Chapter 15: Rental

“The cabinets, bedroom doors, and main door of the transitional housing have all had their locks changed, layer by layer, making them look secure. However, to a skilled locksmith, these are child’s play. So, Chen Jin packed up all the valuable items and irreplaceable documents from her home.

Her third cousin had to work and couldn’t follow them back to the village. Just as Chen Jin was leaving, she ran into Aunt Zhou and her family, who were also heading back to the village. After going downstairs, they met up with her uncles, and before long, Uncle Chen’s family joined them. At the bus stop outside the community, they encountered Chen Wenzhen, the village chief’s eldest son, and Chen Wensong, the village secretary’s eldest son…

A bus with only three passengers arrived, but it was quickly filled with people from Qiaodong Village.

As two of the major families benefiting from the demolition, Chen Wensong and Chen Wenzhen had received substantial compensation. Although they appeared humble, their conversations made Chen Jin, who was sitting in front of them, feel envious.

Chen Wensong said, ‘I bought a villa in Jingshan Park, but I haven’t started renovating it yet. You know a lot of bosses—do you have any recommendations for contractors?’

Chen Wenzhen added, ‘I’m planning to buy a plot of land and get someone to build a building on it. Then I’ll sell the houses…’

Chen Jin silently turned her head. After listening to them chat excitedly about their future plans, she spoke up, ‘Uncle Wenzhen, is buying land expensive? Can you buy a small piece?’

Chen Wenzhen laughed, avoiding the price question. ‘Prices vary; it depends on how you choose. If you want to buy land or a house, you should ask your uncle. He runs a construction company and knows much more about it than I do.’

‘Oh, right.’ Chen Jin turned back. It was clear they didn’t want to reveal too much information, which was understandable; they were worried someone might meddle or want a share of the profits. Chen Jin wisely refrained from pressing for more details.

Next time she saw her uncle, she would ask him instead.

When Chen Jin and the others returned to the village, the tenants who had the weekend off were overjoyed to see them, exclaiming, ‘You finally came back!’ If they didn’t return, there would be worries that these people might refuse to pay rent. After all, they had paid two months’ deposit, and the landlords of the new houses would also want a deposit, so they needed to get their money back first.

When Chen Jin got back to her building, she noticed a few tenants were home. She asked if they had found a new place and when they planned to move.

One tenant mentioned they were planning to rent a house in beautiful Community with friends, as they had all graduated from the same school and worked in the Xicheng (West) District. They had been commuting for over three hours every day to save money during their first year out of school, but now they wanted to live closer.

Chen Jin’s eyes lit up. ‘Have you signed the lease? If you haven’t paid a deposit, you can rent from me! I have several apartments in Xiuli (beautiful) Community. How many bedrooms do you need? I have one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units available. Since we’re old friends, I can give you a discount.'”

“Anyway, the house has been renovated; it just needs a few pieces of furniture. As for the furniture, my uncle knows a boss from a furniture company, so my third uncle and Chen Jin entrusted him to make a bulk purchase. It’s straightforward—each room will have a 1.5-meter bed, a wardrobe, and a set of tables and chairs, while the living room will have a sofa and a coffee table. Anything else will be prepared by the tenants themselves.

The tenants were busy discussing: ‘There are five of us. We initially wanted to find one more person to share, but we can also rent one three-bedroom and one two-bedroom. Boss, how will the rent be calculated?’

Chen Jin had researched the rental situation around beautiful Community when buying the houses. She set the rent based on the price points she learned from the sales manager about other rental properties in beautiful Community.

‘Since you’re old friends, I won’t inflate the rent. It’s 170 for a one-bedroom, 300 for a two-bedroom, and 360 for a three-bedroom. Even though they’re all one-bedroom, the apartments in that community have both a bedroom and a living room, totaling about forty square meters, which is hard to compare to renting here. Those are new houses; I just bought them a few days ago, and they’re fully renovated. The furniture will be moved in a few days.’

‘If you think it’s suitable, you can come to see the houses in a couple of days. The first ones to rent will get to choose their units.’

The group of tenants looking to share a rental exchanged excited glances; the rent offered by the boss was quite reasonable. They had been searching in that area for several days and had spoken with colleagues and friends for information, but none could match the price she offered.

Moreover, even in Qiaodong Village, a small studio would cost around 50 a month. If they moved to a closer area like Qiaoxi Village or the suburbs, it would range from 80 to 100 a month.

Since they were familiar with the boss, they knew she meant what she said and didn’t negotiate further. They said, ‘Can we take a day off to see the houses in a couple of days?’

‘Sure,’ Chen Jin agreed, then added, ‘You all know my rent is quite fair. If your colleagues or friends need to rent, they can come to me as well. I have 10 one-bedrooms and 5 two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms each; it’s first come, first served. Once they’re rented, they’re gone. The rent is paid monthly with a one-month deposit. Oh, and I won’t deal with any internal discussions among you; I’ll only sign a contract with one person. Rent must be paid on the first of each month, and I won’t tolerate anyone delaying payments.'”

After Chen Jin finished talking with them, she went to find other potential tenants to inform them about the rental situation at beautiful Community. Some complained about the price, others didn’t want to share the rental with others, and some thought it was a good deal and were ready to find people to share the rent with.

