Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 775 Buying a house or land should be done early, as social interactions are inevitable.
In the early morning, snowflakes drifted in the air, and the ground was quickly covered with a thin layer of white snow.

Old Qian drove hurriedly from his house in the city. He had met Yang Liguo several times, so they were not strangers when they met again. Yang Liguo had just made pancakes, cooked millet porridge, and stir-fried shredded potatoes and bean sprouts, so he sat down and ate two pancakes.

Xu Ning then took Yang Liguo and his family of four to the shop, leaving Zhao Lan and the two children to clean the shop, and then took Yang Liguo to the Jinlong Furniture Factory.

When I first met Zhang Jinbao and Li Fengxia this year, the couple were very hospitable, making tea and water for melon seeds and hazelnuts, and we chatted briefly for half an hour.

Zhang Jinbao said that he had his apprentices make all the tables, chairs, benches, countertops, and kitchen cutting boards used in Yang Liguo's restaurant. Although they were made from scraps rather than whole pieces of wood, the quality and design were just as good as the finished tables and chairs. Besides, these things were free, so they were perfect for his apprentices to practice on.

Yang Liguo thanked her repeatedly, and Li Fengxia smiled and said, "Brother Yang, don't be so polite. We're related by marriage. We'll be settling down in the city from now on, so let's help each other out."

"That's right, my wife is right. Besides, we don't live that far apart, so we'll have to trouble you for future gatherings."

Yang Liguo waved his hand and said, "What trouble? I only know how to cook. If you ask me to do anything else, I wouldn't know how!"

Around 10 o'clock, Zhang Jinbao had his apprentice move all the tables, chairs, benches, cutting boards, and countertops onto the car, along with four sacks of sawdust and two long wooden crates of firewood.

Looking at the fully loaded back of the truck, Zhang Jinbao said, "Brother Yang, you can burn this firewood for now, and I'll deliver more to you in a couple of days!"

"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Immediately afterwards, Xu Ning, Yang Liguo, and Lao Qian drove back to the shop.

The store has been completely renovated. Even the dirt that had accumulated in the corners has been swept away, and old newspapers have been pasted on the walls.

Xu Ning's eyes lit up as he entered the room. He praised the children a couple of times, then called them out. Together, they unloaded the tables, chairs, and other items and carried them inside, arranging them neatly.

The once empty room was immediately filled with tables, chairs and benches, and the more you looked at it, the more organized and energetic it became!
Zhao Lan couldn't help but clap her hands and cheer, saying with a big smile, "Now everything is all set up. We can open for business in another two or three days, right?"

"Then we should pick a good day, right?"

Yang Liguo nodded solemnly: "We need to pick a good day! What should we name our restaurant? Erning, why don't you help your older brother come up with one?"

"Oh my god, it's so hard for me to come up with a name, my sister-in-law..."

Zhao Lan waved her hands repeatedly: "I can't do it. How would I know how to name a restaurant? Er Ning, you helped set up this restaurant, so you can name it for us. It will save your brother and me from racking our brains day and night."

Xu Ning sat on the stool with his legs crossed, pondered for a moment, and said, "If you ask me, let's give it a normal name. We're not a big restaurant, we mainly serve home-style dishes at affordable prices. How about we call it Yang's Home-Style Restaurant?"

"Yang's Home-Style Restaurant... Great! Let's call it that! And we'll mainly serve stir-fries and stews, right?"

"Sure, you're the expert on this, you decide. But there's one thing you need to keep in mind."

Yang Liguo leaned closer and said earnestly, "Go on."

"My third uncle paid to rent this shop and the building behind it. This place used to be a factory warehouse, so I suggest you find someone to buy these two places as soon as possible. Don't wait until next year; it would be best to acquire them in the first half of the year!"

Yang Liguo glanced at Zhao Lan, but hesitated. Buying two houses would definitely strain their finances. Why? Because the shop was located by the roadside, over 150 square meters, with three rooms in the back totaling over 90 square meters, and a yard of over 100 square meters. Houses in this location were extremely expensive…

"My third uncle's idea was to rent... he said he was worried about being short of cash in the early stages of doing business, and you also said we shouldn't invest too much?"

"I did say that, but what time do you say what you mean? Look at this year's newspapers, what's a different flavor compared to last year? A fashionable flavor! This shows that the country is moving in a good direction. When people are rich and prosperous, food, clothing, housing and transportation will be the main sources of consumption. With your skills, don't you have the confidence to gain a foothold in the city?"

Xu Ning earnestly advised, "Don't be too conservative. We should follow the trend in the country. How did ordinary soldiers in ancient times achieve merit in battle? By being the first to scale the walls and beheading enemy generals! Since we can't behead enemy generals, we can only be the first to scale the walls. Whoever gets to the top of the city wall first will prosper!"

