Chapter 127: The Asset in Hand, a Solid Foundation

“It’s just a small matter. Do you have any cash on hand? Transfer me some for temporary use. I’ll return it in a couple of days.” Zhang Yang did not put on any melodramatic bankruptcy act. He was straightforward and gave no explanation.

“Sure, brother-in-law. I have three hundred thousand right now. I’ll lend it to you first to help you out,” Bei Jiajia replied readily without asking anything.

“Alright, I’ll send you the account.” Zhang Yang thanked her and gave her the account information.

In the middle of the afternoon, one payment after another arrived.

The huge cashback from the system also came in one by one. Adding in the cash he already had, he was now sitting on a full 270 million in cash.

That feeling was undoubtedly wonderful.

Aside from Pei Xiaoru misunderstanding that his business was in trouble-which he did not bother correcting-he had not even given the other women any reason at all.

He simply asked to borrow money, and they lent it directly.

The reason, most likely, was that the image he had built was just too convincing. When he asked to borrow money, others even seemed to think it was some sort of test.

In reality, Zhang Yang had no interest in pretending to be bankrupt just to test people’s hearts.

What, was he that idle?

The only thing he cared about was the 270 million lying in his account.

“At last, I can go exchange for the asset.” Zhang Yang smiled, immersed his mind into the system, and immediately chose to exchange for the seventeen-story office tower with forty thousand square meters of commercial space.

Its value was 1.6 billion, and the actual sale price was 1.4 billion.

Using the 10% asset exchange coupon, Zhang Yang’s actual expense would be 140 million, leaving him with 130 million still on hand.

For the first time, he truly had over a hundred million in cash on him.

His sense of security was overflowing.

“I’ve used 250 million of the quota now. There’s still 50 million left to squeeze out.” Zhang Yang calculated it and could not help blushing slightly as he thought again of the remaining several hundred thousand that Pei Xiaoru had promised him.

You could not blame him for being greedy. If several hundred thousand came over and was multiplied one hundred times by the system, that would be tens of millions.

For him now, that was absolutely still a very large sum.

Ding.

Congratulations, host. You have successfully exchanged for Prosperity Plaza.

The related property documents are currently being processed. Please wait patiently.

“Alright, then I’ll wait.” Zhang Yang felt relaxed.

It was now only a matter of time before this office tower, worth 1.6 billion and carrying forty thousand square meters of commercial space, became his.

Looking up at the cloudless sky, Zhang Yang suddenly felt completely clear-headed.

On the other side, just after Bei Jiajia transferred the money to Zhang Yang, a handsome young man beside her looked very surprised.

“Jiajia, who is this? You just transferred several hundred thousand like that?”

Bei Jiajia looked up at the handsome young man in front of her and did not really want to respond.

His name was Xue Fei, a local from Shanghai. His family also had a small company, and his family background was quite solid. Ever since she had accompanied her father to meet a client last time, this guy had been pursuing her very persistently.

“It’s my brother-in-law. Seriously, why do you care who I transfer money to?” Bei Jiajia said with obvious dislike.

Perhaps because she had Zhang Yang as a point of comparison, this rather outstanding young man in front of her really seemed just average in her eyes, unsatisfactory in every way.

There was no need to even mention his looks. He was not fit to carry Zhang Yang’s shoes.

As for wealth…

In Bei Jiajia’s view, compared with her brother-in-law, he was simply not even on the same level.

“Wait… you mean that brother-in-law you always mention? The one living in COFCO Haijing No. 1 and buying your sister an apartment in Cuihu Tiandi? Seriously?” Xue Fei blinked, sounding a little amused.

“Yes. Got a problem with that?” Bei Jiajia frowned, displeased.

“No, I don’t mean anything else. I just feel that if your brother-in-law is really that amazing, he shouldn’t need to borrow this little amount from you, right?” Xue Fei shook his head.

“Even though I only get monthly spending money from my family, I’m not short of that little bit either.”

“Who doesn’t run into sudden situations? Why are you so annoying?” Bei Jiajia got angry and turned to leave.

“Hey, hey, don’t go. I was just asking casually. Don’t get upset.” Xue Fei quickly chased after her, apologizing and explaining until he barely managed to calm her down.

“Xue Fei, let me warn you. Say whatever you want about anyone else, but don’t say anything about my brother-in-law. Compared to him, you’re not even fit to carry his shoes,” Bei Jiajia snorted lightly.

“Alright, alright, you’re right.” Xue Fei gave in verbally, but inwardly he was as unconvinced as could be.

It was not just today.

Ever since meeting Bei Jiajia, she would bring up her brother-in-law all the time. In her mouth, her brother-in-law was practically unreal, like a character from a novel.

