Chapter 196: Chapter 196
The old lady was somewhat displeased when Li Xianglu asked about this house, but seeing the girl’s clothes, which looked quite decent, and her well-kept appearance, she didn’t seem like an ordinary junk collector, so she explained: "This courtyard is my relative’s. It was returned to us after the political rehabilitations. The family is now all working in Shanghai, so the house has been left empty. That’s why I came over to clean it up, sort through any old junk to sell, and if it looks right, we’ll sell the courtyard as well."
Li Xianglu, hearing this, had a good idea and cautiously asked: "Grandma, how much does your relative want to sell this courtyard for?"
The old lady secretly gestured the number eight with her fingers and whispered: "Gold is also fine."
Li Xianglu’s eyes sparkled. Just yesterday, Grandpa took out a remittance slip with one hundred thousand US dollars, which converts to nearly two hundred thousand RMB. Purchasing such a courtyard would be easy, but eighty thousand yuan seemed a bit expensive. If it were a typical four-sided courtyard, it might be justifiable, but the rooms in the back of this one were all in ruins, and the ground needed complete restoration.
Li Xianglu shook her head with a hint of disappointment: "Grandma, the price is a bit steep."
The old lady, upon hearing this, her eyes lit up: "Yo, I couldn’t tell, you actually know that the price is too high. Then tell me, how much do you think is reasonable?"
Li Xianglu stretched out her hand to gesture the number six and then whispered: "If you can negotiate it down, I will give you a two thousand yuan intermediary fee."
Intermediary fee? That must mean a middleman’s commission. This girl is quite interesting and seems to know a lot. In fact, her relative who asked her to sell the house had already agreed to give her five hundred yuan as a finder’s fee, but she never expected the girl to offer two thousand right off the bat. However, sixty thousand yuan seemed a bit too low.
Seeing the old lady’s hesitation, Li Xianglu pretended to be worried: "Grandma, look at the back rooms of this courtyard, they are all dilapidated, and the ground needs complete restoration. Now this area has running water; if you want people to live here, you would have to dig up the whole place. Just buying bricks, tiles, and paying for the labor alone would cost at least..." Li Xianglu gestured a two.
The old lady nodded and said: "That’s right. You all start moving the stuff. I’ll go make a phone call right now. If they agree on the other end, we can go through with it. How does that sound?"
Li Xianglu clapped her hands in agreement: "Great, that’s the deal then. We’ll start moving things on our end, and you go and ask on your side." Then she took out ten yuan and said: "This is the money for the junk."
Ten yuan? The old lady’s eyes sparkled as she carefully accepted it, nodding: "Then I’ll give you the keys first. You can go ahead and move things, and I will come back at two this afternoon to get back to you."
Li Xianglu cheerfully said: "Okay, grandma, you go first. I’ll also go and get my family."
The old lady called out and tiptoed toward the courtyard, her speed swift enough to raise a gust of wind.
Li Xianglu, grinning, repeated the conversation for Qin Xi, who laughed and said: "Good job, well done. Let’s go check out our junk." Saying so, she gave Qin Zhen a pat on the bottom to get him cycling.
Qin Zhen looked begrudgingly at the two rooms full of junk furniture, angrily saying: "This is the treasure you mentioned?"
Li Xianglu, smugly donning gloves and a mask, replied: "Yeah, move it quickly. The money from selling these will be used to get you a wife!" Not another ’get you a wife’ - Qin Zhen couldn’t believe this junk would help him get married. But out of respect for his elder brother’s tough attitude, he could only help move the stuff.
Qin Xi suggested to move things into the courtyard first, let Li Xianglu check which could be used - take those away first, and move the rest later as they could also be dried and used as firewood.
Li Xianglu sorted out half a set of pear wood furniture - two chairs, a table, and a bed. All were somewhat old and worn, the finish had come off, but thankfully there were no missing parts.
Qin Zhen rode back first to deliver the items, while Qin Xi continued moving things out, and Li Xianglu sorted them into categories. It was after eleven in the morning by the time they had moved more than half.
Qin Xi clapped her hands and said, "That’s enough for now, we’ll continue in the afternoon. Shall we go out to eat for lunch?"
With a wipe of the sweat on her nose, Li Xianglu nodded with a smile, "We should go out to celebrate. It’s been quite the haul for the first day!"
Qin Zhen felt like his eyeballs were about to fall out. What kind of creatures were these two? Praising the mountains of junk they had picked up as a ’quite the haul’. But going out to eat? His mood lifted again.
After the last trip, Li Xianglu locked the door, Qin Xi pushed the cart, and Qin Zhen led the way on his bike. Thankfully, home wasn’t too far away and they soon arrived.
The courtyard door was wide open, and as soon as Mr. Li saw his granddaughter return, he eagerly called them in to wash up and tidy themselves.
Grandpa Li was about to cook when his granddaughter said they were going out to eat, so he agreed. It had been a while since he went out for a meal, besides, the remittance slip needed to be cashed in as well.
The four of them rode out. Qin Xi took Grandpa Li, and Qin Zhen took Li Xianglu. They went straight for Beijing Roast Duck, fully aware that it would be crowded without available seats at this hour, but how could they resist when two gluttons at home were craving it? They were willing to wait for it anyway.
Indeed, as soon as they parked their bikes, they saw several people already standing at the entrance, queuing with their numbers.
Qin Zhen was visibly displeased, and Li Xianglu pursed her lips, inhaling the rich aroma of roast duck from inside; Qin Xi could only helplessly shake her head.
Just then, a delighted voice called from upstairs: "Xiao Xiang, what are you doing here?"
Li Xianglu looked up to see a familiar figure descending from the second floor. It was Lu Anna. Li Xianglu smiled and said, "You’re here, too? We’ve come with my family to eat roast duck, but unfortunately, there are no seats." Saying so, she sadly shook the number ticket in her hand.
Lu Anna glanced over and saw Grandpa Li, and Qin Xi, as well as that boy with the dark expression. Her face stiffened for a moment, but then she turned to Li Xianglu and said, "We’re upstairs. It’s just my brother and sister-in-law, and Ping An. Others were supposed to come but ended up not showing up, so, if you all don’t mind, we could share a table and just order an extra duck or two."
Li Xianglu looked at Grandpa Li. Mr. Li thought for a moment; he knew Lu Xun and Yun Mei, so he smiled and nodded, "Then we’ll take you up on your offer!"
Upon hearing this, Li Xianglu cheered and followed Lu Anna upstairs. Grandpa Li, shaking his head with a smile, followed along. Qin Xi proceeded to go after noticing Qin Zhen frozen in place, pulled him along and said, "What’s the matter? Didn’t you say you really wanted roast duck? Why aren’t you moving?"
Qin Zhen blushed, coughed and looked down as he followed.
Indeed, the private room only had Lu Xun and his wife, as well as their five-year-old son, Lu Ping’an. The child got excited the moment he saw Li Xianglu and ran over to her. Perhaps he often heard at home that she was his savior, which made the boy inexplicably affectionate towards Li Xianglu. He sat next to her chattering away.
Qin Zhen sat quietly next to his brother, not speaking and staring at his hands. Li Xianglu could tell he was probably still upset about being made to collect junk.
PS: If some people are jealous of the amount of monthly tickets I have, there’s nothing I can do. Why don’t you try seeing if you have the skills to pry into those RMB players. For every thirty monthly tickets I receive, I add four thousand words. I have to sit and write for over five or six hours nearly every day, some people are really relentless. I’ll put the on hold for a bit. I’m going out for a walk.