Chapter 849: Never want to squeeze into a shared toilet with others again

After Zhou Xiujuan said a few words to Li Long, she pointed outside and said apologetically:

"Li Long, you and Old Chen chat first. I have to send the child to school, and I also have to go to work. If you haven't eaten, let my mother-in-law make you a little later..."

"Sister-in-law, you go ahead and be busy. I've already eaten; I came after eating. Chen Ge and I are our own people; let's not be polite."

"Alright then, you chat, I'm leaving." Zhou Xiujuan picked up a slightly old cloth bag from the sofa and walked out carrying it.

After lifting the curtain and walking outside, Zhou Xiujuan whispered to the child:

"Zhixin, go and greet Uncle Li, say goodbye, we are leaving."

Is this child named Chen Zhixin?

The boy lifted the curtain and stepped into the inner room. A bit embarrassed, he said to Li Long:

"Hello Uncle Li, goodbye Uncle Li!" After saying that, he turned his head and was about to walk to the outer room.

Li Long hurriedly pulled him, took a 10-yuan "Big Unity" note from his pocket, and stuffed it into the child's hand:

"Zhixin, Uncle is coming for the first time, and I don't know what to buy. You take this money and buy a pencil case or something at the school gate."

"Little Li, Little Li, how can you do this? Don't give the child money, let's not do this..." Chen Hongjun hurriedly came up to stop Li Long. Li Long pushed him and said with a smile:

"It's already very rude that I, as an elder, didn't buy a meeting gift when seeing the child for the first time. This money must be taken. Alright, alright, Sister-in-law, hurry up and take the child to school, don't be late."

Zhou Xiujuan was also unwilling to accept the money. After Li Long pushed twice, she let the child accept it.

Zhou Xiujuan took the child and rode a bicycle to school. Chen Hongjun's mother was tidying up things outside. Li Long and Chen Hongjun were chatting in the inner room.

"This house was assigned to me by the unit," Chen Hongjun could see the change in Li Long's expression and took the initiative to explain, "I worked in Maxian before, and my wife was in the City First Primary School. Coincidentally, the child was also in school. When I wasn't at home, the house was a bit spacious. Now that I'm back, it seems a bit small. Of course, living like this is no problem. There are still many people in our unit who don't have houses."

"Then buy a courtyard." Li Long was straightforward and gave his suggestion, "Your family can't always squeeze into these two rooms; it's too inconvenient. As the child grows older, he will need his own space later."

Beiting City has a much larger urban area than Maxian. Finding a suitable courtyard here is not difficult. Although the courtyard will be a bit more expensive than in Maxian, expensive has its value.

"How can it be that easy?" Chen Hongjun shook his head, "I was the station head in Maxian for a year. To say I don't have any savings is impossible. Although I can afford a courtyard, after buying it, there really won't be anything left.

My mother is old and has illnesses. My wife's family also has many children, not all of whom have jobs..."

This is the so-called "every family has its own difficult scripture."

"Then isn't there still me?" Li Long smiled, "This year's fritillary season, I collected a lot of fritillaries and naturally earned a lot of money. The Jia Tianlong you introduced to me, we cooperated very well. I haven't given your introduction fee yet."

As he said this, Li Long took out a stack of money from his pocket, placed it on the coffee table, and looked at Chen Hongjun, saying:

"Old Chen, I won't be polite with you. To tell you the truth, without you, my purchasing station wouldn't have opened so smoothly. This 1,000 yuan is your introduction fee. Don't be polite with me either. We've known each other for several years, and we know each other's character."

Chen Hongjun looked at that stack of 1,000 yuan and lost his focus.

He himself worked hard for so long and didn't save much money. To tell the truth, in this day and age, how many people who receive a salary don't have poor relatives who need relief?

This salary has to support the family and occasionally go to relieve others. If you only rely on the salary, you really can't save much money.

Chen Hongjun was a purchaser before and didn't have many extra benefits. Only after becoming the station head did he have a small treasury, but he was only the station head for one year before it was gone. After being transferred back to Beiting City, the place he is in now is purely a "clear water yamen" (a government office with no extra income), only with a dead salary.

But this kind of thing is not something he can decide himself. How the superiors arrange it, he does it.

Li Long coming to see him, Chen Hongjun is not surprised. But sending 1,000 yuan is a bit surprising.

"Is your purchasing station that profitable?" Chen Hongjun couldn't help but ask.

"It wasn't that profitable originally, but the boss of the Happiness Purchasing Station in Beiting City was courting death. He insisted on finding connections to ruin my purchasing station, but he didn't expect to pit himself to death.

He tried hard to suppress the price of collecting things, and then I publicized my purchasing station. As a result, everyone ran to my side. This year I earned it."

Li Long's explanation was also true and false. After all, if you really want to talk about it, the initial fuse was that he tricked a whole truck of fritillaries at the door of the Happiness Purchasing Station.

From that time on, the slide of the Happiness Purchasing Station appeared.

"Sigh, actually, when the county and city purchasing stations were abolished, I had the idea of resigning and opening one myself, but I couldn't bear to part with this iron rice bowl." Chen Hongjun sighed. Li Long could give him a 1,000-yuan introduction fee in one go, indicating that he earned at least tens of thousands this year.

