Reborn in 1977

Chapter 358: Renting a House

Gufeng County, by the Yangtze River.

A dilapidated little courtyard nestled against the inner slope of the Yangtze River levee.

Red brick walls enclosed a courtyard, inside which stood two rows of red brick and gray tiled bungalows, each with a paved area in front.

However, these two houses appeared slightly dilapidated, as if they hadn't been cleaned for a long time.

A middle-aged man in his thirties, wearing a gray shirt, blue trousers, and leather shoes, led An Quan and the others around, pointing and saying, "This paved area is only a little over a hundred square meters. Don't underestimate it, it's made of cobblestones laid as a base and then covered with cement. It's just that it hasn't been maintained for a long time, with some moss growing in places and some cracks from vehicles. As long as it's cleaned and slightly repaired, it'll be as good as new, much better than a dirt ground."

An Quan, with a cigarette in his mouth, glanced at him sideways, "You'll pay for the cement?"

The man couldn't help but roll his eyes, "If you weren't my brother, I'd slap you to death."

When he turned his head and saw Ye Shubao's stiff expression, he immediately laughed, "Uncle Ye, I was just kidding about hitting him, why are you so nervous?"

Ye Shubao gave a dry laugh but didn't say anything.

This man was called Du Weilin. He used to be an educated youth from Shanghai who was sent to the Nanhu Commune with An Quan, but he went to the Hongxing Brigade, while An Quan went to Lujiawan.

Later, An Quan had the opportunity to work in the county's Bureau of Materials, but because he still wanted to return to Shanghai, he gave this opportunity to Du Weilin.

Du Weilin always remembered this favor. Later, he treated An Quan's affairs as his own, even more diligently than his own.

It was just a pity that he wasn't in charge of logistics in his work unit, and his position wasn't high enough to have much influence. Otherwise, the Bureau of Materials could have become a major customer of Lujiawan.

However, he still helped to connect them, relying on his familiarity to speak on their behalf in front of the head of the Logistics Section. Among the companies that signed the purchase agreement, one was the Bureau of Materials.

Originally, after signing the agreement, they should have quickly returned to prepare the goods and deliver them, but Chen Fan said that the cooked food workshop should be built in the county town. This would be more convenient whether it was delivering goods to various units in the county or expanding into the prefectural market in the future.

Poor Ye Shubao hadn't even had time to warm up the money before Chen Fan set his sights on it. But after thinking about what Chen Fan said, it made sense. He could only make a phone call to the team and, after obtaining the consent of Secretary Yang and the others on the phone, asked them to prepare the goods and send them over. Then, he followed Chen Fan to look for a suitable house all over the county town.

When Du Weilin learned that they wanted to build a cooked food workshop in the county, he brought them here.

He continued to introduce to everyone, "This house is divided into three large rooms, each with more than 40 square meters. The house behind is exactly the same, the size and layout are similar, but the backyard paved area is a bit smaller, only a little over 80 square meters, barely enough to turn around."

After taking everyone around, Du Weilin returned to the front yard and said with a smile,

"This used to be a warehouse of the Bureau of Materials, mainly used to store some metal materials, because it's not far from the dock, which made it convenient for loading and unloading. Metal materials have no odor and no chemical residue, so they won't affect you making cooked food.

Later, we built a larger comprehensive warehouse over at the dock, so this place was left idle. There are three other small warehouses like this, all next to the Yangtze River, and they are all empty now. Except for one that stores chemical materials and isn't suitable, the other two are fine. If you need them, you can talk to Section Chief Li of the Logistics Section and rent them all."

Ye Shubao and the others all looked at Chen Fan, waiting for him to decide.

Chen Fan smiled first, "Thank you, Brother Du."

Then, he shook his head and said, "Our scale isn't that big either. This place is pretty good, this is enough for now."

Hearing this, Ye Shubao, who was standing beside him, immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that they would spread the business too wide all at once, and if things didn't go smoothly, it would be difficult to recover.

At this time, Chen Fan asked again, "Brother Du, I wonder how much the rent here is?"

Du Weilin said without thinking, "I'm not in charge of this, and I can't decide. You'll have to talk to Section Chief Li yourself."

An Quan dusted off the cigarette ashes beside him and said, "Then you should at least know a rough number so we can have an idea."

