Chapter 58: Go out by yourself

The two men weren't robbed; they missed the train they'd booked. They hurriedly boarded the next one, but couldn't find a seat, so they sat on the floor between two carriages, squeezing in with a few other people who also didn't have seats.

In Wang Fang's words, her legs never straightened up during the entire journey.

The moment Wang Fang got off the train, she wanted to lie down on the floor. After Li Zhiye finally dragged her home, the first thing she did was lie down on the sofa. She couldn't move at all.

Xie Mei watched Wang Fang from the side, squatted beside Wang Fang with a warm towel, and slowly wiped off the smudged makeup on her face.

"What kind of suffering has this child endured? It takes so long to go home for the New Year. I told you not to marry so far away, I told you not to marry so far away, but you just wouldn't listen."

Liu Meilan listened from the side and quickly glanced at Li Zhiye who was sitting next to her. She smiled awkwardly and tried to persuade Xie Mei: "Mom, look at what you said. This time it was just an accident. You said before that my sister married my brother-in-law, and it was a good marriage. She won't have to worry about food and clothing, and my brother-in-law will be a good wife too. Now that my brother-in-law is here, you don't praise him anymore..."

Xie Mei seemed not to hear and continued to wipe Wang Fang's face with a towel. After wiping her face, she wiped her hands, and then her neck. Only after she had wiped everything thoroughly did she notice the tears in the corners of Wang Fang's eyes.

Xie Mei squatted beside him and took a few glances. She couldn't help but felt a pang of pain in her heart, so she said to Xin Tianyi: "Tianyi, come, help me up."

Xin Tianyi helped Xie Mei up, and Xie Mei stuffed the towel into Xin Tianyi's hand, "Wash her once, and then wipe her."

Xin Tianyi hummed a sound, but before he left, he saw Xie Mei tap Wang Fang's forehead with her index finger and complained, "Serves you right!"

Wang Fang closed her eyes, shedding a few tears before she stopped being sentimental. Li Zhiye was actually very kind to her, but no matter how kind he was, he was far from home, unfamiliar with the city, and especially the language. It took Wang Fang a while to barely understand the local dialect. In short, starting over in a new city at forty wasn't as easy as she'd imagined.

She was already holding her breath, and with the unrest along the way, Wang Fang was thinking about hugging Xie Mei and crying her heart out when she got home. Just as she managed a few tears, Xie Mei told her she deserved it, and she suddenly came to her senses. This was all just her choice. She was over forty, how long could she be so pretentious? Before her tears had even dried, Wang Fang sat up.

Xin Tianyi washed the towel for her again and handed it to Wang Fang. Wang Fang took it and said, "I'd better go wash it. Your grandma must have wiped my towel like a cat."

Xin Tianyi smiled and nodded: "It really is. You should go and wash up."

Wang Fang held the towel, but her eyes did not leave Xin Tianyi. She looked at Xin Tianyi and murmured, "You seem to have grown taller and lost weight."

"It's just like what my grandma said." Xin Tianyi put his hands on Wang Fang's shoulders and pushed her to wash her face. "My hair is just a little longer, which makes me look listless. I'm not thin."

"That's good."

Wang Fang walked over to the basin and saw Wang Yuxiu approaching with a kettle. She said, "Add some more hot water."

Hot water gurgled into the basin, and Wang Fang put a towel in and washed her face thoroughly. When she was done, she called Li Zhiye, "You should wash too. You'll feel so good after washing."

The dinner was very lively. Liu Meilan and Wang Gang both tried to persuade Wang Gang to drink. Wang Gang's Mandarin was not standard, and no matter how much he pushed, he couldn't refuse a glass. Sometimes, before he even opened his mouth, he was retorted by the double act of Wang Gang and Liu Meilan, and then he had to drink obediently.

Li Zhiye drank one cup after another, not knowing how much he had consumed. When he woke up the next day, he had completely blacked out and had no recollection of how he had arrived at the guesthouse.

Wang Fang had already gotten up and was sitting on the edge of the bed looking out the window.

Li Zhiye asked dazedly, "Did I drink too much last night?"

Wang Fang heard that he had woken up, walked over, threw Li Zhiye's clothes on the bed, and urged him, "Get up quickly if you wake up, let's go check the house."

Based on a friend's introduction, Wang Fang and Li Zhiye first looked at several domestically sold houses.

This residential complex was recently built and has few residents yet. It consists of six buildings, all capped at five stories. The first four units are for sale, priced at over 400 yuan per square meter. However, with prices high and demand low, people are still hesitant about these properties. While some have viewed them, few have actually purchased them.

The two buildings at the back were for domestic sales, sold to company employees. They received a subsidy of 10,000 yuan per unit, which came to just over 200 yuan per square meter. The available sizes ranged from 70 to over 90 square meters. Of course, the friend didn't tell Wang Fang about the 10,000 yuan cheaper option, simply saying it was cheaper than the units sold abroad, but he didn't specify the exact price.

Wang Fang first looked at a 70-square-meter apartment with two bedrooms. She shook her head at Li Zhiye, "It's too small. There are too few bedrooms."

Li Zhiye agreed. After all, the house was bought for the elderly and for Tianyi to have a home. Adding Wang Fang and Li Zhiye's room, two bedrooms were too few.

Then they went to see a house of over 90 square meters. Wang Fang fell in love with it at first sight.

Li Zhiye also thought the house was well designed. The two bedrooms faced the sun, had north-south ventilation, and were located on the first floor, making access easy.

But Wang Fang turned around and shook her head at Li Zhiye, saying that it was not very good and she did not like it very much, so she should go and look for something else.

The friend was anxious. He was eager to sell the house, as he couldn't live in it in the first place and had bought it to make a profit. But he waited a long time for Wang Fang to come and see the house. Thinking that if Wang Fang left, the house would be sold out, he followed Wang Fang and kept telling her how great the house was, how convenient it was, and how close it was to schools.

Wang Fang blinked. "It's too expensive."

My friend then made up his mind: "This house is sold domestically by my company. To be honest, the company provides subsidies. If you really want it, I will give you the full subsidy. I won't make a penny."

Wang Fang looked at him and smiled: "How much is the subsidy?"

"Five thousand."

Wang Fang turned and left.

The friend jogged after Wang Fang, running all the way across a street. After another turn, they arrived at the school. The students had finished their classes and were pouring out of the school to buy snacks at the roadside shops.

"Seven thousand." The friend said cruelly.

Wang Fang looked at him. "Eight thousand. I know you gave me a ten thousand subsidy. If you can make two thousand yuan from selling the house, that's more than enough."

The friend looked at Wang Fang and said helplessly, "Good fellow, you know everything. You still want to try to trick me? Fine, eight thousand is eight thousand, take it or not."

Wang Fang high-fived her friend: "Yes. But lunch is on you."

Li Zhiye secretly asked Wang Fang: "How do you know the subsidy is 10,000?"

"I asked around. How could it be a secret?" Wang Fang pointed at the school they passed by and said to Li Zhiye with a smile, "See? This is Tianyi's school."

"So close!" Li Zhiye exclaimed, "So you've had your eye on that house for a long time!"

Wang Fang raised her eyebrows. "That's right. Were all those calls I made recently in vain?"

Li Zhiye gave a thumbs-up in admiration, "Okay, okay."

But Wang Fang said to Li Zhiye very seriously: "Let me make a deal with you first. I will pay for the house myself."