Study Abroad
It's a rare excuse and opportunity to get everyone together for a meal, so taking advantage of the happy event of my uncle's move into a new house, several relatives gathered at my uncle's new home. Even my aunt and uncle came with gifts, and the atmosphere was quite joyful.
It’s just that Chen Jia’s news came too suddenly.
My second uncle and aunt looked confused, but my eldest uncle and aunt and my third uncle and aunt had already started celebrating.
"Today is a double happiness! It's not easy to apply for an exchange program to study abroad, right? Our child is really doing well, look!" The eldest uncle was so happy that he gushed over a glass of white wine. He was obviously a little drunk and was so happy that he didn't notice that the second uncle and second aunt's reactions were not right.
"Jia Jia, do your best! Our family has produced several college students, and now some are studying abroad. When will they go abroad? We have to hold another banquet. Uncle will give you a big red envelope!"
The third uncle was also drunk, and he laughed foolishly: "Yes, yes, yes, it's good that the child has a promising future. Third uncle will also prepare a big red envelope for him."
The eldest aunt and the third aunt soon noticed that the expressions of the second uncle and the second aunt were not right. They tried to stop the two drunk people, but failed. The two brothers were the only ones talking non-stop in the whole place, and they mentioned the academic situation of the children at home one by one.
Chen Jin sighed silently: I’m really impressed.
Chen Jia didn't expect that her uncle would get drunk at the critical moment. She felt very guilty now, and the looks from her parents across from her seemed to torture her to death.
She poked Chen Jin quietly and whispered, "Third sister, you have to help me."
Chen Jin, who had just changed his position, changed his position again without making a sound.
Such a big dining table couldn't accommodate someone like her who just wanted to come and concentrate on eating.
Because of Chen Jia’s explosive news, my second uncle and aunt said they wanted to go home after dinner and would invite the family to dinner another day. My third cousin didn't drink, so he was asked by my third aunt to send my second uncle and his family back.
"Third sister, are you going back to the small western-style building or Hanlin Garden later?" asked my third aunt.
"Let's go back to Hanlin Garden."
My uncle's new home is located in the Rose Garden. Each of the three children has a room, but they are not allowed to live there permanently. My uncle and aunt are busy with their work and they don't like the fact that the three of them have their own problems.
Now that his eldest uncle and third uncle have moved to the Rose Garden, Chen Jin has given up the idea of reselling Hanlin Garden. Living close by, it will be much more convenient to travel between us in the future. It’s better to keep the house in Hanlin Garden for now.
My second uncle actually also wants to buy a house in Rose Garden.
In the recent period, housing reform policies have been promulgated one after another. The housing provident fund system has been fully established, public housing rents have been increased, public housing can be sold, mortgages are available for purchase, and other policies that are conducive to residents buying houses have enhanced residents' confidence and ability to pay for buying houses. In fact, they are sending a signal: in the future, housing issues can no longer be solved solely by "relying on the government, units, and enterprises."
At the same time, it is now more difficult to obtain land to build mid- to high-end residential areas, and it is difficult to get approval. In addition to the ongoing projects in the suburbs of Xicheng District, my uncle's company is now also undertaking housing reform projects.
With the country's macro-control of housing prices, the prices of houses like Xiuli Community, which were originally positioned as mid-range, are no longer rising. Xiuli Community is better, after all, it is confirmed that the subway will pass by in the future, so it has the advantage of convenient transportation. The price is still a little higher than this time last year. The prices were hyped up before the Chinese New Year, but now they have fallen.
Chen Jin decided to wait and see. She felt that the country's current regulation of the real estate market was a bit too strong, and she didn't know whether it was a wise choice to buy a house in Shenzhen at this time.
Even Aunt Ke Xin, who has now returned from Shanghai, used the money she borrowed from the bank to buy only two houses in Shanghai for future residence, and used the rest to buy a house in Beijing.
