Chapter 121 New Residence

  The work on the ranch is almost done, and old Thomas checks on the new TL gray cattle several times a day, keeping an eye on their movements at all times. Even at night, he drives them into the enclosure, coaxing them like treasures, and has even given each cow a name after branding them. After that, he still gets up every night to check on them twice. His concern for the cows is moving to Ju An. I reckon when he was young, he didn't care about his wife as much as this.

  Just after sending off Lu Guangyuan and his wife who came to hold the puppy, Ju An received a call from Wang Fan. Wei Dong and his wife are coming tomorrow, so Ju An started packing up and preparing to take a plane to New York in the afternoon to see Wang Fan's new home. The next day, they will go to welcome the newlywed couple who spent a fortune in Paris. After arranging things on hand, leaving the two small birds and the little lion cub with Da Zhuang, letting Thomas send them to the airport, Ju An boarded the flight to New York.

  As soon as he came out of the airport passage, his eyes scanned around and saw a big sign with his name on it. Behind the sign was Wang Fan, wearing sunglasses, a white shirt and trousers, waving at Ju An. Ju An smiled and walked over to hug Wang Fan.

  Wang Fan picked up his luggage, saying it was just a small soft cloth bag with some spare clothes inside, not too heavy. Ju An smiled and said to Wang Fan: "I thought it would be big pants plus plaid shirt again, but this time you're dressed like a white-collar worker, not bad, your image has improved a lot."

  Wang Fan smiled and replied: "It was all chosen by Kola, who said that my previous outfit at home looked like I was on vacation in Hawaii, and it's a bit weird to wear it in New York."

  "Wow! Your hands are quick enough, bringing the female police officer home in just a few days. I thought it would take at least two months to make progress. That sentence earlier was like you showing off your girlfriend's prowess, right?" Ju An said with a smile.

  Wang Fan said with a pleased smile: "This proverb is well-said, 'a shrewd woman fears a cunning man', it's universally applicable, past and present, home and abroad. Brother has personal experience with this, using a little trick to bring her down."

  "Ahah, now that you mention it, I remember the scene where you were dragged into the police station by others, it was really hilarious!"

  In an instant, Wang Fan's proud energy was suppressed again. The two of them walked and chatted like this, and soon they arrived at the parking lot. Ju An took a look at Wang Fan's car and found that it was a second-hand Ford, so he said in surprise: "These days I haven't seen you, your inner world has also improved a lot, you even thought of buying a second-hand car? I thought you would at least get your favorite Audi."

  Wang Fan scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed: "I actually bought an Audi station wagon, but today it was driven away by Ke La. The car went in for repairs today, and she asked me to pick it up for her this morning, so I had no choice but to drive it."

  He gave Wang Fan the middle finger, and then got into the passenger seat. Wang Fan started the car after throwing Ju An's bag to the back seat.

  It took only ten minutes to get out of the airport and arrive at Wang Fan's house. Wang Fan stopped the car in front of the garage, and Ju An got out to take a look. The house was even taller than his own ranch house, with a dark gray roof and white walls. In front of the house was a large lawn, complete with a swimming pool that was twenty or thirty square meters in size.

  When Wang Fan stopped the car and carried out Ju An's bag, Ju An said to Wang Fan: "Good guy, it looks like it's even bigger than my ranch house. You two live in such a big house?"

  Wang Fan smiled and said, "It looks bigger, but it's really not as big as your house. Your place is spacious and empty, so the house looks small. Mine is a three-story building with five bedrooms and four bathrooms. I originally wanted to buy a smaller one, but after asking around, none of them were small enough. Plus, the real estate agent said that the school district here is good and there are some public facilities, so I bought it."

  Jū ān followed Wáng Fán into the house, carefully examining the decorations inside. The renovation was quite tasteful, not too luxurious but showed good taste. The light-colored floor, light-colored ceiling, and white walls had some oil paintings hanging on them. Wáng Fán led Jū ān upstairs and opened a bedroom door, carrying Jū ān's luggage in. Jū ān took a look around, seeing a large bed with a light-colored bed sheet, a TV hung on the wall, and simple colored wallpaper that looked neat and elegant. There was also an independent bathroom, which he went to take a look at, finding toothpaste, toothbrushes, and other essentials already prepared for him.

  He tossed his luggage to the side of the bed and followed Wang Fan downstairs. In the living room, several dark-colored sofas were arranged in front of a fireplace. Wang Fan took out a bottle of beer from the refrigerator for Ju An, and then they sat down on the sofa and started chatting.

  Wang Fan took a sip of beer and asked: "How's it going? Is everything still going smoothly at your ranch?"

  "Pretty good," said the rancher, nodding his head. "We've added a large batch of cattle and now have over 30,000 heads in the pasture. We've also increased our manpower by twenty or so cowboys."

