110 Buying a house
A few minutes later, Guan Yuehe came downstairs with her leave slip, ran into the classroom, and quickly packed up her books.
"Yunqin, I've taken the day off. I'm going home tonight, so I won't be going to the library with you. I'll bring you some food when I come back tomorrow."
"Huh? Oh..." Lan Yunqin sighed, looking at the person who had already disappeared. "It's always like this when family members come looking for us. They run away so fast!"
She was still thinking of borrowing Yuehe's notes to read when Yuehe finished speaking and pulled Comrade Lin away.
"Something great must be happening at Yuehe's house?" the other classmates guessed.
"Definitely, look how happy she is."
This is truly a fantastic thing.
Guan Yuehe was all smiles on her way home. If she hadn't been worried about the cold wind getting into her stomach, she would have laughed out loud a few times.
"Wait, shouldn't we go to the bank to withdraw money first?"
Lin Yiku patted the handbag that was wrapped inside her coat. "I picked it up when I came over."
Guan Yuehe immediately looked around warily, and only felt relieved when she found no one was close by.
She was afraid that someone might try to take advantage of such a large sum of money.
Guan Yuehe praised him for being thoughtful, saying that it would save them from any trouble when they went to withdraw the money tomorrow and delay their house purchase.
It wasn't that he was being considerate, but rather that his mother kept nagging him not to delay things and to withdraw the money on his way out today.
Thank goodness his mother reminded him, otherwise it might have really caused trouble tomorrow.
When the bank clerk heard that he wanted to withdraw several thousand yuan, he called him aside to verify his identity. The bank manager even advised him to withdraw less, saying that money was safe in the bank.
If he hadn't been carrying his military officer's ID and hadn't been so assertive, they really would have tried to delay giving him that much money.
Upon hearing this, Guan Yuehe immediately decided that she could not keep all her money in her savings account in the future, or she should use two separate savings accounts so that she could withdraw the money in two separate transactions and it would not seem like she had too much.
But then again, given their current situation, they don't need to worry about saving money for the next six months.
"I don't have a single penny left," Guan Yuehe wailed, but she was secretly overjoyed.
From now on, they can renovate their house however they want. If anyone dares to come to their door and say "borrow the house," she will charge them rent at 170 yuan a month!
As they approached Ginkgo Hutong, they ran into Wu Jiawang, a tricycle collector who was busy haggling with an old woman over a used sofa. Not wanting to interrupt his work, Guan Yuehe didn't go over to say hello.
When she first moved to Courtyard No. 2, she couldn't stand Wu Jiawang no matter what she looked at. It wasn't until Grandpa Sun, Grandma Sun, and Sun Dashan left Courtyard No. 2 that Wu Jiawang gradually became more pleasing to the eye.
Now I find him even more pleasing to the eye.
Lin Yiku, unaware of what she was thinking about, rang the bicycle bell and said happily, "Good days are best created with our own hands!"
"My brother-in-law said when he came to the school last time that the head chef from that state-run restaurant on Changhu Street is back. Let's go buy some meat buns!" Guan Yuehe turned the car around and sped forward. "Lin Yiku, hurry up and keep up!"
"...Here it comes." Just a few minutes ago, someone was saying they would cut back on food and clothing, but now they want to eat a few steamed buns first. He said, she would never let her mouth go hungry.
But I must say, the meat buns at this state-run restaurant are definitely more fragrant than those at other restaurants.
The restaurant was packed; there wasn't a single empty chair.
Guan Yuehe took the hot buns, thinking they tasted best when eaten hot. She and Lin Yiku stood inside the restaurant, watching the increasingly heavy snow outside, eating the fragrant meat buns bite by bite.
This restaurant was built in 1963, and the head chef worked here around that time.
Before she started working, she could save enough pocket money to buy three meat buns here. After she got a job and a salary, she came every month.
In recent years, the head chef has been transferred, and she hasn't come here to buy meat buns for a long time.