Du Weilin glanced at him, thought for a moment, and said, "I estimate it should be around ten or twenty yuan."

Hearing this, An Quan immediately exclaimed, "Ten or twenty yuan? Why don't you just rob us?! A Class A house in Shanghai is only 3 mao per square meter, and those are Class A houses, big buildings! Ordinary civilian houses with three rooms inside and out are only two yuan or so a month. You dare to say that this place, this house, costs ten or twenty yuan?"

Seeing An Quan so agitated, Du Weilin was very calm, "What are you shouting for? Do you think I don't know that?"

After a pause, he took out a cigarette, lit it, and then continued, "You're talking about residential houses. My house is 25 square meters, and it costs 2 yuan, 5 mao, and 4 fen a month. My aunt's family lives in a building on Huaihai Road, and a 50-square-meter two-bedroom apartment only costs a little over 8 yuan a month. I know this better than you do."

Then, he exhaled a puff of smoke and said seriously, "In Gufeng County, if you're looking for dormitory rooms, it's simple, two or three yuan a month, and I can find you a spacious suite."

As he spoke, his tone changed, and he sighed softly, "But this isn't a civilian house, and you're not using it to live in, but to run a side business, so it can't be calculated according to the price of a residential house."

Chen Fan's eyes flickered slightly, and he suddenly said, "Then, what if half of it is used for living?"

Du Weilin looked at Chen Fan, a smile appearing on his face, and patiently explained, "That can only be calculated according to the price of a commercial building, because almost all the houses that are rented out have people living in them. This cannot be calculated separately."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly and said nothing.

Du Weilin glanced at everyone, pointed in the direction of the dock not far away, and said, "Just now when we came over, there was a blacksmith shop below the dock slope, did you see it?"

Chen Fan reacted immediately, "Is it the Guo Family Village Repair Shop?"

Du Weilin nodded and smiled at him, "You can remember the signboard at a glance, you really are extraordinary."

He then explained, "The blacksmith in that repair shop is from Guo Family Village next to the county town. He obtained a side business certificate from the production team and rented a shop from the Water Transport Company near the dock, mainly to make horseshoes for pack horses.

His shop costs 8 yuan a month in rent, and he has to pay for a year at a time. How big is that shop? After putting down a stove and setting up a forging table, there's not much space left. He can only sleep on two benches with a wooden board on top, and then put it away after waking up. Look at this place, two rows of large houses with over 100 square meters in front and back, and two such large paved areas…"

Before he could finish speaking, An Quan muttered, "You just said the paved area was small, now it's become so big, it changes pretty quickly."

Du Weilin looked at him with a speechless expression and didn't say anything.

An Quan coughed dryly, "But that's a shop by the road, this place isn't by the main road."

Du Weilin was very helpless, "If this place was by the road, would it be your turn to rent it? It would have been rented out long ago."

Chen Fan was holding back a laugh. Good heavens, he was so anxious that he even spoke Shanghainese.

He looked up at Du Weilin and asked with a smile, "Then, Brother Du, are there any shops for rent by the road? Preferably near the commercial district or residential area, or in a place with high traffic."

Du Weilin turned to look at him, his face quite surprised, "You still want to rent a shop?"

Ye Shubao, Zhang Juemin, and Zhang Wenliang looked at each other, their eyes filled with helplessness.

That's right, they still hadn't reached an agreement with the vegetable market company.

When they said they wanted to sell live poultry, the company said, "Sorry, we are a formal unit, and all commodities are purchased and sold through a unified system. We do not accept outside units selling here."

Supplying goods? That wouldn't work either. "All our commodities have fixed partners and have been approved by the Bureau of Commerce. We generally do not accept other units cutting in line."

Unless specially approved by higher-level leaders!

Okay, then let's engage in differentiated competition. We'll sell you cooked food, and you can set up a cooked food stall to sell it yourselves, wouldn't that work?!

But the company said again, "Sorry, the vegetable market only sells fresh food. If you want to buy and sell cooked food, you've come to the wrong place. You should go to the County Food Company and see if they accept your cooked food!"

Frankly speaking, Chen Fan was quite helpless at that moment.

