Ni Meng came running over excitedly to recommend a piece of land to Ye Zhao. It turned out that the owner of the land between the purple bamboo forest and the garbage dump, after hearing that the purple bamboo forest had been sold, also became interested in selling his own old piece of land.
Ni Meng said, "That family moved to Hong Kong City a long time ago. They are short of money to buy a house in Hong Kong City, so they just wanted to sell this piece of land. The price is also affordable, even cheaper than the old one."
Aunt Qiao changed the subject: "Zeng Laojiu has been smuggled to Hong Kong City for more than ten years, right? Didn't he say that he would bring his whole family to live in public housing? Do you have enough money to buy a house?"
"I heard that he made a lot of money recently and has his eyes on a 600-square-foot mansion. His son doesn't want to pay for the mortgage, but is still short of $100,000. Selling this piece of land should be enough."
Aunt Qiao asked, "How big is 600 feet?"
Ni Meng had no idea. Since it was a mansion, it must be quite big. "Who knows? It should be quite big. It must be bigger than your place."
Ye Zhao said: "600 square feet, probably more than 50 square meters, a little smaller than half of this place."
Ni Meng was shocked when he heard this: "I don't understand why people in Hong Kong buy expensive houses. They are so small and expensive. Fifty square meters is not even as big as my living room. I heard that this is a luxury house, and it costs nearly four hundred thousand. It's really too expensive."
Selling 1,000 square meters of land to raise the money for a house of more than 50 square meters was an operation that was in line with the investment philosophy of the illegal immigrants who had settled in the port city at that time.
Aunt Qiao shook her head and said she didn't understand: "It's too expensive. The house he bought was expensive, and the land he sold was also expensive."
Since Ye Zhao took over Zizhulin, she has been reassured. She has no intention of taking over the land next to it. She asked, "How many square meters in total?"
"I just measured the area. It's 1,205 square meters. If we calculate it at 120 yuan, the total price is 144,600 yuan. He insisted on selling it at this price and would not reduce it by a cent."
Ye Zhao said: "Zizhulin is at least next to the road, but his piece of land is not even accessible by road... Even if someone else buys it, even if he can stand the stench, he can't take it if there is no access."
"Yeah, it's useless for others to buy it, but it's different for you. Yours can be connected to the Purple Bamboo Forest, and you just need an internal passage."
"Why is he so arrogant that he won't give in even a penny?"
"That's definitely what he said."
Ye Zhao waved his hand and said, "The price is 100,000. If he sells it, I will take it reluctantly. If he doesn't, forget it."
Ni Meng thought about it and it was true. This was not a good piece of land. To get through it, one had to pass through the purple bamboo forest. Ye Zhao had the conditions to bargain for it, and it was obvious that the girl didn't really want to buy it.
"Okay, I'll talk to him." Ni Meng sat for a while and then left.
Before leaving, he asked again: "Do you want a bicycle? An old one."
"No. I want to buy a new one myself."
Downstairs in the News Building, Ye Zhao was holding a rolled-up banner in her hand. She and Zeng Xiuquan looked up at the tall building in front of them. After coming to Shenzhen for so long, this was the first time Ye Zhao had entered a building with an elevator.
According to the address provided by Xiao Baisi, they took the elevator to the 12th floor. As soon as they came out, they saw the big sign of Shenzhen Daily. It was the end of the year, and unlike the deserted outside, the people working here were still busy.
No one greeted them, so Ye Zhao grabbed a busy long-haired girl and asked, "Miss, is reporter Xiao Baisi here?"
The long-haired girl glanced at Ye Zhao and tilted her head to the right, "She's being scolded."
Sure enough, a serious voice came from the right. I couldn't hear what the criticism was, but I could feel that the leader was very angry.
The young lady asked her, "What do you want with him?"
Ye Zhao: "We sent him a banner."
"Why are you sending him a banner?" A man with glasses who was about the same age as Xiao Baisi stopped by and asked, "What unit are you from?"
Zeng Xiuqun said: "We are students who came here spontaneously to present the banner. Our teacher said that it was fortunate that reporter Xiao spoke out for justice, otherwise Haixi Road would have been diverted."