Therefore, it is not so easy for my second uncle to change the house in Rose Garden. The housing prices in high-end communities do not fluctuate much, but the two houses in Xiuli Community are not so easy to sell now. Even if the houses in Xiuli Community and Jinxiu Community are sold, he will not have enough money to buy the house in Rose Garden.
Now that they know that Chen Jia is planning to study abroad... Although they didn't express their opinions tonight, based on Chen Jin's understanding of his second uncle and aunt, they will definitely compromise with Chen Jia.
However, Chen Jia kept it a secret for so long, and they, as parents, were not the first to know about it. Now the second uncle and aunt must be angry, and they don’t know how they will criticize Chen Jia when they go back.
Chen Jin ignored Chen Jia's look for help, and after they left, he pulled Sister Zhuang Yao to the sofa to chat.
Last time, she directly dropped her second cousin off at the place, and as soon as he got out of the car, he started the car and drove away. Later, I didn’t contact him again because I was afraid of being retaliated by him. After that, I was busy with the start of school and couldn’t think about my second cousin and Sister Zhuang Yao at all.
Now that they have met, she has to ask what happened next. Judging from the current results, the two have definitely reconciled.
Zhuang Yao glanced at Chen Yongxin at the table and said, "It's nothing. Since he really realized his mistake, I will temporarily forgive him. If it happens again, he can go find his ex and marry him. It's not like I don't have other people chasing after me."
Chen Jin nodded in agreement, "That's right, Sister Zhuang Yao, you are pretty, your family is well-off, and you are involved in the management of your family's company. If he wants to have dinner with his ex-girlfriend, then you should go too."
"......When you put it that way, I feel like I'm at a disadvantage. I don't even have an ex."
"If my second brother doesn't figure it out, you'll be pregnant soon."
Chen Yongxin, who came over with two drinks, was so angry that he stuffed one of the drinks to his nephew Junjun, and then kept one and handed it to Zhuang Yao.
Chen Jin frowned and looked up at him, "It's just a matter of convenience, second brother, can't you also get me a cup?"
"Pour it yourself."
Chen Jin snorted. He was being tough now that he didn't need her anymore. If he went to her for "consultation" about his emotional confusion in the future, he would see whether she would laugh at him or help him with advice. !
~
The staff quarters of the Municipal Meteorological Bureau.
Many people were chatting and enjoying the cool air under the stone table downstairs in the evening. When they saw Chen Jia and his family of three coming back, everyone greeted them.
"Chen Ke, you went out to eat. Why are you back so late?"
In the staff quarters of the Municipal Meteorological Bureau, everyone knows that Section Chief Chen's family had their home demolished last year. It is said that his brothers were able to receive several million in compensation, but his received much less, but it is said that he also received hundreds of thousands in compensation and several houses. Section Chief Chen's family suddenly jumped from an ordinary middle-class family in the staff compound to a wealthy family.
While everyone was still waiting for their housing allocation, some people already had several houses. Many people were envious, and some people turned their eyes to Chen Jia. Section Chief Chen and his wife have only one daughter.
When Chen Jia was born, the country was promoting family planning, but no policies or clear regulations had been implemented, and most people still chose to have more children.
Only Chen Wenhua and Liu Juan are considering having only one child. Even if it is only a girl, they will spoil her very much. So, in the staff quarters of the Municipal Meteorological Bureau, not to mention girls, even boys may not be able to compare to the good conditions enjoyed by Chen Jia.
The house and savings that Chen Wenhua and Liu Juan have saved will definitely be left to Chen Jia in the end. Whoever marries Chen Jia will not have to worry about the house in the future. Besides, his father-in-law and mother-in-law are still in the unit, so their pension will not be less. There are many benefits.
Chen Wenhua and Liu Juan have felt the "enthusiasm" of their neighbors and old colleagues many times this year, but they know clearly that these people are not sincere at first glance. They must be crazy to let their only daughter find a man to marry so early.
If it weren't for the fact that it is easy to marry an ungrateful son-in-law, they all wanted Chen Jia to just find a son-in-law to live with them in the future.
"Hey, Jiajia, our Haining said he wants to play with you. Come to our house tomorrow."
