50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 44 House Viewing 2
The middle-aged man seemed to be interested, so he said to him, "You want to come to my place and take a look? It's not impossible. I'll test you."

Sun Zhiwei raised his eyebrows and said, "You are asking the right question. I am always number one in the class. Go ahead and ask."

"Okay, listen carefully." The middle-aged man thought for a moment and then said, "Alas! Luck is uneven, and life is full of twists and turns. Feng Tang is easy to grow old, and Li Guang is hard to be promoted. What's next?"

"When Jia Yi was exiled to Changsha, it wasn't because there was no wise ruler; when Liang Hong was exiled to Haiqu, it wasn't because there was no enlightened time. It was because the gentleman saw the opportunity, and the wise knew their destiny. Old age makes one stronger, and why should one change one's heart when one is old? Poverty makes one more resolute, and one's ambition to rise to the top remains unchanged."

"Sir, you really think highly of me. This is a high school essay. Luckily I read it in advance, otherwise I would have been stumped by you today, hehe."

He was being modest, but he was already complaining in his heart. He was a die-hard fan, and yet he had a "bad luck"—was he unwilling to accept failure? And he was still "still striving for success"—was he trying to make a comeback?

"Look, I've answered all the questions. I can go look at houses now. I have to rush back after I finish my exams today."

"You're a great guy. This is a bit difficult, but you managed to remember it. Let's go to my house and take a look." The middle-aged man was very satisfied with Sun Zhiwei's answer and agreed to take him back to see the house.

As they walked into the alley, they talked: "Classmate, what's your name? Which school do you study in?"

"My name is Sun Wei. I'm a sophomore at the High School Affiliated to the Normal University. How about you, teacher?"

"My last name is Zhang. The Affiliated High School of Normal University is pretty good. Why did you want to move to this area? It's a bit far."

"Hey, Mr. Zhang, look at what you said. Who wants to move? Isn't our neighborhood going to be demolished? So we're looking for a house everywhere."

"As you can see, I've been assigned 10 addresses. My days off will be spent looking for houses everywhere. I won't have time to play around."

"Where do you live? Why is it going to be demolished?"

"It's the area around Xitong Hutong. I heard a large section of it is going to be demolished to build some kind of grand hall."

As they were talking, they had arrived at the end of the alley. There was only one door, which led to the middle-aged man's home. At this time, the door was locked.

The middle-aged man took out the key from his bag and opened the door. Sun Zhiwei always covered his body with space behind him. If there was any abnormality, he would take action first.

Fortunately, the middle-aged man was not planning to do anything.

After the door opened, Sun Zhiwei saw a screen wall. There should have been carvings on it, but it had now been smoothed over with white lime.

The middle-aged man waited for Sun Zhiwei to come in, then closed the door. The two of them turned around the screen wall and saw a large courtyard with a big tree on each side, one was a cassia tree and the other was a jujube tree.

The two trees are lush and leafy, blocking out all the afternoon sun and making the yard feel very cool. There are stone tables and stone benches under the trees, which is very comfortable to cool down here.

There is also a small vegetable patch at the corner of the east wall, where many green leafy vegetables are planted and growing well. There is an octagonal well next to the vegetable patch, which makes watering very convenient.

The front is the main house. Judging from the regulations, it should be a four-room courtyard main house style. The middle is the living room, with two rooms on each side, and two ear rooms on the side, making a total of 7 rooms.

In Sun Zhiwei's eyes, there is another underground floor. You have to go down from the east ear room. There are three rooms underneath, but it is not under the main house, but under the yard.

There are three rooms underground. One contains a box of weapons, a box of property and some bottles and jars; one room is specifically used to store items, half of which is filled with food and a lot of cloth; the last one is like a study, with a high-power radio on the desk in the middle.

This made Sun Zhiwei very puzzled. He had to sell his house to buy so many things. How was he going to transport all these supplies?

The middle-aged man took Sun Zhiwei on a tour of the house above ground, giving him a clear view of the underground. Beyond the study, there was a passageway that extended southeastward, its destination unknown. When they returned to the living room, the middle-aged man poured him a glass of water, and then they sat down to talk.

Sun Zhiwei was polite for a moment before asking, "Teacher Zhang, your house is nice. Did you build it yourself? Do you have a permit?"

"It is indeed self-built and has a certificate. I have a fire wall and floor heating here. When the fire is lit in winter, it is very warm. Isn't it better than those old courtyard houses?" The middle-aged man said with a bit of pride.

"Yes, it's a nice house. Why are you still selling it?"

"I just changed my job and became a lecturer at Peking University. It's too far from here, 20 miles away. I plan to build a new yard there."

"Ah, Peking University? I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be a university professor."

"So how much do you want to sell this house for? As you know, there are too many houses for sale now, so the price is not that high now."

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and said, "Go back and tell your parents that I have seven rooms and a large yard. It's warm in winter and cool in summer, and there's a large cellar downstairs."

"I only want 1000 silver dollars. If you want to pay with gold, I'll just pay with two large yellow croakers."

Sun Zhiwei was silent for a while before replying, "Teacher Zhang, you've seen it too. I've looked at a lot of houses these days. Your house is indeed nice, but it really can't be sold at this price."

"I'll take your words back. If my family is interested, I'll come back to discuss it with you. I'm sorry to bother you today, so I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, Sun Zhiwei stood up and walked out.

"Wait a moment."

Teacher Zhang called him over and hesitated before saying, "The lowest is 700, but I can't move until next month."

Sun Zhiwei had originally planned to report the situation after finding out the details, but the conditions in this courtyard were indeed very good, and he wanted to take advantage of the situation.

This is very dangerous, but if it is really reported, it is uncertain who will get the yard in the end, but it will definitely not be in his hands.

He hadn't decided whether to do it or not. After listening to Teacher Zhang's words, he thought for a while before saying, "Okay, I'll go back and talk to my family. If there's no problem, I'll get back to you within a week at the latest."

"Okay, let me take you there."

Teacher Zhang escorted him out of the alley before returning, while Sun Zhiwei headed south and returned to Xi'anmen Street. He wanted to see where the underground passage led to.

Along the way, he kept thinking about the pros and cons, and finally arrived at the gate of the Peking Library.

He re-drew the map of the area in his mind and confirmed that the tunnel led in this direction.

At present, the library is open to the public. Many people are coming in and out of the vermilion lacquered gate. After thinking about it, he followed them in.

Pretending to be a reader, he followed the crowd and soon arrived at Wenjin Building. Estimating the distance in his mind, he began to walk inside along the west wall.

After walking about 150 meters, he was almost reaching the north wall. He saw a house in the northwest corner of the wall.

(End of this chapter)