The man with glasses looked at the two little girls in disbelief. Are students nowadays so opinionated
The young lady smiled happily and said, "Wait a minute, I'll go call him out."
After about two or three minutes, Xiao Baisi ran out, followed by a leader who looked very gentle...
The leader who had just scolded Xiao Baisi harshly was now very amiable in receiving the two young guests.
The leader looked happier than anyone else. Someone came to present him with a banner, and everyone from top to bottom felt very proud.
"'Establish a media for the people and promote social justice', well written! Xiao Liao, hurry up, bring your camera and take a few group photos for us as a souvenir, and then publish them in the internal weekly report. You have to send them to Secretary Zhang before the New Year, don't forget."
Just like that, the banner that was originally intended for Xiao Baisi was taken by the leader, and the originally gloomy office was filled with laughter.
The two sisters also had a sumptuous lunch in the News Building before leaving reluctantly.
I didn’t expect that a banner would be more attractive than a red envelope.
Xiao Baisi used the excuse of sending them home and finally found an opportunity to get into the company's Santana.
On the way, Ye Zhao, who was sitting in the back seat, asked him, "Brother Xiao, what did the leader criticize you for? Is it related to the report on Haixi Road?"
"It doesn't matter. The response to the Haixi Road report was so good that the leaders were very happy."
"Then why did he scold you?"
"The leader asked us to generate income, but I didn't complete the task and had a negative attitude. He couldn't do anything about me, so he had to scold me."
“Why do journalists still need to generate income?”
"Newspaper reforms need to attract advertising, and the task is shared among everyone."
"How many tasks do you have left to complete?"
"The annual task for 1989 is 80,000! Isn't that unreasonable? I'm a reporter, not a salesperson! At worst, he can fire me, but he doesn't have the right to fire me. He can only scold me, so the leader is also very angry." Xiao Baisi speaks in a mean way and is very humorous.
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "If you guys go and get business, will the commission be very high?"
"It's quite high, 20%, but it's a pity that I can't get any advertisements. You just said in the elevator that you had something to talk to me about, what was it?"
Ye Zhao: "Are you interested in environmental protection topics?"
"What do you think."
"There is a garbage dump and a large pig farm next to Zengwuwei Village. It is not far from the living area of the village, which seriously affects the quality of life of the villagers. It is also not far from the seaside. If the stench blows to the port city, it will affect our city's image."
In recent years, with the development of the economy, the environment has been severely damaged. This is the case everywhere, not just Zengwuwei.
Xiao Baisi: "After the Chinese New Year, relevant policies may be introduced in March or April. It is very likely that all garbage dumps inside the customs will be concentrated outside the customs. How about you wait a while? If it doesn't work, then file a complaint. If the complaint is useless, I will see if I can report it to you. Do you think it's okay?"
That was fine, she wasn't in any hurry at the moment anyway.
Xiao Baisi sent them to the village entrance on Binhai Road, and then he drove away for a ride.
Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiuquan got off the car and walked home. If they went straight along this road, they would reach the Zizhulin area. There were many dump trucks on the road, and several of them were carrying sand.
Looking from afar, dump trucks were parked on the roadside of the purple bamboo forest.
They walked towards the purple bamboo forest. Today the wind was blowing from the south, so there was no bad smell and it was a nice place to walk.
When I was almost there, I heard a quarrel coming from the front. It was Xiaofeng's voice.
Walking around the dump truck parked on the side of the road, I saw Xiaofeng arguing with a man with a beer belly.
Ye Zhao shouted, "Sister Xiao Feng! What's wrong?"
Gan Xiaofeng looked up and saw Ye Zhao, and hurried over to say, "You came at the right time. Didn't you ask me to collect the site fee? Today, a truck happened to come to unload goods, so I came to collect the money, but they refused to acknowledge me. The man with a fierce face is Lao Mai, who is in charge of mud and sand at the Fortune Building construction site."
