Chapter 159 Chapter 159
However, since Ye Qing had come to Jicheng, he certainly did not come here just to visit the scenic spots and historical sites of Jicheng like other outsiders.
Hang Tingfang wanted to act as her guide and planned to take her around the city the next day, but Ye Qing obviously didn't want to waste time on sightseeing. After she was settled in the guesthouse, the first thing she did was to call Gu Weidong.
Gu Weidong was conducting closed training at the Jicheng Military Region Headquarters and could not normally be contacted, but he left a special phone number for Ye Qing. If there were any special or urgent situations, he could call that number and ask the person on the other end of the phone to help convey the message.
So Ye Qing made a phone call to inform the other party that she had arrived in Jicheng, and left information such as the guesthouse where she was staying and the duration of her stay in Jicheng, and asked the person who answered the phone to help pass on the message.
Sure enough, early the next morning, Ye Qing had just gotten up when the front desk clerk came up and told her that someone was looking for her downstairs.
Ye Qing quickly washed up and ran downstairs. As expected, he saw Gu Weidong in a green military uniform at the door.
Ye Qing did not mention on the phone that she came to Jicheng this time to meet the leader in Zhongbeihai, but Gu Weidong was not stupid. During this period, Ye Qing had caused quite a stir in Kaoshantun. Although he was studying in a closed-door manner in the military area, he still paid attention to and read relevant newspapers. So Ye Qing came to Jicheng from Jiaotan County for no reason. He must have had official business and was definitely not out for fun.
However, Gu Weidong did not ask any more questions. When he received Ye Qing's voicemail, he knew why Ye Qing wanted to see him, so he asked for leave early in the morning and took the key to the three-in-one courtyard house with him. When he saw Ye Qing coming out, he pushed the bicycle that was leaning against the corner out.
"Let's go have breakfast first, and then I'll take you to see the house."
The most famous breakfast in Jicheng is soy milk with fried dough sticks. Although Gu Weidong has not been in Jicheng for a long time, he seems to have adapted to the eating habits here. When he arrived at the state-owned hotel, he asked for soy milk. But Ye Qing really couldn't get used to it. As soon as he smelled the smell, he declined it and quickly waved his hand to refuse. He honestly asked for a bowl of fried liver and a meat bun.
After breakfast, they rushed to Chang'an Avenue. Ye Qing sat on the back seat of the bicycle and rode for nearly an hour before Gu Weidong led them to Zhima Hutong.
The old-style alleys are not spacious, but they are full of ancient charm and life. As you walk in, you can hear all kinds of noisy city sounds. From time to time, there are children or aunts carrying waste passing by, and there are old men playing chess under the trees. It seems that everyone is very harmonious.
However, perhaps seeing what Ye Qing was thinking, Gu Weidong directly broke Ye Qing's fantasy:
"The property rights of this yard are clear, so there are no disputes or conflicts. However, although the house has been transferred to your name, this area is mostly large compound houses, and there are many families living in one yard. Your house with its own door and yard, no matter how run-down it is, is such a large house that it will easily attract attention. Under the current situation, we should try to keep a low profile and not touch the house for the time being. We can wait a few years until the situation becomes clearer before making any decisions."
Ye Qing quickly gathered her mind and must not let herself be deceived by the superficial beauty before her and forget how special the era she was living in was. Even though she was now valued by her superiors, she must not be arrogant, otherwise she might be doomed if she was not careful.
"I see. Let's just take a look at it quietly and then leave quickly. Anyway, I won't be living in Jicheng for the time being. As long as the house deed is in my hand and the property is registered in my name at the Real Estate Bureau, there is no need to worry about someone forcibly occupying the house. It doesn't matter if it's vacant for ten or eight years."
Although it is easy for an old house to fall into disrepair when no one lives in it, there is nothing that can be done about it. At most, she can wait until the policy is relaxed in the future and then come back to spend some effort and money to renovate the old house from the inside out.
Even though this industry is a little hot in Ye Qing's hands right now, Ye Qing still feels that it is totally worth it to exchange one old ginseng for such a big house.
After all, it was a large courtyard of more than 800 square meters. After the reform and opening up, the housing prices in the capital skyrocketed, and the land alone was worth a lot of money. Even if such a house was shabby, she could not exchange it for an old ginseng.
