Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 55 Buying a Car
Li Zhe walked out of the doorway and saw a man and a woman standing outside.

Li Zhe greeted them with a smile, "Brother Zhou, sister-in-law, what brings you here?"

Seeing Li Zhe address him as Brother Zhou and his wife as Sister-in-law, Zhou Yongqiang's smile widened even more.

Zhou Yongqiang and Li Zhe met through Lin Qiaomei, thanks to the relationship between the father-in-law and mother-in-law. Logically, Li Zhe should call his wife "sister" and himself "brother-in-law".

But Li Zhe didn't call him that, which shows that he values ​​his relationship with him more. Based on that alone, he felt that this person was worth befriending.

Zhou Yongqiang smiled and said, "I figured you'd be coming to tidy up the house today, so I asked your sister-in-law to come and help."

"Hey, that's great! My mom was just talking about Sister Qiaomei."

Lin Qiaomei asked with a smile, "What did Auntie say about me?"

"You're so beautiful, virtuous, and married into such a good family—you're one of a kind in all the surrounding villages," Li Zhe praised both of them.

Zhou Yongqiang handed the box he was carrying to Li Zhe, saying, "Brother, congratulations on moving to your new home. I found a set of Yixing teapots for you as a congratulatory gift."

"Brother Zhou, thank you so much, I really appreciate this gift. Come on, let's go inside and talk." Li Zhe invited the two into the courtyard.

Just as Zhou Yongqiang was about to move his foot, he noticed the green backpack on Li's shoulder. "Brother Li, are you going out?"

"The room was empty, so I looked around for some furniture."

“I know this well, I’ll go with you so you won’t get ripped off.” He gestured towards Lin Qiaomei with his chin, “Wife, you take the things in, I’ll go with Brother Li.”

Lin Qiaomei responded, took the box from Li Zhe, and entered the courtyard with practiced ease.

"Brother Zhou, where can I buy furniture nearby?" Li Zhe had just arrived in Beijing and was unfamiliar with the city, so having a local accompany him would be ideal.

"There's a woodworking factory store near Dongsi where you can buy a '36-legged' set with industrial coupons and get everything you need right away."

If you're not satisfied, Dongdan Shopping Mall also accepts custom-made furniture, but this requires a street permit and takes about three months to complete.

Li Zhe quickly waved his hand to interrupt, "Brother Zhou, I'm renting a place, not buying a wedding room, so it's not that complicated. I just want to buy some practical and inexpensive second-hand furniture."

“Hey, you should have said so earlier! There’s a secondhand stall at the west end of Suzhou Hutong. Every morning, Old Chen repairs furniture there. Last year, I bought a pair of rattan sofas from him for forty yuan. But they got moths in less than a month, so I returned them to him.”

That person is nice and easy to talk to. If you think it's suitable, I'll take you to have a look.

“Okay.” Li Zhe breathed out white puffs of air. “Besides the furniture, we also need to buy a second-hand bicycle and a scooter.”

Zhou Yongqiang joked, "Hey, brother, I've figured it out now. The richer people are, the more they save. If I had your money-making skills, I'd be buying all the new stuff."

Li Zhe smiled but didn't say anything. Whoever spends the money will feel the pain. What's the difference between the new and the old one? Aren't they all used to haul goods?

Zhou Yongqiang pointed to the west and said, "There's a black market at the west end of Suzhou Hutong that sells assembled bicycles. They can only work early in the morning, so I guess they've already closed up shop. But it's okay, I know where they live, I'll take you there to pick one out."

Li Zhe called his cousin Li Zhiqiang, and the three of them walked west along Suzhou Hutong for about a few hundred meters before reaching the west entrance of the hutong.

The west entrance was deserted, with only traces of stalls but no one in sight.

"Well, we're too late. Old Chen, the furniture repairman, has already closed up shop. We'll have to go to his place."

Li Zhe glanced around. "Brother Zhou, is Old Chen's house far?"

"It's not far, it's all in Suzhou alleyways, outsiders can't set up stalls here. But we need to change our order, buy bicycles and scooters first, then look at furniture. Old Chen's furniture is cheap, but delivery isn't included, we'll have to haul it back ourselves."

"Alright, please lead the way."

"Over here." Zhou Yongqiang said as he walked, pointing to a restaurant on the south side of the street. "See that restaurant? Don't be fooled by its small size; it's a long-established state-owned restaurant with amazing food. My wife works there."