The Zizhulin plot of land was previously rented by Lao Kai to Fortune Plaza to store construction materials. Lao Kai said that he would charge 100 yuan per month for the site rental fee. Thinking that even a small amount of money is still meat, Ye Zhao asked Gan Xiaofeng to collect the rent when he was free.
"Why don't you admit it?"
"He said that Lao Kai owed him money. Aqin went back to call Lao Kai."
Ye Zhao walked over and Xiao Feng introduced him, "This is our boss. This land is ours now and has nothing to do with Lao Kai anymore."
Old Mai looked Ye Zhao up and down. Just picking a girl like that could make her the boss of this piece of land? Who were they trying to fool
"Boss, I only recognize Lao Kai. Don't just find some kid to fool me. Do you think I'm a fool?"
Ye Zhao ignored what he said and just asked, "Didn't Lao Kai inform you that he has sold the land?"
Old Mai was slightly stunned. After a while, he took out a pack of Double Happiness cigarettes and said, "I was not notified."
"I think he should have informed you. Otherwise you wouldn't have been stunned for four seconds before you remembered what to say."
He's quite capable! Lao Mai lit up a cigarette and said, "I don't care if you're the real owner of this land or if Lao Kai hired him to fool me. Anyway, Lao Kai owes me 500 yuan. I won't pay the rent until he pays me back."
This person was obviously cheating on purpose. Ye Zhao said, "This land is already mine. I don't care what debts you have with Lao Kai. It has nothing to do with me. If you want to use my land, you have to pay the rent. If you don't pay, you can take all the sand and stones away."
The girl was quite eloquent, so Lao Mai continued to act like a rogue: "You can ask Lao Kai for money."
"We don't have these triangular debts with you. If Lao Kai owes you money, you can go to him. I have no responsibility to help you collect the debt."
As he was talking, Lao Kai came riding a bicycle. Before he stopped, he asked, "What's going on? Lao Mai, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you that I sold this piece of land?"
It turned out that Old Mac knew about the situation and deliberately wanted to avoid paying the venue rental.
"I'm so mean! You don't have to pay me back for the money you owe me? You sold the land and got hundreds of thousands of dollars, but you don't even have the money to pay back the debt of a few hundred dollars? Damn you!"
Lao Kai got off his bike, said hello to Ye Zhao, and wanted to pull Lao Mai aside to talk, but Lao Mai ignored him.
Lao Kai complained: "The money from selling the land is just a transfer from me to someone else! All the money I have is borrowed. If I don't pay it back, the interest will compound and I will lose my underwear to pay for it."
"You've paid back other people's money, but you don't pay back mine? I'll bully your mother!" Old Mai looked like a contractor and swore all the time.
Lao Kai also lit a cigarette, "Mahjong money, why are you in such a hurry?! Maybe you will lose it back to me in two days."
"Who wants to play mahjong with you? You have no articulation!"
Ye Zhao didn't want to listen to their bickering, "Have you finished talking? I don't care about your debts. We need to receive the rent today."
Old Mai glared at Ye Zhao impatiently: "Pretty girl, why are you so anxious? Let me talk it over with Lao Kai first. I'm not sure whether I will rent this crappy place of yours or not."
Not paying the rent and still glaring at her
Lao Kai saw that Ye Zhao looked unhappy, so he quickly grabbed Lao Mai and said, "Pay the rent to Boss Ye first, and I'll give you the money in two days."
"The New Year is just a few days away. If I urge you to pay back the debt during the New Year, wouldn't that be inappropriate?" Lao Mai bullied the girl. He skipped Ye Zhao's words and continued chatting with Lao Kai.
Ye Zhao was not someone who could be easily bullied. She said to Xiao Feng, "We will not rent this land to this person anymore. Before the previous rent is paid in full, no truckload of materials on the land can be taken away."
Xiao Feng was also smart. She cooperated and said loudly, "I'll go back to the cafeteria and call someone!"
When Old Mai heard this, he got angry, "Pretty girl! What do you mean?"
Then he turned to Ye Zhao and said, "Calm down, it's all a misunderstanding. It's directed at me, not you."
