Chapter 27

“This is my friend, Qiao Xinyi. She’s currently renting a room at Li Jun’s place,” Fu Qingshan quickly explained, realizing that Qian Ke had misunderstood. “She wants to buy a house, so I came with her. I figured you might have some information.”

As soon as Qian Ke heard that the woman was also a friend of Li Jun’s, he warmed up to them. “Looking to buy a house? Then you’ve come to the right person! Come on in, I’ll take you to the Housing Division to check out some listings.”

As he led them into the office, Qian Ke asked Qiao Xinyi about the kind of house she wanted—how big and in which area.

“If you’ve got enough money, you might want to consider one of the Western-style houses on Chang’an Street. Those buildings used to serve as offices for various work units, so they’ve been well-maintained both inside and out. A lot of people have been rehabilitated in the past couple of years, and these properties are being returned to private ownership. A few owners are looking to sell.”

Qian Ke placed a stack of documents in front of Qiao Xinyi. “These are listings for the Western-style homes. There are even a few photos.”

Qiao Xinyi opened the documents and glanced at them. The first image she saw was of a three-and-a-half-story Western-style house with a front yard and a back garden. The photos were in black and white, so she couldn’t tell what color the house was.

“What you’re looking at now is a red-brick Western-style house. It used to be one of the reception spots for special foreign guests, so the interior furnishings are the most well-preserved among all the houses of its kind. If you’re going to buy one of these, I’d recommend this one,” said Qian Ke. “But these houses are really expensive~”

He sighed. “The owner wants 2,800 yuan. That kind of price? Even our department head would have to go without food or drink and save for over five years to afford it.”

Even Qian Ke himself found it a bit outrageous after saying it out loud. Houses didn’t feed you or keep you warm, and most workers were still waiting for housing allocations from their work units. Not many people were willing to spend that much money on a big house like this.

What’s more, buying such a large house privately was bound to attract attention. Even people who had the money were still on the sidelines. After everything that had happened over the past ten years, who wouldn’t be cautious?

Thinking of that, Qian Ke handed Qiao Xinyi another stack of documents. “If that’s too much, you can take a look at these. They’re ordinary residential houses along the street—cheaper.”

“They’re all single-story homes. Some have already been reclaimed by the state, but some still have tenants refusing to leave. The houses vary in size—the smaller ones are just over 300 yuan, the larger ones go for 500 to 800.”

Seeing Qiao Xinyi frozen in place, eyes wide, Qian Ke thought this comrade must have been stunned by the high prices.

He figured, Yeah, the houses are expensive. They’re small, rundown, and still cost over 300 yuan. You’d have to spend more to renovate—around 400 or 500 in total.
How many families can cough up that kind of cash to buy a place for their kid?

And as for wealthy folks—they already had homes. They didn’t need to buy more.

These properties were stuck in limbo: too expensive for the poor, and unnecessary for the rich. Most workers were just waiting for free housing from their units.

Qiao Xinyi had no idea Qian Ke was having all these thoughts.

She was stunned, yes—but it was the prices of this era that left her speechless.

Only now did she understand why, when she had asked Zhuang Chunsheng for 3,000 yuan, he had snapped, “You think you deserve it?”
And now she finally understood why Chen Daniu and his wife had been tempted to commit murder over just 500 yuan.

Thinking back, when Zhuang Chunsheng gave her 5,000 yuan, the bloodshot eyes he’d had that day—he must’ve been up all night, too heartbroken to sleep.
Which only meant one thing: the Zhuang family had made plenty of dirty money.

Qiao Xinyi flipped through both stacks and ended up interested in the Western-style house Qian Ke had recommended and one of the street-front single-story homes.

“I’d like to go see these two,” Qiao Xinyi said, pointing to the listings. “Would it be possible to view them in person?”

“Of course, it’s convenient. I’ll take you there—both owners have left their keys at our office,” Qian Ke said, noticing that the woman had some money on her. He borrowed a bicycle from a colleague at work, gave his own bike to Fu Qingshan, who then rode with Qiao Xinyi. The three of them first headed to the Western-style house.

The Western-style house was located in the city center but offered a quiet refuge amid the bustle. As Qian Ke led the way, he introduced the area to Qiao Xinyi. Only wealthy families lived in this neighborhood—either leaders from various units or descendants of scholarly families. These neighbors were well-off, so the usual street noise was minimal.

When they arrived at the Western-style house, Qiao Xinyi was stunned. The small courtyard was lush with greenery, and the red brick and white walls of the house stood out brightly amid the clusters of plants. Qian Ke’s description was accurate—the house was very well preserved, and even the plants in the yard were well cared for.

“It’s so beautiful!” Qiao Xinyi exclaimed.

Hearing her admiration, Fu Qingshan turned to look, then glanced back at Qiao Xinyi. From her expression and praise, he understood she had fallen in love with the house.

After locking up the bikes, the three went inside. While opening the door, Qian Ke told Qiao Xinyi, “The furniture inside is all included. As long as you don’t mind that it’s been used before, you can move in after just a quick cleaning.”

Since the house had been used as a special guest reception center, the original furniture had been preserved and continued to be used after the property was taken over. The guest house was used only a few times a year, and cleaning staff came weekly, so the furniture remained in good condition.

“The owner wants to sell the house along with the furniture, so there’s not much room for negotiation on the price.”

Because the house was used for high-level receptions, related departments had maintained and renovated it with quality materials.

After walking through the house, Qiao Xinyi decided she wanted to buy it.

After leaving the Western-style house, the three went to see the street-front single-story home. Compared to the impressive Western-style house, this one was rather unremarkable.

“This house used to have a lot of tenants, so it’s a bit messy. When the owner tried to reclaim the house, there were conflicts with those tenants. The owner had to get help from the police and the neighborhood office to take the house back by force.”

“Those tenants left in anger, so they deliberately damaged the place badly. Like here in the corner, the walls were knocked down on purpose, and there’s some random stuff splattered on the walls,” Qian Ke explained, justifying why the house was so smelly and rundown.

“If you want to buy this, you can apply through our office to rebuild it,” he said, holding up five fingers. “I can help you get our director’s approval to build this many floors.”

Qiao Xinyi exclaimed, “Wow!”

“Because we’re friends, I recommend this one to you,” Qian Ke said. “Though the house is in bad shape, the land is large. If you tear it down and rebuild, even though the upfront cost is high, once it’s built, you can rent it out.”

“Right now, not many people are buying houses, but more and more are renting. Many young couples get married, but their work units haven’t allocated them housing yet, so they prefer renting as a temporary solution.”