50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 707 Missing
These cadres who live in high-ranking official buildings not only have to pay rent for their houses, but they also have to pay for the furniture in their houses every month.

It's not expensive though; a large wardrobe or a double bed only costs a few cents or a dollar a year in rent.

This also has an advantage: if the furniture is broken, you can go to the logistics department to get a replacement set without having to pay for the repairs yourself.

When the public housing was converted to private housing in the 1990s, these rented furniture units were given to the residents for free.

When Sister-in-law Xiao asked about the location of the courtyard, Sun Zhiwei did not hide anything.

“Sister-in-law, the place isn’t far. It’s just east of Xidan, near Fuyou Street. There are two courtyards side by side there.”

"I prepared these two courtyards for Hongying and Aiguo a few years ago. They are exactly the same, one for each of the two children in the family."

Sister-in-law Xiao was also a little surprised when she heard Sun Zhiwei's words. A courtyard house, and one house for each child. The Sun family's wealth was much stronger than she had imagined.

Even if Hongying had nothing else as part of her dowry, that courtyard alone would be more than enough.

Thinking about this, Sister-in-law Xiao was also making plans in her mind.

In this way, the furniture and appliances prepared for one's own home cannot be shabby; domestic brands must be replaced with imported ones, and black and white televisions must be replaced with color televisions.

Thinking about this made her a little worried. They didn't lack money, but if they wanted to buy imported goods, they would have to go to the Friendship Store.

But she didn't have much foreign currency, so she had to ask someone to exchange it for her.

However, the thought that both of her younger children worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calmed her down.

If we're talking about which organization in China makes it easy for its employees to find foreign exchange, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is definitely the one.

Every year, the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who return to China have some unused foreign currency, which should not be difficult for Xiao Qihang to exchange.

Sister-in-law Xiao's idea is good. Both husband and wife should make equal contributions from the beginning, otherwise, it is easy for them to have conflicts later.

She didn't know the size of Sun Hongying's courtyard. If she had known, it would have been a three-courtyard house with 32 rooms, and she probably wouldn't have had the idea of ​​comparing herself to others.

Sun Zhiwei spent 3 yuan to buy that courtyard house, and tens of thousands more were spent on renovations. Even if the Xiao family dug out all their savings, they still couldn't afford that courtyard house.

When the gap becomes too obvious, most people will simply give up and lose all thoughts of envy and comparison.

That afternoon, the Sun and Xiao families finalized all the details of their children's marriage, setting the date for the May Day holiday.

The main problem is that the Xiao family needs to prepare a wedding house, and it will take several months for the furniture to be made on-site.

Moreover, most of the Xiao family members are in the military, and like Sun Aiguo, it is not easy for them to take leave normally. It would be more appropriate to take a day or two more leave before or after statutory holidays.

In addition, Sun Zhiwei also thought that he would be busy in Java for several months in the first half of this year, and the only way to get back in time would be during the May Day holiday.

Currently, there are only seven statutory holidays in China per year: one day for New Year's Day, one day for May Day, two days for National Day, and three days for Spring Festival.

Now that New Year's Day has passed, and the Spring Festival is too rushed, and I don't want to wait until National Day, then it's only May Day left.

The two families talked in the afternoon. Sun Zhiwei wanted them to stay for dinner before leaving, but Xiao Yifeng woke up and said that there were things to do with the team that night, so he didn't ask them to stay any longer.

The three members of the Sun family stayed at home for another three days. During this time, Sun Zhiwei received a task from Xu Yimin.

As they had anticipated, it was the mission requested by the space agency to investigate the cause of the Challenger accident.

Sun Zhiwei didn't take the mission seriously. He knew the situation with the Challenger very well—a major accident caused by a sealing collar. NASA would spend several months searching the wreckage and wouldn't reach a conclusion until May. He could just go to the White House and copy an investigation report then.

On the 5th, Sun Hongying finally got leave, and her whole family boarded the train and headed straight to Qingdao.

With two little ones around, the Tong family had a truly lively New Year this year, with the two youngest becoming the absolute stars of the celebration.

After the three-day New Year celebrations, Sun Zhiwei and Tong Jiajia took their two children and returned to Beijing with Sun Hongying.

They came back this time to register their two children's household registration. If they don't do it now, it will be troublesome when the household registration policy is tightened in the future.

Although his situation is special and he will certainly receive special care, there's really no need to bother the leaders with such a small matter.

Sun Zhiwei is a well-known figure, both locally and in the Xichang'an Street area.

Aunt Liang used to take good care of them when she was still in the neighborhood, and all the leaders and bosses in the neighborhood knew that.

Although Aunt Liang has retired, her connections in the neighborhood still exist. She can easily arrange things like registering the two children's household registrations.

After finishing the child's household registration matters, Sun Zhiwei packed his bags and left Beijing for Shenzhen.

The ship Hai Sha was waiting at Shenhe Port. When he returned before the Lunar New Year, he had already made an appointment with the soldiers who were visiting their families to meet at the port on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month and set off together.

Although Sun Zhiwei did not plan to take a ship back to the United States, he still wanted to see the soldiers set off before he could feel at ease.

They arrived in Shenhe three days in advance. After arriving, Sun Zhiwei booked several middle floors of the Shenhe Bay Hotel and reserved hundreds of rooms in advance, waiting for everyone's arrival.

People started arriving in the past two days, many bringing their families along, intending to settle down on Subi Island together.

This is a good thing. Subi Island is so big that it can't rely on just the soldiers. Someone has to serve the entire base, and the soldiers' families are the best candidates.

Sun Zhiwei arranged for them to stay at a hotel, and also let them take their children to play in the hotel's amusement park.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the number of soldiers who came from all over the country reached its peak.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, most people had already arrived.

However, by dinner time, there was still no word from the two of them.

Sun Zhiwei also noticed something was wrong. Everyone had agreed to depart on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, and everyone would arrive a day in advance to prevent any accidents.

The soldiers are very disciplined and would never come without prior notice, but now an unexpected incident has occurred.

Instead of launching a large-scale investigation, Sun Zhiwei first led all the soldiers to a lively Lantern Festival banquet at the hotel.

After the banquet ended, he found the contact information for the two who hadn't come and started calling their hometowns from his hotel room.

The two missing persons are from rural areas in Xishuangbanna and Shangluo, respectively.

These two places, one on the border and the other deep in the mountains, are both poor and underdeveloped rural areas.

Many of the 500 veterans under Sun Zhiwei's command are from impoverished, remote, and remote areas.

(End of this chapter)