Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 264 Testing if the Bed is Soft
Professor Liang also demonstrated the bathroom and toilet to Liu Yimin, indicating that he had no problems using them.

“We come from Southeast Asia, so some of our furniture and decor also incorporate Southeast Asian styles. For example, this bed, look at its design,” Professor Liang said, pointing to the bed.

The bed is a modern style, painted white, and the thick mattress is what people often call a "Simmons".

Professor Liang pointed to something rolled up in the corner: "This is a carpet. Since no one lives here, it's been rolled up. It's brand new and has never been used since we bought it."

Liu Yimin went over to take a look, and it was indeed the case!

"This mattress?"

"We don't need it, Comrade Liu Yimin, you can keep it!"

Professor Liang called Liu Yimin "Comrade Liu Yimin," meaning that business should be kept separate from business.

"I got this bookshelf in the study from an old professor at Tsinghua University. It cost me over twenty yuan! The desk and chair are not simple either. I wanted my son to stay in China longer, but he didn't appreciate it and preferred to do business with his second uncle."

Professor Liang's family was in business in Southeast Asia, but he didn't say what they did.

"Professor Liang, why are you thinking of selling this house?" Yan Jiayan asked.

"Sigh, I'm getting older and older, and it's not easy for me to come and clean up. I might as well sell it to avoid leaving the resources idle, because idleness is a waste."

After looking at everything, Liu Yimin was very satisfied. He even went up to the roof to take a look. The thick walls showed that the company was really willing to spend money when it was built in the 1960s.

If you're really going to have a barbecue there, it's a good option. Of course, that is, provided the neighbors don't mind.

After everything was reviewed, it was time for the crucial part: negotiating the price. Yan Jiayan, on behalf of Liu Yimin, asked how much it would cost to buy it. Professor Liang pondered for a moment and then said:
"When we bought it, it was 150 yuan per square meter. Now that prices in China are rising, 200 yuan isn't much. All the furniture and other items were given away for free. But considering the current cost of living in China, let's calculate the price at 186 yuan per square meter. Professor Yan, Comrade Yimin, what do you think?"

Professor Liang didn't use a computer; he quickly calculated in his mind.

Yan Jiayan did the math and gasped. He was just 240 yuan short of 30,000 yuan. "Old Liang," he said, "how many people in China can come up with 30,000 yuan? I think you'd better come here on crutches to clean up in the future!"

"Comrade Yimin, what do you think?" Professor Liang asked.

"Professor Liang, it is indeed a bit expensive. I am still a student, and this money is a bit of a strain for me!" Liu Yimin said, trying to bargain.

"Haha, you're quite the student, you earn more money than the principal. Actually, the fact that you dared to look at houses means you were mentally prepared!"

As expected of someone from a merchant family, Professor Liang even had a clear understanding of Liu Yimin's income.

“The Overseas Chinese Apartments in Tuanjiehu are only 180 yuan, and those are brand new apartments!” Yan Jiayan said.

"Our location is great!" Professor Liang insisted.

"What's so good about the location? It's not even as close to the city center as Tuanjiehu!" Yan Jiayan said.

"You can't calculate it like that, Lao Yan, you're too idealistic. A house isn't just about where it is, it's also about whether you need it. Our place is close to Yenching University, look at this, the lighting is great, even in Southeast Asia, good lighting is a big factor!"

"Sunlight costs money?"

"Of course, Lao Yan, this is an economics lesson. You'll see, China will definitely learn this in the future. Besides property fees, Western resale also involves transfer taxes and real estate taxes."

“We’re not going to learn those!” Yan Jiayan said.

"Hahaha, just you wait and see!"

Professor Liang gave Yan Jiayan a lesson in finance, which deeply impressed the professor who was used to being in an ivory tower.

In the end, Liu Yimin and Yan Jiayan joined forces to lower the price to 181 yuan per square meter, which matched the price of the newly built Huaqian Apartments in Tuanjiehu.

"Sigh, I'm not a businessman after all. If I can't do business, I can't do business. Yimin, since I like your novel, I'll give you a five-dollar discount!"

Professor Liang patted Liu Yimin on the shoulder, and after circling around a few times, the house was completely transferred to a different owner.

With Yan Jiayan as a witness, the two signed a contract, changed the registered name first, and then went to the bank to withdraw the money.

As for the fear of reneging on the contract after signing and changing the name, that's simply impossible. Yan Jiayan is still here, and Liu Yimin will have to stay at Yenching University in the future.

I handed 28,000 yuan to Professor Liang from the bank, and he deposited it into the bank as well.

When Yan Jiayan saw Liu Yimin take out so much money, 28,000 yuan, a total of 2,800 brand-new ten-yuan bills, and place them in front of them, Yan Jiayan pinched his thigh and took several deep breaths.

