Chapter 87 Worrying about the House
If you want to buy a house, you must first find one.
But just finding a house was difficult for Si Shiyue.
Commercial housing had not yet appeared in those days, and there were few houses on the market. There was also a group of house-loving people waiting to get rich by speculating in real estate, so it was not easy for Shi Yue to buy a house.
Actually, if you want to find a house, the best way is to ask the aunties in the courtyard for help. After all, in the old city, the hutong aunties are the most well-informed. However, Shi Yue's house purchase cannot be made public. After all, if it gets out, it will be difficult to explain where the money for the house came from.
Because he couldn't ask the aunties for help, Shi Yue could only search for house information on his own. He remembered seeing a section in the newspaper at the factory that specifically registered information on house exchanges and sales. So when he arrived at the factory early that morning, the first thing he did was to pick up a pile of newspapers and study them at his seat.
He finally found the page with the information about house exchange and sale from a thick stack of newspapers, and someone else came to the office.
"Brother Shi, why are you here so early today?"
Shi Yue looked up: "Oh, it's Zhou'er. Zhou'er, you came quite early today?"
"Oh, I was so upset that I couldn't sleep. I woke up early this morning. I figured it was okay, so I came over."
Shi Yue put down the newspaper. "Hey, what are you so upset about? Didn't you say a few days ago that you were planning to marry your partner? Isn't this a good thing? What else do you have to be upset about?"
"Don't mention it, that's what bothers me."
Zhou Er pulled a chair for herself, sat down, sighed deeply, and said, "I originally planned to marry my boyfriend, but his family didn't agree with it."
Shi Yue: "Ah? Why doesn't your partner's family agree?"
Zhou'er: "It's all about the house. We only have three rooms in our house, and there are six of us squeezed in: my parents, my brother and his wife, my younger brother, and me. My girlfriend's family found out about this, and they're not happy about it. My girlfriend even asked me yesterday, asking how we're going to live after we get married. Are we going to have to continue sharing a room with my younger brother?"
Sun Guodong, who had just walked into the office, heard this and waved his hand nonchalantly, saying, "Well, that's nothing. * If your house isn't big enough, just move out with your partner and rent a place."
Zhou Er: "I think so too, but my girlfriend doesn't want to agree. She wants to live in her own house. But when it comes to buying a house, who can afford it? These days, a small bungalow costs thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. My monthly salary is only a little over 200 yuan. If I don't eat or drink, I'll have to save for more than four years to buy a house."
"Huh?" Sun Guodong was startled. He asked in disbelief, "Are houses this expensive now? I heard they weren't that expensive a while ago."
Zhou Er: "Oh, the price has gone up again. The price of this house changes every day now."
Sun Guodong shook his head: "Scary, really scary! Houses are really expensive now."
He has a house to live in, a welfare house allocated by the factory in the 1970s, a standard two-bedroom apartment in a tube-shaped building. Although his children have grown up now, there are only three of them in the family, and they still have enough space to live in, so he just said this with emotion.
Zhou'er is different. He is really worried about the house. He can't get married without a house. He wants to buy a house, but he can't afford it.
Shi Yue patted Zhou'er's shoulder with empathy.
We are all people who are worried about housing!
After a while, other people from the security department came to work. When they saw Zhou'er with a worried look on his face, they all asked him about it with concern.
But after knowing that he was worried about the house, they all fell silent.
If it was something else, they could still offer some advice, but in this case, what could they offer? Could they possibly ask everyone to buy Zhou'er a house? After all, none of us were wealthy, and we might not even have a house ourselves, let alone help Zhou'er.
Everyone could only offer him some bland words of comfort.
"Hey, Zhou'er, don't be anxious. Talk it over with your partner. You two have been together for so long and have developed feelings for each other. How can she refuse to marry you just because you don't have a house?"
"Yes, Zhou'er, you should discuss it with your partner. At worst, you can just rent a place to live first."
