Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 916, 915: Pay More Taxes
Tang Zhitong had indeed forgotten about the land price difference.

If he remembered this, he would never have brought Xiao Wang along when Meng Qingfeng suggested looking at houses.

As long as she wasn't involved, even if Meng Qingfeng said there was a price difference of two thousand yuan, Tang Zhitong could easily take it out, then report four or five hundred to her family, and the matter would be over.

Now that Xiao Wang knows, Tang Zhitong can no longer hide it from her mother. She can only try to cover the debt by borrowing money and then figure out how to earn it back later.

But this is good, at least in the eyes of all the people in charge, my house change this time is completely innocent.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Guifang didn't even frown: "I can come up with three hundred yuan, is that enough?"

"I'll let Director Ye know later, and the two families can chip in and that should be enough. You can save up three hundred? I thought you'd only have two hundred at most." Tang Zhitong breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her mother had no objections.

"The bulk of the money came from selling chickens. Although I gave some to your uncle, I couldn't spend all the living expenses you gave me, so I saved some too." Zhang Guifang regretted that she hadn't saved enough, and that she had to ask her mother-in-law for help with this.

"You really know how to manage a household!" Tang Zhitong exclaimed sincerely as he pedaled his bicycle ahead.

"This is all because we've been spending more generously; it's because you and Wenwen have contributed the most." In daily life, there are more and more items that require ration coupons. Not only are the prices fixed, but the supply to each household is also finite. Since our family has stored grain, we don't need to go out to buy food, so we naturally spend less money.

Zhang Guifang is very content with her current life. She feels that all of this is inseparable from having a good daughter-in-law. Since the new house is close to her daughter-in-law's workplace, she might as well move. Besides, there are schools and parks nearby.

Xiao Wang came home a little later than usual, and Tang Zhitong knew without asking that he had gone to his parents' home.

Sure enough, after dinner and returning to his room, Xiao Wang took an envelope out of his bag and said, "I got three hundred from Mom. If it's not enough, I'll ask her to think of something else."

“That’s enough. Your mother-in-law still has three hundred. I didn’t expect you to be so efficient. I was thinking of going to check how much money we need tomorrow before asking Mom.” Tang Zhitong took the envelope, feeling a little heavy-hearted.

Although Director Ye's rank has been promoted, she is also sending more money to her husband's family. Moreover, the holiday is coming soon, and Director Ye is covering the tuition fees for Jingying and Fengzhen's piano lessons, as well as the tutoring fees for Jingmin and Fengzhi. Giving her own family 300 yuan will surely put a lot of pressure on her.

"Comrade Tang, now you need to work hard on your writing to earn royalties, and try to pay off the debt as soon as possible." Xiao Wang patted her husband's shoulder with a serious expression.

"Please rest assured, Teacher Wang, I will definitely work hard to earn money!" Composition can only be a hobby. A song only earns ten yuan in royalties. If I want to pay off this six hundred yuan, I have to stay at home every day to work on my music.
Putting aside the question of whether he has run out of ideas, even if he could come up with some, the sheer number of ideas would be astonishing.

Compared to that, Tang Zhitong still felt that exchanging the fish and rabbits in his space for money was safer.

Of course, going fishing at Shichahai and hunting rabbits in the mountains was just for show. He could use this as an excuse to take out the money in his space and pay off his debts.

"I'm such a little genius," Tang Zhitong thought with a smug smile.

"Why did you buy a chain? It's been clattering around in your bag with your lunchbox the whole way." After receiving her husband's assurance, Xiao Wang took out the chain and inner tube rubber from his bag.

"Oh, I bought these to make toys for Jingmin." Tang Zhitong took the chain and tape, planning to finish the craft tonight.

"Did he ask you for a toy?" Upon hearing this, Xiao Wang's eyebrows tended to rise.

"No, it's something I wanted to make for him. Jingmin has been so obedient lately, always avoiding you. As his brother-in-law, how could I not do something nice for him? There should still be a spoke in the bag, could you get it out?" Tang Zhitong found pliers, nails, galvanized iron wire, and thin copper wire, pulled over a small stool, and prepared to get started.

“That’s what he should do, there’s no need to make toys for him.” Although Xiao Wang said this, she still took out spokes from her husband’s bag, moved a small stool, and sat next to her husband to watch him do crafts.

