Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 685 It's Not That Expensive
house?

Chen Fan blinked twice before suddenly realizing, "Oh, you mean the Prince Ning's Mansion?"

He bought it in August, and it's almost 1979 now. There's been no news for almost half a year. If it weren't for Deputy Director Li coming over, he would have almost forgotten that he still had a Prince's Mansion in his possession.

Deputy Director Li looked at him speechlessly, "Of course it's the Prince Ning's Mansion. You didn't buy any other large courtyard houses."

Chen Fan immediately corrected him in a serious tone, "It wasn't me who bought it, it was my uncle."

There are huge differences between them.

These days, if someone buys a small courtyard house, it'll be the talk of the town. If people knew that Chen Fan bought the Ningjun Prince's Mansion, they'd be talking about it for the rest of their lives.

They would say things like: "Back in 1977, the average wage for workers across the country was only 50 yuan, and someone spent hundreds of thousands to buy a mansion," and so on.

They chatted for even longer than Liu Xing's grandmother, who spent 26,000 yuan to buy a small courtyard house next to the Forbidden City.

Yes, the courtyard house from the movie "Party A, Party B".

In short, it's all very popular right now. Many units in the provincial capital are discussing the Wenyi New Village, and there are also many people in the Wenyi New Village talking about the lakeside bungalows of the leaders.

Gossip is an innate skill; no one can escape it.

It's inappropriate for Chen Fan to spend hundreds of thousands on a house; if his uncle had stepped in, there wouldn't have been this problem.

The big businessman from America must be rich, at most he'll just exclaim a few words of amazement, even those in the know will only marvel at how rich Chen Fan's relatives are.

Faced with Chen Fan's denial, Deputy Director Li nodded nonchalantly, "Yes, yes, it was your uncle who bought it."

He caught his breath and continued, "Just yesterday, the last household moved out, and now the entire house is vacant. The next step is demolition and renovation."

Although you left your renovation suggestions before, the more detailed the better. The design institute has already produced a set of drawings, so I wanted to invite you over to discuss how to proceed.

At this point, he turned to look at the three old men and smiled at Zhang Xuansong, "I didn't know that Writer Chen had come to the capital. I originally wanted to ask you to help me pass on a message, but I couldn't find him when I went there this morning. I was thinking of going again tomorrow, but I didn't expect to run into him here."

Chen Fan glanced in the direction he had come from and asked curiously, "Are you bringing someone to look at the house?"

The housing management bureau isn't here; they must have something to do here.

Deputy Director Li smiled and nodded, "Didn't we announce the announcement the day before yesterday? With the Sino-US friendship just around the corner, some overseas Chinese in the US want to buy a yard so they can visit each other more often. So I brought them here to take a look."

I had just finished watching, and they had all gone home. I was on my way back to work when I heard some noise coming from the courtyard, so I came to check it out. And guess what? I ran into them! Isn't that a coincidence?

Chen Fan nodded to indicate that he understood. After a couple of seconds of contemplation, he said, "How about this? My uncle is about to return to China. Once he arrives, I'll go with him to see him, okay?"

Zhou Zhengdong and his team were on a secret mission, so they couldn't tell everyone they were in Beijing. They decided to wait until the mission was off-limits before telling anyone.

Deputy Director Li readily agreed, laughing, "Sure, I usually don't have anything major going on here. Just give me a call beforehand."

He offered another cigarette, waved goodbye, and after Deputy Director Li had gone far away, Chen Fan and the others got into their car and left.

Only then did Zhang Xuansong ask curiously, "Your uncle bought a royal palace?"

Chen Fan hummed in agreement, then turned around and smiled, "Didn't Zhou Yali come to visit during summer vacation last time? She was quite interested in these traditional buildings and wanted to buy a nice courtyard house to collect..."

Upon hearing this, Li Shangde, Lin Yuanxiang, and Zhang Xuansong were all particularly puzzled.

Collecting houses? What kind of quirk is that?
Mr. Huo sat down next to Zhang Xuansong and, seeing the expression on his face, couldn't help but laugh and say, "Westerners are different from us. We collect things that are valuable and meaningful, while they collect whatever they like."

In Europe, there are quite a few people who collect castles, vineyards, and cars. But these are nothing compared to some of the truly unusual and bizarre items that most people would never even imagine.

Zhang Xuansong was very curious, "What's so strange about it?"

Mr. Huo counted on his fingers, "King Charles II of England liked to collect the dust from mummies..."

As soon as he started talking, Lin Yuanxiang asked, "What is a mummy?"

Mr. Huo opened his mouth, thinking about how to explain, when Chen Fan, who was driving in front, said, "It's a Western mummified corpse."

The three masters grimaced together, "Ugh... how disgusting."

Then Zhang Xuansong pulled Mr. Huo aside and asked, "Anything else?"

Mr. Huo clicked his tongue and continued, "Peter the Great of Russia liked to collect other people's teeth, King George IV of England collected his mistress's hair, and the current Queen of England likes to collect animals..."