"Zhou'er, I don't think you need to be anxious. Just wait a little longer. Maybe the factory will build welfare housing in a while."
Zhou Er was startled, a hint of joy flashed across her face as she hurriedly asked, "Zhang San, you mean welfare housing? Hey, do you have any news? Are we going to build welfare housing in our factory?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Zhang San. Feeling their burning gazes, Zhang San quickly explained, "Well, what kind of information could I possibly have? Besides, if the welfare housing project were really decided, with so many people in the upper echelons, I wouldn't be the first to know. I just said it casually."
"You just said it casually. I thought you knew some gossip."
"That's right, I was happy for nothing."
"But then again, our factory hasn't had any welfare housing for a few years. We agreed that the first batch would be distributed first, and the second batch would come soon. But, it's been three years now, and there's still no sign of the second batch of welfare housing."
"That's right. The piece of land they said they were going to build welfare housing on is still barren. Not to mention, the wild vegetables there actually grow quite well. My mom went there several times in the spring to dig up dandelions and ash weeds."
Zhou Er: "What's the point of having wild vegetables growing well? What I want is a house. Our factory leaders also want houses. They all have houses to live in, and they are all high-end buildings. But they don't think about ordinary workers like us who have no houses to live in."
Zhou'er's words were full of resentment, and Shi Yue's face changed instantly. He patted Zhou'er's shoulder and said, "What are you talking about? Zhou'er, you too, don't say anything."
Zhao Hui also felt that what Zhou Er said was inappropriate. It was normal to have resentment towards the leader, but you couldn't say that so carelessly in the office. Their office door was not closed. If someone heard it and spread it, wouldn't it be over?
Of course, this does not mean that leaders are petty and will get angry over a single word.
But there were so many people in the office, all listening to Zhou'er's resentful complaints without saying a word. If the boss knew about this, wouldn't he be suspicious? Wouldn't he think that the security department all agreed with Zhou'er?
"Ahem." Zhao Hui coughed lightly and winked at Zhang San at the door, asking him to close the door. He then said to everyone, "Alright, alright, it's late now. Stop chatting and get back to work. Who's on duty today? Hurry up, it's time to go out on patrol, right?"
Shi Yue chimed in: "Ah, yes, patrol. It's time to go out on patrol. Liu'er, are you and Zhang San going on patrol today?"
Zhang San: "Yes, yes, let's go Liu'er..."
Zhang San and Liu Er went out on patrol, and the rest of the people in the office also dispersed and did not continue the previous topic.
Zhou Er, who had sparked the controversy, realized after this incident that what he had just said was inappropriate. He touched his nose and sat back down at his desk awkwardly.
Shi Yue sighed, returned to his desk and continued reading the newspaper.
In any case, whether he got welfare housing or not was irrelevant to him. After all, he had only been working at the machinery factory for less than two months. Even if welfare housing was allocated, it would be based on years of work, so there was no way he would be included in the queue. In addition, the house he currently lived in was originally part of the machinery factory's family compound. Although it was originally allocated as a welfare benefit by Shi Yue's father, it was also a house owned by the machinery factory. With that room, he couldn't be included in the housing allocation.
So he should just prepare to buy a house himself.
Shi Yue flipped through the newspapers all day and wrote down several good-looking properties in the newspapers, preparing to visit them one by one after get off work.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, the bell for the end of get off work at the machinery factory rang on time. Shi Yue was the first person to rush out of the office. He strode home quickly, preparing to go out and look at houses after finishing his meal.
Among the houses he had noted down, there was one not far from their compound, so it would be a good time to go and take a look tonight.
Shi Yue walked home quickly. When he reached the gate of the compound, he heard a barbell-like, oh, I said it wrong, it was a silver bell-like laughter coming from inside the compound.
"Hahahahahahaha, I knew it. Jiang Ling, you're so pretty, people will definitely be willing to hire you!"
Jiang Ling: "I still want to thank Aunt Ma. If you hadn't introduced me, I wouldn't have found this job. Oh, and Aunt Gao and Aunt Li, thank you too."
