Since Zhang Fan had a three-day vacation, he cleaned his apartment, and then visited the bank. Last night before he left Li Xiao's place, she had her assistant give Zhang Fan another three stacks of money, a total of another 30,000 yuan. Li Xiao said, "This is the treatment fee I'm giving you for the third round of massage treatment. If you buy a house from me, I won't give you anything else. If you don't, we can talk about it then."
Zhang Fan felt rather awkward about taking the money since Li Xiao was loaning him a car for free, and had just paid for such a nice meal for him. Still, when Zhang Fan left, Li Xiao's assistant had already put all the money into a bag and forced him to accept it as he left.
Back when Zhang Fan was still poor, he would even hug the 30,000 yuan to himself as he slept. By now, he was experienced enough to treat the money normally.
In the morning, after the bank opened up for business, Zhang Fan headed for the bank. He hesitated for quite a while, but he did call Shao Hua in the end. "Shao Hua, are you busy? There's something I'd like to consult you on."
Previously, when Zhang Fan was giving Shao Hua's mother a massage treatment, he would always find conversation topics to talk about with Shao Hua. She was no idiot, and knew that he was romantically interested in her. However, there was the issue that Zhang Fan was supposed to be Shao Hua's good friend Jia Suyue's marriage prospect, which was why Shao Hua was resistant to his advances. If it weren't for her mother's treatment, she definitely would have refused to interact with Zhang Fan.
"Doctor Zhang, I'm currently at work. What's the matter?" Shao Hua didn't tell Zhang Fan if she was busy or not busy. If he was trying to invite her to a meal, she would definitely say that she didn't have time.
"It's like this, I'd like to learn more about taking out a loan. How exactly does it work?"
Shao Hua just happened to be the bank's loan account manager. She was in charge of issuing and collecting on loans, and there was a set amount of loans she was expected to issue each month. Upon hearing that Zhang Fan had actual business to discuss, she immediately said, "Where are you? How about you come over to my bank? I'll explain things to you here."
"I'm at the front door of your bank right now."
"Please wait a moment." Shao Hua immediately went down to receive Zhang Fan.
"Doctor Zhang, please come in." Since this was Shao Hua's workplace, and Zhang Fan was here on official business, Shao Hua did everything with proper etiquette.
Shao Hua brought Zhang Fan to her office and invited him to take a seat. She then asked, "Doctor Zhang, what do you need a loan for?" Since Zhang Fan was a doctor, the bank would consider him an excellent customer for a loan.
"It's like this. My friend has a house she's selling. She recommended that I buy it, but I don't have enough money. That's why I'm here to ask about taking out a loan. However, I haven't decided yet if I want to take out a loan or not." Zhang Fan's heart felt icy at seeing how Shao Hua was all only about official business.
Although Zhang Fan said that he wasn't certain about taking out a loan, Shao Hua wasn't disappointed. She didn't consider it that important to make sure that he took out a loan for her bank's requirements. She simply wanted to help Zhang Fan as her mother would still be suffering from shoulder and arm pain if not for his massages.
"That's fine. Let me explain how loans work to you." Shao Hua did her best to explain how a home loan worked using easy language.
Zhang Fan was still hesitant after hearing the home loan explanation. Seeing this, Shao Hua asked, "Which district is the home in? How large is it, and how much money does it cost per square meter?"
"It's in Jinghuajiayuan District. She has some houses ranging from 120 square meters to 140 square meters. One square meter costs a bit over 1000 yuan." Li Xiao's assistant had given the data on Li Xiao's houses to Zhang Fan.
"What is your friend's job? She has so many houses for sale, and at such a cheap price? You need to watch out for being scammed. The housing price in Jinghuajiayuan District is far more than that. It's one of the highest-class districts in Chasu City. That's why you need to be careful about scams."
Although Shao Hua didn't know Zhang Fan very well, she was an ethical bank employee. She felt that this friend of Zhang Fan's sounded quite unreliable, which was why she gave Zhang Fan a warning about scams.
"Oh, my friend is the real estate developer for that entire district. She learned that I don't have a home of my own yet, so she said she would sell a house to me at base price. I don't think it's a scam," Zhang Fan explained.
"Oh! Really?" Shao Hua didn't really believe this. An ordinary doctor was acquainted with a real estate developer, and the developer was even willing to sell a house at base price to him? That sounded really unlikely. Shao Hua felt that either Zhang Fan had been scammed, or that he had come here just to brag. Shao Hua looked at Zhang Fan with a strange expression.
