development was roughly circular or square for ease of management. The direction of development wasn't fixed; it spread outward from the center. Limited by productivity and urban needs, it could only develop in one direction at a time. With the rapid economic growth of recent years, the original direction had taken on a horn shape. Unless the city center itself moved, it would have to shift directions to continue developing. The direction of Biyuntian was originally the planned primary direction, but the shift had caused this area to fall behind. Therefore, once a new urban development plan was released, this direction would surely become the primary focus again, and housing prices here would skyrocket. Buying this villa for nearly 100 million now would mean its value could be several times that in a few years. This caused the last bit of hesitation in Cao Xiao's heart to vanish.

After touring the villa with Manager Wang, he found that the online information wasn't exaggerated at all; the actual condition was even better than the description. Cao Xiao decided immediately to buy it, so he went with Manager Wang to the sales office to finalize the transaction.

"Manager Wang, how many vacant villas are still unsold here?" Cao Xiao asked while sitting on the sofa.

"There aren't many commercial-residential units left, but there are still many unsold villas. However, the one you're buying, Mr. Cao, is the best of them all. The others are just a few hundred square meters, and they aren't very expensive—ranging from a few million to thirty million each. Since you're asking, Mr. Cao, do you intend to buy another one?" Manager Wang asked excitedly, thinking Cao Xiao might want another villa.

"I'm just asking casually. The environment here is very good. If I have sufficient funds in the future, I might buy a few as an investment. For now, let's talk about the price. After all, the online quote is only a reference," Cao Xiao said.

"If you choose to pay the full amount upfront, Mr. Cao, the lowest price I can offer within my authority is a discount of six million, making it exactly 90 million yuan. If it's a mortgage, the total would be 94 million, with a 30 million down payment and the rest paid off within ten years. Both options come with five years of waived property management fees," Manager Wang said.

"This price is still a bit inflated. Compared to the housing prices in nearby areas, it's much more expensive. Although the environment is far better than elsewhere, the price is still somewhat unreasonable. Manager Wang, give me an honest price. I can pay the full amount within a month," Cao Xiao said to Manager Wang, frowning and feigning skepticism.

"Not only is the environment good here, but the construction quality is also the best. There's a reason for the high price. How about this: 88 million. It's an auspicious number, and I really can't go any lower." Manager Wang looked conflicted; after thinking for a moment, he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Manager Wang, this price is difficult for me too. After all, my funds aren't that abundant. Taking out so much cash at once might affect my other projects. So, I can only offer 86 million. Any more, and I'll be powerless," Cao Xiao said with a bitter face.

"Mr. Cao, don't worry. I'll make a call to ask my superiors for instructions. If they agree, we'll close the deal at that price," Manager Wang said, seeing Cao Xiao's apparent difficulty.

Manager Wang took his phone and went outside to make the call. Cao Xiao knew this was just for show; real estate developers rarely lost money, as the profit margins were huge. Sure enough, Manager Wang returned beaming in less than two minutes.

"Congratulations, Mr. Cao. Our leadership has agreed. We can proceed with the transaction now. We can also accept your request to pay the full amount within a month, but the down payment cannot be less than 40 million."

"No problem. Oh, and one more thing to trouble you with, Manager Wang. When buying a house here and processing the title deed, it's possible to transfer household registration at the same time, right?" Cao Xiao asked. He planned to move his family's Hukou over to make things more convenient for future affairs.

"Yes, it is. Our company will help you handle all those procedures, Mr. Cao," Manager Wang said.

"Then let's sign the contract and make the payment!" Cao Xiao said with a sigh of relief. It would have been very troublesome to do it himself; having someone else handle it saved him a lot of worry.

Looking at the balance of over 16 million in his bank account, he was filled with emotion. A week ago, he had wished he could make one yuan last like two; now, after spending 40 million in one go, having over 10 million left felt like it wasn't enough. His mindset had changed unconsciously.

Having received the keys to the villa, it now belonged entirely to him. However, all the rooms were still empty. To move in, he would need to buy furniture, appliances, and daily necessities. It was already 2:00 PM; it was clearly impossible to buy everything today. Cao Xiao planned to stay here tonight, so he had to at least buy a set of furniture and appliances for his own room; the rest could wait. The May Day holiday was in a few days, and his younger siblings would be coming home. It was the perfect time to move.