The head chef happened to come out to check on the customers outside and casually asked the two people standing by the door, "How are the steamed buns?"
"It's still the same old taste; your meat buns are the most fragrant." Guan Yuehe finished her bun and praised the chef highly, then casually inquired, "Will you still be cooking here in the future?"
Oh? This is a regular customer!
The head chef, flattered by the praise, narrowed his eyes to slits. "Of course! Please come and eat here often!"
There were four steamed buns left in the brown paper bag, but Guan Yuehe didn't eat any more.
Back in Ginkgo Hutong, she passed by No. 1 Courtyard and couldn't resist going in for a few glances. Grandma Niu's door was locked, Grandma Hu's house was making a fuss, but Zhou Hongqi's door was open, so she went in and gave him a meat bun.
"Give this to Yuanbao, take it."
Jin Junwei looked at the steamed bun in his hand, but didn't chase after them. He put it in a large bowl on the table and covered it with another bowl.
He left the bicycle for Lin Yiku to push home, then ran to Courtyard No. 3 himself, giving the remaining three meat buns to his two mothers and Guyu.
"Mom, you guys are amazing!" They really managed to snatch the house from her.
Jiang Guiying didn't take the work upon herself. "It's all thanks to Jin Junwei for finding out so quickly. As soon as he heard that the Niu family was selling their house, he rushed over to inform us. Otherwise, we don't know who would have gotten the house."
After Jiang Guiying finished speaking, she lowered her voice and reminded her, "The couple who live in the gatehouse in your courtyard also wanted to buy it, but they were too late. If it weren't for them, the price of the house could have been negotiated further. Fortunately, Yi Ku took the Niu family to the street office to sign an agreement, otherwise there would have been a lot of trouble."
Aunt Fang was also glad that they had acted quickly, saying, "Once you get the house, send a gift to Hongqi's family. Jin Junwei helped a lot."
"Mmm!" They didn't even need to remind her. Guan Yuehe was even more curious now, "Engineer Lu and Sister Lu also want to buy Aunt Niu's house? I thought they had no desire for a house and only wanted to eat and dress well."
Both of them work, and they had the opportunity to be allocated a more spacious apartment before, but they didn't take it. Now they're suddenly thinking of buying a two-and-a-half-room apartment?
Furthermore, "Do they have that much savings?"
Lu Chang and Lu Yan are both employed, but they are both ordinary workers, not skilled workers or cadres. Their combined monthly salary is at most seventy yuan. It's only because of the recent wage increase that they earn so much.
Given their diet of meat and refined grains, their possessions of a bicycle, radio, and watch—excluding a television and camera—they had bought plenty of big-ticket items. It was impossible for them to save more money than she and Lin Yiku.
Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang were stumped by the question, but they quickly realized it was no big deal.
"Who knows if other people had any wealth before? Lu Gong can also repair bicycles, maybe he earns extra money by fixing things for others on the side, who can say for sure?"
"Too."
Guan Yuehe thought it made sense. Even she had a gold bracelet given to her by her aunt as a family fortune, so it wasn't surprising that others had gold and silver jewelry.
"What's all that commotion at Aunt Ding's house? I just came in and I heard her arguing with Sister-in-law Ding."
Jiang Guiying rolled her eyes and was about to speak when she noticed that Gu Yu next to her was also rolling her eyes. She quickly covered her eyes and said, "You only learn bad things and not good ones. You can't do anything messy in front of your mother."
Guan Yuehe laughed. Last time her brother-in-law took Gu Yu to school, Gu Yu saw some students arguing, and she kept cheering them on, shouting "Beat them!" She even asked her dad to call the police and specifically asked for Officer Song to come over.
Gu Yu finally managed to break free from her grandmother's big hand, grabbed the steamed bun with both hands, hid behind her aunt, and began to bury her head in eating the bun.