When Chen Jin’s third aunt heard about it, she felt that Chen Jin’s rental price was too low, as others were charging at least 20 more per room.

However, Chen Jin believed that lowering the rent a bit would allow one tenant to rent an entire unit and find others to share it, saving her the trouble of keeping track of which room was vacant. Ideally, she hoped the tenants would bring in colleagues from their companies or classmates from university, as those people usually had stable jobs and income.

Once everything was settled, Chen Jin called her uncle to confirm how long it would take for the furniture to arrive.

“I just finished talking with the furniture factory owner. They have a batch of old furniture that’s outdated in style, but I think it looks decent and can still be used. For rental properties, we don’t need to be too picky. It can be delivered tomorrow; let your third uncle know when they can drop it off.”

Chen Jin hung up and ran to ask her third uncle, then returned to say it could be delivered the day after tomorrow, just in time for her tenants to come and view the houses.

“Wow, you’re quick with this,” her uncle remarked. “What’s the rent you’re quoting?”

Chen Jin shared her rental prices, and her uncle responded, “I’ll quote you the same price for my 25 units. Ask your tenants if any friends want to rent; they can all come and have a look.”

“Okay.”

While the rental situation was beginning to take shape, relying solely on her few tenants to fill all the houses was unlikely. She decided she needed to put up some small advertisements and leave a contact number.

However, she also had her own tasks to attend to and couldn’t just sit around waiting for people to come see the rentals. With a little plan in mind, she decided to observe the situation further.

On her first day back, she hadn’t seen all her tenants. Since it was still inconvenient to contact everyone, Chen Jin put up notices under the two buildings, informing people that she would be in the village during the day for the time being. If she wasn’t around, they could find someone at her third uncle’s house. For tenants returning at night, they could leave a note with Aunt Zhou, and she would pass on any refunds.

The notice also included the rental prices for her properties in beautiful Community, inviting anyone interested to contact her.

Since there wasn’t much to do during the day, her third aunt suggested she bring something back and stay in the village for a few days.

Chen Jin thought that made sense. After returning to her temporary housing to pack her belongings, she went back to stay with her third uncle’s family.

That very night, a tenant came by to inquire about renting in beautiful Community, and they arranged for a few people to view the houses the next day.

Meanwhile, there was a lot happening in the village. During the day, her third uncle was called by the village chief to help with some tasks. When he returned at night, he mentioned that there had been arguments in the village over the relocation of graves, which had made the chief quite upset.

“What are they arguing about? Didn’t they agree to relocate the graves long ago?”

“What are they arguing about? It’s about the auspicious land; everyone wants a better spot for their descendants to thrive,” Chen Yongan replied.

Chen Jin rolled her eyes silently. “If the descendants are lazy, does it matter where the grave is? Is there some magic in the ground that will inspire them to succeed?”

Chen Yongan wanted to continue speaking but was silenced by a glare from his father and swallowed his words. Following his father out, he felt he had gained a lot of insight. No matter how good the land was, it wouldn’t help someone like Chen Yongqiang.

His father may not allow him to speak, but he could still gossip privately with his third sister.

Sure enough, as soon as his father left, Chen Yongan began to gossip with Chen Jin and Tian Miao.

“You won’t believe it. After Chen Yongqiang got his money, he was invited out by his friends, and they convinced him to gamble. Just a few days after getting the relocation funds, he lost over a million! Now he wants to bring his ‘good buddies’ to the village, but the village chief found out and threatened to break his leg.”

“Today, it was Chen Yongqiang’s mom, Chen Bagu, who insisted on moving her father’s grave to the hilltop, claiming it would help her son get back on the right track. What ‘right track’? If Chen Yongqiang can’t get money from Chen Bagu, he’ll just borrow money from others, and it’s high-interest loans! Do you think a good location can change him? The police station might have better luck.”

Every time the villagers mentioned Chen Yongqiang, they would instinctively bring up Chen Jin. After all, neither of them could be considered “authentic” members of the Chen family.

Chen Jin was brought back by her mother after the divorce, while Chen Yongqiang had taken the Chen surname due to Chen Bagu’s marriage. His father, Ma Fugui, was practically invisible in the village.

They both carried the Chen surname through their mothers, but in the eyes of the villagers in Qiaodong Village, Chen Jin and Chen Yongqiang were two extremes—one was the “model child,” while the other was the “one you shouldn’t emulate.”

Chen Yongqiang had always been a troublesome child. He would fight with his classmates and even dared to hit teachers. By the time he was in the second year of middle school, he had been expelled. After that, he went to work in a factory in the suburbs but continued to cause trouble. After his family built rental houses, he just hung around at home. Because he harassed female tenants, their rental properties became hard to lease out, and the only people who moved in were either men or middle-aged women.

Now that he had some money, he actually dared to gamble with it, and after losing so much, he still borrowed money.

Gamblers are never able to stop. There was once an uncle in the village who would gamble whenever he had money, and would even borrow money to gamble when he didn’t. Eventually, when he couldn’t pay off his debts, he drank rat poison at home, and it had been years since anyone had seen him.

During those years, adults would often say, “Nine out of ten gamblers lose. If you dare to gamble, we’ll break your legs!”

Unfortunately, Chen Bagu probably couldn’t bring herself to break Chen Yongqiang’s legs.