094 Thoughts on Buying a House (Bug Fix)

Guan Yuehe ran so fast that she didn't even remember to pick up the invitation that Gu Mannian had sent.

Jiang Guiying could only make one trip to deliver it to her.

When Gu Yu turned one year old, Gu Mannian and Guan Yuehua originally wanted to hold the celebration in their new house. However, it would take some time for the people in the house to move out and for the house to be repainted. Guan Yuehua also had a lot of schoolwork to do. After discussing it, they decided to invite a few tables at a state-run restaurant outside.

"How is Grandma's health?" Guan Yuehe asked casually as she put away the invitation.

"That's just how it is. I'm getting old, and I have a lot of health problems."

Seeing that Jiang Guiying's expression wasn't good, she blinked and guessed, "Did your uncle ask you to go and help?"

"...Are you a tapeworm in my stomach?" Jiang Guiying found the remark funny, and it was even funnier when she saw her little girl grimacing in disgust at her analogy.

Then he sighed and said, "I told him I didn't have time. He said that even God has no right to interfere. Everyone says that every brick and tile in the house is left to the son, just so the son can take care of the elderly. When I have time, I'll go back to visit, buy some food and drinks, and take care of the elderly. That's their responsibility, not mine."

Having said that, Jiang Guiying continued, "Your father and I helped your eldest brother get married and even gave him a job. The house will be left to your younger brother, and taking care of him in his old age is also their responsibility."

Guan Yuehe raised an eyebrow and said "oh." There was still a long way to go, so she shouldn't think about it anymore.

He asked jokingly, "Did you fall out with my older brother and sister-in-law? Are you not going to give them the house?"

"What do you mean by falling out? Your father and I have helped them out quite a bit."

Jiang Guiying added, "Your eldest brother got two bottles of Moutai liquor from outside to give as a gift to the housing management department, hoping to finalize the housing allocation as soon as possible."

“They’ve been allocated housing. Given the family’s situation, Aiguo won’t be able to apply for housing allocation anymore, and the family’s house won’t be allocated to your older brother.”

Guan Yuehe didn't care how the house was divided, nor did she want to get involved. She turned around and said, "When you chat with the older folks, please keep an eye out for houses for sale. They're too expensive for me."

The issue of elderly care and housing allocation suddenly shifted to buying a house, and Jiang Guiying's mind almost couldn't process it.

"Buy a house? Who's buying it? You're buying it?" Jiang Guiying asked in a series of shocked questions as soon as she came to her senses.

She interacted with and associated with workers and their families from state-owned factories. Putting aside everything else, in terms of housing, which family didn't rely on their work unit to provide them with housing?

Even if they don't have a house for the time being, they will just wait until their work unit allocates a house to them.

Without a house, she would only think about finding someone to rent a place; she had never heard anyone mention buying a house.

Guan Yuehe quickly covered her mouth, reminding her to keep her voice down.

"If I graduate and am assigned to another company, the apartment I'm living in now will be taken back, right?"

Seeing Jiang Guiying nod, Guan Yuehe removed her hand and continued, "Other workplaces aren't like our factory. Even if I get in, I don't know how long I'll have to wait to get housing. Neither Lin Yiku nor I want to go back to his house..."

Jiang Guiying understands this. Nowadays, young people want to live separately after marriage. Living with the elderly can easily cause friction, no matter how good the relationship is.

But! Why does it have to come to buying a house?

"Then you can rent a place to live first. How much would it cost to buy a house?" Most of the houses in Ginkgo Hutong belong to the Five Star Automobile Factory. You can only exchange houses with other people and you have to pay rent every month. You can't buy or sell them.

Besides, is buying and selling houses legal now? Could I be arrested on some kind of charge?

This is the first time in most of Jiang Guiying's life that she has started to think about "buying a house".

"Don't rent a place!"

Guan Yuehe thought to herself, "How can a house that belongs to me and a house owned by my employer be the same thing? Even if I change jobs in the future, I don't have to worry about the house being taken back."

"Xie Dongxue mentioned last year that someone was selling a house near her home; a ten-square-meter bungalow sold for 1,500 yuan."

Jiang Guiying: "Hiss! How much? One thousand five?!"

Guan Yuehe explained, "Look at the current situation, there are more and more people. Not to mention the educated youth who have returned to the city in the past two years, even the original residents of the city, with several sons in each family, and then the sons getting married and having children, housing is much tighter than before. This price is still reasonable."

