Go back to the past to plant trees

After the middle-aged man left, Feng Cheng walked a few steps, found a small hotel, showed his letter of introduction, and paid 1.8 yuan for a single room. It's no wonder this is Beijing; even a small hotel is much more expensive than those outside, and the environment is the same.

After a long day of travel, Feng Cheng had no interest in shopping. He put his things down, went down to a restaurant for a meal, and then came back. After an eight-hour bumpy ride, during which he had to deal with the man's attempts to get information out of him, Feng Cheng was exhausted both physically and mentally.

Two years later, this body returned to the heart of the motherland, but Feng Cheng felt no excitement. He was just a passerby in this city. Although the original owner had many friends and colleagues here, they belonged to the original owner, and Feng Cheng did not want to have any contact with them.

He was no longer the same person, so it was best not to see each other. If it weren't for the fact that the original owner's house was valuable and he had some things there, Feng Cheng wouldn't have wanted to make this trip.

That night, Feng Cheng went to bed early, and he got up at the crack of dawn the next day.

After packing his things, Feng Cheng went downstairs to check out of the hotel. He wouldn't be staying there that night; he would either stay near his home or go to the Ministry of Forestry's guesthouse.

After checking out of the hotel, Feng Cheng had breakfast nearby. Feeling it was about time, he headed towards the bus stop.

After changing buses twice, Feng Cheng got off two streets away from his home.

Feng Cheng's family lived in a place called Lijia Hutong in Caishikou. This location was not good in those days, and it was a place where poor people lived. Even so, Feng Cheng's mother spent a lot of money to buy this house. At that time, Feng Cheng's mother was already in poor health and knew that she did not have much time left, so she asked someone to get her this house, thinking that after she passed away, her son would still have a place to live in Beijing.

Although housing was allocated by work units in those days, Feng's mother felt that she couldn't keep the state-owned housing after she passed away. It would be difficult for her son to get a house after graduation, and having a house would make it easier for him to get married.

Feng's mother was indeed very thoughtful. After Feng Cheng graduated and stayed on at the university, he was not allocated a house. He only had a two-person dormitory room. If he had married Tang Qi at that time, the two of them could have lived together, but it was only one room, and cooking, boiling water, and washing clothes all had to be done in one room, which was really inconvenient.

"Oh, isn't this Teacher Feng? You've returned from your assignment in the border region?"

As Feng Cheng walked into the alley, an old man sitting in the alley basking in the sun looked at him with great surprise and said something.

Feng Cheng glanced at the old man and smiled, "He didn't come back. He was on a business trip and just came back to visit."

Feng Cheng didn't quite remember who the old man was. He seemed to be called Grandpa Chen. The main reason was that Feng Cheng didn't come back to live here often before. He spent most of his time living at school and hanging out with Tang Qi.

"Going on a business trip! Good thing you're going on a business trip, I thought you were back."

"Grandpa, you go ahead with your work, I'll go back to my room now," Feng Cheng said goodbye to the old man with a smile.

"Let's go back. We haven't been back for so long, we should go back and check on things."

Feng Cheng smiled and nodded, then continued walking inside. Before long, Feng Cheng returned to his own courtyard.

Feng Cheng's house is not a traditional courtyard house; it just has a small courtyard in front of the entrance, with four rooms inside. The house and the small courtyard together cover an area of ​​about 200 square meters.

Feng Cheng opened the gate to the yard, which was overgrown with weeds. Seeing this, Feng Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. This proved that his house was still safe and no one was eyeing or occupying it.

Upon entering the courtyard, Feng Cheng went straight into the room.

In the room, a thick layer of dust had accumulated on the floor and table. Feng Cheng glanced at it and went straight into his room. There was a pile of things he had left there: school lesson plans, books, and some daily necessities. When he went to Saihanba, Feng Cheng couldn't carry too much, so he left most of his things at home.

Feng Cheng put down what he was doing and began to pack. He took what he could bring to the dam, disposed of what he couldn't, and burned everything that was sensitive.

After spending more than half an hour tidying up his own room, Feng Cheng went to his mother's room. His mother also had a lot of things there. Feng Cheng picked out some things that he could take with him and dealt with the rest.

After finishing his work, it was already 1 p.m. Feng Cheng looked around the room. If he could, he would love to take everything here to the dam, because many of the things were useful. But unfortunately, he couldn't bring that much with him, and mailing it over wouldn't be worth it, as the postage would be more expensive than the things themselves.

After packing his things, Feng Cheng planned to go out for a meal. The old man who had been sitting there was gone; he must have gone home to eat or sleep.

Feng Cheng went out to a restaurant for a meal, and then went to another alley.

When Feng Cheng arrived, he had already considered that it would be difficult to sell the house through conventional methods. He only had a few days. Normally, selling a house would take several days just to look at properties, and if he didn't have enough money, he would need several more days to raise the funds. That would be under the best-case scenario. If things didn't go smoothly, it would probably take one or two months to find a suitable buyer.

