Mr. Zhu had some doubts again and took another look at Chen Xiao: Could this be a prank to play on me? But this guy looks respectable and doesn't seem like the kind of person who would be bored.
However, since he was already there, he calmed himself down. As a seasoned real estate agent, he still had professional ethics. He immediately showed great enthusiasm, took out the key to open the gate, and led Chen Xiao inside.
"I'm sorry, the house hasn't been lived in for a while, so the lawn is a bit messy. But it's okay, we can hire a cleaning company to tidy it up, it'll only take a day at most, and it won't cost much." Mr. Zhu looked very relaxed, easily brushing off the lawn issue, which was a very clever approach.
Chen Xiao smiled slightly, said nothing, and simply followed him inside.
I opened the door and stepped inside. To the left was the living room. To the right was the path to the kitchen and dining room. However, because the doors had been closed for so long, the room was filled with a dusty smell.
Mr. Zhu casually waved his hand twice, coughed, and turned to smile, saying, "Look, there's a bit more dust, but that's not a problem. We can clean it up and open the windows to ventilate. The interior of the house is in pretty good condition. There's no damage to the basic facilities."
Because he underestimated Chen Xiao's age. Although his professional ethics prevented him from showing the slightest contempt, his introduction inevitably became somewhat careless. He casually said, "The house has three floors. The first floor has a living room, kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. Hmm, there's also a storage room. A door next to the storage room leads down to the garage. The layout is very good. The living room is large and impressive, with a high ceiling and plenty of natural light."
He paused, then smiled and said, "The second floor has three bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom. The third floor is the master bedroom—hmm. I'm very familiar with this house. In my opinion, the master bedroom on the third floor is the best highlight of this house. The master bedroom is huge and very grand. It also has separate dressing rooms for men and women, and the master bathroom is also quite large. There's also a master study on the third floor. Both the master bedroom and the study have huge balconies next to them. If you've been working in the study for a long time, you can put a rocking chair on the balcony, go out and enjoy the breeze and sunshine—it would feel really nice."
He pointed inside and chuckled, "Go straight in from here, through the dining room, and out another door to the backyard. The yard is several dozen square meters; you can set up a barbecue grill there. When the weather's cool, it's a great place to barbecue with family and friends. The garage isn't very big, only enough for one car. But if you have two cars, you can park the extra one in the yard outside the garage. The yard is quite spacious, more than enough. Besides…"
Chen Xiao smiled. This guy was obviously a very good real estate agent. His words almost covered all the advantages of the house, and it did sound very attractive.
Chen Xiao smiled but didn't answer; he simply walked inside.
The house was empty of furniture, with some discarded items remaining on the floor. Chen Xiao walked to the corner, picked up a broken piece of porcelain, and examined it in his hand. In a daze, he remembered that it seemed to be a vase that used to sit on the coffee table at home. It had been broken by a mover when those people came to move their things...
He stood in the living room for a while, lost in thought, and in his daze, some hallucinations began to appear in his mind.
Hmm... I remember, this place had a sofa, that place had a coffee table, that place had a mural, and over there, there was a fireplace...
Chen Xiao shook his head vigorously, his fists clenching involuntarily.
Mr. Zhu stood behind, watching the young man, his doubts deepening. The young man seemed strange and dull; despite his young age, he acted as if he were an old man, and didn't talk much. He didn't seem like a typical homebuyer asking him a lot of questions after seeing the property. This guy didn't ask a single question—it didn't seem very sincere.
"Mr. Chen... Mr. Chen?"
Mr. Zhu called out twice before Chen Xiao came to his senses.
"Um... do you have any questions?" Mr. Zhu rubbed his hands together.
"No... I want to look around." Chen Xiao shook his head and walked directly towards the kitchen and dining area without saying anything more.
The restaurant's been emptied out... Those guys were really efficient back then, they even took all the furniture from the house. Humph...
The most ridiculous thing is that the bank only took the house and car to pay off the parents' loan debts. Most of the other furniture, however, was taken by those "relatives"! Hmph…
I remember those days when bank people came to seal off the house and seize assets. And those relatives who came to "help." Ugh...
They bullied me, a grown boy, thinking I didn't know anything?
I still remember my seemingly "kind" uncles and aunts, who kindly told me that they had to sell all the appliances and furniture in the house to help my parents pay off their debts.
Hmph! Fine! Sell it!
