Chapter 245: Real Estate

"...I understand. Just manage it yourself. If there's nothing else, let's leave it as is. Call this number if there's something urgent!"

After hanging up the phone, Xia Yu looked at Li Qian, who was taking notes beside him. Seeing the dense writing in her notebook, he smiled and asked, "Did you get it all down?"

"Mm-hmm, I got everything!"

Li Qian nodded lightly, her lips pursed as she spoke obediently.

"Let's go out and take a walk. The environment of this new place is nice. We should get familiar with it."

Xia Yu said with a satisfied smile, then called Li Qian to follow him outside.

Indeed, Xia Yu was no longer staying at the Hilton Hotel but had moved to his newly purchased country villa.

After a few days at the Hilton, Xia Yu found it inconvenient. The hotel was a four-star establishment, mostly used by business people. As a foreigner with bodyguards and secretaries, his frequent comings and goings drew too much attention.

Maintaining a low profile was his priority. Moreover, staying in a hotel for an extended period wasn't practical. Since he would be staying in the UK for a while and would likely return in the future, he needed a place to call home.

Additionally, Xia Yu had plenty of money now; his account was growing daily, and he couldn't spend all his betting funds. Buying a house wouldn't affect his betting plans.

So, he found a villa in the outskirts of London, in Hampshire, through a real estate agent. He spent one million pounds on it. Besides, he also bought two cars, with registration and other formalities handled by the dealership. He expected to start driving them soon.

After arriving at the new residence, he first called back to Hong Kong.

It was only 10 a.m. now. With a 7-hour time difference between Hong Kong and London, it was about 5 p.m. in Hong Kong, and people were still at work. Thus, Xia Yu's calls to four companies were answered.

He had two purposes for the call: first, to understand the situation of each company and to direct operations remotely; second, to let Yan Wenhan and others know his new contact number in case of emergencies so they wouldn't call the Hilton Hotel again.

Otherwise, if an urgent situation arose and problems occurred due to untimely notifications, it would be troublesome!

As Xia Yu and Li Qian went outside, they saw Yan Shining and Li Wuming sparring on the lawn. Hou Sheng stood by, focused on their practice, occasionally making gestures as if trying to learn something.

"Boss!"

Seeing Xia Yu coming out, Hou Sheng immediately stood up straight and respectfully greeted him.

Li Wuming and Yan Shining, who were in the middle of their sparring, also stopped and walked over to Xia Yu.

"Boss!"

"Hmm, would you like to go for a walk? This new house is so big that we might get lost if we don't familiarize ourselves with it."

Xia Yu smiled and joked with them.

"Haha, indeed. This estate is so large; we need to explore it thoroughly."

Yan Shining agreed.

Then, Xia Yu led everyone on a tour around the estate.

Xia Yu had bought not only the villa but the entire country estate. The estate was quite vast, especially considering that a million pounds in this era was a significant amount. Even though it was in the suburbs of the capital, London, he could still buy a large estate.

The estate was a typical British Victorian-style country manor. According to the agent, the manor was built in 1874. It was originally the family estate of a baron. After the baron's family declined, they sold the manor. The next owner put it up for sale again, giving Xia Yu the opportunity to purchase it.

The manor was built using half-timbered construction, with three stories. The residential area covered more than 1,300 square meters. Outside was a green lawn dotted with century-old trees, and the flower beds along the road had blooming roses. Unknown birds sang in the trees, creating a beautiful environment. Xia Yu walked on the quaint stone path, inhaling the fresh air, feeling a sense of tranquility.

"Boss, this estate is really huge. In Hong Kong, it would definitely be a top-notch luxury home. I didn't expect it to be just an ordinary estate here in the UK."

After a while, Yan Shining expressed his amazement.

He had lived in Hong Kong for five months and had gained some understanding of its real estate situation. Moreover, since Xia Yu was wealthy, he had encountered more high-end properties and had a sense of what luxury homes in Hong Kong were like.

Now that Xia Yu had just bought this estate in the UK, which not only covered over 1,000 square meters but also had such a large lawn and garden, and cost only one million pounds (less than nine million Hong Kong dollars), Yan Shining was sure that nine million Hong Kong dollars would not buy such an estate in Hong Kong.

He had thought that houses in the UK, being a developed country, would be more expensive. It turned out that was not the case, which was surprising to him.

Xia Yu laughed and explained, "Brother Yan, houses in London city are indeed very expensive, but those in the suburbs are not. Hong Kong can't compare with the UK. The UK's population is more than ten times that of Hong Kong, but its land area is more than two hundred times larger. Hong Kong has a high population density and limited land, which leads to high property prices. The situations are different; there's no way to compare!"

Yan Shining showed a look of realization and nodded, saying, "I see."

After wandering around for a while and seeing that it was getting late, Xia Yu said, "It's getting late. Let's all pitch in to prepare lunch. For a while, we'll need to handle things ourselves."

With that, he led everyone back inside the house.

Although Xia Yu's new estate could have supported hiring a butler, a maid, and a chef, the real estate agent had suggested this when Xia Yu bought the estate. However, Xia Yu decided against it.

Given their situation, hiring outsiders like butlers and maids was not feasible right now.

This was a critical period, and maintaining confidentiality was essential. If a stranger learned about Xia Yu's betting activities, it could lead to complications.

Moreover, Xia Yu was used to eating Chinese food. In the UK, it might be possible to find a skilled Chinese chef with some effort, but hiring one would be challenging, especially since most Chinese immigrants in the UK came with their families. So, it was simpler for them to cook their own meals.

After working together for over an hour, they finally prepared the meal. The cooking was mainly done by Xia Yu, Li Qian, and Yan Shining, as Li Wuming and Hou Sheng didn't know how to cook and could only assist.

After a delightful lunch, Xia Yu lay down on the living room sofa, turned on the television, and began to watch.