Chen Jia did not respond. If she went to Haining's house, the person she would meet would not be Haining, but Haining's brother.
After saying hello to the people in the family compound, Chen Wenhua quickened his pace to go home. Liu Juan was not in the mood to deal with these neighbors. She glared at Chen Jia and urged her to go back as soon as possible.
Chen Jia walked into the room reluctantly and saw her father already sitting on the sofa, with an imposing manner, as if he was waiting to interrogate her. As soon as she moved to the coffee table, her mother closed the door and sat next to her father.
"I'll give you three minutes. You'd better come up with a decent excuse, otherwise you..." Chen Wenhua was about to say "otherwise you'll be beaten", but the girl was already twenty years old, and it would definitely not work to discipline her with a stick like when she was a child, so he got stuck.
Chen Jia knew what her father wanted to say, and immediately straightened her attitude. She first sincerely admitted her mistake, saying that she shouldn't have kept such a big thing from her parents. Then she continued, "The main reason is that I wasn't sure I could apply for this study abroad program before. The list of approved applicants was only announced yesterday, and I just went to my uncle's house from school in the afternoon. Now it's just that the application has been approved, and I have to wait until the summer vacation of my junior year to start the exchange study..."
I quickly glanced at my parents' expressions, and they weren't as ugly as before, which meant there was still hope.
Chen Jia continued, "After graduation, I applied to study abroad, but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to adapt. So my school happened to have this exchange program, so I applied. Who knew I would be so lucky and actually got accepted."
Keep stealing peeks.
It's all nonsense to say it's good luck.
Students who can submit an application are required to have excellent academic performance while in school. She worked very hard this semester because she was afraid that she would fall behind in the first two semesters of her junior year. She also needs to have a good command of foreign languages, thanks to her mother. Seeing the aunties in the staff housing estate enrolling their children in various classes, her mother also enrolled her because everyone said that learning a foreign language well would be of great use in the future. Her mother insisted that she take English interest classes.
On the way back, Chen Wenhua's anger had subsided by a quarter, and after hearing her "sophistry", it subsided by another quarter. But he is still angry now.
"You want to study abroad, why didn't you tell us?" Chen Wenhua said with a straight face, "You deliberately chose to tell us today when everyone was here, right? Are you afraid that we wouldn't agree, and you thought your uncle and others would make the decision for you? Are we such old-fashioned people in your eyes? Will we hinder you and stop you from studying abroad?"
Chen Jia originally wanted to get away with it with a smile on her face, but after hearing what her father said, she reflected on her own behavior and felt that she had indeed gone too far. Her parents are so good to her, but she is still wary of them and doesn't dare to tell them.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt like a piece of shit that I couldn't even trust my own parents.
Liu Juan was ready to follow her husband in scolding Chen Jia, but when she saw Chen Jia blinking his eyes and looking like he was about to cry, she felt reluctant to say it.
He opened his mouth and finally decided to let the bad guy be the child's father. So she also frowned.
After a long time, seeing that Chen Wenhua was silent, she quietly pulled his pants and winked at him: Look at your daughter, you have to talk to her!
Chen Wenhua looked back and said: Why don’t you say anything? Make me the bad guy every time!
"I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I know I was wrong." Chen Jia felt uneasy in the quiet atmosphere. She thought her parents were really angry this time and didn't want to pay any attention to her.
"Tell me, are you afraid that we won't agree to your going abroad, or are you afraid that we won't spend money on you? How much does this exchange study cost?"
Chen Jia shrank his neck, "I'm afraid. The exchange study fee is a bit expensive. The school subsidizes half of it, and the rest is for you to pay for yourself." The voice behind was a little low, "For one year of exchange study, you need to prepare about 70,000 yuan for tuition and living expenses..."
"Oh." Chen Wenhua only replied with this one word, which made Chen Jia feel uneasy again. She didn't know what her parents would think...
In fact, her grades were not the best in the class, but even if she only had to pay half the cost of a year's exchange study abroad, 70,000 yuan would still be a huge sum for most students. She actually thought that if her parents didn't support her, she would probably go to her third sister to borrow money...