Super handsome, living in Zhongliang, driving luxury cars, spending tens of millions to buy a house for her sister, and so on.

Compared with her brother-in-law, Xue Fei seemed like some country bumpkin from nowhere.

And now what? Today he saw that the guy even needed to borrow several hundred thousand from someone.

“Come on, Jiajia, I’ll treat you to dessert. There’s a good dessert shop nearby.” Xue Fei put a smile back on his face and moved closer to Bei Jiajia.

“Fine.” Bei Jiajia stepped a bit farther away and answered.

A little after two in the afternoon, Zhang Yang took a short nap in the apartment at COFCO Haijing No. 1, until he heard the pleasant system notification sound in his mind.

“Congratulations, host. All property documents related to Prosperity Plaza have been completed. Please collect them.”

“Collect.” Zhang Yang answered without hesitation.

A moment later, he found his folder in the drawer of the coffee table in front of him.

Inside the folder were all the ownership documents for Prosperity Plaza, with him, Zhang Yang, listed as the sole owner on every one of them. In other words, Zhang Yang had now officially become the one and only owner of the Prosperity Plaza office building.

“Wonderful.” Zhang Yang slapped his thigh in delight.

Before, saying that he had a penthouse in Shanghai, with a house and a car, could count as being fairly well-off and having a bit of foundation. But now, with an asset worth over a billion in Shanghai under his name, this truly counted as having deep foundations in the real sense.

At last, he was no longer rootless driftweed with nothing but appearances.

Even if he entered certain circles, simply saying that he owned an entire office tower in Shanghai’s Zhonghuan area, plus forty thousand square meters of commercial space, would be enough to earn him plenty of respect.

As usual, the first thing was to inspect the property.

He did not want to spring a surprise attack on people without giving them any mental preparation, so he made a call ahead of time to notify them first.

When the call connected, the property manager’s voice on the other end was warm and enthusiastic, his attitude respectful but not servile.

After a few exchanges, Zhang Yang indicated that he wanted to come take a look.

“Mr. Zhang, welcome to inspect the property. Would you like us to arrange a meeting this evening?” Manager Zhou from property management asked.

“That won’t be necessary. I just want to take a casual look around. You can introduce things to me as we go,” Zhang Yang said.

He also had no intention of starting to lay down the law on the first day as the new owner.

If everything was operating well and steadily, he would not mind being a hands-off landlord who simply owned the asset and collected rent.

After ending the call, he changed into a formal outfit worth several hundred thousand, put on his Audemars Piguet worth nearly two million, picked up the Cullinan keys, and prepared to head out.

This outfit did not lose face, but compared to his current net worth, it was still understated enough.

A little later, the Cullinan left the underground garage of COFCO Haijing No. 1 and headed straight for his first truly substantial asset in Shanghai.

Near Zhonghuan, up on the elevated road, Zhang Yang was driving when he saw his property through the window from a distance.

A standalone tower over eighty meters (~262 ft) tall, with a full glass curtain-wall exterior.

Under the sunlight, the Prosperity Plaza logo hanging on the facade was very eye-catching.

Although it could not compare with Shanghai’s countless soaring skyscrapers worth several billions or even over ten billion, around this area it still counted as a rather noticeable local landmark.

More importantly, it was a property that belonged solely to Zhang Yang.

Downstairs at Prosperity Plaza, just after Zhang Yang stepped out of the Cullinan, Manager Zhou in a suit, along with a group of property staff, were already there waiting to greet him.

“Hello, Mr. Zhang.” Manager Zhou walked up with a full smile.

“Manager Zhou, right? Hello, everyone.” Zhang Yang nodded pleasantly, casually looking over the property team.

They were all in uniform, energetic young men and women, and not far away stood security guards with straight backs and raised chins, all quite young.

Just like this brand-new, extremely stylish office building itself, everything about them carried an energetic, flourishing feeling.

Together with Zhang Yang himself, the twenty-five-year-old owner of Prosperity Plaza, it really did seem that from top to bottom, the average age here was very young.

A moment later, Zhang Yang walked ahead while Manager Zhou accompanied him from the side.

The group moved in an impressive procession toward the building.

Zhang Yang walked and paused from time to time, listening as Manager Zhou introduced various details about the building.

For example, the office tower’s nearly thirty thousand square meters (~322,917 sq ft) of floor area, the nearly two thousand square meters (~21,528 sq ft) per standard floor, the ceiling height of over four meters (~13 ft), and the twelve-meter (~39 ft) high grand lobby.

There was also the configuration of four passenger elevators and one fire-service elevator.

Standing in front of the company directory map in the lobby and looking at the dozens of companies of all sizes listed on it, Zhang Yang felt quite emotional.

