Renting a house
Around four or five in the afternoon, Wang Yao and Liu Xiangmei saw that the sun outside wasn't so strong anymore, so they left the hotel.
Actually, the county town was quite unfamiliar to both the mother and daughter.
Although Wang Yao has memories of her past life, every time she returned to Zhou County in her past life, she would get off at the train station and take a bus directly back to her hometown, rarely going into the city.
However, Liu Xiangmei was slightly better off. Although she rarely left the county, she still knew where the school and county government buildings were, but that was about it.
So now the mother and daughter are walking and looking around in the direction of the county's No. 1 High School, hoping to find a bookstore to see if they can buy a county map.
When I arrived at the entrance of the county's No. 1 Middle School, I saw a tall iron gate. Although it was a holiday and the gate was closed, I could still see a playground above dozens of steps through the gate. I couldn't tell how big the playground was; all I could see was a bare flagpole.
The playground was surrounded by four buildings, and behind those four buildings were two more buildings. All the buildings looked drab and gray, and even the few lonely trees on the playground looked sallow and unattractive.
"What are you looking at?"
Turning my head, I saw a security guard still wearing his uniform in the middle of summer.
Liu Xiangmei chuckled and said, "Well, my child got into the county's top high school this year, so I thought I'd bring him over to see it."
The security guard glanced at Wang Yao and nodded. "School starts a long way off. Come back on September 1st." He then turned to go back to the security room behind him.
Liu Xiangmei quickened her pace, walked up to the security guard, and asked, "Young man, can I ask you something? You know a lot of people, do you know where there are any shops for rent around here?"
The security guard stopped and shook his head. "There's never a vacancy around here. Not to mention this street, even the shops on the back street of the school are rented out before any announcement is made."
"Hehe, hehe, that's true. There must be a lot of business owners scrambling to do business near the school. It's better for you guys who work for the government. You don't have to worry about anything and you can get a stack of cash every month. I'm so envious."
The security guard's lips were already curled up, but he still pretended to wave his hand and said, "Although we can get the money every month, our job is not easy. For example, there are people setting up stalls at the school gate every day, and we can't get rid of them. It's a headache."
Liu Xiangmei's eyes lit up. You can set up a stall at the entrance? Setting up a stall is great! You can still do business and you don't have to pay rent.
She continued to flatter, "That's a great job that ordinary people like us can only envy. You protect the safety of the school, that's a great achievement. With you around, we parents feel much more at ease!"
Hearing this, the security guard felt a surge of relief and straightened his back. "Ma'am, you're absolutely right. Don't underestimate us just because we're small. So many people come and go through the school gate every day. If no one's watching over it, what if some thug or scoundrel got in? It would be so worrying, wouldn't you agree?"
Liu Xiangmei nodded in agreement, "That's right. Nowadays, many families only have one child. The child is the apple of the family's eye. If something happens to them, it's all over. Take our family for example, we only have this one daughter. We're worried about her going to high school, so we thought about renting a place nearby, but we haven't found a reliable one after looking around. Sigh!"
The security guard said "Hey," and added, "You parents are just too worried. Every year, there are parents like you who can't bear to leave their children and rent houses around here, especially on the street behind the school. Every household has a lot of houses to rent out, and even so, the demand for rental houses still can't meet the demand every year when school starts. If you ask me, with us watching over them and the children living at school, what else do you have to worry about!"
Liu Xiangmei's eyes lit up again. "Really? I thought I was the only one renting a place for my child. It seems all parents are the same!"
After hearing this news, Liu Xiangmei chatted with the security guard for a few more minutes before going to find Wang Yao.
While Liu Xiangmei was talking to the security guard, Wang Yao went to the Xinhua Bookstore diagonally opposite the school. The small bookstore was crammed full of bookshelves and books on them.
As soon as Wang Yao entered, she asked if they had a map of the county. The bookstore clerk smiled and said, "Our small county town is less than a hand's breadth from top to bottom. Nobody comes to our poor, remote place for tourism, so we don't need a map. Go and look through the county annals to see if you have one."
He gestured with his finger to indicate where the county gazetteer was displayed.
The county annals do indeed contain maps. The salesperson's claim that Zhou County is less than a hand's breadth away is obviously an exaggeration, but Zhou County is indeed very small.
