205 New House
After dinner, Guan Yuehe announced that a family meeting would be held. Lin Ting went to rummage through her schoolbag for notebooks and pencils, sat up straight on a small stool, and pretended to be serious with her lips pursed.
This is how it is when the neighborhood committee calls meetings with the responsible elderly men and women. She had attended meetings with her grandfather before, so she knew that writing was required for meetings!
Guan Yuehe almost laughed. The little kid didn't know many words, but his serious and upright attitude was commendable.
"Alright, no more snickering." Guan Yuehe cleared her throat and listed out the details of the two houses they had looked at today. Finally, she suggested that everyone raise their hands to vote on which one to choose.
She asked which of the two courtyards she would choose. The two men stared at her without saying a word. When she said she would choose the dilapidated house, they raised their hands and said, "Me too."
Two fence-sitters.
The second item on the family meeting agenda was whether or not to sell their current house. If they did, their savings would be more than enough to buy the dilapidated house, and the remaining money would be enough to renovate it.
Before Guan Yuehe could even voice her opinion, Lin Ting quickly declared, "It's not allowed to sell!"
Lin Ting went out to look at the houses today, but she didn't really like either of them. Her mother said she wanted to buy a house, which, in Lin Ting's eyes, was just like adults buying things she didn't need.
But if she were to sell the house she's currently living in, it would become someone else's property, and she's not happy about that.
“Okay, one vote against.” Guan Yuehe also raised her hand. “I don’t want to sell either, so it’s two votes in favor… plus Comrade Lin Yiku, it’s a unanimous vote.”
She had expected this outcome, but she felt that this was a major event for the whole family. Even though Lin Ting was young and had no concept of such a big deal as buying a house, she thought it was still important to involve Lin Ting.
After all, if they decided not to sell their current house, and the family's savings were insufficient, they would have to use Lin Ting's savings.
The three bankbooks in the house were placed on the table. The two of them had a total of 21,000 yuan in their bankbooks, while Lin Ting's bankbook had 850 yuan, which could be roughly counted as 22,000 yuan.
Guan Yuehe planned to borrow three thousand yuan from her family first to buy the house. As for the house, she didn't need to move in right away; she could take her time to tidy it up.
Furthermore, they also need to find someone knowledgeable to advise on how to renovate the house, how much to budget, and which parts they can do themselves to save money...
"Brother-in-law Jin said that although the house is a bit dilapidated, it has a good location and is coveted by other people, so he told us to make a decision as soon as possible."
Guan Yuehe further analyzed, "The main reason is that the courtyard is close to Ginkgo Alley and close to my parents. To put it more broadly, they will need us to take care of them in the future, so they will definitely have to live with us. I have seen that the place is big enough to build three proper rooms... It's just a pity that we are not allowed to build two-story buildings in this area now, otherwise, we can learn from my second brother and build a two-story building in our hometown."
My second brother rebuilt the family house a few years ago, and this year he plans to build another floor on top, saying it will make the house more spacious. Besides, everyone in the village who made money through contracting out land is saying they want to build a two-story house, because it looks more modern.
However, new regulations were introduced this year, prohibiting the construction of new residential buildings with two or more floors in this area.
Lin Yiku had thought about it carefully while listening. The small courtyard wasn't far away, a square plot of land, a full eighty square meters, which was quite spacious. Nowadays, a house of only thirty-five square meters is enough to live in, so there's no reason why doubling the size wouldn't be enough.
Actually, when you calculate it this way, even with the cost of rebuilding, the house is only 410 yuan per square meter, which is more than double the price ten years ago, but it's still acceptable, considering that their salaries have increased quite a bit.
It's fortunate that the government introduced a housing renovation plan this year; otherwise, house prices would have continued to rise, and that dilapidated little courtyard would probably have been priced at 30,000.
Since the beginning of this year, the city has had a housing renovation plan, which involves demolishing and rebuilding some old and dilapidated company-owned buildings into apartment buildings to improve the housing conditions of employees.
