Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 166 The Billiards Hall (Internet outage, late post)

Xiao Hong asked, "Why don't you deposit the money? What's the point of bringing this money back? It makes people worry about it!"

Xiao Wei took the money, divided it into two portions, and put them into his two pockets, saying, "I need to spend it. I'll go to Fengtian these next couple of days to buy the equipment, and then I'll have to contact my boyfriend after the New Year."

At the table over there, Hei Zi muttered, "Damn, this money. They're really rich. When will we be able to pull out a wad of cash like that?"

Old Hou nodded and said to Huang Laowu, "Laowu, eat quickly, hurry up and finish eating so we can go look at the house and try to get things done today."

Huang Laowu glanced at the table and said, "There's still half a bottle of wine left, what's the rush?"

Hei Zi reached over, took the bottle, capped it, and said, "Take this, we're drinking tonight, you'd better hurry up."

Footsteps sounded upstairs; the propaganda department staff had finished eating and came down.

Li Wen did the accounting, Li Gengsheng collected the money, and Xiao Wei went over to talk to Minister Liu. Today was the first day, the first time, and he was given cash. Minister Liu said to Xiao Wei, "The food is good, but try to add some more specialties, like your dumplings, which are quite good. If I don't come again, have Xiao Wang sign the form, and then you can settle the bill at the ministry."

Xiao Wei agreed and shook hands with Xiao Wang, who was a handsome, bespectacled man in his thirties, and very refined.

After seeing Minister Liu off, Jian'an's people came down as well. They paid in cash, designated the signatory for the future, and then left.

These days, when people eat at government-affiliated workplaces, they sign for meals and then settle the bill collectively, which is commonly known as issuing IOUs.

As for settling accounts, that depends on the situation. For shops like Xiaowei and Xia Maosheng, the money will definitely be paid, but for some businesses, only a portion will be paid, and many even fall through. Starting in the early 90s, more and more people were seen carrying various IOUs and tirelessly chasing after debts. The number of restaurants that went bankrupt and small businesses that were bought up also increased.

In 2005, in a town in Chongqing, a privately owned restaurant went bankrupt. The owner and his family had been borrowing money to eat there, and after three years of trying to collect the debt, the court ordered the town to repay 500 yuan per month. According to a physical education teacher's calculations, the restaurant owner's great-great-grandson would still receive 500 yuan per month until his death. Three million yuan!

Upstairs, the labor bureau and police station staff were still drinking. Xiao Wei, Xiao Hong, Xia Maosheng, Chen Hui, Li Xing, and Huang Laowu came out from the back door. Xiao Liwen, under the pretense of getting the key to open the door, mingled with them. Together, they trudged through the snow to a row of houses across the dam.

As soon as the door opened, a blast of cold air hit me; the house had been idle for too long, and it was much colder inside than outside.

I don't know what they were thinking when they built it. The house is huge, but there's only a small window on the back gable wall. You can't see anything when you come in from the outside. It's cold and gloomy.

The lights in the room could still be turned on; it was about 120 or 130 square meters, with two 25-watt light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

It's impossible to tell what this place was originally used for. There are a few places on the walls covered with newspapers, and some miscellaneous items are piled up in the innermost corner. That's all there is; it's just a long, rectangular open space.

Old Huang, a cigarette dangling from his lips, paced around the room, then turned to Old Hou and said, "This place is way too big! It's not just a matter of how many tables you want to set up, the problem is, how are we going to rent it out? They can't possibly rent half of it, can they?"

Hei Zi, standing to the side, also said, "It's huge. I always thought this place was the smallest, I never imagined it would be this big. It doesn't look this big from the outside."

Old Hou said, "You can't see the whole thing from the outside; this house next door blocks half of it."

At the entrance, Chen Hui started shivering again, stammering, "Damn, this is a haunted house! Why is it so cold? Look, I'm going back to warm up by the stove." Without looking back, he rushed out and into the boiler room.

Xia Maosheng watched Chen Hui's figure disappear and said with a smile, "Why is Chen Hui so afraid of the cold?"

Xiao Wei said, "I've lived in Fengtian since I was a child. It's a bigger city there, and it's naturally warmer than down here. I haven't suffered much hardship, so it's normal."

Xia Maosheng looked around the room and asked, "How much does this cost to rent?"

Xiao Wei scratched his head, then turned to Li Xing and asked, "Tiezi, you come here often, what's the usual rent for houses around here?"

Li Xing, who was picking his teeth with a toothpick, spat when he heard the question and said, "A typical store over there makes a little over ten thousand a year, a larger one twenty thousand, and I don't know about the bigger ones, but I'm guessing it must be at least thirty or fifty thousand a year, right?"

Xiao Wei said with a wry smile, "That's terrible! How many tables can they set up? One? Two? Will they even be able to earn enough to cover the rent in a year?"

After thinking for a long time, Xia Maosheng said, "Why don't we open it and figure out the money later? This room can fit at least six or seven bills."

Xiao Wei shook his head and said, "We need to tidy up, keep warm, and have someone watch over things. You know what kind of people play billiards; they're always dealing with all sorts of messy things. I don't have the energy for this. This restaurant and the school are enough to keep me busy. Why don't you come over?"

Xia Maosheng said with a twitch in his face, "I want to come too. It would be so nice to stay in a courtyard, eat at a restaurant, and have so much freedom, but my aunt won't let me."

Li Xing turned his head and asked loudly, "Huang Laowu, come here, come here." He was a policeman, and his tone was a bit aggressive, but no one took offense.

Three people walked over from inside, and Huang Laowu asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Xing asked, "What are your plans? How many sheets will you put out?"

Huang Laowu glanced at Lao Hou and said, "The three of us can only scrape together three tables. This room is too big, so we're discussing it now."

Li Xing thought for a moment and said to Xiao Wei, "How about this? You don't have time to do it, but they still want to. Let's all pool our resources. Huang Laowu, you put up three cards, I'll put up three, and Xiao Wei, you and Maosheng will put up the house. Then we'll split it into three parts, and each part will be counted as two cards. How about that?"

Xia Maosheng didn't understand, but Huang Laowu's eyes darted around a few times before he nodded and said, "Okay, I agree."

Xiao Wei thought for a moment and asked, "What about the water, electricity, and gas bills? We need to sort things out, right? How do we calculate the business and tax bills? Who's in charge? What about the expenses?"

Li Xing said, "I'll handle the license. Hua Zi will talk to the tax authorities; he has connections. Lao Wu and the other two can handle the paperwork. We don't have time for that. Anyway, it's nothing much, just adding a fire wall and building a small stove. We can get the coal from you. We'll charge you for the coal later; it won't burn much."

Huang Laowu said, "The three of us will keep an eye on things. Whoever has time can come over. Anyway, we don't have much to do usually. Come over and sit for a while whenever you're free. We don't need a salary. We can just divide it up by the table." As he spoke, he looked at Lao Hou and Hei Zi with his eyes, and the two of them nodded in agreement.

Xiao Wei thought for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, "Okay, it's settled then. The three of you can come over to the restaurant for dinner. It's like a cafeteria, so it's free, but we don't cover the alcohol. You'll have to buy your own drinks."

Huang Laowu clapped his hands with a smile and said, "This is good, this is great, this is much better than a salary."

(End of this chapter)