Chapter 439
You know that feeling of watching your own wealth slip away right before your eyes? Liu Ling was having that exact feeling right now.
Wen Qing found out from Third Elder Brother that Liu Ling was sick, and it seemed quite serious. So she sent her youngest daughter next door to stay for a few days, afraid that she might pass the illness onto her daughter and affect her schooling.
She had been busy these past days and hadn't had any time to visit Liu Ling. By the time she was finally free, it was already several days later.
Liu Ling's illness had already mostly recovered, but when Wen Qing saw her, she noticed the blisters on her lips were very obvious. Her whole demeanor was also very off, no longer her usual cold and aloof attitude that annoyed people. Instead, she exuded an awkwardness from the inside out, along with a feeling that she wanted to say something but didn't dare. Wen Qing didn't know how to describe it.
Later, when she was chatting with Third Elder Brother about this, he sneered and said, "She's not sick at all. I think she clearly regrets it and is anxious."
Wen Qing looked up with confusion in her eyes. "Could it be because of the house in Hulan Elegant Garden?"
She wasn't randomly guessing. Earlier when she saw Liu Ling, Liu Ling had brought up the house in Hulan Elegant Garden several times in what seemed like casual conversation. But she mentioned it too many times for it to actually be casual.
At the time, Wen Qing didn't want to discuss the house with her, so she smoothly changed the subject whenever Liu Ling brought it up.
But later, recalling Liu Ling's regretful expression and hesitance before she left, it really wasn't difficult to guess what had happened.
Other than herself, no one else knew that Eldest Brother had also bought a house there. He didn't allow her to tell anyone, and she was also afraid that telling others would get him in trouble.
"That's exactly it. We bought ours for 500,000, and she clearly knows that. But now the sale price you've listed publicly is all around 700,000. That's a difference of 200,000..." Although this matter felt quite satisfying, she couldn't help feeling aggrieved on Eldest Brother's behalf. Of course, this feeling of aggrievement definitely wasn't because of the 200,000 price difference. After all, they had gotten the discount, so Wen Qing would be the one losing out.
It was just that she felt Eldest Brother was really too good for having married someone like Liu Ling.
If he had married a wife willing to yield to him, who could follow him on military postings, then at least there would be someone who understood him by his side, and their children could be raised under their care.
Speaking of which, An ZhiXian had wanted to ask Wen Qing for a while already, "Little sister, you didn't sell us the house at a loss, right? Don't do things at a loss just because we're your elder brothers. If that's really the case, we wouldn't feel at ease living in the house."
From his perspective, at first Wen Qing had only planned to move with Su Ying and hadn't considered them at all. He and Second Elder Brother had actively asked to buy.
If the price Wen Qing gave Su Ying was already discounted, then she wouldn't be able to charge them more. Wouldn't that mean her little sister was losing even more money!
Wen Qing burst out laughing. "Third Elder Brother, don't worry. I only didn't earn too much off you all." Though it was still not a small sum, since like she said, the company didn't belong solely to her. Even if she bought it herself she would have to pay. Not earning money meant even Hu Zhou wouldn't be happy, let alone her.
If everyone started doing business like this, the company probably wouldn't survive for long.
After all, this wasn't just one or two houses, but several high-end residences.
As for the later houses, no one expected they would sell so well, leading to her earning far more than initially projected.
"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease." An ZhiXian said.
After that, every time Liu Ling saw Wen Qing, she had that regretful look of someone who knew they shouldn't have done something. Wen Qing pretended not to see it.
She had secretly asked Eldest Brother when he planned to tell Liu Ling about buying the house. After all, this wasn't something they could hide their entire lives if they didn't divorce.
But An Zhiqing only told her to keep it secret and not tell anyone.
It took a full six months of day and night work just to finish renovating the 5 buildings.
Wen Qing's was the first to complete renovation. Even though she had used all eco-friendly materials, for her own safety she still filled the house with plants after finishing renovation and let it air out for five to six months before finally moving in. Su Ying still had another month before she could move into hers.
Su Ying joked with Wen Qing, "You've got to properly host a housewarming banquet this time. Can't believe you're a major shareholder of Huasheng Group yet don't even think to take care of your own hotel. Look at others, they'll take any small excuse to host an event, you should take this chance to earn back some of those gifts you've given out over the years." They were all people in the business circle. Today it was someone else's event, tomorrow it would be another's. Whether you went or not didn't matter, they never lacked gifts to bring along.
Compared to Wen Qing, Su Ying hadn't given nearly as many gifts. She hosted an event when her daughter turned six, another for her son's one month celebration, plus her factory's opening. Since everyone else did it, she didn't feel it was inappropriate.
On the other hand, Wen Qing had a whole house full of kids yet not one proper banquet or received others' gifts.
"You're a businesswoman too. Can't you use this to make money?" Though she was just joking, there was no way to actually earn money from this. If anything she'd lose money.
Sure people would bring gifts when they came, but the food and drinks prepared to host them weren't free either. Huasheng wasn't cheap. At most she could earn dividends, but not take others' gifted money.
"Let's forget the housewarming banquet. No need to be too ostentatious." Wen Qing said.
"How is that being ostentatious? This is a big event. Even if you don't want to host others, shouldn't we at least host a family table to celebrate for you?" Su Ying wanted to host an event too. If Wen Qing didn't pave the way first, wouldn't it be awkward for her later!
Whether for money or not, most people's thinking was that happy events and sad events should both be celebrated, just for the liveliness.
Hearing this, Wen Qing finally wiped the smile from her face and asked her, "Sister-in-law, stop pretending you don't understand. A housewarming banquet isn't some big event. The difficulty lies with Eldest Sister-in-law."
If she really hosted a banquet, should she invite Liu Ling or not?
It would be inappropriate not to invite her when everyone else was invited, but if she did invite her, Wen Qing was quite worried Liu Ling would make herself sick again from anger over the housewarming banquet.
Only then did Su Ying confess, "Fine, I admit I just want to watch the excitement. Who told her to always act that way, making it seem like we all owed her? But I'm giving you advance notice, no matter if you host or not, I'm definitely going to when the time comes. Moving is a big deal, lively celebrations afterwards will help bring good fortune. I don't want to block my own path because of someone else's feelings. You should be the same, don't consider things too carefully when others never cared about our feelings when they were cold towards us."
She was right, overthinking things too much would only make things difficult for yourself.
Conversely, as long as you were comfortable, why bother considering others' feelings?
While Wen Qing chatted idly with Su Ying, things were also uneasy on Liu Ling's side.
After the last frank conversation with An Zhiqing, the couple's relationship had actually improved quite a bit compared to before. What Liu Mother said had also given her new understanding towards her two sisters-in-law.