For the past few months, he had been holed up in Lujiawan, at most wandering around the town of Nanhu Commune. If he wasn't always successful, he was at least smooth sailing. Whatever he did, he could get very good cooperation.

But as soon as he stepped out of Lujiawan, even in the local county town, he ran into a brick wall.

First, the big customers he was very confident in refused one after another. Later, he finally relied on his connections in the health system and an "extra gift" of a novel to barely secure a few major customers. The subtle rejections of other units caught him completely off guard.

Then, the one who was most confident went to the farmers market to set up a stall, but was also unhesitatingly turned away by the farmers market company. Neither Teacher Chen's reputation nor the official letter personally written by Secretary Qian of the commune had any effect.

This time, Chen Fan began to believe that the companies that rejected him weren't necessarily holding a grudge against him.

They were simply strictly adhering to "rules and regulations," constantly vigilant and never crossing the line, never doing anything outside of the prescribed rules and conventions.

It was so difficult to even do a little business under the guise of the collective. How did the first entrepreneurs a few years later manage to carve out a path for themselves step by step?!

Chen Fan put aside his thoughts and feelings and said to Du Weilin, "Yes, we originally wanted to open a stall inside the farmers market, but the farmers market company didn't agree. Later, we went to the county's Bureau of Commerce and asked if we could open a few cooked food shops in the county in the name of the production team.

They then said that it complied with the production team's regulations for developing sideline businesses, allowing us to rent shops to open stores, but we had to accept the supervision of the food company and the health clinic. So, the shops we find must be clean and tidy. If they aren't, we can renovate them ourselves. The key is that the location must be good."

Du Weilin put one hand on his hip and pinched the cigarette butt with the other, taking a few puffs with his head down. After a moment, he looked up and said seriously, "There are many houses facing the street, but most of them are residential houses. Very few people are willing to rent them out, mainly because they are afraid of causing trouble.

Besides residential houses, there are also some houses managed by the subdistrict office or units. There is no accurate information about this part. You need to go to the subdistrict office and the logistics departments of various units to ask if there are any houses for rent."

He threw the cigarette butt on the ground and smiled at Chen Fan, "Leave this matter to me. You guys take a look to see if you want to rent this place. If you think it's suitable, go back to our unit and talk to Section Chief Li about the rent. Then, you guys tidy up this place. In two or three days, I should have news here."

Chen Fan immediately shook his hand to thank him, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Du."

Du Weilin waved his hand with a smile, "What trouble is that? You're also doing it for the public good, and you're Old An's friend. It's only right to help with this little thing."

An Quan laughed heartily from the side, "After talking for so long, you finally said something nice."

As a result, Du Weilin rolled his eyes in exasperation.

… …

After a brief discussion, Chen Fan and Ye Shubao and the others decided to rent this courtyard.

Although it wasn't close to the road, it wasn't too far from the main road either, only a little over a hundred meters away. There was also a wide slag road in front of the gate, which was specially built by the materials bureau to facilitate the transportation of cars and horse-drawn carriages in and out.

Moreover, both sides and the back were open spaces, and the opposite side was the Yangtze River levee. There were no other houses nearby, so there was no need to worry about the smell being too strong when slaughtering live poultry and cooking, affecting the neighbors.

Another thing was that the two houses inside were also very much to their liking. The one in front could be used as a cooked food workshop, and the one in the back could be used as a dormitory and warehouse, which was also very convenient.

In short, they were quite satisfied with this courtyard in all aspects.

Now it just depended on whether the price was right. Fifteen or twenty yuan was just Du Weilin's estimate. What if Section Chief Li asked for an exorbitant price?

The group came out of the courtyard and soon arrived at the dock.

This was a comprehensive dock. On the outer embankment of the Yangtze River, there was a three-story building with a layer of fine gravel on the outer wall, forming a wall that looked smooth from a distance but was uneven up close. Coupled with the tall glass windows, it looked quite foreign.

This kind of gravel wall was popular until the 1980s. In the 1990s, it could still be seen on buildings in county towns, until it was later replaced by mosaic walls.

On the roof of the building, there were three large characters, each more than one meter high, "Waiting Hall."

This was the passenger terminal of Gufeng County. As long as you bought a ticket on the first floor of this waiting hall, you could go to Chongqing upstream and Shanghai downstream. Almost all the slightly larger docks on both sides of the Yangtze River had stops, so it could be said that it could reach everywhere.