Some employees are hoping their employers will renovate the old housing soon, so they are not optimistic about buying a house. After all, living in company-provided housing only costs a few yuan a month, while buying a house would cost thousands or even tens of thousands.
The area around the coal mine workers' residential compound, in particular, has been confirmed for redevelopment, and the workers currently living there will gradually be relocated to newly built apartments. This is why house prices in the Changhu Subdistrict area have not continued to rise.
Thinking of this, Lin Yiku raised his hand again to indicate: "I have no objection."
"Me neither!" Lin Ting didn't care whether she understood or not; as long as they raised their hands, she raised hers too.
"Okay, let's go find Brother-in-law Jin across the street now and settle things first."
Both of them are decisive and efficient people. Now that they have made a decision, they should get things done as soon as possible.
They hit it off immediately, set up a small one, and headed straight for the other side.
"You've made a decision so quickly?" Jin Junwei was surprised. Buying a house is no small matter; it costs a full 25,000 yuan. Some people can't save that much money in half a lifetime. They went to see the house in the morning, and they're saying they want to buy it by evening?!
"Whether you buy it sooner or later, you'll still have to buy it eventually. It's hard to find a more suitable place in this area."
Having made up her mind to buy that dilapidated courtyard, Guan Yuehe could only think of its advantages. The more she thought about it, the more satisfied she became. Rather than waiting for the price to rise again in a few years, she figured it was better to buy it now.
She felt that even if she saved up 25,000 yuan two years later, the value of the courtyard would definitely increase.
Jin Junwei strongly agreed, "Don't be fooled by the fact that house prices haven't risen much this year; they've still increased somewhat. And those that haven't risen aren't going down either."
If his family had enough savings, he would have bought it himself.
Guan Yuehe changed the subject, "Brother-in-law, is it really impossible to bargain any further?"
“...It really won’t work.” Jin Junwei said helplessly, “Given the relationship between our two families, if we could talk about it, you wouldn’t need to ask.”
Having confirmed her wishes, Jin Junwei said he would arrange to meet with the homeowner tomorrow to discuss the matter in person. If things went well, they would then choose a time to transfer the property and pay her.
Guan Yuehe was afraid that someone would beat her to it, but Jin Junwei waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, the homeowner only asked me to help introduce buyers, no one will steal it."
After they finished discussing the purchase of the small courtyard, Jin Junwei finally asked, "What are your plans for the house now?"
"We're not selling!" Lin Ting shouted urgently, poking his head out from behind Guan Yuehe and solemnly announcing, "My house can't be sold!"
Seeing Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku trying to comfort Lin Hei that they weren't going to sell the house, Jin Junwei knew about their decision.
“That’s good. This house is in a good location, and I guess it will be worth more in the future. If we decide to rent it out someday, we’ll talk about it then. I have quite a few people who want to rent the storefront to open a shop.”
Jin Junwei had originally planned to rent out the house if Guan Yuehe intended to, and then open a general store. But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that it might be more than a year before they moved out.
A year can bring many changes; we'll just have to wait and see.
After finishing their business, Guan Yuehe was about to go to Courtyard No. 3 to discuss borrowing money when Lin Ting refused to leave and insisted on staying to watch cartoons with Yuanbao.
—
When Guan Yuehe mentioned wanting to borrow money to buy a house, Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang both asked at the same time, "Are you sure you want to buy that dilapidated courtyard?"
She took Lin Ting to see a house in the morning, and mentioned it to them when she came back in the afternoon.
When she brought it up, Guan Yuehe casually asked if they could borrow three thousand yuan. She was worried that they wouldn't be able to come up with three thousand yuan from just one mother, and she was also concerned that they might have trouble making ends meet if they needed money later.
After all, she and Lin Yiku were not only children; their parents had other children to help them, and they couldn't just drain all their savings.
Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang agreed immediately.
In the past, if they had heard that buying a dilapidated courtyard would cost so much money, they probably would have been heartbroken and unable to sleep.
