Chapter 28: Beyond One's Power

  In the evening, when Liu Yifei returned home, his parents were still occasionally discussing the matter of investing in a counter, while Zhao Qin said with some resentment: "Yifei, why did you tell Er about the matter of investing in a counter?"

  "What's wrong?" Liu Yifei pretended to be confused.

  "You silly child, once you say it, he'll turn around and make a fuss. What if there are more people later and our counter is taken over by others? We don't have any backstage support."

  Liu Yifei found his mother's concerns somewhat amusing and said, "Mom, this is all written in black and white on the contract, you also have receipts in your hand, when will they not give you the cabinet?"

  He told Er that, on the one hand, he wanted to use Er Xiao to stimulate his parents a bit. On the other hand... in a truly competitive market, it's necessary to have competition to stimulate development. If more people go to the new mall to buy stalls, it will definitely drive up the price of the stalls. Liu Yifei was using a little trick, although he knew his own strength wasn't great, but doing something would still help with his parents' decision.

  Liu Dacheng said at this time: "Your mother is just worried, I think... others are going to invest, shouldn't our family also invest more? If we wait until the real opening, the price may increase, and then we can make a profit by reselling."

  Liu Yifei never thought that his usually conservative father would have such a bold idea, it seems he didn't understand his father well enough before. He hastily followed suit and said: "Mom, I think Dad is right, our family can invest more."

  "This..." Zhao Qin had actually already made up her mind, but with the money in her hand counted out, she still hesitated and said: "Our family only has that little bit of money, if we invest again there won't even be any living expenses left."

  Liu Yifei took a deep breath, knowing that if he didn't make a strong move now, his parents would continue to hesitate and miss the best investment opportunity. He sat down opposite them and said seriously: "Dad, Mom, I want to tell you a true story that happened in Fengcheng."

  "Feng City?" His parents were stunned for a moment, not just because Liu Yifei mentioned a city that had developed rapidly in the past few years, but mainly because of his attitude towards speaking, which was completely unlike their usual seventeen-year-old son. It seemed as if their son had suddenly grown up and become an adult.

  "Not bad, it's Fengcheng City. You should also know the situation of Fengcheng City in the past few years, which is similar to our Hekou City, a medium-sized city with similar economic conditions. However, its development in recent years has been extremely rapid, with very fast economic growth, and it has already entered the ranks of the top 100 cities in the country."

  Liu Dacheng and Zhao Qin were both stunned, their son's words about economics left them somewhat bewildered, but they also knew that Liu Yifei said Fengcheng became one of the top 100 cities in the country very clearly.

  "Fengcheng's development has also led to the success of countless people. Let me give you an example of a successful case. In Fengcheng, there was a person named Zhang Er Dan, whose full name I'm sure no one knows. This guy originally came from a very poor family with only an old house. When Fengcheng developed, it occupied his family's old house and gave him a sum of resettlement money. He directly invested this money into a newly built shopping mall, buying several booths and two stores."

  Liu Yifei listened to his parents very seriously, and he already had a bottom line in his heart. He continued: "When he bought these things, everyone was laughing at him. Firstly, he couldn't even speak clearly on normal days, and secondly, he dressed extremely slovenly. With such a person running the counter, isn't it just waiting to lose money?"

  "After the new mall was established, everyone was shocked to see that Fengcheng's business was booming, but Zhang Er'dan didn't even bother to run it himself. Instead, he sold several counters and kept two stores to collect rent. The money in his hands instantly multiplied several times, and he also had a stable income. Just the rent from the two stores alone was tens of thousands of yuan per year."

  "Zhang Er Dan tasted the benefits and immediately started buying several houses near the shopping mall, at that time a house was only worth tens of thousands of yuan. Do you know how those houses are now?"

  Liu Dacheng and Zhao Qin asked in unison: "How is it?"

  Those houses have all been demolished and rebuilt into commercial buildings, Zhang Er Dan suddenly had several sets of commercial buildings, he didn't sell them, just relying on collecting rent, with an annual income of no less than several million.

  Liu Dacheng and Zhao Qin exchanged a glance, Liu Dacheng took out his cigarette and lit it, thought for a moment, and said: "Son, what you said are all old stories, but I'm not sure if they also apply to our place here."

  Liu Yifei smiled and said, "Dad, what do you think of our country's economic development over the past few years?" Feeling that this way of speaking would be difficult for his parents to accept, Liu Yifei continued, "How much has our standard of living changed? The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the things people use... look at how different it is from just a year ago. Now that development is so fast, if we can't take action before others do, and wait until everyone else has made their move, not only will we not make much money, but we'll actually be increasing our risks."

  "It's just... we don't have any money either." Mother Zhao Qin said the most important point.

  Liu Yifei knew that his mother was now revolving around his thoughts, and he smiled slightly, saying: "Dad, mom, money is not something that you must earn before you can take the money in your hand to earn more. Zhang Er Dan's good luck is not something that everyone can encounter, but there is one thing that is very simple, which is... a loan."

  "Loan!" Liu Dacheng and Zhao Qin both exclaimed in surprise. Zhao Qin immediately shook her head repeatedly and said firmly, "This won't do, loans require interest payments. If we really don't make any money, we'll lose big time. I think it's better if we just use our own family's money to invest."

  "Ah... mom, your idea is too conservative. Don't you know that over 90% of the big companies nowadays rely on loans to expand their production? If they only relied on their own funds, how could they possibly expand so much? This borrowing-to-grow business is perfect. Compared to the profits they'll make later, those interest rates are negligible."

  Zhao Qin shook her head repeatedly and said, "That won't do either. Son, you don't know, your dad and I have never borrowed money from others in our lives. You don't know the feeling of owing people money and not being able to pay it back. We've been honest all our lives, we can't at this age still be thinking about paying off debts every day."

  Liu Yifei knew that his parents' idea was already deeply rooted, and at this time, forcing them would not be a good thing, so he could only retreat and seek the next best option. He said: "Dad, Mom, I predict that within a month, all the counters and specialty stores in the mall will be sold out, and then they can only circulate in private hands, and the price will also rise. If my guess is correct, you can take out another loan to buy a few from others, what do you think?"

  "We'll talk about that later, for now let's just go to another boutique and spend the money you were supposed to use for university, your dad and I have already made up our minds."

  Liu Yifei sighed inwardly, even if he could know everything, but when it came to actual implementation, there were all sorts of restrictions and many things were still beyond human control.

  Just got back from the internet cafe and found that the electricity is already back on at home, what a great news! Will update a chapter immediately, and there's still another one this afternoon. Successfully made it to the new book chart, might be able to squeeze out the fourth chapter tomorrow or today!