Reborn as a landlord in Shanghai

Chapter 27 The All-Powerful Sister Liu

It was precisely because she accidentally learned about Sister Liu's relationship that Mao Xiaoyu started to get involved in this circle.

After all, as a chef who has been working in the hospital kitchen for 20 years, he knows every director, deputy director, and hospital director in the hospital. Sometimes, someone like him is even more powerful than the deputy director of a department in the hospital.

After all, a deputy director might know people in his own department, but if a deputy director goes out of department, he might only have nodding acquaintances with other professors or directors at most. He might want to help, but sometimes he might not be able to bring himself to ask because he is not familiar with them.

But it's different with a head chef. Anyone who has eaten at his place a few times and exchanged a few words with him will recognize him, not to mention that this head chef has been working at this hospital for 20 years.

Some professors and department heads may not have been at the hospital as long as this chef, let alone the nurses and head nurses, who all have to give him face.

Of course, head chefs can't compare to professors and department heads in some areas, such as housing allocation. Hospitals can allocate houses to professors and department heads, but not to head chefs. However, because Ms. Liu's husband knows many people, he wants to buy a house near the hospital, which will make it easier for him to buy one.

Just like Sister Liu's three houses near the hospital, which were all bought from the doctors at the hospital. It can be said that if doctors in the hospital want to sell houses, as long as there is a rumor, the price will be cheap. As hospital staff, they are much more informed than outsiders.

Moreover, as long as the price is right, hospital doctors are willing to sell to hospital staff. After all, they see each other all the time, and the price is the same. For the sake of face, they will definitely sell to someone they know.

Therefore, over the years, Sister Liu bought one set after another in the hospital area, and at most she bought four sets. However, a couple of years ago, due to cash flow problems, she sold one set to Lao Guan.

There are reasons why Sister Liu didn't buy her other two houses near the hospital. The first old house was bought near the school because her child needed to go to school at that time.

Although more than ten years have passed and the child no longer attends school there, Ms. Liu and her husband are used to living there, so they still live there.

As for the fifth new house, it belongs to Ms. Liu's son. He wanted a new house as his wedding home and didn't want the old house near the hospital. In addition, his workplace was a bit far away, and it was too inconvenient for him to go to work from the hospital. So, Ms. Liu had no choice but to pay for a new house for her son as his wedding home.

However, at that time, she needed to buy a new house, renovate it, buy a car, and pay for her son's wedding. She didn't have enough money, so she sold one of her houses near the hospital to Lao Guan.

Otherwise, Sister Liu had four apartments for rent near the hospital. However, because there were so many apartments at the time, she was so busy that she couldn't possibly fill all the apartments with tenants and there were always empty beds available.

Now, although there are only three houses left, it's much easier to rent them out than if there were four. On average, there's an 80% chance that they'll be fully occupied.

Because Sister Liu sold him a house, and because of her husband, and because Sister Liu owns the most houses among the three, and because she is generous, the trio is led by Sister Liu, with Lao Guan in second place and Lao Zhang in third.

As for how Mao Xiaoyu was able to hang out with the Iron Triangle, it was because a few days ago, by chance, he helped Sister Liu with a small favor. Then, he used cigarettes to greet Lao Guan and Lao Zhang. The three of them saw that Mao Xiaoyu was a child, but he was willing to do business on his own. So, after a few back and forth, they finally accepted Mao Xiaoyu.

Mao Xiaoyu's main reasons for joining the "Iron Triangle" were to build more connections among landlords and to make it easier for her tenants to get appointments with specialists at hospitals in the future.

After all, most people who come to Shanghai for medical treatment are from out of town and rent apartments. It's really difficult to get an appointment with a specialist. If you don't have any connections, you might wait for half a month or a month in your rented apartment and still not be able to get an appointment with the specialist you want.

If a landlord with extraordinary connections can help a tenant get an appointment with a specialist, that would be the best thing for the tenant. After all, tenants pay rent for each day they stay, and if they can get an appointment early, they can save a lot of money. Moreover, those who come to see a doctor are all seriously ill, and who would dare to delay for 10 days or half a month? They would rather be hospitalized as soon as they arrive.

