An extraordinary life journey through old Beijing courtyard houses

Chapter 189: They've Got the House in Their Hands (Trying my best to write, but I don't have a single draft left!)

Jiang Baobin carried the gifts to the deaf old lady and told her that he was about to get married.

The old lady grinned from ear to ear: "Alright, alright, it's time to settle this."

"Don't be like a wild horse without bridles, charging around recklessly all day long."

"This young man, once he has a wife, his heart is settled."

"We'll get married this year, have a big, healthy baby boy next year, and our lives will be sweeter than honey."

"That sounds a bit ironic," Jiang Baobin sighed softly. "I really have a bitter pill to swallow!"

He then forced a smile and said, "Thank you for your kind words, I will definitely try my best."

"But madam, I've come to ask you for a favor."

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Well, you know about what happened in my courtyard last year, don't you?"

The deaf old woman nodded repeatedly: "That's right, it's definitely bad luck to have bloodshed."

"So what are you thinking? If it's something this old lady can help with, I'll definitely do it without hesitation."

When the old lady asked the question, her eyes gleamed, clearly indicating that she had already figured something out.

Jiang Baobin thought to himself: To have survived the old society and lived to this age, one must be incredibly wise!

So he didn't hold back anymore: "Grandma, the main house in the middle courtyard has been vacant for over a year now."

"You can rent it to me, and I'll use it as our wedding home."

The deaf old lady frowned; she had guessed that Jiang Baobin was after the house.

But I didn't expect this kid to be so ambitious, asking for the essence right off the bat.

So he confessed, "Binzi, if you want to rent a side room, I can make the decision."

"The main wife probably won't work; who knows when they'll be back?"

"You two had just gotten married and were enjoying a wonderful life when they came back."

"Wouldn't that be putting an old lady in a difficult position? No way, no way."

Jiang Baobin smiled slyly: "Grandma, you're out of touch with the times."

"what?"

The deaf old woman looked at him with a puzzled expression: "I'm already this old, and I still have bound feet. I can't keep up with anything anymore."

"Don't be so quick to give up. I've prepared everything for you, so don't worry."

Having anticipated this, Jiang Baobin pulled out a newspaper: "See this, ma'am? This is the new document issued by the government."

"Everyone who grows flowers has to listen to it, otherwise they're breaking the law and will be jailed!"

The deaf old lady pursed her lips, then smiled: "Hurry up and read it, don't keep me in suspense."

Jiang Baobin quipped, "Sigh, this old lady still has the temper of a monkey."

"Okay, there's a lot of content. I'll just talk about what's relevant to you."

"You see, the first article of the first chapter already mentions your status in this family."

The deaf old lady had already pricked up her ears, and now her expression was even more serious.

Jiang Baobin smiled smugly: "It says here that monogamy is practiced, men and women have equal rights, and women are protected—"

"

The deaf old lady looked bewildered. What does this have to do with me? Can I get married again?

Jiang Baobin then explained to her, "From now on, our country will no longer have the practice of concubinage—"

"I know that. That Wu Lao Er from next door, didn't he send his concubine away? What a tragedy!"

The deaf old lady was a concubine herself, so she naturally sympathized more with the little people who shared her plight.

"Hey, you've misunderstood. That's not what I meant."

"I mean, the head of this household is dead, isn't he? Your husband, he's passed away, right?"

The deaf old woman said discontentedly, "You brat, are you trying to annoy me? Isn't it obvious?"

Jiang Baobin ignored her and asked again, "His first wife is dead too, right?"

The deaf old woman snorted, "Dead? Long ago!"

"That settles it then. Now that the concubine system has been abolished, your current status is that of the principal wife."

"Even if this landlord comes back in the future, he will have to call you 'Mom' respectfully. He is your stepson."

"Legally, you are in a much higher position than him because you are a wife with children."

"In this family, there is absolutely no one of higher status than you!"

"Even if he comes back, he'll have to take a backseat. This isn't something anyone can decide; it's mandated by law."

The deaf old woman was dumbfounded—could such a thing really exist?

