My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 108 Housing
Xu Guoqing thought for a moment and said, "We definitely have to go south, but such a large amount of money is too risky. My suggestion is to take 15,000 yuan with us this time, and we can divide the rest among ourselves. What do you think?"

"Isn't that unnecessary?" Old Wen shook his head as soon as he finished speaking. "Since we're already heading south, wouldn't it be better to bring more money so we can get more goods? Anyway, whether we make two or three trips or one, it's all the same. It was one thing when we didn't have money, but now that we do, why not take a gamble?"

"Brother Wen, aren't you afraid of causing problems by taking risks?" Xu Guoqing patiently advised, "It's true that we've made some money now, but if something goes wrong with that money, all the work we've done before will be for nothing."

"Besides, it's not easy to carry so much money. Ask Xiaoling, last time the two of us barely managed to carry 15,000 yuan. Our waists were completely wrapped in cash. Although the ancient poem describes someone with 10,000 yuan on their waist riding a crane down to Yangzhou, which sounds dashing, in reality, carrying 10,000 yuan down to Lingnan is a nerve-wracking journey. If something goes wrong, it'll be too late to regret it."

As he spoke, Xu Guoqing turned his gaze to Zhou Jiye, who nodded in agreement. The last time they went south, they brought 15,000 yuan plus nearly 1,000 yuan in other expenses, totaling a huge sum of about 16,000 yuan. This money wouldn't be as easy to hide as it was the first time.

The largest denomination banknote now is ten yuan, and the money they make from selling goods includes all kinds of denominations, with only half of the ten-yuan note being ten-yuan notes, and the rest being five-yuan, two-yuan, one-yuan notes, or even small change.

The huge sum of 16,000 yuan, even if it were all ten-yuan notes, would amount to sixteen stacks, nearly twenty centimeters high (older notes would be thicker). And half of the money they brought last time was in five-yuan and two-yuan notes, so it would be almost half a meter high.

Hiding so much money on their bodies was no easy task. The two tried many methods, but ultimately decided to wrap most of the money in their pockets and then tie it to their waists with tape. Fortunately, the weather was relatively cool at the time. Zhou Jiye was tall and strong, and Xu Guoqing was also sturdy. With the money wrapped around their waists and their coats on, it was not noticeable.

Even so, they were extremely careful on the train, afraid that people would discover they were carrying so much money. They didn't even dare to drink much water along the way, for fear that going to the toilet would give them away and attract the attention of thieves. They finally made it to Guangzhou and met up with Achang, and only then did they feel relieved.

If Xu Guoqing were to take the 50,000 yuan he was advised to do south this time, he simply couldn't think of a way to hide such a large sum of money on his person. Putting it in his luggage would be too unsafe, and besides, there were the other risks Xu Guoqing had already considered.

"What's there to be afraid of!" Old Wen said with a smile, unconcerned. "Anyway, I won't have anything to do in Shanghai after you leave. Speaking of which, I've never been to Lingnan before. I'll go with you this time. There will be more people on the road, so it will be easier to carry the money. Plus, three people can lend a hand."

"This..." Xu Guoqing was a little hesitant after hearing what Lao Wen said. To be honest, what Lao Wen said made sense. Take advantage of the fact that things are selling well now, make more trips, and try to earn more money. Who knows when such a good opportunity will come again? If you miss this opportunity, you might regret it later.

"Brother Qing, do you need the money for something?" Lin Ying suddenly asked.

Xu Guoqing looked a little embarrassed and gave an awkward smile.

"Hey Aqing, what do you mean?" Old Wen suddenly said unhappily. Seeing Xu Guoqing looking at him, Old Wen said seriously, "Let's not even talk about how we're all brothers and how we do business together. I'm your cousin! If you need money, just say so. What's so hard to discuss? Why beat around the bush? I thought you were planning to retire from this business."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying looked at Xu Guoqing with suspicion. Xu Guoqing blushed slightly and said with a wry smile, "It's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's just that I'm really embarrassed to talk about those messy things at home..."

"What happened at home? What's wrong at home?" Old Wen asked anxiously.

"My second child is not young anymore, and my younger sister will graduate next year. The family's conditions are so bad. Before I came back, we could barely live together, but now that I'm back, to be honest, it's really inconvenient to live together."

The family has gone through a lot of trouble because of this. Last time you came for Chinese New Year, my second brother and youngest sister weren't home. Frankly, they didn't want to feel cooped up at home. As the eldest, I have to think about my younger siblings. So, I'm thinking of allocating some money to see if we can get a house, whether I move out or give it to my second brother, it will solve this problem.”

"Did you two have a fight?"

Old Wen's face was rather grim: "How could this little brat do this? Isn't this ungrateful? If you hadn't volunteered to go to the Great Northern Wilderness back then, would he have been able to avoid being sent to the countryside? He would have gone out to suffer long ago. Besides, your family's situation isn't your fault. It's been like this for so many years. Now that you've finally come back, you're starting to look down on your older brother?"

