Meng Jinniu was hurt by his biological father again. No matter how cold-hearted and numb he was, he still felt sad. Fortunately, with the comfort and encouragement from Meng Tao, Zhang's father and Zhang Fu, and the immunity from multiple "prevention" shots, he quickly calmed down and became as cheerful as before. He ate and drank as usual, looked forward to recovering and being discharged from the hospital as soon as possible, and was full of confidence in his new life in the future.

Meng Tao felt relieved that everything was fine in Jinniu, and went to Mengzhou City again. This time, her purpose was naturally to buy a house.

This era is not like the later generations, where buying a house is simple and easy. You can just find a sales office. There is no real estate now, and house buying and selling are basically done privately among the people. In addition, information is not circulated, so those who want to buy cannot find it, and those who want to sell are also difficult to sell in the short term.

So the information I heard at Yu Lili's house last time is still useful. The yard for sale in Zuo Xingzi Lane, Limin Street has not been sold yet.

Meng Tao went to Zuo Xingzi Lane and found the yard with number nine, but found the door was locked. So she stood outside and took a closer look at the surroundings.

This is an old street, and the residents should all be locals. Every household has a yard. The alley is about two meters wide, big enough for a small car to fit in. The cement road surface is flat and thick, and the yard walls on both sides have obviously been uniformly painted. Although they have been dirty and blackened by the graffiti of naughty children, they still look quite new.

This should be due to the newly built staff quarters of various units nearby. From what I heard at Yu's house that night, there are staff quarters for the Public Security Bureau, Transportation Bureau, Xinhua Bookstore, and Fruit Company on Liming Street. The street office is also here. The construction of these staff quarters will definitely occupy the excess land of the original residents of Xingzi Lane, so naturally they have to provide some materials and manpower to help tidy up the streets.

The wall of Yard No. 9 that Meng Tao wanted to see was at least 1.7 meters high, with dry vines climbing on the top of the wall. One could imagine how lush those vines would look in spring and summer.

The courtyard gate is a solid wooden door, painted blue and well maintained. Compared with the courtyard gates of the neighbors on the left and right and opposite, which are either rotten wood or rusty, this gate is the most decent in the entire street.

Meng Tao was looking around when the neighbor's door on her left opened and an old lady came out with a basket in her arms. She saw Meng Tao standing at the door and asked, "Who are you looking for, girl?"

Meng Tao pointed to the gate of Courtyard No. 9 and said, "I heard that this place is for sale. I came to take a look."

The aunt looked at Meng Tao and asked, "You are not from here, are you?"

"I'm from the next county."

The aunt nodded in understanding: "I thought so. When other people want to buy a house, they come with their whole family to look at it. Why are you here alone?"

Meng Tao smiled and said, "My family is busy."

"You're here too early." The aunt said, "No one lives in this courtyard. It's been empty for almost a year. They want to sell it, but people have come and gone to see it for more than a dozen times, but they still haven't made a deal. They're all too lazy, and now it's cold, so no one wants to stay there. They usually only come to open the door for a while at noon, and it's locked at other times."

"Is that so?" Meng Tao thought about the time at the bus station just now, which was a little after ten o'clock. It was probably around eleven o'clock now. So she should go have a meal first and come back later.

After thanking the aunt, Meng Tao prepared to leave. The aunt also wanted to go to the grocery store to buy some things, so she walked with her and told her some things about Yard No. 9.

The owner of the yard is an old man in his seventies, surnamed Jia. It is said that he passed the imperial examination when he was young and taught in a middle school in his early years. His wife died early and he has no children. In recent years, his life has been chaotic, so he has not gone out and just stays at home to read and take care of the yard.

Old man Jia passed away earlier this year. He was not ill. He just fell down and died. He had three nephews, all of whom had jobs and houses. This courtyard was not an old house, so the three nephews wanted to sell it. However, the asking price was too high. They asked for 800 yuan, but it was not much less than that. Nowadays, it was good enough for everyone to have enough food and clothes. Who had the spare money to buy it?

After Meng Tao separated from the aunt, she went to a nearby state-owned restaurant and spent two taels of grain coupons, half a pound of meat coupons, and one dollar and fifty cents to buy a bowl of rice, a portion of braised pork, a portion of stir-fried cabbage, and a bowl of steamed egg. She sat down to eat lunch, staring at the people at the next table in amazement, thinking that this woman was so fierce as to eat so much by herself.

Meng Tao didn't care about them. She was so hungry that she had to catch the bus in the morning and had no time to eat breakfast. She saw the words "what she wanted to eat was served today" on the small blackboard, so she hurried to order it.

Back to Zuo Xingzi Lane, Yard No. 9 was finally open.

Meng Tao walked in. The courtyard was not too big. Its layout and structure seemed simple and elegant. There were three main rooms and an open space of about 40 square meters with flat floor tiles. There was a flower bed by the wall with thick and twisted vines planted there for many years. There was also a flower stand with stone tables and chairs under it. There was also small and exquisite rockery stones at the foot of the wall and dozens of flower pots arranged in a staggered manner.

Meng Tao called out, "Is anyone there?"

"Yes, yes." A middle-aged man walked out of the room. Seeing that it was a little girl, he looked a little disappointed and asked, "Little girl, did you go to the wrong door?"

Meng Tao: "Aren't you selling it here?"

The middle-aged man immediately became serious: "Yes, I want to sell it. Um, is your master here?"

“I want to buy the house.”

"You... this yard costs 800 yuan, you pay for it yourself?"

"Can I take a look first?"

"OK."

The middle-aged man led Meng Tao into the house and told her that his surname was Jia.

Meng Tao walked up three stone steps. The house with red bricks and green tiles had a unique structure and a much higher foundation. The corridors on both sides extended more than two meters wide and were surrounded by redwood fences. There were also exquisite beauty backrests, which was equivalent to a large balcony. In spring and summer, one could drink tea and read here, or do nothing but put a recliner and relax, smell the flowers and listen to the birds singing. It was quite enjoyable. It had to be said that the original owner, Mr. Jia, knew how to live.

Meng Tao bargained directly: "Uncle Jia, to be honest, this yard is nice, but the house is old-fashioned and difficult to renovate. Eight hundred yuan is too expensive. Five hundred yuan is acceptable to me."

Uncle Jia shook his head, "Five hundred yuan is not enough. Little girl, you have to look at the area. This is the city center. Not far away is the prefectural party committee compound. There are all the local government units nearby. In addition, the middle school, elementary school, and kindergarten are all in this area. When you get married in the future, it will be very convenient for your children to go to school."

Meng Tao: "..." People of this generation actually understand the importance of school district housing? "Eight hundred yuan is really too expensive. I don't have that much. Sorry to bother you. I'll look somewhere else." Meng Tao said and was about to leave.

Uncle Jia hesitated for a moment and called her: "Little girl, if you really want to buy it, you can buy it for less."

"How many?"

"Seven hundred dollars, no less."

"But I only have six hundred dollars."

(End of this chapter)