Chapter 128: A Series of Unfortunate Events

  "Teacher Shi, I'm afraid this time we're going to have to trouble you."

  After Liu Qingshu introduced both parties, Chu Chen stepped forward and greeted him respectfully. Previously, from Liu Qingshu, he learned that Professor Shi was a highly respected figure in the field of architectural design and generally did not take on private projects.

  This time, he was able to invite him over, firstly because Liu Qingshu was familiar with him, and secondly, he also wanted to accumulate some design experience for the two students he brought with him. Therefore, Chu Chen would not neglect him either emotionally or rationally.

  "Xiao Chu, don't be polite, this villa of yours is really nice, such a large area is quite rare. Earlier I heard from Xiao Liu that you're planning to renovate the entire courtyard? That's equivalent to designing a small garden, and I must thank you on behalf of my students."

  Because Liu Lao's place is not far away, it only took a few steps to get to Chu Chen's villa. Professor Shi looked around outside and thought this place was very good. His two students had excited expressions on their faces, while the other was extremely envious of Chu Chen for having such a large villa.

  "Teacher Shi, you're being too polite..."

  Chu Chen opened the large gate and then invited Liu Qinshu and Professor Shi in.

  Next, Chu Chen led them from the front gate to the back of the villa, carefully examining every detail. Professor Shi looked at each detail in the courtyard while directing the male student to take photos at key locations.

  After a moment of silence, Professor Shi spoke up and said: "Little Chu, tell me about your thoughts?"

  "Teacher Shi, my idea is to transform this place into a lush and natural environment, similar to Liu's place, where one can experience the serene and leisurely atmosphere of a small bridge, flowing water, and a peaceful village life."

  Professor Shi nodded and thought for a moment before saying, "Well, I understand what you mean. So, do you want to renovate just the front yard or also include the surrounding area of the villa?"

  "If possible, I would like to renovate the back as well, but if renovated, is there a way to keep these trees? After all, they have been growing for so many years. It's a pity to remove them!"

  Professor Shi smiled and said: "Xiao Chu, don't worry, these are all okay, but in that case, the price of renovation will be more expensive."

  "Teacher Shi, what's the specific price then?"

  Professor Shi thought for a moment and said: "I estimate that the renovation of the entire courtyard will cost around 4 to 5 million, at most 5 million."

  Before Chu Chen could respond, Liu Qiu Shu exclaimed in surprise: "Ah, Teacher Shi, why is it so expensive now?"

  Professor Shi smiled and said, "Little Liu, you're comparing it to Liu Lao's side, right? It's been over a decade since then, and the materials have become much more expensive. As for labor costs, let's not even mention it. Moreover, Xiaochu's area is larger, and I've calculated based on using good materials. If you think it's too expensive, we can use slightly inferior materials."

  Chu Chen now has nearly 45 million in his bank card, after deducting the cost of the house and renovation, he still has a lot left over. He hastily said: "No, Teacher Shi, let's just do it as you said. If we use inferior materials, to put it bluntly, the maintenance costs will be enough to cover the cost of this renovation in the future. I'd rather get it done all at once."

  Professor Shi nodded and said, "Alright, you can rest assured of the quality of the materials at that time. I can guarantee it for three years. Now, let me have my student draw a rough sketch, and if you're not satisfied with it later, we'll discuss further."

  Chu Chen naturally couldn't wait any longer, and hurriedly led everyone into the villa. With Liu Qinshu's help, they quickly cleaned up the tables and chairs, and handed out the drinks that had been prepared earlier.

  "Thank you!"

  Professor Shi took the drink handed over by Chu Chen, took a sip, and then pointed to the female student who took out the painting board for a few words. Then he said to Chu Chen: "Little Chu, let them paint first, we'll take a look at the interior part."

  "Shouldn't we wait for them?"

  Professor Shi chuckled and said: "They are in charge of the design of the courtyard, I'm here, I have to do something, otherwise it's like hanging a sheep's head and selling dog meat."

  Chu Chen hehe smiled and took Professor Shi to look at each room one by one.

  Professor Shi looked very carefully, every room was carefully measured and re-measured, he was extremely focused on each one, not bothering at all. This made Chu Chen extremely respectful, perhaps it was thanks to this attitude that he could achieve what he has today, this attitude is also what Chu Chen needs to learn from.

  However, when they saw the last guest room, Professor Shi, who was carefully checking a closet, suddenly frowned. Chu Chen, who was standing aside, felt uneasy and didn't know what was wrong with this place.

  "Professor Shi, is there something wrong?"

