The third apartment showing I had was with Sheng, a fluent English speaking Shanghainese guy with a real estate business in the city. After a long conversation about the real estate market and expat culture, I told him bluntly that I didn’t want any of the apartments. Instead of being upset, he asked me if I wanted to grab a beer with him and his wife. So I hopped on the back of his miniscooter 电瓶车 and we tore off through the streets.
We met up with his wife, a Russian transplant who runs a travel agency in Shanghai, at the most opulent branch of WeWork that I have ever seen. A high ceiling warehouse with a presentation area, ping pong and free beer, surrounded by 4 stories of offices and lit by hanging industrial lights.
We drank 3 beers each on an empty stomach and played ping pong with a couple goofy Chinese kids. After an hour or two of talking, they asked if I wanted to join them for dinner. We ate qingzhen 清真 food (chinese halal) and talked about business and culture late into the night.
