The courtyard door was opened from the inside, and a plump, friendly-looking, neatly dressed man appeared before Gu Zhenqi...
She was wearing an apron and sleeves. When she saw her, she gave her a gentle and friendly smile and asked, "Hello, comrade, what can I do for you?"
Gu Zhenqi responded with a polite smile: "Hello, I'm looking for Comrade Han Zhangping. Does he live here?"
"Yes, he is my love!"
When the middle-aged woman said this, she was still looking at the beautiful woman who suddenly appeared in front of her, intentionally or unintentionally, but there was no malice in her eyes.
"This is what happened." Gu Zhenqi succinctly recounted to the middle-aged woman the entire story of exchanging ginseng for the courtyard house.
Unexpectedly, after listening to her story, the middle-aged woman quickly stepped forward, grabbed her hand, and instantly became extremely enthusiastic:
"Oh, it's you, girl. Come in quickly. What are you doing standing at the door? It's so cold!"
So, Gu Zhenqi was pulled into their room by this woman who suddenly became very enthusiastic.
As soon as she entered the room, she was led to a stool and sat down due to inertia.
"Girl, let me make you a glass of orange juice. Where are you from? Are you planning to settle down in Kyoto?"
The middle-aged woman chatted with her enthusiastically while searching around the room.
In a short while, the round table in front of Gu Zhenqi was filled with snacks, dried fruits, extremely rare oranges and a cup of steaming orange juice.
After the middle-aged woman finished all these, she sat down next to her. To be honest, she was a little bit unable to adapt to this kind of person who suddenly became so familiar with her.
I didn't know what to say or how to respond. It would be impolite not to reply, so I could only say, "I did plan to do that. Isn't Comrade Han at home?"
"Hey, he went to work, and thanks to your top-quality ginseng, he saved the father of his boss at work.
His direct superior had some problems, so he was promoted. The country was planning reforms, and he was so busy every day that he had no time to rest. I haven't seen him for ten days or half a month.
But don't worry, I know about the Siheyuan. He specifically entrusted this matter to me. You take a rest and warm up your body, and I will take you to see it. ”
"Thanks."
"Eat it, you're welcome, drink the orange juice while it's hot."
The middle-aged woman treated Gu Zhenqi so enthusiastically because, naturally, their family had gained huge benefits from the ginseng. In a way, she was indebted to their family.
If Gu Zhenqi knew the deeper story behind this, she would not take it seriously, because in her eyes, this was just a business deal and nothing else mattered.
Today she just came to take back the courtyard house, she needs to redecorate it.
After a few months, the family was going to move in. The house allocated by Chen Kuo's unit was only big enough for their family of four. If other family members came, they would have nowhere to live.
Some things still need to be prepared in advance.
"Don't know what to call you?" Gu Zhenqi asked.
When two people go to see a courtyard house, they always have to communicate. It is inappropriate if they don’t know each other’s address!
"I'm definitely older than you, just call me Sister Tang."
"Okay, Sister Tang, please take me to see the courtyard now."
Sister Tang glanced at the table and saw that except for the orange juice, everything else was untouched: "You just sat down, you should at least eat something."
"I ate too much for breakfast, thank you for your kindness, Sister Tang."
"Wait for me a moment, I'll go get the key."
..
Sister Tang’s family now lives in a courtyard house, but the yard is a little smaller.
She took Gu Zhenqi out of the yard, walked into an alley, turned two corners, and stopped in front of a yard with a mahogany door. She took out the key and opened the door.
The moment the door opened, Gu Zhenqi looked into the yard. It must have been a while since anyone had been there. The ground in the yard was covered with a layer of dead leaves, and the doors and windows were rotten and dilapidated due to the wind and sun.
After entering the yard, Sister Tang took out the key and opened the locks on every door inside.
"I haven't been here for a year. You can go in and take a look at the furniture and supplies inside. If you don't like them, you can sell them to a junk collector. They were all left by my mother-in-law and her family. I think they can still be used."
Gu Zhenqi had just pushed open the door of one of the rooms when the dust accumulated on the door frame fell down from above. She choked and coughed twice, then quickly covered her nose.
