Chapter 123: A White Lie

Brothers, seeing the monthly votes for other new books rising rapidly, I can’t help but feel anxious! The novel "House Craft" won’t be available or open for monthly votes until July 5th, so I earnestly ask everyone to save your monthly votes for three days. When the time comes, I promise to work hard on updates to repay your support!

Although you can’t cast monthly votes now, you can still give recommendation votes. I hope everyone can use those to comfort me. Thank you!

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In fact, the three duplex two-bedroom units Zhang Wei found were all on relatively high floors. He had already ruled out two other units below the seventh floor. However, after Li Yun followed Wang Zhen from Tiantian Agency to view properties, she seemed to have taken an interest in Unit 1018 on the 10th floor.

Li Yun regarded Unit 1018 in Building 10 as her benchmark. If the houses Zhang Wei showed her were inferior to 1018, she wouldn’t bother viewing them with him. Only if the houses he found surpassed 1018 would she consider buying from him.

Therefore, Zhang Wei didn’t take her to see any of the eight-floor units. Instead, he brought her to view Unit 1112, which was on a higher floor and had a better orientation. This unit was personally found by Zhang Wei and was the best among the listings he had.

The owner had left the keys to the agency to rent out the property as soon as possible and allowed other agencies to show the house using the same key. However, for other agencies to borrow the key, they had to leave their ID cards, business cards, and work badges as collateral with the agency holding the key.

Before Wang Jianfa went to borrow the key, he had already collected the ID cards, business cards, and badges of Zhang Wei and Guo Bin. So, Wang Jianfa had borrowed keys from three agencies in advance. The four of them took the elevator directly to the eleventh floor to view the property without wasting time.

The layouts of the duplex two-bedroom apartments in Yayuan Community were quite similar; the main difference lay in their orientations. Unit 1112 faced southeast, arguably the best orientation for sunlight, and the house was very well maintained.

After Li Yun and Zhang Wenyuan entered Unit 1112, Li Yun examined the house much more carefully than before, scrutinizing every corner of the rooms. It was clear she was quite satisfied with this unit.

Li Yun took the spiral staircase up to the second floor, where there was a room on the east side and another on the south side. The east-side room was the master bedroom. She entered it and stood by the east window, gazing outside for a moment, her brows slightly furrowing.

“Zhang Wei, how much is this house being sold for?” Li Yun asked, resting her right hand on the windowsill and turning to look at him.

“This one is 113 square meters. The owner’s asking price is 3.2 million yuan,” Zhang Wei replied.

Hearing the price, Li Yun compared this house with the one she had seen before. She thought, “Yesterday, Wang Zhen took me to see Unit 1018. It’s 112 square meters and also priced at 3.2 million, but 1018 faces southwest, which is quieter than this one.”

Zhang Wei was already reading her thoughts when she asked. He perfectly understood the meaning behind her words. The east side of the 10th floor faced the busy road, while the west side faced the community. Generally, southwest-facing units were quieter than southeast-facing ones.

“Li Jie, what do you think of this house?” Zhang Wei probed.

“Other than the noise from the road on the east side, it’s fine,” Li Yun shook her head and asked, “Are there any other houses we can see?”

“Oh, if you think the noise from the road is a problem, our company has another listing that faces the community and is on a higher floor than this one. The price is about the same,” Zhang Wei said.

“That sounds good. Let’s go see that one,” Li Yun looked up with interest.

“That house can’t be viewed today. The owner is on a business trip out of town and hasn’t left the keys with us. We’ll have to wait until the owner returns,” Zhang Wei sighed, looking regretful.

The house Zhang Wei mentioned was actually fabricated to pique the client’s interest. He didn’t want Li Yun to turn to other agencies just because the houses he found didn’t suit her. This was a common, well-intentioned lie agents used to keep clients engaged and maintain contact.

“When will the owner be back? Can we see the house tomorrow?” Li Yun pressed.