Finally, he went to ask Lao Mai to help. Lao Kai knew he couldn't get out of it, so he said, "You will have to pay the rent yourself in the future. I still owe you 400. Come to me before the New Year and I will find a way to pay you back."
Seeing that the problem was solved satisfactorily, Lao Mai patted Lao Kai on the shoulder and said, "It should have been solved a long time ago."
Then he looked at Ye Zhao again, thinking that he was a customer of God: "If I don't rent this shabby place, no one will rent it. If you reduce the rent, I will consider whether to continue renting it."
Ye Zhao kicked a small stone away from his feet. "Then I tell you, I won't rent this place to anyone else. Xiaofeng, when is the deadline for them to pay the rent?"
Xiao Feng said: "It ends today."
"Okay, Boss Mai, I'll give you a few days to deal with it. Before New Year's Eve, please take all the sand and gravel away!"
Old Mai hissed and said, "Hey, what's wrong with you? Why don't you rent it just because you said you don't want to?!"
"You haven't signed any lease contract with Lao Kai or me. It's too much trouble to collect rent from someone like you. There's not much money in total. I just don't want to rent it to you." Ye Zhao said word by word: "It's my land, and I have the final say."
Old Mai threw the cigarette butt on the ground, "Boss Ye, right? Don't be ungrateful! I won't take you away, what can you do to me? Are you blowing me up?"
Lao Kai tried to smooth things over and advised Ye Zhao, "It's the end of the year now. It's empty anyway. Why don't you rent it to Mr. Mai? 100 a month is not a small amount."
"I don't care. If I'm not happy, I won't rent it. I'll say it again, move out before New Year's Eve. If you don't move out, you will bear the consequences. Lao Kai, you heard it, you can't deny it when the time comes, you have to testify." After saying that, Ye Zhao said to Xiu Qun who was standing stupidly by the side watching the show, "Let's go back."
"Hey, are you leaving just like that? Xiao Ye! Boss Ye!" Lao Kai shouted loudly from behind, but Ye Zhao ignored him completely.
Xiaofeng wrote out the rental receipt and put it next to the car, then pressed it with a small stone and left.
Lao Kai took a puff of his cigarette and looked at Lao Mai, "Why did you mess with her? You're just asking for trouble."
Old Mac didn't care at all, "She told me to move out, so I moved out? I don't care about her! Pretty girl!"
After that, he walked to the front of the car and tapped the window, "Hurry up and unload the goods. We'll be back after the New Year."
Lao Kai shook his head helplessly. He had tried his best. Based on his understanding of Ye Zhao, if she didn't cause trouble during the New Year, that would definitely not be her.
Returning to the Little West Building, Ye Zhao saw a brand new women's bicycle in the yard as soon as he entered. Zeng Xiuqun ran over and touched the leather seat, exclaiming, "Whose bicycle is this? It's so beautiful! I've never seen this style before."
Fatty Ying was drying sausages in the yard. She rolled her eyes and said, "Zeng Xiang brought them back from Hong Kong."
Zeng Xiuqun was surprised: "Brother Xiang is back?!"
Ye Zhao was also surprised. Aunt Qiao said in the morning that Xiangzai should return to Shenzhen tomorrow, but he came back a day earlier.
Fatty Ying looked unhappy: "I didn't bring anything for you and your brother! Why are you so happy?"
Zeng Xiuqun retorted to her mother: "Brother Xiang is back, I am happy, what's wrong with that! Why can't I be happy?"
Just as he was about to go upstairs, he saw someone coming in at the gate. Zeng Xiuqun shouted, "Brother Xiang! Oh! You've lost weight!"
Zeng Xiang was standing at the gate of the yard wearing a white sweatshirt. It had only been a month since we last saw him, and he had become thinner and taller.
Zeng Xiang was holding a U-shaped lock in his hand, and his walking posture was still as cool as ever.
He locked the rear wheel of the bicycle with a U-shaped lock, then took out the key. There were two keys, one for the car and one for the U-shaped lock. He walked over and handed them to Ye Zhao: "Keep them."
Zeng Xiuqun was standing aside eating melon. She bit her lip and smiled, wanting to speak but not daring to.
