Chapter 18

During dinner, Song Haowen mentioned the matter of finding a house with everyone. Qian Youlai’s mother was well-informed, immediately providing several houses, and she even know the landlord.

Song Haowen was particularly interested in one of the houses. This house is located on the south side of road at Beijing University, about eight hundred meters from the south gate of the university.

It consisted of three single-story houses on the street, with a yard of less than one hundred square meters behind them. Beyond the yard wall was a small river.

The owner is in a hurry to go abroad and he was eager to sell the house, He quoted a price of three thousand yuan, with room for negotiation.

Since it was already late in the day, Song Haowen made an appointment with Qian Youlai’s mother to visit the house tomorrow morning and asked her to inform the owner beforehand.

Qian Youlai’s parents skeptical whether Song Haowen could come up with such a large sum of money, especially since their annual net income was less than eight hundred yuan.

Excluding regular expenses, even with frugal living, they couldn’t save two hundred yuan in a year.

Three thousand yuan was a considerable amount, and based on their current income, it would take their family nearly twenty years to save that much.

If they knew that Song Haowen had a savings with over fifteen thousand yuan in his possession, they might so shocked that they coudn’t sleep at night in shock.

Song Haowen didn’t elaborate much; he simply mentioned that relatives in Hong Kong had given his family some money, barely enough to buy this house. Qian Youlai’s parents were doubtful, but due to the personal matters involved, they didn’t ask further questions.

That night, when Song Haowen returned to the dormitory, he found it  very lively. Several students were watching as Wu Sida tried to fix a malfunctioning tape recorder but since he doesn’t know anything about repairing tape recorder it doesn’t do much.

Song Haowen took the tape recorder from Wu Sida, borrowed a screwdriver from the class monitor Ding Mo, and despite Wu Sida’s strong protests, opened the back cover of the tape recorder.

Amidst the questioning voices of the crowd, he did something to the components, and the tape immediately started moving again, and Teresa Teng’s song echoed once more. However, the tape still moved slowly, and the sound quality remained poor.

No one expected Song Haowen to have this skill, and they all looked at him with admiration. Song Haowen shrugged indifferently and said, “It’s nothing. If there are the right components, fixing it completely is a piece of cake.”

Ding Mo asked if Song Haowen had studied appliance repair. Since the school had just started, and they hadn’t had many practical classes yet, they hadn’t even used an electric iron, let alone identified a circuit board.

Song Haowen couldn’t say that he had learned it in a previous life, and the circuit boards of this era were much simpler than the integrated circuits of his previous life, comparable to basic arithmetic.

He casually explained that he had learned it from a youth in his hometown, whose parents were senior engineers at a household appliance factory in Shanghai. Therefore, he had some knowledge of home appliance repair.

At this moment, a student from the next dormitory, upon hearing that Song Haowen could fix home appliances, immediately brought a red lamp radio, claiming that the speaker was broken, and no matter how they tuned the stations, it only made a buzzing sound.

Song Haowen took the radio and quickly identified the issue: it wasn’t the speaker but a poor circuit connection. With a few simple moves, he restored the sound.

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The dormitory erupted in applause. Song Haowen also felt a sense of pride on his face, full of confidence in the repair business he was about to embark on.

The next day was Sunday. Early in the morning, Song Haowen went to the woods near the dormitory for morning exercises. After practicing military boxing, his body slightly perspired. He was about to return to the dormitory to freshen up and then have breakfast.

At this moment, he encountered the class monitor Zhu Hongyu and a classmate, Na Renhua, who were jogging. Song Haowen shouted, “Keep it up!” as a greeting. They smiled, waved back, and continued running.

Song Haowen thought that although he and Zhu Hongyu could see each other during class every day, there were very few opportunities to communicate with each other. Everyone was busy in the dormitory, classroom, and cafeteria, following their own routines.

After breakfast, Song Haowen went to Qian Youlai’s house and then followed Qian Youlai’s mother to the house that was up for sale. A middle-aged couple in their fifties was waiting at the door.

Qian Youlai’s mother introduced everyone, and the couple, seeing that the potential buyer was still a minor, they felt doubtful but didn’t mention it out of politeness. They kindly invited everyone inside for a tour.

After inspecting the house, Song Haowen was very satisfied.

The three single-story houses were of good quality, made of blue bricks and gray tiles, spacious and bright, and looked relatively new.

The beams were made of sturdy whole wood, and both indoor and outdoor floors were paved with green square bricks.

The yard seemed spacious, featuring an octagonal pavilion, a well, a flowerbed, and an artificial mountain.

The only drawback was that the neighborhood didn’t have central heating, so residents relied on charcoal stoves and earthen kang beds for warmth in winter.

After the tour, the homeowner asked Song Haowen with fading enthusiasm, “Young man, how is it?”

Song Haowen nodded and said, “It’s good. I want it.”

The homeowner, somewhat incredulous, asked, “Do you really want to buy it? Should I call your parents to have a look?”

“No need. I’ll decide on this matter,” Song Haowen replied.

Still skeptical, the homeowner turned to Qian Youlai’s mother and asked, “Are you sure about this?”

After glancing at Song Haowen and sensing his seriousness, Qian Youlai’s mother said, “Yes, we’re serious about buying the house, it’s just that the price is a bit high.”

The homeowner immediately responded, “As long as you genuinely want it, we can negotiate the price.”