Chapter 20: An Estate! Another Upgrade!

Chapter 20: An Estate! Another Upgrade!

What can one million yuan do?

For Qin Lin, it was enough to clear his family’s debts, make a down payment on a house, and bring Zhao Moqing home.

Of course, for someone with grand ambitions, the same one million would be seen as seed money for something much bigger—plans already forming in their mind, aiming for a modest profit of a hundred million next.

But Qin Lin, lacking such lofty goals and without a fixed target, chose to remain debt-free and prove to Zhao Moqing that she hadn’t misjudged him.

After receiving a transfer of 650,000 yuan, Qin Lin promptly sent a 13,000-yuan commission to Lin Sheng.

He had earned a good sum and didn’t want the middleman to wait too long; a smooth transaction was the foundation for future cooperation.

Who knew when that little dwarf Ani in the game would challenge him to another fishing contest and gift him a fish again? Then he wouldn't even need Lin Sheng.

Lin Sheng, noticing it was Qin Lin’s first sale of ornamental fish, smiled as he reminded him, “Mr. Qin, remember to declare and pay taxes within a month. Although there’s no specific tax item for ornamental fish trading, it’s currently classified under special agricultural product tax categories.”

“Someone once sold an ornamental fish worth 500,000 yuan without declaring it, got reported soon after, and not only faced double fines but also spent some time enjoying ‘free meals’ at the authorities’ expense.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Boss Lin!” Qin Lin nodded gratefully.

He would never forget to pay taxes; he feared being investigated and having his secrets exposed even more.

After parting ways with Lin Sheng, Qin Lin logged into the tax bureau’s website from his shop on Market Street and filed the online tax report for the transaction.

Although ornamental fish fell under agricultural products, the transaction was considered a special value-added trade with a 9% tax rate and 3% VAT. Selling 650,000 yuan worth meant he owed 78,000 yuan in tax.

After declaring and paying the tax online, his millionaire status dropped slightly, leaving only 953,000 yuan in his account.

By evening, the strawberries and okra had ripened. Qin Lin harvested them promptly, sowed new seeds, and sent the ripe strawberries to Darunfa, earning another 42,390 yuan.

Additionally, he gave ten pounds of grade-two okra to Manager Chen, priced at 400 yuan per pound. Chen happily paid 4,000 yuan and reminded him to send all future produce his way.

Today’s total income was 46,390 yuan, pushing his bank balance back over one million yuan.

Millionaire status: +1 again.

That night.

After dinner, Qin Lin took a shower, carefully selected his outfit, styled his hair, and went to pick up Zhao Moqing from work.

When he arrived at the tax bureau, the overtime workers were leaving one by one. Among them was Chen Hao, whom Qin Lin recognized. Chen Hao, expressionless, headed straight to his Audi, clearly not wanting to see this sort of “wolf in sheep’s clothing” right now.

“Qin Lin!” Zhao Moqing called out, holding some documents, accompanied by Li Jiahui. She saw Qin Lin and happily jogged over, then sat on the back seat of his small electric scooter.

Li Jiahui watched enviously, thinking how romantic it was. Which woman wouldn’t want a husband who picked her up from work on an electric scooter?

Qin Lin started the scooter and headed to the hotel. After getting the room key and going upstairs, he shook the card in hand and said, “I booked the best room in this hotel today. I heard the bathtub inside is amazing…”

“You’re crazy! We’re in the hallway!” Zhao Moqing scolded, poking Qin Lin sharply in the waist with her slender, fair fingers.

Qin Lin grinned triumphantly as he swiped the room card to open the door.

“I’m going to shower first!” Zhao Moqing dropped her bag and documents and dashed to the bathroom.

Qin Lin, not one to be clueless, happily followed along.

...

An hour later.

Qin Lin saw Zhao Moqing wrapped in a towel, sorting through the documents she had brought. He asked, “Moqing, what’s so important about these documents that you have to bring them home after work?”

Zhao Moqing explained, “Remember the township state-owned enterprise that ran into trouble? It was serious, some people went to jail, but some money couldn’t be recovered, so their assets have to be seized and auctioned by the court.”

“Today’s overtime was for this. My uncle-in-law asked me to verify these documents and then submit them to the court for the auction registration tomorrow.”

Qin Lin nodded. Zhao Moqing’s uncle-in-law was a section chief at the bureau; this was clearly a favor to her, a chance to earn some small merit.

He had heard about the township enterprise scandal, which spread widely in the city’s social circles. Corruption was the hot topic everyone cared about.

Curious, Qin Lin glanced over the documents Zhao Moqing was reviewing; they mostly listed cars, houses, stocks under various names. One auction item caught his eye.

It was a rural inn called Fuhai Mountain Villa. The property was sizable—about 500 acres—including a fish pond and rights to a reservoir near the estate.

However, most of the land was unused, just wasteland...

Moreover, in a small place like Youcheng County, and being a court auction, the starting price for the lease and property transfer wasn’t expensive—only 600,000 yuan.

The final price would depend on the bidders.

“Moqing, is Fuhai Mountain Villa really up for auction? Won’t there be follow-up issues?” Qin Lin asked instinctively, his interest piqued.

After all, he majored in tourism management in college. Just looking at the documents made him think Fuhai Mountain Villa could tie in with his mind’s version of the “Shepherd’s Ranch” game. Surely, he couldn’t keep selling watermelons, strawberries, and okra at Darunfa forever?

With the system guaranteeing income, and not being a narrow-minded person, he was willing to delay repaying debts and buying a house for now. Good opportunities didn’t wait.

If any creditor really needed repayment, he could handle it then; after all, social debts lasted a lifetime, not just a few days.

However, court auctions usually came with many aftereffects—such as family members of the original owners causing trouble, or potential debt risks.

Zhao Moqing reassured him, “There might be issues with one car and one house, but anyone brave enough to bid on those probably knows how to handle them.”

“As for Fuhai Mountain Villa, there are no problems. I’ve been there. The environment is quite good, but the white-gloves just indulged themselves with free food and drink and didn’t manage it well.”

Hearing this, Qin Lin relaxed.

...

The next morning, Qin Lin checked out with Zhao Moqing. He dropped her off to change clothes and then took her to work.

Within a day, Qin Lin saw the judicial auction website publish the auction items, including Fuhai Mountain Villa. The starting price remained 600,000 yuan, but a new clause was added: the lease contract could be renewed to the maximum term, with rent frozen during the extension period, plus a right of first refusal.

The land belonged to the government, so at the lease’s end, one had to renegotiate; however, with equal price, the holder had priority.

Still, these perks weren’t very attractive. After all, it was a small-town estate, and whether it could be run well was uncertain. Failure meant losing everything with no gain.

The real question was whether there would be competition. If someone with vision liked it, the price would surely exceed 600,000 yuan—perhaps even over a million.

He was not the only one with insight.

Regardless, Qin Lin decisively filled out the application and registered for the auction scheduled a week later.

...

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

In that week, cultivating strawberries and okra brought Qin Lin over 270,000 yuan in income, pushing his funds to more than 1.28 million yuan.

Early that morning, he received the judicial auction notice: the auction would start at 2 p.m., and he needed to pay a 10% deposit of the starting price to qualify.

Qin Lin promptly paid 60,000 yuan and then turned to the game screen to harvest the ripe strawberries and okra before planting new seeds.

This time, as soon as the seeds were planted, the game prompted him.

His game character had leveled up again, unlocking the ability to develop new land and upgrade a level-three plot.

(End of chapter)