jdhmnovel Chapter 176 Buying a House
Chapter 176 Buying a House
When Chen Nan, Chen Bei, Da Bao and Er Bao heard that it was Ang'er who helped, they immediately asked:
"Where's Ango?"
"Why didn't An Ge come?"
"Where's Ango?"
"Does Ange know we are here?"
Zhou Dajiang was asked by four children at once, which made his head buzz. He quickly said, "Ange has classes in the afternoon. He said he would come to see you after school."
When the four heard that An Ge'er was coming to see them, they were immediately delighted. They even forgot about the tabloid's plan and just thought about how to welcome An Ge'er. After all, they hadn't seen him for seven or eight years and had almost forgotten what An Ge'er looked like...
With his son's schooling problem solved, Master Chen felt relieved and in the mood to go for a stroll. After lunch, he met up with his old friend Doctor Qian and Qian Chuanbai, and the three of them went for a stroll around the area. Doctor Qian wanted to see if there were any clinics hiring, while Master Chen wanted to see if there were any enlightenment classes nearby.
Zhou Dajiang took his two brothers and four other people to the pawnshop to look at houses. Unaware of what Zhou Dahe had shown off to everyone that morning, he thought they were looking for a slightly better place to rent, so he asked the pawnshop clerk to recommend a small house to rent near Sifang Hutong.
The clerk's face showed an embarrassment when he heard this. He replied, "Sir, it's hard to find small houses for rent near Sifang Hutong. A few days ago, a group of people came and reserved many houses. Now there are only a few left."
Zhou Dajiang frowned, thinking this was too unfortunate. He was about to ask the waiter if there were any houses for rent a little further away.
Who would have thought that Zhou Dahai said to the waiter: "Since there are few houses for rent, are there any small houses for sale?" Others also became interested and asked if there were any small houses for sale.
Even though the young man had seen many people coming to buy houses, he had never seen so many people coming in a group to buy houses. He quickly found the owner of the house buying agency and told him what had happened.
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper hurried out to greet them, "Excuse me, gentlemen. I just explained the situation to you. May I know which of you would like to buy a house?"
Zhou Dahai and Zhou Dahe stepped forward and said, "We want to buy a house."
Zhang Dazhuang and Zhou Dong also stepped forward and said, "If the price is right, we'd like to take a look too."
Although the Tian Carpenter brothers didn't stand up, they nodded and said, "If it's not too expensive, we'd like to consider it."
As the owner of the brokerage, he naturally wanted to snag all of these clients. Although they were small apartments, every little bit counted, and a little bit would add up to a lot. Furthermore, these few households combined were quite a few, so he naturally wanted to do his best to facilitate their sale. However, Sifang Hutong was indeed short on properties, so he thought for a moment and pulled out a map of the properties his brokerage had for sale.
"To be honest with you, there aren't many houses available in Sifang Hutong. However, there are houses not too far from Sifang Hutong. Although they're not in the same place, the distance is still acceptable."
He pointed to several locations and said, "These two are closest to Sifang Hutong, only two blocks away. There are two more a little further away, three blocks away. These two are behind Sifang Hutong, also three blocks away. However, the conditions of the houses are different, and the prices are also different. If you are interested, we can go and take a look."
Of course, several people were interested. As long as it was not too far away and the price was not expensive, they all wanted to go and take a look.
The group first came to a house two streets away, with three households between the two houses.
The shopkeeper had put in a lot of thought. The two houses they were shown had identical floor plans: three main rooms with an annex on each side, two side rooms on the east and west sides, a small courtyard with no side rooms, and a wall at the front door—a very compact, small apartment. The previous owner had moved everything out, so the rooms were empty, without even a bed or a closet.
The pawnbroker's owner's surname was Li. He introduced them, "Most officials live in Sifang Hutong, so the houses there are larger and more expensive. The houses I'm showing you are all in Pingmin Lane, and they all have similar layouts. If you're short on money, I recommend this type of house as your first choice. These two houses belonged to two brothers. They lost money on the business, so they sold them to the pawnbroker at a low price. If you're interested in buying, I can give you a discount."
Zhou Dahai and Zhou Dahe were determined to buy the house, so they asked how much it cost.
"Nine hundred taels."
"Hiss!" Zhou Dahai and Zhou Dahe gasped.
"It's too expensive!" Tian Youbao couldn't help but shout out. If everything was so expensive, they couldn't afford it.
Seeing this, Zhou Dajiang hurriedly helped them bargain, "Manager Li, please consider saving a little more. To be honest, these guys were the technicians who were on the ship when we defeated the Japanese. They maintained the steam engines on the warships. They came to the capital this time at the invitation of the Ministry of Water Resources. You know that living in the capital is not easy. They are new here and don't have much money. It would be best if they could pay a little less."
Manager Li has seen many officials. If someone uses the power of an official to pressure him, he really won't fall for it. Anyone who can open a pawn shop in the capital must have connections behind it.
But Zhou Dajiang's words really touched him. How did our Donghua Nation win so quickly? Besides the bravery of the generals and their effective command, the most crucial factor was their superior weapons and equipment. Warships were one of them. Those who could maintain them were all skilled technicians. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were the heroes behind the scenes.
Shopkeeper Li was also a patriot. He bowed deeply to the men and said, "I didn't realize you were such heroes in the suppression of the Japanese invaders. So, we bought this house for 750 taels of silver. I'll sell it to you at the original price, and you'll have to pay the taxes."
Zhou Dajiang calculated that the government tax was 5%, which was nearly 790 taels. It would be a shame to deny them any profit, so he intervened on behalf of his brothers. "Manager Li, I want to thank you on their behalf, but it's not good for you, Old Bai, to make this trip with me. Let me decide for them: these two houses cost 1,600 taels, including tax. Is that okay?"
Although Shopkeeper Li's price was 750 taels, that was only after tax and rounding. With so many employees, he couldn't just lie. Seven hundred and fifty taels wasn't very profitable, but he hadn't expected the other party to add a little more. It wasn't much, but it added up! So he readily agreed.
Then they went to see the house three blocks away. It had the same layout, but because it was farther from the main street, the price was fifty taels cheaper than before. This time, the ones who came out were Zhang Dazhuang and Zhou Dong. In fact, these two families were better off than Zhou Dahai and Zhou Dahe. Their older generations had accumulated a lot of land, and with the five hundred taels awarded by the court, they could still afford to buy a house for seven hundred and fifty taels.
The two carpenter brothers, Yu Xiatian, looked at each other. The price was still a bit high for them. However, since they had come this far, they decided to check out the last place. If it was still this expensive, they would just rent a place.
The two houses they found were a bit different from what they'd imagined. They were next to each other, but only a skeleton remained, with no windows or door frames, and even the front door was gone. The rooms were completely empty. In one word, they were shabby. Aside from the identical floor plan, they were completely different from the other two, the kind that would make a rat weep.