That makes sense, but Jiang Guiying still felt that 1,500 yuan was too expensive for a 10-square-meter apartment. Even if Yuehe and her husband earned a decent income, it would still take them two years to save up 1,500 yuan, right?

“I think you should wait until later to look into it. If it really doesn’t work out, you can rent a place. Renting a place costs at most three or four yuan a month, which is enough to rent a place for the rest of your life with the money you would have spent on buying a house. The neighborhood committee also has its own public housing for rent. I’ll look for one for you. I’m sure I can find a suitable one.”

Guan Yuehe wasn't particularly patient to begin with, and seeing that she couldn't reason with her, she said, "Then just forget about it. I'll ask someone else for me. I don't believe I can't find a suitable one."

"..." Jiang Guiying knew that her stubborn temper was acting up again.

The mother and daughter sat at opposite ends of the sofa, ignoring each other. Guan Yuehe started fiddling with the tape recorder, putting in a German cassette tape.

After a short while, Jiang Guiying couldn't help but cover her ears, "Put that foreign language down for now, it's making my head spin listening to it."

Guan Yuehe tilted her head to the side and raised her voice.

"I'm really fed up with you, you stubborn mule! Fine, fine, I don't care if you buy a house or rent one, you'll be happy once you've spent all the money you have, just like your sister who can't save any money."

Before Guan Yuehe could glare at her, Jiang Guiying quickly changed the subject, "Tell me, which place do you want to buy, how big is it, and how much money do you have available?"

Guan Yuehe's lips curved slightly. She turned off the recorder and said, "It would be best if it were near Changhu Street. It would be convenient to go anywhere if it were close by. The size should be about the same as where we live now. It shouldn't be too expensive. We can grit our teeth and borrow some money from you or our friends if necessary."

Although Jiang Guiying did not agree with her buying a house, she still agreed, "Okay, I'll think about it slowly. I'll find out more about suitable ones and let you know."

"By the way, what are Yi Ku's thoughts?" She didn't need to ask to know that most of the money for the house purchase was due to Lin Yi Ku's high salary. It would take Yue He a long time to save up that amount on her salary alone.

Guan Yuehe replied with her previous words: "One king is enough for a family, and the others just need to listen to the king."

So, it means the young couple had already discussed it beforehand.

Jiang Guiying didn't ask any more questions, but before leaving, she couldn't help but poke her forehead. "Your sister loves to dress up because she has money, and you only buy big things because you have money. I gave birth to two spendthrifts!"

Guan Yuehe snorted twice to express her dissatisfaction, "A big item can be used for many years. I broke even in four or five years. I made a lot of money!"

The mother and daughter felt they couldn't reason with each other. One walked out with a worried look on her face, while the other chased after her, reminding her, "Don't forget about my business!"

Suddenly, a woman with wavy hair stepped into the backyard, and when she opened her mouth, it was Cao Lili's voice: "Yuehe, what's the matter?"

Guan Yuehe's eyes widened, and upon closer inspection, it was indeed Cao Lili!

"Does it look good?" Cao Lili touched her head, but afraid of damaging it, she didn't reach out to touch her curly hair.

"Did you get your hair permed at the factory's barbershop today?" Guan Yuehe was about to say that Guan Aiguo's skills were pretty good, but Cao Lili had only gotten her hair permed and her lips painted red, and she looked like a completely different person.

But the next second, Cao Lili said mysteriously, "I swapped the perm invoice from the machinery factory with someone and went to the machinery factory's hair salon to get a perm."

After saying that, she said in a slightly embarrassed voice, "Your brother just finished his apprenticeship, so I'm not too comfortable letting him perm my hair."

If, like Mr. Chen at the hair salon, he didn't learn the technique properly and ruined her hair with a perm, she wouldn't know who to complain to.

Guan Yuehe immediately gave her a thumbs up, "Smart! Even if I were his own sister, I wouldn't believe his skills."

As she spoke, Guan Yuehe had Cao Lili turn around twice, sincerely praising her again and again: "The perm looks great! It suits you perfectly!"

"Really?!" Cao Lili exclaimed, as if she'd found a kindred spirit. She'd been a little apprehensive, but now her confidence had returned. "The old folks at the alley entrance said my hairstyle was a mess, but I think they're just getting senile and their eyesight isn't good! After I got this perm, I went to the supply and marketing cooperative, and a lot of the girls asked me which barbershop and which stylist did it. If you're going, go to the barbershop at the machinery factory, look for Young Master Huang, make sure it's the young one. There's an Old Master Huang... no way!"

