Chapter 89: Side Story (1)

Madam Lu wanted to bring Yun Duo along to look at a house. It was only at this time that Yun Duo found out Tang Yi-Bai had already asked his mother to help look for a marriage home. She was rather moved, and when she actually saw the house, she was also extremely surprised.

"A, a villa?"

"Yes, Doudou specifically told me that he wanted a villa with a swimming pool," said Madam Lu, glancing at her with a half-smile.

"Cough." Yun Duo felt a little embarrassed.

This was an upscale villa within a high-end neighbourhood in the suburbs. It wasn't too far from Tang Yi-Bai's training base, and it was close to a highway so travelling would be very convenient. The previous owner had loss everything from trading in stocks but refused to declare bankruptcy. Now that his company required funds, he had no choice but to sell this property. As he needed the money urgently, the quoted price was very reasonable... with the condition that payment had to be in cash.

The villa was a bungalow with a flower garden, and the two-storey building took up nearly 500 square metres. The basement contained a home theatre and a swimming pool, and there was a sauna room next to the swimming pool. The pool was 12 by 3 metres and was designed beautifully. Both ends were rounded so the entire pool was shaped like a little race track. The walls of the pool were blue, so once the pool was filled with water, it would look like a blue ocean.

There was a shower area by the pool with just a simple shower head starkly protruding from the wall, nothing at all to provide cover around it.

Yun Duo looked at this luxurious and beautiful pool and the sight was automatically converted into heaps and heaps of money. She gulped and asked the realtor, "How much does this house cost?"

The realtor smiled and said, "18 million."

Yun Duo's voice quavered. "S-so expensive?"

"This is already the cheapest. If you can't pay in cash, the owner wouldn't sell it even if you offer 20 million."

Auntie Lu kept finding fault. "Why is the pool so dirty? And these designs are horrendous... these equipment must have been in use for almost 10 years, right? Are you planning to use it for a lifetime? The location is also not very good. Well, the flower garden is nice, but what kind of trees have you planted in it? Jujube trees! Although jujubes are very good for replenishing blood, I must stress that jujube trees are very ugly! ... What? Giving us the furniture? Who wants your furniture? Baroque furniture is everywhere these days. You think I can't afford to buy my own mahogany?"

The realtor began to sweat and he started to explain, but Madam Lu waved an imperious hand and ignored him. She pulled Yun Duo by the arm and said, "Forget it. Let's continue looking."

The agent's phone rang, and he went off to the side to answer it.

Yun Duo whispered to Auntie Lu, "Auntie, let's not buy this if you don't like it. I also think that it's too expensive..."

Auntie Lu smiled. "Who said I don't like it? You can't lose buying this house. Even if you don't want it after this, you can sell it out again after a while to earn money. Consider it an investment."

Yun Duo gaped. "Then, you, just now...?"

"Are you stupid? I'm trying to bargain and lower the price."

Yun Duo also knew that belittling the seller was a way to lower prices, but this was the first time she saw such a convincing performance... She considered it for a moment and then said, "That, auntie, do you have enough money?"

"It's fine. Doudou is a mega-star now. I just need to squeeze him a little and there'll be enough money."

At this point, Yun Duo couldn't help but recall the grand occasion of Tang Yi-Bai's return to China the other day. She just happened to be on the same flight as he was. She almost couldn't bear to think back on the sea of fans and reporters waiting outside back then. There were also reporters looking for her within the crowd; luckily, she had gotten a heads up and had disguised herself well.

Right now, Tang Yi-Bai's popularity within the country had risen by an innumerable number of tiers compared to before the World Championships. He was skilled and good-looking and sported a healthy, wholesome image, plus he never lacked for points of discussion... his endorsement fees were rising by the day. When a man ascends, his household ascends too — recently, she had also become the target of paparazzi. People had been sneaking photographs of her to publish on the tabloids and gossip media for public discussion. There were some that said she was beautiful, while others said she was ugly, and still others commented that she was of a lower standard. Yun Duo felt a little inferior after reading the negative comments. Tang Yi-Bai hugged her and kissed her cheeks, and then he took a selfie. In the selfie, both Tang Yi-Bai's side profile and Yun Duo's face was clearly visible and beautiful. She was still marvelling over his selfie skills at producing such a high-quality photo when he had already deftly switched between his main and side accounts to post Weibo messages with the photo: My wife is the most beautiful!