  Professor Shi listened for a while with his ear against the wardrobe and then said seriously to Chu Chen, "Little Chu, go and inform Little Liu quickly. I suspect there are termites here."

  "Termites?!"

  Termites are one of the world's five major pests and are distributed in all six continents except Antarctica.

  Termites are social insects that live in colonies, are afraid of light, and live for a long time in the dark environment of their nests and tunnels. They have a strict organization, a fine division of labor, and a very strong destructive power. They can eat all plants and some animal-based materials. At the same time, the formic acid secreted by their bodies can also corrode steel bars, causing concrete to change its properties.

  Termite damage to buildings, especially brick-wood structures and wooden buildings, due to their hidden destruction within the wood structure or destruction of load-bearing parts, often causes houses to suddenly collapse, resulting in property losses and casualties, with extremely great harm.

  Due to the secretive nature of termites, except for specific seasons when they fly out, they never engage in open-air activities. Their nests are often underground and inside objects, making them generally difficult for people to discover. By the time signs appear, termite damage is already quite severe.

  Chu Chen had previously seen a report in the Beijing Daily that, according to authoritative statistics, there were currently 8,000 rooms and 250,000 square meters of bungalows in Beijing that had been damaged by termites. He didn't expect to encounter this himself, so he rushed into the living room to tell Liu Qingshu about the termite problem.

  "What? You have termites here?"

  The three people in the living room heard that there were termites and their faces changed greatly. Liu Qingshu hurriedly asked, "Xiao Chu, can you be sure that there are really termites here?"

  "I don't know either, Professor Shi told me there were termites and asked me to get some insecticide for him."

  "That can't be wrong, Professor Shi said so, he must have confidence in it. This matter needs to be notified to the property management."

  As she spoke, Liu Qinchu hastily took out her mobile phone and called the property management office. After finishing the call, she let out a sigh of relief and said: "Xiao Chu, don't worry, the property management will be here soon, let's go wait at the entrance for a while."

  The property management side is very efficient. In less than three minutes, a property manager with two staff members rushed over.

  After arriving, Chu Chen simply said a few words and then took them together into that guest room.

  "One, two, three!"

  According to Professor Shi's description, the two staff members basically confirmed that there were indeed termites in the wardrobe. After discussing it, they opened the wardrobe door and one of them sprayed termite-killing medicine inside, then quickly closed the wardrobe door and covered it for a while.

  After a few minutes, one of the staff members opened the closet door and found a white ant nest in the drawer. One of the workers carefully took out the drawer and put it into a bag they were carrying with them. Another person sprayed the medicine again for safety reasons.

  After waiting for a while, the two of them began to carefully inspect the wardrobe and around the room. After checking this room, they also thoroughly searched every nook and cranny of the villa from top to bottom, inside and out, but did not find any signs of termite activity. This result made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

  Professor Shi said: "This should be a termite infestation. Fortunately, these seem to have just moved in, which is an unfortunate blessing."

  The species of the genus Coptotermes is the most destructive termite species that damages buildings, characterized by strong dispersal ability, large colonies and rapid damage, which can cause huge losses in a short period. It's also lucky for Chu Chen to have invited Professor Shi, who has studied this aspect, otherwise, when the problem is discovered, the house may be hollowed out.

  Chu Chen's heart still had lingering fear at the same time, and he said something strange: "Why do I have termites? Could it be that the previous owner brought them in?"

  One of the staff members replied seriously: "It shouldn't be, I saw long-winged adult termites in the termite mound, which means that these termites flew over, so it's necessary to thoroughly inspect the entire villa area to eliminate hidden dangers."

  Generally speaking, there are three ways for termites to spread: "flying", "crawling" and "carrying".

  "Swarmers" refer to winged adult termites that fly into buildings, survive and grow for several years, eventually becoming new termite colonies.

  Termite colonies produce a large number of winged reproductives, which leave the parent colony in spring and summer to establish new colonies.

  The term "crawl" refers to termites moving from underground through soil and building crevices into buildings for destructive activity.

  Through supplementary type reproduction of ants and diffusion of groups, white ants can also crawl from the nest or the original hazard to another place to find food. When conditions are suitable, white ants will move from the source to settle and build nests.

  "Carrying" refers to people unintentionally transporting termites from one place to another in various activities.

  Mainly with wooden structures, packing boxes, garden trees and other transportation, the original termite infestation and white termite colonies are carried from one place to another. When conditions are suitable, they can survive and develop in new environmental conditions and rapidly spread and expand.