In fact, Chen Wenhua was relieved when he heard "around 70,000".
There are also children in the family compound who have gone abroad in the past two years. I heard that the tuition and living expenses for one year add up to more than 200,000 yuan. Relatively speaking, 70,000 yuan seems a lot less. The family can grit their teeth and go to the bank to borrow some money with the property certificate to afford the mortgage. Or go and borrow it from your brothers first. Alternatively, you could sell a house and raise the money.
But the children may also be worried. After all, their parents have arranged food, clothing, housing and transportation for them since they were young, and they lack any planning in their minds. I mentioned to her that our family's financial situation was actually in a deficit because we had to pay off the mortgage for the house in Xiuli Community, and the building in Qiaoxi Village was also built with borrowed money.
The rent for all the rental houses in their family plus the salary of the two of them can bring in more than 4,000 yuan per month. Although their family's income is considered wealthy in the housing estate, they still have to pay back the money every month. Especially, the money used to build the building in Qiaoxi Village was borrowed from his eldest brother and sister-in-law. His eldest brother and sister-in-law were willing to lend it to them, and they could not delay it. Fang Zheng kept enough money for household expenses and emergencies every month, and the rest of the money was used to pay off the mortgages for the two houses in Xiuli Community and to repay his eldest brother and sister-in-law.
Even though the family is in debt now, 70,000 yuan is not a big deal for them.
Only Chen Jia had a vague understanding of the family's financial situation, so he thought that spending 70,000 yuan on an exchange study abroad was a huge deal.
Although Chen Wenhua's anger had almost subsided, he still didn't show it, leaving Chen Jia to worry for a few days.
"I will go to your counselor to learn about your exchange program. Once we have a clear understanding, I will come to talk to you about going abroad."
Chen Jia nodded obediently and continued to wait for his parents to speak, but after waiting for a long time, neither of them said anything. She moved over little by little, then pushed the two of them apart and sat in the middle.
Looking at the stern-faced father on the left, and then at the stern-faced mother on the right, he quietly reached out his hand to hold their arms, and said in a soft voice: "Mom and Dad, I really know I was wrong. If it happens again next time, you can break my legs and I will never say a word!"
Liu Juan had calmed down, but after hearing that, she couldn't help herself and slapped her twice, gritting her teeth and saying, "You damned child, how dare you do it again?! Do you want to piss me and your dad off to death?"
Chen Wenhua also hummed twice in cooperation.
Chen Jia immediately corrected his attitude and admitted his mistake, "There won't be a next time! Absolutely not! In the future, if I have any major problems, I will definitely tell you, my parents, first. I will never do that again! Really!"
Chen Wenhua and Liu Juan looked at each other, then quickly looked away and said "hmm" lightly.
"Tell us first what you think. I haven't heard you say you want to study abroad before... Don't tell me you've been brainwashed by Wu Sheng's bragging about how great it is to study abroad?"
"No, I thought about studying abroad after I learned about it and thought about it carefully."
"Then tell me how you have thought it through."
Chen Jia felt her parents' tone soften, and she completely relaxed. She leaned towards her mother without any proper manner and told her honestly how she came up with the idea and what benefits she thought studying abroad would bring.
~
Chen Jin stayed in Hanlinyuan for one night. She agreed with her third aunt last night to go to her house for lunch today. The main purpose is to understand the current situation of Sifang Travel Agency from my third cousin.
Because my third cousin said that after October, they will distribute dividends first, and then they will expand the staff and equip them with cars, so they have to increase investment, and everyone has to contribute in proportion. If Chen Jin did not invest money, the 25% he held would have shrunk.
She is not in a hurry to go back to the small villa tomorrow, and she can also stroll around Xicheng District.
Starting from March this year, the country has proposed a "big and small week" rest arrangement. NTU only started implementing this policy this semester. Chen Jin was busy supervising the students' military training before, and his rest time was based on the students'. He did not have a deep understanding of this rest system yet. It wasn't until this weekend when she actually had two days off that she realized how happy it was to have two days off on a weekend!
