Starting a new chapter in life

Chapter 136 Shops - Part 2

"No problem, the two of you..." Jing Yan said to He Zhijun, "Is this a designated area for a squat toilet? It would be best if we could find someone knowledgeable to take a look. It would be embarrassing if we made a mistake."

"When we were having our bathroom renovated, we contacted the municipal government. I have the contact information for the contractor who did the work. Maybe I can contact him later and ask him to come and take a look at both of our houses."

"It would be best if there were any provisions, then we could have everything done in one go. If not, we can take this opportunity to inquire about the possibility of turning those two rooms into toilets; they're more professional in these kinds of things," He Zhijun said thoughtfully.

Jing Yan naturally had no objections. The group went out and headed towards the street office. "This apartment in the inner area is nice, but the price must be high. I wonder how much the total price will be? Can you give us a discount?"

The clerk smiled and said, "Let me check when we get back. If you're really interested, you can give me a price range. I need to apply to my superiors. If we can reach an agreement on the price, please leave your contact information so I can notify you as soon as I have any news."

Upon entering the subdistrict office, the clerk checked the price: "This apartment in the inner area is 230 square meters, with a unit price of 100 yuan, so the total price is 23,000 yuan... This is quite expensive."

The couple exchanged a helpless glance. "Money is hard to earn, but it's so easy to spend," Jingyan couldn't help but complain.

"Okay, then thank you for your help. We'll discuss it further when we get home, and if we decide to buy it, we'll come over as soon as possible," He Zhijun said politely.

The clerk smiled and said, "Okay, okay. Buying a house is a big deal, so it's necessary to be careful. If you've decided, you can come anytime. This kind of large property is subject to the condition that it must be owned by the family members of employees on the island. It's not easy to sell such a house. Don't worry, you can discuss it slowly."

Jingyan... People these days are really simple and honest. If it were twenty years from now, if someone wanted to buy a house, they would be easily fooled. How could they really let people think about it slowly? The current atmosphere is really good.

After looking at the house, He Zhijun saw that it was still early, so he took Jingyan to the state-run restaurant on the island for lunch. It was a national holiday, and most of the staff canteens of various units were closed, so the state-run restaurant was still quite busy.

Jingyan glanced at the menu hanging behind the cashier counter. To be honest, more than twenty hot and cold dishes were quite plentiful. The two of them casually ordered a few dishes and found a corner seat to eat. "Looks like there are already quite a few people here," Jingyan said softly.

He Zhijun looked around curiously: "I don't usually come out much. Our company has dormitories in the park, and the canteen provides three meals a day. I really didn't know that so many people had moved into the island."

Looking at the customer flow, Jingyan thought for a moment and said, "The main problem is the source of meat. If we can get fresh meat, we can open our braised meat and barbecue shop. We can just make less each day and close the shop when we run out."

If there are enough family members here, we might be able to sell some rice porridge or noodles in the morning, so our shop wouldn't be wasted.

Speaking of which, Zhijun, I actually prefer buying a shop. I don't really want to rent. Although buying is more expensive, we won't be too upset if business isn't good.

But renting is different; you're putting real money into it every day. With my mental capacity, I probably couldn't handle it.

He Zhijun agreed: "With the money Grandma gave us, we can buy it instead of renting. Actually, if we're just opening a small shop, that detached house we've got our eye on isn't necessary."

But if we can really make a name for ourselves on the island, this detached house will attract more customers, and we'll have achieved our goal in one fell swoop. As long as we can solve our meat supply problem, we'll buy it later. Owning a property is never a bad deal.

Jingyan truly admired He Zhijun's intellect. Having lived through a different era, she knew that even in different places, the overall trends and circumstances wouldn't change drastically.

But He Zhijun is a man of this era, and he has a sensitivity to real estate issues that most people of this era do not have. It is true that smart people are smart no matter when.

After lunch, the two continued to stroll around. The vegetables and fruits in the supply and marketing cooperative were similar to those in the city. Pork and beef had already sold out by the afternoon, indicating that there was still a shortage of meat.

However, if you only look at the variety of goods here, it's really not much different from the supply and marketing cooperatives in the city. It's just that there are fewer citizens buying things than in the city center, and the supply and marketing cooperative, which is quite large, feels a bit empty.

