Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

This can be!

When Liu Guangqi said this, Zhang Dabiao also felt it was a good idea. However, it was like the Huarong Road puzzle, requiring a lot of effort and money to give as gifts.

I can't just help you coordinate between several parties for no reason.

So Liu Guangqi didn't take advantage of him; this guy is a good friend!

"Okay, it's settled then. Just hurry up, or I'm afraid Yi Zhonghai will cause some trouble again."

Liu Guangqi nodded. He understood as well. Yi Zhonghai was determined to keep Zhang Dabiao under his control. The reason for Zhang Dabiao's early entry into the factory and reassignment as a fitter was this. If Zhang Dabiao really ended up working for Yi Zhonghai, his life would be over.

It's not always easy for a master chef to train an apprentice, because apprentices have varying levels of talent.

But ruining an apprentice is an easy task; a more serious one would be sending you to move supplies, transport goods, turn sand... to kill you is a piece of cake.

"Understood. I'll go and try to get it done during the day tomorrow, and I should be able to get it sorted out by next week at the latest."

His wife works at a factory, a steel rolling mill, and a comprehensive utilization plant under the steel rolling mill... Changing jobs between these three factories is not an easy thing.

"I'll probably need to get some good stuff from you to pull some strings. I won't let you suffer a loss, but I don't have much money on hand. I'll just buy everything at double the market price. What do you think?"

"Okay, just give me a list of what you need, and I'll try my best to gather it."

Zhang Dabiao nodded. He was basically sitting at home doing nothing, and Liu Guangqi took care of everything for him and even paid double the price to buy supplies from him—what's wrong with that?

Whether I can secure a permanent position at the comprehensive utilization plant and work delivering supplies while studying is another matter.

However, purchasing staff are not required to work regular hours; it all depends on how secure Liu Guangqi's friend's position is within the factory.

"Okay, the first problem is solved, let's look at the second problem..."

"Why don't you buy a house?"

Liu Guangqi rolled his eyes—

"No money, no housing available."

"Besides, you don't know that buying and selling houses is prohibited these days?"

"You're not allowing buying and selling?"

Zhang Dabiao was stunned. Those time travelers could easily buy dozens of courtyard houses, so why couldn't they buy them now?

If one party is willing to buy and the other is willing to sell, why can't it work?

"Now most houses are state-owned, and only a very small number are privately owned. In our compound, only your house, Sha Zhu's house, and the deaf old lady's house are privately owned; everyone else rents houses from their work units."

"Let me put it this way: we young people can only wait for our work units to allocate housing, or rent a place."

"It's not impossible to buy a private house, but it's very complicated. You have to be a local resident with no property under your name. And there aren't any vacant private houses around here right now, so you can't buy one. As for renting, you have to wait in line."

"Those old folks and their descendants have quite a few small courtyards, but I can't afford them." The two smoked and drank tea, and Zhang Dabiao even brought out some nuts, which they ate and chatted about.

"Moreover, if you buy a house, you automatically lose your eligibility for housing allocated by your work unit. If you own more than three houses, you have to voluntarily hand over the extra rooms to the subdistrict office for them to rent out on your behalf. The rent is only two to five yuan per month. Unless you have reached an administrative rank, a family can only have a maximum of three rooms."

"These days, it's not allowed to buy more or occupy more space. The vast majority of people are like the Jia family, with five or six people crammed into one side room. There aren't enough houses to begin with. If you dare to buy more and then leave the place unoccupied for a long time, the higher-ups will investigate."

"Am I crazy to buy a house and a small yard myself, and then rent it out to the neighborhood committee?"

"Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

Liu Guangqi explained things very clearly, and Zhang Dabiao finally understood the current housing situation.

He was originally thinking of buying a small courtyard house, but now he's worried that if he buys it and it gets discovered, the neighborhood committee might take it back and rent it out...

When the wind blows, these tenants will refuse to leave again, becoming holdouts and demanding a share of the compensation when the land is demolished...

What the hell did I go through all that trouble for?

This story was later made into a TV series, starring Zhen Huan, which left a deep impression on Zhang Dabiao.

Therefore, going to Qiu is not being considered for the time being.

"Let me tell you, Da Biao, now that you have some money, don't go looking to buy houses from those old-fashioned people."

"There used to be a jerk in No. 94 compound. He had just started working at the steel mill and was assigned to that little side room next to Sha Zhu in our compound. He wasn't happy about it."

"Then we moved to a side room in courtyard number 94. That was fine, but that tiger bastard somehow got 10,000 catties of white flour and sold it in the ghost market."

"A full ten thousand catties! And five thousand catties of pork! The kind of pork with fat five fingers thick! He even swore brotherhood with the boss of the ghost market, took the money and went to buy five courtyard houses!"

Zhang Dabiao felt that the sound was so familiar.

Are you not in the same industry?

How can it be so fierce?

However, I don't think I'm much better off than him.

"And then...what happened next?"

"The joint law enforcement operation against the black market in Beijing uncovered that the black market boss was providing funds to spies, while that bastard was providing supplies to the black market boss. That was a disaster. During the arrest, the gun accidentally went off and shot that bastard." Liu Guangqi gestured wildly as he recounted this. After finishing his cigarette, he took out another Yellow Crane Tower cigarette, the filter-tipped special edition, which was easier to smoke.

"..."

"He died a truly horrible death. He was shot three times in the head; his skull was blown off, and his brains were splattered all over the ground!"

"..."

"...Aren't we going to investigate where his supplies came from?" Zhang Dabiao asked cautiously.

"Where else could it come from? It's probably from those big farms in the Great Northern Wilderness, buying and selling, speculating and lining their own pockets. You bastard, if you can get that much stuff, why don't you go to the factories? They might not offer the prices of the black market, but at least it's safe!"

"As for supplies, these days, as long as you can get your hands on supplies, you're the boss. Nobody cares where you got them from. These are all unplanned supplies. Even if you got them from overseas, nobody cares. We can't even afford to eat, who cares about this?"

"But if you're aiding the enemy, that's a different matter; you must die!"

Liu Guangqi made a vicious gesture, brandishing his hand like a knife against his neck...

"...This has nothing to do with buying a courtyard house, does it?"

"It doesn't matter. If he doesn't buy the courtyard house, he won't be in a hurry to make money. If he's not in a hurry to make money, he won't collude with the black market boss. If he doesn't collude, he won't smuggle grain from the farm. If he doesn't smuggle grain, he's not speculating. If he doesn't speculate, he won't die. That's called seeing through the essence of things!"

"So—he won't die if he doesn't buy the courtyard house!"

"..."

"Guangqi, what you said makes a lot of sense; I'm speechless!"

"Absolutely!"

"By the way, those two side rooms, aren't those the He family's private rooms?" Zhang Dabiao subconsciously always thought that those were the He family's houses.

"Where? The He family has three main rooms and one east wing room. That side room is a shared storage room."

"Then why don't you rent that side room?"

"Right, you have a house, why don't you rent it?"

Surely it's not a haunted house?