Li Ang was indeed very interested in the courtyard house on the east side of Beijing's Forbidden City that Hua Hua occasionally mentioned. If possible, he intended to do his best to buy the courtyard house.
One must know that the price of this courtyard house was about 10 million RMB, which was almost all of Li Ang's liquid assets. Of course, he didn't have any real estate. This 10 million RMB was all he had now.
The reason why he made such a big decision was that Li Ang immediately understood what the courtyard house was after listening to Hua Hua's introduction. It was the courtyard house worth more than 100 million RMB that was widely mentioned in the media ten years later. It was a rare property with a price but no market.
Li Ang had some assets in his previous life, but he did not have the ability to covet such a courtyard house worth more than 100 million RMB. The reason why he knew about the courtyard house was because of the media's hype. At the end of 2004, the courtyard house was bought by the world's newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch for 10 million RMB. The average price was 40,000 RMB per square meter. It was also one of the two properties in Beijing that the world's third richest man later owned.
The reason why the courtyard house was widely mentioned by the Chinese media was that it was later given to Ceng Wendi by Rupert Murdoch as compensation after his divorce with his wife, Ceng Wendi.
Li Ang was also bored at the time, so he paid attention to the gossip. Ceng Wendi was a woman who many Chinese people did not dare to compliment. After Li Ang studied this woman with great interest, he had to admit that this woman was very powerful, absolutely awesome!
*****
Ceng Wendi was from Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. Her original name was Zeng Wenge. Her father was from Dongguan, and her mother was from Jinan. She also had two sisters. Ceng Wendi, who was about 1.75 meters tall, was the main player of the Xuzhou volleyball team. Her father was the director of the Xuzhou Construction Machinery Factory. When Ceng Wendi was in the second half of the second semester of high school, the whole family moved to Guangzhou because of her parents' work. Her father was transferred to Guangzhou People's Machinery Factory, so the family was relatively wealthy.
The first turning point that changed Ceng Wendi's fate came in 1987. During this year, she met an American couple from California, Jack Cherry and his wife. At that time, Mr. Cherry was 50 years old and working in Guangzhou Machinery Factory. Mrs. Cherry, 42 years old, also came to China because of her husband's work. Ceng Wendi knew them because Mrs. Cherry happened to have the time to help her improve her English.
The Cherries liked Ceng Wendi very much. In 1988, with the help of the Cherries, Ceng Wendi obtained a student visa and went to the United States to study at a community college — California State University, Northridge. They even let her share a bedroom with their five-year-old daughter and promised to fund her studies until she graduated.
Soon Cherry's wife discovered the provocative photos her husband had taken of Ceng Wendi in a hotel in Guangzhou. Not only that, Ceng Wendi and Cherry often went out together and stayed out all night. Cherry's wife thought that they were having an abnormal relationship and asked Ceng Wendi to move away. However, not long after, Cherry left the house and moved into a nearby apartment to live with Ceng Wendi. After that, the Cherries announced their divorce. In 1990, Cherry and Ceng Wendi got married. Cherry was 53 years old and Ceng Wendi was 21 years old.
Cherry and Ceng Wendi's marriage lasted for two years and seven months, which was only seven months longer than the two years Ceng Wendi had obtained her green card. However, they were together for less than five months because Cherry found out that Ceng Wendi actually had a boyfriend four months after they got married, and the two separated.
Ceng Wendi's boyfriend was called David Wolf. After she divorced her first husband, the two lived together. Ceng Wendi used to call Wolf her "husband," but they were not married.
During Ceng Wendi's time at California State University, her roommate happened to be the wife of the gymnastics prince, Li Ning, Cheng Yongyan. Ceng Wendi and her boyfriend, Wolf, were able to work at a gymnastics school near the school. As Ceng Wendi often acted as an interpreter for businessmen and officials from China, she established a large circle of contacts.
In 1993, Ceng Wendi graduated from California State University and transferred to Yale University. Yale University's tuition was very expensive, and her boyfriend, Wolf, sponsored her. In 1995, Wolf went to Beijing to work and settled there, and Ceng Wendi's relationship with him ended.
Yale University required its students to have practical work experience, so Ceng Wendi prepared to go to Hong Kong to try her luck. On the plane to Hong Kong, Ceng Wendi happened to sit next to Bruce Churchill, the director of News Corporation. At that time, the gentleman was preparing to go to Hong Kong to be the deputy executive officer of StarTV. After the plane landed, Churchill gave Ceng Wendi a position as an intern in Hong Kong.
The key turning point came in 1997, when Ceng Wendi learned that the company was going to hold a high-level banquet. Because her position was too low, she was not invited. However, after learning that the company's president, Rupert Murdoch, would also attend, she inquired about the address of the banquet and went directly. She took the initiative to introduce herself to Murdoch. In 1998, Ceng Wendi went to London for work and was invited to stay for a meeting with Murdoch. The relationship between the two began to develop. Soon, the relationship between the two became public.
Soon after that, Murdoch and his second wife, Anna, separated. In 1999, they announced their divorce, ending their 31-year marriage, and expelled her from the company's board of directors. Only 17 days after the divorce, Murdoch and Ceng Wendi got married. Murdoch was 38 years older than her.
In this way, this ordinary Chinese woman became the wife of Murdoch, who was once the world's richest man. This woman was well-connected and had a close relationship with many world celebrities and politicians. Even the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was said to have an ambiguous relationship with her.
At that time, Li Ang once lamented that this woman could be said to have stepped on the shoulders of men all the way. For her own future, she was decisive and absolutely not sloppy. Moreover, she had a sharp eye. This woman was not simple.
*****
It was precisely because he had paid attention to the gossip about Ceng Wendi and Murdoch's divorce that he had a deep impression of the courtyard house on the east side of Beijing's Forbidden City. With Ceng Wendi's shrewdness, it was reported that she took the initiative to ask for this courtyard house, which showed the value of this property. Sure enough, someone later offered 150 million to buy this courtyard house, but Ceng Wendi did not agree.
If he invested 10 million now, it would be worth more than 100 million ten years later. This investment could be said to be quite safe. Li Ang had long forgotten about this matter. Now that he had encountered it, if possible, he naturally wanted to intervene.
According to the information provided by the flowers, the owner was now selling the house, which meant that the world's newspaper tycoon had not yet made a move to buy this courtyard house. Then, what he had to do was to make a move decisively.
In 2004, the investment craze for courtyard houses had not yet started. At this time, he still had a chance to make a move. In a few years, even if there were courtyard houses to be sold, Li Ang could not squeeze in. At that time, it would not be a matter of money. Without certain connections and status, you would not be able to buy it even if you wanted to. At that time, courtyard houses would have been sold at sky-high prices, and they would be the back garden of those princes and super-rich people. Ordinary people would not be able to set foot in them even if they had the money.
Not to mention the huge appreciation potential of this courtyard house, not to mention other things, when he returned to Beijing in the future, he would also have a courtyard house next to the Forbidden City to stay. This was very cool.
It maintained value, had huge appreciation potential, and was very prestigious. This investment could be said to be quite perfect!
PS: Second update. Thank you for your support.
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