Chapter 73 House Viewing
Shi Tiesheng had known Lin Weimin for only half a year. During this period, he published two short stories in magazines and wrote a lot of other odds and ends, but they were not published.
Let's take a look at Lin Weimin's works in the past six months. Not to mention "Eula's Death" and "Insidious", "The Cliff" is a novel of 200,000 words, and the scripts he wrote for the Art Theater must be at least 20,000 to 30,000 words. Such efficiency is really enviable!
Lin Weimin was chatting with Shi Tiesheng in the house. Their family used a cast iron stove and the wooden windows were a bit leaky, so the temperature in the house was not high. Shi's father came over and added some coal, fearing that they would be cold in the house.
"Oh, by the way. Tiesheng, are there any houses for sale near your place?"
"You want to buy? Why not buy a building?"
"How can a building be as comfortable as a courtyard house?"
Shi Lan interrupted, "What's so comfortable about it? It's not even convenient to go to the toilet. I have to run outside the yard. My butt is freezing in winter."
Lin Weimin said: "Isn't it enough to just spend money to build a toilet?"
"The yard is not our own." Shi Lan muttered.
"Weimin, it seems that you are planning to buy a house with a private entrance and yard?"
"yes!"
Shi Tiesheng and his sister immediately cast envious glances at Lin Weimin.
They just moved into the house near the Yonghe Palace this year. The two rooms in total are less than 40 square meters, and it took Shi Tiesheng two years to build it in his wheelchair.
Lin Weimin's request to buy a house with a private courtyard was beyond the brother and sister's understanding.
"Brother Lin, it costs a lot of money to buy a yard!"
"Hey, I'm just asking first. After all, it's impossible to find the right one so quickly. I can't afford something too expensive."
Lin Weimin's words made the Shi brothers and sisters feel a little better. Shi Tiesheng said, "Now that you mention it, it reminds me that Aunt Li's relative's house next door is about to be sold. It seems to be a house with a private entrance and courtyard."
"Yeah?"
Lin Weimin became interested when he heard this. He pushed Shi Tiesheng and knocked on the door of the next room.
When Aunt Li heard that Lin Weimin was here to ask about the house, she immediately and enthusiastically took him to see the house.
"Aunt Li, this place is 20 miles from Caishikou. Let's wait until we have lunch before going there."
"Tie Sheng is right. Look at me. I'm so anxious that I've forgotten the time."
After returning to Shi Tiesheng's home, Shi Lan ate the mutton hotpot brought by Lin Weimin for lunch. She was busy like a bee, but she was willing to do it.
She now particularly looks forward to Lin Weimin's visit. Every time Brother Lin comes, their family can have an improved meal.
It is very convenient to light a stove and eat mutton hotpot in winter, and everyone sat around the table and had a delicious lunch.
Lin Weimin originally planned to go house hunting with Aunt Li alone, but Shi Tiesheng was worried and wanted to go with him. He knew that Lin Weimin was from another place, and it would be troublesome if there was something wrong with the house and he couldn't find it.
After more than an hour of struggling, they finally arrived at a yard near Caishikou.
This is a courtyard house with one entrance. Excluding the toilet and coal shed, there are 7 rooms of various sizes, three main rooms and two side rooms on each side. Including the yard, the area is less than 200 square meters.
The owner of the house is named Zheng, and he is Aunt Li’s distant nephew.
He introduced that the house was bought by his grandfather, who spent more than five hundred dollars in the 1920s, and then spent more than two hundred dollars to renovate the house. In the end, the total amount including taxes and agency fees was more than eight hundred dollars.
Lin Weimin did some calculations and found that when the great man was an administrator at the Yan University Library, he earned eight yuan a month, which he could buy in more than eight years without eating or drinking.
The courtyard house is rather shabby and the decoration inside is also extremely old. Even if Lin Weimin wants to buy it, he will have to spend a considerable amount of money on decoration in the future. However, the overall courtyard is relatively neat, so he can ask about the price first.
After looking at the house, Lin Weimin took the initiative to ask: "Brother Zheng, how much do you plan to sell this house for?"
"Six thousand dollars!"
Lin Weimin and Shi Tiesheng looked at each other. This price was extremely expensive.
"It's too expensive! It's too expensive! Are you trying to rip me off?" Before the two could say anything, Aunt Li got angry and said, "I brought the person here. How can you charge so much?"
"Aunt, my price is really not expensive. The two rooms next to us cost a thousand yuan. I have seven rooms, a toilet, a coal shed, and this yard. Six thousand yuan is a fair price."
Lin Weimin didn't know whether Aunt Li agreed with her nephew. The price was much higher than he expected. Most importantly, the price was not in line with the house's location.
The area around Caishikou belongs to the South City. There is an old saying in Yanjing, "East City is rich, West City is expensive, North City is poor, and South City is cheap." This saying was first seen in the book "Tianzhi Ouwen" by scholar Zhenjun in the late Qing Dynasty.
"There is a saying in the capital: 'The east is rich and the west is noble', because most nobles live in the west city, and warehouses are in the east city."
At that time, all the residents of West City were princes and nobles. The palaces of princes, dukes, beile and beizi were concentrated here and their status was respected, so it was said that "West City is noble".
The country's warehouses were all located in Dongcheng. At that time, there were thirteen large warehouses in Yanjing, seven of which were located in Dongcheng. And because of the large number of warehouses, Dongcheng also became the financial center of the capital.
The four famous Heng banks in Beijing at that time, Hengxing, Henghe, Hengli and Hengyuan, were all located in Dongcheng. In the late Qing Dynasty, foreigners set up many banks here, such as the famous HSBC and Citibank, so it was called "Dongchengfu".
The North City in the Qing Dynasty is the area around the Bell and Drum Tower today. It is a residential area where most poor people lived, so it was called "Poor North City".
As for the saying "South City is cheap", it is because there was an overpass in South City back then. It was once the most prosperous and lively entertainment venue for civilians in Yanjing, and it was also the gathering place for countless people from all walks of life, including jugglers and actors. These jugglers and actors who gathered there were all engaged in cheap occupations, so naturally, South City was given the nickname "cheap".
"Brother Zheng, your price is too high!"
Lin Weimin shook his head at the landlord, without even the desire to bargain, and prepared to push Shi Tiesheng away.
"Oh, don't worry, you should bargain for a lower price!"
Lin Weimin had no intention of staying and went straight out of the yard.
Aunt Li was angry at her nephew, "I finally found you a buyer for a house, but you just gave him a price and drove him away."
"Doesn't this person know how to bargain when buying things?"
"Nonsense! Do you think this is a street sale? People are sincere in buying a house. Four thousand dollars is too much for your shabby house, but you just ask for six thousand. People think you don't want to sell it! I won't bother with your family's shabby affairs anymore."
Aunt Li left angrily after saying this. After leaving the yard, Lin Weimin said politely, "Aunt Li, I'm really sorry to bother you today. It's a wasted trip."
"It's okay. My nephew is asking for a price that's ridiculous. I can't stand it."
"Haha, it's okay. In business, it's all about mutual consent."
(End of this chapter)
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