"Haha, great!"

Aunt Zhao rushed back from outside, and when she saw Cao Lili, she looked her over again and again before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

"Those gossipers are talking nonsense. I thought it had turned into something ugly, but it looks alright to me."

Cao Lili also breathed a sigh of relief. She had just decided to follow her colleague's trendy hairstyle on a whim. After finishing the haircut, she was both happy and worried, fearing that her new hairstyle would cause conflict at home.

Aunt Zhao hurriedly asked Cao Lili, "Are you also going to get your hair permed by Aiguo?"

Upon learning that it wasn't true, Aunt Zhao understood, "No wonder!"

Glancing at Guan Yuehe beside her, Aunt Zhao praised her for being smart, saying that it was right of her not to go to the hair salon to join the fun.

"You wouldn't believe it until you go. There was a woman who started crying halfway through getting her hair permed, saying she got it wrong. She wanted big curls, and they did it for her, but then she realized big curls didn't look good and insisted on getting a different stylist to redo it. As a result, today, besides your brother, only Master Chen was there as a hairdresser. That woman was crying so hard that the roof of the hair salon was about to fall off."

“His boyfriend was going to beat up your brother, but luckily there were a lot of us neighbors who stopped him.” Aunt Zhao said irritably, pulling up her sleeve. “Look, he scratched me, and now my sleeve is all snagged.”

Everyone is both pitiful and funny: the woman who got her hair permed wrong, Guan Aiguo who encountered a customer going crazy as soon as he opened his business, and the neighbors who suffered an undeserved misfortune.

Guan Yuehe almost couldn't help but laugh.

Not content with complaining to her parents at home, she also came to the No. 2 courtyard to complain to her second sister and brother-in-law.

Not only did he not receive any comfort, but he also saw his second sister watching TV and laughing uncontrollably.

Enraged, he ran back to Courtyard No. 3.

Although Guan Aiguo received complaints on the very first day he offered his perming service, other customers helped him spread the word at the car factory: "Master Guan at the barbershop is good at perming hair."

Now things are really messed up. The car factory issued a hundred hair perming invoices at once, and Guan Aiguo went to work early in the morning and late at night every day, and the first thing he did when he got to work was get his hair permed.

The more heat treatments you do, the better your skills become, your reputation improves, and the factory issues more heat treatment invoices... This can be considered a positive cycle.

Lin Yiku noticed that she had praised Cao Lili's hairstyle several times, so she asked her if she wanted to get a perm too.

Guan Yuehe immediately shook her head, "My sister said that some colleges in the school do not allow students to perm their hair, and if they don't change their hair back, they will be punished. I'd better be honest."

Regardless of what might happen after starting school, there isn't a single woman with permed hair at the Zhuoyue Garment Factory yet.

Of course, the main reason is that the barbershop of Zhuoyue Garment Factory has not kept up with the pace of large factories and does not offer perming services for the time being.

—

In early July, Gu Mannian and Guan Yuehua celebrated Gu Yu's first birthday, inviting relatives and friends to a state-run restaurant in Changhu Street for a meal, which included five tables.

The state-run restaurant in Changhu Street finally got a new head chef. Although he's still not as good as the original master chef, he's better than the previous one.

Neighbors in Yinxing Hutong and the clothing factory's residential compound privately said that Guan Yuehua and her husband spent money extravagantly, and even guessed how much money they had saved.

But no one dared to approach Guan Yuehua directly.

After finishing their meal, Guan Yuehua carried Gu Yu back to Ginkgo Alley and went directly to Guan Yuehe's house.

"You have so much money you don't know what to do with it?" Guan Yuehua took out a thick red envelope from her bag, which contained a full ten yuan.

Guan Yuehe waved her hand, "Lin Yi and I went to great lengths to have a pair of silver bracelets made for us, but we didn't include any money in them."

Guan Yuehua was now the one who was stunned. She carefully recalled the circumstances of receiving the gift, and her feelings became complicated.

"What do you think it means that my elder brother and sister-in-law gave Gu Yu such a big red envelope?"

Guan Yuehua was very self-aware. In the years before she got married, her relationship with her elder brother and sister-in-law could not be described as "tense". In any case, they disliked her, and she did not like them either. After she got married, they had even less contact, and their sibling relationship was very thin.

