Reborn in 1977

Chapter 505: Changing Houses

February 20th, the 14th day of the first lunar month.

Luwan District: In 1945, Shanghai established the Lujiawan District, which was renamed Luwan District in 1947.

It's a good thing it was renamed, otherwise it would have the same name as Lujiawan.

But now, isn't Luwan the same name as the production team in Chen Fan's novel?

Chen Fan felt that he had discovered something interesting.

Lujiawan has the potential to become Luwan!

Ahem, just imagining it.

Back to reality.

The Chengdu South Road area of Luwan District has many old buildings from the Republic of China period, the most famous of which is the "Shikumen" (stone gate houses).

Everyone knows about the courtyards in the capital, and some people also know about the "four-point gold" houses in Chaoshan, which are all square courtyards.

However, not many people know about Shanghai's Shikumen. In fact, this Shikumen architecture is also a type of "courtyard house."

Entering the gate is the courtyard, which in a courtyard house would be the first courtyard… the open space in the middle. Passing through the courtyard is the main room, which is the living room. Going further in from the main room is a smaller inner courtyard, and at the very back is the kitchen.

Basically, it's the kitchen.

On the left side of the courtyard, there are usually two sets of厢房 (xiāngfáng, wing rooms) in the front and back, with two floors each, for a total of four rooms.

If the Shikumen courtyard is a little larger, another wing room building will be added on the right side.

If it's even larger, it will be arranged in the pattern of wing rooms, courtyard, wing rooms, courtyard… in that order.

The outer walls of the houses and the courtyard walls together form a square courtyard, and then many such courtyards are closely connected together, which is the Shikumen "terraced house" created by Ningbo merchants a hundred years ago.

"Look, you are also an old Shanghainese, and you were brought here by Director Wang. Your parents also work at the street office in Huangpu, so I definitely won't lie to you."

A man in his fifties, wearing a Zhongshan suit with a cotton-padded coat on top, said to An Quan, "Undeniably, my house is indeed small. It can be said to be the smallest layout among all the Shikumen houses in Shanghai, but it's small but complete."

As he spoke, he walked inside, "Look, the courtyard is right at the entrance. Closing the door creates an independent little world, and it doesn't affect the lighting. How great!"

An Quan followed behind him, looking up at the sky. He suddenly felt like he was a "frog at the bottom of a well."

This courtyard is really like a well!

The courtyard wall is no more than 4 meters wide, and the entrance to the main room is only two meters away. Is the courtyard area even 8 square meters?

Forgive his ignorance, this is indeed the first time he has seen such a small courtyard.

The uncle continued to walk inside, "Look, this main room, don't look at how narrow it is, but it's deep enough, more than 5 meters…"

He introduced as he walked, and Chen Fan followed behind.

It really is small but complete.

At the back of the main room, there is a small corner staircase. Passing through the staircase is an inner courtyard even smaller than the front courtyard, and then the kitchen.

The kitchen isn't just a small room either.

Shikumen can be said to utilize space very well.

Even if it's just a small kitchen, there's a "pavilion room" built on top of it, and above that, there's also an orderly sundeck. The pavilion room and the sundeck can be accessed from the staircase on the second floor and a 80cm wide "sky bridge" on the third-floor attic.

Going up to the second floor, there are two small wing rooms in the front, both less than 10 square meters. Going further back is the pavilion room above the kitchen, with an area of only 7 or 8 square meters. It can be used as a study, or as a bedroom if you don't mind it being small.

Above that is the attic. There is a dormer window on top of the attic. The area is the same as the main room on the first floor and the two wing rooms on the second floor, but the height is very low. Except for the roof ridge which is more than three meters high, the lowest part of the edge is less than one meter, making it unsuitable for use as a normal room.

Through the "sky bridge" at the attic or the ladder in the staircase, you can directly reach the sundeck above the pavilion room, which is the place to dry clothes.

After walking around the upstairs and downstairs, Chen Fan already had a suitable renovation plan in mind.

This kind of renovation is very simple. After watching so many "Dream Home" episodes, any old viewer can draw several renovation plans for this kind of old and small house.

