Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Lin Changqing knew his daughter came home late, so he had been wandering about by the door, watching for her. He looked up and saw Yang Ce and his daughter walking toward him hand in hand, and at once waved and called out, "Yang Ce! Zhiyun!"

"Dad." Lin Yanhe, her hand held by Yang Ce, felt suddenly bashful. But Yang Jiyan called out "Uncle Lin" with perfect ease.

"Come in, come in!" Lin Changqing had not seen Yang Ce for several days. He warmly drew him inside, and the worry on his face thinned somewhat.

To be continued.

892. The Relocation

892. The Relocation

Yang Shuoxuan did not stand on ceremony. Coming to Lin Yanhe's home was almost no different from walking into his own.

"Little Yang, you and Zhiyun haven't eaten yet, have you?" Lin Changqing shut the door and then asked, "Let me fix something for the two of you."

"No need to go to any trouble, Uncle Lin. Zhiyun and I had beef noodles at the office—we ate not long ago." Yang Hengye waved his hand. "I just came to see her home. I'll sit a while and then be on my way."

"Oh, well, if you've eaten, that's good." Lin Changqing nodded, then said to Shen Yueping, "Yueping, go wash some fruit for Little Yang."

"Uncle Lin, truly, there's no need to trouble yourself," Yang Ce said again and again.

"Heh, what's all this ceremony with your Uncle Lin for? When you come here, treat it as your own home." Lin Changqing smiled.

"Exactly, that's just what I mean. Uncle Lin, what are you standing on ceremony with me for? When I say I won't eat, I won't eat—it's not politeness." Yang Ce picked up right where Lin Changqing left off.

"This child!" Lin Changqing shook his head and laughed. "All right then, Yueping, you needn't bother either. Since Little Yang doesn't want anything, let it be."

"Uncle Lin, I heard from Zhiyun that this area is going to be torn down," Yang Ce said once he was seated, turning to business.

"That's right—spring at the latest, the whole area will be demolished." Lin Changqing nodded. "Shabby as it looks, this is a prime piece of land. It's right up against the luxury villa district by the development zone. If they put up high-end apartment buildings here, the prices certainly won't be cheap."

"Heh, that makes sense. And since you see it that way, Uncle Lin, when it comes to the relocation compensation, I suppose you'd choose an apartment rather than cash?" Yang Yuting nodded. He had meant to advise Lin Changqing anyway not to give up long-term gain for a bit of immediate profit—that it did not matter if they had nowhere to live for the time being, since Yang Ce would buy them a place.

"An apartment?" Lin Changqing smiled bitterly at once. "What apartment? The developer's terms are harsh indeed—they say only that they'll pay cash. Not a word about giving apartments."

Yang Shuoxuan did not know much about the rules of real estate, but he felt something was off about this. He frowned and asked, "Then how much compensation per square meter?"

"Here's the notice. Little Yang, take a look for me—my house doesn't seem to be worth much." Lin Changqing handed a relocation notice to Yang Ce.

Yang Ce took it and read. At the top were the usual phrases about answering the call and so forth; only at the very bottom was there a concrete compensation plan—1500 to 3000 yuan per square meter, depending on the actual circumstances.

Those "actual circumstances" probably meant whether or not you had connections with the developer. With connections, you got 3000; without, 1500.

But whether 1500 or 3000, Yang Ce thought it far too little. Once high-end apartments went up here, a square meter would sell for at least ten to fifteen thousand. By comparison, this compensation was utterly negligible.

And the most critical thing was that people were given no choice at all—you couldn't refuse the money even if you wanted to.

"It is a bit low. By the estimate on this notice, Uncle Lin, you can get at most around a hundred thousand in compensation." Yang Yanzhou said, "And that's probably calculated at the minimum rate of 1500."

"Exactly. I was just saying the same thing to your Auntie Shen—the compensation is a bit too little. A hundred thousand won't even buy a small apartment in Songjiang." At this point Lin Changqing's face was full of worry.

"As for buying a place, Uncle Lin, you needn't worry about that." Yang Xutang smiled at once. "On the way here, Zhiyun and I already talked it over. She's made the company quite a bit of money lately, and I said I'd give her a bonus, but she said the company is her own and there's no need to draw such fine distinctions. Still, I believe in rewarding merit clearly, so in the end we agreed: we'll use that money to buy a place for the two of you."

"Ah, I never imagined it—that girl Zhiyun is quite capable. I thought she'd only make trouble for you over there, but it turns out she's made money!" Lin Changqing said with delight.

"No wonder Yun'er has been coming home so late lately," Shen Yueping said, laughing happily as well.

Lin Yanhe glanced at Yang Puqi in surprise, but in the end she never voiced the doubt in her heart. She knew that no matter what, Yang Ce would help her; and that he had put it this way only to make her parents feel better—to make them feel they were not receiving Yang Juehuan's charity, but rather enjoying the fruits of their daughter's hard work.

Once she understood this, Lin Yanhe felt deeply grateful for Yang Juehuan's thoughtfulness: he had preserved not only her face, but her parents' as well.

"That money—keep it for yourselves. We'll just rent a place, all right?" Shen Yueping, caught off guard at the notion of spending her daughter's money, felt a little uncomfortable.

"Auntie Shen, neither Zhiyun nor I are short of money. Besides, this is the first money Zhiyun has ever earned, and she wants to honor you with it—won't you give her that chance?" Yang Ce set about persuading her.

"All right, then we'll do it your way." A knowing smile spread across Shen Yueping's face. From now on, she could tell the neighbors with pride that her Yun'er was already earning money to buy them a house.

"Oh, right—I just got back from Macau today, and I bought something for everyone." Yang Ce suddenly remembered that Lin Yanhe's gift was still in the car, so he hurried out, went back to the vehicle, and brought out the presents he had carried back from Macau.

For Lin Changqing and Shen Yueping there were, naturally, local specialties from Macau; for Lin Yanhe, a cosmetics set and a bottle of perfume.

"I hardly ever use cosmetics." Lin Yanhe took them, a little embarrassed.

"Mm, you don't have to use them day to day. But you're the company's vice president now—if you attend anything important, it's fine to put some on." Yang Shuyu knew that Lin Yanhe usually went bare-faced; even when she did use cosmetics, it was only sunscreen, nothing else.

Lin Yanhe nodded after hearing this. Yang Yanzhou was right: her position was different from before. Inside the company, she was a senior executive, not a freshman.

Seeing that it was getting late, Yang Ce told Lin Yanhe to rest early and then left the Lin house. As for whether the relocation compensation for this area was unreasonable, Yang Ce did not concern himself with it for now. Another day he would have Bao Lin look into it—find out whose real estate company it was, put in a word, and just make sure Lin Yanhe's family got a compensation of around a million or so. As for other people's business, Yang Shuoxuan had no wish to meddle.

Driving away from Lin Yanhe's home, Yang Ce received a call from Zhang Bin.

"Boss, Wang Mei and I are at Heaven's Wonderland. Are you still coming over?" Zhang Bin asked.

"I have a home. Why the hell would I go to a hotel?" Yang Xutang snapped. "You think I'm like you, bringing a woman back and not daring to go home?"

"Heh heh." Zhang Bin gave a dry laugh. "As for my dad's side—I'll still need the boss to put in a word for me."