The little red brick building is really extremely remote.

I got on a bus heading for the suburbs and was swaying for nearly an hour before I got off.

We have only walked half of the way here. There are no buses to the next place, so we have to walk the rest of the way.

"That's Fenglu Mountain," said Wang Jingyi, pointing to the mountains in the distance.

Yi Qingqing and the others looked over and saw only the shadow of a mountain. "How long will it take to walk there?"

“If you walk fast, it will take more than an hour to reach the foot of the mountain,” Wang Jingyi said. “Once you get there, it will take more than an hour to walk up the mountain.”

With this calculation, time is really tight.

Several people hurried on their way.

It was boring to just keep on walking, so Wang Jingyi started chatting:

"Hurry up, we can get back to the city after five o'clock, which is just right for dinner. I have been thinking about the copper pot hot pot restaurant near the South Gate for a long time, but my old friends are all gone, and I always feel like something is missing when I go alone. Hot pot is more lively when there are more people eating. Today, with you guys here, I can finally fulfill my wish."

Yi Qingqing thought the dish sounded familiar, and when she asked, it turned out to be the restaurant she and Li Mengxue had eaten at many times. "That restaurant is really delicious!"

Yuan Anchun feels the same way: "It's just a little expensive. I only go there once during festivals and have a glass of soju. Tsk!"

Comrade Yuan is young, but he is also a heavy drinker.

Wang Jingyi was obviously a person who was very good at livening up the atmosphere. It was everyone's first day meeting each other, but there wasn't much to talk about. It would be inappropriate to talk too deeply, and it would be awkward to walk such a long way without talking.

Talking about food was the safest thing to do. Coincidentally, everyone was very familiar with that hotpot restaurant, so they started chatting right away.

After chatting about food, the few of them became more familiar with each other. Wang Jingyi turned the topic back to the house, talking about how he came back before the New Year, received the property returned to him, and went to see it in person.

One wants to sell a house, one wants to buy a house, and one works in the Housing Authority, which is in charge of house sales. Everyone has a lot to say about houses and is interested.

As he was talking, Wang Jingyi said that he thought that few people would buy houses with a total price of several thousand or tens of thousands of dollars at this time. Unexpectedly, just after the New Year, several properties he had put up for sale were all taken by people.

When he said this, Yuan Anchun felt the same way: "That's right! Let alone houses worth thousands or tens of thousands, there have been only a few people who come to buy houses since our office opened. But those who come to buy are all very rich. After buying one, they want to buy a second one. I just can't figure it out. Why buy so many houses? How many people in the family would have to live in them? Maybe they buy them to rent? Comrade Yi, do you also want to buy them to rent? There are still many people who rent houses. The two houses on Jinma Street are easy to rent, but it will take a long time to get your money back."

As the conversation went on, I asked Yi Qingqing why she bought a house.

Although it was Yuan Anchun who asked the question, Yi Qingqing glanced at Wang Jingyi. He was probably the more curious one!

She herself was also very good at making small talk, and she sensed the clues left in Wang Jingyi's words.

But this question is not that difficult to answer.

Wang Jingyi had a special background. Although he returned to the city and his house was returned to him, it was impossible to compensate him for the things that had been destroyed and taken away. The most he could get was a small subsidy.

Individual businesses have not been liberalized yet.

In this case, it is normal for him, a descendant of a merchant, to want to restore the glory of his ancestors and go to Hong Kong. The possibility of him staying in the mainland is very small.

It would take a lot of money to go to Hong Kong and start over.

Therefore, Yi Qingqing was not afraid that what she said would affect her house purchase: "Some houses I bought were intended for my own use, and some were intended for renting out or waiting for appreciation. The prospects in this area should be good."

"What prospects can there be? It's easy to buy a house but difficult to sell it! I've been working here for a long time, and the house buying and selling office has been open for a long time, but there are really few people buying houses!" said Yuan Anchun.

"There must be a reason why the country has liberalized the sale of real estate. There should be changes in this area. I'm just betting on the potential for change," Yi Qingqing said rather vaguely, and was unwilling to say more, as it was not appropriate to talk too deeply with someone who had just met someone new.

"That makes sense, but unfortunately I can't wait any longer," Wang Jingyi sighed.

Yuan Anchun actually still didn't quite understand, but when he heard them both say the same thing, he couldn't help but have an idea in his mind.

People who were rich in the past and those who are rich now all think that buying a house will not be a loss, and they always have their reasons.

However, he has only been working for a short time and does not have much money on him, so buying a house is just something he can only think about. Anyway, his company has allocated a house to him, so he is not in a hurry for the time being.

If I have some spare money later, I might give it a try.

…

I saw the mountain from afar, but it took me more than an hour to walk to it.

Several people stood at the foot of Fenglu Mountain, with a mountain road covered with dead branches, fallen leaves and weeds in front of them.

Section 220

"This is the way to the red brick house," Wang Jingyi said, "Just follow this road to the end and you will arrive."

Yi Qingqing looked at it. Although it looked desolate and there were many dead branches and thorns blocking the road, she could still clearly see that there had been a road here before, and it was not narrow.

Because you can even see pagoda pines with the same spacing on both sides.

Although there are occasional gaps where trees have been sawn off, leaving only short stumps, these are obviously deliberately planted street trees.

There are no pagoda pines anywhere else in this forest except on the roadside.

"This roadbed is quite wide!" Yi Qingqing said in surprise.

One look at the trees along the roadside allows you to imagine how majestic this road was back then. The small red brick building at the end of the road must be even more luxurious, right?

"In the past, this road was navigable by cars. We asked people to pave a lot of gravel on the road, so it wasn't muddy even when it rained," said Wang Jingyi, looking at the road with emotion.

This was the summer villa where my family used to escape the summer heat. It consumed a lot of manpower and resources, and was built by a specialized designer.

At that time, every time I went out, I was picked up and dropped off by a car with a dedicated driver, so I only chose places with the best scenery and feng shui, and did not consider the distance at all.

Who could have imagined that the once prosperous Wang family now only has Wang Jingyi left, and now to come here, he not only has to squeeze into the bus, but also has to walk most of the way, which is so difficult.

Upon hearing this, Yi Qingqing used her foot to push away the fallen leaves beneath her feet, and indeed saw gravel mixed in with the rotten soil: "It really is!"

It took so long that the stones were buried.

It must have been very grand here before! Although it had been abandoned for a long time, such a wide roadbed was much easier to clean than she had imagined. Yi Qingqing was looking forward to the small red brick building even more.

The forest was gray in the winter, but she didn't feel it was desolate at all.