With the mischievous little guy gone, Jiang Guiying said, "Ding Laowu is making money and getting cocky. He came back this afternoon and heard that Aunt Niu's family is selling houses, and he also said he wants to buy one."
It was late; they had taken Aunt Niu to the neighborhood office to sign the agreement that morning.
"Ding Laowu had his own money, but Ding Dama wanted to take out money from the family, so the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law started arguing."
The money in Aunt Ding's hands was mostly the savings from the wages her sons had handed over in the past. When Ding's second son moved out after the family split up, he didn't get a single penny of the family's money. Now he wants to use it to buy a house for Ding's fifth son? It would be strange if Aunt Ding's sister-in-law didn't demand an explanation from her.
Guan Yuehe thought to herself that it was fortunate Ding Xuewen hadn't come back, otherwise the money he earned outside would have been targeted by Aunt Ding.
A short while later, Lin Yiku brought over two pork ribs from home.
Where did you buy it?
"These were brought by my aunt's relatives. I bought some for you guys as an extra treat tonight."
They claimed to be relatives, but everyone knew perfectly well that they were just peddlers who ran around the alleys and residential compounds selling goods. But no one cared what the situation was; they believed the peddler's claim that they were visiting relatives, and then they tacitly went back to their own homes to get money to exchange for goods.
"Okay, are you two having dinner at home tonight or cooking your own meals?"
Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku exchanged a glance and replied in unison, "Start the fire yourselves."
"And me too," Gu Yu reminded her aunt, holding up half a steamed bun.
"Tsk!" This little idiot really doesn't realize he's in the way.
The door next door creaked open a crack, and Aunt Xie sneaked over. As soon as she entered, she asked, "Yuehe, are you really going to buy Old Niu's house?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
Aunt Xie rubbed her hands together with joy and asked, "Could you rent the house you're living in now to my family?"
"Don't you have a house?" A family of four lives in two and a half rooms, so they don't lack housing.
“No, Zhenxing wants to move here. Your house is more spacious than theirs now.”
"No way!" Jiang Guiying said with a dark face before Guan Yuehe could refuse. "They bought a house, and this house should be taken back and redistributed to the factory in principle."
Even if we don't take it back, we can't rent it to Xie Zhenxing. Otherwise, Liu Axiu, who hates Xie Zhenxing coming to her door the most, will curse her family to death behind her back.
Aunt Xie exclaimed, looking at Jiang Guiying as if she were a fool, and said, "Why is it so complicated? I've already asked around. Yuehe and Director Ma's family swapped houses. They signed a rental agreement with the housing management department. Whoever gets fired or leaves their job won't be prevented from continuing to rent their current house. No matter which unit Yuehe goes to in the future, she can continue to rent this house! As long as she continues to rent, we can just pay the rent to Yuehe, and Yuehe can even make some money. Isn't that great?"
She sees others as fools, and others see her as a fool.
That's what she said, but she bought the house and continues to rent it out. Won't those waiting for their turn to get a room cause her trouble all the time?
It's not worth it for a monthly rent of two yuan.
Guan Yuehe kept waving her hands, saying she wouldn't do it, and then pulled the person out and sent her back to her home.
But she was also curious, "If I go to another company, can I still rent the car factory's apartment? Is that true?"
"It depends on whether you're willing to go all out and make a scene. If you really want to get to the bottom of things, some leaders also have a lot of problems at home. If no one keeps pressing them, it's not a big deal."
It's like some workers who applied for new housing allocation a few years ago because their children were getting older and getting married. The factory didn't have enough large houses, so they would allocate an extra small room to each worker, who would then move their children out to live in it. But these workers' children weren't necessarily factory workers. Strictly speaking, this situation could be considered non-factory workers occupying factory housing, but the factory usually turned a blind eye and couldn't investigate further.
"How could I not know?" She rushed back to look for a place to live during her summer vacation, only to find out she was worrying for nothing.
Jiang Guiying stared at her wide-eyed: "I thought you knew!"