Inside this seventeen-story office tower, from big companies occupying entire floors to the smallest partitioned offices of just over a hundred square meters…

All of them were now his tenants.

“Manager Zhou, just accompany me around. The others should get back to work. There’s no need for everyone to keep following me,” Zhang Yang said, looking at the large group of property staff behind him.

Having such a large group of people in suits following him was far too conspicuous. It made him look like some important figure.

He naturally did not count as any important figure.

He was merely the owner of this office tower, that was all.

A little later, inside the elevator, only Manager Zhou remained accompanying Zhang Yang.

It had not even been two years since Prosperity Plaza was completed, companies moved in, and operations officially began, so everything still looked very new and stylishly designed.

As they stepped out of the elevator and walked through the corridors on each floor,

Zhang Yang looked through the glass partitions at the bright, spotless offices with their huge floor-to-ceiling windows. He also looked at the white-collar workers leisurely working by those windows with coffee in hand.

And all of this was his property, all of it taking place inside this office tower that belonged to him.

The feeling was truly quite different.

He even mischievously thought that if he ever got terribly bored, he could simply find a random job in one of the companies in the building and work inside his own tower.

That would be a rather special experience, wouldn’t it?

Naturally, with seventeen floors, there was no way he was going to inspect every single one.

However, whether the property management was good or not could basically be judged after looking around a few floors. Zhang Yang examined it with almost a harsh eye, yet he could not find any faults.

The property management was truly doing an excellent job.

A moment later, inside the property management office.

Zhang Yang sat unceremoniously in the boss’s chair by the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside the window were the Zhonghuan elevated road, the distant skyline of Shanghai, and even the faint outline of the Lujiazui trio.

“Mr. Zhang, the office occupancy rate of the building is currently one hundred percent. Last quarter’s actual rent collected was 12.39 million. On the commercial side, the shop occupancy rate has reached over ninety percent, and last quarter’s actual rent collected was 9.28 million,” Manager Zhou reported from the side.

While listening, Zhang Yang calculated silently in his mind.

Office space plus commercial space could bring him around twenty to twenty-two million in rental income each quarter. Over a full year, that meant a stable income of nearly ninety million.

That was enough.

Adding in the more than fifty million he received annually from his own cashback, as well as the more than ten million in annual income from the Starlight Plaza back in Yinghai.

By that calculation, he was at least a genuine wealthy man earning over one hundred and sixty million a year.

Not the kind of so-called billionaire whose wealth existed only on paper, but someone with real income and substantial value behind it.

“This is truly… wonderful,” he sighed inwardly.

Sitting in the office of the building that belonged to him, gazing out toward the Shanghai skyline, Zhang Yang suddenly felt a sense of standing high above and looking far into the distance, his mind becoming broad and open in an instant.

Of course, he knew there were always higher mountains beyond.

But he had once been just one of the countless ordinary workers in Shanghai. The transformation he had experienced was nothing short of earth-shaking-calling it a meteoric rise would not be an exaggeration.

Anyone would feel a bit inflated in such a situation, but Zhang Yang felt he had actually controlled himself quite well.

Nearby, Manager Zhou looked at this young boss in his twenties who already owned an entire office building and earned eighty to ninety million a year from rent alone.

Looking at his tall figure, handsome face, and calm demeanor, a dignified aura naturally radiated from him.

“This bearing truly is extraordinary. It commands respect,” Manager Zhou sighed inwardly.

Zhang Yang savored the grand feeling in his heart as though standing atop Mount Tai and looking down upon the world. Taking a slow breath, he stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window to look into the distance.

All the while, his expression remained calm on the surface as he quietly tried to steady the turbulent emotions within him.

After quite some time, he turned around and looked at Manager Zhou, who had been waiting nearby.

“You can go handle your work. I’ll take a look around myself. I’ll call you if I need anything,” Zhang Yang said casually.

“Understood, Mr. Zhang. I’ll wait for your instructions.” Manager Zhou immediately responded and left the office first.

Zhang Yang sat in the office for a while, then stood up and strolled through the building.

By now, almost all the property management staff already knew his identity. Everywhere he went, he was greeted countless times.

Especially several of the young female employees in the property team. They were quite bold and even found excuses to approach him.

Some brought him coffee, others brought handmade chocolate.

He naturally understood just how strong his appeal was in the eyes of those girls.

After all, there was no need to even mention his looks. Zhang Yang knew very well that his physique and appearance were now almost overwhelmingly superior.

As for wealth, no one understood it better than these property employees.

Just the annual rent income of eighty to ninety million was enough to make them rush toward him like moths flying into a flame.