After he posted that on his main account, he switched to the side account 'Reporter Yun Duo' to repost his post and comment: My husband is also the most handsome~! [Kiss Kiss]

Yun Duo was awed at his role-playing ability, but also really touched. She had just displayed a little bit of her feelings of inferiority, and he had already sensed it and took action to defend her.

Truly, it was fine as long as the person she loved most thinks she's beautiful. Everyone else's opinions were just passing clouds.

The comments below the two Weibo posts were all conveying "single-dogs have received 10,000 points of damage".

"Yun Duo, what are you thinking? Yun Duo?" Auntie Lu gave her a gentle nudge.

"Oh, auntie," Yun Duo gathered her thoughts. "I was just thinking. If there's not enough money, I also have a little here..."

Madam Lu was amused. She looked at Yun Duo curiously, "How much money do you have?"

"About seven hundred thousand."

Madam Lu was surprised. "Where did you get so much money? Your parents?"

"No, my parents don't know yet about Tang Yi-Bai wanting to buy a marriage home. I just found out myself."

"Then, where did the money come from?"

"I won it by gambling. When I was in the UK, I saw a bookmaker setting Tang Yi-Bai's odds of winning a 35/1, so I bet the 2,000 pounds I had on Tang Yi-Bai becoming champion. In the end, they paid me about 70,000 pounds, which converts to about 700,000 RMB." Yun Duo was rather smug as she recounted this — not just because had she earned so much money, but more due to the satisfaction from the face-smacking.

Madam Lu found the whole story incredible. She stared at Yun Duo in silence, like she wanted to look past her lovely face to see into her soul. Yun Duo fidgeted nervously under her stare. "What? Did my gambling make you unhappy?"

"No," Madam Lu laughed. "I just find it interesting. You were so sure Doudou would win when you made the bet?"

Yun Duo shook her head. "I just too angry and couldn't let it slide."

Risking two thousand pounds on an almost hopeless bet just in a fit of anger? Madam Lu could not really understand this kind of thinking, but at least this showed how much Yun Duo cared about Doudou, because this little lady was not someone to make hasty emotional decisions like that.

Madam Lu said, "Keep the money for yourself. Girls should have some savings of their own, or perhaps you could buy a car."

"Is it too little? My parents have also saved some dowry for me..."

Madam Lu chuckled and patted her on the head. "Your dowry should only be brought over when you marry over. You're in such a hurry to marry?"

Yun Duo flushed deeply at her words.

The agent returned from his call and said to Madam Lu, "Sister, 17.8 million. This is the lowest price. I can't do any more than that. The landlord is dead set on this price and won't sell for even a cent less."

"17.5 million. I won't buy if it's a cent more."

The two of them were thus locked in a stalemate. The agent wanted to try persuading her a little further, but Madam Lu raised a hand. "Let's continue looking."

After they left the villa, Yun Duo was rather confused. "So we're not buying it anymore?"

"We will. Just not now."

After they returned, Madam Lu sent Daddy Tang to pretend to be someone else interested in the house. He then happily agreed to the 18 million price proposed by the agent, but dragged things out by a couple of days under the excuse of trying to gather funds. And then, when it came time to sign the agreement, Daddy Tang did not show up.

The owner was seriously need of money, and there were not many buyers who could come up with so much cash on short notice. Watching as hope came and flew away again, and seeing how his company was about to fail completely, he could only ask the agent to contact Madam Lu again.

Madam Lu was insistent. "17.5 million. I won't buy it for a cent more."

This time, the agent agreed.

Oh my God, I'm internally tearing my hair out right now. Blogger has just forced me to switch to the newer 'improved' version of their blogpost editor. I mean, I knew it was coming, but it still sucks... because this stupid editor does not play nice with my current translation habits. I'll have to figure out some workarounds and build new habits now. /T.T\

I may have missed out on some formatting things due to this sudden change in the backend, so please let me know if anything looks weird so I can fix it. Thanks~


Previous: Chapter 88: Final Chapter
Next: Chapter 90: Side Story (2)

Back to Index

Comments

Post a Comment