The next morning.

Su Yehao, who had enjoyed a little wine last night, felt a bit unwell in his stomach. He went out and had a bowl of soy milk, along with a steamer of small steamed buns for breakfast.

It was just after seven in the morning, and the temperature was pleasantly comfortable.

At this time, people were heading to work, and bicycles passed by one after another.

Due to the motorcycle ban and the inconvenience of driving, people living in the hutongs mainly relied on bicycles for transportation. Some also walked to the bus stop and then took the bus.

After leaving the breakfast shop.

Nong Qingying, holding onto Su Yehao's arm, quietly asked, "What were those two old men sitting behind us arguing about?"

"Discussing whether the old city renovation is worthwhile. One suggested directly expanding the outer ring to build a new city, preserving the old hutongs, and avoiding the mistake of demolishing the city walls again. The other was saying that the old houses aren't comfortable to live in, and it's troublesome to go to the toilet in the middle of the night."

Su Yehao lowered his voice and said with emotion, "The people who can live in this place are indeed not ordinary people. I underestimated these neighbors..."

Nong Qingying grew up in Hong Kong and wasn't interested in these things.

At this moment, she smelled a floral fragrance. She looked around and was surprised to find a very sturdy rose bush planted in front of a house in the alley. It had already become a tree, and the roses all over the tree were particularly eye-catching in the sunlight.

She led Su Yehao closer to take a look, and it was indeed very beautiful.

An old auntie was sitting at the door eating. After seeing them, she said with a smile, "This rose bush is quite old. It was planted in 1968. Beautiful, isn't it?"

"It's really beautiful. I've never seen such a big one before."

"Yes, but it attracts bees. Every two or three years, someone in the yard gets stung." The old auntie held a bowl of white porridge and a duck egg, looking quite health-conscious.

Nong Qingying's Mandarin was too poor, so she directly said to Su Yehao, "It would be perfect to plant in your yard. Ask her if she'll sell it?"

Su Yehao looked at the rose bush again, thinking it wouldn't hurt to ask. So he smiled and asked, "Auntie, are you selling this flower? My house is nearby, only three or four hundred meters away, and the garden is missing a bit of scenery."

"...Sell...whether or not to sell...I have to ask the neighbors. Four families live in the yard, so I can't say it's mine. You tell me first, how much are you willing to offer?"

The old auntie's attitude immediately became more serious when she heard that he wanted to buy it.

Su Yehao touched his chin and considered for a moment before quoting a price: "Mainly because my girlfriend and I like it, how about twenty thousand? It looks quite rare, so that price shouldn't be low."

He actually knew nothing about the market price.

These old roses are relatively hard to find, but he figured he could probably find one if he put his mind to it. However, since he happened to see this one today, he didn't want to bother too much if he could get it for a little money.

While staying in Siheyuan City these few days, he might even be able to transplant it directly back to his own courtyard.

The old auntie was immediately a little tempted. She continued to hold her bowl, looking at the flower, then at Su Yehao and Nong Qingying. Although the roses were beautiful when they bloomed, twenty thousand was a lot of money. Even if the four families split it, they could each get five thousand, which was equivalent to half a year's salary for her son.

Leaving the sentence "You wait a moment," the old auntie turned around and walked into the yard, shouting for her neighbors to discuss it together.

No matter how beautiful, roses are still just roses.

A middle-aged man surnamed Yao, who was called "Section Chief Yao," didn't know where he worked. He wasn't in a hurry to go to work and took the lead in negotiating with Su Yehao.

Knowing that things like this were easy to fall through when everyone discussed them, Su Yehao waited patiently for a moment. He happened to receive a call from an appraiser at Christie's auction house in Hong Kong, and he took the opportunity to interject:

"Everyone, I also live nearby. I saw this flower growing beautifully when I went out for breakfast, so I casually mentioned that I wanted to buy it. I have things to do later, and I'm not sure how long I'll be staying in Siheyuan City. I might be leaving for America the day after tomorrow. Should I sell it or not? Can you give me a definite answer now? If not, forget it, so as not to embarrass you."

The middle-aged man surnamed Yao immediately spoke in a local accent, raising his hand and saying, "Wait, wait! This young man, don't be anxious. Looking at you, you don't seem like a peddler of flowers, birds, fish, and insects. You bought a courtyard and are renovating it, a newcomer who just moved here?"

"That's right, I'm really not a peddler. I came from Casino to discuss business and bought a house on the north bank of Houhai Lake. Unless you meet someone like me who likes flowers, I'm afraid you won't be able to sell it for such a high price."

Early in the morning, the expert he had invited had just arrived at Hong Kong International Airport and wouldn't arrive until noon.

Su Yehao had nothing to do and wasn't in a hurry, so he patiently chatted with the people in this small courtyard about the sale, just like the gourd he had bought yesterday. It didn't matter if he had bought it too expensively. What mattered most was that he had come across something he liked.

Perhaps the offer of twenty thousand was too straightforward, and since it was near the Prince Chun Mansion, a wealthy area, it made the people in the small courtyard feel that there was an opportunity to take advantage of him. An auntie who looked very ordinary came over and said, "The roses in our courtyard are already over forty years old. Twenty thousand yuan is probably not enough. It should be at least thirty thousand."

Another middle-aged man immediately waved his hand and said, "What thirty thousand? How can four families split that? Thirty-six thousand, not a penny less!"

Su Yehao was speechless.

The roses were beautiful, but this person was being unreasonable.

He immediately waved his hand, smiled cheerfully, and said, "Then forget it, I can't afford it. I'm leaving."

He hadn't cared whether he bought it or not in the first place, and suddenly lost interest. Su Yehao left as soon as he said he would.

He chatted with Nong Qingying on the way, not taking the flower purchase to heart. That's just how business is: if you can make a deal, you make a deal, and if the price isn't right, you forget about it.

He was quite calm.

The people in this co-living courtyard began to lose their composure.

For a long while after Su Yehao left, they were still discussing the old roses that they hadn't paid much attention to before. Some people thought they must be a treasure, and there would be no shortage of buyers. They immediately went to the flower and bird market to ask the flower sellers for the price.

Others were regretting that the couple had asked for an exorbitant price. For example, the old auntie who had been drinking porridge earlier was thinking about the five thousand yuan that had almost been in her hands, muttering about how people are never satisfied, and it's not like it's a hundred-year-old tree. How much could it be worth, anyway?

Su Yehao returned to the courtyard and, together with Chu Jun who had come to find him, first went to the Forbidden City to see the expert. He also planned to take another trip to Liulichang to pick out a few more rare trinkets.

Some business is just business, while other business can be treated as a hobby. A little after ten o'clock, Su Yehao received a call from his father. Su's father was also very interested in antiques, and they agreed to meet at Liulichang to stroll around together.

At the same time.

The couple who had shouted "Thirty thousand" and "Thirty-six thousand" had closed their grocery store for the day and gone to the nearby flower and bird market to find a flower shop owner.

After the other party saw the old roses, he only said that they were worth at most two or three thousand yuan. They weren't commonly seen in Siheyuan City, and there were more in the south.

As soon as this news came out, the people in the small courtyard immediately lost their composure and started arguing that day at noon.

The small Section Chief Yao surnamed Yao sighed for a long time and didn't even eat lunch. He took the initiative to run to the north bank of Houhai Lake to find Su Yehao and say that they agreed to sell it...