My Ranch Chapter 16

Chapter 16: New home

Translated by me, edited by Kai.

“So boss, do you like the new look?” Robins asked smiling and explained further, “I supervised everything. The roof, the main doors, even the supporting pillars are all stuff that I instructed them to add. This $1.2 million renovation can’t only be around the stuff they outlined in their design, so these additions are pretty much freebies. To be honest, if it wasn’t for the fact that you had already paid everything upfront, I would never let them earn this $1.2 million so easily.”

“What is this….” Gazing at the building in front of him, Jiang Hai was just speechless. The original mansion in front of him was very simplistic. A western two and a half floor mansion with an attic, which doesn’t really count. The two floor top tier mansion took up a large piece of real estate. With gra.s.sland and the beach in the background, it looked gorgeous and harmonious.

In the original design all he wanted to do was renovate the inside according to the given design. The interior design needed to be top notch, but there was no need to touch the outside. From the looks of thing, Robins did not follow the boss’ instructions. The changes he made to the outer appearance really scared Jiang Hai.

The mansion currently in front of him is still the same mansion, but he doesn’t understand what Robins was thinking; he actually completely changed the outer appearance of the mansion. Now the mansion looks like a building from Ancient China with the red and green paint, and curved corners. The main thing is the new red pillars and the pa.s.sage it makes.

There really isn’t any feeling of solidity being pa.s.sed here, so let’s give an example. If there is a school near where you live and their main building looks like one from the ancient ages, then this is what Jiang Hai’s mansion looks like. Well except his mansion is a bit larger, shorter and it’s got a pa.s.sageway outside.

“This is my special request to the renovation company after doing some research into structures in China. To be honest I’ve never thought Chinese’s structural specialties look this good.” Robins commented on the building in front of him without any feelings of incorrection. But towards this appearance, Jiang Hai only feels embarra.s.sment and shame. Thinking of how this is going to be his permanent residence, he’s even got feelings of tearing the whole thing down and redoing it (1).

‘Such a disgrace!’ He had never thought that after leaving school dorms for so long, he would again be moving back into building with a dorm like outer appearance. Such irony. Well there is no way he can point out what is wrong to Robins, since he was only trying to get into Jiang Hai’s good books, but he never would have imagined that changes like this only got into Jiang Hai’s bad books. Seeing Jiang Hai’s att.i.tude that is on the verge of ripping someone apart, Robins shut up pretty quickly. But he still doesn’t understand, since Jiang Hai should feel happy that the mansion got renovated like this.

*sigh* “Forget it. We’ll talk about it later.” Jiang Hai let out a long sigh, hopefully this dude didn’t bring his crazy ideas inside. If he did, then Jiang Hai might really tear it all down and redo the whole renovation.

“Alright!” Hearing Jiang Hai’s commands, Robins pressed the gas pedal and continued towards the mansion.

After getting out of the car and seeing the interior of the mansion, Jiang Hai is pretty satisfied with his work. Originally there was only one well worn out road from the entrance of the estate to the mansion. This road hasn’t been maintained for many years resulting in lots of potholes and stuff like weeds. This time Robins paid special attention to this road. By using the leftover materials he fixed the road and create a small parking lot outside.

As such there are now two parking lots in estate; one out doors for the to be guests and one under the mansion for personal uses. With a total of 16 parking s.p.a.ces, this is pretty much enough for everyday use. It’s not like Jiang Hai will open restaurants and stuff, so where would he find all these guests?

Going inside the mansion, Jiang Hai can only feel grateful, since Robins did not bring his wild ideas inside. Thus the interior design is from the original plans. A large chandelier in the entrance hall, with a layer of carpet on top of the original hardwood flooring. A couch in the middle with wine racks and a closet on the side all followed the original design specs.

Since this is the west, then it must have a western feel to it. If it has too much chinese influence then it would definitely feel out of place. As for chinese influence, then at most there can be some carvings or decorations. If there is more, than it will be too much. Seeing the living room, kitchen, bathroom and all the rooms on the second floor, Jiang Hai can finally relax. He is very satisfied, but the school building appearance is a big turn off.

Seeing Jiang Hai’s satisfaction, Robins can also relax. Being able to help out your boss is something to be happy about. Immediately, he went back to prepare dinner. After all, the mansion is just able to house people; it doesn’t have any food stored yet. Therefore, he reckons he’ll have to help Jiang Hai with his meals. However, Jiang Hai is not really a stingy person. So before he left, he had already paid Robins his monthly wage of 3200 with an additional 800 for his meals when he came back.

After Robins left, Jiang Hai began to carefully examine his room. In fact, his room within the mansion is pretty much like a house within a house. Apart from his master bedroom, there are two other rooms. Currently, his master bedroom has been fully decorated. Except for a fixed bed, there is a T.V. on the opposite wall. He had specially ordered this T.V. because this is a brand new laser T.V. also known as no screen T.V. This type of television can broadcast both 2D as well as 3D images on a 100″ display platform. This T.V. alone costs $10,000. Within the entire mansion, there is only one such T.V..

On the other side of the bed is a corner office table. Currently it has nothing on it, but that’s only for now. All the cables have been prepared, So all he has to do is plug in. There is also a wall phone on top of the headboard. This phone not only can contact outside, but can also contact anyone within the estate. Apart from these, the closet, wallpaper, carpet and so on have all either been replaced or fixed. The room’s also got a small fridge for cold drinks.

Apart from his master bedroom, the other two guest rooms have also been decorated. Stuff like beds, cabinets, T.V.s, internet and so on have all been installed. The living room outside is much smaller than the one down stairs but it’s renovation cost is still sky high. Not only is there a brand new 70″ flat screen T.V., but even the toilet and bathtub in the bathrooms have been replaced. Everything was imported from Europe. Jiang Hai’s room can be said to be comparable to presidential suites in 5 star hotels.

Even in Jiang Hai’s view, if this mansion is only for him then it is kind of redundant. But this is his home now, so there is really not much more to say. Examining as he went, Jiang Hai felt like he turned into a country b.u.mpkin. But to be honest apart from the small mistake outside, the whole renovation can be said to be pitch perfect.

Giving no time for Jiang Hai to accept his new home, Robins came to inform him that dinner is ready. So he quickly went downstairs and arrived at Robins’ residence. Tonight’s dinner still consisted of beef and fish, but there is also a pot of chowder.

Originally Boston belonged to England, New England to be exact. So the cuisine here is very similar to those in England. England’s cuisine is pretty much made up of potatoes, more potatoes, even more potatoes, even even more potatoes, even even even more potatoes, and some roasted meats (2).

Even after a 100 or so years, Boston’s cuisine hasn’t really changed. Although eating beef and seafood is possible, residents of Boston can’t really eat the same foods over and over. For a new taste, they can eat chowder, with the main ingredient of potatoes. Adding some veggies and clams creates a greater depth of flavour.

If Jiang Hai had to eat this day in, day out, then he’ll probably lose it. But if it’s only occasionally then it’s perfectly fine. Especially the beef. To someone who loves everything beef, then even after eating the same thing for months on end, they still won’t get tired of it. Jiang Hai is just like these people, he loves everything beef.

This meal left Jiang Hai pretty satisfied. But after the meal came the business talks.

“Boss, it’s almost late fall. If we don’t buy cows soon then it’ll be too late. We also need to hire more cowboys to handle all the cows. When should we get started?” Robins pointed out the things that came first on the priority list.

Notes

1. Think of it this way: during school you lived in the dorms since you’re poor and broke, but when you got rich and renovated your house, the result is a house that again looks like your dorm building. How would you feel?
2. Would you like to have fries with that? Kai: and potato gravy