Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 530 Discussion

Xiao Wei said, "It's only for one year. Each person can only serve as a representative for one year. Next year I will be an official CPPCC representative, and I guess I can also be a representative to the NPC, but I'll have to wait until 93. Right now, I'm just a candidate."

Aunt Wang said, "Does this mean you've become an official? Can you become an official just by doing business?"

Xiao Wei said, "This doesn't count as being an official, does it? It's just giving you a title. You still have to do whatever you're supposed to do. You just go to meetings when they call you."

Aunt Wang said, "I even elected representatives. They handed out slips of paper with four or five names printed on them. I didn't recognize any of them, and they just told me to circle them. They told me which one to circle, but I refused. I refused to circle whichever one they told me to circle. Why should I? I've never even met them, and they're wasting my time."

Xiao Wei laughed and had Aunt Wang pat him on the head. Aunt Wang asked, "If we draw circles again in the future, will your name be there?"

Xiao Wei said, "I don't know, I don't understand this at all. Besides, things are different here than where we are. We don't know the specifics of how it works or what's going on, so why think so much?"

Aunt Wang nodded and said, "That's right. We should just focus on living our own lives well. Don't go around talking nonsense at these meetings and conferences, okay? You never know when another movement might start. We ordinary people don't understand politics, so let's not get involved. Just do what they tell us to do and don't cause trouble for ourselves."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "I know, I remember."

Aunt Wang asked, "What will Xiaohong do in the future? Have you two discussed it?"

Xiaowei said, "Xiaohong? She should go to the government. She can't have gone to university for nothing. She doesn't have to worry about family matters. She can just work and do whatever she wants. As long as she's happy."

Aunt Wang paused for a moment, thought for a second, and continued picking vegetables, saying, "That's true. Our family isn't worried about anything now. I don't understand these things, so I can't help you much. Just take care of yourselves. I'll help you take care of the kids tomorrow."

Xiao Wei said, "After we move there, my mom and dad will come over. You four can go out and have fun whenever you want. Don't stay cooped up at home all day. We can hire a few people to help with the housework. You've worked hard for half your lives, so enjoy yourselves and travel around. China is so big, you can visit all the scenic spots, historical cities and famous places. You can even publish a book when you're old."

Aunt Wang laughed and said, "Publishing a book? The book knows me, but I don't know the book itself; I don't have the pen. Going out for a stroll is fine. Hiring people to do housework? Hiring people to clean the house and cook? Wouldn't that make me look like a landlord or rich man? Wouldn't I get arrested?"

Xiao Wei said, "Why are we arresting you? After we finish cleaning that big yard and the house, are you going to clean it yourself? Then our whole family won't have to do anything else. We'll be cleaning once a day and it'll be dark by then."

Aunt Wang thought for a moment, then laughed, wiped her forehead, and said, "That's true, it's too big, we can't afford to clean it up."

Xiao Wei said, "We'll find a few honest and reliable people from our village to come work here. They'll do things like laundry, cooking, and cleaning the yard. We'll pay them a monthly salary. It's much better than farming at home."

Aunt Wang said, "My goodness, how can we, who are all from the same fort, be so shameless? No way, how can we save face? We'll be scolded when we get back."

Xiao Wei said, "You think we'd get scolded for giving her a job and money? You're overthinking it."

In the evening, after dinner, the family sat in the living room watching TV and talked about Xiaowei's situation. At that time, ordinary people had no contact with the CPPCC or the NPC. Moreover, the CPPCC and the NPC were essentially like retirement homes at that time, with insignificant status and no importance attached to them.

Uncle Wang said, "That's fine. At least we can have some kind of identity. It'll be of some use to us. Just don't get involved in other people's business."

Xiao Wei said to Uncle Wang, "Uncle, I had an idea when I went to the police station to report today. Can you give me your opinion and see if it's feasible?"

Uncle Wang asked, "What are you thinking? By the way, why didn't you go to court? What are you doing at the police station?"

Xiao Wei said, "We know the people around here a bit better. The area around the police station has more than eight acres of land, but the houses there aren't enough and they're too dilapidated. I'm thinking we could chip in to help them rebuild it, and then we could get some houses back as compensation. What do you think?"

Uncle Wang asked, "How do we cover it?"

Xiao Wei said, "His place is triangular, with streets on two sides. I plan to build a four- or five-story main building, estimating that each floor would be about 400 square meters. Then I'll build a few garages on the side, and the rest of the space will be used for three-story residential buildings. We'll give each person in his unit one apartment, plus ten more, and the rest of the residential buildings will be ours. We'll split the shops downstairs equally. Is that feasible?"

Uncle Wang asked, "What can the police station do?"

Xiao Wei said, "His current dilapidated house isn't even enough for office and dormitory space. He wants to build another one, but he doesn't have the money. His budget is always insufficient throughout the year. If it can be built without spending a penny, why wouldn't he do it?"

Uncle Wang asked, "How many residential buildings can be built? How many stories are planned?"

Xiao Wei said, "I'm planning to build three interconnected buildings at the bottom and three separate buildings at the top, all with elevators, and I'll build them tall. His location is practically in the city center, so wouldn't it be a waste to build them short?"

Uncle Wang thought for a moment and said, "That's a good idea. Why don't you calculate how many units their institute needs in total, and let the institute director do the calculation himself? After all, they're building three buildings, right? Just give them one building and build it according to the number he reports. Then you can build the other two according to your own ideas. Otherwise, mixing them together will cause trouble later."

Xiao Hong said, "If they only need thirty units, that would be less than ten stories? How many should we build here? Fifteen? Twenty? That wouldn't look right."

Xiao Wei said, "I plan to build it like Riverside Garden, taller, with elevators, and then sell it off gradually, with some greenery underneath."

Uncle Wang stroked his chin and said, "It's a bit small. This space is only enough to build a few houses. The area over by the river covers more than 200 acres, and that's only a thousand houses. How can you make money here? Let's do the math first."

Xiao Wei said, "Let's build fifteen floors, with five apartments per floor, that's 150 apartments, right? We can't lose money, it's just a matter of how much we make."

Xiao Wei nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "Yeah, to do this, we need to set up a real estate development company. I'll ask Xiao Hui to set one up tomorrow."

Uncle Wang said, "Then who are you going to give the construction work to? Are you going to do it yourself?"

Xiao Wei said, "How could that be? We just need to find a construction company. There are dozens of construction companies in the city. We'll just have to negotiate."

Uncle Wang said, "If you're going to give it to a construction company, I'll help you find one once things get done. We have connections in the bureau and the department. That way, you'll feel more at ease knowing you're on the same side, and we can also delay the payment for the project. Do you have that kind of money on hand?"

Xiao Wei said, "No, I didn't pay for this myself. Aunt Chen from Xiao Hui's family arranged the loan for me. I've been thinking about the loan for the past few days, and this is a good opportunity to use it."

Uncle Wang asked, "How much will we lend you?"

Xiao Wei said, "The loan certificate hasn't been issued yet, and I haven't asked. Anyway, I guess it'll be quite a lot."

Xiao Hong said, "I heard from Geng Hui and Chen Xiao that it's over 100 million yuan. Isn't that scary? How are they going to pay back that much money?"

(End of this chapter)