A Valiant Life

When the townsfolk found out that Master Lin wanted to discuss with them about his departure, all of them gathered around.

If Master Lin leaves, what would happen to us? We’re already used to queueing here every day. Furthermore, we’re able to buy scallion pancakes when we’re lucky. Although sometimes we aren’t able to buy them, at least we have a glimmer of hope.

But if Master Lin leaves with his shop, we would lose that glimmer of hope. How unbearable would it be? 

“Little Boss, can you please stay? Everyone’s so close to each other and we can’t bear for you to leave so suddenly.”

“Yeah, what would happen to us when you leave?”

“I can’t imagine how life would be like without Little Boss’s scallion pancakes. We’d be so bored.”

Wu You Lan said, “Everyone can’t bear for you to leave.”

Fraud Tian added, “They can’t bear for us to leave.”

Although they weren’t affected by the increment of rental fees, Lin Fan was still on the shop owners’ side. Moving would be quite troublesome and leaving such a familiar place would take some effort. But some things had to be done this way.

Some shop owners gathered around.

“Little Boss, everyone can’t bear for you to leave. Why not stay behind? Since they’re not going to increase your rental fees.”

“Yeah.”

“If it’s a 30 or 40% increase, we can still consider it. But a 100% increase is simply too much.”

Lin Fan waved his hand. “Don’t talk about that. This matter doesn’t only concern you. It also concerns me.”

The townsfolk were feeling remorseful.

“This Xin Yu Commercial Real Estate Company is simply too much. They actually increased the rental fees by so much.”

“I read the news too, they’re simply bullying us.”

“Little Boss, are you certain of where you’re moving to? If it’s possible, I’d like to move with you.”

“Sigh, I’m really envious of all of you who rent houses. I already bought my house and I can’t just leave as I like.”

The people who rented houses became silent. They hadn’t expected people in the queue to have achieved their dream of buying a house. Suddenly, they felt extremely affected by it because these people actually envied them even though they had achieved their dream of owning a house.

Then, Liu Guo Qiang suddenly appeared on Cloud Street.

“It’s him! He’s the director of Xin Yu Commercial Real Estate Company and he’s responsible for the increment of rental fees.”

Suddenly, everyone turned to look at him.

Liu Guo Qiang was stunned when he saw that there were so many people outside Master Lin’s shop.

Then, the townsfolk started to yell.

“How can Xin Yu Company be so overboard? Can’t you just raise the fees slowly? What’s the rush for a sudden 100% increase? Are you really lacking money?”

“Yeah, Cloud Street initially didn’t have so many people. Now that it’s a little famous, you immediately increase the rental fees. Why didn’t you decrease the fees when it wasn’t doing well?”

“An immediate increase in fees just because of popularity, I guess after chasing Little Boss away, this place won’t be popular anymore. Anyway, without Little Boss here, I won’t come here again.”

“Me too. Why the f*ck should I come here? There are so many business districts around here. Without Master Lin at Cloud Street, nobody would be attracted to this place anymore.”

…

Liu Guo Qiang just stood there and didn’t say anything. This matter was indeed a rare one. The townsfolk were so agitated at the increment of rental fees for the shop owners.

“Master Lin, we can talk about it again.” Liu Guo Qiang walked into the shop. He felt a little intimidated by the furious looks of the surrounding townsfolk.

But they couldn’t just not increase the fees because of one small shop. If they made this compromise, what would happen in the future?

Zhu Xiu Qin had been right. They could only make a compromise if Master Lin was willing to do so too. If not, they would go ahead with their plans. Liu Guo Qiang felt that he needed to make another compromise after witnessing the looks of the surrounding townsfolk.

Lin Fan looked at Liu Guo Qiang and nodded. “Alright, let’s talk about it then.”

He wasn’t bothered by the need to move his house. If they could discuss and reach an agreeable price, he was willing to make a compromise too. After all, the other shop owners weren’t the same as him. A setback of one or two months of rental fees wouldn’t cause great damage to him but would it be a heavy loss to the others.

Furthermore, he had already established himself at Cloud Street. If he were to leave now, he would definitely suffer a loss.

“Director, let me tell you this. Don’t think you can just bully the shop owners like that because there are more customers on Cloud Street now. All of us live in the vicinity and we are here for Little Boss. If Little Boss leaves, the number of customers will definitely go back to normal.”

“That’s right. I’ve read the news online. Don’t think this is not because of Little Boss. All of us are here today just to make Little Boss stay.”

“The power of the people can be a double-edged sword. The reason the number of customers increased is us. If we aren’t willing to come here, there might be nobody that would want to rent a unit here.”

“Please reconsider your move. There is no shortage of business districts around here. The only thing that is lacking is Little Boss.”

Liu Guo Qiang was a little upset. He hadn’t expected the townsfolk to be lecturing him. But he still tolerated it and said calmly, “Everyone, please don’t worry. We are sincere. I am here today to discuss with Little Boss. I wouldn’t want everyone to move out of here too. If there’s anything, we can discuss it and have a reasonable outcome.”

The townsfolk nodded. “That’s better.”

Lin Fan immediately replied, “Director Liu, name a price then. How much are you guys willing to compromise? Just get straight to the point. Initially, it was your idea to increase the rental fees and even though we were unhappy, we didn’t have any reason to request a smaller increase. Now that you’re willing to discuss it, let’s have a fruitful one.”

Liu Guo Qiang nodded. “Master Lin, I admit that the customer flow in Cloud Street is mostly related to you. I don’t want both of us to be unhappy. The doubling of rental fees was based on a market report. All the shop owners here, please answer this truthfully: do you think you wouldn’t be able to make a profit if we double the fees?”

Elder Liang replied, “Haha, a 100% increase and you think we’d still profit? Yeah, of course. You’re the one making all the profit, we’d only be making a small bit. We’d be giving you our hard earned money all year round.”

Elder Zhang replied, “Yeah, a 100% increase would make me have to sustain a $1000 profit every day. Do you even know how stressful that would be?”

Lin Fan waved his hand. “Director Liu, enough of that. How much are you guys willing to compromise?”

Liu Guo Qiang looked at Lin Fan and firmly added, “The best we can do is an 80% increase.”

Lin Fan was helpless. “Alright, Director Liu, you can make a move now. There’s no need for further discussion. Yesterday, you said 90% and today, you say 80%. I’m willing to wait until you give us a better price.”

Liu Guo Qiang frowned. “Master Lin, why not tell me your price? We can both make a compromise.”

“At most 30%,” Lin Fan answered after thinking for a moment. It would’ve been impossible for the fees to remain the same. Since he asked for a compromise, he could do 30% at best.

Liu Guo Qiang was stunned. He was thinking of what to say and suddenly, someone came in before he could say anything.

“You must be dreaming.”

Zhu Xiu Qin had brought an employee from the promotions department. She said, “The best we can do is 80%. It’s impossible for it to be 30%. My purpose here is clear. Xin Yu Commercial Real Estate Company won’t back down from anyone. The best we can do is 80%. If you’re agreeable to it, sign the papers. If not, please leave within five days.”

Liu Guo Qiang frowned. This was perhaps too ruthless.