Bai Chen understood what was going on, and looking at the environment here which had hardly changed in ten years, he felt very disappointed.
This is Yu Wancai’s dream, the place she always thinks about in her dreams.
However, according to this aunt, this place has been sold eight years ago, which means that the house was sold not long after she was forced to leave her hometown to make a living.
She remembered it very clearly; it was something her father left for her.
However, she failed to keep the only thought her father left her.
This is a rural-urban fringe area, and there are quite a lot of these independent courtyards.
The economies of many cities are developing rapidly, and the former small courtyards have become home to high-rise buildings, but this place has remained largely intact, which is truly rare.
Since Yu Wancai has such deep feelings for this place, let's buy her a private courtyard here.
If there is a house available.
Bai Chen made up his mind and planned to buy a property for her here.
It just so happened that I made some money from stock trading recently, and the houses here are very cheap, so a small courtyard like this can be purchased for just under 100,000 yuan.
I have some money left after buying the house.
The original residents here like to move to big cities, but some people who once lived in the countryside like to settle down here.
After all, living here is more convenient than living in a mountain village dozens of miles away.
The middle-aged lady in front of me seemed to have moved here from the countryside and looked very simple.
"It's okay, just asking. I want to find a house nearby and rent it for a few days." Bai Chen said with a smile.
"There are still a few empty rooms in my house, do you want to rent them
The price is very cheap, only 500 per month for one room." The middle-aged lady's eyes lit up and she quickly tried to sell her house.
There are quite a lot of people who come here to rent houses. Some wealthy families will build several floors of their houses, turn them into guest rooms, and then rent them out.
In this way, the rent alone for a year is more than what you can earn from working.
Although this middle-aged lady's house does not have multiple floors, she has many vacant rooms and so she rents out some of them.
"Is there a short-term rental? It's charged by the day." Bai Chen was delighted. It was just right for him to stay here for a few days to make up for the client's regret.
"Okay, but based on the luck, you'll be at a disadvantage." The middle-aged woman said honestly.
In her opinion, the girl was very pretty but dressed very ordinary, so she must not be a very rich girl.
"How much is it per day?"
"Yes! Yes! Thirty-one days. If meals are included, it's fifty-one days." When the middle-aged aunt said the price, she was afraid that she would think it was too expensive.
"Okay, then we'll provide food and rent it for ten days first." Bai Chen said very readily. He felt that living here was much more cost-effective than staying in a hotel.
"Okay! Okay! Well, then, beautiful lady, why don't you come in and take a look, and rent it if you're satisfied."
The middle-aged aunt was overjoyed and quickly and enthusiastically turned aside to let Bai Chen enter first.
"Yeah." Bai Chen nodded, stepped into the door, and looked around casually.
Although the overall layout of the entire courtyard has not changed much, it seems to have been renovated, so it is newer than it was ten years ago.
There is a tall ginkgo tree in the center of the courtyard. After ten years, it seems that it has not grown much taller.
When the weather is cold, the entire tree crown turns into dead branches.
When she was a child, Yu Wancai liked to move the tables and chairs out and put them under the tree to do her homework. When the leaves fell on her books, she would use them as bookmarks and clamp them between the pages.
She often said that the leaves that floated onto her books were destined to be with her and she had to keep them.
How kind and gentle she was at that time!
Bai Chen looked up at the treetops, recalling every detail of the original owner.
At that time, my father liked to sit under a tree in the early morning and play the erhu, blow the flute, or clear his throat and sing.
This was how he woke his daughter up.
At that time, my daughter would pout and complain, saying that her father woke her up.
But he never got angry about his daughter's complaints. He always loved her, stroked her hair and taught her that a year's plan starts with spring, and a day's plan starts with the morning.
Getting up early and reading helps the brain recover, making it easier to remember the knowledge you learn.
If you persist day by day and accumulate knowledge, you will definitely become a knowledgeable person when you grow up.
Although Yu Wancai really wants to sleep in, she is a good and obedient child.
Whenever I heard my father singing or playing music under the tree, I would quickly get up and recite two texts, then wash up, eat breakfast, and go to school with my schoolbag on my back.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Later, she could no longer hear her father's singing and lost the opportunity to go to school.
She never had the chance to become a knowledgeable person again.
During the years since she left her hometown to venture out into the world, she would always dream of her father standing under this tree, singing, playing the flute, and the erhu.
I always dream of a family of three singing and dancing around this tree!
But, it was just a dream after all, and the good life we once had will never come back.
Dad would never come back to life, and Mom seemed like a stranger.
Bai Chen wiped the tears that were about to roll out from the corners of his eyes, and controlled the original owner's emotions, his heart was twisted into a knot.
Poor child, everything will be fine!
"Girl, girl!" The middle-aged lady was very puzzled to see Bai Chen staring blankly at the treetops. After a long while, she pulled her sleeve.
"Is there anything on the tree? Come into the room and take a look!"
Bai Chen came back to his senses, "I just wanted to see if there was a bird's nest on the tree, but unfortunately I didn't see any."
"Haha, where did the bird's nest come from in the middle of winter?" the middle-aged aunt laughed.
"Auntie, what's your name?" Bai Chen asked as he followed her. After all, if he was going to stay here, he had to have a name.
"My last name is Feng, you can just call me Aunt Feng. How about this room?" Aunt Feng had already opened the door of a room while speaking.
The furniture inside was very simple, with just a bed and a wardrobe. Both pieces of furniture seemed to be second-hand and did not match.
But Bai Chen didn't dislike it at all and decided to stay here.
The next morning, Bai Chen got up early and walked to the shack where the client's mother lived after she remarried.
In a small city like K City, even if you walk through the city, it would only take an hour at most.
Bai Chen walked slowly, occasionally stopping to look around, mainly at some real estate agencies to learn about the housing prices here.
It took an hour and a half to get from the east suburbs to the west suburbs, and it was exactly ten o'clock when we arrived at the shack where the original owner's mother remarried.
This is the slum of the entire K city. Most of the people living here are unemployed, or they are elderly people who have jobs but very low incomes.
Young children would not want to stay here unless they really couldn't make ends meet.
Yu Wancai's stepfather was named Liang Peng. He was a bit stout, not tall, very broad, looked greasy, and had ugly facial features.
To sum it up in one word: ugly.
He doesn't have a formal job and occasionally goes out to do odd jobs.
Most of the time, he stayed in a card parlor in the shanty town and gambled for a small amount of money.
When Bai Chen arrived at Liang Peng's house according to his memory, the door was closed. He didn't know whether he hadn't gotten up yet or had gone out.