Several minutes passed before the sales agent, Xiao Jie, finally returned to Mavi with a stack of documents in her arms. This time, she was accompanied by a middle-aged woman who appeared to be in her forties. The woman's surname was Li, and she was the owner of the real estate agency. She was also Xiao Jie's aunt.
"You're looking to buy a siheyuan in Beijing? And you don't want anything small?" Aunt Li asked, scrutinizing Mavi. She wore a red cardigan and a white pearl necklace, giving off an air of sophistication.
Compared to her niece, she had decades more experience and had been in the real estate business for quite some time. This made her a more cautious person—unlike Xiao Jie, who had believed Mavi's words at face value.
Mavi understood Aunt Li's concerns but wasn't bothered by them.
At that moment, his female translator conveyed his words exactly as he had spoken them:
"My boss wants to know how many siheyuan you have available for sale. If the area is less than 1,000 square meters, he's not interested."
The moment those words left her mouth, Aunt Li raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Not interested in anything under 1,000 square meters? Well, we currently have two that meet that requirement. One is in Xihai Beiyan, with an area of 3,200 square meters. The other is in Nanluoguxiang, which is slightly smaller at 1,800 square meters."
As Aunt Li spoke, she signaled Xiao Jie to hand over the documents and price listings for both siheyuan to Mavi.
However, just as the documents were being handed over, Mavi simply waved his hand and said, "No need to look at the paperwork or prices. I'll take both."
Once his words were translated, both Aunt Li and Xiao Jie stood there in shock, their expressions frozen in disbelief.
"W-What? You're buying them without even checking the price? These two siheyuan together cost more than 6 million yuan!"
"Is he buying real estate or shopping at a street market?! Even at a street market, people wouldn't buy like this!"
Aunt Li stared at Mavi, utterly dumbfounded. She couldn't tell if he was joking or serious.
But she soon got her answer.
At that moment, Mavi's butler, Ivan, arrived with a team of bodyguards. He had come to handle the transaction.
Since foreign nationals buying property in Beijing had to go through certain procedures, it wasn't as simple as handing over the money. Fortunately, in the year 2000, there were no purchasing restrictions in place—otherwise, Mavi wouldn't have been able to buy so many properties at once.
"Young Master, the 250,000 yuan deposit has been transferred via bank wire," Ivan reported.
Mavi had no intention of handing over 6 million yuan to a real estate agency in one go. It wasn't that he was stingy or reluctant to part with the money—it was simply a precaution. In 2000, most real estate agencies were privately run businesses. If the agency took the money and disappeared, he'd have no recourse. Watching his money vanish into thin air would be infuriating.
"Mr. Mavi, please sign your name here," Aunt Li said, her attitude noticeably warmer after receiving the 250,000 yuan deposit. Now fully convinced of his financial capability, her service became even more attentive.
Mavi nodded and signed his name.
He had just purchased two siheyuan properties with a combined area of 5,000 square meters for 6 million yuan. But in ten or eighteen years—if they weren't demolished—their value would skyrocket to at least 1.2 billion or even 1.5 billion yuan! That was a 200 to 300 times return on investment.
With numbers like that, there was no need for negotiation. He simply bought them outright.
Thus, for nearly an entire afternoon, Mavi rode around in his Hongqi luxury car, purchasing siheyuan properties left and right—like he was buying cabbages in bulk. No matter the property, if it was available, he bought it.
- A 1,030-square-meter siheyuan on Guozijian Street? 1.6 million yuan? Bought!
- A 1,300-square-meter siheyuan at the west entrance of Dongsi Shiertiao? 1.9 million yuan? Bought!
- A 3,400-square-meter siheyuan on Yuer Hutong, near Houhai Beiyan? 3.3 million yuan? Bought!
…
By the time he finished his spree, Mavi was utterly exhausted. But despite the fatigue, he was ecstatic—his efforts had been incredibly fruitful.
"Young Master, you have secured a total of… um, 27 siheyuan properties in Beijing, covering 43,500 square meters. The total cost is 49.58 million yuan, which is approximately 6.197 million USD," Ivan reported, exhausted from tallying the figures.
"Got it," Mavi responded casually.
In the year 2000, the exchange rate was 8 yuan per USD, making spending in China exceptionally cost-effective for him.
However, at least one-third of the siheyuan he had purchased were likely to face demolition in the future, which was a bit of a headache. There wasn't much he could do about it—urban development was inevitable, and some old buildings would have to make way for modernization.
To prepare for this, he arranged for his family's connections in Beijing to keep an eye on things. If any of his properties were slated for demolition, they would notify him immediately. Otherwise, if the relocation team assumed the houses were abandoned and demolished them without notice, he'd have to return to China to fight a lengthy legal battle—a hassle he wanted to avoid.
Mavi wasn't worried about losing a lawsuit or the compensation money, but he didn't want to create unnecessary conflicts. China was a valuable ally—trustworthy and friendly—and no country would want to sever ties with it. For the sake of his future plans, he had to think ahead.
With most of the available siheyuan in the market scooped up, Mavi was ready to board his private jet and return to Russia.
Meanwhile, in just three days, pre-orders for the second installment of Counter-Strike had been selling like crazy online. Out of 300,000 CD keys available, 150,000 had already been sold—twice as fast as the first installment!
At this rate, all 500,000 copies would be sold out within a week, making the sales even more terrifying than before.
500,000 CD keys would generate 14 million USD in revenue. And once Counter-Strike launched worldwide with an in-game item store and weapon skins, profits would multiply dozens of times over.
In other words, this one FPS game alone was poised to bring in at least 300 to 700 million USD in profits!
And that wasn't even considering his future projects—Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, Diablo II, Hearthstone—all of which would be even bigger money-makers.
On top of that, Blizzard would inevitably go public and attract massive investment, pushing its market valuation into the hundreds of billions.
Every detail of his gaming empire was mapped out in his mind. He had no fears about executive turnover or industry competition. As long as he could recall the key elements of each game, his team would be able to develop them flawlessly…
—
With his 27 Beijing siheyuan secured and his investment in Alibaba finalized, Mavi's bank balance now stood at 257 million USD.