Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

He had visited the homes of Uncle Wang, Commander Gao, and Commander Gu, and he really disliked that style—the multi-layered ceiling and the wooden framed TV wall.

Some even have Roman columns and arches, and the walls are painted a soft pale yellow or beige, with wallpaper or wall coverings in some areas.

The floor is covered with dark solid wood flooring, and the kitchen and bathroom floors and walls are all tiled, which is fine, but they also added decorative border tiles, making it very complicated.

He wanted the decor to be simple and clean, with minimal false ceilings, pure white walls, and no complicated chandeliers, just simple ceiling lights in light colors with clean and elegant lines.

What's that saying again? Simple is not simplistic.

As for furniture, he had already had ideas for it.

It can be said that his approach requires very little money, or even no money at all, to assemble a room full of high-value solid wood furniture, which will only become more valuable in the future.

The day before yesterday, he asked his kind friend, Brother Gao Cheng, to speak to the retirement home and the barracks department, asking them to reserve a batch of discarded furniture for him to choose from.

Don't overthink it, it's not about taking advantage of the military, it's purely a win-win situation for both sides.

Just as Gao Cheng wondered what he wanted these old pieces of furniture for, these days few people care about those heavy, solid wood furniture pieces.

Military units and veterans' retirement homes are uniformly issued equipment, which must be scrapped and replaced when the equipment reaches its expiration date.

The discarded furniture is all old-fashioned from the 1950s and 60s, with outdated styles and dull colors, and does not meet the new era's standardized requirements for barracks.

Then there's the empty furniture in the retirement home. Much of it was left behind by former leaders who passed away or moved to other places. Those things are too heavy, and no one is willing to take them. Most of them are simply dumped on the barracks.

Many of them were handed over free of charge; whoever wanted them could take them away, just to clear the area as quickly as possible.

These items are a real burden for the current military barracks, and they are all disposed of as scrap materials.

Well, these days, the real hard currency for collecting and high-end furniture is Hainan rosewood, small-leaf sandalwood, big red rosewood, and golden nanmu, and their prices are far from as crazy as they were in later years.

The furniture discarded by sanatoriums and government offices is mostly made of old rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis), old padauk (Burmese padauk), as well as ash, elm, catalpa, and even occasionally nanmu and walnut. However, these items are all coated with a thick layer of lacquer. Only those in the know understand that these woods have gradually become valuable, but the average person can't really tell.

The reason why Gao Cheng still needs to give instructions is that, for the barracks department, dealing with these things is a burden, but not difficult.

Although the military is a pure society, it is still a small society. Although it is different from the outside world, there are still interpersonal relationships.

These old pieces of furniture, which have become a burden, are needed by many people: family members of cadres who need furniture for renovations, comrades and fellow villagers who want to find good wood through connections, dealers in the nearby mahogany business, and scrap collectors.

So sometimes it's simple to deal with; you can just sort them and then have the scrap collectors take away any that nobody wants.

Zhang Anbang's purpose in contacting Gao Cheng was to get a better number in the queue so he could select a batch of high-quality materials.

He didn't like the appearance either, but the materials were all good. He could just get all the wood out and find a skilled carpenter to remake it.

All he needs to do is sketch the outline according to the modern Chinese style of later generations, and then apply some varnish or wood wax oil after finishing.

Based on this calculation, he should still be able to keep a considerable amount in his savings account.

As the saying goes, as long as you don't give up, there are always more solutions than problems.

After considering his options, Zhang Anbang locked the door and prepared to drive back to his hometown.

This time when he went back to his hometown, he didn't plan to stay long. He would spend a day on the road, stay overnight in the county town, buy some things to take back to his hometown, tidy up his small courtyard a bit, treat the villagers to a meal, and give them some gifts.

I'll stay in my hometown for one or two days, pick up the plaque from the county's armed forces department, and then come back. I'll spend the remaining three days picking out things from the barracks and the veterans' sanatorium.

Then I'll go talk to Wang's second brother about the renovation. We already have a place, even if we don't live there, we should at least renovate it so we can move in when we have time off.

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and Zhang Anbang was already on his way back. Overall, he was quite satisfied with the trip back to his hometown, as the vast majority of the villagers were very kind.

The old courtyard was still in decent condition thanks to the help of the neighbors he had asked before, and the fields were also being cultivated by the same neighbors. When Zhang Anbang went back this time, he returned the rent money he had received over the years.

Although it's two years' rent, it's not much. The rent for eight acres of land for two years is only one thousand yuan, which is a price based on goodwill.

However, Zhang Anbang accepted it anyway. A lease is a lease, and with a land lease agreement in place, the land still belongs to the Zhang family.

It's hard to predict people's hearts. Just like how the original owner was very grateful, but didn't lend the house to others.

Many things become difficult to say over time, so it's better to clarify things clearly from the beginning. The predecessor did a really good job in this regard.

After returning to the military region, Zhang Anbang did not rush to return the car. Instead, he drove back and forth between the sanatorium and the barracks, selecting a lot of furniture.

There was a considerable amount of furniture piled up in these two places, all of which were in the style of the 1950s and 60s. They were characterized by their square, straight, thick, and heavy features, and the materials used were particularly solid. The vast majority of the furniture was in good condition, without any damage.

They are all painted with thick lacquer in dark red, maroon, deep red, or brown, so that you can't see the wood grain even if you lie right up to them. There are no streamlines or carvings.

Zhang Anbang, accompanied by a skilled carpenter recommended by Wang's second brother, selected only old rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis), old padauk (Burmese padauk), and catalpa wood. As for ash and elm, he didn't want any.

Because choosing the first three is enough, the experienced driver said there's no need to downgrade.

With Gao Cheng's prior notice, Zhang Anbang naturally got to choose first. Items like large wardrobes and chests of drawers, which were made from large pieces of solid wood, were perfect for disassembling.

Office desks and square tables, with their wide panels and thick materials, are very suitable for use as dining tables, desks, and tea tables.

Following the advice of a professional carpenter, Zhang Anbang hauled away four truckloads of beds, sofa frames, and some wooden crates and stools.

They put everything into a large courtyard belonging to Wang's second brother, where they had the old carpenters help them repurpose it into new furniture.

Zhang Anbang was originally thinking about how much money he should give to Wang's second brother.

Unexpectedly, after he explained his renovation requirements and drew pictures of the simple and beautiful modern Chinese-style furniture from later generations, Wang's second brother waved his hands repeatedly, saying that Zhang Anbang should do this work for free.

Zhang Anbang's renovation was not expensive to begin with. Without those complicated designs, it saved on both labor and materials. The hard decoration really didn't cost much, and the materials and labor for both upstairs and downstairs were the same.