What could Chen Xiao, a young child who was not yet sixteen at the time, possibly do to resist these wolf-like "relatives"?
He knew perfectly well that after they "sold" the entire set of furniture, they only gave him less than five thousand yuan. And that fifty-inch LCD TV, well, it only sold for a thousand yuan. And the home theater system, the computer… ridiculously, a set of BOSS speakers. They only gave him eight hundred yuan for that! Hahahaha!!
These people gave Chen Xiao less than ten thousand yuan and then emptied the villa of all its furniture and appliances. How ridiculous… Chen Xiao knew very well that the desk in his old study alone was worth more than ten thousand yuan!
Chen Xiao will never forget that when those relatives came with people to move the furniture, although they tried their best to look sad when facing him, their eyes were probably already beaming with joy...
Chen Xiao at that moment, though fully aware of the situation, deliberately remained silent, his heart filled with a sense of absurdity and ridiculousness. He coldly watched these clowns put on their show. "Move it! Move it all! Take it! Take whatever you want!"
I don't need these things anymore anyway! Take them all!!
Later, the cleaning lady who had worked at our house for many years, that kind woman in her forties, couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up for us. But... she was instead pushed to the ground by a relative who became enraged, yelling things like, "It's our own family matter, what are you, an outsider, meddling in?"
I remember that at that moment, I, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly went berserk, rushing forward like a madwoman, hitting and kicking the adult who was more than twenty years older than me. It took four or five adults desperately pulling me away…
I remember telling them coldly at the time, "Take whatever you want. Once you've taken it, get out of here!"
Those people left in the moving company's truck. In the end, only the cleaning lady stood in the living room, hugging herself and crying.
Yes, I didn't cry then. Not a single tear fell. I just hugged my little cardboard box. Looking out the door, I sneered... just sneered the whole time.
And then...
Yeah, and then, the bank comes to foreclose on the house and the car, and then... they seal off the door...
Taking a deep breath, Chen Xiao loosened his fist and silently walked up the steps to the study on the third floor.
This... used to be his father's study. Yes, although his parents rarely came back to live in this house, Chen Xiao always reserved the master bedroom on the third floor for them when he lived here. He himself always lived on the second floor.
Even if your parents rarely come home, the house still has their room, their clothes, and your father's books—this will always give you a sense of "home."
But who knows how many days and nights, how many evenings, have passed? When the cleaning lady finishes her work and goes home, she is left alone in this large, three-story house.
In the stillness of the night, all alone in such a large house, all by myself... day after day, night after night, what kind of feeling is that?
Chen Xiao had developed a habit of turning on all the lights in all the rooms, both upstairs and downstairs, even when he was home alone at night…
Standing at the door of the room on the third floor, all that remained in the bedroom was the wardrobe that couldn't be moved. In the study, there were some scattered papers on the floor, all of which had rotted.
Real estate agent Mr. Zhu followed behind Chen Xiao. He instinctively sensed the young man's strange and somewhat bewildered mood, but under the control of his professional instincts, he introduced the house: "This house looks a bit old, but the facilities are actually in very good condition. The water and electricity lines were originally installed in a very standardized manner. Don't be fooled by the mess; that's because it wasn't renovated. Actually, the interior decoration of this house is excellent! The floors and tiles are top-notch; just a little cleaning and it will look brand new! And look, the closets here are all made of the finest materials. The roof on the third floor has been specially treated with an insulation layer, so it's warm in winter and cool in summer. Moreover, the ceiling height reaches three meters, much higher than ordinary ceilings, so it doesn't feel oppressive at all! In my professional opinion, the previous owner of this house spent a lot of money on the renovation; it was definitely a big investment! And the taste is also very good; the decoration style from several years ago doesn't look outdated at all even today..."
After saying all that, Mr. Zhu suddenly shut his mouth, seeing that Chen Xiao had no reaction whatsoever. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly: It seems this customer has no sincerity in making a purchase at all.
Having worked in this industry for so many years, he's experienced. Those who ask a lot of questions are often the real buyers. After all, once you've bought a house to live in, you become very careful and meticulous. The more questions they ask, the more sincere their desire to buy. They also pay attention to specific areas, such as the bathroom, the kitchen, and the wiring layout. They're particularly meticulous when viewing houses.
People like Chen Xiao, who just glance at the layout without asking any questions, indicate that their desire to buy isn't very strong.