Chapter 10

Ye Ermei and her husband’s only daughter, Tian Niu, had a round face and a cheerful disposition. She had a pair of large, dark, bright eyes and was an energetic and optimistic young girl.

Tian Niu always enjoyed playing with Lele because Lele looked like a delicate and adorable doll.

Because of this, even though she wasn’t very eager to give up her little room, she didn’t strongly oppose it.

Ye Xiaoyu spent an entire evening bonding with Tian Niu, using her favorite English songs to break the ice. By the next morning, the relationship between the aunt and niece evolved from awkward to close. Even Ye Ermei was surprised to see it; her daughter was in a bit of a rebellious teenage phase and was hard to please.

The lamb soup she had packed from last night was still there. It was winter, so leaving it out overnight wouldn’t spoil it. Ye Ermei took it out, heated it up with some added water, and also added some vermicelli.

Then, she fried five soft-boiled eggs.

Normally, in the morning, Ye Ermei would fry one or two eggs for her daughter, and sometimes share them with her husband, but today, five was a record. She was thinking of her younger sister, who had just gone through a divorce without shedding a tear, surely hiding her sadness deep inside. With Lele still so young, it was time to replenish her energy too.

The kitchen in their courtyard building was small and cramped, with barely enough space to place a pot and a cutting board. The fuel used was honeycomb coal. The strong aroma of the lamb soup filled the entire building, causing neighbors to come by and ask a few questions.

Ye Xiaoyu also experienced firsthand the poor sound and smell insulation in the courtyard building, making it clear that moving out was urgent.

After breakfast, she went to look for a rental.

Ye Xiaoyu politely declined her mother’s kind suggestion to rent a place nearby and went out with Lele.

Their first stop was a nearby bicycle repair shop.

She asked the mechanic to inflate both tires, check the brakes and hinges, and add a front basket and a child’s seat to the back of the bike. She also added a thick chain lock. The total cost came to 3.80 yuan.

With everything prepared, Ye Xiaoyu rode her bike toward her destination—the second and third ring roads.

Beijing was familiar to her, having lived there for many years. Even though the city had changed, many places still seemed similar. When she worked as a bottom-level saleswoman, she had used various modes of transport like electric bikes, subways, buses, and cars, so the routes in her mind hadn’t faded.

However, the differences were still noticeable.

There were fewer high-rise buildings, the shops were clustered in groups, and street vendors hadn’t been banned yet. Every intersection was lively, and the traffic laws hadn’t been enacted yet. Most people still traveled by bicycle, bus, or the newly popular “facing” (a type of minibus), with only a few private cars on the roads.

Ye Xiaoyu rode around for quite a while, her feet sore from pedaling. She wasn’t sure how many calories she had burned, but she suspected her legs might shrink by two sizes the next day.

For lunch, she had roasted duck.

Ye Xiaoyu sought out a roasted duck restaurant that was famous for having chefs with imperial culinary skills. It was a bit expensive, but compared to the future, when money might be harder to come by, she decided to treat herself well in this era when food options were still scarce.

The roasted duck at this restaurant was freshly cooked in a hanging oven. It took a while to prepare, but the aroma was mouth-watering. The skin was crispy, and the meat was tender. Wrapped in a lotus leaf pancake with some sweet bean paste, it was so delicious that she felt like she could swallow her tongue.

“Eat slowly, there’s plenty,” Ye Xiaoyu told Lele, urging her to chew slowly, but she didn’t slow down herself, finishing her meal with a full belly and packing half a duck to take away.

After leaving the duck restaurant, mother and son didn’t take a car.

Ye Xiaoyu pushed her bike, and Lele walked beside her, his hand tied to her arm, almost like walking a dog. Passersby couldn’t help but glance at them.

They passed by a small residential complex.

This complex was called Huayuan, built in the 1980s. It was still quite new, as it was a welfare housing project, but not from a state-owned factory—it was from the radio station.

Just as they reached the entrance of the complex, Ye Xiaoyu saw an elderly woman struggling to hold onto a plastic bag full of groceries. It slipped from her hand, and apples rolled everywhere.

Stopping her bike, Ye Xiaoyu and Lele went over to help pick up the fruit.

“Thank you, young lady,” the elderly woman said, taking two apples from her basket, wiping them with her hand, and handing them over.

Ye Xiaoyu waved her hands and said, “Oh no, we didn’t help much.”

“Is this child named Lele? He looks so good,” the elderly woman said as she passed the apples to Lele, but when the child didn’t reach out to take them, she found it even more adorable. “Such a good temperament! You’re really good at raising children.”

Ye Xiaoyu smiled proudly, “Lele is always so sensible.”

Lele blushed.

The elderly woman hadn’t met a mother so direct in praising her child before, and seeing the shy little boy, she couldn’t help but laugh. She insisted on giving the last apple to Lele.

“Well, thank you for the apple,” Ye Xiaoyu said, finally accepting the gift. Then she turned to Lele and asked, “What should you say when Grandma gives you an apple?”

“Thank you, Grandma!” Lele said, holding the apple with a face as red as the fruit.

“Oh, such a good boy,” the elderly woman thought about taking him home with her.

“Let me help you carry your things, Grandma! Or I can put them in my bike basket?” Ye Xiaoyu offered.

They walked together and chatted.

When Ye Xiaoyu mentioned that they were looking for a rental, the elderly woman clapped her hands and smiled. “Well, how lucky! I know someone who’s planning to rent out a place.”