Over the years, Guan Yuehe had been searching for a suitable courtyard, but had not been able to settle on one. Now that she had finally found one with a suitable location and size, she had to buy it immediately.
Furthermore, housing prices have skyrocketed in recent years, and the prices of storefronts suitable for opening shops have risen outrageously.
Jiang Guiying is glad that she and Uncle Ming took over the storefront together back then; now, the storefront has sold for several times its original price.
In the words of her eldest son-in-law, this is called "investment".
She didn't understand what investing was; she just figured that if she bought the house and didn't live in it, it wouldn't lose money, but would actually make money—much more than the interest from putting money in the bank.
"How about I give you three thousand?" Jiang Guiying said, "If we buy the courtyard, we'll have to rebuild it, won't we? That courtyard is too dilapidated."
After that family was sent to the countryside, countless people went to that courtyard to search for treasure. They dug up the ground, ransacked the house, and even looted the beams and pillars. The walls are in their current state because they were knocked and banged on.
The courtyard has remained empty ever since. During the Tangshan earthquake, it collapsed severely and became a dangerous building, so it has remained vacant ever since.
Aunt Fang also said, "Yes, rebuilding the house will cost a lot of money."
He also indicated that he could contribute 3,000.
Guan Canghai and Grandpa Lin had no objections.
But Guan Yuehe thought to herself that the three thousand they had contributed was probably most of their savings.
Especially for Aunt Fang, since Uncle Lin retired, his income has been reduced by half. She and Sitian usually give him living expenses, but when they eat at home, they buy a lot of meat and vegetables, and they also buy a lot of things for Lin Ting, so the little amount of living expenses is probably not enough.
"No need, 1,500 from each family will be enough." Rebuilding the house will cost an unknown amount, so she plans to borrow 6,000 from her three childhood friends, 2,000 from each, which should be enough to pay it off in about three years. She'll discuss this with them again after the house is transferred to her name.
To be precise, she only needs to discuss it with Ding Xuewen and Xu Chengcai's families.
Sitian knew that she had gone to see the house that morning, and said at the time that she could free up five thousand yuan for her.
But when she mentioned wanting to buy the small courtyard before, both Ding Xuewen and Xu Chengcai said that if she didn't have enough money, she should just ask them.
That's when she thought of borrowing a little from each family. After all, it would take two or three years, so this wouldn't put too much pressure on them.
"If you don't have enough, just say so," Guan Canghai said.
“If that’s not enough, I’ll sell you all the Moutai I’ve stockpiled,” Guan Yuehe joked.
Guan Canghai's eyes had just lit up when Jiang Guiying blew them away, "Don't even think about it!"
Guan Aiguo, who had been silent all along, quietly raised his hand, "I can borrow a few hundred too."
"Keep yours to buy milk powder for your daughter."
After joking around, Guan Yuehe became serious again and said to the four elders, "I'll write you an IOU, and I'll pay it back within three years. Is that alright?"
"Why not? Do you think I'm afraid you'll run off with the money? If you can't get away tomorrow, I'll go get the money for you the day after tomorrow."
Jiang Guiying glanced at the courtyard outside the window, and seeing that no one was around, she whispered, "There was a manager of a state-owned store who embezzled all the money from the goods and then ran away abroad, I heard."
Guan Yuehe's eyes widened instantly. "Really? Who said that?"
"I heard it when I went to the butcher shop. Cao Lili hasn't come back for the past few days. She's been investigated." Jiang Guiying said, and told them not to spread rumors for the time being. "Just wait. In a few days, the whole alley will know."
Cao Lili hasn't come back for so many days, the old men and women who gather and chat at the alley entrance every day might have already found out.
It didn't take more than a few days; just one night, everyone in Ginkgo Hutong knew that something had happened at the department store where Cao Lili worked.
When Guan Yuehe returned from get off work, she met with the owner of the dilapidated courtyard and they agreed that Lin Yiku, who had time off, would be in charge of the transfer of ownership and payment on Wednesday morning.
