Chapter 943

The next day, Li Long was going to look at the courtyards, while Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiao Yu were going to take Mingming, Haohao, Li Juan, and Li Qiang to see the universities.

Li Long had originally thought about having them go look at the courtyards together, but Gu Xiaoxia's intention was that since she wouldn't be living there anyway, buying them was just to leave them sitting there, so she wouldn't go look. Comparatively, she wanted to see what the capital's universities looked like more.

Her younger sister had gotten into university, and Gu Xiaoxia was very envious. Although she couldn't attend, seeing what a university was like could be considered fulfilling a wish.

What surprised Li Long was that his older brother, Li Jianguo, upon knowing that Li Long was just looking at houses and there were definitely no safety issues, also wanted to see the university campus.

Li Long wondered if his older brother was also thinking about how Gu Bo Yuan had gotten into university, and that he himself had once had a university dream; even though he couldn't realize it, he still wanted to go see it?

Since none of them were going, they would just split up.

After eating early in the morning, Gu Xiao Yu specifically called a minivan, loaded up Gu Xiaoxia and the others, and went to Beijing University first.

She had classmates there, so she could still manage to get in for a visit at this time.

Li Long just waited for Shao Li Cheng at the hostel.

It was past ten o'clock when Shao Li Cheng arrived, and the staff let him in this time—there was nothing going on in broad daylight.

He knocked on the door, Li Long opened it, and Shao Li Cheng apologized as soon as he entered the room:

"Comrade Li, I'm really sorry for coming a bit late. It's mainly because the people who bought my courtyard furniture came over early this morning. They weren't happy that the official's hat chair was missing, so I had to explain for a long time. They were in a hurry to leave, so they just paid me two hundred yuan less..."

Li Long thought to himself that this chair was actually quite good; was it only worth two hundred?

But thinking about it, antique shops were openly selling some antiques at this time, so two hundred yuan for this chair really wasn't a small amount.

"Then what about this chair?"

"If you like it, I'll give it to you," Shao Li Cheng was very generous. "If you're free now, let's go, shall we go look at the courtyards?"

"Let's go," Li Long naturally wanted to finish looking as soon as possible so he could be done with it.

"Which one should we look at first?" After leaving the hostel door, Shao Li Cheng asked. The two courtyards weren't in the same place, and they were about two or three hundred meters apart.

"Look at the two-entrance courtyard first," Li Long said. "I want to see what's good about a big courtyard."

The two-entrance courtyard also didn't face the main street, but this alley was slightly wider. Li Long looked and saw that a car could definitely get in.

The facade of this courtyard had some age to it, antique and elegant, but it was well-maintained.

"The courtyard originally belonged to a public unit, but it wasn't for office use; it was used to host guests. Now that they've moved away and even the guesthouse has been converted into a building, this courtyard has been vacated," Shao Li Cheng had inquired and explained, while simultaneously opening the door.

The threshold was quite high, and the hinges of the thick wooden door hadn't been oiled for some time, making a creaking sound.

After entering, there was a screen wall. Walking around it, he saw two large vats in the courtyard. They were frozen over, and he didn't know if they still kept fish in them during the summer.

This courtyard was much larger than Shao Li Cheng's. Stepping on it, he saw it was also paved with blue bricks, but because the unit had moved, it wasn't being maintained at the moment, and there was thick snow on the ground.

There were two trees planted in the courtyard, which Li Long thought looked like jujube trees.

He didn't know what kind of unit had set this up, but one advantage was the red walls and green tiles, which looked even newer than Shao Li Cheng's courtyard. The main rooms, side rooms, and the rooms facing the entrance were all larger.

Shao Li Cheng opened the door to the main room. Inside, there was basic furniture; it was a bit old, but it could be lived in after a cleaning. Of course, there was only basic furniture—ordinary wooden tables, chairs, and beds—and all other decorations were gone.

The electrical wiring and such had been installed. Li Long walked around and was quite happy to find that the side room had a converted flush toilet, which was much more convenient.

The two-entrance courtyard was slightly smaller, with flower ponds and a small pavilion, which could be used for cooling off in the summer.

This courtyard reminded Li Long of one that had been publicized in later generations; that courtyard seemed to be two-entrance and sold for over a hundred million.

