Xu Jie's so-called kitchen was actually just a stove built with bricks and cement on the balcony, with everything piled up together, making it very messy.
Seeing that Xue Mei had no way out, Xu's mother sneered at her:
"I advise you to go back to your room obediently, otherwise when Xiao Jie wakes up, you'll be in for a lot of trouble."
Since being imprisoned by Xu Jie, her treatment has become increasingly worse.
He would beat and kick her if he was even slightly dissatisfied.
He would say how much he cared about her and how afraid he was of her leaving, but as soon as he had a little alcohol, he would use her as a punching bag to vent his anger.
She knew that if things continued like this, she would die at his hands sooner or later, so she reached for a kitchen knife and a lighter.
"Get out of my way, or I'll set it on fire right now."
Xue Mei lit the lighter.
Fearing that she might do something foolish, Xu's mother cleared the way to the gate.
She then slowly moved her feet toward the door.
To everyone's surprise, Xu Jie was awakened and opened his bedroom door.
Seeing Xue Mei's crazy behavior, he immediately ran towards her.
Without hesitation, Xue Mei threw the lighter onto the kitchen clutter, then brandished the kitchen knife and ran towards the front door.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but she was completely exhausted and squatted on the ground, panting heavily.
Fortunately, Xu Jie was probably busy putting out a fire and didn't chase after them.
She looked in the direction of Xu Jie's house and found that the fire had spread from his house and was about to burn down the entire building.
Originally, she was thinking of calling the police and having Xu Jie arrested, but seeing the towering flames, she changed her mind and took a train back to her hometown overnight.
Because she was taking out her ticket, she was taken to the police station by station staff when she exited the train station.
In the end, her uncle spent money to redeem her.
The fire at Xu Jie's house completely destroyed it.
Fortunately, he acted quickly and carried his paralyzed father out of bed. He also retrieved the savings book containing the money he had swindled from Xue Mei.
The family had no choice but to temporarily stay at a guesthouse.
Several other families were also implicated and are now demanding an explanation from Xu Jie's family.
Xu's mother showed her fierce side, saying that she had no money and could not pay compensation.
The news of the fire was broadcast on television the following day.
The buildings in this community were already quite old, and after the fire, the government immediately arranged for a fire hazard inspection.
These old houses are impossible to inspect. It's just a formality. There's nowhere to put people's belongings, and clutter is still piled up everywhere.
While watching the news, Lin Chen suddenly remembered something: his design institute was going to allocate housing as a benefit, but unfortunately, he joined the company late and didn't have enough seniority, so he wasn't eligible.
"Which position are you assigned to?" Jiang Ning asked curiously.
In those days, welfare housing allocation was still the main model for state-owned enterprises. Basically, if you worked in a unit for more than five years, you would have the opportunity to be allocated a house.
However, the rooms are generally not very large, usually around 50 square meters, and some are even smaller.
Lin Chen told her the location, which was near the design institute.
Jiang Ning felt there was nothing to regret, since houses weren't worth much in this era.
However, Lin Chen quickly added that the design institute planned to raise funds to build several residential buildings for employees.
This building is quite large, with a price of around 80 yuan per square meter. The remaining amount is subsidized by the design institute. There are three sizes of apartments available: 60, 80, and 100 square meters.
Anyone who wants it needs to pay a 20% deposit first.
The design institute plans to build about four buildings, totaling more than two hundred households.
If no units are sold, they will be sold at the price of 210 yuan per square meter for commercial housing.
“Those houses are definitely not as good as our courtyard house, so I didn’t tell you,” Lin Chen explained.
Jiang Ning was getting a little anxious: "Why didn't you say so earlier? Is it still possible to make a reservation now?"
Lin Chen was dumbfounded: "You want to buy it? There's still time, the general office is still compiling the statistics!"
Jiang Ning hurriedly urged him, "You definitely have to buy it. Think about it, your internal price is only 81 yuan per square meter, but it's 200 yuan per square meter to outsiders. Wouldn't you make a profit of 120 yuan per square meter by reselling it?"
I feel that those in your factory with some financial means will likely buy. Don't be fooled by the current stagnant housing market; in a few years, houses might be freely traded. People's demands for housing are increasing; it's no longer enough for several generations to squeeze into a dilapidated house. Soon, the entire country will be open to commercial housing.
Luo Guangming frequently pays attention to information related to construction and had long ago discovered that private construction companies had been established and should have started building residential properties.
It's just that the market outlook is unclear, so few people are taking the plunge and are mostly observing.
After listening to everyone's analysis, Lin Chen decided to order a set as soon as he got to work.
Jiang Ning stopped him, "One unit isn't enough. Go to your design institute's leadership and order an entire building. If your leadership thinks the design institute's subsidies are too much, then we won't need the subsidies; just give us the cost price."
As soon as she said that, everyone stared wide-eyed.
She's so bold! Who else has that kind of courage?
A building has about fifty households, and the construction cost is about four or five hundred thousand. She has saved up a lot of money and used it to buy the building. What if it becomes a burden on her?
However, seeing the determination in her eyes, Lin Chen still chose to comply.
The wife had her own reasons for doing this.
The next day, he went to the general office to register the house with Sun Wenjie.
When Sun Wenjie heard that he wanted to reserve an entire building, he scoffed.
"Are you trying to take advantage of public resources all at once?"
Lin Chen glanced at him.
"There are more than 50 registered households now, and there are still about three buildings that haven't been booked. I'm doing this to solve a problem for my company, so why can't I?"
"Wasn't the company building these buildings to solve the housing problem for family members? My family is large, and we need a lot of housing, so asking for a few more rooms isn't unreasonable!"
Someone in the office spoke up for Lin Chen.
"What Engineer Lin said is right. This time, our unit is also breaking new ground by organizing a housing construction project. These houses are not given away for free; they cost money."
Sun Wenjie glared at the man, his smile forced and insincere.
"You're buying so many houses, can you afford to pay for them? You're going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at once. You're not going to use your salary for the next few decades to pay it off, are you?"
He then burst into laughter.
Just then, Director Liu from the design institute passed by in the corridor, heard the commotion, and came over to inquire about the house reservation.
I heard that only about fifty apartments have been reserved, and some people are not satisfied.
“You should publicize this to the wider workforce. It’s rare for the government to allocate funds to us for such a project, and it should benefit the majority of employees.”
Sun Wenjie's earlier arrogance vanished completely, and he lowered his head to explain.
"The main problem is that everyone feels that they have to pay 20% of the purchase price before they've even gotten a feel for the house. The cheapest house costs at least 5,000 yuan, so the down payment is 1,000 yuan. Everyone thinks that's too much and they can't afford it. They're all waiting for the houses to be allocated for free!"
Dean Liu frowned upon hearing this and walked out somewhat displeased.
Lin Chen followed.
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