However, he is not the one buying the house, so in the end, it depends on what An Quan thinks.

(A complete small Shikumen structure diagram. The part with the long roof ridge behind the diagram is the wing room, with four large rooms upstairs and downstairs. Cutting off the wing room is the simplified version of Shikumen)

Back in the front courtyard, the uncle was trying hard to promote his house, "Although there is no proper wing room, the total price is low, and it's a genuine 'independent house with its own courtyard.' When you get home, you close the door, and it has nothing to do with others. It's not like squeezing into a house with others, where even the kitchen has to be shared, making everything inconvenient.

This kind of house is hard to find. You can ask Director Wang. Either you can only exchange for a single floor, or even a single room, or it's a whole big courtyard, which is terribly expensive. A house like mine is definitely one of a kind!"

Director Wang stood by with his hands behind his back, smiling and not saying anything.

He is from the housing management office of the sub-district office in Luwan District and is mainly responsible for this area as a "housing exchange officer." The so-called "housing exchange officer" is actually just a title given to them by the people. There is no such position in the unit at all.

For a long time, many people have had the need to "exchange houses," whether it is because they want to exchange a large house for a small one for various reasons, or they want to exchange a small house for a large one by paying some money. Almost every day, people go to the housing management office to inquire about information.

Over time, there was a "housing exchange officer."

On the one hand, it is to solve problems, and on the other hand, it is to reduce troubles for the leaders.

Well, if the needs are not met, they have to go to the leaders. Even if it is only a very small part, the large base number is enough to annoy the leaders.

Therefore, the unit specially arranged for someone to help the people solve the problem of housing difficulties.

In fact, it is to collect the information of people who need to exchange houses, and mark the detailed information, who wants to exchange houses, how many people are in the family, how big is their own house, what is the layout, whether they want to exchange for a larger house or a better location, and what is the reason for exchanging for a smaller house…

It is more detailed than the real estate agencies of later generations. At least the agencies of later generations do not have a "background check."

And all this information is in the hands of the housing exchange officer. Over time, these housing exchange officers became more and more professional, and part-time jobs became full-time jobs.

A few years later, when housing rentals and sales were liberalized, some people started real estate agency businesses, and many of them had to spend a lot of money to hire these housing exchange officers, not only paying high salaries but even giving shares.

At that time, there were indeed many housing exchange officers who went into business, some partnered with others, and some simply went solo.

However, some people insisted on the belief of "serving the people" and continued to provide free services to the people in the street office until retirement.

Director Wang is one of these vast grassroots housing exchange officers. An Quan was introduced by a friend of his who works in Huangpu. This kind of thing is very common among housing exchange officers, otherwise how would there be cross-regional housing exchanges?

However, because an acquaintance greeted him and he heard that An Quan's parents were also employees of the street office there, he put in a little more effort.

These past two days, he has taken An Quan to see more than a dozen houses. He has forgotten how many times he has looked at houses here.

So at this time, he is too lazy to speak, just waiting for An Quan to make a decision.

Well, it's not just An Quan who finds it difficult to make a decision, almost every "house exchanger" is like this, so there is nothing to be anxious about.

As for getting angry, it is even more impossible. People without patience cannot do this job and would have changed positions long ago.

On the other side, hearing the uncle's boasting, Chen Fan couldn't help but twitch his lips and glanced at An Quan.

Coincidentally, An Quan also returned a look, and then lowered his eyes.

As soon as Chen Fan saw it, he knew that he liked it, so the next step was bargaining time.

If the price cannot be agreed upon, they can only regretfully miss it like the previous hall-room house with a kitchen and bathroom.

Speaking of that house, good heavens, a 50-square-meter two-bedroom and one-living room was actually asking for 6800 yuan, and no bargaining!

According to the current highest price of 100 yuan per square meter, the most it should be is 5000 yuan, right?

Moreover, Chen Fan thought this price was too high. 5000 yuan could buy a large two-courtyard or small three-courtyard courtyard house in the capital, with both the house and the land belonging to you. How could that house compare, at most it would be demolished in a few decades and exchanged for two or three new houses.

