Chapter 309: Chapter 309: She’s Clearly Showing Off on Purpose!
He was accustomed to living in large villas, not in large apartments.
Moreover, since Lin Qi was pregnant, the rooms in this house wouldn’t be sufficient, he wanted to buy another one.
Lin Qi hesitated for a long time but finally nodded: “Okay.”
The next day.
The family of five went out to look at houses.
There aren’t many villas for sale in good locations, and with Lin Qi pregnant and having limited energy, after spending the weekend, they only found three property developments appealing.
Of these three properties, there were only five houses he was interested in buying.
They had to decide and compare among these five homes.
Huo Tingdong suddenly realized that if they were to buy a villa, there was another issue to consider.
Villas are handed over unfinished, and it takes time to complete delivery; moreover, decorating a villa is a massive project, a minimum of two years to start, and even longer if the materials chosen for decoration are scarce.
Huo Tingdong owns several villas, some are decorated, some are not.
They could be used as temporary accommodations if necessary.
Therefore, their marital home could only be moved into after the wedding, once the villa renovations are complete.
Back at home.
Lin Qi looked over the five layout plans, caught in a dilemma.
The sizes of these five homes ranged from the smallest at 1500 square meters to the largest at over 3000 square meters.
Among them, Xiangxie Palace, which is only a 10-minute drive from the city center, has the best location. Its Type A home has a property certificate area of 1200 square meters, with a garden and basement included, plus the extra area gifted, the total is 1600 square meters, at a unit price of 390,000, the total cost is nearly 600 million.
With a median location, Longding Champagne Lake is a 45-minute drive from the city center. Including the extra gifted area, Type B homes total over 2300 square meters, at a unit price of 270,000, the total cost is 400 million.
Chunjiang No.1, which is further from the city center, has the biggest total area and costs only 190,000; it’s also around 400 million total.
Lin Qi preferred the layout of Chunjiang No.1, but the commute to the city center is an hour and a half, far from the company.
Taking everything into account, Xiangxie Palace is the more suitable choice, but with a total area of 1600 square meters, it is a bit small for Huo Tingdong, and he wasn’t satisfied with the layout.
After two days of house viewing, Lin Qi concluded one thing: there really is no perfect house.
Those with good locations have average layouts and high prices.
Those with good layouts and reasonable prices have average locations.
The biggest area with the best layout is the farthest commute.
Huo Tingdong said, “No rush, let’s first consider these few. Later when you’re resting, we can look at other developments. You can start by comparing these layouts.”
“Okay.”
When Monday came and it was time to work.
Lin Qi just arrived at the company, intending to handle her confirmation of employment with HR.
Maeve walked by her desk and casually saw several layout plans pressed under her notebook.
Out of curiosity, she picked them up and was surprised.
These are villa layouts!
Could it be that during the weekend, Lin Qi’s boyfriend took her to see their marriage house?
Beijing’s houses are not cheap.
Especially such large villas in prime locations, they are sold by the inch.
The layouts didn’t indicate the unit price.
Maeve returned to her seat, pulled out her phone, and opened the real estate app to search for the property names on the floor plans, then checked their prices.
The average prices were 390,000, 270,000, and 190,000!
Each of these three properties cost several hundred million per unit on average!
Maeve was genuinely shocked!
A few of her colleagues gathered around her, noticing Maeve was looking at the villa floor plans, they couldn’t resist making fun: “Is Ms. Mia planning to buy a villa?”
Maeve responded with sour grapes: “Where would I get the money to buy such an expensive villa? I just happened to pass by Lin Qi’s desk and saw she had these floor plans laid out! Looks like her boyfriend is taking her to see their wedding house this Saturday or Sunday!”
Everyone was surprised.
“No way?”
“Her fiancé is so rich that he’s buying a villa for their wedding house?”
“Who on earth is her boyfriend? To afford such expensive villas, he must be seriously wealthy!”
Maeve said sarcastically: “Who knows? Besides, they might not necessarily buy a villa! It’s just floor plans, not a purchase contract! Maybe they just went to the sales office for a visit, playing the part of the wealthy, getting a few floor plans to show off at the company! Huh! She even deliberately put the floor plans in such a conspicuous place, as if afraid we couldn’t see! Isn’t this showing off?”
Upon hearing this, others also felt Maeve had a point.
“Yeah, floor plans are not the same as a purchase contract. She hasn’t bought it yet, may not be able to afford it!”
“If someone can afford such a big villa, why bother coming to the office to work? If it were me, marrying such a rich man, I would happily become a wealthy housewife, taking care of the family and not having to work. Why go through the trouble?”
“How could I, with my humble status, be colleagues with a lady who lives in a big villa?”
Han Na looked up and saw her colleagues discussing fervently and glanced at Lin Qi’s desk with skepticism.
The floor plans at Lin Qi’s desk were all under her notebook. Unless someone flipped through her notebook, they wouldn’t be visible at all.
Maeve has been snooping around Lin Qi’s desk again.
She knew Maeve disliked Lin Qi, but she didn’t realize she was so hostile towards Lin Qi. Now, taking advantage of Lin Qi’s absence, she was bad-mouthing her.
She also realized that Maeve looked down on Lin Qi for being divorced and couldn’t stand seeing her remarry so well!
But she dared not express her anger.
After all, Maeve was her supervisor and had authority over her.
When Lin Qi returned from the HR department and just got back to her seat, Han Na was about to whisper to her when Maeve suddenly asked loudly, “Lin Qi, did you go to see your wedding house in the last few days?”
Lin Qi was a bit surprised, “How did you know?”
She glanced at her desk.
After Maeve had messed with the things on her desk, she had returned them back to where they were, but Lin Qi still noticed something was amiss.
Her notebook was slightly skewed.
Maeve had been snooping around her desk again!
Lin Qi frowned slightly, only to hear Maeve tauntingly say, “You brought the floor plans here and placed them in such an obvious spot. Are you so eager for us to see them?”
Lin Qi replied, “I’m getting married. What’s wrong with looking at wedding houses for marriage?”
But Maeve didn’t argue with her and, propping her chin, asked with a smile that was not quite a smile, “Are you planning to buy a villa for your wedding house?”
Lin Qi smiled, “I’m not buying it; my fiancé is.”
Maeve said, “You haven’t gotten your marriage certificate yet, right? Looking at wedding houses now, it’s clearly pre-marital property. He’s obviously doing this on purpose. After all, according to the marriage law, pre-marital property belongs to the one who owned it before marriage. If the house is bought before the marriage, it has nothing to do with you. He’s clearly guarding against you!”
Lin Qi curled her lips slightly, hearing that Maeve was trying to sow discord, but she wasn’t falling for it.
She leaned gently back in her chair, picked up a few floor plans, and while comparing them, said nonchalantly, “The house isn’t set yet. We’ve looked at a few floor plans, still not sure which one to choose. However, we are going to get our marriage certificate tomorrow.”