Ye Zhao happily took the key. He thought he had a lot to say, but in the end, all he said was: "Brother Xiang, you've grown taller!"
"Really?" Zeng Xiang said, frowning slightly, but secretly proud in his heart, has he grown taller
Zeng Xiang walked in front, and Ye Zhao followed him and said, "It's at least two centimeters higher."
She noticed that she was two centimeters taller? The person walking in front of her walked briskly and looked back at her, "You seem to have grown taller too."
"real?!"
"real."
Ye Zhao pushed him from behind and said with a smile, "That's because my shoes have heels. Your outfit looks good today. Who matched your clothes for you?"
Zeng Xiang was wearing jeans and a white sweatshirt, and he looked more sunny than usual.
"My previous outfit didn't look good?"
“Almost.”
The two people who had just been praising each other started to insult each other again.
Seeing them go upstairs, Fatty Ying poked Zeng Xiuqun and said, "Why are you so happy? You are so heartless! You prepared gifts for outsiders, but you didn't even bring us some Hong Kong goods! You gave such a good bicycle to an outsider!"
Zeng Xiuqun was not jealous. She said, "Mom, do you think you need to do that? Be careful or Auntie will punish you!"
Fatty Ying is angry but dares not speak out!
Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiang came into the house from upstairs and saw Aunt Qiao cleaning old clothes.
Two or three large boxes were placed in the middle of the living room, and clothes were piled on the sofa. She heard Xiangzi and Xiaozhao come in laughing and asked Yezhao happily, "Do you like the bicycle? I mentioned it on the phone, and Xiangzi remembered it. The bicycle of this model is not available in China. I bought it as a gift for you. Xiaotian and Xiuqun don't have any. Fatty Ying is so envious..."
Aunt Qiao loudly stated Xiangzai's preference and raised her eyebrows slightly, her face full of joy.
Zeng Xiang just stood aside with a slight smile, not wanting to argue.
Ye Zhao smiled and asked, "Brother Xiang, have you bought a gift for Aunt Qiao?"
Aunt Qiao stretched her neck and said, "Look, I bought a gold necklace, which is so light and fluttering. It's far inferior to the bracelet you bought."
Ye Zhao leaned forward to take a look. It was the most fashionable style at the moment. "It looks good, Aunt Qiao."
"With so many clothes on, who can see it?"
"It will get warmer in a couple of days. It should look great with your low-necked cardigan."
"Yeah." Aunt Qiao smiled, "I'll wear it when I play mahjong."
Zeng Xiang had long been accustomed to his mother's exaggeration. He returned to his room, and Aunt Qiao reminded him: "Don't go out to play during this period. Just rest more at home. Your body is not fully recovered yet."
Aunt Qiao was afraid that Zeng Xiang would run out and start boxing again.
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "It's okay, Aunt Qiao, I gave him a lot of homework, so he doesn't have time to go out and play."
Aunt Qiao smiled and gave her a thumbs up, "Please help me check, there are some clothes I don't want anymore, I plan to give them away."
Ye Zhao helped Aunt Qiao choose clothes and kept a few of the nicer ones. Qiao Yi put the rest in red, white and blue plastic bags and donated them to the Women's Federation.
In the past few days since Zeng Xiang came back, he and Ye Zhao have been like conjoined twins, almost always going out together.
Zeng Xiang didn't ask about writing the letter at all. Ye Zhao guessed that he might not have received the letter she sent to the Luo family mansion.
Ye Zhao secretly felt lucky that perhaps the only reader of her letters was Mrs. Luo... Thinking of this, Ye Zhao tapped her toes in embarrassment. Fortunately, she might never have the chance to meet Mrs. Luo in this life.
Before the New Year, the whole family went out to clean the house thoroughly, inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs.
After cleaning, the two children were taken by Aunt Qiao to buy New Year's goods. It was deserted on the road, but once they entered the market, it was crowded everywhere. Those who were buying New Year's goods appeared out of nowhere as if by magic.
Aunt Qiao was walking in front doing shopping, while Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiang, as the laborers, followed behind with their left and right hands full of things. They even took the time to squeeze into the crowd and bought two rainbow candies, which they ate happily.