Although Mao Xiaoyu had only rented the house for a few days and hadn't yet encountered a tenant asking the landlord to find someone to help book an appointment with a specialist, Mao Xiaoyu still kept this in mind. And Sister Liu was the person Mao Xiaoyu found.

More importantly, Sister Liu didn't make her fortune as a scalper, so she could buy expert appointments very cheaply, for only 100 yuan. She didn't even charge any extra registration fees, which was a kind act of kindness.

After all, if Sister Liu wanted to get an appointment with a specialist, she had to go through an internal process. Apart from the 15 yuan registration fee, the remaining 85 yuan was actually for internal staff, which was considered an internal benefit. So Sister Liu really didn't make much money from registering appointments, which was much less than other landlords charging 300 or 500 yuan for an appointment.

Moreover, if a tenant becomes so ill that they can't delay any longer and need to be hospitalized as soon as possible, Sister Liu can take the tenant to find a specialist and ask them to add an appointment to their schedule for that day. This is not something that ordinary people can do. After all, specialists only see 50 patients a day, and they don't really want to see even one more. Getting a specialist to add an appointment is usually something that people are reluctant to do.

Moreover, Sister Liu doesn't ask for any payment for doing this. Of course, if the tenant really gives her money, and insists on giving it, she can accept a little. But if the tenant says they won't give her any money and only want to pay for the rent, she will still help them do it. After all, in her view, this is also doing good deeds and accumulating merit.

It is precisely because of Sister Liu's kindness that she has a good reputation in the rental business, and she has many repeat customers. After all, if a patient has a family member who needs to have surgery at this hospital in Shanghai, they will ask their family members about things, and these patients will think of Sister Liu and recommend her to their family members for rental housing.

It is precisely because of this that an older woman from a small province was able to earn enough to buy five houses in just over a decade, thanks to her kind heart and willingness to help others.

…………

"What's the rush? It's not afternoon yet. Besides, Old Zhang entertained five guests this morning, so I'm sure he won't be able to find many more this afternoon before his beds are full. Just ask him to help you find a few more, that should be enough." Old Guan quickly smoothed things over when he heard Sister Liu say that she had only found one tenant this morning.

"Yes, Sister Liu, I'm still short two people. I believe I can fill the quota with two people by the end of the afternoon. I'll bring the rest of them to your side," Old Zhang quickly chimed in.

"It's alright, most of the people living there are permanent residents. I don't need to pick up many people today. Plus, I had something to do this morning, so I was a little late. Otherwise, how could I have only picked up one tenant?" Sister Liu waved her hand dismissively.

Hearing what Sister Liu said, the others present thought about it and agreed. After all, Sister Liu was a well-known figure in the rental industry, with many tenants every day. Sometimes, new tenants would specifically ask Sister Liu to rent their houses. Even if Sister Liu didn't have enough houses available, they would still ask her to help them find a place to rent from someone else.

"Oh, Sister Liu, since you had something to do this morning, why didn't you call us? After all, we're a few men, we can at least do something," Mao Xiaoyu asked with concern.

It wasn't really appropriate for Mao Xiaoyu to call her "Sister Liu," since Sister Liu was in her fifties and Mao Xiaoyu was only 18, a few years younger than Sister Liu's son. However, Mao Xiaoyu's actual mental age was already 40, so when she saw Sister Liu, who was in her fifties, she blurted out "Sister Liu." Sister Liu didn't ask Mao Xiaoyu to change her address, so Mao Xiaoyu just went along with it.

"Yes, yes, just let us know if you need any help," Lao Guan and Lao Zhang echoed Mao Xiaoyu's words.

"It's not my problem if you can't help anyway. It's mainly a family matter. My daughter-in-law and son have been married for a year, and now they're finally having a baby. So, when I heard about this good news, I went to see them this morning. But then my son talked to me and said he wants me to stop my business here when the baby is born and then help the young couple take care of the baby. Sigh, I don't know what to do with my son's suggestion." Sister Liu explained what had happened that morning.

Upon hearing what Sister Liu had said, the three of them were momentarily at a loss for words. After all, it was a family matter, and it was quite normal for the son to want his mother-in-law to go back and take care of her grandson. However, it was such a big business, and it had to be stopped just like that. They felt it was a real shame, considering they owned three houses and could earn hundreds of thousands of yuan a year.