He then pointed to the north side of the street, "See that pastry shop? It's an old brand. Their most famous dish is donkey roll, but I prefer their pea flour cake. It has a delicate texture and a slightly sweet taste, but not cloyingly sweet. It's so authentic."

Li Zhe prefers donkey rolls and is thinking of buying some for his sister next time he goes home.

During the conversation, Zhou Yongqiang stopped at the back gate of a large courtyard and knocked three times on the black wooden door.

Is Mr. Huang home?

"Who is it?" a man's voice came from inside. "It's me, Zhou Yongqiang from Chuanban Hutong."

With a creak, the black wooden door opened a crack.

A slightly hunched man stood at the crack in the door, emanating a smell of engine oil.

"Mr. Huang, I brought a friend to buy a car from you. What? You're not welcome?"

"Welcome, welcome! I was just worried about the neighborhood committee coming. I closed up my stall a little late yesterday, and they deducted twenty yuan from my pay. Hey, I've been working for free for the past two weeks."

"Boss Huang, stop complaining about being poor. If you don't make money, there won't be any rich people in this alley."

"Hey, this is all hard-earned money, come in and talk." Boss Huang stepped aside and invited the three into the courtyard. The inner room was a small courtyard of about ten square meters, filled with all kinds of second-hand bicycles, tricycles, rickshaws, and handcarts.

Boss Huang squatted down, rubbed his black hands in the murky basin of water, and asked Li Zhe and Li Zhiqiang, "Gentlemen, what kind of car do you want to buy? Since you're brought by an acquaintance, I'll give you the lowest price."

Li Zhe looked at the bicycle leaning against the southeast corner and asked, "How much was the bicycle?"

黄老板介绍道，“凤凰牌28寸，180元。永久13型，160元。飞鸽22型自行车130元。”

Li Zhe pressed further, "Does it have a license plate?"

"Add 30 for those with a steel stamp."

"Brother, your price isn't fair. With a little more money, I could buy a new bike. Why would I come here?" Li Zhe squatted down and touched the rim of the Flying Pigeon bicycle. "Hey, it's all rusty. Can you even ride it?"

Zhou Yongqiang said, "Mr. Huang, this is a relative of mine. He just moved to Suzhou Hutong. We'll have more opportunities to do business with him in the future, so please give us a fair price. We're not just buying bicycles, we also need other kinds of vehicles."

Mr. Huang wiped his hands on the drab curtain. “How about this, you guys pick first, and I’ll calculate the total price after you’ve finished.”

Li Zhe looked around and his gaze fell on the Phoenix brand bicycle. The bicycle was about 80% new, the right size, with a brown seat and a black frame, and it looked very high-end.

Li Zhe rode his bicycle around the alley twice. The bicycle was very light, made no unusual noises, and had obvious steel marks on the frame.

"This bike will do," Li Zhe said to Boss Huang, leaning the bicycle against the wall. "I'd also like a scooter that can be ridden backwards."

“You’ve come at the right time. I just bought a heavy-duty scooter that was retired from the military. It can carry 1000 jin (500 catties).” Mr. Huang pointed to a blue scooter by the door. “Look at it, how sturdy it is. It was just painted yesterday.”

Li Zhe examined the blue bicycle. The steel tubes of the frame were thicker than usual, the tires were new, and the frame had the "Military BJ-84" stamp.

Li Zhiqiang jumped onto the donkey and drove around the alley for a bit before stopping in front of Li Zhe. He whispered, "Uncle, this vehicle is good, it's durable."

Li Zhe sat steadily beside the back of the donkey cart. "Boss Huang, how much are these two carts together?"

"Hey, you have a good eye. You've picked out my two best bikes. I'll give you 170 for the bicycle and 180 for the backbike. That'll be 350 in total."

Li Zhe countered, "300."

"That won't do. Selling it for 300? Forget about making a profit, I'll actually lose money."

Li Zhe continued to push the price down, "290."

"Hey, you can't do this, why are you still lowering the price? The lowest is 340."

"300."

"300 won't do, the lowest I can go is 330. I'm not making any money here, I'm just breaking even."

"310. If it's done, I'll pay in cash and ride away immediately."

Mr. Huang pretended to hesitate for a moment, then said, "Fine, it's only because we're acquaintances. If you two want to come by yourselves, we can't let you ride away without a 350."

"Hey, thank you then." Li Zhe took out his money and paid the bill directly.

With these two modes of transportation, it's much more convenient whether you're selling vegetables or just going out.

(End of this chapter)