Li Long calculated the distance from here to the Forbidden City; could it be that one?

No way, right?

But even if the price was high, that was a matter for thirty or forty years later. At the moment, these Sihe Academy were truly at a low-price period.

"I won't." Gu Xiao Yu shook her head, "Too big, it's not convenient for me to live alone. I've thought about it, if I want to buy, I'll just find a single room with one bright and two dark, I still plan to find it near our unit."

This courtyard was right by the roadside, with the main entrance facing south, but it wasn't eye-catching because there were many such courtyards in a row. This courtyard was considered relatively dilapidated, with the courtyard walls peeling.

When Li Long followed Shao Li Cheng inside, he found that this courtyard was much more dilapidated than the previous one. Some weeds were growing in the courtyard, and two crooked jujube trees were growing in the corners. The paint on the pillars at the corners of the main room had flaked off and faded, looking like a miserable scene of a setting sun.

This courtyard was even smaller than Shao Li Cheng's, so the rooms on all four sides were very compact.

The layout was quite good, just a bit old. There was no way to do anything in winter, so Li Long thought about coming back in the spring or summer to renovate it, which should be quite nice.

"This courtyard is a bit broken," Shao Li Cheng didn't wait for Li Long to speak and defined it first, "Fortunately, the price isn't expensive."

"How is it not expensive?" Li Long walked up to the main room and looked inside through the window crack. To his surprise, the room was actually quite clean; things had been moved out, and there was no clutter or trash.

"The total price for these two courtyards is twenty thousand yuan," Shao Li Cheng said. "Public property, no bargaining. Of course, the commission for the other side can't be less; three courtyards for twenty-five hundred US dollars."

That is to say, the three courtyards, including the courtyards and the commission, totaled nearly sixty thousand yuan.

In Shao Li Cheng's view, it was a bit of a sucker's deal. So by the end, he himself lacked confidence.

If it were a local, this much money could buy six courtyards.

Li Long, however, felt it was worth it. After all, at this moment, and even later on, it wasn't easy for non-locals to buy local property.

Although he didn't intend to settle his household registration here, buying the courtyard and putting it under his own name through some means was truly worth it.

Moreover, this money had come easily, so he didn't feel bad about spending it.

"I accept this price. If it can be done, I'll give you another five hundred US dollars, how about that?" Li Long said.

"Then I'll thank you in advance..." Shao Li Cheng hadn't expected Li Long not to bargain at all. In fact, he had planned that if Li Long pushed the price down, he would lower the price of his own courtyard. Regardless, being able to close this deal meant his commission as an intermediary would be substantial.

In fact, he had planned to give Director Zheng two thousand US dollars for the three courtyards, and the remaining five hundred would be his. Now that Li Long had promised another five hundred, how could he not be happy?

"Is the money for buying these two courtyards in RMB, and then the commission is given separately?"

"Of course. Give a one-thousand-dollar deposit for the commission first, and then pay the rest when the paperwork is handed over. As for the money for the courtyard, we'll handle it through official channels; just wait for the news."

"Of course, the faster the better," Li Long said. "But I can't give you this commission deposit. I've already given you five hundred, and that's for nothing yet. You only let me look at two courtyards, and now you want me to shell out another five hundred? My money didn't come from a strong wind; can't that one chair cover it?"

Shao Li Cheng thought to himself that this guy was also someone who wouldn't release the hawk until he saw the rabbit; he couldn't fool him.

He had to smile bitterly and say, "Alright then, I'll take my five hundred US dollars to go settle things with them first. Let's see if it works. I'll say this first: if it doesn't work, I'm helpless, and you'll have to make some concessions. You need to give me your information; if it can really be done, they might just issue the paperwork and stamp it directly."

Li Long then stated his and his older brother's names. Thinking about it, that wasn't quite right either; he had the habit of carrying paper and a pen, so he simply wrote it out for Shao Li Cheng.

He could see that this Shao Li Cheng was playing a middleman game here, trying to make a little profit wherever he could.

"If you want to get the US dollars as soon as possible, hurry up and make this trip to tell them; I want these two courtyards," Li Long said. "Handle the paperwork as soon as possible, and I'll prepare the US dollars as soon as possible too."