When Shi Yue stepped into the house, he saw Ma Yulan, Jiang Ling, and the other aunties in the middle of the yard. He raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile, "Hey, Aunt Ma, what's the good news today? I heard your laughter just now outside the yard."
Aunt Ma: "There is a good thing, but it's not your aunt or me, it's Jiang Ling."
Shi Yue: “Oh?”
Aunt Ma: "Jiang Ling found a job!"
In fact, Shi Yue almost understood what was going on when he was just outside the door, but he still put on a surprised expression: "Found a job? Congratulations!"
He looked at Jiang Ling and said, "It's great that you found a job! Excuse me, what kind of job is it?"
Jiang Ling pursed her lips, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, and she smiled and said, "She's a clerk in a clothing store. Aunt Ma and Aunt Gao introduced her to me, and Aunt Li accompanied me to the interview."
Shi Yue: "Huh? The whole hospital is going to fight together?"
Aunt Gao: "Well, it wasn't the whole hospital that joined in, it was just a coincidence. Old Ma was looking for a job for Jiang Ling and heard about the Meimei Clothing Store hiring. I happened to be familiar with the owner of that store, so they always referred me to anyone who needed their clothes altered, so I helped make the introduction. As for the guy who went for the interview, he just had nothing better to do and shamelessly followed along to join in the fun."
Li Xiuying rolled her eyes. "Gao Cuifen, who do you think is so shameless as to join in the fun?"
Gao Cuifen: "I didn't mention anyone by name, so of course it's up to whoever should be criticized."
Li Xiuying snorted coldly, "Gao Cuifen, don't think I don't know you're talking about me. You're quite an interesting person. If you have the guts to say something, just say it openly. You want to say something bad about me, but you don't have the courage to say it directly. You can only mutter a few indirect insults like this. What a coward!"
Gao Cuifen: "Oh, I'm making a veiled attack? I was just thinking you're just picking up insults! Did I say anything about you, and you just jumped out like that?"
Li Xiuying: "You..."
Gao Cuifen: "You..."
The two of them were confronting each other, and a war was about to break out. This scared Jiang Ling, who was seeing such a scene for the first time.
She looked at Shi Yue and Ma Yulan at a loss, but saw that the two of them were just watching the fun with their hands in their pockets as if nothing had happened.
Jiang Ling: "Brother Shi, Aunt Ma, you..."
Shi Yue waved his hand and said, "It's okay, don't worry."
Ma Yulan also said, "Don't worry about it, Jiang Ling. They are used to this kind of quarrel."
Gao Cuifen and Li Xiuying would have this kind of quarrel every few days. Everyone was used to it. Ma Yulan was too lazy to intervene. She looked at her watch and said, "Ouch!" "It's getting late now. I should go buy some groceries."
After saying that, she turned around and left in a hurry to buy groceries.
Shi Yue also looked down at his watch. It was indeed late. He didn't need to buy groceries, but he had to go home quickly to cook. After cooking, he had to go out to look at houses.
"Well, Jiang Ling, I'm going home first." Shi Yue greeted Jiang Ling and quickly walked into the house.
The only ones left in the yard were Gao Cuifen and Li Xiuying who were still arguing with each other, and Jiang Ling who was at a loss. When Jiang Ling was hesitating whether to step forward to persuade them to stop fighting, the door of Old Lady Yang's house was opened from the inside, and Li Juan came out with a washbasin.
Seeing the scene in the yard, Li Juan kindly reminded Jiang Ling: "It's okay, don't worry about it. Aunt Li and Aunt Gao are just joking. It will be fine in a while."
She was also shocked when she saw Gao Cuifen and Li Xiuying quarreling for the first time after she moved in. But later, seeing that the two of them had a small quarrel every day and a big quarrel every three days, she got used to it.