Moreover, Ye Qing was determined in her heart that she would soon be admitted to the Grand Hall. With her current achievements, she would be able to occupy a place even in this imperial capital with many talented people.
The house is now in her hands. Anyone who wants to take it has to check the owner's situation before taking any action. Ye Qing is now in the limelight and highly valued by the leaders. His name is already on the list of high-ranking officials in all the departments above. Unless someone who wants to take this house is extremely stupid, he will not cause trouble for Ye Qing for such a small thing.
Here, Gu Weidong took out the key and opened the gate of the courtyard. A few old ladies who were chatting together in the alley across the street noticed what they were doing. They immediately stopped chatting, looked at each other for a few seconds, and then someone ran towards the street office. An old lady walked over in a few steps and looked around at the door.
However, Ye Qing and Gu Weidong didn't care. They closed the door after entering the house.
It was obvious that this courtyard house had not been lived in for many years. Ye Qing had been mentally prepared and guessed that the house must be very dilapidated. However, the situation inside was still a little beyond Ye Qing's expectations. Some of the original old objects and decorations had been completely smashed, the corridors and screen walls were already in ruins, and the things in the house had been completely moved out. The rafters of several rooms were broken, and there were spider webs and moss and mold everywhere. If it weren't for its location in the second ring road of Jicheng, few people would be interested in such a dilapidated old house.
Ye Qing looked around inside and out, and the images of the ancient and peaceful courtyard house that he had imagined in his mind were instantly shattered. Without the filter, he found everything about this old house disgusting.
Although she got this house without spending any money, she roughly calculated that based on the current prices, it would cost at least tens of thousands of dollars to renovate this yard to make it habitable.
No wonder Gu Weidong's friend was so willing to give her the house in exchange for the old ginseng. It turned out that the house was a worthless thing in his hands. It cost a lot of money to move in. If it was left idle, it would only become more and more dilapidated. So he was very clear in his mind that exchanging the old house for the old ginseng was a great bargain for Ye Qing, but for him, it was also a calculated transaction that made the best use of the property.
After Ye Qing finished touring the house, his excitement and expectation were replaced by disappointment. He was about to go back with a lack of interest. But at this moment, someone knocked on the door of the front yard. Ye Qing and Gu Weidong looked at each other and hurried out to open the door.
As soon as I opened the door, I saw two aunties with red armbands standing at the door.
The two mothers looked at Ye Qing and Gu Weidong for a few seconds and said:
"Hello, we are from the Street Revolutionary Committee. After the house changed hands, no one has registered the relevant information with the Revolutionary Committee. We just heard that someone opened the door and entered the house, so we came to find out the situation. May I ask if you are the new owner of the house?"
Ye Qing nodded: "My name is Ye Qing. This house is mine now. May I ask what procedures I need to go through at the Revolutionary Committee?"
The two aunts originally thought that Gu Weidong and Ye Qing were husband and wife and that the house belonged to them together. But now that Ye Qing took the initiative to say that the house belonged to her, the two aunts were a little surprised.
One of the ladies stared at the two of them for a long time, then suddenly asked warily:
"Are you two a couple? Judging from your accent, you are not a local, right?"
Ye Qing was stunned, thinking about this special era, her and Gu Weidong's behavior of riding a bicycle together to come to this alley seemed a little unusual. This lady must have heard someone tip her off before and thought that they were husband and wife, so she asked this question.
She quickly explained:
"My name is Ye Qing. I am an educated youth who went to the countryside. I am currently working in the production team in Jiaotan County, Wusong City. This time I came to Jiecheng on business. This is Gu Weidong, my boyfriend. He is a battalion commander in the army and is currently training in Jiecheng Military Region. The house was left to me by a distant relative, but because I have been in the countryside, I have not found a chance to check it out after receiving the title deed. So this time, while I was on a business trip to Jiecheng, I specifically asked my boyfriend to accompany me here to collect the house."
As she spoke, Ye Qing took out her ID from her bag and handed the letter of introduction to the city to the two aunts for inspection.
Seeing this, Gu Weidong quickly took out his military officer ID from his pocket.
