Chapter 188: A Family with a House (Guaranteed 1 update)

On the motorcycle, Wei Ming sat in the driver's seat, Uncle Anping sat at the very back, and Lele was in the middle. As for Xizi, he could only sit on the fuel tank.

On the road, Uncle Anping told Wei Ming that the correspondence exam was confirmed for October.

"But after school starts, you should still go work in the library. The environment there is better, which is convenient for your studying and writing."

Wei Ming hummed, eventually ending up in the promising profession of a Peking University library administrator.

They arrived at the Overseas Chinese Apartments familiarly. The gatekeeper grandpa still remembered Wei Ming; someone who could ride a motorcycle must be either rich or noble, and maybe he would be his own landlord in the future.

Afterward, the four walked inside. This time it was another building, and it was on the third floor. This floor level was good; it wasn't the top floor, yet it ensured privacy.

They first knocked on Mr. Wu Zuoren's door at 301. The person who opened the door was his second wife, Xiao Shufang. The old lady was nearly 70 this year and was also a famous painter who blended East and West, particularly skilled at flowers. Moreover, she and Wu Zuoren were from the same master, both being disciples of Xu Beihong.

Both had had a previous marriage; Mr. Wu Zuoren's Belgian wife had passed away, and Ms. Xiao Shufang had been cheated on by her ex-husband.

Now, the two had walked hand in hand for more than thirty years, being both husband and wife and soulmates. When they had nothing to do, they would exchange painting techniques, and sometimes they would be invited by foreign peers to go abroad to lecture and sketch. How happy they were.

Because it was the home of two great painters, the walls were covered with paintings after entering—some were their own, some were from friends in the painting world, and some were from teachers like Xu Beihong and Qi Baishi.

Just this room full of paintings was absolutely worth more than ten times this house.

And Xizi, who was coming to the Overseas Chinese Apartments for the first time, only felt that it was colorful and good-looking here. As for this house, it didn't give him too much shock; anyway, it wasn't as big as his grandfather's house.

When Wei Ming announced his name, Xiao Shufang smiled and let them in. Afterward, Mr. Wu Zuoren came out from the study, ink stains still visible on his hands.

"Wei Ming, right?"

"Mr. Wu, it's me."

At this moment, Wei Ming happened to be standing next to a panda painting. This was something Wu Zuoren had just painted recently.

Looking at this work of his, Wu Zuoren became talkative: "I've read your article, the one about pandas. Look at how I painted it."

Wei Ming laughed: "I was attracted by this painting as soon as I walked in. It's as if I saw the Gangdan I met back then. It's too vivid."

Wu Zuoren said regretfully: "I observed the giant pandas at the Beijing Zoo to make this painting. It's a pity I've never touched a giant panda with my own hands. I don't know what the specific feel is. Your father is still the capable one; he's a person with real skills."

A great painter like him certainly had privileges, but not letting him touch them was probably for safety reasons; adult giant pandas were still quite dangerous.

At this time, Wei Pingan interjected: "My eldest brother indeed has some skills in being friendly with animals. When we were young, we poked a beehive together, and as a result, the bees stung me but didn't sting him."

"You must be Director Wei Pingan, right?"

"Hello, Master Wu." Next, Wei Pingan introduced his pair of children.

Old Lady Xiao immediately gave the two some candies and melon seeds, loving them to death.

Their children weren't by their side, so they felt happy seeing such cute and clean little children. Wei Ming felt that if Xizi and Lele were a bit sweeter-mouthed, they might even be able to take a painting with them when they left.

After chatting for a few sentences, Wu Zuoren finally talked about the situation of the house next door.

"The layout is the same as ours. The area is 150 square meters, with four rooms and two bathrooms. If you have no objections to the area and layout, I can take you over to talk to the owner now."

This was the smallest type of room in the Overseas Chinese Apartments, and it was also what Wei Ming wanted. It was useless for a bachelor like him to have such a big one. Four rooms: one for himself, one for Xiao Hong, one for his parents, and one for a study—perfect!

Seeing that Wei Ming had no objections, Wu Zuoren talked about the situation of the owner next door, and then took Wei Ming and Wei Pingan to knock on the door next door.

A young man with messy hair opened the door, rubbing his eyes as if he had just woken up from a drunken stupor. Let's call him Xiao Wang.

Xiao Wang's parents had abandoned him and run abroad during the special period. Now that the situation had stabilized, they decided to pick him up and take him abroad.

The price was that he had to give up the girlfriend he had been in love with for many years; his parents' ability could only take him alone.

Xiao Wang was very reluctant inside; his girlfriend was especially good to him, and her parents treated him like their own child. However, he had suffered too much in these ten-plus years, and even this house had just been returned to him. He wanted to live a good life too much.

So he decided to sell the house and leave all the money to his girlfriend, pinning his hopes on this money allowing his girlfriend to keep herself chaste for him. If one day he made it abroad and had the ability, he would definitely pick her up.

"Wu Lao."

"Xiao Wang, this is Xiao Wei. He wants to see your house." Yesterday, after Wu Zuoren received Wu Zuxiang's call, he had already told Xiao Wang about this.

"Hello, please come in." Xiao Wang opened the curtains. There were many beer and white spirit bottles on the table, and the room didn't smell very good—this was drowning sorrows in alcohol.

