I trade in both worlds

Listening to the conversation between the two, Aunt Xu said helplessly: "It won't take a day or two. Let's find someone to check and calculate how many watts to buy. It doesn't matter if we buy more, but don't buy too much."

Xu Youyin said impatiently: "I know, I know, would I cheat my sister?"

Xu Xu chuckled, "Don't worry, Second Aunt. You Yin builds houses frequently and has experience. He won't overpay. I trust him."

Aunt Xu rolled her eyes at them both and said, "Go ahead and do whatever you want. I don't want to bother with you."

Seeing that they had agreed, Xu Jizong asked Xu Xu, "Xu Xu, do you have any vegetables? Why don't you go to the garden and pick some? If it rains again in the next two days, don't go out."

Thinking that there really weren't many vegetables at home, and that the vegetables in my own garden had just started growing, there weren't many that I could eat, I nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go pick some now."

"I'll help you." Xu Youyin took his hat and followed Xu Xu to the vegetable garden.

After picking the vegetables, Xu Xu went back home. She was worried about her children who were her only children at home.

At 2023 o'clock in the morning on July 7, 2, Xu Ziqing drove for more than an hour from his home in Beijing to his modern Chinese courtyard in Baiping Village, a suburb of Beijing. Xu Ziqing is from Baiping Village, a suburb of Beijing.

Baiping Village is next to Long City, about 40 kilometers away from downtown Beijing. It is truly a suburb of the suburbs, with inconvenient transportation. There is no subway station, and it takes 40 minutes to take a bus to the nearest subway station.

Xu Ziqing is 26 years old and there are four people in his family. His father Xu Jianjun is 50 years old and he and his mother Chen Xiaofen run a bun shop in Beijing. His brother Xu Ziqi is 28 years old and is currently a surgeon in a Beijing hospital.

Grandpa and grandma of the Xu family are retired workers of the textile factory. Grandpa Xu was admitted to work in the textile factory after graduating from junior high school. Xu Jianjun was also born and raised in Beijing. When Xu Jianjun was 6 years old, Grandpa Xu, who had been waiting in line for several years for housing allocation, finally got a large bungalow with a yard.

Reform and opening up began two years after the housing distribution. When the educated youth began to return to the city, Grandpa Xu saw that the housing market was tight, the supply of houses was insufficient to meet the demand, and the rent was also rising. So he took out all his savings and bought a farmyard in the suburbs of Beijing. He built houses around it and rented it out to four families.

Within two years, he saw that shops on the street were opening up one after another like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Grandpa Xu, who had a long-term vision, converted the street-facing house he had just taken back into two shops, intending to rent them out to people to open businesses.

But this place was in the suburbs of Beijing at that time, and those who wanted to do business went to the capital. Those who had capital opened a shop, while those who didn't had to push a cart or ride a tricycle to set up a stall. Even so, the shops could not be rented out.

After struggling for two or three months, Grandpa Xu finally rented out the house at a residential price. The tenant did not just use the house for living, he also opened his own grocery store, providing a lot of convenience to the nearby villagers and of course making a lot of money from them.

When Grandma Xu saw that the tenant opened a shop, she wanted to re-sign the rental contract with the rent of the shop the next year, but was stopped by Grandpa Xu. The original rental agreement was for five years.

At that time, no one thought about the concept of rent increase. The monthly amount was written in black and white. Grandpa Xu believed that people should be trustworthy and they should act according to the contract since they had signed it.

But Grandpa Xu was really lucky. Less than ten years after he bought the courtyard, the city expanded and the courtyard was demolished to build commercial housing. The developer named this community Happy Home.

The Xu family bought two shops and two houses in Xingfu Community. Because the area of the demolished house was not enough, Grandpa Xu and his neighbors bought the area of the relocated house, which was enough to buy two large houses.

In 1990, 17-year-old Xu Jianjun failed to get into high school. He thought that if he couldn't get into a technical secondary school because of his poor grades, he would take over his mother's position in the textile factory. However, after the market reform, the factory's performance became worse and worse, and it often couldn't pay wages. In addition, the factory had begun to reform and implement the labor contract system in the past few years, and no longer adopted the fixed-term employment system for new employees.

The factory's performance became worse and worse in the past two years. In 90, private textile factories were doing well, but their state-owned textile factory had little work. The factory had not paid wages for more than half a year, and there was even news that the textile factory was going to close down, and everyone was facing the crisis of being laid off.

In order to make a living, many people choose to take unpaid leave and leave the factory to find a way out. The Xu family does not have much savings. When the family was relocated the year before last, most of their savings were used to buy the replacement housing. The salary they received in the past two years was barely enough for daily expenses. Faced with such a situation, Xu Jianjun could not take over the job even if he wanted to.

In September 90, the houses in Xingfu Home were delivered. They borrowed some money from relatives and simply renovated the two new houses. They rented them out and solved their source of income. After discussion, Grandpa Xu and Grandma Xu decided to stay in the factory for the sake of their pensions until it went bankrupt.

Seeing that there was no hope for Xu Jianjun to get a job in a state-owned enterprise and he had no academic qualifications, he remembered the craft of making steamed buns passed down from his grandmother. So he discussed with his parents and returned to his hometown to learn the craft from his grandmother. He then used the shop that was allocated to him to sell steamed buns, and rented out the shop under Xu Jianshe's name.

At first, the steamed bun shop only served breakfast, but as the business got better and better, Xu Jianjun rented Xu Jianshe's store. After the connection was established, it continued to run a steamed bun shop, but it not only served breakfast, it added porridge, noodles, and dumplings, put tables and chairs in the shop, and started to run a restaurant.

In 2000, the textile factory staff housing was demolished. The large flat that Grandpa Xu was allocated at that time was later renovated and a second floor was added. A small courtyard was also enclosed to make a kitchen and dining room. This time, compensation for the demolition was also based on the housing area, but the compensation could not be made on the original site. There were two or three communities to choose from for the compensation.

In the end, Grandpa Xu chose the newly opened Atrium Huafu across the street from Xingfu Home. He added a little money and bought two houses, one with three bedrooms and two living rooms, and one with four bedrooms and two living rooms. He also bought two stores with a mortgage, each of which had two floors.

After the renovation, the Xu family moved into a four-bedroom suite and the steamed bun shop also moved in at the same time. The three houses and two stores were rented out. Grandpa Xu and Grandma Xu each received the rent for a house in the Xingfuyuan community, and the rent for the two stores and Zhongtian Huafu was given to Chen Xiaofen.

In 2017, the Xingfuyuan community, which had been built for nearly 30 years, was demolished again. The Xu family joined forces with several store owners and asked the developer to relocate them to the original location. This time, the Xu family exchanged three stores and two houses, and received a compensation of more than 60 yuan.

The larger house with four bedrooms and two living rooms belongs to his son Xu Ziqi, and the smaller house with three bedrooms belongs to his daughter. The shop also has one room each for the parents, son, and daughter. When the Jinxiu Garden property is delivered in 2020, the Xu family will move into the new house.