Seeing that the two people's attitude was very natural and there was no hesitation when taking out their identity documents, the two people dispelled their doubts after checking their ID documents.
"So they are educated youth sent to the countryside. No wonder no one has moved into this house for several months, and no one has come to the Revolutionary Committee to register their information."
Perhaps it was because Gu Weidong's military certificate gave the two mothers full trust and a sense of security, so the two mothers calmed down their previous vigilance and became much warmer and more cordial towards Ye Qing:
"Xiao Ye, I know from your behavior that you won't stay in Jicheng for too long. Come on, I'll take you to the Revolutionary Committee to register the homeowner information and complete the relevant procedures first."
Ye Qing was eager to have someone lead the way, so he quickly thanked the two ladies and took out a few handfuls of peanuts from his bag and stuffed them into the bags while walking out. He followed the two ladies and asked about the conditions of the other courtyards in the alley.
This question was indeed similar to the situation that Gu Weidong had told her before.
This area is full of standard three-courtyard quadrangles, which were originally the residences of officials in the Qing Dynasty. But after the war, they fell into the hands of military leaders, businessmen and capitalists. After liberation, many houses were nationalized and then rented to ordinary people. The huge three-courtyard houses were divided into more than a dozen or even dozens of households, and each family was allocated one, two or three rooms, and they lived together like this.
It is very rare for a family like Ye Qing's to own the entire three courtyards alone.
So as soon as she registered her information, an office worker from the Revolutionary Committee came to discuss with her, wanting to requisition her house to the Revolutionary Committee for rent.
"Houses are in short supply in this city nowadays. Every family is in a tight spot for housing. In your alley, there are many families with seven, eight or even more than ten people living in one room. So your old house has many people eyeing it. You are an outsider, and it is not easy to come to Jicheng. No one can guarantee that someone will not forcefully pry open the door and move in."
"So my suggestion is that you might as well rent it directly to the Revolutionary Committee, and we will allocate it to the workers of the factories and units under you to live in. The Revolutionary Committee will help you to keep an eye on it and will definitely restrict such tenants and will not let them destroy your house recklessly."
"Your house is so big that it can improve the housing problem of 30 or 50 families. Besides, renting it out can also bring you some income. I heard that you were sent to work in the countryside as an educated youth. You may not have enough to eat just by working in the fields. With our Revolutionary Committee on your behalf, you can also earn more money every month. It's a win-win situation."
The person who came to persuade Ye Qing to rent out the house was the deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee. She looked earnest and sincere, as if she was making serious plans for Ye Qing. It seemed that she was considering Ye Qing's interests in everything she said. Unfortunately, Ye Qing was not stupid. If she really rented out the house, the possibility of her getting it back in the future would be almost zero.
The political situation and policies change all the time. She knew that it is easier to invite a god than to send him away. Once these courtyards were rented out separately, the tenants who lived in the large courtyards would never move out. Each of them became a stubborn tenant, and each one was more shameless than the other. If she, as the landlord, could not drive these people out, in a few years, these tenants who rented her house might become the owners of the house by taking advantage of policy loopholes, and her house deed would become a piece of waste paper with no legal effect. At that time, Ye Qing would be really helpless and could only cry.
So when faced with the suggestion from the deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee, Ye Qing just pretended not to hear it. After all, she was not familiar with the other party and was not afraid of losing face for him. She did not feel embarrassed if she rejected it directly.
The deputy director probably thought that Ye Qing, a teenage girl, was easy to control, so when he spoke, he not only used official language, but also used various policies to pressure her. However, he knew that Ye Qing didn't buy it at all. No matter how he put forward conditions and benefits, Ye Qing refused to buy it.
Ye Qing's stubborn attitude immediately made the deputy director look unhappy. He immediately frowned and was about to accuse Ye Qing of being a capitalist class person, which made Ye Qing laugh out of anger.
Ye Qing was about to open his mouth to refute, but unexpectedly, at this moment, a man came in from outside, seemingly looking for some materials from the deputy director. When he saw Ye Qing sitting in the room, he was stunned for a moment, stared at Ye Qing for a few seconds, and then asked hesitantly:
"Excuse me, are you... Ye Qing?"
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