Chapter 437: Chapter 437
Zheng Xuan was born in May 1978 (please let me know if there is any mistake and I will correct it), so by 1992, this child was already a third-year junior high student, studying at a private school in Chongqing. Her academic performance had always been stellar, and being as sensible as she was, she hardly ever caused Zheng Long any worry.
Zheng Xuan was usually very thrifty; she never bought her own clothes, instead letting Zheng Long pick them out because she thought his taste was quite good. She never ended up wearing the same clothes as her classmates, and everyone thought her clothes looked nice, but she didn’t ask him to buy too many—a set for each season was enough.
At school, besides meals, she didn’t eat snacks, at most consuming some fruit which her father brought for her. Thus, with nowhere to spend her pocket money, she used it all to rent romance novels. Taiwanese romance novels were popular at the time, available in small individual volumes as well as in large series. Zheng Xuan would only borrow them for the two days of the weekend; the rest of the time, she stuck to studying, doing worksheets, and practising listening.
She had started learning English in elementary school, but their junior high only started offering English classes, so Zheng Xuan’s speaking ability surpassed even their English teacher. She was, without a doubt, the representative for the English class, and had also represented the school in several English speaking competitions several times. At such a young age, she was already a celebrity in the school, and highly regarded high schools had reserved a spot for her early on.
The more she learned English, the more she wanted to study it. Starting from elementary school, she had been learning New Concept, and she had already completed the second book by then, meaning the English section of the college entrance examination would pose no difficulty for her.
New Concept 3 was an extension of New Concept 2. Since it was transitioning from the second to the third, it wasn’t as struggling as before.
If she could complete New Concept 4 before college, then she would have no problem with the graduate school entrance examination.
On weekends, she would come home to watch video lessons and take notes. From Monday to Friday, she would study on her own according to her courses, practicing. She had maintained this method for many years.
On Sundays, Zheng Long would set aside at least half a day to practice spoken English with her. Over the years, as his daughter studied, he too revised and studied, so that father and daughter could converse and check each other’s essays. But the prerequisite was that Zheng Long had to learn faster than his daughter; only then could the video lessons be downloaded in advance and stored on the tablet.
The tablet could not be taken to school, because in that era everything was on cassette tapes. Zheng Long said those were borrowed and needed to be returned, so they bluffed their way through the years like that.
The confidence that English gave Zheng Xuan made her consider pursuing a career in translation. She planned to learn other languages to enrich herself after entering university, since she had such strong linguistic skills, which definitely should not be wasted.
Zheng Long became increasingly relieved by his children’s excellence, so he shifted all his attention to the housing market. Fresh chapters posted on novel·fiɾe·net
He paid off his mortgage with the money earned in ’93 and then in ’94 demolished the old house and relocated the supermarket to a rented property across the street.
With this empty plot, he adhered to current government regulations and registered it for ten floors, planning to develop it into an office building.
The first half of the year was spent clearing debris, designing, and laying the foundation; after securing the funds in the second half of the year, they started building.
The money earned in ’94 was entirely invested in the construction, along with the income from ’95.
By the end of ’95, upon completion, he calculated that the construction had cost over two million in total, nearly five million including the cost of the land.
In ’96, he began decorating because the design included office spaces, so a parking lot was essential. Initially, an underground parking lot was planned, which increased the construction costs abruptly to two million. Many people mocked him at the time, questioning how many could afford cars, but he didn’t mind and didn’t change the design. Eventually, the disappointed others had no choice but to construct according to the plans, which resulted in the Triumph Building.