A courtyard house, equipped with a fishing system, living in an era.

As we walked along, we discovered that this future director of the subdistrict office was truly familiar with the area.

According to her, she is currently familiarizing herself with the area...

"Luckily you arrived early. Lately, rental demand in this area has been skyrocketing!"

Wang Xia stopped walking all the way from the street office to the entrance of No. 95 courtyard.

"This courtyard used to be the private property of Boss Lou. Several families of steel mill employees used to live there. When it was donated to our street office, the houses of those former employees were all converted into private property!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ping'an realized that it must be Xu Fugui and He Daqing!

Apart from these two families who own private property, the rest of the families, including the deaf elderly woman, are probably living in public rental housing...

In the middle of the afternoon, most of the men in the courtyard had gone out to work.

The rest were mostly elderly, weak, women, and children.

I was a little wary when I saw two strangers come in.

Until one of the people sitting and chatting in the front yard, a woman with bound feet stood up and greeted the future Director Wang!

"Xiao Wang, what brings you to our compound?"

"Aunt Hu, this is the new resident. I'm showing him around the house!"

Xu Ping'an looked closely and saw that it was Aunt Hu. She looked so familiar…

It took me a while to realize, isn't this the future deaf old lady?

Judging by her age, she should be in her fifties but not yet sixty!

However, because of foot binding, she already needed to use crutches to walk.

Aunt Hu's eyes were smiling, and her gaze towards Xu Ping'an was full of kindness.

Xu Pingan nodded to her as a greeting.

Then I followed Wang Xia and walked towards the east courtyard.

"This east wing was originally connected to the garden of No. 95 courtyard. When we took over the house, we demolished the garden wall and turned the garden into a park. The three rooms on this side of the wing were separated from the courtyard and were preserved."

Following the other person inside, Xu Ping'an couldn't understand why such a nice house was empty!

"These three main rooms, each 15 square meters, are closely connected, so they can usually only be rented together!"

Xu Pingan roughly understood!

"How much is the rent?"

"Public rental housing costs 1800 yuan per square meter per month, so these three rooms would cost 81000 yuan per month!"

After doing the mental calculation, Xu Pingan realized it was only 8.1 yuan a month?

Not much... my foot!

How much do people earn these days?

If this were an apprentice, they would have to spend half a month's salary to pay the rent. No wonder no one wants such a nice three-room apartment!

These three rooms share only one entrance; renting one out would require a major overhaul of the interior layout...

No wonder the Jia family always stayed in that one room until the very end...

There's probably no other reason. In the beginning, it was because they didn't have money, and later, if they wanted to pretend to be poor, they had to squeeze out more!

By the end, the city was completely packed with people!

"Sister Wang, if I rent these three rooms, could you block the moon gate and open a new door facing the street?"

"No, a rented house is essentially public property. It can be renovated, but not altered privately! Unless you buy the house and the yard!"

"You bought it? Does that mean I'm allowed to buy a house under current policies?"

Wang Xia was taken aback.

"You really want to buy it? The rent for these three main rooms isn't high for you! Isn't renting a good option?"

"It's a habit passed down from our ancestors; we don't feel comfortable living without our own house!"

"You can buy it!"

The main problem is the situation on the Korean Peninsula; money is needed everywhere!

Therefore, I really support this kind of behavior of wanting to buy the house where one lives!

Of course, after the situation stabilized a few years later, around 1956, this window of opportunity closed!

Then it would be many years before the redemption window reopened...

"However, the purchase price is a bit high. It's three rooms, and each room costs 300 million. If you want to buy the yard as well, the yard is priced at 100 million."

In other words, the total price is 1000 million?

Xu Pingan had actually learned about this area before. Around 56, a small house with a yard like this could sell for two or three thousand yuan!

However, that will be the peak for the next 20 years.

After the sale and transfer of houses were banned, the private market brought prices back up.

Therefore, if Xu Pingan has any plans, it would be best to acquire the house within the next year or two!

Xu Pingan was quite satisfied with the three rooms.

"Hey, Sister Wang, if I rent this place, could I install a door myself here near the moon gate?"

Wang Xia rolled her eyes at Xu Ping'an.

"What are you thinking? Didn't I already say this yard is a common area for everyone? Why don't you rent the yard for 1800 yuan per square meter? Then it will be your yard, and you can decorate it however you want!"

Well, my dream is shattered!

We still need to hurry up and buy the house; getting the property certificate is the real priority.

Having decided on these three rooms, Xu Ping'an stopped looking at the others.

Through chatting with Director Wang, Xu Pingan gained a general understanding of his current situation.

I was just transferred here from another place and am currently familiarizing myself with the work processes for various positions in this area.

She is involved in and follows up on all aspects of people's livelihood, elderly care, household registration, and production.

It has to be said that these days, leaders are quite rigorous in their pursuit of promotion.

In my past life, someone would have entered a leadership position just a few months old, and would have decades of work experience before even graduating from university...

"By the way, Sister Wang, do you know Aunt Hu from the courtyard?"

"Aunt Hu? Oh, you mean her?"

"When I arrived in this area, she was already living in the main house in the backyard!"

"She has no children and is not mobile. According to regulations, she could live in a nursing home, but she herself does not want to."

"Later, when I came to find out what was going on, Mr. and Mrs. Yi Zhonghai, the owners of courtyard number 95, agreed to help take care of the child, so I made the arrangements!"

Oh, so that's how they met the future Director Wang!

To be honest, the main characters do have some good luck.

If they had sent a low-level henchman instead, would they have been able to leverage such power?

Not necessarily. These people are good at using someone else's name and making grand pronouncements.

Back at the street office, Wang Xia wrote down the entire process on a piece of paper and handed it to Xu Ping'an.

"Go back first, complete all the formalities in your county, then go to the factory to start your job. After you're hired, come back here to arrange housing and register your household registration!"

Xu Pingan was taken aback, and coughed twice!

"Ahem, my onboarding process at the factory is all done!"

Wang Xia was taken aback, then sighed.

"That's nonsense! You'll need to go back to your hometown county to complete the procedures; otherwise, you won't be able to register your household here."

Wang Xia sighed, but it wasn't unexpected. Many regulations have been issued, but few people actually follow them.

The main problem is that things have been chaotic for so many years, and order needs to be gradually established.

When it came to the factory, the other party also had something to say: the workers can't go without eating, can they?

"I also have two younger sisters who I want to bring with me. What's the procedure?"

"The procedures are the same; you can just use a relative or friend connection."

Xu Ping'an dared not delay and immediately set off to return to Dongying Village.

It was already 8 p.m. when I got home.

Nothing will get done today.

When Xu Ping'an entered the courtyard, the two sisters thought a thief had broken into their house.

Hearing the two dogs barking strangely, he finally mustered up the courage to come out and investigate.

"Big brother? Have you had dinner yet?"

"We've eaten. You two aren't asleep yet?"

"Not yet, I was just about to go to sleep."

"If you're not asleep yet, don't sleep now. I have something to tell you!"

Xu Fang was confused and could only pull her younger sister up with her.