There are almost no single-story houses in the island's residential areas; the only ones are within factory areas. Where there are no single-story houses, there are naturally no private yards, so very few families are self-sufficient. Seeing this situation, Jingyan tugged at He Zhijun:

“Our yard and the shop yard are both quite large. If we grow vegetables, we can at least be self-sufficient, and maybe we can even raise a few chickens.”

He Zhijun also agreed: "We can grow our own vegetables in the backyard of the shop, and plant some ornamental flowers and plants in the front yard. If we want to raise chickens, we should do it in our own yard. It's best not to do it in the shop area."

The couple took a tour, boarded the last ferry, and left Changxing Island. Back home, they recounted their day's experiences to the grandmother, who was quite interested to hear that the shops were detached houses with their own courtyards.

She told Jingyan to ask Zhang Xiaofen if they could send meat over there, or if there were any channels. As long as a source of meat was found, she would go and see for herself, and if possible, make a decision as soon as possible.

He Zhijun had little time, and after his three-day holiday, he returned to his workplace with his savings book. Since the matter of buying and transferring the property was left to him, Jing Yan stopped paying attention to it and busied herself asking Zhang Xiaofen about the meat supply.

Zhang Xiaofen had been promoted to deputy director of the production workshop a year ago. After her promotion, she walked with a swagger. The two were so familiar with each other that Jingyan hadn't gone to the slaughterhouse to look for her for a long time.

When Jingyan went to see her this time, Zhang Xiaofen was pleasantly surprised to see Jingyan enter the office: "Sister Zhang, what brings you here today?"

Jingyan smiled at her: "Since you've come to our door, you must have something to ask for."

"No problem, no problem at all. I'll definitely help if I can." Zhang Xiaofen said readily.

Jingyan talked about He Zhijun's new job and her own plans. When Zhang Xiaofen heard that she wanted to open a shop there, specializing in braised meat and barbecue, she would need beef in addition to pork. The main problem was that the supplies there were all transferred from the city, and the island could not be self-sufficient, which was the most troublesome thing.

"Our slaughterhouse might not be able to supply enough of this much food. It's far away, and transporting meat is inconvenient. I'll try to find out more for you later. As far as I know..."

There's a meat processing plant in our city; their meat supply, both in terms of variety and quantity, is several times that of our small slaughterhouse. I just don't know if we can close this deal. I'll inquire about it for you first, and if I make contact, I'll take you there to discuss it.

Although there was no definite news, it was always good to see a glimmer of hope. Jingyan thanked her and didn't linger. She couldn't delay her work. After watching Jingyan leave, Zhang Xiaofen found a notebook, opened it, and picked up the office phone to make a call.

She had previously told Jingyan that the meat processing plant's quantity of meat was genuine, but she didn't tell Jingyan that she had the meat processing plant's sales department's phone number, since the meat Jingyan wanted was all purchased free of charge.

Although regulations on buying and selling have been relaxed considerably these days, purchasing with ration coupons is still the mainstream practice. The fact that some of the meat they previously leaked as employee benefits was somewhat of a loophole.

However, at the meat processing plant, such benefits might not be available to Jing Yan. After all, Jing Yan's only connection is with someone who doesn't have much power, and their relationship is mutually beneficial, though their personal friendship is just so-so.

She could offer help within her capabilities, but if there were any risks involved, she wouldn't help Jingyan coordinate. There was no need to take that risk, so she didn't dare to be too definitive and left plenty of room for maneuver.

After the call was connected, she spoke warmly: "Section Chief Shen, hello, I am Zhang Xiaofen, the deputy director of production at the Changning District Slaughterhouse. Do you know Changxing Island?"

……

Yes, yes, I have a friend who plans to settle on the island as a family member and wants to open her own food shop. She mainly sells braised meat and barbecue, which are all meat products.

I don't have much free meat available here, and it's too far from Changxing Island, so the chances of me providing her with meat are slim. I was thinking that your meat processing plant is the largest source of raw meat in Haishi.

The meat for the canteens and supply and marketing cooperatives on Changxing Island should also be supplied by you. I wonder if it would be convenient for you to bring some back for my friend.

……

Oh, you're really interested? Okay, let's arrange a time for me to invite my friend over for dinner, and then we can discuss the details. Is that alright with you?