Shao Li Cheng immediately locked the door, said a word to Li Long, and left in a hurry. He was almost jogging as he rushed forward; Li Long knew this was the power of the US dollar.

Li Long looked at the surrounding environment. The small courtyard was by the main road, and transportation was relatively convenient, with a bus stop not far away. It was less than a kilometer from the Forbidden City, which in the past would have been within the Third Ring Road. The previous courtyard was even closer to the Second Ring Road, which would definitely be the city center in the future.

That he could buy these courtyards was due to a combination of chance and prevailing concepts.

At this time, Beijing had already started building high-rises. Although it hadn't reached the stage of commercial housing, the saying "upstairs and downstairs, electric lights and telephones" was deeply rooted in people's hearts, and many people still felt that living in a building was better than living in a flat courtyard.

Or rather, this concept was consistent across the country.

Because of this, these courtyards were hard to sell—ordinary people couldn't afford them, and most people's idea was similar to Gu Xiao Yu's: just buy a suite inside or outside the city. Such a large courtyard was troublesome just to clean up.

People with money were all looking to buy apartments. After all, even if these old courtyards had their wiring renovated, wanting to live comfortably still required major work.

It had only been a few years since the Great Movement, and people couldn't appreciate the aesthetics of old buildings yet; they preferred skyscrapers and modern facilities.

Large courtyards weren't very popular.

Li Long could be considered to be picking up a bargain—in a few years, when some people realized it, these courtyards would no longer be easy to buy. Of course, that would still be ten years or so away.

Li Long didn't intend to hoard courtyards; these two or three were enough. If there was a chance to come back later, he would find an antique building team to renovate them, and then upgrade the plumbing, wiring, and other water and heating facilities.

Of course, since he had bought them, he would have to come and check on them from time to time. Li Juan was in her third year of junior high this year, and in three or four years, she would be taking the college entrance exam; by then, she might really get in.

Li Long wasn't genuinely worried about whether Li Juan could get into high school. After coming to see the universities this time, presumably after she went back, Li Juan would have to work hard again; this was much stronger than any pep talk.

While thinking, Li Long strolled toward the hostel. Actually, he was wondering whether to go to Liulichang to take a look—Panjiayuan really wasn't an antique mecca at this time; Liulichang was.

But Li Long thought that there were already imitations at this time, and with his eye, going there would be a waste of time. Forget it; with this effort, it would be better to go to the antique shop.

However, Li Long didn't go over; he was worried that if he wandered around and it got late, missing Shao Li Cheng would be quite troublesome. Let's handle things one by one.

Returning to the hostel, just as he thought, his older brother and the others hadn't returned yet. Li Long started to organize the money he had brought. Since the price had been agreed upon with Shao Li Cheng, he took out these two portions of money. One part was the RMB for the two courtyards—twenty thousand yuan; to be honest, this price was really cheap.

The other part was the US dollars to be given to Shao Li Cheng; he would pay when he saw the paperwork.

At noon, Li Jianguo and the others hadn't returned yet, so Li Long went out and had another bowl of Zha Jiang Mian nearby—he wasn't in the mood to find famous old-brand shops to eat at this time, thinking he would do that after the main business was finished.

After eating and returning to the hostel, he didn't wait for his older brother and the others, but instead waited directly for Shao Li Cheng.

"Hey, things went smoothly today!" Shao Li Cheng knocked on Li Long's door with a file bag, "Let's go, let's go, let's go pay. Once the money is paid, this matter is considered done."

He patted the file in his hand and said, "Comrade Li, see? The paperwork is here. The big seal is stamped; we just need to pay the money and stamp the finance seal, and this matter is complete."

Li Long reached out, Shao Li Cheng opened the file bag, and took out the paperwork inside. Inside, there were not only the documents but also blueprints and keys.

At this time, there was no such thing as a property deed; it was just a piece of paper with the housing property certificate written on it. Li Long looked at it as a curiosity—this thing was issued by the Beijing Municipal People's Government, with a big red seal stamped on it. He didn't know if it was a blank certificate that had been stamped.

(Didn't find one for Beijing, just using it as a reference)

Attached at the back was the payment receipt; this was what Shao Li Cheng was talking about.

Seeing Li Long finish reading, Shao Li Cheng put the thing away again, took out two copies of the payment receipt, and handed them to Li Long, saying, "Pay the money for this. As for my share, you see..."