Li Juan, acting as someone who had experienced it, shared her experience with Jiang Ling: "Usually, when Aunt Li and Aunt Gao argue, it's just a few heated arguments, and in the end, the one who loses the argument storms off in anger. You don't need to intervene in this situation, because the fight is usually over by then. If the argument gets more serious, Aunt Li might become aggressive, and Aunt Gao will definitely fight back when she sees Aunt Li doing so. In this case, you don't need to intervene either, because the fight between the two of them can be very fierce, and you'll definitely get hurt if you get in the way."
Jiang Ling's smiling face turned pale, as if she had not expected that the people in their hospital would be so brutal and would resort to violence at the slightest disagreement.
She asked worriedly, "Huh? Don't we have to care if they fight?"
Li Juan: "Don't worry, Aunt Gao usually can't beat Aunt Li. She will definitely give in and apologize to Aunt Li in the end."
Jiang Ling nodded cautiously like a little animal: "Okay, okay."
She was still a little dazed. This slum seemed quite harmonious on the surface. Everyone knew her experience and took the initiative to give her advice and help her find a job. Why did people in the compound start fighting over a disagreement?
Li Juan saw Jiang Ling's trepidation and chuckled, saying, "Don't worry, the atmosphere in our hospital is still very harmonious, and everyone has a harmonious relationship."
Jiang Ling: ...
Really? She didn't believe it.
Shi Yue didn't know what was happening outside. He was cooking with nimble hands. His family had a simple meal today, sesame sauce cold noodles with salad.
The cold dishes are bought outside, and the noodles used for sesame cold noodles are also fresh noodles bought from the market. He only needs to prepare the sesame paste, cut the cucumber into shreds, boil the noodles and rinse them with cold water.
Ding ding dong dong.
After a busy period of work, Shi Yue finally cooked the noodles. Coincidentally, just as he served the noodles on the table, Zhao Hui brought Shi Qiu Shui back to his home.
Shi Qiushui ran into the house and asked as soon as he came in: "Dad, what delicious food did you make today?"
Shi Yue: "Cold noodles with sesame sauce."
Shi Qiushui: "Wow! This is what I like to eat!"
Shi Yue: "Since you like it, then wash your hands and come over to eat."
"Okay!" Shi Qiu Shui washed his hands obediently and hurried to the dining table. At this time, Shi Yue was already holding the bowl and eating.
Shi Qiu Shui picked up his chopsticks and quickly joined the group of people wolfing down the food.
Snoring.
The father and daughter devoured the meal quickly. Shi Yue put down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth with toilet paper, and said, "I'm done. I'm going to leave first. I'll put the bowl on the table first and I'll come back to clean it up later."
Shi Qiushui's eyes widened: "Dad, what are you going to do?"
Shi Yue: "Looking at houses. Didn't I tell you I wanted to buy a house? I happened to see in the newspaper today that there was a house for sale not far from our home, so I thought about going over to take a look."
Shi Qiushui: "I want to go too!"
She hugged Shi Yue's arm and shook it, saying, "Dad, you see, I had dinner so early today. It's boring to stay at home alone, so just take me with you. Don't worry, I promise I will be good and won't make any trouble for you."
Shi Yue thought about it and realized that looking at houses was different from going to Panjiayuan and redeeming the prize money, so he shouldn't encounter any danger. He nodded and said, "Okay, then you can come with me."
Shi Qiushui: "Great!"
She quickly took a piece of paper and wiped her mouth, then jumped off the stool and took the initiative to greet Shi Yue: "Dad, let's go."
Shi Yue smiled helplessly and stood up.
As soon as the father and daughter went out, they were stopped by Li Xiuying.
Li Xiuying and Gao Cuifen's argument was forced to stop mid-sentence because they had to cook. Li Xiuying was washing vegetables by the sink. She saw Shi Yue leading Shi Qiushui out and asked curiously, "Hey, Xiaoshi, it's time for dinner. Are you and your daughter going out?"
Shi Yue: "Hey, Aunt Li, Xiaoqiu and I have finished our meal. I'm a little full, so I thought I'd take Xiaoqiu out for a walk."