“I’m not sure. The owner told me yesterday he’d be back in two or three days. I think it won’t be long. I’ll urge the owner to come back soon in the next couple of days,” Zhang Wei replied.

“I specifically took a few days off to look at houses because I want to finalize one as soon as possible. There’s no time to wait so long,” Li Yun said, displeased.

“Li Jie, buying a house is a big deal. You shouldn’t rush it; it’s better to see more. I promise I’ll arrange a viewing as soon as the owner returns,” Zhang Wei said with a smile.

After Zhang Wei finished speaking, he saw Li Yun purse her lips but say nothing, sensing her dissatisfaction. He turned to Zhang Wenyuan and asked, “Captain Zhang, what do you think?”

“Hm, Zhang Wei makes a good point. Buying a house isn’t a trivial matter. Xiao Yun, why don’t we wait a couple more days?” Zhang Wenyuan suggested.

“If we wait two more days, you’ll already be back in Baocheng City. When would we have time to look then? We’re planning to get married by the end of the year. After marriage, we can’t live with both our parents,” Li Yun shot Zhang Wenyuan a glare and gave his leg a little kick.

“I’m going back to Baocheng City, but aren’t you still in Beijing? You can decide about the house,” Zhang Wenyuan said nonchalantly.

“What do you mean by that? Is getting married only my business? You’re acting like a bystander,” Li Yun scolded him playfully.

“That’s not what I meant. I’m just respecting your wishes. Besides, I’m busy with work,” Zhang Wenyuan soothed.

“Busy, busy, busy! You’re the only one busy. I don’t even have a job!” Li Yun was even more annoyed when Zhang Wenyuan mentioned work. “What’s so great about being a lousy cop?”

“Enough, stop arguing. We’ll talk about this later,” Zhang Wenyuan’s expression darkened, clearly irritated and unwilling to continue the quarrel.

“Hmph. You get mad at me just because you can’t solve cases,” Li Yun muttered quietly, not wanting to embarrass him in front of others.

“Li Jie, don’t worry. I’ll talk to the owner as soon as I get back to the office and try to get him back from out of town quickly. I promise you’ll see the house soon,” Zhang Wei said sincerely.

“All right, let’s leave it at that for now. We’ll head back and wait for you to contact me when the house is ready to be viewed,” Li Yun said after hearing Zhang Wei’s firm assurance. The four of them immediately left the house.

Zhang Wei saw Li Yun and Zhang Wenyuan onto their car and watched it leave the community before departing. On the way back, he coincidentally ran into Wang Jianfa returning the keys. He stretched out his right hand and greeted him, “Thanks for your hard work. Lunch is on me today.”

“Of course!” Wang Jianfa chuckled, pulling out an ID card and a work badge from his pocket and handing them to Zhang Wei. “Here are your ID and badge.”

“Hmm, you’re quick. You returned all three keys at once,” Zhang Wei said.

“Practice makes perfect. If I can’t even borrow keys better than others, I might as well quit being an agent these past few months,” Wang Jianfa joked, then suddenly remembered something and asked, “That house you mentioned earlier, how come I didn’t know about it? Did you just find it last night?”

“Where else would I find it? Just made it up,” Zhang Wei shrugged.

“You’re deceiving clients again,” Wang Jianfa said disdainfully.

“That’s not deception, just a well-meaning lie. There’s no suitable listing now, but maybe tomorrow or the day after,” Zhang Wei retorted.

“Hey, didn’t you tell me this client also saw houses with Wang Zhen from Tiantian Agency? Be careful this time. Don’t let him steal your client again,” Wang Jianfa warned.

“Don’t worry! If I can’t close this deal, he won’t either!” Zhang Wei sneered, a sly glint flashing in his eyes.

Although Li Yun currently favored the 1018 unit Wang Zhen showed her, Zhang Wei, knowing about the property, wouldn’t let Wang Zhen easily sell it to her. Sabotaging that outcome wouldn’t be difficult for him.