However, a lot of time was also wasted on stops. If it could be a direct route, it would save at least a day's time.

A little upstream from the passenger terminal were three spacious freight terminals, each with a long slope leading directly to the riverbank, which were transportation channels for cars, horse-drawn carriages, and dump trucks.

Ships were docked at the docks under the long slope, waiting in line to load and unload goods. Further upstream, there was also a row of empty ships waiting to be assigned voyages.

As for the water transportation company, it was built not far from the waiting hall, an independent large courtyard. The dormitory area behind it, decades later, would definitely be a "treasured riverside mansion."

Chen Fan had been here the day before yesterday, but unfortunately, he was met with a soft rejection.

There was a long slope in front of the waiting hall. Coming down from the levee, you could enter the county town along this road. Chen Fan and the others were walking on the road next to the long slope, with large and small trucks, horse-drawn carriages, and dump trucks rumbling slowly overhead, and a continuous stream of people on the side of the road.

When the long slope reached the end, Chen Fan and the others also got on the main road. At this time, they could see a blacksmith shop opposite. Inside, a middle-aged man in his forties was bare-chested, with only a towel draped around his neck, sweating profusely. He was using iron tongs to clamp a red-hot iron block in one hand and vigorously waving a sledgehammer in the other, striking out sparks.

As Zhang Wenliang walked, he realized that there was no one beside him. He quickly turned around and breathed a sigh of relief, shouting loudly, "What are you looking at?"

The others stopped and turned to look at Chen Fan when they heard the sound.

Chen Fan reacted, took a few quick steps forward, and then pointed to a shop four doors away from the blacksmith shop and said, "Brother Du, there's still a sign on the door of that shop. Was it also a store before?"

Du Weilin looked in the direction he was pointing, thought for a while, and said, "It should be, otherwise it wouldn't have a sign."

After a pause, he added, "I remember that this row of houses all belongs to the water transportation company. I'll go ask later."

He turned to look at Chen Fan, "What's wrong? Have you taken a fancy to this shop?"

Chen Fan was secretly muttering in his heart, how could it be such a coincidence that he ran into the water transportation company again?

When he heard Du Weilin's words, he smiled and said, "I think there's a lot of traffic here, and many of them are tourists. If we open a cooked food store here, business should be good."

Du Weilin nodded in agreement. He looked at the continuous stream of people on the road and said, "You're right. In terms of traffic, the dock waiting hall has more people than the county bus station. The county bus station only has a few buses running back and forth every day, and they are often not full.

It's different here. There are at least a dozen passenger ships docking here every day, each staying for ten minutes to half an hour. Many people who don't come here will also take the opportunity to get off the ship and move around. If you open a shop here, there will definitely be many people buying."

Ye Shubao was still thinking about Manager Zhao's warm hospitality that day. After Du Weilin finished speaking, he immediately smiled and said, "If it's a shop of the water transportation company, then it will be easy. We are quite familiar with Manager Zhao of the water transportation company. He is a very nice person. If we go to him to rent a house, he will probably agree."

Hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.

However, he still had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

It was already a tit-for-tat, and everyone was even. Manager Zhao shouldn't continue to make things difficult for him, right? No matter what, there was still some friendship from Zhang Wenliang and the others demonstrating at his door.

Even if he didn't look at the friendship, it would be fine to handle things according to official business.

With some small thoughts in his heart, Chen Fan followed Du Weilin back to the materials bureau and then found Logistics Section Chief Li to discuss renting the courtyard.

Section Chief Li was also very easy to talk to. He directly set the rent at 15 yuan a month, and it could be paid quarterly. Ye Shubao immediately represented the Luji湾 production team and signed a lease agreement with the materials bureau. Then, they went to the subdistrict office to register, and the right to use this courtyard was temporarily owned by Luji湾.

After renting the house, the group went to the water transportation company again and asked Manager Zhao about the shop.

Du Weilin was right. That row of houses did belong to the water transportation company.

This time, Manager Zhao didn't deliberately make things difficult for them. He generously rented the shop to them. As for the rent, it was the same as the blacksmith shop, both 8 yuan a month, without any discount. It could be considered official business.