Chapter 1963: Tenants

Zhou Andong looked at the middle-aged man in front of him. This guy's eyes were darting around, and his gaze was shifty; at a glance, he wasn't a good person. He guessed that he was among the few households leading the trouble.

"You're a tenant from the original Lin family, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" This guy was all smiles: "My name is Tian Liang, and I work at the district brewery."

"Oh!" Zhou Andong nodded: "Are you satisfied with your current living environment?"

"Satisfied, very satisfied." Tian Liang's answer didn't have a moment's hesitation; one could say it was very smooth.

"Oh!" Zhou Andong said "oh" again: "I thought you would like living in an apartment building. It just so happens I have a few apartment units in my hands. Since you like living in a courtyard house, then forget it."

Zhou Andong took a step to leave, and Tian Liang hurriedly said: "Proprietor!"

"Hmm?" Zhou Andong looked up at him: "Is there anything else?"

"That!" Tian Liang held the basin in one hand and rubbed his body with the other: "If we want to rent an apartment, what is the rent?"

"The rent." Zhou Andong pondered for a moment: "For a 50-square-meter house, it depends on the location. The monthly rent is probably between one hundred and one hundred fifty."

"Of course, we are all neighbors, and you are old tenants, so this price has no reference value. As for me, I don't care about your little bit of rent."

"But without rules, there is no order, right? So, if you want to rent an apartment, just raise it a little from the current rent."

Tian Liang suppressed his inner excitement and hurriedly asked: "Proprietor, how much rent should I raise? Give me a bottom line, and I'll go back and consider it."

The corners of Zhou Andong's mouth curled up, and he couldn't suppress it no matter what: "How much is your annual rent now?"

"Eight yuan!" Tian Liang raised his hand and gestured.

"Like this!" Zhou Andong said: "After all, it's an apartment building. For a two-bedroom unit under 60 square meters, fifteen yuan."

Tian Liang's heart went *thump* and beat violently.

"Proprietor, is this per year or per month?"

"Of course it's per year." Zhou Andong said with dissatisfaction: "We are neighbors, and you are all old tenants. The rent has always been paid like this. If I took this opportunity to raise the price, that would be too inhuman, and you wouldn't be stabbing me in the spine and cursing me, would you?"

"No, no!"

Tian Liang's face turned somewhat red. Besides excitement, he was also hit on the mark by Zhou Andong.

He was one of those households that wanted to live for free and not pay rent, and he was also the one who often cursed Zhou Andong behind his back for being rich and unkind.

"Proprietor, you aren't joking with me, are you?"

Who the hell wouldn't want to live in an apartment building? It's just that the rent for apartment buildings is too expensive.

He wasn't unable to afford the rent, but the annual rent for an apartment building was enough for him to live in the courtyard house until he died.

Now Zhou Andong wanted to rent an apartment to him. Although the rent had doubled, according to the market price, it was no different from living for free.

Moreover, this guy also had a small scheme: his mother-in-law's house had a utility room, which could be cleaned up and lived in.

At that time, he would rent the apartment from Zhou Andong at an annual rent of fifteen yuan, and then rent it out for one thousand yuan. Wouldn't that money be gained for free?

It's just that his mother-in-law's house was a bit far from the factory, and he would have to get up at least half an hour earlier every day to go to work. But it didn't matter; that was one thousand yuan, so getting up early was fine.

"Proprietor, can I go home and discuss it with my wife?"

"Sure!" Zhou Andong agreed: "You can ask other neighbors if they are willing to rent an apartment. Of course, if they aren't willing, it doesn't matter; no need to force it."

"No problem." Tian Liang patted his chest: "Leave this matter to me."

"Hmm!" Zhou Andong nodded with satisfaction: "In addition, there is one more thing I need to make clear to you: renting an apartment requires signing a contract. We will write the rent in the contract, which will provide a constraint."

"At that time, I cannot raise the rent at will, and you cannot pay a cent less. If I raise the rent, that is illegal, and the same applies if you pay less rent."

Tian Liang's face showed joy. Signing a contract is good; he was afraid that Zhou Andong would raise the rent halfway.

Moreover, he could also guess why Zhou Andong was signing a contract; it must have been because of their last scene.

Regardless, this was beneficial to him, even if he was discovered renting the house out at a high price.

As long as there was a contract, he wouldn't be afraid of Zhou Andong looking for trouble, or even having an excuse to raise his rent.

"Signing a contract is good, signing a contract is good." Now Tian Liang's mind was full of one thousand yuan: "Just as you said, without rules, there is no order."

"Then that's it." Zhou Andong waved his hand: "Come find me when you've decided."

"Okay, okay!" Tian Liang nodded vigorously: "Proprietor, walk slowly."

Zhou Andong had already walked a distance, and he could still hear Tian Liang shouting "Proprietor, walk slowly" behind him.

Seeing Jian Qiu tilted her head and looked at Zhou Andong, smiling and saying: "When you bought that courtyard house, did you think of using this method to trick those twenty-plus tenants away?"

"Comrade Seeing Jian Qiu." Zhou Andong said seriously: "Please pay attention to your word choice. What do you mean by 'trick away'?"

"Pfft!"

Seeing Jian Qiu laughed, and immediately admitted her mistake: "Alright, alright, alright, I was wrong, okay?"

Zhou Andong pouted: "Your admission of error has no sincerity at all."

Seeing Jian Qiu hugged Zhou Andong's arm and said with great emotion: "This big mixed-residence courtyard, it's stuffy and hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter, and you have to line up to use the toilet in the morning. Needless to say about the smell in the summer, and in the winter, there's no smell, but it can freeze your butt off."

"If our courtyard house hadn't been used by a government agency for office work before, with relatively complete facilities, we would probably have to line up to go to the toilet in the morning too. You really can't blame everyone for wanting to escape the big mixed-residence courtyard and live in an apartment building."

"Actually." Zhou Andong said: "I didn't think about getting them out right now. If they can live there, let them live there for now; we'll talk about it in a few years."

"But they were making a scene and actually didn't want to pay rent, so there was no other way; I could only let them leave the courtyard house and go live in an apartment building. Signing for two or three years is fine; when the contract expires, we'll raise the rent."

"If they are willing to rent at the market rate, let them live there; it doesn't matter who rents it. If they still want to treat me like a fool and rent at twenty yuan a year, then get out."

Seeing Jian Qiu asked: "Do you know that among those tenants, there are two households that are extremely poor?"

Zhou Andong shook his head: "How would I know that?"

"I heard it from Sister Wu; after the New Year, she was the one who took people to collect rent." Seeing Jian Qiu brushed a lock of hair from her forehead: "In one of the households, the man worked at the street office's cardboard box factory and died of an illness three years ago."

"The woman lives with an underage child and an elderly person, but the elderly person is in poor health and takes medicine all year round. The street office saw that their family was having a hard time, so they let her work at the cardboard box factory."

"But she has a rural household registration, and for various reasons, it wasn't transferred over. Although she took over the man's job at the cardboard box factory, she couldn't become a regular employee and has always been a temporary worker, so her salary is lower than a regular employee's, only two hundred-plus." ===== CHAPTER 1964 =====