People's lives are better now than a few years ago, but when giving gifts, people still only give one or two yuan, at most five yuan.

Her parents gave her five yuan. Gu Mannian's parents were different; they felt that Gu Mannian hadn't helped them much, so they gave her fifty yuan.

That's why the ten yuan given by the elder brother and sister-in-law seemed so abrupt.

"Why do you care what they mean? Just take it if they give it to you." Guan Yuehe ignored Gu Yu's gesture of reaching out for a hug and said indifferently, "The house allocated to my older brother has been settled. It's in the new family compound of the car factory. You and your brother-in-law can just return the gift when the time comes."

Guan Yuehua then stopped worrying about the red envelope.

"Hold her for a while." Guan Yuehua directly stuffed Gu Yu into her arms, finally freeing up her hands.

"...With guys like you, how can I expect you to take care of my kids in the future?"

Instead of answering, Guan Yuehua asked, "Are you thinking of buying a house?"

Seeing her surprised expression, Guan Yuehua said, "Mom carried Guyu around asking if there were any houses for sale nearby during the day. She said she was asking for a relative. I knew it was you as soon as I guessed."

Guan Yuehe pouted, hugged Gu Yu with her back to her, and whispered to Gu Yu, "Your mother has a dog's nose."

Guan Yuehua didn't hear her words and said again, "If you want to look, go to the alley next to the department store on Changhu Street. Most of the houses there are small courtyards, which are not too expensive and are enough for you to stay in."

"How much?"

“A friend of mine inquired about it, and a small courtyard of about 70 square meters costs around 18,000 yuan.”

Guan Yuehe suddenly lifted Gu Yu up and asked, "How much can a child like this fetch?"

Guan Yuehua was puzzled.

"Let me see if I pawn Guyu and add my family's savings, and if that's enough to buy half a small courtyard."

Gu Yu thought her aunt was playing with her, and happily kicked her legs.

Guan Yuehua stared intently at Guan Yuehe, making sure she wasn't joking, before feigning shock, "Aren't you very good at saving money?"

Then she followed Guan Yuehe's finger to look at the things in the room, and then realized that she was overthinking it.

No matter how much you save, you can't keep up with the spending. Besides, not everyone can earn nearly a hundred yuan a month like an eighth-level skilled worker in a factory.

Guan Yuehua cleared her throat. "I'll have your brother-in-law ask someone to inquire about other places for you."

Guan Yuehe immediately said, "It would be best if it were in Changhu Street, about the same size as my current house. Anything over five thousand is out of the question; even if I sold my house, I still couldn't afford it."

"I know." Guan Yuehua glared at her. "Hide your savings well and don't flaunt them."

Guan Yuehe wanted to praise her for her brilliant foresight. Could it be that she had predicted someone would ask her for money recently?

The day before yesterday, a young male colleague from the factory office ran into her in the hallway. He hesitated for a long time before finally asking to borrow five hundred yuan from her.

It startled her at the time. Did it mean that her forehead had "Pre-payment of wages department of finance department of Zhuoyue Garment Factory" written on it?

Let alone if we're not particularly close, even relatives and friends would hesitate to lend fifty yuan.

She told him he had no savings and that if he had any difficulties, he should go to the factory management. It wasn't like they'd never advanced a year's salary before.

She didn't ask any further questions at the time, even though the loan didn't go through.

"What did the factory say? Did they offer him an advance on his salary?"

"The factory leaders just found out about the news and will probably hold a meeting to discuss how to punish him. I heard that he might be fired."

"They really don't know how lucky they are. They got a spot to return to the city and started working in the factory less than a year ago. They thought they could do anything, but now look what's happened. They're probably going to lose their jobs."

Guan Yuehe shook her head, truly unable to understand what these people were thinking.

Only a morning had passed when I heard in the afternoon that someone wanted to buy the man's job. The offer was 1,000 yuan, which was just enough for him to pay off his gambling debts.

When Guan Yuehe got home from get off work, Aunt Ding came to her door and questioned her: "Your factory sells jobs, why didn't you tell us?"

"You're crazy!" Guan Yuehe slammed the door shut. The old lady looked abnormal, and she wasn't going to mess with her. What if something happened and she blamed her?

But this old lady was really good at cursing. Guan Yuehe pushed open the bedroom window and shouted towards the No. 3 courtyard, "Mom! Mom! Come and help me curse her!"