So from this year onwards, Shanghai's housing prices are more expensive than the capital?

Also, Chen Fan and An Quan do not support the behavior of raising housing prices, so they naturally turned around and left decisively.

And this house in front of them is the second house that An Quan has taken a liking to.

Chen Fan took out the lowest-grade Peony cigarette from his pocket, took out one and handed it to the uncle, and also handed one to An Quan and Director Wang. Then he took out the dry tobacco pipe pinned to his waist, causing An Quan's eyes to twitch.

You don't have to pretend to be poor like this, right?

However, Chen Fan was helping him, so he naturally wouldn't say anything.

Chen Fan coughed and turned his head to ask, "Uncle, how much money are you planning to exchange this house for?"

The uncle immediately raised his head, "My house has its own independent courtyard, and there are 3 rooms, and the main room below is so big…"

He thought for a while, gritted his teeth, and made a gesture, "At least 6000 yuan."

Chen Fan blinked and silently calculated. The living room is about 22 square meters, the two small rooms upstairs add up to the same, the kitchen at the back is 8 square meters, the pavilion room is 8 square meters, the attic is a bit larger, about 27 square meters. The total usable area adds up to about 87 square meters, averaging less than 70 yuan per square meter. Adding in this piece of land and this location, 6000 yuan does not seem outrageous.

However, the price cannot be calculated like this. First of all, the attic area must be halved. If it weren't for the fact that this attic is indeed relatively large, it is not uncommon for it not to be counted.

Secondly, this house has been around for more than 50 years and has been in use all the time. Many places are indeed dilapidated and have never been renovated as a whole, making it even more unappealing.

Finally, this year is not like twenty or thirty years later, when everyone wants to live in villas and independent courtyards. Nowadays, residential buildings are the top trend!

As a result, this price can be negotiated.

What's more, he has "inside information!"

Chen Fan filled the tobacco shreds, took out a match to light it, shook it out and threw it on the ground. Speaking in an increasingly authentic Shanghai dialect, he raised his head and began to find fault, "Uncle, how many years has this house been uninhabited?"

The uncle's face flushed with anger when he heard this, "What do you mean how many years has it been uninhabited? My family has always lived here. If it weren't for my son bringing his family back and the house being too small, I wouldn't want to exchange houses."

Chen Fan's face was immediately filled with surprise, "People have been living here all along? Then why have the termites eaten all the wooden beams?"

He stomped his feet again, "Goodness, the floor is cracked, and it's suspended underneath, right? Has anyone ever fallen through?"

The uncle's face turned red instantly, "No, nothing like that, how could that happen?"

Chen Fan glanced at him, then looked at the few wooden planks under his feet that were obviously different colors, indicating that he was just looking and wouldn't say anything.

The uncle seemed to be an intellectual and cared about his reputation, so he could only stammer, "Only a few boards are broken. They were accidentally stepped on when moving heavy objects. You definitely won't fall through."

Section Chief Wang next to him grinned and chuckled.

As a housing exchange officer, finding houses for the people is their duty, but they don't participate in price negotiations. Otherwise, whether the deal is good or bad, people will say sarcastic things behind their backs.

This is the valuable experience passed down from their predecessors.

So even though he knew that An Quan had definitely taken a liking to this small and dilapidated semi-detached Shikumen house, he didn't say a word and let them negotiate on their own.

However, watching this young man bargain was quite interesting. His bargaining was right on the mark.

In the end, those who nitpick are the real buyers! Maybe this deal will go through.

Chen Fan smoked his pipe and didn't bother to ask the uncle to show him around again. After all, this house originally belonged to him, and he knew better than Chen Fan where it was good and where it was bad.

After harshly criticizing the house, he started from the outside, "Yesterday, we also saw a two-bedroom apartment in the workers' village on East Huaihai Road. It had a kitchen and a toilet, which is what you call fully equipped.

Even if your house has its own separate courtyard, it's not as good as an apartment building. The apartment building doesn't touch the sky or the ground. Once the door is closed, you can retreat into your own little world. If we didn't lack money, we would have bought that two-bedroom apartment."

