My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 32 July's Blazing Heat
July arrived in the blink of an eye.

Half a month after the release of the movie "The Gunshots of the Secret Service," the hype gradually subsided, and Lin Ying's tea egg business slowly returned to normal, with sales falling from a peak of over two hundred to a normal level.

At this time, the weather in Shanghai also started to get hot, officially marking the transition from early summer to summer.

The phrase "July's scorching heat" perfectly describes Shanghai's summer. Compared to the dryness of the north, Shanghai's summer in the Jiangnan region is unbearable. The humidity is high and the temperature is high, and there is no air conditioning. In addition, the place they are staying is an attic, which is almost like a steam room in the summer. Even with a fan, it is difficult to fall asleep at night.

With no other option, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying had to do what people in Shanghai do these days and sleep on the sidewalks.

As evening falls, the sidewalks are filled with residents from the neighborhood coming out to cool off. They bring out deck chairs and even folding beds from their homes to claim a spot and set them up on the sidewalks. This is what Shanghainese call "enjoying the cool breeze."

Although it's not very elegant, it's much cooler outside than at home. Some people usually stay up until the middle of the night and then pack up and go home to sleep, but many others simply sleep on the roadside.

It was too hot to stay in the attic, so they had to temporarily sleep outside like everyone else. Fortunately, the two of them usually got up early; one had to go to the suburbs to collect old hens and eggs, and the other had to prepare to set up a stall near the movie theater to sell tea eggs. Sleeping outside was actually more convenient for them.

"We need to find another place."

One day, Lin Ying quietly said to Zhou Jiye, "It's not even August yet, and it's already this hot in the attic. What will we do when the hottest days come? We can't keep sleeping on the roadside, can we?"

Even if the weather isn't as hot as it will be forty years from now, the highest temperature is usually around 35 or 36 degrees Celsius, and it doesn't last very long. But the problem is that in the era before air conditioning, such hot weather was simply unbearable.

In winter, the conditions in the attic are not much better.

These pigeon coop apartments are a perfect example of being hot in summer and cold in winter. The damp and cold winters in Shanghai can be deadly, and it's really unbearable to continue living like this.

Moreover, something else made Lin Ying uneasy: the landlady, Aunt Wang, was gradually changing her attitude towards them, just as she had feared. Perhaps she had sensed something, or perhaps she was jealous of their thriving business. Even though Lin Ying would occasionally try to shut her up with a few tea eggs, Aunt Wang had developed a "resistance" after eating so many.

Starting a few days ago, Aunt Wang would occasionally make suggestive remarks to them, and even deliberately asked about Lin Ying's household registration, saying that she had received a notice from the street office that she needed to register, etc. This was nothing more than an attempt to manipulate them and get some benefits.

This put pressure on Lin Ying. Besides, they had rented Aunt Wang's attic because they were new to the city and had nowhere else to go. Now, they had saved up some money through their business and were gradually becoming familiar with Shanghai. After thinking it over, they decided it was better to find another place before completely falling out with Aunt Wang.

However, it won't be easy for them to rent a place, mainly due to their residency status. Without Shanghai residency, even if they find a place, they probably won't stay long. But there's nothing they can do but take it one step at a time and find a place first.

Neither Zhou Jiye nor Lin Ying could resolve the issue of Shanghai residency.

It's incredibly difficult to get a household registration in Shanghai, especially since they're all farmers with no connections or background. Where are they supposed to go to get one?
Lin Ying had been inquiring about new places to stay, and so had Zhou Jiye. Zhou Jiye even asked Lao Wen for help. As a native of Shanghai, Lao Wen had a much easier time doing this than Zhou Jiye. Moreover, after spending time together, Zhou Jiye and Lao Wen had developed a very good relationship and could be considered friends.

On this day, Zhou Jiye set up his stall to sell old hens as usual, and all twenty old hens were sold out before noon.

Old Wen, who was in charge of killing chickens, worked well with the other two. To be honest, Old Wen had earned quite a bit of money these days from this job.

"Brother, there's been news about the house you asked me to inquire about last time."

After helping Zhou Jiye clean up the stall, Lao Wen took the cigarette Zhou Jiye offered and lit it with a match. Taking a puff, Lao Wen whispered to Zhou Jiye...

"Really? Tell me more."

Zhou Jiye was immediately delighted and quickly asked more questions.

He was in a real hurry about the house. Aunt Wang had been acting strangely these past few days, and they couldn't wait until things really escalated before moving. They had reached an agreement to move as soon as possible. "Three places," Old Wen said. "The first place is near the market. There's a small room for rent at number 27 in the alley ahead. The room is fairly square, but the rent isn't cheap—six yuan a month. Four families live in that building. An elderly couple lives on the first floor, and two families live on the second floor above the room. One family is a young couple with two children, and the other is a family of three—two adults and their unmarried daughter."