Sister Tang said embarrassedly, "I'm so sorry, I haven't come to clean for a long time! This yard used to be where my mother-in-law and father-in-law lived. They left two years ago, and the house has been empty. No one lives there, so I don't think it's necessary to clean it."
"It's okay, cleaning is not a difficult task." said Gu Zhenqi.
She covered her nose with her hands to prevent dust from entering her nasal cavity and stepped into the room, although the tables, chairs, benches and old wooden bed in the room were covered with a layer of dust.
It was not difficult to see that the room was finely decorated and the furniture was very colorful. She unnoticeably put her nose close to the bed and sniffed, and could clearly smell the faint scent of agarwood and sandalwood.
After confirming the smell, it is definitely an antique.
"This room belongs to my mother-in-law and father-in-law. When they were alive, they took great care of these furniture. Our yard is small and these furniture cannot be placed. Besides, we just built a new set of furniture last year." Sister Tang said.
"Well, I see that there is nothing damaged in these furnitures."
"Of course. My mother-in-law takes good care of these furniture, especially this bed. She cleans it carefully every day. In fact, this was bought when she and my father-in-law got married."
Gu Zhenqi saw the value of these furniture at a glance. In order to avoid arguments in the future, she asked, "Sister Tang, are you going to keep these furniture? Are you going to give them all to me?"
"Yes, if you don't like it, just change it. I'm a little reluctant, but it takes up space. Besides, it's been used for a few years and can't be stopped." Sister Tang said.
After hearing what she said, Gu Zhenqi really wanted to tell her that these furniture were all made of rosewood, and if they were well taken care of, they could be used for another hundred years without any problem!
To put it bluntly, even if people die, they still exist.
"Thank you for your kindness, Sister Tang, but these furniture are not damaged and can be used directly. You should sell them to me."
She looked carefully and seriously. The rosewood in the room, as well as one or two pieces of huanghuali furniture, would be considered antiques after a few decades and would surely be able to be sold for a good price.
She got it for free, but she always felt bad about it.
Under her insistence, Sister Tang had to symbolically accept the money for the furniture.
Afterwards, Gu Zhenqi took a look at the other rooms one by one. Overall, this courtyard house was very much to her liking. The transportation, geography, and overall look were all very good.
From the outside, it looks run-down because no one has taken care of it for many years. But when you walk into the rooms, apart from the dust, the layout and furniture are all complete. It is not difficult to tell that the previous owner was a person who paid great attention to life and cherished furniture.
After seeing the courtyard house and feeling satisfied, Gu Zhenqi accompanied Sister Tang home to get the relevant documents, and went to the specialized department to complete the house transfer procedures.
When the relevant certificate of ownership of the courtyard house fell into her hands, she actually felt a little dazed, as if it was a little unreal.
"Sister Tang, thank you very much today." Gu Zhenqi thanked her sincerely.
Thanks to Sister Tang's acquaintance with people here, the procedures were handled so quickly that she finally owned their own house in Kyoto as she wished.
"Are you going home directly?" asked Sister Tang.
"No, I plan to go to the courtyard house again and renovate it."
"You want to renovate? Do you know anyone? If not, I can introduce you to a construction team that specializes in renovations."
"Sure, Sister Tang, please make an appointment for me some other day."
After spending a few hours together, Gu Zhenqi was able to judge that Sister Tang was a traditional woman who was relatively easy to get along with!
After all, she was born and raised in Kyoto, so naturally she knew more people than she did.
"Sure. If you're not in a hurry, just wait a little. They have another house-building job on hand, which will be completed in about five or six days. I'll introduce them to you then."
Gu Zhenqi thought about it and decided that there was still enough time. In this era, one could move in as soon as the house was decorated. It was not like in later times when one had to worry about formaldehyde in the house, so one had to open the windows for ventilation and airing for at least half a year or a year.
"Okay, leave me your address so I can find you."
She was asking Sister Tang for help, and if she went to her house just for this, she would really owe her a favor: "I'll come over in the morning in six days."
"That's fine, I'll go find them when I get back." Sister Tang said.
"Okay, goodbye Sister Tang!"
After saying goodbye to Sister Tang, Gu Zhenqi returned to the warm courtyard house that he had just acquired.
But as soon as she opened the gate and saw the scene in front of her, she was a little stunned!
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