Otherwise, she might not be able to resist rolling up her sleeves and going out to fight.

Before long, Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang came over aggressively, scolding Aunt Ding mercilessly. Aunt Ding let out a scream and looked like she was about to faint. Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang each supported one side and pinched Aunt Ding's waist hard.

Hey! I feel refreshed again!

The farce ended with Aunt Ding unable to win either arguments or fights, and in the end, she could only slip away.

"Mom, what's gotten into Aunt Ding?" Normally, no one would dare to be so arrogant in front of her, but today she's acting like she's on steroids.

Both mothers looked over at the same time, and Guan Yuehe fawned over them, busily making them sugar water, and said with a smile, "You must be tired from talking, have some water and get some fresh air."

He casually picked up a fan from the table and fanned each of them evenly.

"I heard this afternoon that someone in your factory was selling a job, so I went around asking people for money. I had a fight with Ding Laoda's wife at home. Before I could even talk to anyone about buying the job, I heard that the job had been sold. I was so angry that I went crazy at home."

Guan Yuehe knew without asking that Aunt Ding wanted to buy Ding Xuewu a job.

Although the college entrance exam doesn't start until July 20th, anyone with eyes can tell that Ding Xuewu definitely won't pass, given his appearance. Aunt Ding has probably resigned herself to her fate; she's given up on him taking the exam and is thinking of buying him a job so he can stay in the city.

I don't know what Aunt Ding was thinking. Ding Xuewu still has a rural household registration, and to transfer his job at the factory, he needs an urban household registration. Unless the factory's personnel department is willing to give him a quota for returning to the city as an educated youth.

If it were that easy, wouldn't she have helped her second brother seize the opportunity to go to the city and become a worker?

Aunt Ding's commotion provided the neighbors in Ginkgo Alley with more gossip to talk about.

Everyone is wondering if the guy from the Zhuoyue Garment Factory was scammed by that casino in Ginkgo Alley that has yet to be found.

It seemed to be a matter concerning the Zhuoyue Garment Factory, but when the police from the local police station inquired, they discovered that it might be related to the Wuxing Automobile Factory.

But Officer Song clarified a rumor in the alley: the casino wasn't located in Ginkgo Alley, and the dealers weren't workers from the Five Star Automobile Factory. At least not on the surface.

This group of people always changed their gambling locations, so if no one provided any clues, it would be difficult for the police to find them anywhere.

Wu Jiawang angrily said at home, "I've already said that I didn't get involved in gambling, but that matchmaker Liu always talks badly about me to others whenever she sees me pass by!"

His brother, filled with righteous indignation, chimed in, "Find Aunt Yuehe and beat her up!"

Wu Jiawang immediately chickened out and decided to give up.

Some people had a bold idea after this: Why didn't I think of going to those gamblers to buy jobs?

"Dream on!" Guan Yuehe shattered their illusions. "The results of our factory's investigation are out. We've asked the police to help recover the 1,000 yuan used to buy the job. Those who participated in gambling will be fired! We'll hire other people to fill the vacant positions."

A gambler's job cannot be sold, but his own house can be sold.

However, Jiang Guiying did not tell Guan Yuehe that there was no house that met her requirements.

Although I haven't found a suitable house, there is still good news.

"The casino was raided! More than fifty people were arrested! They even caught a deputy director of a workshop."

The news was so intriguing that it didn't cause much of a stir in the alleyways even after the college entrance exams ended, and few families noticed when Lin Sitian finally returned from medical school.

"You promised to come back in early July, but I waited until the end of July!" Guan Yuehe handed her the biggest and sweetest-looking piece of watermelon. "Dr. Lin, you've worked hard studying. Have a sweet piece to nourish yourself."

"The real hardship begins after the studies are over," lamented Lin Sitian, who returned to work at the car factory workers' hospital the very next day.

"I didn't notice just now, but you have a lot more stuff in your room. It's too tidy; at first glance, it looks like decorations."

"It's all thanks to your brother's diligence; he tidied it up well."

Lin Sitian immediately moved closer and sighed, "It's a pity that you and my brother haven't had a baby yet. Otherwise, I would personally go to my brother's house to do some family planning work."

"Did the factory's women's federation allocate quotas to doctors?"

Although the meaning is similar, it's just that Yuehe says it in a particularly funny way!

As soon as Lin Yiku entered the No. 2 courtyard, he heard his sister laughing loudly.