"Of course I don't know! Otherwise, why would I be in such a hurry to buy a house?"
“I thought you thought it would be cheaper to buy early!” Jiang Guiying also brought up Gu Mannian, “Your brother-in-law said that you might be assigned to an important national unit in the future. If someone is eyeing your house out of envy and reports you, it will delay your important matters. It is safer to buy your own house.”
Aunt Fang was also confused; she thought so too. So, when she heard the Niu family was selling the house, she thought that finally things were settled, and she wouldn't have to worry about others using the house as a pretext anymore.
The room suddenly fell silent.
Guan Yuehe slapped her forehead and vowed that in the future she would always do her research thoroughly before taking any action.
"Do you still want to continue renting the current house?" Jiang Guiying disagreed, "If you buy a house, you can move into the new house. It's not worth delaying your future job assignment for this little bit of rent."
Therefore, Gu Mannian, who had previously said he wanted to buy a house, has temporarily put his mind to it and plans to wait until Guan Yuehua graduates and is assigned to a workplace before making a decision.
Guan Yuehe's expression was complicated. Her future destination had already been assigned, so it wouldn't cause any delay.
But she also felt that her mother was right; it wasn't worth it for that little bit of rent.
"I don't want to think about it anymore. Once we get the house, we'll renovate it and move in."
Guan Yuehe joked, "It just means that from now on, when you call us for dinner, you'll have to raise your voice."
There's a No. 2 courtyard in between; you might not hear it unless you shout loudly.
It's just a few steps.
As long as they didn't leave Ginkgo Hutong, Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang felt that the child lived nearby, and they would often run into him when they went to the public toilet in the morning and evening.
Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku stayed there until it was time to cook before getting up to go home, where they also prepared to cook.
And I'll bring a little tagalong home with me.
The elderly folks in the alley were incredibly well-informed. Lin Yiku and the Niu family went to the neighborhood office to sign the agreement in the morning, and by the afternoon, the news had spread throughout Ginkgo Alley. They couldn't help it; they'd only ever heard of people spending thousands or tens of thousands on houses, but they'd never seen anyone around them spend money like that.
Upon seeing Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku, he asked them, "Did you really spend six thousand yuan to buy the Niu family's house?"
After receiving an affirmative answer, in the eyes of the elderly folks, the two of them went from being the most promising young people in Ginkgo Hutong to being big idiots with no brains.
Of course, Lu Chang and Lu Yan, who were eager to buy a house, were even more foolish, which even attracted everyone's attention: Could it be that they had inherited some kind of treasure from their ancestors?
Even Ding Laowu, who only wanted to buy a room, was talked about in private: "He's gotten so arrogant just because he earned a couple of coins that he doesn't know his own worth."
In short, in the eyes of most of the elderly people in Ginkgo Hutong, anyone who wants to buy a house after earning a few dollars is a fool. Anyone who wants to buy a house while working a regular job is an even bigger fool.
As soon as Guan Yuehe got home, she laughed, "Did you see that? Look at the way we looked at each other. In your words, our minds were filled with an ocean."
Lin Yiku laughed along, "If the two of us get together, we could fill the East China Sea and the South China Sea."
"What is the sea?" Gu Yu leaned closer and asked, "Is it tasty?"
"You little glutton, all you know is eating." Guan Yuehe pulled over a small stool for her to sit on, then turned around and said, "Your uncle's braised pork ribs are the most delicious."
Driven by the promise of "the best taste," Gu Yu refused to leave when Gu Mannian came to pick her up, insisting on staying at her aunt's house for dinner.
"I didn't cook much rice, brother-in-law, please bring the rice over."
Gu Mannian initially wanted to refuse, but upon seeing the dishes Lin Yiku had brought out, he immediately agreed and went to his mother-in-law's house to get some rice to eat together.
Only Lin Yiku stared at the father and daughter several times, finding the two of them, one big and one small, an eyesore.