Making a chain gun isn't difficult. Bending the wire might be a little challenging for a child, but for a strong man like Tang Zhitong, it's only a little difficult. After all, with just a pair of pliers, bending the gun holder to a horizontal plane still takes some effort.

Bend the wire, then find a brick to prop it up. Align a nail with the axle in the middle of the chain, and hammer the nail with pliers to knock off the axle. Keep the remaining chain links for later use.

Since Tang Zhitong bought a used chain, which was covered in oil and rust, he simply wiped it with newspaper and planned to use it as is.

All the links need to be strung together in two parts. The first part is the muzzle position, which consists of two links, and is secured by the spoke cap that was just unscrewed. The remaining links are strung together to form the barrel.

For aesthetic reasons, Tang Zhitong also found black insulating tape. Right now, this stuff is really made of cloth, but in a few years, this tape, along with medical tape, will all become adhesive tape.

Wrapping the chain with insulating tape not only improves the appearance but also enhances the stability of the gun barrel.

"It looks pretty good." Xiao Wang exclaimed as she watched her husband gradually bring these odds and ends to life.

"There'll be something even better to see later." Tang Zhitong reinforced the bent gun barrel with thin wire, secured the plate buckle with rubber bands, and finally cut the inner tube rubber strip to the appropriate size and tied it to the gun barrel.

A chain gun was made in just over an hour.

"Let me show you the musket I made myself." Tang Zhitong held it in his hand and tried it out. The trigger pulled smoothly, and the force should be no problem for Jingmin.

Tang Zhitong took out a box of matches, took out a match, split the gun barrel in two, put the match head towards the butt of the gun through the spoke cap, and then put it back in place.

Finally, he aimed at a deserted spot and pulled the trigger.

With a "snap" and a wisp of smoke, the matchstick flew out.

"I'll give it a try." Little Wang was excited at the prospect. She had played with real guns when she was a child, but she had always played them without bullets and had to make her own voices to indicate the sounds, which always felt a little less fun.

He had the opportunity to learn shooting when he was older, but many years have passed since then, and Xiao Wang misses it a bit.

Tang Zhitong handed the chain gun and matches to Xiao Wang, then happily swept the floor clean. "Having fun, huh?" Tang Zhitong asked Xiao Wang, who was aiming at the curtain, after cleaning up and washing his hands.

"Well, Jingmin will definitely like it, but it uses up a lot of matches." Xiao Wang fired another match, looking at the matchbox that was already more than half empty, and felt a little embarrassed.

"It's alright, no one smokes at Mom's place. They usually just light the stove with matches, about ten a day is enough. Besides, even without matches, it can still be used as a toy." Compared to matches, Tang Zhitong cared more about her brother-in-law's childhood fun.

Wednesday, July 6th, a bit cloudy.

Early in the morning, Tang Zhitong found the property ownership certificate and household registration book, and Zhang Guifang gave him three hundred yuan.

Although changing houses is a business matter for the chemical raw materials company, it is a personal matter for Tang Zhitong. It's best not to take up too much of his work time. If all the procedures can be completed today, that would be even better.

Listen to the gong to hear its sound, listen to the words to understand their meaning.

Yesterday, after Meng Qingfeng saw Tang Zhitong and his wife discussing the 900 yuan difference in land prices, he realized that Tang Zhitong didn't intend to borrow money from him.

Meng Qingfeng wanted to forge a friendship with Tang Zhitong, but he felt that exchanging houses alone was not enough. So, after returning to his workplace yesterday, he contacted an old acquaintance from the housing management bureau.

As soon as he arrived at work today, Meng Qingfeng was waiting for Tang Zhitong to come over. When he saw him, he immediately stood up to greet him: "Oh my, Comrade Tang really trusts people!"

"Director Meng went to great lengths to find such a nice house for me, so of course I had to come," Tang Zhitong said, shaking Meng Qingfeng's hand and exchanging pleasantries.

"You're too kind. We're just maintaining our fine tradition and continuing to cooperate." Meng Qingfeng's eyes were almost slits from smiling, constantly reminding them of their shared history.

"Director Meng is right, we should cooperate." Tang Zhitong smiled and agreed with Meng Qingfeng's suggestion. Although he never said anything to thank him in person, Tang Zhitong could tell from his attitude that Old Meng was taking care of him in the house exchange.

To be honest, there are still many ways for government agencies to use private houses, the most convenient of which is expropriation, and most of the time the problem is solved with monetary compensation.