"I understand! I understand... Erning is right..."

Xu Ning got up and went outside, pulled a briefcase from the car, pushed the door open and came back inside, saying, "My older brother gave you 2000 yuan for buying a house. I'll give you another 1000 yuan. This 3000 yuan is definitely not enough. You'll have to figure out a way yourself."

"Er Ning, you... Oh well! Fine, I won't pretend anymore, I'll take the money!"

Yang Liguo was under a lot of pressure. Before the business had even started, he had already incurred a debt of 3000 yuan and a series of favors.

But he doesn't have the strength right now, so he can only pay it back slowly.

Zhao Lan smiled and said, "Qiangzi and Shuhua are so thoughtful. Erning, who do you think we should contact if we want to buy this house?"

"When my older brother comes back, I'll have him take you through the process. It seems we need to find his friend Ye Xu. Ye Xu was chatting with me during lunch on the third day of the Lunar New Year, saying he has a relative working at the Construction Bureau, and it seems to be in charge of this area..."

Buying a house is quite troublesome right now. First, the property rights are unclear. Second, people in the city usually live in housing allocated by their work units or have their own homesteads. Third, there are conflicts between the jurisdiction of the street office and the jurisdiction of the factory area.

In short, buying a house requires visiting many organizations and using a lot of personal connections.

"Okay, I'll pay you and Qiangzi back when I make money. You're not having an easy time either; you have more expenses than I do."

Xu Ning laughed and said, "This little bit of money is really useless to me. I do spend a lot of money, but it's all tied up in goods and land. It's okay, brother, you can give it to me whenever you have it. I'm not in a hurry."

That's what they say, but Yang Liguo will definitely have to pay it back whenever he has spare money. This favor is different from others; it's because Li Fuqiang and Xu Ning have a good relationship. Otherwise, would Xu Ning have lent him money?
Another reason is that Xu Feng studies in the city and needs to eat three meals a day at Yang Liguo's restaurant, but how much can a little girl eat?

Besides, even if she doesn't eat, Yang Yusheng is his third uncle and Jin Yumantang is his nephew. They still need to eat, so adding a pair of chopsticks is just a small favor.

As noon approached, Yang Liguo wanted Xu Ning and Lao Qian to stay for lunch, but they had already made plans and politely declined.

Yanbin Hotel, a medium-sized private room.

Xu Ning, Lao Qian, and the four people at the table toasted each other, and after drinking to a pleasant degree, one of them took out two file folders.

One was from the Industry and Commerce Bureau, and the other from the Housing and Construction Bureau. After signing these two documents, Xu Ning would have land to build houses and start doing business on a large scale.

After the drinking party ended, Xu Ning rubbed his head and laughed, "Tomorrow you go and contact the construction team, and I'll call the brick factory owner and ask him to send a truck to deliver the bricks."

"Okay, when are we going to buy the steel bars and cement?"

"Let's talk about it when the bricks arrive. Let's go check out the land first." The land is near Xishan Street, right next to Heping Road. To the east is a large shopping mall, to the south is an agricultural market, and two miles further north is the morning market.

The two arrived at a clearing covered in snow. There were no fences or barriers around it. After walking more than 30 meters, they found five houses with broken doors and windows and leaky roofs.

Xu Ning looked at the five rooms and shook his head: "These five rooms are old houses. They will all have to be demolished and rebuilt in the spring... I thought they were good houses. Sigh, this time we have to wait two more months."

Old Qian asked, "Didn't you say there was a large warehouse when you looked at it before?"

“That place was too small, so I didn’t like it. I asked my brother to find this place. My brother said it was quite big and had five rooms. I didn’t think much of it.”

"So what do we do next?"

"Let's not look for a construction team yet, let's wait until spring. Let's run some business first, talk to parts factories and car manufacturers, and if there are any discounts, we'll sign contracts directly to avoid any unforeseen problems."

"Why are you in such a hurry? The house isn't built yet, so the car repair shop can't be set up."

"I'm not in a rush. Do you know if the price of new cars will go up in two months? If the price of a car goes up by 500 yuan, then we'll have to earn 1000 yuan less!"

"You heard the news?"

Xu Ning didn't pretend to be nonchalant and nodded frankly: "Yeah, since new car prices have gone up, how can used car prices not go up? We need to take advantage of this period to collect as many cars as possible. We need to go to various units and collect all the cars that they are scrapping."

Have you decided who to sell it to?

"There will definitely be buyers, don't worry. Do you know how many people are worried about buying a car right now? I asked Wu Haiquan last time, and his coal mine transportation team needs to add 10 new vehicles every year. Including the villages around the coal mine, at least 20 households need to buy vehicles for transportation. So there's no worry about selling cars."

Old Qian nodded: "Okay, whatever you say, we'll do!"

