Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 860 Shunzi and Liangzi

The district head arrived in Chen Hui's car. Chen Hui smiled and said, "It's only right. Otherwise, I'd like to become the leader's personal driver from now on, with my own car, available 24/7. I hope the leader will give me this opportunity to flatter him."

The district head chuckled and patted Chen Hui on the shoulder, saying, "You don't need to be my driver to flatter me. Just set up the factory in Shenhe, and that'll do the trick."

As the group walked out, Xiaowei said, "Actually, for us, where we build it isn't a big problem. The key issue is the land price. If the investment is too high and the payback period is too long, it's not worthwhile for us. After all, we have hundreds of people to support."

The district head nodded and said, "Actually, you can also ask Dongling to expand your land next to your headquarters. There's not much there besides a school. The residents' problems are easy to solve, and vegetable plots aren't worth much. Since it's close by, you can build a bigger structure. The land price isn't much higher than in the development zone or by the river. If the city develops in the future, you can find a cheaper place, and you can even make some money from this land. It's worthwhile to develop it yourself."

Chen Hui thought for a moment and said to Xiao Wei, "Actually, I think what the district chief said makes sense. Apart from those three old buildings and a school, there's really not much else south of 606. It's just that there are some buildings around 606 and the aviation building area."

Xiao Wei said, "Let's go back and take a look. If it's really close, we might as well go to the area behind the school, which is connected to our side."

After seeing the district head and Secretary Xie off to Chen Hui's car, Xiao Wei shook hands with the vice principal and drove home, his mind preoccupied with the land issue.

Upon arriving at the headquarters, he parked his car downstairs and drove around the area. He observed that if he wanted to expand, the school's chalk factory would be in the way, and the area to the east would require occupying some residential buildings—not many, about thirty households. At that time, no buildings had been constructed yet; it was mostly large single-story houses, with only two small two-story buildings facing the main road.

In those days, these small buildings facing the street were basically used by government agencies, so Xiaowei didn't need to consider them at all.

"Hey guys, are you going to take up more space?" Two men were squatting on the ground playing chess by the roadside, smoking cigarettes, and looking up at Xiao Wei.

These days, there are so many people squatting by the roadside playing chess or cards. I don't know if they get tired, but they look tired. Yet they can play for most of the day, just squatting there.

Xiao Wei nodded to them and said, "Playing chess? I'm just wandering around."

In that era, social classes existed, but they weren't so drastically divided. Back then, business people, factory workers, street sweepers, the rich and the poor could generally coexist peacefully, and no one obviously looked down on or fawned over anyone else.

It was normal to greet each other when we met, or to sit together for a smoke or a game of cards. But by the late 90s, the distance between us gradually widened.

The main reason was the booming real estate market, which separated the wealthy, fundamentally dividing people into several categories with no further interaction. This is the greatest contribution of real estate: making society hierarchical and indifferent, reverting to the feudal era.

In ancient times, there was a distinction between inner and outer city walls; now the terminology is different, and we call them the first and second ring roads.

As for raising housing prices and making ordinary people poorer, that's actually a side effect, not the main function.

The guy stood up, handed Xiaowei a cigarette, and said, "You're a big boss, you don't have time to wander around aimlessly, do you? Don't you want to take up space? I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Xiao Wei said, "There's nothing to be afraid of saying. My factory over there isn't enough space, so I'm planning to expand it these days, but I haven't decided on a specific location yet. I'm just wandering around here, really. There are too many people here; it'll probably cause trouble. What's your surname?"

The guy said, "Just call me Shunzi, and this is Liangzi. We both live around here. Boss Zhang, if you really want to take over this area, let me tell you, as long as you return the house, no one will ask you for anything else, like the yard or anything else. We've been eyeing that house of yours for over half a year, and you still won't sell."

Liangzi said, "Indeed, if you give me a house, any size would be fine. My family would definitely do it, we'd even pay extra for it."

Shunzi said, "Who wouldn't want to? Many of us have been up to that house, it's awesome, and the old neighbors are all there together, isn't that great?"

Xiao Wei turned his head and looked at the buildings, saying, "I really didn't plan to sell these buildings. I originally intended to distribute them to the staff. How many households are there here? Count by household registration. Cut straight from here, all the way to the school, from here to the roadside, and from here to the edge of that building."

Shunzi looked around, thought for a moment, and said, "Not many. How many could there be? The factory and the office building take up space together. Thirty at most. I don't know about the household registration records; you'd have to check with the police station for that. It's just a matter of one phone call for you."

Xiao Wei thought for a moment and said, "My building only has twenty households, and they're all different sizes, so it's not enough."

Liangzi said, "You're not going to build here? Just build a few more buildings, that'll be enough. There are quite a few people who want to buy over there too, they're just waiting for you to start selling. You can't hold back. If you want to get it done, I'll help you arrange it, really."

Xiao Wei asked, "Don't you two go to work?"

Shunzi said, "Going there is no point. It's a small factory, and wages are always withheld. If there were other ways, I would have quit long ago. There's nowhere to do business around here. If you open more shops, people will definitely be eager to hire you. These days, you have to go across the street to buy something, or you have to go to Wanliu."

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Aren't you being a bit too lazy? It's only a few steps away."

Shunzi said, "Nothing's as comfortable and convenient as living downstairs. Look at the riverbank, people downstairs have everything they need."

Xiao Wei said, "Didn't you think that while it's convenient, the money also disappears faster? If it's a bit far away, you can save money if you don't want to move around."

Liangzi chuckled and patted Shunzi on the shoulder, saying, "Right, what the boss said makes sense. If everything were available here, would your little bit of money be enough to live on?"

Shunzi looked up at the new building and asked, "Boss, why aren't you selling this house? The area behind it is yours too, right? How much would that cost?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's not the right time to sell yet. I have some more elsewhere, and I'll sell them all together later."

Liangzi asked, "Boss, are you still hiring? We'd like to work for you!"

Xiao Wei said, "Don't you want a job? This is a private business, it's not as stable as working for the government."

Liangzi said, "Come on, what era are we living in now? It's hard to say whether the state-owned factories can even last until next year. How many are left in Huangpu now? There used to be several hundred small factories in Tiexi. Look how many are left now? When no one takes care of them, those families won't even be able to eat."

Shunzi said, "This world, who knows what the future holds? Things are changing too fast."

Xiao Wei asked, "What can you do?"

Liangzi said, "At least I can run errands. We know this area well, so I can help you connect people and negotiate everyone's terms. You need connections to sell your house, right? You've started selling cars here, haven't you? I can do all of that. I promise I'll do my best for you."

(End of this chapter)