In 1980, Harbin did not have commercial housing, but it had already begun to establish residential construction and development companies. By 1984, thirteen companies had been established and fifteen residential communities had been developed. In 1986, the focus was on the renovation of shantytowns, and the initial rise of real estate began from here.
Therefore, buying a house is quite difficult at present, especially after the educated youth returned to the city, making it even more difficult to rent a house.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a house if you have connections. Xiao Jiu asked her colleagues at work for help as soon as she started working.
Now that she's a vice president and works for a military unit, in just two days, she found a two-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a four-story building in a residential area less than 300 meters from the military compound's family quarters, just as she requested.
There are heating pipes inside, as well as a separate kitchen and bathroom, which is fine. The only requirement is that the rent must be paid annually, and it costs five yuan per month. Water, electricity, and heating fees are not included.
Keep in mind that the average worker's wage at that time was only 42 yuan, and a monthly rent of 5 yuan was definitely considered high.
Furthermore, they require annual payment, which is sixty yuan per year. Adding the ten yuan deposit for the house, the total cost is seventy yuan.
"Although this apartment is on the top floor, it is a west-facing unit in a building with four apartments per floor, and its layout is independent. Therefore, the price is a bit higher."
There's also a middle unit, but this one shares a single door, bathroom, and kitchen. Each family shares the kitchen (half), and there's a bedroom on each side, counted as one unit. There's no living room, but the bedrooms are quite large, about 20 square meters. This one only costs one yuan per month.
Xiao Jiu exclaimed in surprise, "There's such a design?"
"Housing is in short supply, so we need to take care of families who are not well-off but still need a place to live."
So, this type of building, similar to a communal tenement building, was built, but not exactly the same layout.
Xiao Jiu knew that if he mentioned going home, Tang Cuilan would definitely choose the one-yuan-a-month apartment.
Because it's cheap and has heating, I don't really care about anything else.
But they were unfamiliar with the area and were tenants, making them vulnerable to being bullied and taken advantage of. She didn't want her sister to be bullied because of these few measly things.
So, Xiao Jiu immediately followed her colleague to find the landlord of the two-bedroom apartment, which was a unit-owned apartment for an elderly couple.
I'm getting old, and this apartment is on a relatively high floor, plus my children all have their own apartments provided by their employers.
So after they retired, they chose to return to the village to live and rent out the house to cover their daily living expenses.
However, because the price was relatively high, the couple refused to agree despite numerous attempts by their colleagues to negotiate with them.
To put it bluntly, I just don't want to rent to people I know. Not only can I not negotiate the price, but I also can't directly say if the house or furniture is damaged.
The house had been empty for almost half a year, and now that someone had come knocking, it was naturally not something to miss.
They were even more pleased when they learned that a widow was living there with four girls.
Xiao Jiu went inside and looked around. The house was well-ventilated and had good natural light. Although no one was living there, the heating had been paid for.
If it's not handed over, it will freeze, and if the pipes freeze, they will burst.
So the elderly couple were in a hurry to rent out the house so they wouldn't have to pay the heating bills themselves.
After all, the heating bill can cost more than ten yuan a year!
"Fifty yuan a year, I'll book it now."
The house is fully furnished with large furniture such as beds, cabinets, tables, chairs, and benches, and also has a small balcony.
Balconies in Northeast China are sealed very tightly, and windows in balconies and kitchens are usually double-layered for protection.
Moreover, the temperature difference between the inside and outside doesn't form in a second; there may be cases of freezing and cracking, but not all of them will crack.
Once inside, I felt that the heating was pretty good. Although it wasn't enough to make you wear short sleeves, it maintained a temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius, which was quite comfortable.
"This house is mostly uninhabited. If it were filled with people and properly maintained, the temperature could easily reach 22 or 23 degrees Celsius."
After seeing Xiao Jiu touch the radiator, the hostess explained and discussed it with her husband, and they reached a conclusion.
"Fifty a year is fine, but could you pay every two years?"
Xiao Jiu looked at them in surprise, "Once every two years?"
"Yes, we don't want to go through all the trouble of coming and going. Collecting it every two years will save you the trouble."
Xiao Jiu thought about it for a moment and agreed. In those days, there was no such thing as a rental contract.
However, for safety reasons, Tang Cuilan and her five daughters were brought over before the two sides met.
Together, they went to the neighborhood committee and the department of their workplace responsible for managing the family compound to witness the event.
We signed a simple four-party contract and also paid a year's worth of sanitation and heating fees.
The sanitation fee is five yuan a year, the heating fee is twelve yuan a year, the deposit is ten yuan, and the rent is one hundred yuan, totaling 127 yuan.
Tang Cuilan gave the money herself. Xiao Jiu wanted to pay, but she refused, saying, "Jiu'er, I still have money. I'll ask you for money when I run out."
Her insistence left her feeling helpless, but after the mother and her daughters left, she took the key and went into the house to buy them some extra daily necessities.
Tang Cuilan and her daughters returned to the guesthouse to check out and pack their belongings.
Xiao Jiu took advantage of the weekend to renovate the largest master bedroom.
The large bed and desk were put away, and two wooden bunk beds, two desks, and four sets of military bedding were put in.
The bunk beds are the perfect size to match military bedding.
All the curtains were taken down and replaced with simple, light-colored ones. The old curtains were piled up on the balcony, to be cleaned and replaced later by Tang Cuilan and the others.
The small room was used for Tang Cuilan to live in. The bed, wardrobe, and desk did not need to be moved. Because it was the north-facing bedroom, it did not face the sun, so the light was not as strong as the other side, but it was enough for Cuilan.
The kitchen and bathroom are long and narrow. The kitchen can accommodate at least two people, but the bathroom is definitely only big enough for one person.
The so-called living room is actually just a small area of about four square meters between the entrance, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the bedroom.
A folding dining table and some everyday items are all that's needed to fill the space.
After Xiao Jiu changed the bedding in Tang Cuilan's room to something more suitable, she also placed some coal briquettes in the corner of the kitchen.
Rice, flour, oil, vegetables, dried goods, seasonings, pots, pans, and other utensils were all provided for them.
The wardrobe also contained some warm winter clothes, underwear, indoor slippers, outdoor cotton shoes, and so on for the mother and her daughters.
Everything she could think of was there, all neatly arranged.
When Tang Cuilan arrived at her new home in an oxcart, she thought she had gone to the wrong place when she opened the door.
After reading it carefully, I was moved to tears.
"This was given to us by your aunt. You must remember this kindness and repay it when you grow up, okay?"
The little girls are already quite sensible, especially after all the hardships they've endured coming all the way from their hometown. After hearing so much from the adults, even the naive ones understand that their fathers will no longer be a part of their lives.
The eldest sister, Tang Yiyi, looked at Tang Cuilan with some uncertainty.
"Mom, are we going to start over here and never see Dad again?"
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