Li Long had understood just now; Shao Li Cheng's courtyard had already been written under Li Jianguo's name. Of course, the certificate had returned to Shao Li Cheng's hands. The person's intention was very clear: pay the money first.

Li Long counted out thirteen hundred from the US dollars he had taken out earlier and handed them to Shao Li Cheng, then reached out and said:

"The five hundred I gave you earlier counts as your commission. This thirteen hundred counts as the money for the house, plus the official's hat chair."

His US dollars were all in whole hundreds, no fifties, and it wasn't easy to ask Shao Li Cheng to give change, so he just gave it directly.

"Hey, you're generous!" Shao Li Cheng took the US dollars, counted them one by one, carefully put them into his pocket, and said, "Then let's go over now... and pay?"

"Let's go," Li Long said, "I happen to have something to ask you."

"You say it." Shao Li Cheng became energetic as soon as he heard this. This person had a lot of money in his hands and wasn't stingy about getting things done; as long as he could help get things done, the person wasn't stingy with money at all.

Shao Li Cheng felt that he hadn't been himself for the past two days. But for the sake of US dollars, it wasn't shameful!

"I want to get some old things, like cultural relics and antiques, but I don't understand them myself. I heard that antique shops don't sell to us locals, they only buy. So how can I go buy them? Are there any ways?"

"This... going to Liulichang is better," Shao Li Cheng said while walking and thinking, "There are some private old shops there that sell antiques to ordinary people now, it's just that the prices are more expensive."

Li Long didn't speak. Shao Li Cheng thought for a moment and said again:

"Also, there are street vendors in Liulichang. Those things will be cheaper, but whether they are real or fake is hard to say..." As a native Beijinger, he couldn't directly say that everything there was real; after all, one could find out with a casual inquiry, and being pointed out would be a slap in the face.

"As for antique shops, you need to be a foreign guest to go in and buy. After all, they want to earn foreign exchange, and they use foreign exchange certificates. However, it's not without a way..." Shao Li Cheng said, "How about this, let's finish the courtyard matter first, and allow me to go inquire about it?"

Li Long thought to himself that this guy definitely had a way. He was someone preparing to go abroad; it was impossible for him not to have any foreign connections.

"Of course, before finding out clearly, Comrade Li, you can actually do this," Shao Li Cheng said while walking, "The antique shop buys things. At the acquisition department, they give out numbers every day to sell things. Some people come from far away, can't get a number, and aren't willing to go back empty-handed, which is quite troublesome."

(Antique Shop Acquisition Department)

So some people buy their things at a low price and turn around and sell them to the antique shop at the official price, earning the difference. If you have time in the next two days, you can go take a look. Perhaps someone will be selling family heirlooms, and you can offer a higher price than the antique shop to buy them... Oh, this also has trouble; after all, you have to know the trade to buy well."

Li Long thought to himself that this was indeed a method. He was a layman, but those second-hand dealers were experts, right? Wouldn't it be fine to buy them at a price slightly higher than what they would sell to the antique shop?

He could try it.

The two of them talked as they arrived at the Housing Management Office. Shao Li Cheng walked to the finance department with ease, took out the slip, and looked at Li Long.

Li Long took out twenty thousand yuan and handed it over.

The people there looked at what was written on the payment receipt and knew what was going on. They didn't say anything, counted the money, and then took the finance seal and "slapped" it twice on the payment receipt.

The two of them didn't say a word, took the receipt, and went to a quiet corner by the wall. Shao Li Cheng said to Li Long:

"Comrade Li, that person is right inside. I'll take the commission in now... you see..."

Li Long smiled, took the stack of twenty-five hundred US dollars out of his backpack, and handed it over.

Shao Li Cheng counted them one by one, and after carefully checking them, he handed the file bag to Li Long.

That settled the account.

Li Long himself felt it was magical; was the matter finished just like that?

Shao Li Cheng didn't care about Li Long's emotions. After putting the US dollars away, he said a word to Li Long and hurried inside again.

Li Long took out the property certificates from the file again, checked them one by one, and found no problems, so he packed them up and put them into his backpack.

This thing would be worth a lot of money in the future!

Next, should he go to the antique shop to take a look? (End of chapter)