Tens of thousands! That's more than ten years of his salary, right?

In other words, if this purchasing station is operated stably for three to five years, it will earn back his lifetime salary.

Of course, you can't compare it like this. The implicit benefits of the iron rice bowl are relatively high, such as housing allocation. Although the house assigned by the unit is relatively small, it is still a house.

A place to live almost for free, what else to pick? Otherwise, it's just that Chen Hongjun's family has more people, which is more troublesome. Otherwise, an ordinary family of three is enough to live in.

And later, when the development of commercial housing begins, these houses assigned to individuals by the unit will eventually be mostly registered to the individual's household registration as personal property, which is equivalent to giving them to the unit employees.

And these old residential areas will usually be renovated, and there will be compensation for demolition.

Besides housing allocation, each unit has other benefits. During the holidays, the labor union will issue benefits. Single men will be introduced to partners, and the unit will coordinate children's schooling, etc., etc.

This is why, although rural areas have already contracted production to households and some people have earned more money than urban workers, in the "sale" of rural-to-urban household registrations opened in the early 1990s, a large number of rural people still spent money to buy this urban household registration.

Actually, at that time, urban household registration no longer had any obvious benefits. Commodity grain had been abolished, and settling down didn't arrange work. Without work, without a unit, it was impossible to be assigned a house. Everything required one's own efforts.

But even so, many people waved banknotes to buy that household registration.

It can only be said that the temptation of the iron rice bowl is too great. Many people didn't see the situation clearly and regretted it three or forty years later, wanting to move back to the rural areas.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony with this money." Chen Hongjun went over and picked up the money. "I'm benefiting from your good fortune here. To tell you the truth, I really have been eyeing a courtyard, but I've been hesitating and haven't bought it."

"Isn't this just perfect? I can consider this a timely help." Li Long said with a smile, "You know my place, and you know the phone number at the supply and marketing cooperative. My Section Chief Li has now become Director Li; if you have any issues, just call me. Why suffer in silence? If I hadn't come over, I really wouldn't have known."

"It's just that I didn't want to trouble you." With a major difficulty resolved, the pressure on Chen Hongjun's heart vanished, and he said with a smile, "Who doesn't have difficulties these days? At least our family has a place to live for now. There are still people in our unit waiting in line who haven't been allocated housing. Without housing, some can't even get married, and they're still waiting now."

That is true; very few people buy their own houses these days. Aside from those who inherit their family's original homes, most live in housing provided by their units. This generation of working people basically all have several siblings, so the family home is definitely crowded. After all, when the houses were first built in the fifties or sixties, or even earlier, very few were built to be large.

It is precisely because the rural plots of the Fourth Team are large and have fewer rules that they start with courtyards of over one mu.

"Alright, I won't delay you from work." After speaking, Li Long stood up. "If you have anything, call me. If you really can't find me, just take a bus over to my side. I'm driving anyway; when I'm free, I'll come find you to chat."

Li Long knew Chen Hongjun's character. This man had endured difficulties without asking him for help, so his integrity was definitely not a problem.

Could he not know that he was making money? Even before Li Long opened the purchasing station, the fritillaria sold to Chen Hongjun every year was worth quite a bit of money.

If Chen Hongjun had really asked, could he have not lent it?

He had helped him so much; let alone lending, if he had really asked him for some money, he definitely would have given it.

But this old Chen didn't mention a word of it. If he hadn't taken the initiative to give it, he definitely wouldn't have asked him for it.

This person is truly worth associating with.

Old Chen also pushed his bicycle, preparing to go to work. At this moment, he felt truly lighthearted. One thousand yuan could solve a major problem at this time. Although it couldn't buy a courtyard in Beiting City, wouldn't it be enough if he added a little bit himself?

So, after arriving at his unit, Old Chen was rarely seen with a smile, taking the initiative to greet several colleagues.

To be honest, after being transferred back to the unit this year, Old Chen had actually been depressed for a period of time. Last year, when he became the station chief of the purchasing station, he had succeeded in competing against others. The person who competed against him worked in the city and had now become a deputy section chief.

Although his transfer back from the county also carried the status of a deputy section chief, it couldn't compare to the other person's substantive deputy section chief position.

So after returning, he had actually faced some exclusion and ridicule, both openly and secretly. Fortunately, Old Chen had the ability, and he was soon assigned to be responsible for a specific task. With authority, there were fewer people making fun of him.

But regardless, the psychological pressure was still there. Now, he suddenly felt that it wasn't actually a big deal. With the one thousand yuan Li Long gave him, many things were like dominoes; once one was solved, the rest could be solved in sequence.

That's why Old Chen was so happy today. And those colleagues in the unit also felt quite strange. What's the situation?

"Yo, Old Chen, what happy event did you encounter?" Old Qin from the same office greeted him.

"Nothing much, an old friend came to see me, and we chatted quite happily at noon." Chen Hongjun explained, "I'm off to work."