In addition to land requisition, there is also demolition. The land occupied by some large projects that started construction the year before last was basically completed through demolition. The scope of demolition is not limited to living people, but also includes graves.

When a hotel project was being built in the west, even graves had to be relocated. However, since many of the graves were unclaimed, 4000 were buried deep inside, and 1000 were relocated.

"Regarding the price difference, let's go to the housing management bureau. It's more appropriate for them to assess and price the property. What do you think?" Although Meng Qingfeng held a high position of power in the chemical raw materials company, he couldn't wield absolute authority when it came to finances, because there were indeed employees supervising him.

“No problem, shall we go over there? I’ll also look into the procedures for exchanging apartments.” Tang Zhitong was happy to see this happen. Since they were already prepared to pay more for an apartment, the more solid the evidence and the more formal the process, the better.

With Meng Qingfeng leading the way, Tang Zhitong arrived at the Housing Management Bureau without any problems. After waiting for a while, he met the contact person there, a deputy director surnamed Zhu.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I've been in meetings lately because of the house-changing issue." Director Zhu shook hands with the two of them before apologizing.

"Director Zhu is working tirelessly for the residents of Beijing. We are happy to wait for this," Meng Qingfeng said politely from the side, while Tang Zhitong remained silent, nodding in agreement.

"Haha, stop with the fancy sedan chairs." Director Zhu chuckled, acting as if he were very familiar with Meng Qingfeng, and even poured two glasses of water for the two of them.

"Old Meng told me about your house swap. Comrade Tang, have you paid the property tax on that house recently?" Director Zhu asked after settling down.

"I paid it when I changed the property certificate two years ago, but I haven't paid it since." Tang Zhitong answered frankly. There are many people who don't pay these, and no one goes to collect them, so it's normal that they don't remember.

"Here's what we'll do. I'll ask the flower market to do an assessment later. You can pay the property tax based on the assessed amount. The amount will be a bit higher, but it will save you some money when you exchange the house." The rules and regulations are all clear, and Director Zhu can't just wave his hand and adjust the land prices of Tielugu and Dashizuo Hutong to be the same.

Tang Zhitong didn't quite understand how it worked, but he got the gist: higher taxes meant higher land prices, so the price difference between the two sides would be smaller during the exchange. Paying an extra five yuan in taxes could save him more than a hundred yuan in price difference.

However, Tang Zhitong remained silent. After listening, he first looked at Director Zhu, then at Meng Qingfeng, and hesitated before speaking.

This approach might save him money, but what about the potential consequences? If someone were to review the accounts later, it would be a net loss, since Tang Zhitong felt he didn't need the money.

"Just say what you want to say." Meng Qingfeng sensed that Tang Zhitong had something to say and gave him a signal from the side.

"Director Zhu, Director Meng, I'm a bit naive, so please feel free to criticize and correct me if I say anything wrong." Tang Zhitong set the tone for his speech right from the start.

“I am very grateful for the care of the two leaders, but I don’t want this to cause you any trouble. Let’s proceed according to the regulations and expedite the procedures. I also have work to do and can’t keep running back and forth for long periods of time.”

Before coming, Tang Zhitong never expected Meng Qingfeng to be so considerate of him. Although it would be a loss of face to refuse them, Tang Zhitong cared more about the legality of the house exchange and would not allow any flaws in the process, especially since it involved matters related to asset loss.

“Xiao Tang, this isn’t against the rules. To tell you the truth, the Housing Management Bureau also has tax revenue targets. If you pay a high property tax, we’ll have to pay the same standard when we move there. With someone setting an example, it will be easier for the Housing Management Bureau to raise land prices there later.” Before Director Zhu could speak, Meng Qingfeng interjected with his explanation.

"Old Meng is right. The more you learn, the more you'll help us," Director Zhu chimed in. The two had met yesterday and discussed the house swap in detail.

The housing authority's demand is to collect more taxes, while Meng Qingfeng's side doesn't care about taxes. After all, it's a state-owned company, so taxes are paid to whoever pays them, and all profits are ultimately handed over to the state anyway.

In Meng Qingfeng's view, this operation should be able to bring him closer to Tang Zhitong, right?
"Well... alright then." Since both leaders had said so, Tang Zhitong couldn't very well refuse them.

It's fine if they have to pay more; it just means the villagers in Tieluguba will have to pay a little more property tax in the future. But it won't be that much, since not everyone has a yard that big, and besides, the property tax won't be around for many more years.

(End of this chapter)