Before even reaching the entrance of the alley, I noticed that it was unusually lively today.
"Cao Lili is so unlucky!"
"Who says otherwise? She's only been transferred from the supply and marketing cooperative to the department store for less than two years, right? That manager should be sent to jail and executed; I heard he embezzled tens of thousands of yuan!"
"What I heard is that they swindled over ten thousand!"
"Nonsense! How could there be that much? I have a relative who works at a department store, and he said it's exactly 80,000."
"Several leaders of the department store have been arrested, and the employees of that department store have been in the police station for several days. We don't know what their punishment will be."
Guan Yuehe pushed her motorcycle over, and the elderly men and women, each holding a rice bowl, were talking excitedly, spitting rice out of their mouths.
She listened for a while and finally heard what she wanted to hear: Cao Lili is still under investigation, and all of them, the sales clerks, may be disciplined.
Just as they were listening, another motorcycle sound came from behind them. The elderly men and women looked up, exchanged glances, and immediately stopped their discussion.
Chang Zhengyi returned.
Chang Zhengyi had always had an easy life. Before marriage, both his parents worked, and his older brother and sister-in-law were junior managers at their workplaces. After marriage, he married the girl he loved, started a family early, and had a son and a daughter, with his parents helping to take care of the children. These past few years have been even more comfortable. With their child in school and the outside world fashionable, he and Cao Lili were living a life of ease and comfort, making them the most carefree couple in Ginkgo Hutong.
The person who usually loves to dress up is now incredibly unkempt; I guess it's because he's been busy with Cao Lili's affairs these past few days.
The elderly folks often joked about him, but today they tacitly refrained from asking him what fashionable outfit he was wearing, instead focusing on when Cao Lili would be back.
"He didn't say." Chang Zhengyi wasn't in the mood to chat with them, so he nodded and pushed his cart home.
Guan Yuehe sighed. Since she couldn't help, she wouldn't add to the trouble or ask any more questions.
In courtyard number three, both of their children were asking when their mother would come back, and Aunt Zhao also had a worried look on her face.
When Grandpa Chang, who had gone out to inquire about the news, returned, the whole family sat around the table sighing.
—
Two days later, a property ownership certificate and two IOUs appeared in Guan Yuehe's home.
The savings in all three of our family's bankbooks have dwindled to zero.
The "All" column lists her name, while the "Co-owners" column lists Lin Yiku and Lin Ting.
This is the new home that the family of three bought together.
Although it is still a dilapidated courtyard with drafts coming from all sides.
Although they were penniless once again, their family now owns two houses!
"Oh, and remember to report back to your unit tomorrow," Guan Yuehe reminded him.
Lin Yiku nodded, "Political Commissar Guan is indeed very thoughtful."
Guan Yuehe smiled and said, "Even if I don't remind you, the upright official will."
The upright official in the family is currently busy investigating corruption, and he comes back from time to time to keep a close eye on them, telling them not to set their sights on things they shouldn't be doing.
Actually, she wasn't afraid of being investigated. She and Lin Yiku's wealth was all earned legitimately. But to reduce trouble, she still thought of reporting it proactively, so as not to let anyone suspect that there was something fishy about her house.
Once the house was transferred to the new owner, Guan Yuehe was eager to tidy up the yard as soon as possible. The two of them sat down together and discussed finding her second brother to see if there was a reliable construction team back in their hometown.
"The sooner the house is built, the sooner we can move there, and then we can rent out the house here."
Guan Yuehe turned her head to look at him, "How about leaving the house to Mom and Dad to open a small grocery store? Dad has been saying he wants to find something to do, and Mom said she wants to help Sitian take care of the baby for a year. Next year, when Chen Lizhong's parents retire, we'll let them take care of the baby."
In this way, they don't have to go out every day. The two of them can manage a general store, keep each other company, and chat. If one of them goes out to do something, the other can watch over the general store.