But soon, even more people became an eyesore.
The neighbors from Courtyard No. 2 came over after get off work, carrying bowls and chopsticks, to chat. They all wanted to know what Guan Yuehe was thinking, that she really spent so much money to buy a house.
Unlike the questions asked by others, Grandpa Chang pondered for a while and then asked, "Yuehe, you know a lot of influential people. Tell us the truth, is there some big policy coming from above?"
"That's not true," Guan Yuehe said frankly. "I just feel that my house is more comfortable to live in than the one allocated by my work unit, and the house is becoming more and more valuable. Money in a savings account doesn't earn much interest. If I really need money urgently, I can just sell the house."
Selling is out of the question. Both she and Lin Yiku are employed and their medical expenses are reimbursed. They live a stable life and would never resort to selling the house.
Everyone gave a perfunctory reply, but secretly harbored other thoughts.
At first, they thought Guan Yuehe was foolish to buy a house, but after listening to her explain in detail, they realized that it made more and more sense.
When Aunt Bai got home, she called a meeting with her son and daughter-in-law to discuss: "If there's a chance, let's buy one too. I've only heard people say that houses are expensive, but think about it, the price of houses has actually gone up! I think Yuehe is a reliable person, so let's buy one too."
Fearing they might object, he added, "The wages you used to hand over should be divided into five parts: one for me, one for Yuejin, and one for Xianghong. The eldest son started working earlier and contributed more to the family, so he gets two parts. If that's not enough, you can add your own money. It would be best if you bought houses next to each other so you can help each other out in the future."
Bai Hongjun and his wife, along with Bai Yuejin, had no objections. However, houses aren't like meat at a meat market; even if you save up enough money, you might not be able to buy one.
Aunt Bai was determined to get started, her heart burning with enthusiasm. "Yuehe is absolutely right," she said, "our own house is always the best!"
Not only the Bai family, but the other families also went back and secretly discussed in their houses whether they should buy a small bungalow as well.
Luo Guifang lives alone and has absolutely no intention of buying a house.
In this courtyard number two, her family was the worst off. They had relied entirely on her salary to make ends meet and hadn't saved much money. Buying a house was a long way off for her.
Just as I was about to pick up the ball of yarn next to me to knit a sweater, there was a knock on the door.
"Yuehe? Come in quickly, is something the matter?"
—
At 6:30, Guan Yuehe woke up, crawled out of bed, took out a large bundle of money from the drawer to count it, and only after confirming that not a single penny was missing did she put it back into her bag.
He sat cross-legged on the kang, staring intently at Lin Yiku, then suddenly reached out and pinched his nose. "You're awake, but you're still pretending to be asleep! Get up!"
Lin Yiku opened his eyes and saw that she was full of energy early in the morning. He agreed with his mother-in-law's words: with all her strength, she should go to the army to train.
Last night, she rolled from one end of the kang (heated brick bed) to the other, back and forth more than a dozen times, even pulling him along to roll with her. She was having a good time for half the night, and probably fell asleep after 1 a.m. She only slept for five hours before getting up again with boundless energy, looking ready to charge into battle.
"Get up quickly, get the house in hand as soon as possible, and you'll feel more at ease sooner."
Lin Yiku reached out to let her pull him up, but Guan Yuehe clicked her tongue and pretended to pull him up. The next second, she lifted the blanket off her head.
Lin Yiku couldn't bother teasing her anymore and quickly got up to find clothes to change into.
When they finished getting ready and went out, they happened to run into the car factory workers heading to their early shifts.
They also ran into Lu Chang and Lu Yan, a couple who lived in the gatehouse.
"Good morning, Engineer Lu and Sister Lu." Guan Yuehe greeted them proactively, and anyone listening to her speak could tell that she was in a good mood.
"Good morning to you too." Lu Chang's face showed no extra emotion. As usual, after greeting everyone, he told Lu Yan to hurry up and go to work.