At this moment, Zhang Fan's cell phone rang. "Zhang Fan, are you here at my bank?"
This phone call was from Wang Qian, who also worked at the same bank as Shao Hua. Although she had arrived rather late to work, nobody was ranked higher than her here to care. Thus, she was in no hurry to arrive to work on time. When she arrived at the bank, she saw a rather familiar Jeep Grand Cherokee in the parking lot, and then checked and saw that it really was Zhang Fan's car. That was why she phoned Zhang Fan.
"Sister Wang, I'm currently here at your bank on some business. I'm currently at…" Zhang Fan didn't know where Shao Hua's office was in the bank.
"Customer account service department," Shao Hua informed him.
"Wait for me, I'm coming." After the phone call ended, the sound of high heels could soon be heard. Wang Qian entered Shao Hua's office. She immediately smiled when she saw Zhang Fan, asking, "What are you here for? How come you didn't call me?"
Zhang Fan and Shao Hua both stood up. "Greetings, Director Wang."
Wang Qian nodded in response. She was in a very high position at the bank, with a special status. In fact, she even held more influence than the bank's branch manager.
"Sister Wang, I'm here to learn about loans," Zhang Fan told her.
"A loan? What for?"
"Sister Li Xiao has several houses, and asked if I wanted to buy one from her. That's why I'm here to ask about a home loan."
Wang Qian immediately asked, "A house in Jinghuajiayuan District?"
"Yeah."
As they all talked, the manager of the customer account service department also arrived. He had noticed Wang Qian entering Shao Hua's office, so he hurriedly came over to greet Wang Qian.
Wang Qian chuckled when she heard this. "What are you hesitating about, then? I'll arrange it so that you have a loan with really low interest. Go ahead and buy a house. After you finish getting everything in order, invite your parents to come live with you. You'll finally have a home of your own."
"I still haven't decided if I want to buy a house or not."
Wang Qian pulled Zhang Fan over while secretly whispering into his ear, "What are you hesitating about, foolish little bro of mine? Even if you don't buy a house there, they'll sell out really quickly. Don't you know that many people want to live in that district of Chasu City? This is Li Xiao's way of thanking you."
Meanwhile, the manager of the customer account service department was asking Shao Hua about what was going on. He was Shao Hua's direct boss, while Wang Qian was ranked even higher than he. After he understood the situation, Wang Qian told him, "Little Cui, give my little bro here one of the lowest-interest loans you can. I'll be going upstairs now; I'll be back down here later." She knew that it would be inconvenient for Shao Hua and Manager Cui to work with her around.
"Yes, Director Wang. Rest assured," Manager Cui hurriedly responded with a smile.
After Wang Qian went upstairs, Manager Cui said to Zhang Fan, "Mr. Zhang, how about you come to my office? I can personally help you with obtaining a good loan." Manager Cui now understood the situation as he had heard everything from Shao Hua.
"There's no need to trouble you like that. I'm already acquainted with Shao Hua, so let's have her help me with the loan."
Manager Cui glanced at Shao Hua, and responded, "Okay. Feel free to come talk to me if you have any questions."
Shao Hua watched Manager Cui leave her office before saying, "I really couldn't tell. You're acquainted with so many high-ranking people. You even know our Director Wang." Shao Hua was actually quite happy because Zhang Fan had asked for her to help with his loan rather than her manager boss.
"It's not that, it's just…." Zhang Fan scratched his head, not knowing how to explain.
However, Shao Hua immediately said, "I was just saying it casually. There's no need to explain to me. I was previously worried that somebody was scamming you, but since Director Wang is telling you to hurry and buy, it seems that it's real. Shall I help you with the paperwork for obtaining a loan right now?"
"I still haven't decided yet. I'm feeling a bit panicky about taking out such a large loan. Also, my younger sister will be taking her college entrance examination soon. I need to save money for her college tuition," Zhang Fan told her truthfully.
"That's fine. What's your current monthly income?" Seeing how hesitant Zhang Fan was, Shao Hua started asking about his financial situation. When he told her, Shao Hua found to her surprise that Zhang Fan really had quite a good income despite having worked for only about a year and a half.
"You should buy immediately. You'll regret it if you miss the opportunity to buy such a house. Besides, your income is more than enough to support your younger sister through college," Shao Hua informed Zhang Fan.