When did concubines ever have such a high status in the past thousands of years?

Jiang Baobin continued to instill in her, "Did you see this? All children have equal inheritance rights."

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"In other words, the landlord is nothing special; he receives the same treatment as the other children."

"For example, when dividing an inheritance, it will never be like before, where the eldest son gets the lion's share and everyone else only gets a small portion."

"Instead, the inheritance is divided equally among all the children, and even unmarried children have inheritance rights as long as they can prove it."

"The spouse will take the lion's share, so don't worry, even if he comes back, he'll still have to listen to you obediently."

"Otherwise, you can go to the government; they have the laws to deal with it. No matter how powerful he is, can he be more powerful than this?"

Jiang Baobin patted the newspaper as he spoke.

The amount of information was too much, and the deaf old lady said, "I need to take a break."

Jiang Baobin laughed: "Alright, but I advise you not to blindly believe everything I say."

"Go ask the Military Control Commission; they're more authoritative than I am. Then you can be completely at ease."

The deaf old lady nodded solemnly, got up to leave, and took Jiang Baobin's newspaper with her.

"Please lend it to me, but don't damage or lose it. I'm keeping it as a keepsake."

Seeing the deaf old lady leave in a hurry, Jiang Baobin knew that the matter had been settled.

This guy has definitely developed a habit of collecting things now.

For example, he kept several copies of the newspaper that published the first edition of the Marriage Law.

I have a feeling it will be valuable in the future.

Without waiting for the deaf old lady's consent, he began to tidy up the courtyard.

Good heavens, no one has lived here for over a year, and the yellow soil and withered leaves in this yard are quite thick.

The sandstorms in Beiping were so severe that they were unimaginable in other places.

It took Jiang Baobin three hours to tidy up the entire yard.

Just then, the deaf old lady returned with a gait that seemed to ignore all her relatives.

His first question to him was, "Binzi, are you buying a house? I'll sell it to you cheap!"

Jiang Baobin was overjoyed; it was exactly what he wanted!

The system did something, forcing him to come back and live there; sure enough, something good happened.

"Of course I'll buy it! You're being so kind to me, wouldn't I be a fool not to accept?"

"But, ma'am, you've really come to your senses now!"

The deaf old woman was incredibly proud: "So that's it!"

"They've bullied me my whole life, this time I can finally hold my head high!"

"The new country is so much better! It's reasonable! It gives a helping hand to the suffering!"

You could tell the deaf old lady was genuinely excited.

She pulled Jiang Baobin aside and poured out her grievances for a long time.

Without Jiang Baobin even asking, the deaf old lady explained the reason herself.

It turns out that the policies for buying, selling, and renting houses in Beiping are all going to be changed.

It definitely needs to be changed. Beiping used to have less than 200 million people, but now it has almost 400 million.

The vast majority of them were people who moved there after the capital was established.

You don't need to tell me who these people are, right?

The government doesn't have the financial resources to undertake large-scale infrastructure projects right now.

If the previous market-driven pricing model had continued, housing prices would have skyrocketed.

How can people not side with each other?

Therefore, price controls are inevitable, and we also need to revitalize all the vacant houses.

Otherwise, where would people live?

At that time, even those who own houses will have no choice but to rent them out!

Just like Jiang Baobin's small courtyard in Dongsi Archway, with three main rooms and east and west wing rooms.

Now, seven people live there, barely enough to live on.

If it's just the two of them, then at least half of the house needs to be vacated.

However, the rent is paid to the landlord, but it is much less than before.

So never believe the nonsense that a person can live in a detached house.

First, do you have a level?

No!

Then why are you occupying such a big house? What kind of thinking is that?

Now that things have come to this, how dare you not vacate the house?

This has nothing to do with whether or not there is property rights.

It is problematic in itself for an ordinary citizen to want to take more than their share.

When they heard that Jiang Baobin had actually moved into the main house, the front yard erupted in chaos.

The most regretful of them all was He Daqing, who slapped his thigh until it turned blue: "I was careless, so careless! How could I let a little kid beat me to it?"

The Jiang family was the most furious.