Chen Fan turned his head and looked around, sighing softly, "This house is probably fifty or sixty years old, right? Fortunately, it's winter now. If it were summer, there would definitely be a lot of rats and cockroaches. If we buy it, we will definitely have to renovate it extensively, which will probably cost at least a thousand yuan."

He turned to look at An Quan, "Lao An, should we reconsider?"

An Quan cooperated with a hesitant expression, glancing at the uncle from time to time. Even if the uncle wanted to pretend to be calm, he was now flustered.

It's difficult for buyers to buy a house, but is it easy for sellers to sell one?

Many people have come to see his house, but those who can afford it嫌弃 it's small and dilapidated, while those who like it can't afford it... He doesn't even know if those who can afford it are really rich or just pretending to be rich and nitpicking.

Now that he has moved into his newly bought house, the final payment he promised must be settled within this month, otherwise he will have to use this house as collateral.

Using it as collateral would be a huge loss. He only owes three thousand yuan, but this house, no matter how dilapidated, is worth more than three thousand, right?!

So even though he knew that the one who speaks first loses, the uncle couldn't help but say, "If you really like it, we can discuss the price further."

Chen Fan gave An Quan a look, turned his head, and smacked his lips, saying, "Uncle, we definitely want to buy it sincerely. Otherwise, we wouldn't have bothered Section Chief Wang these past two days and looked at more than a dozen houses, but our budget is limited.

Also, you can't see that we are in a hurry to buy a house and try to rip us off. Tell me, is this house worth 6,000 yuan?"

After a pause, he sighed again, "Moreover, if we really had that much money, we would have bought that two-bedroom apartment long ago."

The uncle laughed awkwardly twice, having already lost his previous bluster, "The price can still be negotiated. How about 5,500?"

... Half an hour later.

The uncle's face was pale, and he took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat repeatedly. Finally, he sighed with a heavy expression, "Okay, a final price of 4,567 yuan, not a penny less!"

Just now, Chen Fan presented the facts and reasoned with him, breaking down the shortcomings of this house in detail and negotiating the price. Originally, the usable area was 87 square meters, but he managed to cut off 17 square meters from the attic, and then used the 70 square meters to negotiate the price, finally reaching a deal at a price slightly higher than the local bottom line of 60 yuan.

4,567 yuan, a very "auspicious" number, wishing everyone a steady rise!

Under the witness of Section Chief Wang, An Quan first signed a loan agreement with the uncle from a month ago... As for the fact that An Quan hadn't returned at that time, it wasn't important.

The content of the agreement was that An Quan lent the uncle 4,567 yuan, a loan at par with no interest, purely out of friendship.

The loan was for a period of one month. If it couldn't be repaid within one month, this old Shikumen house with private property rights would be used as collateral.

Today happened to be the end of the one-month period. The uncle was unable to pay, so he agreed to transfer the ownership of the house to An Quan. The procedures were completed on the spot, and he would go back to the Housing Management Office with Section Chief Wang later to complete the property ownership certificate.

(The housing transfer deed in 1974 is equivalent to the property ownership certificate)

Street Office Housing Management Office.

An Quan held the property deed and smiled so wide that his mouth couldn't close.

Chen Fan sat aside and smiled, "Well, I've already designed it for you. There's a raised mezzanine under the main room. I dropped a small stone to measure it, and it should be about half a meter deep. When you turn around, pry open the floor, and add the original height of the house, it should be about 4.8 meters in total. When you turn around, you can make a mezzanine, and it will definitely look good if you make it beautiful."

The height of the first floor of Shikumen buildings is generally higher than that of normal houses, so there is no problem in making a duplex.

"The kitchen is ready-made. When you were doing the formalities just now, I asked someone and found out that there are sewage pipes and domestic water pipes behind the house, which means you can connect a toilet to it, so you'll have a toilet.

When you turn around, separate a toilet in the kitchen and the pavilion room, and then connect the tap water pipes to each floor, all the way to the drying platform on the 3rd floor, so it will be much more convenient to wash and dry clothes in the future.

