Chapter 131

This was a courtyard covering an area of about two mu.

Perhaps for safety considerations, the courtyard walls in the county town were all very high, about two and a half meters, so one couldn't see the situation inside the courtyard from the street.

In fact, whether it was safe or not didn't have much to do with the height of the courtyard wall; it might help a little, but mostly it was just a kind of psychological comfort for people.

The layout inside the courtyard was basically exactly the same as every family's layout in the village, with three main rooms facing south.

By the south wall of the courtyard, there was a well. The water was very shallow, only five or six meters deep, and it also used a windlass to draw water.

The house was a brick-tile house with cement-smeared brick joints. It could be seen that the house wasn't very old, and the door was locked.

Looking inside from the window, there were worthless wooden boxes, wooden tables, wooden stools, and such, but this house actually had a north-facing kang.

In this era in the Northeast, north-facing kangs were rare because sunlight couldn't shine on the kang, so even during the day, the north-facing kang felt somewhat cold and damp.

To the west of the house was a single-room side room, also of brick-tile structure.

The west wing, or the lower room, had two rooms. To the south of the west wing were two sheds, and inside the shed was a cellar and a lot of firewood.

It was just that the west wing and the shed were earthen-walled houses, but the roofs were covered with tiles! The outhouse was in the northeast corner of the main house.

Overall, this courtyard was quite good; just heat the kang after entering the house, and it could be lived in. Wang An decided to buy it.

Wang An looked at his watch; it was already noon, and it was estimated that all the units had finished work and were eating.

So he asked Seeing Qiao Xiaohu, "Do you have any grain coupons?"

Seeing Qiao Xiaohu said embarrassedly, "Where would I have that stuff? My pockets are cleaner than my face. How about we go to my house and make do with a bite?"

Seeing Qiao Xiaohu's family conditions weren't great, which Wang An knew, so going to his house to eat was clearly putting him in a difficult spot.

Wang An had come out in a hurry and hadn't thought at all that he would run into the Fang Xiue sisters, and then get latched onto, so he hadn't brought any grain coupons!

Forget it, he still had to buy steamed buns at a high price!

Wang An rode off, first going to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a cloth bag, and then spent 8 yuan to buy 100 steamed buns—a full bag. The leftovers would be just right to leave for the Fang Xiue sisters!

Returning to the courtyard, the four of them sat in the shed and started eating the big meat buns.

People in this era, regardless of whether they were men or women, ugly or handsome, all had big appetites! So everyone ate quite a bit, each devouring more than ten.

For the sisters, having their first full meal in many days, they ate without knowing their limits, yet they were filled with happiness!

Wang An felt that even eating buns in the shed was much more comfortable than eating meat on the mountain!

No matter how sheltered a place was in the mountains, wind would occasionally pass through. In the shed, at least there was no cold wind blowing!

After eating, the four of them chatted, and Wang An finally learned why the sisters had run away and then come back.

It turned out that after the sisters struggled to roll onto a train car and arrived at the provincial capital, Bingcheng, they had nowhere to go, so they just wandered around.

And because they didn't have an introduction letter, they couldn't even find a place to stay, let alone work. In an era without private enterprises, it was impossible to find a job!

And even if they found one, without an introduction letter, no one dared to use them. Besides, in every city now, there were many people returning to the city, and the locals didn't have work, so how could they be arranged? Where would it be the turn of outsiders?

The sisters finally ran into an older sister, and after explaining the situation, she took them in. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, Fang Xiuying got up and actually overheard that they were going to be made to entertain guests!

Frightened, the two sisters ran overnight to the police station they had passed while wandering during the day. When the police station heard they were educated youth from DJ County, they didn't bother with that older sister's family but sent them back the very next day!

Fortunately, the police comrades were very decent and didn't make the two buy tickets, so the two had only wandered blindly in Bingcheng for a day before slinking back!

It was just that after returning, they had nowhere to go. Originally, the two found an empty house frame and stayed inside for a night, but unexpectedly, they ran into a group of hoodlums today.

After listening to the two's account, ignoring their angry expressions, Wang An suddenly burst into loud laughter. Seeing Qiao Xiaohu had been holding it in quite painfully, but once Wang An laughed, he couldn't hold it in either and followed along with loud laughter!

Wang An said while laughing, "You two, simply... haha, simply... hahaha... two big tiger girls! Hahaha, big tiger girls!"

As Wang An laughed, he became breathless, and tears even came out from laughing!

Wang An's laughter and words directly shamed the sisters so much they couldn't show their faces, and they bowed their heads without a sound!

When Wang An had laughed enough, he chatted with Seeing Qiao Xiaohu for a while, looked at his watch, and then walked toward the neighborhood office.

The four people and one horse arrived at the neighborhood office. Seeing Qiao Xiaohu was a resident nearby and naturally knew all the staff at the neighborhood office!

The staff asked clearly what Wang An did and where he lived, and required Seeing Qiao Xiaohu to prove it, then issued an introduction letter, and then the work was done!

The entire courtyard, including the house, was valued at 800. In fact, this 800 yuan was mainly for the houses and courtyard walls; the courtyard, or the land, wasn't worth much!

Hand over the money, take the deed and keys. The deed was just a piece of paper. Then take the neighborhood office's introduction letter to the housing management office to transfer the title. At this time, the transfer was exceptionally simple; they didn't ask anything, only looked at the introduction letter!

Register and file, then re-stamp with the big seal, and the house was Wang An's. The main thing was that the seal was more important.

With this, the house purchase was finished!

Walking out of the housing management office, Seeing Qiao Xiaohu said goodbye and went home. Wang An and the Fang Xiue sisters returned to the courtyard Wang An had just bought.

Unlocking the door, it was a surprise for the three of them. Inside, in terms of living, basically nothing was missing.

The outer room had a pile of tools, such as axes, iron shovels, picks, hoes, and other farm tools. The dish rack also had ceramic basins, kitchen knives, porcelain bowls, chopsticks, and other kitchenware.

On the kang cabinet, there were also two sets of bedding that couldn't be more broken, but they were still clean. For poor families, this kind of bedding would be considered a good thing.

Anyone with a little money would use it to make cotton door curtains because the cotton was too old, and the whole quilt was as hard as felt. Covering oneself with it wouldn't bend, just like covering oneself with a soft board, leaking wind everywhere, and it really wasn't very warm!

But in the current situation, having something to cover oneself with was already good; who would dare to be picky?

After Wang An carefully checked around, he found that this house was truly awesome!

It seemed as if it had been prepared specifically for these sisters. Everything that should be there, no matter how old or broken, was all there, and it could be made do with. Moreover, besides grain, even salt was there!

It was also possible that when the two old people left, they still planned to return at any time, but they didn't expect to settle down in Bingcheng.

Wang An was very satisfied with this house, and the sisters were even more satisfied—one could say they were extremely satisfied!

After all, for people who were homeless and had nowhere to go, this was a home, a shelter. That feeling of peace of mind was what people wanted most!

Fang Xiue was even more moved and said to Wang An, "We will work like cattle and horses to repay you!"

Upon hearing this, Wang An suddenly didn't know what to say. The main thing was that Wang An really couldn't figure out what the phrase "work like cattle and horses" actually meant!

After settling the sisters, Wang An said goodbye and turned to leave, with the sisters' happy cheers coming from behind.

It was just that whether these cheers were because they had a place to live in the county town or because Wang An had finally left, that was unknown.

Wang An didn't pay attention and rode off.

(End of chapter)