"Actually, if you ask me, you shouldn't take care of the kids. After all, these days, a full-time childcare worker only costs around 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a month. And childcare workers are all college graduates who teach children all sorts of things from a young age. If you ask me, you might as well use the money to hire a childcare worker for your son and daughter-in-law. That way, you won't be tired, and you can also earn some money."

After all, if you were to take care of a child, you know how difficult it is to raise a child. They cry and fuss every day, and they need to eat and drink, not to mention managing their bodily functions. The most troublesome thing is that even if you put your heart into taking care of them, if you don't do a good job, your daughter-in-law will complain. In that case, it's better to go all out and hire a childcare professional.

More importantly, distance makes the heart grow fonder. It's easy for an elderly woman to clash with her son and daughter-in-law when they live together. Before the grandchild is even grown up, you and your son might become enemies. If that's the case, why not give most of your earnings to your son every year so he has money to spend? That way, you'll be better off.” After hesitating for a moment, Mao Xiaoyu cautiously offered her advice.

After all, in Mao Xiaoyu's opinion, if Sister Liu were to leave this profession, who would she go to for appointments and specialists? She had only just entered this field, and Sister Liu couldn't leave, at least not for the next few years. It wouldn't be too late for Sister Liu to leave once she had become more familiar with the people in the hospital. Therefore, Mao Xiaoyu felt that she should offer some suggestions.

Hearing Mao Xiaoyu's opinion, Sister Liu was also a little tempted. After all, she wasn't very good at taking care of children herself. If she paid her son and daughter-in-law to hire a nanny to take care of the child, that would be a good idea. After all, she had the money to support this, and she wouldn't have to worry about it.

Thinking about this, Ms. Liu felt that she should talk to her son next time she had time and find a childcare worker for them. The salary of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a month might be a bit high, but as long as it was worth it, 10,000 to 20,000 yuan was fine. She could afford that amount of money.

"Let's talk about this later. After all, a woman's pregnancy takes several months. If I were to personally take care of them, it would be at least six months before I could," Sister Niu said, feeling it wasn't appropriate to discuss her family's affairs, so she changed the subject.

Seeing that Sister Liu had changed the subject, the three men didn't say anything more and followed suit, chatting casually.

The four of them chatted for a while, and as they saw more and more people at the hospital, they knew it was time for them to go to work.

After they finished their cigarettes, they all stood up and began their busy day.

…………

After a busy afternoon, Mao Xiaoyu earned more than 600 yuan. All the beds in the house were rented out. Seeing that it was still early, Mao Xiaoyu prepared to go home.

After all, I've been under a lot of pressure these past few days, busy making money, and sometimes I haven't even been home. Although I went home yesterday, it was too late, so I didn't get to talk to my parents much. Today it's still early, so I can go home and have some dinner with them.

Thinking of this, Mao Xiaoyu took out her phone, ready to call home to see whether she should eat at the hair salon or go home.

No sooner had she taken out her phone than it rang. Looking at it, she saw it was an unknown number calling. This made Mao Xiaoyu frown, wondering who was calling her. But she didn't stop what she was doing and pressed the answer button.

"Hello, are you Boss Mao?"

As soon as the call connected, Mao Xiaoyu heard Guo Xiaoyan's voice on the other end.

"Hello, this is Mao Xiaoyu. You must be Sister Guo. Since you're calling me now, it seems you have some good news to tell me," Guo Xiaoyu replied cautiously.

"There is some news. How about we meet at the store again tomorrow morning?" Guo Xiaoyan then arranged a time.

"Forget about tomorrow morning, there's still plenty of time now. How about we set a time to talk over dinner?"

Mao Xiaoyu checked the time and felt that it was still early. She thought it would be a waste to postpone the meeting until tomorrow, so she decided to arrange to meet in the evening.

"Okay, fine."

Guo Xiaoyan could tell that Mao Xiaoyu was really anxious, so for the sake of better cooperation between the two of them, she hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

"I'll be there in half an hour. Just wait for me at my rented storefront. I'll be right there." After saying that, Mao Xiaoyu hung up the phone and rushed over without even going home.