219 Eviction Announcement
Jiang Guiying also instructed Guan Yuehe: "When the time comes, we should choose all the houses together. I've inquired, and in some areas, a 10-square-meter room can be exchanged for a house. For our family, we could get three houses..."
"Let's talk about it when it's really our turn to vacate." Guan Yuehe was too lazy to think about it for the time being. There was no movement in the Changhu Street area, and it was hard to say when it would reach Ginkgo Alley.
It's called an apartment, but it's really just a one-bedroom apartment of about 30 square meters. Exchanging 10 square meters for 30 square meters sounds like a good deal, but the apartment you get is in the suburbs, so for people like Guan Yuehe, it will be much farther to work.
If given the choice, Guan Yuehe was unwilling to move away from her small courtyard.
But the elderly people in the alley are happy about it, especially Jiang Guiying and her generation. They have lived in bungalows for most of their lives, and now that they are old, they want to move into apartment buildings.
Others are families of two or three generations crammed into one or two rooms, hoping that their turn to vacate their area will come soon so they can move into more spacious houses.
If the brothers are still living together, they'd be even more eager to move out sooner. It's a good opportunity to exchange one room for another apartment, and then they can take this chance to separate the family...
No matter when, housing is always the most important thing in life. From the old days when housing was allocated by work units, to later buying public housing and turning it into private housing, and now taking advantage of relocation to turn bungalows into apartment buildings.
Guan Yuehe could hear the discussions of her neighbors in courtyard number two even from courtyard number three.
They were talking about which alley was supposed to be vacated and relocated a year ago, but because the property rights of the houses in the alley are in a mess, nothing has happened yet.
Aunt Zhao had the loudest voice, "Our alley is so much less troublesome. It's either individuals or car factories. I think they should have come here to relocate people sooner!"
Aunt Bai disagreed: "Your Lili has already bought an apartment outside. Whether you vacate or not won't stop you from living in an apartment. I think living in the hutong is fine. It's convenient to go anywhere, and everything is close by."
"It's convenient, but it has big hidden dangers. Didn't someone's house in courtyard number six collapse? And those power lines in the alley almost caught fire last time. I still think apartment buildings are better." This time, it was Cai Ying who was refuting.
"The factory is to blame for the building collapsing. Before, our buildings were regularly repaired, but now the factory doesn't care anymore. We reported the haphazard wiring outside to the neighborhood committee, but nothing's been done. Sigh, the old neighborhood committee was much better, and your police officer Song was much better too..."
Guan Yuehe couldn't help but laugh. Outsiders thought that with Officer Song around, he was a pillar of strength, someone who could handle anything, big or small. But Officer Song was a real headache; his house had practically become a branch of the police station.
Listen, when Song Gong'an is mentioned, Sister Cai Ying doesn't say a word.
Once the discussion in Courtyard No. 2 subsided, Jiang Guiying continued what she was doing, asking Guan Yuehe to help her thread the needle.
The woman, who is over seventy years old, now has presbyopia and has to squint to see things up close. She doesn't like wearing reading glasses.
After threading the needle, Jiang Guiying began embroidering small flowers on the cotton cloth, muttering as she did so: "Cloth diapers are so much better. Those imported disposable diapers are so expensive; this child will need them for at least six months. Just buying disposable diapers is a waste of money. Now the child also needs formula, so he has to eat well..."
Guan Yuehe listened quietly without interrupting her.
Perhaps because she was approaching fifty and the years had settled her mind, Guan Yuehe had more patience to listen to these nagging words.
Between 1993 and 1998, Weiwei and Jingjing got married, started families, and had children.
At this moment, Jiang Guiying was making diapers for Jingjing's unborn child.
Last year, halfway through winter, Guan Yuehe's maternal grandparents passed away one after the other. Jiang Guiying seemed to be doing well, and often said outside that living to such an old age was a happy death.
But Aunt Fang told Guan Yuehe in private that the old lady was feeling very sad, and she would sigh as she sat there.
Jiang Guiying continued her nagging, "I wonder how Juanjuan is doing out there. Sigh, I told you long ago, our country is so big, isn't that enough for her to explore? She still insisted on going abroad to study. What she learns abroad, will it be suitable for our country?"