They had just walked a short distance when they heard Guan Yuehe and others behind them greeting each other.
"Good morning, Dad!"
Guan Canghai chuckled and said, "It's rare to see you leave so early in the morning. Come home tonight and have a couple of drinks with me."
"I went back to school this afternoon, let's do it another day."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Jiang Guiying's voice followed, "What are you drinking?"
Guan Canghai and Guan Yuehe both shrank back in unison and hurried forward. Jiang Guiying chased after them but saw no one, so she snorted heavily, "Neither the old nor the young are any peace of mind!"
—
After waiting at the neighborhood office for half an hour, I finally saw Aunt Niu and her family walking towards us.
The five adults in the family all had unpleasant expressions on their faces, a stark contrast to the smiling Guan Yuehe.
Before they even got close, Guan Yuehe's heart sank. "They wouldn't want to back out, would they?"
"No, we signed an agreement. If they go back on their word, they'll have to pay us 500 yuan."
He set the breach of contract fee high to prevent the Niu family from finding someone else to drive up the price. Of course, he also paid a deposit of five hundred yuan.
I almost forgot about that. Guan Yuehe barely felt relieved; five hundred yuan was a lot of money, and who could afford to regret it?
As soon as Aunt Niu arrived, she exclaimed, "Oh dear, we acted impulsively yesterday! Lu Chang offered us six thousand three hundred..."
Guan Yuehe ignored her words and called inside, "Director Ma, Aunt Niu is here. Could you please accompany us to the Housing Management Bureau to act as a witness?"
"Here you are." Director Ma put his hat on his head and waved his hand. "The Housing Management Bureau isn't far. You've all ridden your bikes, right? Comrade Xiao Guan, could you give Aunt Niu a ride? Let's go, the Housing Management Bureau should be open for work soon."
Guan Yuehe patted the back of her bicycle, "Aunt Niu, get on. I ride very steadily, don't worry."
Niu Laosan was the most eager to get the money and urged, "Mom, hurry up."
Aunt Niu wanted to discuss the price with Guan Yuehe halfway there, but Guan Yuehe suddenly pedaled the bicycle, and the wind howled and rushed towards her. Aunt Niu was busy holding Guan Yuehe tightly and couldn't open her mouth to speak in the strong wind. When they arrived at the housing management bureau, Guan Yuehe half-dragged her in.
"Comrade, we're here to transfer the property title!"
The clerk at the housing management bureau looked at Guan Yuehe, then at Aunt Niu, whose hand Guan Yuehe was holding, and asked, "Your transfer of the property was voluntary, wasn't it?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Guan Yuehe nodded vigorously, and gestured for Lin Yiku to step forward, taking out the signed agreement. "The leaders of the subdistrict office witnessed the signing of the agreement, put their fingerprints on it, and gave us a deposit. Please take a look."
"We don't watch this."
The clerk checked the property deed in Aunt Niu's hand and had them sign a transfer consent form and a house sale agreement.
Guan Yuehe, however, was no longer in a hurry. She carefully read through all the forms that needed to be signed before diligently writing her name. After finishing, she stared intently at Aunt Niu for a long time, then asked, "You can't read?"
Niu Laosan was so anxious that he wanted to step forward and sign on her behalf, "Mom, should I sign it?"
"No way, you're not the homeowner." Guan Yuehe pulled the person back.
It was Boss Niu who stepped forward and persuaded her, "Mom, let's sign it. We've already discussed it yesterday."
Going back on his word now would offend both families. Besides, he didn't believe Lu Chang could really come with 6,300; he probably didn't even have 6,000.
Aunt Niu was still heartbroken about losing three hundred yuan, but she gritted her teeth and signed the papers.
"Please count the money."
Grandma Niu's family received the remaining 5,500 yuan, while Guan Yuehe received a thin, green private property certificate.
This house belongs entirely to her and Lin Yiku.
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