Chen Fan nodded in front, "Hmm, this one is a bit like me."

The four people behind him paused for a moment, then nodded in unison, "That's true."

I haven't seen the little monkey for two days, and I miss it a bit.

Mr. Huo shook his head and laughed, "So, collecting houses is quite normal now. Besides, in the West, houses can appreciate in value, so you can sell them later when you don't like them anymore and make a profit."

Li Shangde suddenly said, “The houses here are appreciating in value too. My little courtyard only cost two million dollars more than 20 years ago, which is two hundred dollars in Singapore dollars. Just recently, someone in the next alley sold a courtyard just like mine. I heard it sold for a full three thousand dollars, a 15-fold increase in value. His place isn’t even as good as mine; it doesn’t even have a toilet.”

Upon hearing this, Mr. Huo was visibly surprised. "So expensive?"

Having lived in mainland China for so many years, what he has heard and seen is mostly a few yuan, tens of yuan, or even a few hundred yuan. Hearing three thousand yuan all of a sudden still makes him a little uncomfortable.

Even if the object is a house.

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's not expensive. Many educated youth returned to the city this year, and housing prices have risen a lot. Next year, it will probably rise even more, and most likely they will rise further. A room of about ten square meters in a tenement costs about 500 yuan. Master's courtyard is a detached courtyard with three rooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Three thousand yuan is really not expensive."

Speaking of this, Zhang Xuansong couldn't stop smiling. "Xiao Fan was so farsighted. He told me to buy a house last year. The big courtyard of the Taoist temple only cost a little over ten thousand yuan. It was such a good deal."

Mr. Huo stared blankly, somewhat confused. "That Taoist temple only cost a little over ten thousand?"

Think about the cramped courtyards where they lived, and then think about the beautiful and spacious Taoist temple. The difference is so small.
Chen Fan glanced back and laughed, "Bought it for 15,000. But house prices in Beijing are different from those in Hong Kong. For similar locations, it's not about the size of the land, but about the condition of the house and whether it's habitable. The land isn't worth much."

If it's a perfectly intact courtyard like the one the master has, then it's expensive. It's a detached house with a kitchen and toilet, ready to move in, and the price is even higher than a tenement building.

But if it's a dilapidated house, or even a vacant lot where you need to build your own, the price is practically like cabbage—it'll be slashed to the bottom, costing almost nothing.

Zhang Xuansong continued, "That Taoist temple used to be a warehouse of the Imperial Household Department. When it was bought, the walls were crooked and the beams were collapsed. The renovation was more difficult than rebuilding, and it still cost 15,000 yuan."

Xiao Fan also bought a large courtyard, but it was basically empty land with only a few crooked tile-roofed houses. It used to be used by the neighborhood match factory. After it flooded twice, the neighbors were afraid and moved away. Xiao Fan spent 11,000 yuan to buy it, which was essentially buying an empty plot of land.

He later divided the place in two. He built a small four-story building on the northwest side, which was 800 square meters, supposedly for their machinery factory to use as offices. But it was never used and is still empty.

"On the southeast side, there's a 2,000-square-meter area where I designed and built a small house myself, with front and back gardens. It's very comfortable..."

He nudged Mr. Huo's arm and said, "Brother, you haven't been there yet, have you?" Mr. Huo shook his head. "No."

Zhang Xuansong said, "After we finish eating, let's go there and take a look. They have radios and TVs, and a whole room full of books. It's much more fun than where we are."

Mr. Huo clicked his tongue, looking at Chen Fan in front of him. So this guy is a tycoon too.

That makes sense, though; artists are usually quite wealthy unless they're completely unknown.

He was curious to see what Chen Fan's house looked like.

Chen Fan turned the steering wheel as he drove, "Then let's not eat out, let's go straight home. We've stocked up on a lot of groceries these past few days, let's cook ourselves."

Mr. Huo clapped his hands and said happily, "That's perfect!"

He was a man of the world, having tasted the skills of chefs from both the East and the West. He had seen the master chefs of state banquets in mainland China, the God of Cookery in Hong Kong, and Michelin-starred chefs in France. In his opinion, Chen Fan's skills were absolutely no less than any of them, and might even be slightly better.

Skill is revealed in the details, and wonder is found in the ordinary.

Ordinary ingredients, in Chen Fan's hands, can be transformed into the flavors of top-quality ingredients, bringing out the original taste of the materials to the fullest.

In other words, Chen Fan is a writer and calligrapher/painter. Otherwise, if he had gone to Hong Kong to work as a chef and then collaborated with me, he could have easily built a catering group!

I drove around in circles and finally got home; it was already dark.

With Liu Juan and Ma Lan helping out, Chen Fan quickly prepared a large table of dishes. After the meal, he took Mr. Huo on a tour of his home.

Mr. Huo was originally in the real estate business, so he was extremely familiar with building materials.

