Chapter 72

Xiao Qi didn't like to trouble others.

Moreover, although Guan Jingzhi was her student, she felt that she hadn't really taught her anything.

It was a feeling of being unworthy as a teacher when you had such an excellent student.

But Liang Jiajia was an incredibly enthusiastic girl, and since it was about helping Xiao Qi, whom she admired as her teacher, she couldn't refuse.

After a while, Guan Jingzhi took the initiative to send a WeChat message to Xiao Qi.

"Xiao Qi, Jiajia said you want to learn Japanese? I'm learning it too. If you're interested, let's meet at the entrance of the Cultural Palace tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. You can come with me to attend a trial class."

Faced with such a thoughtful student, Xiao Qi could only say, "Okay."

Feeling a bit too serious, she said, "Thank you," and sent an emoji.

Then she told Lin Min and got up to practice calligraphy for a while.

She hadn't practiced calligraphy much these past couple of days.

She freshened up a bit. The basement room was actually quite comfortable in the afternoon, cool inside while hot outside, and opening the window made it well-ventilated.

The flowers in the pottery jar on the desk had been replaced with fragrant lilies, blooming beautifully.

Xiao Qi adjusted her posture, sat upright, and earnestly began copying the character exercises.

Practicing calligraphy was a tedious task, but at the same time, it was a particularly calming activity.

Exercise broadened her mind, while calligraphy brought her emotions to a state of tranquility, with more room for reflection.

Attending weddings, participating in competitions, made Xiao Qi's mood fluctuate.

She was only seventeen years old and had experienced very little. Almost every experience was like trying something for the first time.

And she couldn't always adjust her mood well.

For example, when she heard the announcement of sixth place, there was a feeling of, "Wow, sixth place." It wasn't clear whether it was regret or joy, actually not that calm.

She had been writing for half an hour.

When she heard the alarm clock, she got up and walked around.

She felt that her calligraphy had improved, but when she went to a wedding yesterday, she found that she could practice some brush calligraphy. There seemed to be occasions for writing with a brush, and the brush was softer, which made her feel that practicing calligraphy with a brush would actually lead to greater improvement because each character required more attention.

She sat down again and wrote for another half an hour before tidying up and leaving.

There was a real estate agency near the entrance, and she wanted to go take a look.

In the evening, the office of the real estate agency was buzzing with the sound of fans. There was a middle-aged man sitting there dozing off.

There were many housing listings posted on the glass door. Xiao Qi took a quick look and saw a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment, 60 square meters, priced at 8,000 per square meter, totaling 480,000.

Luxury river-view apartment, three bedrooms, one living room, priced at 1.5 million, move-in ready.

Urgent sale by owner, near a high school district, 30 square meters, priced at 280,000 fixed.

After scanning through them, she suddenly realized that several hundred thousand yuan was a lot of money for her, but there weren't any suitable options among the advertisements at the entrance.

She hesitated for a moment but still walked in.

The middle-aged man heard the sound and thought a customer had come, so he opened his eyes and sat up, only to find that it was a young girl who looked particularly young.

"What can I do for you? Who are you looking for?" he asked.

"Hello, I'd like to inquire about buying a house," Xiao Qi tried to make herself less nervous, but to be honest, she was still a little nervous.

"Please have a seat. What can I help you with?" The man didn't expect that she was here to inquire about houses. Although she seemed young, the young girl had a serious demeanor, giving off the impression of a potential customer. A warm smile appeared on his face.

"Well, I'm only seventeen this year, and I wanted to ask if I can buy a house."

"At seventeen, you can purchase a house in full payment, but if you need a loan, you have to be at least eighteen and have a job. What kind of house are you looking to buy?"

"I want to buy a small house near Yi Zhong School, even if it's a bit old. However, I only have around two hundred thousand yuan." Xiao Qi estimated the amount and mentioned it roughly, considering that it might take several days to look at houses, and by then, her funds might increase.

"The area near Yi Zhong School is considered a school district, so the prices will be higher. Let me check." The middle-aged man picked up a notebook, flipped through it, and then frowned as he looked at the computer for a while.

"Here's the deal. Leave me your phone number, and I'll search for options in the next few days. If there are suitable properties that meet your requirements, I'll call you to arrange a house viewing. The agency fee is 1.5%, as you probably know."

Xiao Qi didn't fully understand and asked what the 1.5% meant. The other person patiently explained that it referred to 1.5% of the house price as the agency fee, which covers the cost of the agency assisting her in purchasing the house and completing the transaction.

Xiao Qi nodded, still a little confused, especially about completing the transaction. She initially thought that giving money and signing a contract would make the house hers. In this way, her parents wouldn't find out, but she decided to go back and research it thoroughly.

As she left the real estate agency, she felt a little overwhelmed, but overall, she felt fine. She never expected that one day she would dare to ask about the price of a house... Her confidence was indeed growing.

She decided not to continue asking the agency for now because she felt like she didn't understand anything and could easily be misled. She wanted to learn more about it.

Next, she planned to visit a bookstore. Since she intended to learn Japanese, she thought it would be best to buy some study materials first. Proper preparation prevents poor performance, after all.

Fortunately, though the Xinhua Bookstore had become much smaller than before, there were still plenty of reference books.

Xiao Qi saw many books for Japanese language proficiency exams, as well as those for English proficiency exams. She heard that she could take the English proficiency exam once she entered university, so she decided to focus on that later. Since she had already started learning Japanese, she knew she would also have to take an exam for it. However, she also realized that if she approached it like she did with English in high school, focusing only on exams without actually being able to read, it would be of little use. Of course, a strong foundation was crucial. Her recent success in learning English was also due to the solid foundation she built during her three years in middle school and three years in high school.

Starting with the basics, Xiao Qi chose a beginner's Japanese textbook and bought a few books on practical daily Japanese, travel Japanese, and business Japanese. They were relatively thin but came with corresponding websites and video tutorials.

After purchasing these, Xiao Qi originally wanted to look at some extracurricular books. However, checking the time, it was already close to dinner, and it seemed like she wouldn't be able to accomplish much in the afternoon.

She found another book on improving learning efficiency, discussing how to organize study time. Next, she wanted to learn Japanese and English, so she needed to plan it out. Although she studied humanities, she never considered the possibility of forgetting history while learning geography during school. With multiple subjects every day, she just went along with it. However, when it came to managing her own time, she suddenly realized it was quite challenging.

After buying the book, she went back home and had porridge, a big steamed bun, and some pickled vegetables for dinner.

Her aunt made the meal for her because she knew Su Simei had a busy schedule. Since Su Simei didn't want to cook, her aunt took care of it.

Recently, Su Simei felt a bit embarrassed when eating the dishes she cooked by herself. Either they were too greasy or the seasoning was off. After having a few meals of her niece's cooking, she started to doubt her own cooking skills.

After dinner, Xiao Qi rested for a while and went to the neighboring school to study English and jog, completing today's exercise.

At night, when Xiao Qi went to bed, she saw that her account balance had exceeded 110,000 yuan.

She lay down and quickly fell asleep.

The lilies on the desk hung slightly.

The busy week came to an end.