Compared to Wu Zuoren's house next door, this house seemed much emptier, without even decent furniture, but it looked quite new.

In fact, there was nothing to see about the house layout; in this day and age, having a house was enough, and there wasn't much room for choice. The key was the price. So after a simple look, Wei Ming talked to Xiao Wang about the price.

Xiao Wang was also direct: "The house is 150 square meters. If you give 160 yuan per square meter, this house is yours."

That is to say, it would need 24,000.

This price was quite fair. In a building without an elevator, the third floor was better than the first floor, unless the first floor had a small courtyard. So the price of 160 per square meter was more acceptable than the large flat on the first floor he had seen before.

Wei Ming really wanted to get this house, but he really didn't have that much money, so he started bargaining, finally lowering it to 150 per square meter, and then the other party became immovable.

Wei Ming couldn't move him, so Uncle Anping shook his clothes: Let me handle this!

Knowing Xiao Wang's situation, he knew that this house had to be sold, and there were very few people who could take out so much money at once. Wei Pingan seized this point and slashed hard at the young Xiao Wang.

Finally, he agreed to the price of 20,000 and wouldn't budge. Wu Lao couldn't get a word in on the side and couldn't keep up, so he simply went back to his own house to chat with the two children.

However, he must have hoped to be neighbors with a literary up-and-comer like Wei Ming. As for Xiao Wang, he only knew how to drink heavily all day.

Xiao Wang: "If you can't even take out 20,000, forget it. I'll look for someone else. For such a good house, 20,000 is absolutely a cheap sale."

Wei Ming thought for a moment: "Can you accept Foreign Exchange Certificates?"

!

"You have Foreign Exchange Certificates?" Hearing this, Xiao Wang's expression changed.

In fact, he had Foreign Exchange Certificates, all exchanged from the US dollars his parents had recently sent him. Using these certificates, he had bought his girlfriend a famous Swiss watch. Now the certificates were used up, and his parents, worried that he would be attached to domestic feelings, stopped sending him money except for the plane ticket money.

If he could give his girlfriend some more Foreign Exchange Certificates, their family could add some home appliances that other families didn't have, and it could also make his girlfriend's family feel like they had face.

Thinking of this, Xiao Wang asked: "How many Foreign Exchange Certificates do you have?"

Wei Ming: "2,000. How about counting it as 6,000 yuan? In addition, I'll pay 14,000 yuan in RMB."

Uncle Anping was very shocked on the side; this kid actually had so many Foreign Exchange Certificates!

Right, it must be Mei Linda. This British girl was indeed affectionate and righteous, leaving him so much foreign exchange.

Xiao Wang naturally wouldn't do it: "This is a Foreign Exchange Certificate, not real foreign exchange."

"What's wrong with a Foreign Exchange Certificate? As long as it can be exchanged for foreign exchange when you go abroad, 2,000 certificates can be exchanged for about 1,300-plus US dollars, which is worth 6,000 yuan. My price can be said to be quite kind. You ask around the black market how much so many US dollars are worth."

"I didn't intend to take foreign exchange away; it's for domestic use. In China, it's just a Foreign Exchange Certificate. Counting it as 6,000 yuan is too much; I'd think 4,000 is too much." Xiao Wang shook his head.

Then he asked: "Do you have any more Foreign Exchange Certificates?"

"What do you mean?"

Xiao Wang proposed a plan: "If you only have 2,000 certificates, I can only count it as 4,000 yuan. If you have 3,000 certificates, I can count it as 7,000 yuan."

He wanted to leave more Foreign Exchange Certificates for his girlfriend. If she went to the United States to find him in the future, the certificates would be more useful than RMB.

Wei Ming had a total of 3,000 Foreign Exchange Certificates on him, but he still had 4,000 Hong Kong dollars that could continue to be exchanged.

Once foreign exchange was exchanged into certificates, the value would decrease. Moreover, if Wei Ming didn't go abroad, his certificates couldn't be exchanged into real foreign exchange, so the transaction price on the black market wouldn't go up.

Wei Ming felt that this plan was acceptable, so he confirmed the transaction plan of 3,000 certificates and 13,000 RMB.

This way, he still had 1,000-plus yuan and 4,000 Hong Kong dollars that could be used to buy furniture and appliances, which was almost enough to redecorate this home.

Wei Ming: "Then that's it. It's getting late now. I'll come over tomorrow to go through the procedures with you."

Xiao Wang took a look at this house where he had lived since childhood: "Alright, then I'll wait for you here tomorrow."

The matter was settled. Wei Ming and Uncle Anping left here with Xile and a small scroll. The small scroll was an orchid grass painted by Grandma Xiao, given to the two children. Just this was worth a few yuan.

On the way back, Uncle Anping asked: "So much money, can you take it out? Or should Uncle give you some?"

Wei Ming smiled and indicated: "I have enough here. Uncle, you've already helped me a lot by using your silver-tongued eloquence to cut the price to 20,000. Aunt should be off work and home by now. Let's go have a meal together!"

Wei Ming, who was about to have a home in Beijing, couldn't hide his excitement.

Wei Pingan laughed: "Alright, but let Uncle pay for this meal. You have many places to spend money in the future~"

(End of chapter)