I silently recited the phrases about tranquility and non-action, and about having few desires from Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching".

As they walked out of the bank, Professor Liang said to Yan Jiayan, "Old Yan, I told you, he's no longer an ordinary student!"

Yan Jiayan turned to Liu Yimin and asked, "Where did you get so much money, kid!"

"Professor Yan, I wrote all of this word by word, and it took me several years to save up this little bit!"

"You only saved this much? Lao Liang, let's go back to school!" Yan Jiayan didn't want to stay here for another second.

Yan Jiayan and Professor Liang returned to the school, and Liu Yimin went to the Overseas Chinese Apartment again.

The last time I went to see the apartment, the security guard was changing shifts. He saw Liu Yimin and was about to ask her if she was here to see the teacher again when Liu Yimin took out her resident certificate for the Overseas Chinese Apartment.

Even after Liu Yimin had been inside for a long time, the gatekeeper still couldn't figure out how Liu Yimin had become a resident. The most crucial thing was that this guy hadn't offered him any Peony cigarettes!

Liu Yimin went back and checked everything, and was relieved to find that everything was fine, after all, it was a transaction worth 28,000 yuan.

I wasn't joking with Yan Jiayan; all my savings were here. This included royalties from the "Homeland Trilogy" and individual books within the trilogy. I don't know when I'll receive such a large sum of royalties again.

I only had a few hundred yuan left in my pocket, enough to get someone to change the locks and clean the house.

Fortunately, it's autumn, so we don't need to install air conditioning. Otherwise, it would have been a huge expense.

He had someone change the locks in the room and rode his bicycle back to the courtyard house.

At Yenching University, in Yang Hui's villa in Yandong Garden, Yan Jiayan and Yang Hui were studying magical realism. Yan Jiayan, who did not understand French, paced anxiously beside them.

Yang Hui would occasionally blurt out a few words while taking notes.

The text lists many personal names, with arrows indicating the relationships between them.

Yan Jiayan felt a headache just looking at the relationships between the names: "No wonder Yimin said that the hardest part of understanding these two books is the names!"

“Most people might not be able to understand a French book!” Yang Hui said proudly.

"Teacher, your French is still the best. I've come to the right person!"

"When Yimin gives a lecture, I'll go listen to it too. Remember to save me a seat."

Zhu Lin saw a tired Liu Yimin riding his bicycle back to the courtyard house and asked him curiously where he had been.

Liu Yimin tossed a bunch of keys into Zhu Lin's hand, gesturing for her to take a look.

"Key? What do you mean?" Zhu Lin asked, puzzled.

Liu Yimin took a big gulp of water, caught his breath, and said, "The keys to the new house!"

"A new house? Teacher Liu, you bought another yard?" Zhu Lin didn't know whether to be happy or helpless. It seemed that Teacher Liu had become related to yards, buying them whenever she had a little money.

"This isn't a yard, it's an apartment building!" Liu Yimin said proudly. "An apartment building? Where?"

"What about the Overseas Chinese Apartments in Garden Village?"

"Really?" Zhu Lin raised his voice several decibels, startling Sanhua so much that she flew out of the corner of the kitchen.

"This is a key, how could it be fake!" Liu Yimin thumped his shoulder.

Seeing this, Zhu Lin gently massaged Liu Yimin's back.

"The houses there must be very expensive!"

"After paying 28,000, I'll be broke."

Zhu Lin said with a smile, "Don't worry, Teacher Liu, I'm here for you!"

As the two ate, Liu Yimin mentioned that he planned to go over tomorrow to have someone clean up the house. He didn't intend to contact Liu Zi and his group anymore; it wasn't that he didn't trust them, but sometimes it's best not to flaunt your wealth too much.

“Tomorrow is Sunday, Teacher Liu, I’ll go with you. You don’t need to ask anyone else; the two of us can go,” Zhu Lin said.

"I thought you were going to invite all your roommates over!"

Zhu Lin pursed her lips and didn't say anything. She used to be able to bring a whole group of people, but now, she decided not to bother them.

In the evening, Li Shu from People's Literature Publishing House found Liu Yimin, who was even more exhausted than Liu Yimin.

"Old Li, you're an editor, anyone who didn't know better would think you went to work in the coal mines!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

“It’s almost like mining coal!” Li Shumeng gulped down a mouthful of water. “I knew you went to Yenching University early this morning, so I went there to look for you, but you weren’t there. I went to Tianjin these past few days, otherwise I would have come to find you earlier. You haven’t signed the publishing contract for the ‘Button’ single volume yet, have you?”

"No, Lao Li, what's our relationship? The 'Button' is waiting for you. Lao Huang wanted it, I didn't give it to him!"

