A Valiant Life

The three young men were just regular employees. Following their superiors’ instructions, they had come to notify the shop owners that the rent was increasing and to get the agreeing owners to sign the contract. Everything had been fine and peaceful at first. Although some of the shop owners weren’t happy, it didn’t matter. Those shop owners could just move away for all they cared. They didn’t press the shop owners to carry on renting the shops.

They knew about Master Lin’s shop. And when Master Lin asked them why his shop rent wasn’t increasing, they knew the reason but they just didn’t say it.

Cloud Street Business District had always had a pathetic flow of people. They had even forgotten about the place but they had never thought that it would suddenly appear on the news with reports saying that the visitor flow had increased by 200%. What the heck was that? It was simply scary.

The management immediately had a conference to discuss it and they decided to double the rent for all the shops except Master Lin’s shop. After all, Master Lin’s shop was the main driving force behind Cloud Street. Unless they were stupid, they would never increase Master Lin’s shop rent.

A small shop that carried the whole business district. It was unbelievable. But the reality was right in front of their eyes. They had to believe it. Hence, they came up with that solution in their conference.

The shop owners would surely not be agreeable. But it didn’t matter even if they weren’t agreeable. That was just the reality of the situation in Cloud Street.

Lin Fan looked at the three young men and said, “Go back and tell your superiors this. Ask them to come back here with the contract. We’ll terminate the contract and leave immediately.”

The three men stared blankly at Master Lin. They were lost for words. This matter had gotten out of their hands. They then left the place and went back to inform their superiors of the situation.

This was unlike what they had discussed.

The matter didn’t concern Master Lin, yet he made such a big deal of it. They had always thought that as long as they didn’t increase the Master Lin shop rent, Master Lin would feel respected. They had never thought that Master Lin would be on the other shop owners’ side. This didn’t tally with how people usually behaved.

…

“Little Boss…” Elder Liang was emotional. He wanted to say something, yet he couldn’t. He didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t only him who hadn’t expected Little Boss to say such things. The other shop owners who were against the rising rental fees were shocked too.

Elder Zhang patted Lin Fan on his shoulder. “Master Lin has spoken. We will stick together. If we go, we all go. We won’t leave anyone behind, but we can leave a place behind. If it was in a year or half a year that they increased the rent by 30%, then we wouldn’t have anything to say. We wouldn’t go against it either. But they just doubled the rent immediately like this. They’re simply bullying us.”

Sister Hong said, “Lil’ Fan, they didn’t increase your shop rent. You don’t actually have to do this. I understand your intentions but if you go elsewhere, business may not be as good.”

Lin Fan waved his hand and smiled. “I don’t run my shop for the money. It’s just to immerse myself in a warm and lively environment. I’ve become so friendly with everyone. If you all leave, wouldn’t I be left all alone? So, if one of us is going, then let’s all go.”

The shop owners felt that these words were true.

If Little Boss wanted to earn money, he wouldn’t have limited his scallion pancakes to ten a day. If he didn’t limit the scallion pancakes, cash would flow in like water.

Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands in a day wasn’t out of the question.

If he was a little more greedy, he could increase the price straight to 100 per piece. Even then, not many people would think it was expensive.

Hence, they trusted the Little Boss’ words. He really didn’t run his shop for the money.

Some of the Cloud Street shop owners had been indecisive at first. They had been planning to just give in and let the Xin Yu Real Estate Corporation double the rent but now that they heard Little Boss’ words, their fears were wiped away instantly.

In the past, Cloud Street had been lifeless. Although there had been people, most of them had been snatched away by the few surrounding business districts and this one department store.

But ever since Little Boss opened a shop here, the situation had changed and it had gotten much more lively. In the past, they could only earn enough to live day to day but during these two months, they had a fair bit of money to spare.

In their hearts, they knew the reason for this change.

Fraud Tian stood at the side and said, “If we knew earlier, we wouldn’t have had to renovate. We could have just moved to a larger shop and did a proper renovation there.”

Wu Tian He smiled as he said, “You guys shouldn’t be too depressed over this. The people at Xin Yu Real Estate know the reason for all these changes. That’s why they didn’t increase our rent, to make Master Lin stay. Now that Master Lin is standing on all of your sides, Xin Yu Real Estate will have to take a step back as well.”

Elder Zhang asked, “What if they don’t take a step back?”

Wu Tian He smiled. “That would only happen if their management is stupid.”

The crowd became silent for a bit, then someone raised his head and said, “Elder Wu is right. If Cloud Street loses Master Lin’s shop, it will return to its original state. It won’t be able to compete with those shopping malls around here at all.”

Lin Fan waved his hand and smiled. “Alright, don’t worry about it, everyone. Let them worry about it. We’ve already told them our stand. If they still won’t compromise, then we will leave at once. It’s no big deal.”

With Lin Fan’s support on their side, the shop owners all nodded and looked at him with gratitude. Then, one by one, they returned to their own shops.

In the shop.

Fraud Tian looked at Lin Fan curiously. “If they still insist on increasing the rent, we’re really moving?”

Lin Fan smiled. “Definitely. Why wouldn’t we?”

In Lin Fan’s eyes, he had become the leader in this matter. He wondered if he would be able to increase the liveliness of the new place if they moved.

If the scallion pancakes weren’t enough to do the job, would he have to make use of his Jiangsu cuisine knowledge?

That would be dead tiring.

But there was no hurry. Nothing was certain until the end.

If they really moved, he might have to sell twenty scallion pancakes a day. It might be a little more tiring but if he could attract more people, it would be worth it.

If it was some other knowledge, he wouldn’t dare to guarantee that he would be able to attract people.

But he had complete faith in his scallion pancakes. It was knowledge boosted by the Encyclopedia and it was simply powerful beyond words.

Wu Tian He smiled. “Based on my judgment, we might not have to move.”

“I’m going to give a call to Wang Ming Yang and ask him who owns this Xin Yu Real Estate Corporation.” Lin Fan took out his phone and dialed Wang Ming Yang’s number.

Wang Ming Yang was in the middle of a conference when he saw the phone display. He waved his hand and said, “Let’s pause for a moment. I need to take a call.”

The shareholders were stunned. During such an important conference, he shouldn’t even be taking calls. Could it be a call from some important character?

Lin Fan asked, “Do you know the background of Xin Yu Real Estate Corporation?”

“Xin Yu Real Estate?” Wang Ming Yang was startled, then he said, “What is it? Why would you ask that all of a sudden?”

“Nothing much. Just tell me,” said Lin Fan.

Wang Ming Yang: “This company belongs to the Skyworth Group. It’s a subsidiary company. It’s quite capable.”

“Skyworth group.” Lin Fan nodded.

“Got it. Xin Yu Real Estate Corporation wants to increase the rent of Cloud Street shops. They’re doubling the rent. If there’s no change, then I’ll be moving somewhere else together with the other shop owners,” said Lin Fan.

Wang Ming Yang was dumbfounded. His face was blank.

Increase the rent?

Moving out?

If he didn’t know Lin Fan, Wang Ming Yang would probably never encounter something like that in his life.

But ever since he had gotten to know Lin Fan, encountering something like this was just another typical situation.