The “big and small week” policy is intended to transition to “two days off per week”. The transition period is one year. That is to say, starting from March next year, the weekend will be a two-day break! ,
She is now looking forward to the coming of March next year, and has decided to pray every day before going to work: Nanjing University must keep up with the pace of the country and implement the weekend double-day off policy as soon as possible!
The refrigerator at home often has power outages, but we still prepare some food at home in case she suddenly comes over to stay here and has nothing to eat.
But after looking at the things in the cupboard, Chen Jin decided to go out and find a breakfast shop.
If she had known that she would meet Zhang Leye and the woman if she went out early, she would have gone down a few minutes later.
Apparently, this woman still remembered that she pulled her hair during the last fight, and when she saw her in the community, she kept glaring at her. Chen Jin glared back without giving in: I pulled your hair and you scratched me!
Zhang Leye used to go to Qiaodong Village with his aunt, and he always looked honest and simple. He was always happy when he saw Chen Jin and the others. The divorce was so ugly, and he looked down on the Chen family during the divorce. Now that he has seen Chen Jin, he actually feels embarrassed and wants to come over to say hello?
After Chen Jin realized his intention, he immediately quickened his pace and left the community. It was unlucky enough to see these two people so early in the morning. Who would want to say hello to them? !
After walking a little further away, Chen Jin looked back and found that Zhang Leye and the woman seemed to be in a cold war?
They have all come to Hanlin Garden, which is also the Zhang family’s old base. So it’s a foregone conclusion that these two will get married, right? Hey, Zhang Bai and Zhang Xue, the brother and sister, are causing trouble again.
Chen Jin did not drive out. After having breakfast at a breakfast shop outside the community, he walked to the rose garden.
A small park is being built between the two communities. It is close to Nanjiang River, and now Nanjiang River is building a ring road on both sides of the river. There is construction going on everywhere in the city, either building high-rise buildings or demolishing old buildings. Also, due to the construction of the subway, some sections of the road have been closed. If you drive a car, you either have to take a detour or expect to be stuck in traffic here.
It was just after eight in the morning when Chen Jin arrived at the Rose Garden. The village chief, Chen Sangong, and the Tai Chi senior group spontaneously organized by the community were practicing Tai Chi in the community. Two elderly people from other families in the village also came out to exercise and were playing chess with others.
The Rose Garden is more down-to-earth.
"Good morning, village chief." The village chief saw her, so it would be impolite not to go over and say hello, so he asked, "How are you, Sangong?"
The village chief wanted to continue practicing Tai Chi, so he didn't talk much. "Third sister, call Yongfei and have dinner at my house later."
Chen Jin agreed with a smile, and said that he would go there with his third cousin later.
Chen Jin guessed that the village chief must want to find them to inquire about opening a travel agency. Usually, she and her third cousin, one works at school and the other leads a tour group. It is difficult for even their own family members to find them, let alone outsiders.
"Old Chen, that's also a young man from your village?"
Can the young people in Qiaodong Village be ordinary young people? When your house is demolished, you will definitely get a lot of things from it. Don’t think that they can’t be matchmakers just because they are old. They are idle at home every day. When they see young people of the right age in the community, they can’t wait to find out their ancestors and then help introduce them to someone.
They can all afford to live in a rose garden, and they are not going there for the things in other people's hands. They are just idle and want something to do. Even the old ladies in the neighborhood may not be as well-informed as they are. Occasionally I go fishing with the old men in the community. We sit there for a whole morning or afternoon and can talk about anything.
"Yes, he is the first college student in our village." Chen Guangman knew these old men too well and said directly, "He is still a university teacher. The child is smart and has his own ideas. She doesn't like the ones introduced by others."
"It's hard to say. My niece who I introduced to you a few days ago was the same. She said she didn't like me before the blind date, but after we met, she got the marriage certificate the next day."
Chen Guangman waved his hand, "That's different. The third sister in our village is very smart, and men can't deceive her."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