Chen Hongjun was a bit absent-minded all afternoon. He couldn't wait to go see that courtyard and see if the original owner had sold it. After all, he had been eyeing that courtyard for a long time, and he was quite satisfied with both its location and the situation inside.

After work, Chen Hongjun deliberately dragged his feet for a few minutes before packing up and leaving. Although he looked calm on the surface, his heart had already flown away with his bicycle. He went to look at the large courtyard first; the courtyard gate was half-open, and the original owners were still active inside. Chen Hongjun felt relieved.

The main house of this courtyard had three rooms on the surface, with one room inside partitioned into two small rooms, meaning there were four rooms in the main house. On the side were two rooms for a kitchen and a storage room, and in the corner of the courtyard was a latrine. If he moved here, he wouldn't have to compete with others in the family compound for the dry latrine.

To be honest, the most painful thing every morning was running to that long row of dry latrines in the family compound and competing with others to use them.

The homeowner was also a bit surprised to see Chen Hongjun at the door. Mainly, many people had come to see this house, but to be honest, not many offered a sincere price. This house had been renovated, so his asking price was relatively high. Many people bargained too aggressively, which made him drive them away.

The price Chen Hongjun offered was lower than his expectations, but the gap wasn't very large.

And he could tell that this Chen Hongjun was sincerely wanting to buy.

He felt the price could still be raised a bit, so he hadn't relented. But for some time, Chen Hongjun hadn't come, and he thought the other party had given up. He didn't expect him to come again today; this was a good sign.

"Comrade Chen, come in and sit." The homeowner resisted saying immediately that he could lower the price a bit. He first invited Chen Hongjun in and said with a smile:

"How do you like the vegetables I planted? In a few more days, the peppers will be ready."

"Comrade Huang, you haven't sold this courtyard yet?" Chen Hongjun said straightforwardly, "If you lower the price a bit more, I'll take it. I'm telling you, I'm really sincere about wanting it. How about settling with cash?"

"Lower by how much?"

"Last time I told you to lower it by two hundred, and you wouldn't. Then let's lower it by one hundred." Chen Hongjun had now become a penny-pinching merchant, pressing the price down bit by bit.

"No, at most lower it by fifty, no more than that." The homeowner also felt that there was a high probability of closing this deal today, but he still wanted to persist, "And you must give me at least half a month to move."

"I'll give you twenty days, and you lower it by eighty for me." Chen Hongjun gestured with two fingers, "Just this price. If you bargain again, I won't buy it."

"Alright, then shall we go to the Housing Management Bureau tomorrow to sign the contract?" Old Huang felt this price was acceptable and looked into Chen Hongjun's eyes.

"Good." Chen Hongjun also agreed, "After work tomorrow, I'll tell my unit, and then come find you, how about that? We'll go together."

"Alright, then I'll wait for you tomorrow."

Riding his bicycle home, upon arriving at the courtyard, Chen Hongjun saw his wife's bicycle was already parked. He parked his bicycle, locked it, and then carried his bag into the house.

Zhou Xiujuan had already eaten and was tutoring the child with homework. Seeing Chen Hongjun come in, she asked habitually:

"Did you work overtime again today?"

"No, I went to look at that courtyard." Chen Hongjun put down his bag and went to wash his hands. The food was covered on the table, and he said while preparing to eat, "I plan to go sign the contract with the homeowner, Old Huang, tomorrow and buy that courtyard."

"What?" Zhou Xiujuan stopped what she was doing in surprise and looked up at him, "We don't have enough money, shouldn't we keep some for emergencies?"

"When Li Long came over today, he gave me some money, so there's enough money to buy the house." Chen Hongjun said with a smile.

"Why would he give you money? You mustn't make any mistakes!" Zhou Xiujuan asked anxiously, "We only earn clean money. If we're not station chiefs, then we're not station chiefs. It's quite good to be stable like this now."

"The money is quite clean." Chen Hongjun explained the origin of the money, "Just for the two merchants I introduced to him, he earned tens of thousands more this year. Giving me a one-thousand-yuan referral fee isn't much."

"Is that so? Is this purchasing station that profitable?" Tens of thousands, this number also frightened Zhou Xiujuan.

"Hmm, it's quite profitable this year. Some of our local specialties from Northern Xinjiang are sold to the interior, and the prices are quite high." Chen Hongjun had heard about this aspect, "As long as you find good sales channels, you definitely don't have to worry about selling things."

"Sigh, we can't do this kind of thing." Zhou Xiujuan thought for a moment, shook her head, and said, "The referral fee is fine to take, but let's not think about the rest. We aren't the type of people to do business. By the way, are you sure about buying that courtyard?"

"I've decided to buy it. Do you still want to squeeze into the public latrine with those people early in the morning?"

The dry latrines at this time didn't have doors, and the partitions in the middle were only a meter high. It was still quite awkward to use the latrine with others.

"I don't want to!" Zhou Xiujuan blurted out. She knew she was a bit uncomposed, but thinking about it, if they had a courtyard and the whole family lived there, how nice it would be to close the gate.

Although they might have to shovel more snow in winter, living in the family compound, they still had to clear snow when it snowed in winter.

Hmm, a large courtyard is still better! (End of chapter)