My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 2: A Chance to Strike It Rich

“Weigh out five jin for me, and another five jin of spare ribs,” Xu Dong said with great generosity. “Sure thing, just a moment,” the stall owner replied cheerfully. After the meat was weighed, Xu Dong opened the e-wallet app on his phone with some hesitation—after all, he hadn’t used it in years—and finally managed to pay successfully with the vendor’s guidance. Luckily, his payment password was set to fingerprint recognition; otherwise, it would have been truly embarrassing. Under the vendor’s staring gaze, Xu Dong hurriedly left the meat stall, then took a stroll through the seafood section and bought several kinds of seafood. About half an hour later, Xu Dong finally returned home carrying bags of all sizes. By then, his mother had already picked up her granddaughter and returned home. “Daddy, what yummy things did you buy?” Le Le trotted over, peering eagerly into the bags. Xu Dong set the bags down, gave his little girl a gentle pat, and replied with a smile, “There’s fish, meat, and big shrimp. Grandma will cook something delicious for you guys later.” “Wow, that’s great! Grandma… Grandma…” The little girl was overjoyed and hurried off to the kitchen to find her grandmother. Before long, Xu’s mother walked over, opened the bag to take a look, and frowned as she scolded Xu Dong, “Why did you buy so much? What are we going to do if we can’t finish it all?” In truth, Aunt Xu wasn’t really scolding him; she was worried that Xu Dong was spending money too freely. After all, his younger son had a large family, and Yang Lina hadn’t been working for a while; just the cost of formula alone ran into several thousand yuan every month, so the financial pressure was immense. “If we can’t finish it, just put it in the fridge—it won’t go bad anyway,” Xu Dong replied nonchalantly, pretending not to understand the true meaning behind his mother’s words. “Go ahead and be reckless. Just wait until the kids grow up—then we’ll see how you handle it,” Mrs. Xu sighed. Having many grandchildren was a blessing, but it was also a heavy burden. She and Xu’s father had both retired a few years ago. The factory wasn’t doing well, so their pensions weren’t much—they simply didn’t have the means to help Xu Dong’s family much. Not to mention that Xu Dong also had an older brother and an older sister; as elders, they couldn’t show too much favoritism. Even if they couldn’t treat everyone exactly the same, they couldn’t let the differences be too great. Chen Dong smiled but offered no further explanation. If this had been his former self, the pressure would indeed have been immense; rather than dying of illness, he would have been worked to death. But he’d been reborn, hadn’t he? As a fortunate reincarnated soul, he’d already figured out a way to make money. With such high-quality ingredients, Mrs. Xu’s dinner turned out exceptionally delicious. The Ke Ke sisters ate with great relish, and even Mrs. Xu herself had an extra bowl of rice—more than usual. As for Xu Dong, he polished off three bowls of rice in a row and was completely stuffed. After dinner, looking at his family’s contented smiles, Xu Dong silently vowed to himself that in this life, he would protect this family at all costs. He rested at home for a day. Early the next morning, Xu Dong quietly took the family’s property deed, household registration book, and the couple’s marriage certificate and ID cards before heading out. He had already figured out a way to make money—one that would yield a huge return on investment and was both safe and legal. The only thing missing now was the startup capital—but that wasn’t a problem for Xu Dong. He searched online for a local microfinance Company in Luyang that had decent reviews. Following the address provided, Xu Dong drove to the destination. After some pleasantries, they got straight to the point. Xu Dong explained his purpose and presented the property deed as collateral. “Mr. Xu, how much would you like to borrow?” “One million. I only need it for two months—I’m not sure if I can get the loan.” Xu Dong’s family had bought the house when they got married. It wasn’t very large—only 82 square meters—and the location wasn’t particularly good either. At the time, they had spent a total of 1. 02 million yuan, including various taxes. The couple not only depleted all their savings but also borrowed 400,000 yuan from their parents and other relatives to pay the full amount in a single lump sum. Over the years, as housing prices across Luyang have risen rapidly, their home—though not in a prime location—has still appreciated by at least a dozen percentage points. Based on current market prices, a 1 million yuan loan should be more than enough. “With your property as collateral, a 1 million loan is absolutely no problem.” This experienced professional had instantly estimated the value of the home at a glance. “When can we expect the loan to be approved?” Xu Dong asked immediately. The other party explained with a smile, “Generally speaking, for a loan of this size, the review process takes at least a week.” Xu Dong tentatively asked, “Could it be expedited?” “Unless you’re willing to be a bit more flexible on the interest rate…” Xu Dong glanced at the difference in interest rates and realized it amounted to only 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, so he agreed, “No problem. I can accept this interest rate.” The other person smiled broadly. “Rest assured, Mr. Xu, the 1 million will definitely be deposited into your account before the end of the workday today.” Private lending companies really are convenient and efficient. Xu Dong nodded in satisfaction, then signed a series of documents and finally received the loan just before the Company closed for the day. Although 1 million yuan was no small sum, it clearly wasn’t enough to satisfy Xu Dong’s appetite. Next, he borrowed from every financial app on the market that offered loans, securing another 850,000 yuan. Of course, the interest rates were sky-high, but Xu Dong didn’t care—if it weren’t for the borrowing limits, he would have borrowed as much as he could. Once he’d scraped together enough money, Xu Dong immediately headed to a nearby securities Company. That’s right—his plan for getting rich was to trade stocks. Xu Dong recalled that next month, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company in Luzhou—Luxi Pharmaceuticals—would suddenly announce that it had successfully developed a vaccine capable of preventing diabetes, immediately causing a global sensation. Spurred by this news, Luxi Pharmaceuticals’ stock price skyrocketed. After two months of frenzied gains, the Company’s market capitalization had nearly increased a hundredfold, creating countless billionaires overnight. Xu Dong’s plan was simply to ride the wave of this boom. After opening his account and downloading the trading software, Xu Dong tried buying a few conservative stocks, opting for a quick-in, quick-out strategy. This was partly to familiarize himself with the trading process and partly to avoid drawing the attention of regulatory authorities; buying Luxi Pharmaceuticals right off the bat would have made him too obvious a target. After more than a week of this, Xu Dong finally converted all the funds in his account into shares of Luxi Pharmaceuticals. Next, all that remained was to quietly wait for the day of his payoff. During this waiting period, Xu Dong wasn’t idle; he planned a trip to Yanjing to survey the capital’s real estate market. Armed with the experience from his previous life, Xu Dong naturally wouldn’t be so foolish as to stay put in Luyang. After the Great Catastrophe, as the drought continued to worsen, the nation’s economic landscape would undergo a fundamental shift. To put it simply, the coastal regions would far outpace the inland regions, and the north would comprehensively surpass the south. The reason is simple: First, the coastal regions occasionally experience typhoons, resulting in rainfall that is more than ten times greater than in inland areas. Combined with large-scale seawater desalination plants, this constitutes a natural advantage. After all, survival and development depend on water. Second, the northern region has relatively flat terrain, abundant coal resources, ample energy supplies, and better transportation infrastructure, making it significantly more suitable for industrial development than the south. As a coastal city in the north, Yanjing combines all these advantages, and with its status as the capital… Therefore, whether in terms of public safety or the availability of supplies, Yanjing is undoubtedly the nation’s premier place to settle. Xu Dong recalled that in his previous life, housing prices in the capital had once skyrocketed to astronomical levels; later, even the introduction of relevant purchase restriction policies could not stem the people’s yearning for a better life.