The day before New Year's Eve, they went to the flower street. In addition to orchids and daffodils, Aunt Qiao also bought two large pots of oranges and placed them at the gate of the courtyard.
I don't understand why people here put two pots of these oranges taller than a person at the door of every household. Maybe it means good luck in the new year? But these oranges are not big! They are really small and sour.
That day, Zhaozhao and Xiangzai stood at the gate of the yard and secretly picked a tangerine to eat. It was so sour that their teeth were about to fall out.
The happiest thing is that I have achieved freedom of fireworks.
Ye Zhao spent nearly a thousand dollars to buy fireworks and firecrackers and stored them at home to set off during the Chinese New Year. She had only seen other children setting off fireworks and firecrackers during the Chinese New Year on TV before. When she was young, fireworks were banned in the entire city of Shenzhen. From childhood to adulthood, she had never had the chance to play with them, so this time she wanted to have fun to her heart's content.
That day, while buying fireworks in the small square, Ye Zhao met Ni Meng.
Ni Meng pulled her aside and said that Zeng Laojiu's family was sincere in wanting to sell the land. "They relented and said they would sell it for 140,000 yuan after rounding off the decimal point. I told them that rounding off the decimal point was not sincere enough, so we made several long-distance calls back and forth, and they were willing to sell it for 130,000 yuan. What do you think? Do you want 130,000 yuan?"
Ye Zhao counted his money these two days. He still had 110,000 yuan left from selling turmeric. The canteen earned nearly 50,000 yuan in the past five months. The money from the vegetable business was all in a separate account and it was impossible to spend it for the time being. There would be many places where money would be needed in the future.
She insisted, "It's just 100,000. I don't want a cent more. Ask him to think it over again. If he wants to sell it, it's 100,000. If he doesn't want to sell it, forget it."
Ni nodded and said, "Okay, I understand."
Ye Zhao asked, "Uncle Wang, I asked you about your bulldozer the day before yesterday."
Ni Meng: "I asked Gui Pi, he can find someone. You can go to him directly, so I don't have to go through the process again."
This is good, saving the agency fee. Ni Meng is more generous and sensible than Lao Kai, no wonder he can make money. Ye Zhao asked, "What's Guipi's phone number?"
Ni Meng couldn't remember it, so he said, "Wait here for me, I'll go to Lao Kai's office and copy it for you."
Ni Meng trotted into Lao Kai's office. Lao Kai's office was filled with smoke at the moment. Lao Kai and Lao Mai were smoking with their legs crossed, and there was four hundred yuan on the table.
Ni Meng asked Lao Kai for Gui Pi's home phone number. Lao Kai pointed to the desk and said, "The address book is under the glass. What do you want to see Gui Pi for?"
Ni Meng tore off a page of the calendar and took a pen to write down the phone number. "Ye Zhao asked him to rent a bulldozer."
Lao Kai immediately understood what Ye Zhao was going to do. He said to Lao Mai, "Look, they've already called in a bulldozer. Why don't you hurry up and take away your sand and rocks?"
Old Mai didn't believe it: "She dares?"
"Why wouldn't she dare? The Purple Bamboo Forest plot is originally lower than the ground. Your sand and stones are just right for her to use to pave the ground. Your materials are worth a lot of money, right?"
Old Mai shook his feet: "You must be joking. There are 10,000 or 20,000 worth of materials piled up there."
"Then why are you still sitting here like a stupid dog? Transport it away quickly."
Old Mai now has no place to store the things and no workers to work. Most importantly, he thinks the girl wouldn't dare to really do this. She's a stranger, how dare she do this!
Who would have thought that on the next day, New Year's Eve, a brave stranger rented a bulldozer and an excavator, and flattened the small earth slope and all the sand and gravel on the Zizhulin plot. After flattening, it was just level with the ground, and the whole plot looked brand new!
Lao Mai came back from his friend's house and hadn't had time to eat the reunion dinner. He rushed to the scene in slippers and was completely dumbfounded!
(End of this chapter)