I stomped my feet on the floor twice; it was teak.

I held onto the wooden railing as I went upstairs, and casually touched it a few times. It was extremely smooth and oily, and it was teak.

Once they reached the second floor, he suddenly widened his eyes and asked softly, "This railing?"

Chen Fan glanced at it and laughed, "Oh, it's a whole sapling of rosewood, only the bark has been peeled off, so it's a bit uneven, but it'll make a perfect handrail."

Mr. Huo gasped, straightened up, turned around, and looked at the door again. "Hiss... this door is made of nanmu wood?"

Chen Fan looked at it and said, "Ah, I heard that nanmu wood is not easily deformed, so you don't have to worry about breaking the door when you close it too hard."

Mr. Huo opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Even though he's very rich, he doesn't spend money like this.

Then, led by Chen Fan, they saw rows of teak bookshelves, complete sets of rare and ancient books, a large huanghuali wood desk, and rosewood furniture in the attic study...

This place is practically a museum of precious timber!

After the visit, Mr. Huo couldn't help but exclaim, "You spent 11,000 yuan to buy the land here, so it must have cost 110,000 yuan to build the house."

Chen Fan shook his head and smiled, "It wasn't that expensive. Most of the materials used to build the house were second-hand, so it didn't cost much."

He pointed to the wall and said, "Take these bricks, for example. They are the bricks left over from when the city wall was demolished. The bricks used to pave the courtyard outside are also made from these bricks. They are much cheaper than using new bricks."

"And there was the earthquake a few years ago, right? The city stockpiled a lot of building materials, including wood, steel bars, and cement. The wood was fine, but the steel bars and cement have expiration dates, and some were almost expired. I specifically bought these kinds of materials, and after some processing, they can actually be used normally."

He then pointed to the floor and the wooden stairs, "These are the most expensive pieces of wood. Hainan rosewood is bought for 8 to 10 cents on the island, but it costs 30 cents per kilogram when transported here. Ten thousand kilograms would cost 3,000 yuan."

The rosewood and golden nanmu wood used for making furniture also cost a lot of money.

The entire construction of this house cost around 40,000 to 50,000 yuan, which is definitely much more expensive than the land itself.

Mr. Huo looked around with his head tilted back, thinking to himself, "If this were in Hong Kong, even 1000 million wouldn't be enough to buy it."

Hong Kong property prices are actually not cheap now. In 80, the average price of a property in Hong Kong was HK$1000 per square foot, which is equivalent to HK$9000 per square meter. By the beginning of 81, it had risen to HK$1100 per square foot, which is about HK$1 per square meter.

Later, when the government was going to take it back, the housing prices plummeted. In 1982, they fell to 850 yuan, and in March 1983, they fell to 750 yuan. By 1984, the dust had settled, and the prices had risen back to 800 yuan.

Therefore, a 1,000-square-foot luxury house costs HK$1 million, and in bustling urban areas like Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, it would cost even more.

The so-called "mountaintop mansions" have a different price.

Even in a relatively remote villa area in Hong Kong, this house alone, considering its size and the wood used, would be worth no less than HK$1000 million.

If it were on Victoria Peak, it would be priceless, depending entirely on how much the seller is willing to ask for and how much the buyer can accept. If a deal is reached, a transaction can be made, and even hundreds of millions is not impossible.

In terms of location, this is a prime location in Beijing, separated from the Forbidden City by only a river and next to the famous Houhai Lake. Just consider its value...

Mr. Huo suddenly realized that houses in Beijing are really cheap.

After sitting and drinking tea for a while to aid digestion, Chen Fan escorted the four of them back to the courtyard.

At the entrance of the courtyard, the car that was supposed to pick up Mr. Huo was still waiting there. After seeing him, they finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pulled him into the car and drove away.

When Chen Fan returned home and sat down on the sofa, Liu Juan brought him tea.

After taking a few sips of tea, he picked up the phone and dialed a number.

The call connected shortly after, and Zhou Yali answered, "Hello, who is this?"

Chen Fan: "When will you guys finish your work?"

Zhou Yali turned to look at her father. "It's Xiaofan. Dad, Xiaofan asked when you'll be done with your work."

Zhou Zhengdong was looking at the documents when he heard this. He raised his head and thought for a moment, "It should be about time by tomorrow. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll go over tomorrow night."

Zhou Yali was about to speak when she heard Chen Fan's voice coming from the receiver, "I'll pick you up at the hotel entrance at 5 pm tomorrow."

"Well,……"

Zhou Yali blinked. "See you tomorrow afternoon."

Just as she was about to hang up, she heard Chen Fan say, "Tell your uncle that the Ningjun Prince's Mansion you bought has been vacated. If there's nothing else, we can go over there the day after tomorrow to take a look at the site and finalize the renovation plan."

Zhou Yali's eyes lit up instantly, "Okay!"

(End of this chapter)