Through their conversation, Ye Xiaoyu learned that the elderly woman’s surname was Yang, her son and daughter-in-law worked at the radio station, and she had a granddaughter in middle school and a grandson, who was about the same age as Lele, living nearby.

“That’s great, they can play together later.” Ye Xiaoyu also briefly introduced herself, and under her mother’s encouragement, Xiao Lele introduced herself as well, “Hello, Grandma, my name is Ye Lexuan.”

“Lexuan, Lexuan, peaceful living and prosperous work, a lofty name indeed.”

Old Lady Yang lived on the fifth floor of Building Three in the Huayuan Community, and the house she introduced was also on the fifth floor.

This building had seven floors in total, with no elevator, and the fifth floor was considered a higher middle floor.

“If you prefer a lower floor, there are listings for the first and second floors on the small bulletin board over there.”

Ye Xiaoyu didn’t particularly like lower floors because there were more mosquitoes in summer, the lighting was poor, and the pipes often emitted unpleasant odors. Although the fifth floor wasn’t the ideal third floor, it was within an acceptable range. She smiled and replied, “I don’t mind the higher floor. If I have to climb a few more times every day, it’ll help me exercise and lose weight.”

“You young people, always talking about losing weight. Being a little plump is a big blessing!” Old Lady Yang couldn’t help but think of her son and daughter-in-law. It was fine for her daughter-in-law to care about her looks, but how could her son, a grown man, follow his wife and fuss about his weight? She mentioned that this was still better than the next-door department at the state-run enterprise, where it was even worse.

Ye Xiaoyu didn’t answer the old lady’s question and simply said, “I’m not plump, I’m overweight, which makes me more prone to illness. I still need to exercise more to keep my health strong.”

“That’s true, young people should move around more,” Old Lady Yang nodded in agreement.

When they reached the fifth floor, the owner, Mr. Li, was there. He was a middle-aged man dressed in a suit, and his surname was Li.

Mr. Li was not only Old Lady Yang’s neighbor but also her fellow villager and an old friend of hers. With such a connection, their conversation was very sincere.

They were moving because Mr. Li had been transferred to another television station.

In the past, when an employee was transferred, the house had to be returned, but now, with welfare housing, things were different. The owner had contributed part of the money, and even received the property registration certificate, so the house couldn’t be easily reclaimed.

Mr. Li wasn’t a fool. As Beijing was the capital, the house he had could not be sold, but leaving it vacant wasn’t ideal either. There was a saying, “A house shouldn’t stay empty for too long,” so he decided to rent it out.

Ye Xiaoyu took a look around the house.

It was a standard three-bedroom, one-living room layout with a large balcony. The decoration was quite traditional, with redwood tables and chairs. What surprised her most was not the TV in the living room but two other things.

The first was the heating. This house, or rather, the entire community, had central heating, which made it exceptionally warm. With the heating system, taking hot showers was convenient, and cooking in the kitchen became much easier. The second was the presence of an automatic washing machine in the bathroom, which saved Ye Xiaoyu some money.

As for other things, the lighting inside the house was good. The bedroom windows faced the community courtyard. During winter, many of the trees were bare, but in spring and summer, she imagined there would be birds chirping and flowers blooming.

“This is pretty good,” Ye Xiaoyu roughly assessed the soundproofing of the house, asked a few more questions about the neighbors, and then squatted down to ask, “Lele, do you like it here?”

Xiao Lele nodded, “It’s warm.”

They had dressed a bit thickly when they went out, but the house was heated, and it was not only warm but hot.

Ye Xiaoyu then asked, “Mr. Li, how much is the rent for this house?”

“1000 yuan per month,” Mr. Li replied.

This price was not cheap, considering the average salary of regular workers was between 200 and 600 yuan. However, this house was not being rented to ordinary workers.

Ye Xiaoyu asked, “Is there a discount if I pay the full annual rent upfront?”

Old Lady Yang saw that they were discussing the price and wisely decided to sit aside and quietly play with Lele.

Mr. Li had already inquired about the rental situation. He answered, “Since you’re a close acquaintance of Grandma Yang, if you pay the annual rent upfront, I can offer a discount to 10,000 yuan. Utilities would be paid separately, and a 500 yuan deposit is required. If any large items in the house are damaged, they should be repaired or compensated for at the original price. These terms will be written in the contract.”

The large items in the house were few, mainly the heating pipes, water heater, TV, bed, wardrobe, furniture, doors, and lighting fixtures.

Ye Xiaoyu inspected everything and didn’t find any major issues. She cleared her throat and asked, “Would 8000 yuan be acceptable? If so, I’ll rent it right now and pay in full today.”

This offer might have been a bit low, but the owner had already packed up and left in a hurry. It wasn’t easy to rent out the house in such a short time.

“8000 is too low, at least 9500.”

“8500.”

After some bargaining, they finally agreed on 8800 yuan for the year. With Grandma Yang’s introduction, Ye Xiaoyu didn’t press too hard, as it was valuable to make a friend and expand her network. Adding the 500 yuan deposit, the total came to 9300 yuan.

Mr. Li was moving the next day, so Ye Xiaoyu could move in the day after. In fact, his transfer had been arranged a month ago, and he was supposed to leave sooner. If Ye Xiaoyu didn’t rent the house, he wouldn’t be able to stay in Beijing much longer.

After confirming the moving date, both parties signed the hand-written contract. Ye Xiaoyu paid a 20% deposit and asked Mr. Li for a signature. She remembered that Ye Ermei was a loyal listener of Mr. Li’s radio program.