There's also the attic. Don't think it's not practical just because the slope is very high. In fact, if it's well designed, it's also a very good study and children's room..."

From the courtyard to every room, and even how to design and renovate the kitchen and toilet, Chen Fan explained it to him.

An Quan smiled from beginning to end, and his mouth couldn't close. He just couldn't close his mouth.

After Chen Fan finished speaking, he took a long breath, looked at the property deed again and again, and said with emotion, "It's not easy. My own 1,600 plus the 1,800 you sent, plus the 2,000 yuan prepared by my parents and older siblings, totaling less than 5,500, all of which was invested at once. I gave 4,567 yuan for the house, and I don't know if the remaining money is enough for decoration."

His buying a house and moving out is almost equivalent to dividing the family. His parents' two rooms will not be his share, so the family will naturally prepare a sum of money for him to settle down. Taking advantage of this house purchase, they gave it to him together.

Chen Fan patted him on the shoulder and smiled, "About a thousand yuan should be enough. Well, don't think I criticized the house too harshly just now, but in fact, they are basically minor problems. There are traces of termite erosion on the roof beams, but the impact is not significant. You only need to replace two wooden beams.

The floor on the first floor was originally going to be removed. Although some boards are broken, a large part of them can still be used on the edges, which can be used to replace the severely worn staircase boards... In short, you definitely have enough money on hand. Maybe after you buy the furniture, you can invite me to the Jinjiang Hotel for a good meal."

An Quan grinned and laughed, "Okay, it's just the Jinjiang Hotel, a small matter."

Then the topic changed, "But you have to prepare the housewarming gift money. It can't be less than Lao Zhang's, otherwise he will definitely scold you for being stingy. I'm doing this for your own good."

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, and he hummed perfunctorily twice, "We'll talk about it later, we'll talk about it later."

At this time, Section Chief Wang came out of the office and saw that the two were still smoking and chatting in the corridor, so he couldn't help but say, "The formalities have been completed, why haven't you left yet?"

An Quan quickly got up to greet him and said with a soft smile, "Brother Wang, we are waiting for you."

Section Chief Wang looked at him meaningfully, smiled, and said, "Waiting for me? What for? What, do you still want to exchange houses?"

An Quan's eyes glanced left and right, and he said softly, "Brother Wang, thank you for your hard work these past two days. I would like to invite you to a meal to express my gratitude."

As a housing exchange officer, he must be very familiar with the people in the jurisdiction who want to exchange houses. If he doesn't know them like the back of his hand, he at least knows the general situation.

The uncle who wanted to sell the house had his youngest son's family of five return, and the family of ten was really overwhelmed, so he had to ask someone to help him find a relationship and exchange for a larger house in a more remote place, but he failed to settle the balance.

He couldn't possibly be unaware of this "major event".

As someone introduced by a friend with a good relationship, and the son of a deputy section chief from the street office over there, "unintentionally" revealing some information can build goodwill, so why not do it?

Of course, he only revealed this information, and didn't do anything else. If the seller refuses to lower the price, there's nothing anyone can do.

Also, I don't know if this friend's friend can understand the tricks inside.

Now it seems that the effect is not bad, at least this An Quan is not a person who kicks the ladder after crossing the river.

Section Chief Wang smiled and said, "It's not easy for everyone now. That house also needs to be cleaned up, and there will be a lot of money later. I'll remember this meal for now. When you move, I'll go over to congratulate you."

As soon as he finished speaking, An Quan was about to continue inviting him.

At this time, Chen Fan suddenly said from the side, "Section Chief Wang, I want to ask you about something. I don't know if it's convenient?"

Section Chief Wang looked at him in surprise, paused for two seconds, and then said, "What is it?"

Chen Fan rubbed his hands and smiled, "It's like this. When you showed us the 'housing register' yesterday, I took a fancy to a house and wanted to exchange it, but I don't know much about the situation inside, so I wanted to ask you for advice."

After a pause, he smiled again, "You see, it's time for dinner now. If you don't mind, shall we eat and chat?"

Section Chief Wang looked at him deeply, and finally nodded, "Okay."