He drove to the furniture mall and went straight to the solid wood furniture section. A salesperson came over to ask about his preferences and began introducing the furniture, focusing on rosewood. They talked about authentic red sandalwood, pearwood, and Phoebe zhennan wood, making it sound extravagant. Anyone else might have been confused, but Cao Xiao knew the tricks of these woods. Red sandalwood was indeed real, but it wasn't Indian Small-leaf Red Sandalwood; it was African Small-leaf Red Sandalwood or other broad-leaf varieties. The universally recognized red sandalwood, used for treasures in the Ming and Qing dynasties, was Pterocarpus santalinus from southern India, commonly known as Small-leaf Red Sandalwood. Red sandalwood is Pterocarpus santalinus; there's no such thing as 'red sandalwood wood' as a separate category. Things like Large-leaf Red Sandalwood, ebony, and green sandalwood have nothing to do with true red sandalwood; they are just commercial names used by merchants to associate them with it. It could be said that 99% of products called 'red sandalwood' are not true Pterocarpus santalinus. Even true Pterocarpus santalinus is graded; some come from plantations while others are wild, and their ages vary. 90% of the products on the market are plantation-grown, which is inferior to wild wood and not very expensive. Old wild red sandalwood is rare and costly, generally only used for small wooden items and rarely for large furniture.

The same applied to pearwood. It wasn't the authentic Hainan Yellow Pearwood, but pearwood from Southeast Asia. The prices of the two were worlds apart. Authentic old Hainan Yellow Pearwood was completely unavailable on the market and had become an antique. Phoebe wood wasn't a rare wood either; the genus Phoebe belongs to the Lauraceae family and has about 94 species. Only a few are truly precious, such as Golden Silk Nanmu.

This rosewood furniture was very expensive, often costing tens or hundreds of thousands, but the actual value of the wood itself wasn't high, nor was the craftsmanship necessarily superb. Much of it was machine-produced in furniture factories rather than handmade by masters, making it a poor purchase. Cao Xiao's villa was decorated in a Chinese style, so only simple, ancient-style rosewood furniture would be appropriate.

After browsing for half a day, Cao Xiao chose only the reasonably priced African Acid Branch wood furniture. He bought twenty 1.8-meter carved beds with storage drawers, each priced between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan, which included full sets of bedding. He also bought several sets of rosewood sofas worth about 100,000 yuan each. Having spent nearly a million on furniture at once, the merchant took him very seriously and immediately began transportation and installation as per his request.

Cao Xiao planned to replace all this furniture later by finding precious wood himself. Others might not be able to find it, but he had a way. Most of those wood origins were in remote, uninhabited places with harsh environments and many dangers. However, Cao Xiao had his Detection Function to spot danger in advance; in terms of survival ability, probably no one on Earth could compare to him. Even if some woods had been logged to extinction, the roots left behind were still very valuable. Furthermore, these woods had grown there for millions of years; due to geological changes, some buried deep underground might have formed Bogwood. Once the authority of the industrial mother machine was upgraded and the detection range expanded, Cao Xiao would be able to dig up these underground treasures.

While the furniture was being loaded, Cao Xiao went to an appliance mall not far from the furniture center. This time, he didn't pick everything himself. There were too many rooms and many appliances needed, and he didn't know much about them. So, he directly contacted a manager from a major domestic appliance brand, asking him to come to the villa to configure everything to the highest standards based on actual needs. For appliances that the merchant didn't carry, Cao Xiao also commissioned him to source them, paying him some fees to help set up the home theater as well. They were professionals indeed; after a tour of the villa, they provided an installation plan. Cao Xiao was satisfied and paid over a million yuan, telling them to start installation the next day.

Leaving the workers to arrange the furniture, Cao Xiao went to a large supermarket near the community for a massive shopping spree. He bought all the daily necessities and kitchenware needed, enough to fill a small truck. Looking at the pile of goods in the living room, Cao Xiao had a massive headache. This wasn't something he could do alone; he needed help. Instantly, he thought of Liu Chang. One of the rooms here was hers, so it was time for her to do her duty. Perhaps she could even find a few laborers to help out.