But no matter when, there will never be a shortage of middlemen, such as the intermediaries before the founding of the People's Republic of China, also known as brokers.

Although some of these people were arrested and killed after the founding of the People's Republic of China, some still survived. There was one of them near Feng Cheng's alley, and Feng Cheng came to find him today.

Feng Cheng arrived at a dilapidated courtyard and gently knocked on the door.

A short while later, the courtyard gate opened, and an elderly man with gray hair appeared in front of Feng Cheng.

"You are..."

Feng Cheng cupped his hands and said, "Grandpa Qin, I'm from the Li Family Alley next door. I have something I'd like to discuss with you."

If Feng Cheng hadn't known his background, he wouldn't have been sure that this old man was the kind of broker he was looking for.

The old man asked, "Are you Teacher Feng?"

"Correct."

"Then come in. I don't know anyone in Lijia Hutong. The only one I don't see often is you, my teacher, who rarely appears."

Old Qin opened the courtyard gate, let Feng Cheng in, and then covered the door behind him.

"Teacher Feng, please have a seat. I'll go make some tea."

"Grandpa, I won't have the tea. I came to see you because I have something to discuss. I'm in a hurry, so I'll be leaving now."

Feng Cheng stopped Old Qin from going in to make tea and went straight to the point: "I'm going to the countryside to support the border region now, to Chengde. I won't be coming back. I plan to sell this house and would like to ask you to help me find a suitable buyer."

"Sell the house?"

Upon hearing Feng Cheng's words, Old Qin, who had been somewhat listless, instantly perked up.

"Yes, I want to sell the house. I want to buy a house in Chengde to get married, but I'm a little short on money, so I want to sell this house in Beijing."

Old Qin looked Feng Cheng up and down, and seeing that he looked serious and not like he was joking, he lowered his head and began to think.

After a long while, Old Qin finally spoke, "Are you in a rush?"

Feng Cheng nodded: "It's urgent. I only have a few days. If I can't sell them this time, I don't know when I'll be able to come back next time."

Since Feng Cheng had approached him, he was prepared to sell at a low price. However, Old Qin couldn't offer too low a price, because if it was too low, Feng Cheng wouldn't be willing. Anyway, the property certificate was in his possession, so he could just leave it vacant and wait for the turmoil to pass before coming back to collect the house. It might be a bit troublesome, but if the property rights were clear, Feng Cheng wasn't worried about not being able to get it back; at most, there would just be some trouble.

“Buying and selling houses is a bit complicated now, and you’re short on time, so it’s difficult for me to find a suitable buyer for you in a short period of time.”

Feng Cheng said, "I have faith in your connections and abilities, Mr. Qin."

"Here's what we'll do. Give me two days. Come back here at noon two days later, and we'll discuss it again," Old Qin said to Feng Cheng.

Feng Cheng nodded: "Alright, then I'll trouble you, Mr. Qin."

After Feng Cheng finished speaking, he left Old Qin's courtyard. After Feng Cheng left, a middle-aged man came out of the inner room.

"Dad, are you going to take this guy's business?"

The middle-aged man came up to Old Qin and said with some confusion, "What's going on now? Why are you still opening your business? You won't make much money from this house. It's not worth it if we lose everything because of it."

"You won't make much money?"

Old Qin glanced at his eldest son, shook his head, and felt very disappointed, but since he was his own son, he had no choice but to patiently explain.

"It's obvious that Teacher Feng is in a hurry to sell the house. He will definitely compromise on the price. He would agree to a discount of 10% or 20%. I know that house. I wouldn't say more, but it can be sold for 1,500 or 1,600 yuan. A discount of 10% or 20% is 200 or 300 yuan. That's still a small amount of money."

"Besides, don't you even look at how big the population of Beijing has grown? They keep building houses outwards. Once you buy a house, it will definitely appreciate in value. If you hold onto it for a few years, it might sell for more than two thousand yuan, which is six or seven hundred yuan. Is that still considered small money?"

"Dad, you want to buy it yourself?" The middle-aged man looked at his father with some surprise.

Old Qin said, "Otherwise what? Don't I know it's dangerous to do business at this time? Since it's dangerous, let's not do it for now, buy it and keep it in hand, and sell it when things calm down."

"Besides, if I keep this money in my hands, I'm afraid you spendthrifts will squander it one day. If I exchange it for a house, at least I can leave something for my grandson, so that they won't have to beg on the streets in the future."

The man laughed awkwardly, "It's not that bad, I'm not that extravagant."

"Humph…"

"Go and find out about this Teacher Feng. See if he really went to the border region to support the development of the border areas, and if he really won't be coming back."

"Okay, I'll go find out right away."