Zhang Xiaofen didn't expect the phone call to go so smoothly. After agreeing on the time and place for the meal, she hung up the phone with a smile and took out her notebook to write down the time and place.

After get off work that evening, she made a special detour to Jingyan's house to settle things. Jingyan was truly grateful to her. Today, Sister Wang had braised extra large pork bones; the meat was fragrant, and it even had marrow.

However, it's too heavy, so not many people usually buy it, and they don't usually make it. It just so happens that He Chaoli and An'an have been clamoring for bones to gnaw on these past two days, and Sister Wang saw that she had some at home today, so she made a pot of it and brought some back to Zhang Xiaofen as a thank-you gift.

These days, giving meat as a gift is a big deal. Although large bones aren't popular at the time, they're still pure meat. Zhang Xiaofen happily left with the two brown paper bags, and Grandma breathed a sigh of relief.

"The date is set for the weekend. Zhijun should be home. You two can go together then. Once this is settled, we can start buying the shop."

Jing Yan nodded happily: "Yes, if we can reach an agreement, we'll have Liu Qiang and his team do the interior decoration for our house and shop. Once it's done, we'll prepare to move in. I'm thinking it would be best if it could be completed in the first half of next year, so as not to delay Xiao Li's transfer to another school in the second half of the year."

He Zhijun returned home over the weekend. The first thing he did was hand the bankbook to Jingyan, along with the property ownership certificate and land use certificate. Jingyan happily took them, casually opened the property ownership certificate, and was startled: "Zhijun, the name of the homeowner on this property ownership certificate is wrong, isn't it? Why is it just my own name?"

Hearing this, Grandma also peeked over, and the two of them looked up at He Zhijun with the same expression. He Zhijun touched the bridge of his nose: "I asked the logistics department at my workplace, and they said that whoever's name is on the property certificate owns the property."

Most of the money for this house purchase came from your earnings, so it's your asset and I'll put it in your name. I've decided that once we buy a commercial property, we'll use both our names. Anyway, it doesn't matter whose name is on it, we're going to be together for life, so it doesn't matter whose name it's in.”

Grandma nodded with a smile: "Zhijun is right. Anyway, it's all your and your husband's property. It doesn't matter whose name it's in. In the future, it will be left to your own children. There's no need to be so clear about it."

Jingyan didn't know how other women would feel if they had a husband like this, but she was incredibly moved. Although she felt she could live well on her own,

But the feeling of being treated with such care warmed her heart. Holding back tears welling in her eyes, she smiled, clutched the property deed to her chest, looked directly into He Zhijun's eyes, and solemnly promised:

"Zhijun, as long as you don't abandon me, I will never leave you in this lifetime. This is my promise to you."

The next day was the day they were supposed to meet with the sales manager of the meat processing plant. He Zhijun and Jing Yan arrived at the state-run restaurant half an hour early. Private rooms weren't common back then; everyone ate in the lobby.

The two chose a corner spot in the lobby by the window. The large round table could seat ten people. Although they didn't know how many people would be attending, they figured a table for ten would be enough.

As the two of them expected, three people from the meat processing plant came, and Zhang Xiaofen also came with the slaughterhouse manager, making a total of seven people, which was more than enough room.

Chinese drinking culture has a long history. Jingyan politely inquired around and asked He Zhijun to order the dishes for the guests, while she went to the nearby supply and marketing cooperative to buy alcoholic beverages.

Moutai liquor requires a permit, but there are loopholes to exploit. Jingyan bought three bottles of Moutai, two cartons of Harvest cigarettes, and four bottles of orange soda for an extra two yuan per bottle. She then asked the salesperson for a tattered net bag, put all her belongings in it, and left.

When she returned to the state-run hotel, she saw He Zhijun chatting happily with everyone. When Jing Yan placed the cigarettes and alcohol on the table, the leaders, who considered themselves worldly-wise, were all dumbfounded: "This, this is too extravagant! Moutai, I've never drunk it before."

Jing Yan smiled and said politely, "Originally, I planned to buy a few bottles of ordinary liquor, since I don't have any connections to get the permits. I just happened to come across someone who had permits to transfer, and there were only three bottles available, so I bought them."

With the help of cigarettes and alcohol, the business, which was already mutually beneficial, went much more smoothly.