Chapter 88: Chapter 45: Virtual and Reality
Since He Kao became aware, he learned to observe people’s expressions, especially the faces of adults at home, appearing very obedient, meticulous, and adept at pleasing.
However, this wasn’t a kind of calculating worldliness and smoothness; it was simply a way to adapt better to survival, forming a manner in which he excelled at handling people and situations.
Interacting with people like him often makes you feel comfortable, whether it’s Old Qian, Xiaopang, or President E. Many people with high emotional intelligence are slick, but He Kao is not of that style.
Since childhood, He Kao was also the "child of others" in the mouths of nearby parents, like Mrs. Chen who particularly liked him and often used He Kao as an example to criticize Xiaopang.
Huang Xiaopang grew up in the shadow of He Kao as a "positive example", and their relationship being so good is truly remarkable.
Of course, Xiaopang seemed to have a detached mindset, as if he didn’t care about making comparisons with ordinary people. In his eyes, He Kao was always someone who needed to be taken care of.
But He Kao himself, of course, prefers a carefree and joyful life. For instance, he’s good at cooking, whether the adults at home are too busy or he just wants to eat better, the fundamental reason is that he has to be.
After starting work, there was a simple stove in his apartment, and he even never used it.
Because the unit’s buffet restaurant is quite good, offering varied selection, quality, and reasonable prices, providing solutions for all three meals a day. Occasionally, if he wanted a change, the food street was not far from the apartment building...how relaxing.
The lamb leg he stewed yesterday was the first meal he cooked himself in half a year, and it turned into a kind of life enjoyment, very suitable for soothing the mind.
During dinner yesterday, several people discussed how to handle that house, and he also realized the benefits of connections.
Xiaopang took up the matter first, telling He Kao not to rush, claiming he has friends living in Guanliu District and classmates who know people in the property management there, and offered to help gather all the information.
Old Qian nodded in agreement, then said He Kao himself doesn’t need to show up, if there are any problems, the next step would be to have the lawyer handle it, including the transfer of deeds and so on... after all, the title is here, and He Kao is the legitimate owner of the property.
Before He Kao himself could say anything, those two guys had already discussed the matter, so the core idea was to save He Kao the trouble.
He Kao knew they were resourceful, so he decided to follow their arrangement, saving himself the worry.
The next day after waking up, Huang Xiaopang found himself with a stack of unread messages and several missed calls, only then remembering the matter He Shan asked him about yesterday, so he returned the call.
By the afternoon, many people in town knew that He Kao had obtained a pair of golden paperweights and a title deed from a safe deposit box, with each gold bar weighing about ten pounds, and the house is a luxury large apartment in Guanliu District.
The rumors grew more exaggerated, until eventually people said He Kao had obtained a box full of gold and a box full of title deeds left by his father. Can anyone lift a box of gold? As for a box of title deeds, that’s even more ridiculous!
By dinner time, Uncle He Changshan finally couldn’t resist calling He Kao, first inviting him home for dinner, then brought up the rumors in town.
Uncle finally got first-hand information from He Kao, which was just a pair of golden paperweights plus a title deed... as for dinner, He Kao wouldn’t be going over, he had other matters to handle.
Uncle chatted idly for a bit, indirectly bringing up how he lost a batch of goods last time, and recently the business’s working capital was a bit tight...
He Kao then naturally steered the conversation back, saying the pair of paperweights were his father’s keepsakes, he wouldn’t sell them unless he was utterly desperate.
As for the house, no one has lived there for over twenty years, the situation is unclear, and the transfer and registration procedures aren’t done... even if the house is obtained, he doesn’t plan to sell it, he himself is renting an apartment in the city now.
He doesn’t have much working capital either, realistically speaking, having worked for over half a year, He Kao’s life is relatively frugal, and he has about sixty thousand saved.
If he entrusted a lawyer to handle the follow-up matters of the house, it would require some money, which might not even be enough even with the sixty thousand.
He recently has an additional two hundred thousand in his account, which was the deposit Lin Qingshuang senior gave for "renting" the pendant, and one hundred and fifty thousand needs to be returned after a few months.
Theoretically, fifty thousand belongs to He Kao, but this sum feels a bit uneasy, and he doesn’t plan to touch it before the matter is settled.
At this point, his aunt snatched the phone, shouting to remind He Kao that lately it’d be best to avoid staying in the hometown, because the rumors are outrageous outside, and many people in the village are planning to borrow money from him...
When his aunt reminded him, He Kao had already returned to the city, and had already received several calls, from people who were not exactly unfamiliar or very close, just people he knew since childhood.
These few people started by congratulating He Kao, before he curtly interrupted them—congratulate for what? Congratulate your dad for dying early!
What truly annoyed He Kao wasn’t the attempt to borrow money, maybe they really had urgent needs, he could choose to lend or not... but this matter is fundamentally not worth congratulating, at least that’s how he personally feels.
Yet speaking this way wasn’t typical for He Kao, he almost never did so, but for some reason, this time he couldn’t hold back a bit, regretting a little after hanging up each call, but responding the same way in subsequent calls because he couldn’t bear to hear another congratulations.