"There is another family living on the third floor. There are five people in the family: two elderly people and three children. The attic room that is being rented out belongs to the elderly couple on the first floor. Their children are all working in other places, so the room is empty and they plan to rent it out to supplement their income."

"So many households?" Zhou Jiye frowned slightly. They were currently living in Aunt Wang's house, but the house Lao Wen mentioned housed four households. If they moved in, it would become five households. It would be inconvenient for so many people to live together. It was fine for him to sell old hens, as he could collect them every morning and sell them all that day. But Lin Ying also needed to sell tea eggs. These tea eggs had to be cooked in advance every night, and with so many people, it could cause a lot of trouble over time.

"What about the other two places?" Zhou Jiye didn't like the first place for the time being. Although it was close by, he figured it would be quite troublesome to move in. He wanted to hear about the other houses before making a decision.

“The second place is a bit further away, two stops from here. The house and rent are similar to the one at number 27, but there are only two families living there…” Old Wen continued. Listening carefully to his explanation, Zhou Jiye thought to himself that this family was better than the previous one, but not by much. And the key problem was that it was far away. Two stops was not a short distance. It wouldn’t be a problem for Zhou Jiye to ride his bicycle, but it would be troublesome for Lin Ying to sell tea eggs. She would have to push her cart back and forth for an hour every day, which was really inconvenient.

"Where's the last one?"

"The last one isn't really a proper house, but it's not far from here."

"What do you mean by 'not a proper room'?"

Old Wen explained the situation to Zhou Jiye in detail. It turned out that the last place he mentioned was a temporary house, located in an alleyway one street west of where they were currently living. This alleyway was much better than Aunt Wang's house. Aunt Wang's house was a shikumen house in the alley, while the houses in that alleyway were rows of Western-style houses.

The houses in this alley were built forty or fifty years ago, and were considered a decent villa community in Shanghai back then. Of course, they are slightly different from Lin Ying's villa. If Lin Ying's house is a detached villa, then the houses in the alley that Lao Wen mentioned are semi-detached villas.

Back then, this place was inhabited by some prominent people, but due to the changing times, it became an ordinary residential area, and the layout of the alleyways also changed.

In the 1950s and 60s, Shanghai's population was increasing rapidly, and housing in the city center became very tight. In some areas, privately built houses emerged to solve this problem. This was common in big cities, not only in Shanghai but also in Kyoto. These houses were temporary structures and would definitely be considered illegal buildings decades later.

Logically, this situation shouldn't have occurred in that alleyway. After all, even if the original residents were no longer there, most of the newcomers were people of some status. However, the problem was the special circumstances at the time. Some people in the community saw this happening elsewhere and, to some extent, had similar ideas, building some makeshift structures there as well.

Later, the situation became more and more serious, and the higher authorities directly stopped it. They turned a blind eye to the situation in the Rolling Dragon area, but adopted a cleanup policy in the Wutong District that required the restoration of the original state. As a result, many illegal buildings were demolished, but a small number of them were still preserved.

"This house is a bungalow. It was originally built next to the small garden of the Western-style house. Most of the house was in the garden, with only a part extending outwards. In 1968, the street was used as a warehouse, so when it was cleared later, there was no requirement to forcibly demolish it."

“The homeowner had some trouble back then. Last year, the policy was implemented and the house was returned to the original homeowner, including this temporary building. Now the house is empty and the homeowner doesn’t live there. A relative of mine is a colleague of the homeowner. You mentioned a few days ago that you wanted to rent a house, so I asked around and my relative recommended this place.”

Zhou Jiye thought about it and decided that this place was worth checking out, since it was close by and convenient. He didn't care about building a house or anything like that, as long as people could live there. Besides, Zhou Jiye had passed by that neighborhood before, and the environment was much better than where they lived now. If the house was suitable, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

"How big is the house? And what's the rent?"

"I heard it's about 20 square meters, but I haven't been there. The rent is a bit expensive; they asked for eight yuan."

Eight yuan?

The price was a bit high, but 20 square meters was quite a lot of space, much better than their current cramped attic apartment. Zhou Jiye thought about it for a moment, then asked Lao Wen to schedule a time with the other party so he and Lin Ying could go and take a look first. They needed to see it before making a decision.

That evening, Zhou Jiye told Lin Ying about it, and Lin Ying shared the same opinion as Zhou Jiye.

House number 27 is too crowded, and the other house is too far away; neither is suitable. The bungalow, on the other hand, would be a better option if possible, as it's closer and more suitable for them.

(End of this chapter)