There's only one downside.
"What's wrong with that?" Lin Yiku was thinking to himself: With his wife's brains, if she weren't a leader in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, she could make a lot of money and become one of the top business owners in Ginkgo Hutong.
Guan Yuehe had no idea that he was full of sweet talk. She raised her chin towards the opposite side and said, "If I open a general store, I'm afraid all the snacks will end up in Lin Ting's stomach."
Lin Yiku hadn't expected this, but Yuehe was right; they had a little glutton in their family. If they opened a general store, Lin Ting would be like a little mouse that had fallen into an oil vat.
Lin seemed to sense something and looked up at their room. A moment later, a chubby little girl squeezed in between them.
"I want to come and learn too!"
After learning just two sentences, the area outside the courtyard suddenly became lively.
Not long after Jin Junwei and Yuanbao left, Guan Yuehe heard the words, "Lili is back."
So, the three of them went out as well.
Cao Lili was blocked at her doorstep, feeling somewhat helpless.
The last time she was surrounded by so many neighbors was when she had just married into the family.
She and Chang Zhengyi secretly got married without their families' knowledge, which was quite a big news story in Ginkgo Hutong. They were often used as a negative example by their neighbors to lecture their own children.
"Nothing happened, and I wasn't punished."
"The money that was stolen? It was stopped."
"Hey! He couldn't go abroad at all. He put up a smokescreen and secretly went to his relatives' hometown to hide. He was caught and brought back, but he didn't lose any money."
Cao Lili explained everything one by one, and patiently recounted the whole story from beginning to end.
Aunt Zhao was overjoyed and brought out melon seeds, peanuts, and candy, urging everyone to grab a handful. The person's return was a joyous occasion!
Lin Ting also squeezed in to share in the joy. She only wanted to take one piece of fruit candy, but Aunt Zhao stuffed a handful of fruit candies into her pocket, making it bulge immediately.
Lin was so happy that she refused to leave, squeezing into the crowd and happily peeling a piece of fruit candy.
She heard her parents calling her, but she pretended not to hear and even covered her ears. With her back to her parents, she shook her head and crunched on her candy.
Guan Yuehe was so angry that she put her hands on her hips outside the crowd, pushed people aside in a few moves, picked up Lin Ting, and walked out.
"Ahhh! Daddy, save me!"
Lin Yiku silently followed and took all the candies out of Lin Ting's pocket, saying, "Dad will keep them for you. You can eat one a day."
The neighbors glanced back once, then urged Cao Lili to continue.
Adults disciplining children is something we see every day; it's nothing new.
Besides, it's not surprising that Yuehe and Yiku's mischievous son got punished.
—
Lin Ting ran to the No. 3 courtyard to complain, but her grandparents and maternal grandparents didn't respond. They asked her if she wanted some fruit.
"eat!"
Then a group of people took turns looking at the property ownership certificate and started giving them advice, such as who to ask for what kind of work and who to ask for materials.
Guan Yuehe wrote them down one by one.
But the most important thing at home right now isn't when to start building the new yard, but rather preparing for Chen Yu's one-month celebration.
After pondering for many days, Lin Sitian and Chen Lizhong finally decided to use the name they had initially discussed.
Both the Lin and Chen families agreed to hold the banquet at a restaurant. This way, it would be much easier and less troublesome for everyone; they could simply focus on entertaining their relatives and friends.
Although it was a matter between the Lin and Chen families, Jiang Guiying came over to listen.
After finishing Chen Yu's one-month celebration, it's time to hold Yao Yao's one-month celebration. Jiang Guiying plans to learn from others' experiences. If it's suitable, she might as well book the same state-run restaurant and maybe even negotiate a price.
Yao Yao is Guan Yuehe's niece. When the family names the younger generation, it's like they're doing symmetry. The first few names all use reduplicated characters, and the later ones follow suit.
When the conversation turned to what main dishes were essential, Aunt Fang asked, "Would you like some fish?"
