While Gold Pedestrian Street was, at present, not as crowded and lively as it would be in the future, it was still popular.
It was way busier than any other city in the country.
As he walked along the bustling pedestrian street, Jasper thought of his past life. He had been here a few times, and one time, it was during a holiday. One would not even need to walk if they were caught by the flow of people. Being sardined by the crowd, they could only be dragged along.
It was not at all an exaggeration to say this as Jasper had actually experienced it before.
It was funny, but at the same time, it proved the horrors and exaggerations made about this pedestrian street.
One could even sell rocks for a sky-high price on a street with such high popularity.
Jasper looked at the distinctive buildings that lined both sides of the pedestrian street with his hands clasped behind his back, feeling very pleased.
Although he had not obtained concrete details on the list and location of the 266 commercial properties, given there were 300 to 400 properties along the entire length of the pedestrian street, he already owned more than half of it.
Right now, he felt as good as when he made billions on the stock market.
After all, a long-cherished wish of his from his previous life was to own a commercial property on Gold Pedestrian Street and to be someone who only needed to wait for the money to come rolling in.
Maybe he could become an internet celebrity blogger in a few more years after one of his short videos went viral. Others might create content about beauty, luxury cars, and big houses but he could easily share the deeds to the 266 commercial properties he owned on Gold Pedestrian Street. That would feel so good.
Although it had not even been a year since the pedestrian street opened for business, Waterhoof City had already spent great efforts on this project. All the big shots in Swallow City were watching, and they would not allow the commercial properties to remain empty.
That was why all of the shops were already open for business by now and many of them were opened by the relatives of those in the city hall.
On the one hand, those who were smart knew that this pedestrian street had the support of the city hall and thus, would undoubtedly be developed. As such, they seized the opportunity to leverage their connections and power to offer benefits to their relatives while the competition was still not as fierce.
On the other hand, Waterhoof City was also turning a blind eye to what was happening as they were just happy that the pedestrian street could become a bustling venue.
However, now that Jasper had bought over the remaining commercial properties, their smooth sailing days were about to come to an end.
“When the time comes, they will have to pay rent according to the current market value or clear themselves out. They will definitely not be allowed to continue having unfair advantages,” murmured Jasper.
After patrolling around his territory, Jasper was satisfied.
Feeling a little hungry, Jasper looked up and saw a restaurant not far away that served local specialties of Waterhoof City. Jasper then brought Julian along to the restaurant.
Food was the people’s priority, and there would definitely be restaurants regardless of where one went.
It was even livelier at the restaurants along the pedestrian street.
Although it was already past dinner hours, there were still a lot of patrons at the restaurant. It was also obvious that many of them were tourists who had come to experience the local delicacies of Waterhoof City.
Jasper and Julian got a table after waiting for a good ten minutes.
“Jasper, there are so many people here,” Julian lamented to Jasper.
He now somewhat believed Jasper when he said that the rent here would rise to three million per year in the future.
“There are two floors to this restaurant, so its rent will cost up to six million in the future. No, at least eight million!” Julian exclaimed excitedly.
Jasper smiled and said, “Do you like it? I did say before that I’ll give you one of the shops when you get married. You can take your pick. This shop is rather small, though. The one I’ll give you will definitely be the biggest one.”
Julian scratched his head and replied, “There’s no need for that, Jasper. The salary you’re giving me is already enough for me to live a good life. I don’t even need to worry about being able to put food on the table or clothes on my body.”
“You might not need it, but your wife and children in the future definitely would,” said Jasper casually as he gestured for the waiter to take their orders.