Looking at the map, it's easy to find Zhouxian No.1 Middle School. The school faces south and has a street at both its front and back gates, namely Xuefu Road and Dingyuan Road. The two roads connect at Xiling. There is also a small road next to the school that connects the two roads.
The hotel they're staying at today is on Xuefu Road, the same as the county's No. 1 Middle School. The hotel is to the west of the school. About a hundred meters east of the school, it turns southwest onto Jinrong Road. This road has several sharp turns and leads all the way down the mountain. They came up from the station along this road at noon today.
There are two forks in the road on Jinrong Road. Going downhill, the first fork connects to Renmin Road, which ends at Xiling. Going downhill further, the second fork connects to Dongcheng Road, which ends at Dongling.
The back gate of the county's No. 1 Middle School faces Dingyuan Road, while Anleshan Mountain is located opposite the school across Dingyuan Road.
Shan Wangyao knew that in her previous life, her second aunt had advised her to move her parents' graves to Anle Mountain because she found it troublesome to go back to her hometown every year. However, she did not agree. Her parents were already dead, so she wanted them to stay in the place they were most familiar with.
Anle Mountain is a burial hill; most people in the county are buried on this mountain after they die.
"What are you looking at? Is this map from our county?"
Wang Yao heard her mother's voice and handed her the county gazetteer.
Liu Xiangmei looked at the map, gesturing with her finger while muttering things like where they were now and where her second sister's house was.
After getting a general idea of the area, the mother and daughter left the bookstore, and Liu Xiangmei told Wang Yao the information she had just gathered.
After discussing it, the two decided that since it was difficult to rent shops near the school, setting up a stall would be just as good.
They are now going to check out the rental rooms near the back gate of the school, which is on Dingyuan Road.
Standing at the entrance of Xinhua Bookstore, you can see the small path next to the county's No. 1 Middle School. It's called a path, but it's really only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Arriving at Dingyuan Road via a side road, it was far less bustling than Xuefu Road, with most of the shops on both sides of the road closed.
However, it's understandable. This road is one of the most remote roads in the city. If it weren't for the county's No. 1 Middle School, this road would be even more deserted. So now that it's holiday time, there are relatively few people on this road.
Standing on Dingyuan Road, you can clearly see the last two buildings of the county's No. 1 Middle School. From the windows on the first floor, you can see that each room has bunk beds, so it seems that these two buildings are student dormitories, and the school is located between the two dormitory buildings.
Both sides of Dingyuan Road are lined with six- or seven-story self-built houses, and at a glance, there are "House for Rent" signs posted at the entrance of each building.
This was very common in Wang Yao's eyes. In her previous life in the south, many urban villages and similar places were like this.
But this was the first time Liu Xiangmei had ever seen anything like it. She exclaimed, "This is so convenient! If we had a building like this, we could just lie at home and count our money!"
It's impossible for them to just lie around counting money now; they still have to give money to others.
The two asked several landlords, and the rent for a one-bedroom, one-living room, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom apartment was generally between 20 and 25 yuan, payable every six months or a year.
Since they were all pretty much the same, the mother and daughter chose a landlady who seemed a little kinder. The landlady's surname was Xu, and her house was a little cleaner. It was less than 50 meters from the back gate of the county's No. 1 Middle School, but the price was also the highest, 25 yuan a month, with water and electricity extra.
The mother and daughter carefully inspected the landlord Xu's house. At this time, there were still more than ten days before the start of school, and the landlord Xu still had several apartments to choose from.
The building has two units per floor. I heard that the tenant of a suite on the third floor is also a woman, so they chose the third floor.
In the room, there was only a small square table and two small wooden chairs in the living room, and only a bed and a wardrobe in the bedroom. Everything seemed usable, so Liu Xiangmei signed the rental contract and paid six months' rent.
After the landlord left, Liu Xiangmei looked around the room. Although the room was very simple and you could see the whole thing at a glance, Wang Yao could still sense her happiness.
They are about to start a new life here; everything is new, and everything is full of hope.
Wang Yao looked at her mother with a smile on her lips. "Mom, in this life, we must hold each other's hands and walk together!"
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