Guan Yuehe didn't respond. No matter how others explained it, Jiang Guiying was convinced that everything from abroad was bad.
Whether it's good or bad, only Juanjuan, who is studying abroad, knows the truth.
After graduating from university last year, Juanjuan went abroad on a government-sponsored scholarship. She occasionally calls home, but doesn't come back for holidays.
The next time I come back, it will be when Juanjuan has completed her studies and received her graduation certificate.
In the past decade, going abroad has become fashionable. Some say that the roads abroad are paved with gold, and that you can make a fortune by going there. Countless people are rushing to go.
Guan Yuehe has also frequently traveled abroad on business in recent years. She didn't see the path abroad as paved with gold, but she did see her own country striving to catch up. She felt that the slogan "surpass Britain and catch up with America" once printed in the assembly workshop of the Five Star Automobile Factory would come true sooner or later.
Take Tingting, for example, who used to live in the next room. This girl went abroad to study after graduating from university.
Because of this incident, Xie Zhenhua was often gossiped about by the factory workers behind his back, who accused him of being a foreign worshipper.
Luckily, her family had moved to a small villa in the new residential compound a long time ago; otherwise, Aunt Xie would definitely have gotten into a fight with some of the gossipy people in the alley.
But after Tingting went abroad for six years, she returned to work in a research institute, studying computer science. The year Tingting returned to China, Aunt Xie often went back to Ginkgo Hutong to tell the old neighbors how amazing people who studied computer science were.
Nobody understood. All they knew was that Tingting was capable and promising.
These young people are so promising, it's only a matter of time before they surpass Britain and catch up with the United States.
Jiang Guiying was worried about Juanjuan one second, but the next second she brought up Guyu, Linting and Yaoyao.
"I'm afraid I won't see them all get married and have children."
These words suddenly made Guan Yuehe feel a little sad.
But the moment she opened her mouth, Jiang Guiying was speechless.
Guan Yuehe laughed and said, "Maybe they won't want to get married and have children in the future. You won't see it even if you live to be two hundred."
Jiang Guiying: "......"
Soon, Jiang Guiying laughed and scolded, "Living to two hundred years old would make you an old monster! We don't do these feudal superstitions."
This time, Guan Yuehe burst into laughter. Among all the people in the family, who could compare to her in terms of feudal superstition?
She would go back to her hometown to pay respects to her grandparents whenever there was a major event, especially before the children in the family had to take a big exam.
Anyone who didn't know better would think her grandparents had ended up on the territory of the God of Literature.
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Ting rushed into the house, followed closely by Yao Yao, who was panting heavily.
Lin Ting came over to get the house key from Guan Yuehe, and then ran out again.
Yao Yao said anxiously, "Sister, wait for me!"
"I already told you you need to train more! If you still can't run fast, I'm not waiting for you!"
Jiang Guiying was worried. "If only she put all that energy into studying, that would be so much better."
Guan Yuehe glanced up at her and said, "You can't say it's because I inherited it, can you? I'm very enthusiastic about studying."
"I can't be bothered to talk to you." You're as stubborn as a mule, insisting on spending a lot of money to buy an apartment. If only you had waited a little longer, maybe it would have been Ginkgo Hutong's turn to be vacated soon.
"Oh, right," Jiang Guiying reminded her, "someone asked you to inquire about the relocation, but don't pay any attention to them."
Just after she finished speaking, Jiang Guiying muttered to herself, "Never mind, forget I said anything. I doubt anyone would dare to ask you about it."
Speaking of this, Jiang Guiying felt that having the strength of an ox was also a good thing. Looking at the men, women, and children in Ginkgo Alley, for many years, no one has dared to mess with Yuehe.
Guan Yuehe snorted, guessing that she wouldn't have anything nice to say.
The wall clock chimed once. Guan Yuehe looked up and glanced at it before getting up to go out and buy groceries.
"I'm going too." Jiang Guiying quickly got up, picked up her shopping basket, and called out as she walked to courtyard number one, "Old Fang, wanna go buy groceries?"