  Wang Fan smiled and said, "As I said, it's better to do tourism instead. Later, let Wu Ming stay in the country and directly contact people to your ranch, how easy is that? You just don't want to open up."

  "I'm tired of dealing with so many people, it's better to raise some cattle and sheep, I don't have to face so many people. By the way, you're in America now, Wu Ming is taking care of things at home, aren't you being a bit too careless? You're pushing all the troublesome tasks onto others, you're really cunning."

  Wang Fan smiled and said, "I'm not just eating and drinking for free here. I'm preparing to start a trading company, which is to make some small money by selling American and domestic goods on both sides. Just invested in a company, hired a few people, and was about to take off."

  "This trade is not easy to do, I met two people who did domestic and foreign trade at a dinner party, both of whom were Chinese." said Ju An thoughtfully.

  "Whoever is in charge of that stuff, they're usually just toys, towels and clothes. I'm in charge of the big items, like small machines, large factory equipment and so on," said Wang Fan.

  "Be careful with this, the Americans think everything is a treasure and even a broken rag they'll try to pass off as high-tech and sell it to you. If you mess around, who knows when the FBI will come knocking on your door for a chat."

  Wang Fan patted Ju An's shoulder with a smile: "I'm not a spy, I just want to make some high-end stuff, but it's not useful in China. Those big companies in the US are already red-eyed, watching Germany and France occasionally exporting something to make money, while they can only watch. I'm just acting as an agent for some machines and whatnot, civilian use doesn't break any laws, I'm not stupid, if I were to smuggle those things, would I still dare to live in the US?"

  Two people chatted for a while and it was already dinner time. Ju An glanced at his watch and jokingly said to Wang Fan, "How come Kora still hasn't arrived? Are we waiting for her to cook?"

  Wang Fan was taken aback: "What's wrong with Cora cooking? She's not staying here today, if we want to eat dinner, we'll have to take care of it ourselves."

  "Ah, I see! So that's why you asked me to come early. You wanted me to cook for you, didn't you? And aren't you and Ke La already... experienced in the ways of the bed? Why are you two still living separately? I thought you were cohabiting!"

  "I mean, you know what American women are like. Sleeping with someone is one thing, but moving in together is another story altogether. Cora just comes over occasionally to stay the night or I go over there. She heard you were coming so she didn't come today, letting me spend some quality time with you. Tomorrow evening after work, she'll come over and meet Wei Dong and his wife." Wang Fan explained.

  "Talk about your sister's old, you owe it to move next door and talk about the past." After finishing, Ju An had no choice but to get up, walk into the kitchen, take a look at what was in the refrigerator, and cook for herself.

  They casually made three or four dishes, Wang Fan also cut some cold dishes, and there were two salted duck eggs bought from the Chinese supermarket. The two of them had a little wine, eating and chatting, time passed quickly, after they finished drinking, it was already late, the two of them drank more than a catty of white wine, then swayed upstairs to their respective rooms to rest.

  The next day, the two of them were idle for most of the day. In the afternoon, they went to the airport again and picked up Wei Dong and his wife, who had several large and small bags, to Wang Fan's residence.

  Wei Dong and his wife got off the car, put down their luggage, took a tour of Wang Fan's house, and just sat on the sofa in the living room, praising: "Not bad, this single-family house with a swimming pool, it must have cost a lot of money."

  Wang Fan smiled and said: "A total of about 600,000 to 700,000 US dollars were spent."

  Wei Dong nodded and said: "That's not expensive at all. Such a big house, with a lawn and a swimming pool, how much did the decoration cost?"

  "They are all decorated and renovated, with renovation costs of 600,000 to 700,000 yuan." Wang Fan explained with a smile.

  Wei Dong's wife also nodded and said, "That's really not expensive. Altogether it's just around 4 million RMB, which is just enough to buy a three-bedroom apartment in Haicheng."

  "Hey, just because you bought the house doesn't mean you don't have to spend money on it. Every day, you have to pay property taxes. I'm not sure how much it is in New York, but generally, it's between 1% and 3%. You have to pay every year. In my area, we have to pay tens of millions of dollars in taxes each year. It's fixed, although different states may vary, you can't save on this."

  Wang Fan sighed and said, "New York is 3%, the highest in the United States. The taxes in New York are also among the highest in the country. For this house alone, I have to pay over $20,000 a year, plus various other expenses that add up to over $30,000."

  Wei Dong said: "That's to say, buying a house in the US is cheap, but maintaining it is expensive. This house costs more than 2 million yuan per year, which adds up to over 20 million yuan in ten years, not cheap at all."

  "Come on, don't be sentimental," said Ju An with a smile. "Comrade Bill Gates' house in Washington state has property taxes of over $10 million per year. Think about it and you'll feel balanced."

  Wang Fan laughed and scolded: "These two houses can't be compared, I estimate that even the owner's own cinema is not as big as this one, you're a bit too Q-spirited".