"Is Brother Chen willing to take us along to make money?"
Wang Yuan and the group of thugs behind him were stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then overjoyed, their eyes gleaming as they stared at Chen Jing.
These thugs were all young men from poor families. Their families had no connections and couldn't arrange good jobs for them, so they could only occasionally go out and do odd jobs to make a living.
A few days ago, two of his underlings told him that they had found a fat sheep who spent money lavishly and was looking for a place to rent, so Wang Yuan also got the idea.
He originally rented the largest backyard from the landlord and became a sub-landlord. The previous landlord thought the rent was too expensive and moved out after two or three months.
I heard that a generous out-of-towner wanted to rent a room, so I set my sights on Chen Jing.
Upon hearing Chen Jing's words, Wang Yuan's mind immediately started working. He quickly stepped forward with a hearty laugh and said, "Brother Chen, I made a mistake today. I apologize to you. If you don't mind, Brother Chen, let's sit down and talk. I promise I won't have any bad ideas this time."
Chen Jing glanced at the small courtyard behind him and shook his head: "Your courtyard is too cluttered and messy. It's not a place to talk. Where is there a teahouse or a quiet place to sit? Let's find a place to have tea. Don't worry, it's on me."
Chen Jing, who had worked with a black market boss, understood the thoughts of these petty thugs best.
Of course, after spending a few days in the capital, he also wanted to subdue a few local bullies. If he could truly subdue them, sometimes the local bullies could surprise him.
Upon hearing that Chen Jing was treating everyone, the group of underlings immediately grinned. Sure enough, they took him to a private restaurant, ordered two pots of tea and several plates of snacks, and while praising him, they also tried to find out about Chen Jing's background.
After sitting in the teahouse for half a day, Chen Jing successfully befriended a few thugs who agreed to help him find out where an entire courtyard could be rented or sold.
Upon hearing that he was buying a courtyard house, a group of his underlings were immediately stunned.
They only wanted to rip him off on the rent, making five or eight yuan a month, while Chen Jing was aiming to spend ten or twenty thousand yuan.
The group looked at each other, and after a long while, Wang Yuan cautiously asked, "Brother Chen, you just said you wanted to buy a house with a yard, is that true?"
Chen Jing raised an eyebrow: "Of course it's true. As I just said, my wife is going to university. She's studying here, so of course I have to be with her, right? She'll be studying for four years, so I can't live in a guesthouse for four years, can I? We have to buy a house, right?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Yuan couldn't help but chuckle. "You have to buy a house to stay for four years? Can't we just rent?"
However, judging from his tone just now, he only wants to rent a detached house for his family to live in. He doesn't like the kind of large group of people who live in a courtyard house and turn it into a communal tenement.
Detached houses are hard to rent because most houses are rented out in sections. The rent for a detached house is at least 80 to 100 yuan, which is higher than most people's salary. Who can afford it?
However, thinking about the wages in the countryside, he whispered a reminder: "Brother Chen, even a small house with a yard in the city will cost tens of thousands of yuan."
"I know, I've heard about it. My wife warned me a long time ago that those two- or three-courtyard houses cost ten or twenty thousand yuan!"
Seeing that Chen Jing was determined to buy a house, and that even a house price of ten or twenty thousand yuan did not seem to scare him, one of his underlings hesitated and raised his hands.
“Brother Chen, actually you want to buy a courtyard house, and I roughly know which one is about to be transferred.”
It took Chen Jing more than an hour to go with his younger brother, Ahui, and Wang Yuan to see a two-courtyard house.
The courtyard house is located in Houhai. It belongs to a lonely elderly couple. It has two courtyards and is about 500 to 600 square meters. The overall size is quite good, but the house and the courtyard are somewhat dilapidated, as if they have been severely trampled on.
The old man was sickly and listless. Seeing the dilapidated state of the courtyard, Chen Jing didn't offer much explanation. It was Ah Hui who explained to Chen Jing that the courtyard had originally been allocated to others by the government.
However, after the old man's family was exonerated, they brought back a grandson with congenital heart disease who urgently needed money for surgery. Since the government's compensation was insufficient, they also returned the ancestral home.
This courtyard was left behind by those people who forcibly moved away. The once grand house had fallen into disrepair after years of damage.
The old man's family had no money and no interest in spending money on repairs, so they were willing to reduce the market price by one thousand as repair fees, and asked Chen Jing for fifteen thousand.
Seeing that Ji Xia's get out of class was about to end, Chen Jing arranged another time to discuss things with the old man, saw off his two underlings, and hurriedly went to pick up Ji Xia.
In the afternoon, Ji Xia and Rong Ruoshi walked out of the Fu family home hand in hand. Both of them were tall and slender, wearing camel-colored fitted coats with red turtleneck sweaters underneath, and skinny jeans that made their calves look exceptionally long.
With their almond-shaped eyes and bright, captivating beauty, the two walking hand in hand were undoubtedly the most beautiful sight on the street.
As they walked out of the Fu family courtyard, Rong Ruoshi suddenly asked, "Are you still staying at the guesthouse? You'll be staying here for at least a month, how much will that cost?"
Ji Xia smiled wryly, "Of course I know it will cost a lot, but my boyfriend goes out every day to look for a place to rent. As long as we find a quiet place, that's fine."
Rong Ruoshi hesitated for a moment: "Actually, my aunt and uncle also have empty rooms at home. I'll mention it to my aunt."
However, since it was her aunt's husband's family, Rong Ruoshi couldn't bring herself to ask without their permission.
Ji Xia shook her head: "Forget it, don't mention it. We're not alone; we brought our partners to Beijing. How can we be so shameless as to move in together?"
Rong Ruoshi also thought it made sense, and after thinking for a moment, she said, "How about I mention it to my aunt and see if there are any quiet houses for rent?"
"That works, any rental is fine, but it needs to have two rooms, and it would be even better if it could be used for cooking."
Rong Ruoshi readily agreed, and was about to ask why she couldn't find a suitable partner when she saw Chen Jing.
"Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao appears again."
She chuckled and tugged at Ji Xia's sleeve, gesturing towards him with her lips: "Although he has a lower level of education, he's really good to you. He picks you up and drops you off every day, clinging to you so tightly. Is he worried you'll get lost?"
Ji Xia blushed slightly, smiled shyly at Chen Jing, and whispered, "She was probably frightened on the way. If he hadn't protected her, she might have been sold to the mountains."
"What? My God? Is it this dangerous to ride a train? That's terrifying."
Rong Ruoshi was immediately drawn to the information in her words and asked about the dangers she had encountered on the road.
The February breeze in the north still carried a chill, and Chen Jing came forward with a plaid scarf in hand, naturally wrapping it around Ji Xia's neck.
He glanced at the obvious gray on the side of her fair little finger and frowned.
Suppressing his concern, he smiled faintly at Rong Ruoshi: "School's out, are you hungry? There's a nice private restaurant nearby, want to go grab a bite?"
Ji Xia glanced at him in surprise. He'd only been in the capital for less than a week, and he already knew where to find private restaurants.
Rong Ruoshi was about to politely decline when Ji Xia took her hand and persuaded her, "Let's eat together. Come back after we finish eating. It'll be closer so we don't have to go back and forth in the wind."
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