Her favorite feature was the running water pipe in the yard. It flowed out instantly, unlike back home where she had to fetch water from the water tower every day. Under the pipe was a small terrazzo pool where she could wash clothes and vegetables.
The small courtyard is paved with blue bricks, leaving only a piece of open space at the corner of the east wall. A few withered cockscombs droop their heads there. My mother-in-law can grow some vegetables there in the future.
After visiting the courtyard, she asked Li Qiang how much he planned to rent it for.
Li Qiang smiled and said generously: "Rent is a small matter. I just don't want this house to be empty. How about this, if you don't mind the house being too small, how about ten dollars a month?"
Ten yuan is not expensive. In the county town, a single-family house like this would cost at least twenty yuan a month. Lin Qingqing felt that she had gotten a great bargain.
After agreeing on the price, she paid half a year's rent in advance. Li Qiang wrote a receipt and gave her a set of keys to the house.
Hou Guiying smiled brightly: "Xiao Li, do you have a home phone number? Leave me your contact information."
Hou Xiaorou shyly tugged at her mother's clothes and said angrily, "Mom..."
Li Qiang shook his head like a rattle: "Aunt Hou, I don't have a phone at home. If you have anything, you can come to my workplace to find me."
He was deliberately shirking his responsibility. He often went to the countryside to deliver letters, and it was difficult to see him even if you went to his workplace.
But Hou Guiying thought he was hinting that she could go find him, and she smiled like a flower: "Okay!"
Hou Xiaorou looked at Li Qiang reluctantly for a few seconds, and was then dragged away by her mother.
Li Qiang was her ideal partner and she fell in love with him at first sight.
Only when the three men were out of sight did Li Qiang take off his work clothes, take off the white shirt underneath that was soaked with sweat, and wring it out.
He admitted that Xiaolin was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
At this moment, the cloth stall was crowded with people, and Xue Guixiang and Zhou Zhuo were busy greeting customers.
Zhou Zhuo was of little use and could only help collect the money. Xue Guixiang was forced to communicate with the customers and only managed to sell two pieces of cloth.
Seeing more and more people coming, Xue Guixiang couldn't help but groan inwardly. She greeted one person and neglected another. In such a cold day, she even broke out in sweat on her forehead.
Fortunately, Lin Qingqing came back and saved her from the dire situation.
Business was surprisingly good today. By the evening, only some scraps of cloth were left from the ten rolls of cloth sold, so the income was naturally considerable.
The rented yard had not been cleaned up yet, and Lin Qingqing had originally planned to go back to the village to stay at night, but she suddenly changed her mind.
She decided to take Zhou Zhou to Shijiazhuang to purchase goods tomorrow. If they had to catch a bus early in the morning to return to the village, it would be better to rest in the rental house for a night. It would also be more convenient to leave from the county town the next day.
Xue Guixiang said she wanted to go home to get quilts and daily necessities, return to the village in the evening, and come back tomorrow. She would also bring the cart with her so that it would be easier to load goods in the future.
Seeing that her mother-in-law insisted on going back, Lin Qingqing agreed. She and Zhou Zhuo stayed behind to close the stall, and after that, she took him to the rental house.
The county town is great. There are electric lights at night, and the whole house is bright when you turn on the switch.
There is a living room in the middle of these three rooms, with two bedrooms on each side. The layout is similar to that of the houses in the village, but the conditions are much better.
The village is made of brick and earth walls, and various insects with legs often crawl out of the cracks in the walls, and mice keep company at night.
The house had whitewashed walls and a cement floor, so there were no worries about bugs or mice. There was some furniture in the house: a table, a bench, a wardrobe, and a bed. With just a few basic necessities, they could live there. The best part was a half-worn desk by the window in their bedroom.
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