"Go ahead! I was just about to come find you."
Guan Yuehe followed behind them, watching the two old ladies walk slowly hand in hand, talking about what to cook today, and saying that meat and vegetables are best bought fresh, as they never feel fresh enough when kept in the refrigerator.
If you run into a neighbor on the way, you'll stop and chat for a bit.
With abundant supplies and a steady supply, no one needs to queue up to buy things anymore.
Those days when we'd rush out the moment we heard "Good stuff's here at the supply and marketing cooperative" seem like a distant memory.
Encounters with many old friends were so distant that she could no longer recall what they looked like.
Chunmei, Shenghua, and Chengshuang, however, have maintained contact with each other. Every few years, they send each other a recent photo of their lives, which has become a tacit rule among them.
They said they were afraid they wouldn't recognize each other the next time they met.
They installed a telephone at home, but they still communicate mostly by letter. At first, they complained about the poor phone signal, but later they just got lazy and didn't want to change it.
She's learned a new foreign language, and as she gets older, she's become a bit more shy. She always feels a little embarrassed to show off on the phone, so she prefers to subtly show off in a letter.
"No." Even though Lin Ting was about to enter high school, she still liked to lean on her back all the time, and even wanted her to carry her.
"Mom, you're not shy at all! I especially love going to the market to buy clothes with you, Mom. You're a great bargainer!"
Her mother always cuts things in half, and Lin Ting is often pinched on the cheek by Gu Yu, who says she's shameless. But Lin Ting feels she still needs to practice with her mother.
Guan Yuehe slapped her bottom in an annoyed tone, thinking she was going to say something nice.
Lin Ting still clung to her mother like a piece of chewing gum, peeking at the books on the desk.
Her mother and her aunt were truly the most studious and self-disciplined people she had ever met.
Why would anyone want to learn a new foreign language so easily?
Thinking back to when she was in elementary school, she wrote an essay about the person she admired most, and it was about her mother. The teacher thought it was well written and asked her to read it aloud in class.
Once she listed out that string of foreign languages, she earned the nickname "Bragging Queen" in her class.
Of course, those who laughed at her later were beaten into submission by her.
"Mom, you're amazing."
Guan Yuehe replied without looking up, "You're very capable too."
Lin got excited. "For example?"
"You were born into a lucky family, knowing to choose me and Lin Yiku as your parents." Guan Yuehe laughed before she finished speaking, and when she turned her head, she saw her daughter's cheeks puffed up with anger.
Lin Yiku, who was hanging clothes to dry in the yard, also smiled.
Soon, Lin Ting's dissatisfied humming could be heard from inside the room, "Next month I'm going to represent the school in the city's long-distance running competition, and I'm pretty good at it too!"
At this moment, Lin Yiku interjected, "Your mother is one of the best runners in her workplace."
In recent years, our company has held more events, including a sports meet once we co-organized with other companies.
Comrade Guan Yuehe signed up for every running event she could, and brought back several gold medals and certificates.
“Then I’ll bring back a gold medal too.” Lin Ting started grinning again. “Mom smells like soap.”
What was said unintentionally may have been taken to heart by the listener.
Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku sat in the house and stood in the courtyard, smiling at each other through the open window.
Unaware of the situation, Lin Ting mentioned seeing retired Grandma Zhang at the school, saying, "Grandma Zhang was telling the elementary school children about the factory's history."
Zhang Xinbi and Guo Xusheng joined the Five Star Automobile Factory in the same year and officially retired together at the beginning of this year.
In fact, they had long reached retirement age, but the factory needed them and rehired them for several years. Now that they have more advanced talent and technology, they have contributed their last bit of effort and are finally starting to enjoy their retirement.
In July, Guan Yuehe took Lin Ting to visit the two teachers.
Even after retiring, the two teachers haven't been idle. They are organizing their manuscripts and materials from over the years, and occasionally they will stroll around the technical department of the automobile factory, saying that they want to learn until they die and continue to study.
And so, Guan Yuehe followed in her teachers' footsteps and began learning a new foreign language.
She was much younger than them, and her studies couldn't stop.
Author's Note: [Cat's paw]
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