If a child's name contains the character for fish and they eat fish, is that a bad omen?
"It's alright, there are many Party members in our family, so we don't care about these things." Lin Sitian added, "I've eaten quite a lot of fish in the past two weeks."
“That makes sense. Then let’s add the ‘May you have abundance every year’ dish.”
"Fish, fish, I want to eat pickled fish."
Guan Yuehe looked towards the source of the sound; Lin Ting was asking for a beating again. She said that was fine, but she still held Chen Yu's hand and said, "I'll let it go," and then she let out a "whoop" as if she was going to bite Chen Yu, before finally leaning over and kissing him twice, "Milk-flavored pickled fish."
Lin Tingtian ran to Courtyard No. 3 every day, watching Chen Yu gradually become more beautiful, and no longer resisted what the adults said: "The two sisters look so alike."
Jiang Guiying tried to hold back, but she couldn't, and in the end, it was Guan Yuehe who got glared at.
"What does this have to do with me?" Guan Yuehe felt utterly wronged.
"You still have the nerve to say that? You started it all." She gave Gu Yu a nickname, Gu Yu gave Lin Ting a nickname, and now Lin Ting is following suit and giving Chen Yu a nickname too.
Guan Yuehe had nothing to say.
"Don't shake Chen Yu awake," Guan Yuehe reminded Lin Sitian, who was leaning against her and laughing uncontrollably.
The real culprit should be Lin Sitian!
Since Lin Sitian decided on her name, she explained to Lin Ting that her younger sister's "fish" was the same as the "fish" in the Chinese idiom "fish that makes fish sink and geese fall from the sky." Lin Ting didn't understand; the preschool hadn't taught that word yet.
Lin Sitian had a sudden inspiration and said, "The fish in sauerkraut fish."
Lin understood, and Chen Yu got a nickname from Lin's ears.
—
The news that Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku had bought the small courtyard could not be kept secret. Only two days had passed, and the elderly folks had already found out.
It's not that people are specifically targeting her family.
Instead, someone in the alley had taken a liking to that dilapidated courtyard and wanted to buy it. But when they went to inquire, they found out that the courtyard had already been bought by Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku!
"No, they only have one child, why would they buy so many houses? Isn't this 30-square-meter place enough for them?"
"Look at what you're saying. Who would want to live in a small house if they could live in a spacious one? You can't just lose the house once you buy it."
The neighbors were shocked. Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku's current house was bought with money, and now they've bought another one! This couple is really good at saving money.
“You don’t even look at them. One of them earns more than several ordinary workers, and the two cadres are supporting only one child.”
Moreover, these two leave early and return late every day, and eat most of their meals in the company cafeteria, so they must be able to save money.
However, a neighbor who knew the situation said, "That was true before, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future."
"What's the explanation?" He's such a high-ranking official, how could his salary be lower than that of the workers?
The neighbor crossed his legs and said calmly, "I don't know about Yuehe's salary, but I'm afraid Yiku's isn't that high. Isn't our main factory going to transfer a deputy factory director? He's a former deputy regimental commander who was demobilized from the army. The factory is paying him over a thousand yuan a month, which is more than three times his salary in the army. You do the math."
The others were quickly distracted: "Does our factory have over a thousand deputy factory directors?"
“The deputy director of the main factory,” the neighbor corrected.
"With the factory's profits improving, how could the leaders' salaries be low? The factory workers also received a raise."
"That's true, my fourth child's salary increased twice in the last two years." The old man proudly raised his chin.
While discussing salary increases, someone suddenly slapped their thigh and said, "If Yuehe's family moves away, their house will just be empty anyway..."
It was a good idea, but nobody paid any attention to it.
Who doesn't know this house is in a great location? Who wouldn't want to buy or rent it?
Who in Ginkgo Alley has ever taken advantage of Yuehe?
She didn't gain any advantage, but she did manage to teach quite a few people a lesson. Even thieves know to avoid her house.
Author's Note: [It's melted]
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