Li Shuchang let out a sigh of relief, as if releasing months of pent-up emotions, and said emotionally, "Yimin, I won't say anything more, let's sign the contract!"

After signing the contract, he asked Liu Yimin if he had any wine.

"What's wrong? Still drinking?"

"Yimin, I'm suffering so much!"

During the drinking session, Li Shu recounted a long list of bitter experiences, such as how Wei Junyi scolded and insulted him after learning that he hadn't obtained the publishing rights, practically portraying Wei Junyi as a female demon.

"Alright, alright, we all know each other, don't shed tears for me!" Liu Yimin said helplessly.

"What do you think?"

"Haha, I'll act more realistically next time."

Li Shu is trying to create a victim mentality for himself here.

"Old Li, publish it as soon as possible, I'm a little short on money lately!"

"You still need money?"

Liu Yimin told him that he had spent all his money on buying a house. Li Shu was an editor and would inevitably be going to the Overseas Chinese Apartments in the future, so Liu Yimin told him about his house purchase directly.

Li Shu drank a glass of wine, pointed to his tears, and said, "These are real tears now!"

Before leaving, Li Shu thought he would help Liu Yimin tidy up the house the next day and familiarize himself with the place so that he could have an advantage in the future and make it easier to block the door and ask for manuscripts.

Unfortunately, Liu Yimin refused, only saying that he felt sorry for him and told him to rest well on Sunday.

Early in the morning, Zhu Lin stood in front of Liu Yimin's window and woke him up, preparing to go to the Overseas Chinese Apartment to tidy up the house.

Zhu Lin was very excited. She wanted to see for herself just how good the so-called "Overseas Chinese Apartment" really was. Having grown up in Yanjing, she had heard plenty of people talking about it.

What? The leftover materials from the Great Hall of the People were used to build apartments for overseas Chinese, etc.

Zhu Lin pedaled very fast all the way, but when he arrived and saw the gate, he stopped and looked at Liu Yimin.

"Go in, it's fine!" Liu Yimin greeted the gatekeeper.

The security guard waved his hand, watched the retreating figure, and silently noted it down; he hadn't offered cigarettes today either. He sighed; it seemed he wouldn't be offering any more in the future.

Walking inside, Zhu Lin looked at the house with a sense of unreality. After walking around several times, she exclaimed to Liu Yimin, "This is the Overseas Chinese Apartment! Rich people really know how to enjoy life!"

As he spoke, he started working. Liu Yimin found a few people to help clean the room, cleaning it inside and out, including under the bed.

The European-style curtains were also taken down, ready to be thoroughly washed.

Each worker was paid five yuan, and there were four of them in total. It took them a whole morning and lunch break to finish the job, and they also helped clean up the garbage.

Liu Yimin showed them some old quilts and other unnecessary items, and told them to take what they needed.

Finally, it was cleaned up thoroughly.

The four men rode away on a tricycle, discussing the luxury of the Overseas Chinese Apartment.

"My cousin's kid wanted to work with us, but I refused!"

“When I first returned to the city, I was so poor that I couldn’t even afford food and I was struggling to survive. If he had just lent me some money, I would be working with him now.”

After mopping the house, which was still wet, Zhu Lin sprinkled some floral water on it, making the house smell much fresher.

"Teacher Liu, this house is just like the villa we stayed in when filming 'Romance on Lushan Mountain.' It has a shower and a toilet. It's so convenient!"

Zhu Lin worked all morning but didn't feel tired at all, and kept sighing with admiration.

As if surveying his own territory, Zhu Lin made another round of inspections and asked Liu Yimin if he wanted to move his family over.

"No need, people need to live in that courtyard too. It's close to the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and you work there."

Zhu Lin said with a smile, "It's like the old East and West Capitals, where Teacher Liu can stay wherever she wants!"

"There's nothing I can do; there aren't many apartments near the People's Art Theatre. If I had classes in winter, I'd freeze to death traveling from the courtyard house to Yenching University."

Liu Yimin pressed down on the Simmons mattress and said to Zhu Lin, "Do you think this mattress is soft?"

"It's a bit too soft, I can't fall asleep lying on it!" Zhu Lin said after trying it out.

"Then let's give it a try!"

Liu Yimin smiled and opened his arms to Zhu Lin. Zhu Lin tried to push him away but couldn't. Instead, he hugged her even tighter.

After a friendly exchange, Liu Yimin said helplessly, "It's too soft, I can't get any strength in it!"

Zhu Lin punched Liu Yimin on the shoulder to tell him to be serious!

After taking a shower, the two left the Overseas Chinese Apartment and went to a state-run restaurant outside for dinner. After Liu Yimin took Zhu Lin home, he returned to the courtyard house.

(End of this chapter)