As she spoke, anger welled up on her face. She shouted that she was going to Xu Guoqing's house to teach her little cousin a lesson. What a piece of trash! Xu Guoqing had made such sacrifices for his younger siblings, and now he was complaining about him? "No! He didn't argue with me, he just had a little spat with my parents. Besides, he had no choice. He recently started dating a girl who works at a textile factory, and they were discussing marriage. But with our family's financial situation, how can we get married? And how will we have enough room to live together after we get married?"

"And then there's my younger sister. She's in school now and can manage to stay in the dorm, but if her new job doesn't have a dorm after graduation, she'll have to go home. She's a grown woman now, and it's inconvenient to squeeze into one room. To be honest, I've been planning to move out these past few days and find a place to rent. Once I move out, things will be a bit more comfortable at home."

At this point, Xu Guoqing sighed: "Even if I move out, it won't solve the problem. There will still be four people in the family after I leave, two elderly people and two young people. Once my second son gets married, there will be another person. If we have a child in two years, how will we live in this house? So after thinking about it, I think it's better to address the root cause than the symptoms. I'll keep some money on hand and think about how to get a house these days."

"It's not easy to get a house now, even if you have money, you can't get one!" Old Wen frowned.

Xu Guoqing nodded silently. To be fair, Xu Guoqing was a man with connections and influence, but he really had no way to solve this kind of problem.

If it were anything else, he could find someone to pull strings, but he was helpless when it came to housing. Nowadays, apart from some private houses, all other houses belong to the state, and the ownership is with the housing management office. There are only two ways to get a house: one is to wait for the work unit to allocate a house, and the other is to exchange houses.

Housing allocation isn't something that can be done on a whim. Housing conditions in Shanghai are already tight, and how many apartments can a single work unit possibly allocate? Everyone is struggling, their eyes glued to the opportunity to get a unit. Whenever there's even the slightest hint of housing allocation, everyone scrambles for it, practically fighting tooth and nail, but very few actually manage to get one.

Moreover, housing allocation depends on various factors such as rank, seniority, conditions, and contributions within the unit. Generally speaking, priority is given to long-term employees whose family conditions are particularly poor, who also have a certain rank and have made significant contributions. Others are ranked according to their circumstances, and only after the housing problems of those in front are solved can those behind get their turn.

Xu Guoqing has only been back in Shanghai from the Great Northern Wilderness for a year, and his current workplace is just an ordinary state-run restaurant. The personnel records for state-run restaurants are all under the Commerce Bureau, which has countless departments and a huge number of people waiting to be allocated housing. Even if Xu Guoqing knows many people and can pull some strings, what about those who don't? Everyone has their own methods, and given the current situation, it will be at least several years before Xu Guoqing can get housing.

Even he had such difficulty getting a room, let alone his younger siblings. Besides, his youngest sister hadn't even graduated or started working yet, so there was absolutely no chance of her getting a room.

Besides housing allocation, another option is relocation, which is a method tacitly approved by relevant departments due to the actual housing situation. Relocation means sacrificing location, moving from a good location to a less desirable one, and exchanging a smaller house for a slightly larger one, thereby solving the family's housing difficulties.

Of course, the reverse is also true. For families with ample housing who want to move from a location near the suburbs to a better location in the city center, sacrificing some space to reduce the size of their house is also acceptable.

However, from any perspective, such an exchange requires sacrificing one part to meet the needs of another. In addition, both parties must consider the other's interests equally. It's like dating; if you like someone's house, they also need to like yours. Only when both parties are in agreement can the relationship succeed. Such situations are rare and require a great deal of effort and time to find the right fit.

Just like Xu Guoqing now, he can say he has no shortage of money. If he really wanted to buy a house with the money he made from his business, where couldn't he? But the problem is that it's simply impossible to buy a house now. Private buying and selling of houses is absolutely not allowed. This loophole is tightly controlled by both work units and housing management offices. It's actually the same as before when there were no ration coupons, so you couldn't buy anything even if you had money.

However, Xu Guoqing still wanted to give it a try. After all, since the beginning of this year, the social atmosphere has become much more relaxed. With the easing of policies in many aspects, the situation of private small businesses has gradually become widespread. Isn't that how they sell things in Xigong? In the past, this situation would have been impossible.

Moreover, many goods that require ration coupons are now gradually being sold in two different ways.

One system remained the original rationing system, with sales based on ration coupons and normal prices. The other system was negotiated sales, meaning that many items that previously required ration coupons could now be purchased without them, although the prices would be slightly higher than before. This was essentially opening a loophole.

With this situation arising, Xu Guoqing thought he could give it a try and see if he could buy a house with money. Or, he could take advantage of the housing relocation opportunity to use his current house and add some money to buy a larger house in the same area. However, he wasn't very sure if he would succeed, but it was better than nothing. This was why he planned to keep a portion of his money on hand in advance, so he could take out the money immediately if an opportunity arose.

(End of this chapter)