In the evening, Yang Yusheng and Xu Long did not return home. Xu Ning did not get home until after 7 o'clock.

Meng Ziyan smelled the strong smell of alcohol on him, so she heated up some millet porridge for him. Actually, Xu Ning wasn't hungry, but since his wife, who was heavily pregnant, had brought it to him, he had to have a couple of sips.

"I'll take you and your sister-in-law to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow. We can go around 8 o'clock."

Wang Shujuan has already taken a break. She's been experiencing leg and back pain lately, and I heard her feet are even swollen.

So, the next day, Xu Ning took the two of them to the hospital and told Aunt Qu about the situation. Aunt Qu said that swelling in the legs and feet was a normal phenomenon and there was no need to worry. They just needed to pay attention to exercise and not eat too much at each meal. The two sisters-in-law were in good condition and the babies in their bellies were also healthy.

Three days later, when Xu Ning returned to the family building, she saw Xu Long sitting on a bench chatting with Wang Shujuan and Meng Ziyan.

Why hasn't Uncle San come back?

Xu Long stood up and said, "Oh, you're finally back! Third Uncle went straight to Brother Liguo's place and asked me to come back and pick you all up. Where have you been?"

"After some persuasion with the leaders of a few parts factories, we decided to go for a meal."

The four of them then took a Jeep 212 to Yang's Home-Style Restaurant.

At this moment, the restaurant has been cleaned up. The menu and prices are posted on the wall in red paper with black characters. The words "dumplings" and "fried meat" are posted on the outer window. The wooden plaque above the door has also been hung up. This plaque was made by Zhang Jinbao and is made of three elm planks pieced together.

After greeting everyone upon entering, Xu Ning looked around the house and asked, "When do you open?"

"The 28th day of the first lunar month".

"There are only a few days left, and the food purchases have all been finalized?"

"Yeah, I found three people in the market. I go check on things every few days and settle accounts one by one."

While Yang Liguo was cooking, Yang Yusheng asked, "Erning, you want Liguo to buy these two houses? What are your thoughts?"

“In the countryside, we have homesteads and land to grow grain, but what do we have in the city? As life gets better and development accelerates, land in the city is becoming a hurdle! Currently, housing provided by work units is the main option. In the future, if people from the surrounding rural areas want to move to the city, won't they also have to buy houses? Besides, back in the 80s, the leaders said that housing should be made private, or something like that.”

"Ah, I saw that newspaper, it did mention it. Well, houses in the city aren't too expensive now, go ahead and buy one. Lan, if you need money, just tell your third uncle..."

Zhao Lan, cutting meat, poked her head out and said, "Don't worry, Third Uncle, Qiangzi and Erning have both given us money, it should be enough."

After the food was served, Yang Yusheng raised his wine glass and said a few words, then chatted about everyday matters. Xu Long suddenly remembered something and said, "Their college applications have been approved, so the second one can go to school."

"So fast?"

"It's just a matter of a word from Hu Zhibin!"

Two days later, Xu Feng and Jin Yumantang, along with Yang Liguo's two children, went to school.

On the 28th day of the first lunar month, Yang's Home-Style Restaurant officially opened. Everything was kept simple, except for a red cloth hanging above the door and eight strings of firecrackers and eighty-eight firecrackers set off on the street for good luck, symbolizing prosperity.

Time flies, and on the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon raises its head.

In the evening, around 7 p.m., Xu Ning called over Lao Jin, Lao Qian, and Hu Zhibin; Xu Long called over Xiao Du, Yan He, and Ye Xu; and Yang Yusheng called over Sun Jishan's family and several colleagues.

The restaurant was packed with people. Some regular customers came in, but seeing the "Closed" sign on the door and the crowded interior, they curiously greeted Zhao Lan. Upon hearing that it was a family gathering, the regulars remarked on how many relatives she had and how lively the place was. Zhao Lan offered a few polite words, such as offering a discount if they came back tomorrow...

Since its opening, Yang's Home-Style Restaurant has been doing very well, because there are many residential buildings nearby, and many of the customers are single people or young people who don't want to cook.

In just a few days, the profits were equivalent to what Yang Liguo earned in a month working at a big restaurant in the city. Was this money easy to earn? Actually, it wasn't. Yang Liguo cooked all the dishes himself at the small restaurant, while Zhao Lan cleaned the tables, greeted customers, and washed the dishes. It was all physical labor for the couple.

However, in the evening, Xu Feng, Li Jinyu and others could help serve the dishes after finishing their homework, but Zhao Lan kept stopping them from doing the work, saying that they were all college students and should not do this work, otherwise it would interfere with their studies.

Xu Fenghui chatted, emphasizing that learning should be balanced with rest, which made Zhao Lan feel quite pleased.

(End of this chapter)