"Hey, are you done with dinner? Your family ate pretty early today!"
Shi Yue: "It's easy to eat. It's sesame sauce cold noodles. Just put it in the pot and it's ready. That's why I finished it so early."
Li Xiuying: "Hey, now that you mention it, it reminds me that we haven't had sesame sauce cold noodles in a while. Tomorrow I'll buy some noodles and mix them with the sesame sauce to make a pot. This thing is perfect for summer."
Shi Yue: "Yes, it is refreshing and helps relieve the heat in the summer."
Li Xiuying: "Okay, you two can go for a walk. I'm going to go into the house to cook."
Shi Yue: "Oh, okay, we'll go first."
Shi Yue led Shi Qiushui leisurely towards the address he had written down. When Shi Yue had read about it in the newspaper, he had guessed that the house was not far away. When he actually went there, he found that it was indeed quite close. It only took about 20 minutes to walk from the slum. This was the time it took him to walk there leisurely.
This house is also for sale by one of the households in the slum, but this courtyard is much smaller than Shi Yue's courtyard. It is a small courtyard with one entrance. After entering the gate and passing through the screen wall, you can directly see the north facing north and the east and west wing houses on the left and right.
The person selling the house is the one who lives in the west wing.
"Hey, what do you do?"
As soon as Shi Yue and Shi Qiushui entered the courtyard, they were stopped by an old man. Shi Yue quickly explained his purpose to him: "Hello, uncle, I saw the house for sale in the newspaper and came to look at the house. Does anyone know if the seller of the house in the west wing is home?"
"Selling a house? You mean the family in the west wing wants to sell their house?!"
The old man looked very surprised. He stopped fanning himself and stood up straight with a look of surprise on his face.
Shi Yue: "Ah, yes, it's registered in the newspaper?"
He pulled out the newspaper and pointed to the registration column. "It says here: No. 14, Cotton Alley, West Wing, for sale. If you're interested, come and discuss. Is this No. 14, Cotton Alley, correct?"
Old man: "Yes, it's here, but..."
Just as the old man was about to say something, a woman with triangular eyes suddenly jumped out from the west wing. She pulled Shi Yue over and said, "Hey, young man, are you here to look at the house? I'm the one who wants to sell it. Come, let me tell you about my house in detail."
Shi Yue and Shi Qiu Shui were dragged into the west wing by the triangular-eyed woman. The old man frowned when he saw this. He stood there in deep thought for a while, and it was unclear what he was thinking. Shi Yue only saw him grit his teeth, clench his fists, and rush out.
Shi Yue frowned slightly, feeling that this old man's reaction was not right.
Is there something wrong with this house?
The triangular-eyed lady didn't notice Shi Yue's abnormality and continued to introduce the house to him enthusiastically: "Look, young man, my house is nice, isn't it? The walls are newly painted, and the floor is newly laid cement floor before the New Year. And these windows..."
Shi Yue followed the old lady around the house. To be honest, this house looked pretty good and the size was suitable, right?
Thinking about the anomaly he had just seen, Shi Yue frowned and asked, "Auntie, I want to ask you about the situation in your yard. After all, if I buy your house, the people living in this yard will be my neighbors."
He wanted to ask whether the old man's abnormal behavior was due to a conflict between him and the old lady who lived in the west wing.
The old lady was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect Shi Yue to ask such a question, but she reacted quickly.
"Of course, of course. Then let me tell you. There are three households living in this courtyard. The one in the west wing is mine. The one in the east wing is a family of three: a working couple and a son in junior high school. The one living in the main house is the old man you saw in the courtyard just now. Besides him, he has two daughters and a son. His eldest daughter is married, and his second daughter and youngest son still live in the courtyard. This is roughly the situation in this courtyard. Don't worry, they are all easy to get along with."
Shi Yue nodded slightly, but felt a little strange in his heart.
According to what this lady said, the old man had no conflict with her, so why was his reaction just now so strange?
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